I can’t support Trump, but I’ve asked Biden’s team several times for his opinion about keeping critical seaways open, and I’ve never gotten an answer. Specifically, I’m asking about the South China Sea and the Strait of Hormuz. My two choices seem to be either Biden or a third party. I don’t even know who’s running in the third party, but so far they are running 60/40 over Biden.
During the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump reversed a troubling trend in politics. His campaign raised less money than the previous Republican nominee, Mitt Romney.
According to Open Secrets, Trump raised $330 million, compared to Romney’s $450 million in 2012.
What isn’t accounted for in those numbers, however, is that Trump received an estimated $5 billion in free media time due primarily to his explosive rhetoric.
✁
Of the $1.1 billion [Trump’s] campaign and the [RNC] raised from the beginning of 2019 through July, more than $800 million has already been spent.
Now some people inside the campaign are forecasting what was once unthinkable: a cash crunch with less than 60 days until the election, according to Republican officials briefed on the matter.
According to Goldmacher and Haberman, “more than $350 million — almost half of the $800 million spent — went to fund-raising operations.”
But much of it also went to stroke Trump’s ego, including $11 million on Super Bowl ads to keep up with Michael Bloomberg and $1 million on television advertising in Washington, D.C. so the president could see himself portrayed in his own media market.
Or course, there is also corruption with the major expenditures at Trump’s properties, as well as payment of his legal expenses.
It should come as no surprise that the grifter who currently occupies the Oval Office is ripping off his campaign donors.
This is the man whose businesses declared bankruptcy six times and went to court 3,500 times, primarily over payments to contractors.
As the New York Times documented, Trump blew through over $1 billion in business losses during the decade before Russian companies flooded them with cash (according to his two sons).
Even more disturbing is what the president has done with our tax dollars. Take a look at what was happening (✁ 4 space…)
On the face of it, that shouldn’t even be a question. After all, stocks are up; the economy added more than a million jobs in “August” (I’ll explain the scare quotes in a minute); preliminary estimates suggest that G.D.P. is growing rapidly in the third quarter, which ends this month.
But the stock market isn’t the economy: more than half of all stocks are owned by only 1 percent of Americans, while the bottom half of the population owns only 0.7 percent of the market.
Jobs and G.D.P., by contrast, sort of are the economy. But they aren’t the economy’s point.
What some economists and many politicians often forget is that economics isn’t fundamentally about data, it’s about people.
I like data as much as, or probably more than, the next guy. But an economy’s success should be judged not by impersonal statistics, but by whether people’s lives are getting better.
And the simple fact is that over the past few weeks the lives of many Americans have gotten much worse.
✁
The bottom line here is that before you cite economic statistics, you want to think about what they mean for people and their lives.
The data aren’t meaningless: A million jobs gained is better than a million jobs lost, and growing G.D.P. is better than shrinking G.D.P.
But there is often a disconnect between the headline numbers and the reality of American life, and that is especially true right now.
The fact is that this economy just isn’t working for many Americans, who are facing hard times that — thanks to political decisions by Trump and his allies — are just getting harder.
You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed,” Trump said in a Feb. 7 call. “And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus.”
“This is deadly stuff,” the president repeated for emphasis.
At that time, Trump was telling the nation that the virus was no worse than a seasonal flu, predicting it would soon disappear and insisting that the U.S. government had it totally under control.
It would be several weeks before he would publicly acknowledge that the virus was no ordinary flu and that it could be transmitted through the air.
Trump admitted to Woodward on March 19 that he deliberately minimized the danger. “I wanted to always play it down,” the president said. “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”
✁
The book is based in part on 18 on-the-record interviews Woodward conducted with the president between December and July.
Woodward writes that other quotes in the book were acquired through “deep background” conversations with people in which information is divulged and exchanges recounted without the people being named.
Trump has just accused Woodward in a tweet of failure to protect the nation by not immediately publishing the taped conversation from 6 months ago. (This is for real.)
Sums up what? Dude, pick a direction and go with it for this strip. Be funny or be clever or be insightful or be something. Don’t just check none of the above and be lazy and repetitive and boring. Now that I read through some past strips, I can see you are capable of more. Like many people you seem to be stuck on pouting these days. That is boring and lame. Snap out of it or just run past strips from when you weren’t pouting.
I’ve been confused by the position Stantis has been showing in Prickly City. He now pretty much depicts voting for Biden or voting for Trump as being equally bad. I am still unclear why he is so against Biden. He seems to have taken up Trump’s unsubstantiated depiction of Biden as being “Sleepy” or senile or supporting extreme positions. Is his stance that a vote for a Democratic presidential candidate is horrible no matter what? I’m not sure that Stantis wants to project such a superior, above-it-all attitude toward American politics, but that is how the strip seems to be going right now.
A third party president? A situation where both Republicans and Democrats can come together in a bi-partisan effort to obstruct his policies and agenda.
Hopefully that “third party” candidate Scott endorses will be the only one who will appear on the ballot in all 50 States plus DC, Jo Jorgensen, the Libertarian Party candidate. jo20.com No other “third party” candidate will come near that many ballots.
Cheapskate0 about 4 years ago
So, is Scott about to endorse yet another third party candidate?
kaffekup about 4 years ago
Sounds like bothsiderism and whataboutism combined.
Wishy-washy…
fuzzbucket Premium Member about 4 years ago
I can’t support Trump, but I’ve asked Biden’s team several times for his opinion about keeping critical seaways open, and I’ve never gotten an answer. Specifically, I’m asking about the South China Sea and the Strait of Hormuz. My two choices seem to be either Biden or a third party. I don’t even know who’s running in the third party, but so far they are running 60/40 over Biden.
w6nim7 about 4 years ago
I go Pogo! Or maybe Pat Paulson?
electricshadow Premium Member about 4 years ago
Matter and anitmatter
Carl Premium Member about 4 years ago
If only, then we could start over.
akachman Premium Member about 4 years ago
Third party is a wasted vote, for better or worse. You have to play the hand you’re dealt. A vote for a third party is a vote for tRump.
Silly Season about 4 years ago
During the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump reversed a troubling trend in politics. His campaign raised less money than the previous Republican nominee, Mitt Romney.
According to Open Secrets, Trump raised $330 million, compared to Romney’s $450 million in 2012.
What isn’t accounted for in those numbers, however, is that Trump received an estimated $5 billion in free media time due primarily to his explosive rhetoric.
✁
Of the $1.1 billion [Trump’s] campaign and the [RNC] raised from the beginning of 2019 through July, more than $800 million has already been spent.
Now some people inside the campaign are forecasting what was once unthinkable: a cash crunch with less than 60 days until the election, according to Republican officials briefed on the matter.
According to Goldmacher and Haberman, “more than $350 million — almost half of the $800 million spent — went to fund-raising operations.”
But much of it also went to stroke Trump’s ego, including $11 million on Super Bowl ads to keep up with Michael Bloomberg and $1 million on television advertising in Washington, D.C. so the president could see himself portrayed in his own media market.
Or course, there is also corruption with the major expenditures at Trump’s properties, as well as payment of his legal expenses.
It should come as no surprise that the grifter who currently occupies the Oval Office is ripping off his campaign donors.
This is the man whose businesses declared bankruptcy six times and went to court 3,500 times, primarily over payments to contractors.
As the New York Times documented, Trump blew through over $1 billion in business losses during the decade before Russian companies flooded them with cash (according to his two sons).
Even more disturbing is what the president has done with our tax dollars. Take a look at what was happening (✁ 4 space…)
~
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2020/09/08/why-no-one-should-ever-trust-trump-with-their-money/
Silly Season about 4 years ago
Are you better off now than you were in July?
On the face of it, that shouldn’t even be a question. After all, stocks are up; the economy added more than a million jobs in “August” (I’ll explain the scare quotes in a minute); preliminary estimates suggest that G.D.P. is growing rapidly in the third quarter, which ends this month.
But the stock market isn’t the economy: more than half of all stocks are owned by only 1 percent of Americans, while the bottom half of the population owns only 0.7 percent of the market.
Jobs and G.D.P., by contrast, sort of are the economy. But they aren’t the economy’s point.
What some economists and many politicians often forget is that economics isn’t fundamentally about data, it’s about people.
I like data as much as, or probably more than, the next guy. But an economy’s success should be judged not by impersonal statistics, but by whether people’s lives are getting better.
And the simple fact is that over the past few weeks the lives of many Americans have gotten much worse.
✁
The bottom line here is that before you cite economic statistics, you want to think about what they mean for people and their lives.
The data aren’t meaningless: A million jobs gained is better than a million jobs lost, and growing G.D.P. is better than shrinking G.D.P.
But there is often a disconnect between the headline numbers and the reality of American life, and that is especially true right now.
The fact is that this economy just isn’t working for many Americans, who are facing hard times that — thanks to political decisions by Trump and his allies — are just getting harder.
~
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/07/opinion/trump-economy-jobs.html
William Robbins Premium Member about 4 years ago
Trump acknowledged the severity of Covid-19 and said he’d downplayed it so Americans wouldn’t panic.
Trevor Noah found that to be a little off-brand. Causing panic, Noah said, is “literally his favorite thing.”
Silly Season about 4 years ago
Lordy, there are tapes!
~
You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed,” Trump said in a Feb. 7 call. “And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus.”
“This is deadly stuff,” the president repeated for emphasis.
At that time, Trump was telling the nation that the virus was no worse than a seasonal flu, predicting it would soon disappear and insisting that the U.S. government had it totally under control.
It would be several weeks before he would publicly acknowledge that the virus was no ordinary flu and that it could be transmitted through the air.
Trump admitted to Woodward on March 19 that he deliberately minimized the danger. “I wanted to always play it down,” the president said. “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”
✁
The book is based in part on 18 on-the-record interviews Woodward conducted with the president between December and July.
Woodward writes that other quotes in the book were acquired through “deep background” conversations with people in which information is divulged and exchanges recounted without the people being named.
~
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bob-woodward-rage-book-trump/2020/09/09/0368fe3c-efd2-11ea-b4bc-3a2098fc73d4_story.html
Durak Premium Member about 4 years ago
Trump’s balloon clearly blew up first! A Biden win! God Bless America!
rossevrymn about 4 years ago
Stantisfernuthin lack of discernment skills
martens about 4 years ago
Trump has just accused Woodward in a tweet of failure to protect the nation by not immediately publishing the taped conversation from 6 months ago. (This is for real.)
StackableContainers about 4 years ago
Sums up what? Dude, pick a direction and go with it for this strip. Be funny or be clever or be insightful or be something. Don’t just check none of the above and be lazy and repetitive and boring. Now that I read through some past strips, I can see you are capable of more. Like many people you seem to be stuck on pouting these days. That is boring and lame. Snap out of it or just run past strips from when you weren’t pouting.
MichaelSFC90 about 4 years ago
There was an earlier report that a dog was flying a Sopwith Camel was seen in the area.
tvdffry Premium Member about 4 years ago
I’ve been confused by the position Stantis has been showing in Prickly City. He now pretty much depicts voting for Biden or voting for Trump as being equally bad. I am still unclear why he is so against Biden. He seems to have taken up Trump’s unsubstantiated depiction of Biden as being “Sleepy” or senile or supporting extreme positions. Is his stance that a vote for a Democratic presidential candidate is horrible no matter what? I’m not sure that Stantis wants to project such a superior, above-it-all attitude toward American politics, but that is how the strip seems to be going right now.
Bradley Walker about 4 years ago
Still drinkin’ that “both” cider…
MartinPerry1 about 4 years ago
A third party president? A situation where both Republicans and Democrats can come together in a bi-partisan effort to obstruct his policies and agenda.
mistercatworks about 4 years ago
Oh, the democracy!
sandflea about 4 years ago
Oh goody. That means Nancy Pelosi’s gonna be President.
OldManOfHockey about 4 years ago
Hopefully that “third party” candidate Scott endorses will be the only one who will appear on the ballot in all 50 States plus DC, Jo Jorgensen, the Libertarian Party candidate. jo20.com No other “third party” candidate will come near that many ballots.