If they self-delude that they lost in 2024 because they were not "progressive" enough, 2026 will be a disaster. Better start looking for pre-prism rainbow candidates.
If you ask a MAGA they’ll tell you everything is going great. They’ll claim the economy is booming, inflation is down, we are now “respected” around the world, eggs are a dollar a dozen and Donald is a great patriot. These people are not reality based.
You've got to admire the Trump handlers' skills in focusing the attention on the price of eggs. They will go up and down with the supply, so if we use that yardstick now, it will just become a major item in the expectations management of the Trump regime's PR machine. When the price comes down, the Trumpers will say: I told you so!
Same as the stock market. It moves around a lot. The latest shocks were just a way to move tons of cash into the pockets of those who work it like vultures on a dead body. The poor schmucks who invested their savings in it are the ones getting the real screwing, but their obscene love of Trump will return soon. The Dems are hoping for the midterms, but by that time the world will be different.
Let me remind you of two moments in not so old history that could be used as a parallel (no, not Germany '33).
1) 1971, Nixon is in power and ended the Bretton Woods system of currency regulations and convertibility to gold... It sent shockwaves through the markets. Nixon was reelected handily in 1972... In August 1973, Nixon floated the dollar and it collapsed (I am currently writing about this in another context), I remember well, because as a family, we had reserves in the USA, but he lived in London at the time.
2) July 1981. Ronald Reagan's Great Recession, which lasted 16 months. It devastated the USA, but opened the country up to foreign investors (notably Japan, with its strong yen). Reagan won easily in 1984... I remember reading about his supporters in the Rust Belt, a moniker coined back then... some had lost everything, their boats on the Lakes, the second and third car, as the big "patriotic" businesses either shut down or moved to other countries to manufacture... Some were literally eating cat food (Daily Hampshire Gazette)... But they went for Saint Ronnie, who promised breadsticks and unicorns... While the Dems chose Walter Mondale, a decent, intelligent guy (I actually met him once, briefly), who was colorless, had a frying voice, and was wonkish...
Watch out Democrats, The GOP is good at this game. The price of eggs is just distraction.
Very informative post. As for those two presidents getting re-elected, you gave part of the reason when you described Mondale. Voters don't want intelligence, they want personality and accomplishments (think Adlai Stevenson). Nixon had finally "ended" Vietnam, and the D's ran a Peace candidate (closing that barn door just a bit too late.) Reagan was an incredibly popular personality, and by 1984, the economy, driven by MBAs selling off every single manufacturing facility they could to Japan, was humming.
Probably no way the D's could have won either election, but if they chose a candidate such as Buttigieg simply for DEI, they will once again get slaughtered. It's like when people criticize NJ for taxes, corruption, etc., and the response is "But we've got Good Schools!" The D's have responded with "But we've got compassion!" That and more votes in the Electoral College gets you a president!
I am still eating for someone to define the "short period" of discomfort associated with tariffs. Are we talking days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, millennia, eons or forever?
“Click on the subscribe button.” Yes. I’ve done this (and that, of course, makes me a non-paying subscriber). But, doing it offers no option whatsoever for becoming a paid subscriber. 😕
I often think about voters in Michigan, Wisconsin, etc who refused to vote for Harris based on Biden’s handling of the Israel/Gaza war. Whether they sat out the election or voted for Trump, they helped create this situation that now includes arresting and detaining students who used, at the time, First Amendment rights.
Another concern, what proof is there that Abrego Garcia is still alive in El Salvador?
More like this please. Need to describe how the underpinnings of the USA's power in the world are being destroyed like the rule of law, the control of corruption, the US leadership in science research, the ability to attract the best international students to our universities, the ability to speak and write freely without worrying bout being grabbed off the street and sent without due process to he worst prison on earth, the ability of US based businesses to make investment decisions without worry about erratic government policies or being shaken down by the president, our control over corruption in the financial markets without which no one will have confidence in the market, confidence in the accuracy of government stats like CPI, unemployment etc. (just expecting this to become an issue when these numbers show that the president's policies are very harmful), the knowledge that injustices can be addressed through the non-political courts, a decent public education system, did i mention our efforts to control corruption instead of what we have now which is top down corruption?
I think the truth of Trump is very slowly sinking in to the non cult members who bought into the con and voted for him. The cultists are hopelessly insane and they will believe anything their dear leader says even if they can’t afford the basics in life. The others didn’t inform themselves, had amnesia about what an awful POTUS he was the first go round, or somehow believed his lies. If the gigantic rallies Bernie and AOC are having in Ruby red states like Utah are any indication plenty of the people who foolishly voted for Trump are also in attendance. The coffee is brewed and they’re waking up to its smell. Turns out most Americans want to live in a democracy and fear of loosing it and all else we rely on is getting people motivated including those who foolishly thought Trump was the answer. He isn’t and his rapidly declining poll numbers reflect this. Give it more time. Nothing is going to improve under Trump and more and more people will be joining the resistance.
A weighty question. I would say that the actions of Trump and those who surround and enable him are examples of evil. They do harm and their intentions are not to edify anyone but themselves. Good like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. For me it’s about doing what we the people are doing now. We’re engaged in a righteous fight and in my view that’s trying to overcome evil with good.
Some of the info i see from interviews and focus group discussions with people who voted for trump indicate many are willing to stick with him and see how this all plays out. I think some of that is the difficulty of dealing with the reality that they were bamboozled and made a bad mistake. So, unfortunately, things need to get really bad to change some of these minds. As deeply painful as it would be for millions of payees (including me) if social security stopped all payments, not to mention that it would create a recession by reducing all that spending, i have to think of that as just bad-tasting medicine to cure our authoritarianism disease. There is no other way out.
I agree. I think it’s going to take more personal pain before the wait and see crowd realizes that they’ve waited long enough. Also, no one wants to admit they made a terrible mistake. That’s a hard pill to swallow. We’re still in the early stages of the pain but I think we did cross a rubicon of sorts yesterday when Trump admitted he won’t be obeying the Supreme Court about these secret deportations to Bukele’s willing gulag. Adding on sending citizens doing time in American prisons was alarming to. People across the country have someone they love in jail or prison. That idea should wake some people up too.
I agree with both of you. For whatever reason--and being a hated "white heterosexual male," I don't think being a woman was the major one--the voters rejected Harris (and obviously, D's in general), for some probably because they were just tired of the "OVID" backlash and for others because tRump spounded so convincing! Now, things are accelerating on their downward spiral. Should things continue on the current course, 2026 should be interesting.
Remember what Cladius said:
"Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out!" We now have our American Nero, who fiddles (i.e. golfs) while the country melts down. Sadly, it's got to get even worse before it begins to even out.
I do still believe the woman factor played a role but we have to remember a lot of younger men voted Trump. They’re in the podcast crowd that listens to men like Joe Rogan preach on men taking their masculinity back, whatever that means. Vance preaches the same as do other men on the Republican side. I don’t know why the young men fell for this and the Trump act but they did and it hurt the democrats. Some Republican women also have the same warped view, which is beyond discouraging for progressive women in general. Trump’s main strength is his ability to manipulate and he’s good at what he does. I do think his act is wearing thin now though. His true maniacal character looks a lot more Nero’s than the Rambo character he’s put on all along.
Lol on the progressives. Some aspects go too far and are silly but wanting social justice and fairness for all is something to aspire to. Apparently too many people in this country could care less about that which is why we have Trump. I know that Trump attached himself to that one NBC poll but his popularity is not nearly as rosy in other ones. The MAGA movement is a cancer on the society and my attitude is its destruction is essential to a continued democracy. I see it imploding eventually particularly if we can get its dear leader off the scene. No one else in that movement can carry the sick mantel forward because none of them have the evil genius that Trump possess. MAGA’s destruction can’t come soon enough and I’d venture to guess I’m not alone in that sentiment in the SubStack set.
Yes so right need have everyone fighting lawsuits dominstrations if a person leaves the country they can go through your phone if you do not them you will be able to come back in birth us citizen or any kind of citizen was on local news
Oh it's feeling very trumpy lumpy these days!
This is what the D's will be facing in just over a year and a half:
https://www.nj.com/politics/2025/04/how-many-maga-would-change-their-trump-vote-poll-number-is-shocking.html
If they self-delude that they lost in 2024 because they were not "progressive" enough, 2026 will be a disaster. Better start looking for pre-prism rainbow candidates.
If you ask a MAGA they’ll tell you everything is going great. They’ll claim the economy is booming, inflation is down, we are now “respected” around the world, eggs are a dollar a dozen and Donald is a great patriot. These people are not reality based.
Unfortunately, like the NRA of years past, they all have bumper stickers reading:
"I'm MAGA and I Vote!"
https://www.nj.com/politics/2025/04/trump-loving-mtgs-reaction-to-being-called-a-butch-body-bigot-at-chaotic-town-hall.html
MAGA are Vatniks, they won’t change.
It's comments like that which can earn you a Knock on the Door!
"Your papers please!"
"You haf relatives in Mar A-Lago?"
You've got to admire the Trump handlers' skills in focusing the attention on the price of eggs. They will go up and down with the supply, so if we use that yardstick now, it will just become a major item in the expectations management of the Trump regime's PR machine. When the price comes down, the Trumpers will say: I told you so!
Same as the stock market. It moves around a lot. The latest shocks were just a way to move tons of cash into the pockets of those who work it like vultures on a dead body. The poor schmucks who invested their savings in it are the ones getting the real screwing, but their obscene love of Trump will return soon. The Dems are hoping for the midterms, but by that time the world will be different.
Let me remind you of two moments in not so old history that could be used as a parallel (no, not Germany '33).
1) 1971, Nixon is in power and ended the Bretton Woods system of currency regulations and convertibility to gold... It sent shockwaves through the markets. Nixon was reelected handily in 1972... In August 1973, Nixon floated the dollar and it collapsed (I am currently writing about this in another context), I remember well, because as a family, we had reserves in the USA, but he lived in London at the time.
2) July 1981. Ronald Reagan's Great Recession, which lasted 16 months. It devastated the USA, but opened the country up to foreign investors (notably Japan, with its strong yen). Reagan won easily in 1984... I remember reading about his supporters in the Rust Belt, a moniker coined back then... some had lost everything, their boats on the Lakes, the second and third car, as the big "patriotic" businesses either shut down or moved to other countries to manufacture... Some were literally eating cat food (Daily Hampshire Gazette)... But they went for Saint Ronnie, who promised breadsticks and unicorns... While the Dems chose Walter Mondale, a decent, intelligent guy (I actually met him once, briefly), who was colorless, had a frying voice, and was wonkish...
Watch out Democrats, The GOP is good at this game. The price of eggs is just distraction.
Very informative post. As for those two presidents getting re-elected, you gave part of the reason when you described Mondale. Voters don't want intelligence, they want personality and accomplishments (think Adlai Stevenson). Nixon had finally "ended" Vietnam, and the D's ran a Peace candidate (closing that barn door just a bit too late.) Reagan was an incredibly popular personality, and by 1984, the economy, driven by MBAs selling off every single manufacturing facility they could to Japan, was humming.
Probably no way the D's could have won either election, but if they chose a candidate such as Buttigieg simply for DEI, they will once again get slaughtered. It's like when people criticize NJ for taxes, corruption, etc., and the response is "But we've got Good Schools!" The D's have responded with "But we've got compassion!" That and more votes in the Electoral College gets you a president!
Eggs in the Denver Metro area are $9 for 18. That’s down 2 dollars from $11.28 for 18 a couple of weeks ago.
I wish we had $4 for a dozen eggs.
I am still eating for someone to define the "short period" of discomfort associated with tariffs. Are we talking days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, millennia, eons or forever?
Thanks for sharing this! Great blog. I’d be happy to become a paid subscriber but am not seeing how exactly that’s done. Is there a link to subscribe?
“Click on the subscribe button.” Yes. I’ve done this (and that, of course, makes me a non-paying subscriber). But, doing it offers no option whatsoever for becoming a paid subscriber. 😕
Just click on the Subscribe button and it will give you options. Thank you! ❤️
I often think about voters in Michigan, Wisconsin, etc who refused to vote for Harris based on Biden’s handling of the Israel/Gaza war. Whether they sat out the election or voted for Trump, they helped create this situation that now includes arresting and detaining students who used, at the time, First Amendment rights.
Another concern, what proof is there that Abrego Garcia is still alive in El Salvador?
Also, whatever made people think Trump would be better for Gaza and the Palestinians? His first term showed how pro Israel he is. Mind-boggling.
More like this please. Need to describe how the underpinnings of the USA's power in the world are being destroyed like the rule of law, the control of corruption, the US leadership in science research, the ability to attract the best international students to our universities, the ability to speak and write freely without worrying bout being grabbed off the street and sent without due process to he worst prison on earth, the ability of US based businesses to make investment decisions without worry about erratic government policies or being shaken down by the president, our control over corruption in the financial markets without which no one will have confidence in the market, confidence in the accuracy of government stats like CPI, unemployment etc. (just expecting this to become an issue when these numbers show that the president's policies are very harmful), the knowledge that injustices can be addressed through the non-political courts, a decent public education system, did i mention our efforts to control corruption instead of what we have now which is top down corruption?
Very snarlly.
I think the truth of Trump is very slowly sinking in to the non cult members who bought into the con and voted for him. The cultists are hopelessly insane and they will believe anything their dear leader says even if they can’t afford the basics in life. The others didn’t inform themselves, had amnesia about what an awful POTUS he was the first go round, or somehow believed his lies. If the gigantic rallies Bernie and AOC are having in Ruby red states like Utah are any indication plenty of the people who foolishly voted for Trump are also in attendance. The coffee is brewed and they’re waking up to its smell. Turns out most Americans want to live in a democracy and fear of loosing it and all else we rely on is getting people motivated including those who foolishly thought Trump was the answer. He isn’t and his rapidly declining poll numbers reflect this. Give it more time. Nothing is going to improve under Trump and more and more people will be joining the resistance.
A weighty question. I would say that the actions of Trump and those who surround and enable him are examples of evil. They do harm and their intentions are not to edify anyone but themselves. Good like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. For me it’s about doing what we the people are doing now. We’re engaged in a righteous fight and in my view that’s trying to overcome evil with good.
Some of the info i see from interviews and focus group discussions with people who voted for trump indicate many are willing to stick with him and see how this all plays out. I think some of that is the difficulty of dealing with the reality that they were bamboozled and made a bad mistake. So, unfortunately, things need to get really bad to change some of these minds. As deeply painful as it would be for millions of payees (including me) if social security stopped all payments, not to mention that it would create a recession by reducing all that spending, i have to think of that as just bad-tasting medicine to cure our authoritarianism disease. There is no other way out.
I agree. I think it’s going to take more personal pain before the wait and see crowd realizes that they’ve waited long enough. Also, no one wants to admit they made a terrible mistake. That’s a hard pill to swallow. We’re still in the early stages of the pain but I think we did cross a rubicon of sorts yesterday when Trump admitted he won’t be obeying the Supreme Court about these secret deportations to Bukele’s willing gulag. Adding on sending citizens doing time in American prisons was alarming to. People across the country have someone they love in jail or prison. That idea should wake some people up too.
We are being overwhelmed by a tsunami of stupidity. Peaceful protests are not effective against these monsters.
Great point about so many people having relatives in prison!
I agree with both of you. For whatever reason--and being a hated "white heterosexual male," I don't think being a woman was the major one--the voters rejected Harris (and obviously, D's in general), for some probably because they were just tired of the "OVID" backlash and for others because tRump spounded so convincing! Now, things are accelerating on their downward spiral. Should things continue on the current course, 2026 should be interesting.
Remember what Cladius said:
"Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out!" We now have our American Nero, who fiddles (i.e. golfs) while the country melts down. Sadly, it's got to get even worse before it begins to even out.
I do still believe the woman factor played a role but we have to remember a lot of younger men voted Trump. They’re in the podcast crowd that listens to men like Joe Rogan preach on men taking their masculinity back, whatever that means. Vance preaches the same as do other men on the Republican side. I don’t know why the young men fell for this and the Trump act but they did and it hurt the democrats. Some Republican women also have the same warped view, which is beyond discouraging for progressive women in general. Trump’s main strength is his ability to manipulate and he’s good at what he does. I do think his act is wearing thin now though. His true maniacal character looks a lot more Nero’s than the Rambo character he’s put on all along.
Here's some more "good news"!
https://www.nj.com/politics/2025/04/new-poll-reveals-shocking-numbers-about-trumps-maga-movement.html
I'll break it to you gently: "Progressives" are a very distinct minority in America.
Lol on the progressives. Some aspects go too far and are silly but wanting social justice and fairness for all is something to aspire to. Apparently too many people in this country could care less about that which is why we have Trump. I know that Trump attached himself to that one NBC poll but his popularity is not nearly as rosy in other ones. The MAGA movement is a cancer on the society and my attitude is its destruction is essential to a continued democracy. I see it imploding eventually particularly if we can get its dear leader off the scene. No one else in that movement can carry the sick mantel forward because none of them have the evil genius that Trump possess. MAGA’s destruction can’t come soon enough and I’d venture to guess I’m not alone in that sentiment in the SubStack set.
Yes so right need have everyone fighting lawsuits dominstrations if a person leaves the country they can go through your phone if you do not them you will be able to come back in birth us citizen or any kind of citizen was on local news