Midnight Meme Of The Day!

by Noah

It's more than incompetence of course. Given Trump's love of his fellow racists and his utter disregard for veterans; awarding Rush Limbaugh a Medal Of Freedom right in the face of an also invited 100-year-old Tuskegee Airman was a perfect storm of nihilistic racist opportunity. It's so like Trump to go on TV, before the entire nation, having invited a living symbol of racist hatred and an African-American military man who served his country admirably, and then celebrate the racist like that. Deplorable? Absolutely. Trump just couldn't pass it up.

Trump giving Rush Limbaugh the Medal Of Freedom is just another example of Trump's evil and of how Trump loves to deliberately show his desire to disrespect, demean, and degrade American ideals, from the oval office itself down to this. It's hard to edit a list down to just a handful of Rush Limbaugh's most bigoted moments, but here are 6 quotes from Limbaugh's radio show, beloved by millions of Republicans everywhere. There are many other quotes attributed to Limbaugh from his early years. Some are even worse than these, including one where he allegedly praises Martin Luther King's killer, but finding reliable documentation is difficult. Many older radio transcripts in general have not been saved or properly archived.

You might say that these famous Limbaugh statements are what got him the Medal Of Freedom from our white supremacist president and will always endear him to republicans and you'd be right even though there's also the sexism and misogyny that are both part of the Limbaugh brand. But, for today...

1. “Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it.” (January 19, 2007, as shown in the show transcript.)

2. “Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?” (Acknowledged as true by Rush Limbaugh in a 1990 New York Newsday article.)

3. “The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies.” (This quote, much discussed at the time, was attributed to Limbaugh in a 1993 issue of Flush Rush Quarterly.)

4. [To an African American female caller]: “Take that bone out of your nose and call me back.” (Acknowledged as true by Rush Limbaugh in the same New York Newsday article as #2 above although not from his radio show but an earlier Top 40 music show he ran in Pittsburgh under the name Jeff Christie.)

5. “They’re 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?” (This statement, from his radio show, caused quite a stir in New York City back in 1994.

6. “I think the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. They’re interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well. I think there’s a little hope invested in McNabb and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn’t deserve.” (September 2003 on ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown during Limbaugh's brief time with the channel. ESPN quickly heard from the public and realized the error of their ways, and he was shown the door.)

I didn't even include the fact that Limbaugh was a key mouthpiece, along with Trump and all of FOX "News," for the anti-Obama birther movement that the Trump Party adheres to to this day. I couldn't help but notice how much all of the republicans at the State Of The Union speech stood and applauded when Limbaugh got his medal. So, who's next? David Duke? A posthumous medal for segregationist democrat George Wallace? One for Strom Thurmond? Jesse Helms? Of course, there are plenty of possibilities. Hell, as Trump's mental state continues to deteriorate even further, maybe Jeffrey Dahmer will get one, and, speaking of Jeffreys, how about his old pal Jeffrey Epstein. "He was so misunderstood." I bet Alan Dershowitz and David Nunes are on the short list, plus any number of conservative media knuckle-draggers and white supremacy leaders. How about that Nazi who ran down Heather Heyer in Charlottesville. "So many very fine people. So many bigly deserve a medal from me, your greatest president."

Señor Trumpanzee's Third And Last SOTU-- The Fact-Checkers Were Up All Night

Much of the media coverage of Trump's final SOTU last night was focused on Trumpy-the-Clown's spat with Pelosi-- she didn't call him "His Majesty" when she introduced him; he refused to shake her hand; his thugs dragged one of Pelosi's guests (Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter was killed in a 2018 GOP-NRA school shooting) out of the chamber; she ripped up his speech-- instead of on all the lies that the speech was built on. The speech was compared to a MAGA rally-- not inaccurate-- but it was also the platform Trump and the entire Republican Party will be running on for the next nine months. Get used to the litany of lies and distortions. As John Harris put it this morning for Politico readers: "This was the most defiant, most boastful, most ostentatiously theatrical, most overtly campaign-oriented, most am-I-hearing-this-right? outlandish-- the most flamboyantly bizarre-- State of the Union Address of All Time. It was also the most disorienting, and hard to categorize through the prism of conventional political analysis... The usual rubric is that national politicians face a choice of mobilization or persuasion. One choice is to energize the partisan base with sharp-edged rhetoric and cultural and ideological scab-picking. The other choice is to blur lines with round-edged appeals to voters who aren’t on board but might yet be coaxed there. Trump refused the choice. In keeping with the more-is-more spirit of the speech, he did both."

In their fact check, the Washington Post noted that Trump lied 31 times and that "many of these claims have been fact-checked repeatedly, yet the president persists in using them." Although I heard the beginning of the bullshit when I was in my car driving home from dinner, I have to admit I missed most of it, deciding, instead, to opt for Netflix and watch the life story of Caligula, a pre-Trump historical figure more like him than many others he's been compared to.





The grotesque speech, one of the most aggressively partisan and negative SOTUs in history, was more suited for a TV reality show host than to even an illegitimate fake "president." Never mentioning that he was impeached-- and in the midst of a trial-- he had worked up a made-for-TV moment, where he announced he was giving Rush Limbaugh, the dying hate talk radio host, a now worthless Presidential Medal of Freedom that Melania instantly pulled it out of her purse and put around Limbaugh's neck.

Many of the Democrats who bothered to show up-- AOC, Ayanna Pressley and others wisely boycotted-- walked out as the lies and calumny mounted. (To be fair, Democrats from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- like Blue Dog Josh Gottheimer (NJ) and New Dem Dean Phillips (MN)-- were sporting purple ties and conspicuously sitting with Republicans.) This morning, Pelosi told the media that "What we heard last night was a disgrace. The American people deserve better." She said that she ripped up his speech "because it was a manifesto of mistruths."

Fact.Check.Org was busy all night and by this morning were ready to conclude what most sentient beings who listened to it already knew: Trumpanzee stretched and distorted the facts. These were the 14 basic lies the foundation of the address:

• Trump claimed the economy is “the best it has ever been.” But GDP growth fell to 2.3% last year and economists predict further slowing this year.
• He said he brought about low unemployment by reversing “years of economic decay” and “failed economic policies,” when in fact over 1 million more jobs were added in the 35 months before he took office than in the first 35 months since.
• Trump boasted that the “unemployment rate for women reached the lowest level in almost 70 years.” That’s true, but it had been trending down for several years before he took office.
• The president wrongly said, “After decades of flat and falling incomes, wages are rising fast.” They’ve gone up under Trump, but also have risen under the last several presidents.
• Trump claimed that people’s 401(k)s and pensions have increased “60, 70, 80, 90, and 100% and even more.” Some may have, but that’s far higher than the average.
• He said “real median household income is now at the highest level ever recorded.” However, the Census Bureau noted that was partly due to a change in survey questions in 2014. Based on “adjusted” figures, median household income was slightly higher in 1999 than in 2018.
• Trump claimed the new trade agreement with Canada and Mexico “will create nearly 100,000 … auto jobs.” But an independent federal commission puts the job gains at 28,000 over five years.
• The president boasted that “a long, tall, and very powerful wall is being built” along the southern border, and more than 100 miles have been completed. But only one mile is located where no barriers previously existed.
• Trump said “illegal crossings” at the southwest border “are down 75% since May.” But total apprehensions in 2019 were 81% higher than in 2016, the year before Trump took office.
• He said that “after losing 60,000 factories under the previous two administrations, America has now gained 12,000 new factories under my administration.” He’s referring to what the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls manufacturing “establishments,” and most of the growth under Trump has been in facilities with fewer than five employees.
• Trump compared apples to oranges in claiming a doubling of insurance premiums in five years before he took office and “less expensive” plans under his administration.

• The president said he made an “iron-clad” promise to “always protect patients with preexisting conditions,” but that ignores the fact he has supported Republican health plans that would reduce the current protections under the Affordable Care Act.
• He suggested, misleadingly, that his administration was responsible for the U.S. becoming the world’s top producer of oil and natural gas. But the U.S. has been No. 1 in the world for natural gas for more than a decade, and tops in petroleum since 2013.
• Trump said “300,000 working age people” left the workforce during Obama’s eight years. Actually, the workforce grew by 5.4 million.

Now, how about a nice, refreshing breath of honesty, also from last night, something the country will be able to look forward to from 2021 on?

Midnight Meme Of The Day!

by Noah

What this country really needs tonight is not a crackpot speech by a crackpot parasite who is sucking this country dry of all of its remaining spirit and potential, all for fun, profit, and mayhem. To put it another way, tonight we will get a prime time performance from an embodiment of the forces of totalitarian evil and a country gone wrong.

In a slightly better world, Speaker Pelosi would have still invited Donald Trump to the House to give his State Of The Union speech, but, once he got to the podium, his microphone would be cut and the whole thing would turn into a massive televised bi-partisan intervention, complete with psychiatric care professionals. Ah, but that isn't going to happen since both parties have failed us and one has embraced totalitarianism to a degree that even the Founding Fathers would have never thought possible; and they thought they had thought of everything that could go wrong. They foresaw the possibility of a president with at least some of the foul characteristics of Trump. What they naively thought was that such a president would be checked, tried, and removed by a majority of Senators, not encouraged and celebrated by that majority.

The best we can hope for tonight, I guess, is that Trump, America's Stage IV Cancer, walks to the podium, sniffing from his bag of powdered adderall, parading past his blissfully welcoming crew of republican Senators and Representatives, getting high fives all the way, and beginning to speak. Then he suddenly starts screaming and violently banging his head on the podium and foaming at the mouth as he gnaws on his teleprompter. Of Course, seeing that, the republicans will stand and applaud and cheer, nodding their approvals like never before. While this is going on, the visual on our televisions will switch to a split screen and we will see Putin watching from the Kremlin with a "Mission Accomplished" banner on the wall behind him.

Cut to FOX "News" where a very flushed Laura Ingraham, clearly in an ecstatic state of post-orgasmic afterglow, tries to fan herself, saying "That was the greatest speech ever" as Lou Dobbs, Tucker Carlson, and Sean Hannity goose step around the set, seig-heiling all the way. After a few days pass, it suddenly sinks in that Trump has been nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, Attorney General Barr appears on every TV channel, broadcasting live from the oval office to announce "I'm in charge here!" Mike Pence, having been gagged, hogtied and tossed in a closet, is reported by Breitbart to be on a diplomatic mission to Mars to inspect child labor camps.

Midnight Meme Of The Day!

by Noah

Remember when Donnie Sleazeball said he would shake up Washington? Well he has but he's done it by being the biggest, most festering, most virulent tumor Washington has ever had. Donald Trump is the essence of the worst things about Washington. I look at him in the White House and I see the most evil, disgusting looking, most cancerous tumor in our history, expanding and puffing up, filling the entire expanse of the White House. The White House begins to creak as the roof and walls stretch and warp vainly attempting to accommodate the expanding mass. The nails begin popping and the paint peels just from the fumes of the stench of Trump. Finally, the windows all shatter and the whole building explodes in a fetid orange goo. I can see Mitch McConnell desperately spooning up as much of the goo as he can in order to sell it as a new Eau de Republican perfume. I can also see Mike Pence out on the White House lawn rubbing the goo that was once his idol all over his body.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? She's a breath of fresh air. Republicans are obsessed with her. The Democratic leadership fears her. Both resent her presence. They like things just the way they are. They only think about themselves. Their whole lives have been dedicated to not revealing who and what they really are. That's the essence of politics. They hide behind their suits and ties. That's their robes and hoods. They don't want you to see that who and what. They got so bad that, when someone came along and honestly spoke her mind without artifice, they freaked out. She seems alien to them. They long to turn a firehose on her right on the floor of the House Of Representatives. They may crush her. They surely want to. But, they are fools, every bit the fools they always seem to be, if they think there won't be more like her following in her footsteps. Blaze that trail AOC. Blaze that trail.

Normalizing The Anti-Normal

Eric Levitz, at New York Magazine, seems as horrified as everyone I know about how the country seems to be slipping into normalizing the unspeakable. His short essay on Thursday, The State of the Union Is Delusion catalogues how we have to look at ourselves after the 2019 State of the Union Address by the still unimpeached illegitimate "president." He wrote that when Trump "took the rostrum Tuesday night, the federal government was ten days away from collapsing into paralysis for the second time in three weeks, and humanity was 12 years away from irrevocably spoiling the only home it has ever known." 12.

When the president punctuated the phrase “my fellow Americans” with his signature nasal inhalations, America’s child mortality rate was the highest of any wealthy nation’s, while its life expectancy had just declined for the third consecutive year, amidst an epidemic of drug overdoses and suicides. As Americans gawked at their leader’s crooked tie, thousands of Central American children were still living without their parents-- as a result of a White House policy that blatantly contravened international law-- and the Trump administration was refusing to do anything to reunite the families it had separated because doing so would require “significant increases in appropriations from Congress.”

When the president basked in his first round of obligatory applause, his approval rating was hovering near historic lows. More than half the country said that they would “definitely not” vote for his reelection. Much of his campaign team had been convicted of crimes, and multiple federal investigations into him and his family were still ongoing. A member of the president’s administration had just leaked private schedules showing that, over the preceding three months, the commander-in-chief had spent 60 percent of his work days doing nothing in particular. Since his inauguration, White House aides had been likening him to a toddler in conversations with reporters on a near-daily basis; one senior administration official had written an op-ed in the New York Times assuring the country that unelected bureaucrats like himself were subverting the president’s wishes, so as to spare the world from his mindless “amorality”; and a Republican senator had likened the White House to an adult daycare center, warned that Trump’s recklessness was a threat to global security, and insisted that most of his colleagues secretly agreed.

Almost everyone in the House of Representatives Tuesday night knew almost all of this. Almost all acted as though they did not. There was nothing exceptional in the mendacity of Trump’s State of the Union address. By now, we are quite used to the lies. But the spectacle of a shoddy con man stiltedly rehearsing a combination of his own willful delusions, and our nation’s-- while a chamber of respectables hooted and hollered-- proved that this president hasn’t lost the power to unnerve.

On Tuesday night, the president who had just shuttered the federal government for more than a month-- in a fruitless bid to coerce a co-equal branch of government into passing unpopular legislation-- expressed his hope that America’s leaders would “govern not as TWO PARTIES but as ONE NATION.” He accused the Democratic Party of pursuing “the politics of revenge, resistance, and retribution,” moments before threatening that there would be no “peace and legislation” if Nancy Pelosi’s caucus continued conducting oversight of his administration. He conjured an “American people” unified behind his agenda, hours after proudly tweeting a poll that showed his approval rating at 48 percent. At one point, Trump got so caught up in his own fantastical performance, the man whose signature immigration bill called for nearly halving legal admissions announced, “I want people to come into our country, IN THE LARGEST NUMBERS EVER, but they have to come in legally.”

Trump didn’t say the word “climate” once. But he did triumphantly declare the United States the world’s number-one exporter of the fuels that threaten to render human civilization unsustainable on this planet. The Republican lawmakers who call him an imbecile behind his back cheered, and chanted our country’s name. And when the president told them our union was strong, they pretended to believe him.

But were they the only ones? And how many millions across our country-- victims of a collapsing education system and a collapsing society-- were believing him who weren't pretending? In fact, there were plenty on the floor of the House who weren't pretending either. Kyrsten Sinema, a sociopath (literally) from Arizona, who Chuck Schumer had just given a Senate seat to, sure didn't seem like she was pretending, did she? And if they were just pretending, wouldn't that be lining up this morning to sign on as co-sponsors to this?

Midnight Meme Of The Day!

by Noah

Republican Hypocrisy and Evil 101: Using a cancer survivor, especially a child, as a cheap SOTU applause prop is extra evil of all of those Republicans who applauded young Grace on Tuesday night. What republicans did just a few days after they and their beloved party leader interrupted the chemo treatments of untold numbers of Americans with their heinous government shutdown is about as evil as humans get. Yet, they smile and shrug it off. Virtually no one calls them out on it, so it's up to the meme creators when those who have the power to say something and do something abdicate their responsibilities. They just don't ignore their responsibilities, they sadistically dedicate themselves to making things worse for those they condescendingly call ordinary Americans. That's your State Of The Union.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party continues to promote its agenda of poisoning the air and water this child will be breathing, drinking, and swimming in for the rest of her life. Pro-life party? What pro-life party?

Midnight Meme Of The Day!

by Noah

Oh, how I long to hear Donnie Sleazeball call "Nancy" Mommy!

Maybe House Speaker Nancy Pelosi isn't my favorite politician but I have to give credit where credit is due. She used her larger hands and her facial expression to invent the Fuck You Clap. It will now be forever known as such. She should trademark it. It doesn't even matter if it was deliberate or just perfect timing of the camera shutter, perception is the key and perception is reality. Perhaps it was just her soul asserting itself and taking control. It says so much more than shouting "You lie." The fact that this photo went so instantly explosively viral with so many captions means that it defines the night; more than Donnie's bullshit plea for unity after he spent his whole pre-speech luncheon insulting his political rivals, his usual litany of lies, and even his calls for an end to people investigating him. Oh, poor little Donnie!

Two more thoughts: A friend of mine commented that the photo of Speaker Pelosi applauding Trump reminds her of a lousy husband wanting extra credit just for taking out the trash. Now if only the Speaker would obey her oath to defend the Constitution and take out this particular bag of trash.

Trump Lied To All Americans-- But Very Specifically, He Lied To Ohio Workers

Monday night we did a quick pre-SOTU prep post to outline in a general way how Trump has lied to the American people from his campaign until now about everything big and small. Now, while Trump is chopping up the Adderall he'll be snorting before giving his second SOTU address, I want to point out a very specific lie that Madeleine Carlisle exposed at The Atlantic early this morning: Lordstown, Ohio. On the campaign trail in 2016, Trump told GM workers their jobs were safe. That Chevy Cruze plant is getting ready to close down. Before we get to Carlisle's report, a little context.

Lordstown only has a population of about 3,500 but it's in the Youngstown area-- Trumbull County. General Motors' Lordstown Assembly Plant started production in 1996 and is now the Youngstown area's largest industrial employer with approximately 4,500 employees, almost a thousand of whom live in Lordstown itself. Trumbull County is a traditionally Democratic stronghold. The county was won by Jimmy Carter (twice), Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, Bill Clinton (twice), Al Gore, John Kerry and Obama (twice). Then came 2016 and Hillary Clinton. And Trump. Hillary couldn't have been a worse nominee at a worse time for Trumbull County. Trump beat her 48,152 (51.2%) to 42,130 (44.8%), breaking over 4 decades of Democratic presidential victories. In fact, Trump won the entire region with the exception of Mahoning County, which Hillary took with a 49.8% plurality.

Last year Sherrod Brown won Trumbull County 58% to 42% against Republican Jim Renacci and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Richard Cordray beat Mike DeWine 52-46%. Nearly all of Trumbull County lies within Democrat Tim Ryan's 13th congressional district and he won the county in a landslide. Next year both Bernie and Elizabeth Warren are planning to use Trumbull, Mahoning, Summit, Portage as part of a base to rebuild blue Ohio after pointless neo-liberal centrists like Clinton ceded it to the GOP. Tonight, Rep. Tim Ryan's guest at the Trump shit-show is Dave Green, the president of the union at the Lordstown assembly plant.

In her report this morning Carlisle wrote that "Nanette Senters has worked in the body-shop division of General Motors’ Lordstown assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio, for 20 years. She helps build the shell of what becomes the Chevy Cruze... Back in 2016, Donald Trump visited near her community, Trumbull County, on the campaign trail. '[He] told everybody, Don’t sell your houses. Manufacturing’s going to come back to your area.' Trump promised to make Ohio a 'manufacturing behemoth.' And at a rally a few months later in Detroit, Trump announced, 'My plan includes a pledge to restore manufacturing in the United States.'"

But the day after Trump was inaugurated, General Motors announced the end of one of the shifts at Senters’s plant. Six months later, another shift ended. And last November, GM announced plans to fully close five plants in the United States and Canada, cutting about 14,700 jobs. Senters’s plant will close in March. “It was like a kick in the stomach and a slap in the face,” she said. So she joined the advocacy organization Good Jobs Nation, which demands that President Trump sign an executive order to deny federal contracts to companies when they outsource jobs. The organization launched a letter-writing campaign to get Trump’s attention. “Never heard a word,” she told me. “He lied. He doesn’t care.”

...Ever since he declared his candidacy, Trump has made sweeping claims about his ability to bring back manufacturing jobs. In 2016, speaking at a Carrier plant in Indianapolis, then-President-elect Trump declared, “These companies aren’t going to be leaving anymore,” touting a deal he had struck with Carrier to keep nearly 1,000 jobs from moving to Mexico. But in the end, Carrier still laid off 632 Indianapolis-based workers in exchange for a cheaper labor force in Mexico.

A new campaign by the action fund of the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, asserts that Trump failed to follow through not only on his pledge to Carrier’s workers, but also on his pledge to factory workers across America. The campaign-- which launched in anticipation of Tuesday’s State of the Union-- centers on what CAP describes as “Trump’s false promises.” CAP argues that while Trump campaigned on issues important to middle- and working-class people, his presidential policy record suggests he instead prioritizes big business and the wealthy. One of the “false promises,” according to CAP,  centers on Trump’s pledge to keep U.S. companies from moving overseas.

...Trump promised to stop factory jobs from moving overseas... [He] has pursued three particular avenues to keep manufacturing jobs in the United States: deregulation, tax cuts, and trade negotiations. He described these policies are “one step forward and two steps back.” Low labor costs and looser environmental regulations incentivize companies to move factories overseas. Trump’s renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement-- which has yet to pass Congress-- would expand protections for capital and investors, but, according to Andy Green, the managing director of economic policy at the Center for American Progress, would do little to lift labor or environmental standards overseas. In Green’s opinion, such trade negotiations only strengthen the pull of globalization.

But some left-leaning economists, such as Susan Helper at Case Western Reserve University, and Jared Bernstein, an economist at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive think tank, said the “new NAFTA,” titled the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, includes provisions to increase wages and collective bargaining in Mexico, particularly in the auto industry. This could make American manufacturing more competitive. While it’s not clear whether those provisions are enforceable, Bernstein said, “I’ll give Trump credit for it because you wouldn’t have had that under most presidents.”

On the other hand, Bernstein argued that Trump has accentuated the United States’ trade deficit because he “doesn’t understand” the importance of the U.S. dollar. Between tax cuts and big spending, America’s deficit has increased under his administration, which strengthens the dollar and makes U.S. exports less competitive. Scott called the strength of the U.S. dollar the “fundamental failure” of Trump’s manufacturing policy, estimating the dollar is about 25 percent overvalued. “It’s tending to depress the growth of manufacturing employment,” he explained. And a report from the International Monetary Fund last October predicted the U.S. trade deficit will nearly double in the next five years.

Perhaps the more obvious aspect of Trump’s impact on manufacturing has been his tariffs. In March 2018, Trump enacted a 25 percent tariff on steel and 10 percent duties on aluminum imports. These tariffs were intended to save the steel and aluminum industries in the United States and, in Scott’s opinion, were “badly needed” to help save jobs in those industries. “There were half a dozen steel plants that were going to close, and they haven’t,” he explained. “Same is true with aluminum, which was in even worse shape.” However, Scott argued the tariffs didn’t address the root cause of the plants’ closures: global excess capacity in both industries, the sheer volume of metal produced in China is lowering prices and causing a trade imbalance even under a tariff regime. He said that if Trump had tried to fight that excess capacity with tariffs, he could have addressed some of the larger global pressures. “[But] he did not. He just put up a wall and wiped his hands and said, ‘Okay, job done.’” Scott said. “That’s been his style.”

Jeffrey H. Dorfman, an economist at the University of Georgia, believes the “single worst” thing Trump has done for manufacturing jobs has been his tariffs on steel and aluminum. Dorfman said that while those tariffs may have saved a few thousand jobs in steel manufacturing, they’ve hurt a much larger number of manufacturing companies that used those metals for production. “Steel and aluminum are used to make autos, to make tractors, to make skyscrapers,” he said. “We’re losing jobs in all those industries in the U.S. now.” A study at Iowa State University calculated the ratio of losses to gains in Iowa manufacturing was 2.7 jobs lost to every one job gained. And Roy Cortado, a senior economist at the conservative think tank the John Locke Foundation, told me he thinks Trump’s steel tariffs “do nothing for manufacturing and capital intensive industries in this country.”

Famed American brand Harley-Davidson announced last summer that it was moving some of its production to Europe, leading President Trump to call for a boycott of the motorcycle company. In regulatory filings, Harley-Davidson revealed that retaliatory tariffs from the European Union cost them in an average of $2,200 per motorcycle exported to the EU. Though the company never specified their relocation was related to Trump’s trade war, critics have pointed to the move as an unintended casualty of Trump’s tariffs. Ford Motor’s CEO James Hackett also announced last September that the metal tariffs had cost the car company $1 billion in profits. They announced layoffs a few weeks later. Bernstein said he believes these plant closures exemplify how Trump’s manufacturing policies haven’t worked. “He’s basically trying to recreate the 1950s, and that’s not going to happen,” he said. In Bernstein’s opinion, Trump needs to prepare the manufacturing sector for the future by focusing on clean energy.

On the other hand, while he disagrees with Trump on tariffs, Dorfman of the University of Georgia pointed to the administration’s deregulation-- rolling back environmental, industry safety, and Obamacare standards-- as definite policy attempts to boost manufacturing stateside. The conservative economists I spoke with cited this deregulation as effective policy. However, when I raised this point to Bernstein, he said, “Show me the factories that have returned to America,” and argued that the U.S. still has roughly the same share of factories currently moving abroad than before Trump’s inauguration. Scott also pointed out that, down the road, global warming will likely hurt both the U.S. and the global economy, so there’s an economic incentive for the federal government to regulate emissions. Scott said the Democrat’s Green New Deal would actually create jobs in the domestic economy because it would transition America off of oil and onto energy created by capital investment (building wind turbines, solar panels, etc).

Conservative economists also point to Trump’s tax bill, which cut the corporate tax rate from 35 to 21 percent, to exemplify how he has revitalized American manufacturing. “The whole purpose of the pro-business tax cut was to help revive the kind of blue collar industries in the Midwest,” said Moore. Moore also pointed to the immediate expensing provision of the tax bill, which allows businesses to write off a large purchase, such as the purchase of a factory or a truck, in the first year. He believes capital intensive industries like manufacturing will benefit the most.

However, Stan Veuger, a resident scholar at the conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute, told me he hasn’t seen “massive upticks in business investment, or in manufacturing.” He explained that manufacturing tends to grow slowly, and the results of the tax bill might not be evident yet. But he added, “I don’t think that the early signs are extremely promising.” Green also pointed out that the tax bill actually includes some benefits to having investments abroad: dividends paid to U.S. corporate shareholders from foreign subsidiaries are, to put it broadly, exempt from taxation in the U.S.

To some economists, the major threat to manufacturing is not globalization, but automation. As factory jobs are replaced with robots, job retraining and other educational programs for laid-off workers become essential. In Drucker’s opinion, the Trump administration has made little movement on this front. In 2017, Trump created the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative, but it was disbandedshortly after multiple members resigned in protest of his comments on the white supremacists rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

When I asked Moore about the recent plant closures at Carrier or GM, he responded, “Capitalism is about creative destruction. So you’re going to have some industries decline.” He predicted that the auto-industry is going through a moment of change, and that even more auto-workers might lose their jobs in the coming years. “But the point is that, for every job that’s lost in the auto industry, we’re creating three or four in the chemical industry, in the oil and gas industry, and light manufacturing,” he said.

But that doesn’t change the fact that in 2016, Trump promised the people of Trumbull County, Ohio that their jobs were safe. And Senters told me she’s already started to see a change in her community from the layoffs at GM-- six or seven lost jobs for every one factory job that’s gone, she said. The president of her union, Dave Green, has sent President Trump two letters now, and the administration has yet to respond. But Green will be at the State of the Union on Tuesday at the invitation of Representative Tim Ryan, his Democratic congressman.

The Real State Of The Union-- Most Americans Hope Trump Dies Tonight

State of the Union Poster by Chip Proser

None of those new polls that came out yesterday looked good for Trump-- nor for his congressional enablers. In fact, the CNN poll found that nearly 7 in 10 voters say the federal government is doing a bad job of governing, including 43% who say it’s the worst job of governing in their lifetimes. 19% of Americans think Trump's government is doing a good job. That appeared to clash drastically with Trump's interview with Margaret Brennan on Face The Nation Sunday when he bragged-- lying-- that he's created the best economy in history and that he's headed to a 2020 reelection victory. "The only thing I've done," he stated, falsely, "is created, maybe, the best economy we've had in the history of our country." Tell it to the voters who responded to the new Monmouth poll. Among them, just 37% think Trump should be re-elected-- as opposed to 57% who want to vote for someone else.



He also spent a lot of time talking about his vanity wall, which the new Gallup poll shows is opposed by 60% of voters, up from 57% opposing it 6 months ago. Despite the efforts of the Republican Party 61% of voters oppose deporting all illegal immigrants back to their home country. In fact "the vast majority of Americans (81%) favor allowing immigrants living illegally in the U.S. "the chance to become U.S. citizens if they meet certain requirements over a period of time."

Preparing for a night of lies (his State of the Union address this evening), Trump is freaking out over the massive White House leak that shows he's a lazy sack of crap who does nothing all day but sit around watching TV, eating junk food and gossiping with his friends on the phone. Mike Allen wrote that "White House insiders said the leak sowed chaos. Cliff Sims, the former White House official who wrote the dishy Team of Vipers, told me: 'There are leaks, and then there are leaks. If most are involuntary manslaughter, this was premeditated murder. People inside are genuinely scared.'" One of the NY Times' Trump specialists, Maggie Haberman took to Twitter:

Trump's instinct for self-preservation, though, isn't just to go on the attack against Democrats-- he went full-on against Pelosi, who is now more popular than he is among the American public-- but to have his political team squelch any attempts within the GOP to mount a primary against him. Yesterday's Monmouth poll shows that 43% of Republican primary voters want a primary next year. Zeke Miller and Stephen Peoples reported for the Associated Press that Trump is worried and "has launched a state-by-state effort to prevent an intraparty fight that could spill over into the general-election campaign... including taking steps to change state party rules, crowd out potential rivals and quell any early signs of opposition that could embarrass the" disgusting, hated slob that virtually anyone who isn't an anti-democracy fascist wishes would die tonight as he speaks.

It is an acknowledgment that Trump, who effectively hijacked the Republican Party in 2016, hasn’t completely cemented his grip on the GOP and, in any event, is not likely to coast to the 2020 GOP nomination without some form of opposition. While any primary challenge would almost certainly be unsuccessful, Trump aides are looking to prevent a repeat of the convention discord that highlighted the electoral weaknesses of Presidents George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter in their failed re-election campaigns.

To defend against that prospect, Trump’s campaign has deployed what it calls an unprecedented effort to monitor and influence local party operations. It has used endorsements, lobbying and rule changes to increase the likelihood that only loyal Trump activists make it to the Republican nominating convention in August 2020.

Bill Stepien, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, calls it all a “process of ensuring that the national convention is a television commercial for the president for an audience of 300 million and not an internal fight.”

One early success for Trump’s campaign was in Massachusetts, where Trump backer and former state Rep. Jim Lyons last month defeated the candidate backed by Massachusetts Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, a Trump critic, to serve as the state party chairman.

“We have a constant focus on tracking everything regarding this process,” Stepien said. “Who’s running, what their level of support for the president is and what their vote counts are.”

The campaign’s work extends beyond state party leadership races, which are taking place in many key states in the coming weeks. Trump’s team plans to organize at county and state caucuses and conventions over the next 18 months to elevate pro-Trump leaders and potential delegates. Ahead of the convention, it aims to have complete control of the convention agenda, rules and platform-- and to identify any potential trouble-makers well in advance.

...[T]he efforts to protect Trump simply highlight his vulnerability, said an adviser to one potential Republican opponent.

“They’re not talented, but they’re not idiotic. They rightfully understand that he could be badly damaged or lose in a nomination battle. They’re doing too much. It looks weak,” said John Weaver, a senior adviser to former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, one of the few high-profile Republicans seriously contemplating a primary challenge.

Trump’s campaign is closely monitoring the intentions of Kasich and other potential primary challengers, and aides said they expect someone to mount a campaign for the nomination. But they insist their efforts are not borne out of fear that Trump is vulnerable.

Primary challenges against incumbent presidents have never been successful in the modern era. And Trump’s poll numbers among Republican voters have proven to be resilient. Still, his aides said they are taking lessons from one-term leaders who lost their re-elections after embarrassing nominating fights.

Those in the past who challenged a president both distracted the incumbent from the November campaign and offered a voice to intraparty discontent, seeding weaknesses that were exploited by a general-election rival.

Another poster by Chip Proser

Midnight Meme Of The Day!

by Noah

Tonight, those who choose to brace themselves and tune in will be able to watch Donnie Sleazeball give his second annual State Of The Union address. Get your barf bags ready! It'll be on seemingly every channel but the Cartoon Network which is where it actually belongs.

This is how I am preparing for the big broadcast: I thought of taking a page from the Big Pop-up Cookbook of Trump White House Cuisine and getting in a tray of Bigly Macs or whatever they're called but I ate at a McDonalds once back in 1971 and never went back. So, what to do? Lots of people make junk food runs on grocery stores for Super Bowls, but drug stores have probably noticed a run on things to settle the stomach, anti-vomiting pills, and migraine meds for tonight's big farce. I don't know about you, but I did that and I will have all three on hand, plus a morphine IV. I'm all set. The wife has even re-erected the chicken wire wall in front of the TV! I did, however, buy one of the last bags of Cheetos available at my local grocery store. Don't worry, I'm not going to eat the little cancer puffs. I simply plan to set fire to one Cheeto each time Trump lies. I use an acetylene torch. It's a voodoo thing. I got the X-Tra Large Family-Size bag. That should suffice, unless he goes rambling on for over an hour.

Trump has spent the last week preparing well for tonight's speech. In a sad attempt to convince us that he's not Putin's bestie, he's torn up the Nuclear Arms Control treaty (which, of course, is something Putin has wanted for years and was probably decided in Helsinki). Somewhere, the ghosts of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are smiling. Trump has also, once again, sent troops to our southern border; a replay of the stunt he pulled right before the mid-term elections. That one failed but cost us all a ton of tax payer dough. A few days ago, we even had news of a suspiciously timed massive drug bust as a truckload of Fentanyl was intercepted at the Mexico-Arizona border. Trump will always use that as an example of why we need The Wall, while normal people will see it as a sign that the kind of security measures we already have in place work fine, so just double down of those.

Of his speech, Trump will say he would love it if he was covered fairly. Personally, I'd love it if Trump was covered in six feet of dirt, but, fair it shall be. The clip I'm using as a "meme" tonight is the great Randy Rainbow's fair, tremendously fair "just the facts. no slant" take on the real State Of The Union. It's a truer depiction of where we are than any we'll get from Old Cheeto Face.

Midnight Meme Of The Day!

by Noah

For tonight's meme, a cartoon that shows us a little preview of Tuesday's State Of The Union speech: The state of the union we are being subjected to every damn minute of every damn hour of every damn day, by our own choice. How appropriate that the speech will be given in a room where so many who we elected will cheer it on.

How Señor T Was Forced To Learn That No Means No (Who Remembers No-Drama-Obama?)

I bet Putin's Puppet didn't want to use a state of the union to explain to the American people why there are 7 million more uninsured people in America since he slithered into the White House, the highest since Obamacare started bringing the rate down 4 years ago. Sarah Kliff explained at Vox that "the country’s uninsured rate has steadily ticked upward since 2016, rising from a low of 10.9 percent in late 2016 to 13.7 percent-- a four-year high." Want to explanation for why young people, women and poor people are the least enthusiastic demographic groups when it comes to the GOP? "Certain demographic groups are experiencing a greater loss of coverage than others. Gallup data shows, for example, that Americans who are younger and lower-income have seen a greater decline in insurance coverage than those who are older and wealthier. Women have had insurance rates decline more quickly than men."

Although bright-red states Nebraska, Idaho, and Utah all passed ballot initiatives to expand Medicaid for low-income residents in the 2018 midterms and despite the fact that Maine and Kansas are joining the program this year, other things will bring the numbers down further. More red states are going to roll out work requirements for Medicaid. Kliff wrote that "the individual mandate penalty goes away this year, meaning there is no longer a tax for not carrying health insurance coverage. And the Trump administration isn’t likely to restore Obamacare’s outreach and enrollment budget anytime soon. All those trends are likely to decrease the number of Americans who have health insurance coverage for years to come."

But whatever Trump intended on saying about healthcare next Tuesday-- probably nothing-- in the State of the Union, he won't have to worry about it... at least not 'til he allows the government to open up again. Pelosi sent him a letter and made it clear he's not invited. Here's her letter to Dear Señor Trumpanzee:

When I extended an invitation on January 3rd for you to deliver the State of the Union address, it was on the mutually agreed upon date, January 29th.  At that time, there was no thought that the government would still be shut down. In my further correspondence of January 16th, I said we should work together to find a mutually agreeable date when government has re-opened and I hope that we can still do that.

I am writing to inform you that the House of Representatives will not consider a concurrent resolution authorizing the President’s State of the Union address in the House Chamber until government has opened. Again, I look forward to welcoming you to the House on a mutually agreeable date for this address when government has been opened.

Sincerely,

NANCY PELOSI
Speaker of the House

Not to be outdone, the carnival barker got someone to write a letter that he sent her back.

Dear Madam Speaker:

Thank you for your letter of January 3, 2019, sent to me long after the Shutdown began, inviting me to address the Nation on January 29th as to the State of the Union. As you know, I had already accepted your kind invitation, however, I then received another letter from you dated January 16, 2019, wherein you expressed concerns regarding security during the State of the Union Address due to the Shutdown. Even prior to asking, I was contacted by the Department of Homeland Security and the United States Secret Service to explain that there would be absolutely no problem regarding security with respect to the event. They have since confirmed this publicly.

Accordingly, there are no security concerns regarding the State of the Union Address. Therefore, I will be honoring your invitation, and fulfilling my Constitutional duty, to deliver important information to the people and Congress of the United States of America regarding the State of our Union.

I look forward to seeing you on the evening on January 29th in the Chamber of the House of Representatives. It would be so very sad for our Country if the State of the Union were not delivered on time, on schedule, and very importantly, on location!

Sincerely,

Donald J. Trump

Spineless: The GOP by Nancy Ohanian

Earlier this evening, Ken had some ideas about what might have ensued if he had tried to barge in. Maggie Haberman and her team at The Times wrote yesterday that Trump is shopping around for another space in which to deliver the State of the Union. People speculated that perhaps he should go deliver it in Mississippi or Wyoming. And then, inevitably-- the tweets of defeats: "As the Shutdown was going on, Nancy Pelosi asked me to give the State of the Union Address. I agreed. She then changed her mind because of the Shutdown, suggesting a later date. This is her prerogative-- I will do the Address when the Shutdown is over. I am not looking for an.... alternative venue for the SOTU Address because there is no venue that can compete with the history, tradition and importance of the House Chamber. I look forward to giving a 'great' State of the Union Address in the near future!" The Putz lost and a lame strategy, based on being able to bully Pelosi, fell apart when he realized she wasn't bluffing-- and that she held 4 aces while he had a couple of random cards.

Politico's Playbook this morning: "Replublicans were betting Trump had Pelosi cornered, and there was no way she would rescind the invitation. They thought this was a win-win for Trump-- either the president would deliver the State of the Union, or Pelosi would block him... But then Trump blinked and bowed to Pelosi, saying he'd give his State of the Union after the shutdown. This is a big win for Pelosi. It re-establishes that Pelosi is, indeed, in charge of the legislative branch, and there is little Trump can do about that. Republicans were winning the daily political churn Wednesday because they were talking about SOTU, not the shutdown, for which they are being blamed. And then Trump caved to Pelosi." The master negotiator, lost again. Maybe he should consider reading Tony Schwartz's book, The Art of the Deal. Oops... I forgot, he doesn't read.

Some Congressional Democrats-- Not All-- Are Eager To Start Dealing Seriously With Climate Change

Ted Lieu invited all the House Dems to a special session of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, of which he was recently elected co-chair. Tomorrow's session is to go over the art of social media, particularly twitter-- and how members can use it effectively in their jobs. As special guests, Lieu invited freshman member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a representative from Twitter to work with some of the less tech-savvy, old school members. Some members of Congress, like Bernie (8.06 million twitter followers), Elizabeth Warren (4.75 million twitter followers), Ocasio (2.4 million twitter followers) and Lieu (914K twitter followers), have been able to advance policy ideas and bring large numbers of people into the national conversation through social media. I love the idea of long-serving members-- who are perpetually whining about how freshmen (particularly freshmen from the Bronx, Detroit, Boston and Minneapolis) should keep quiet and learn what makes Congress one of America's most hated institutions before they offer their perspectives, are going to learn something from one of those brand new freshmen. It's good for them and it's good for her. In fact, who knows what will happen... one day they may even be open to learning what a popular marginal tax rate is and what the Green New Deal means.

And... speaking of the Green New Deal and Lieu, we haven't really discussed his Climate Solutions Act here. He introduced it on January 9 and it is now one of five climate bills pending, in some ways the strongest of them and a great way to help drive the conversation. Take my word for it-- there is going to be a lot of discussion (fighting) within the House Democratic Caucus over what actions Congress can take on climate. When I first met Lieu, a happy California state senator with a family, I asked him why he would want to move to DC's corrupt den of vipers. He didn't hesitate for a moment: it was all about climate and environment, for his two young sons and for the people of California, the U.S. and beyond. There's plenty he wants to accomplish, but that appeared to be his top motivator.

So it didn't surprise me to see him go on record with an extremely ambitious bill.  More than most members he gets what a real national (global) emergency we're facing (now) and he's told me that if we don't start pushing the envelope now in what we are asking for, we won't get there in time to-- literally-- save the world. The bill had 10 immediate co-sponsors, all Democrats:

Nanette Barragan (CA)
Matt Cartwright (PA)
Steve Cohen (TN)
Rosa DeLauro (CT)
Jimmy Gomez (CA)
Barbara Lee (CA)
Grace Napolitano (CA)
Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC)
Harley Rouda (CA)
Mark DeSaulnier (CA)

Basically, what the bill does-- you can read the whole thing here-- is encourage strong renewable energy standards by requiring that 100% of electricity sold in the U.S. is generated from renewable sources by 2035, while aggressively targeting greenhouse gases by requiring such emissions to be 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. This is a more aggressive version of bills be introduced in both the 114th and 115th Congress, each of which was bottled up in the House Energy and Commerce Committee by an on-the-take Republican chairman. It will be interesting to see what an on-the-take Democratic chairman, Frank Pallone, will do now.

"There is no threat greater to our nation’s security," said Lieu when introducing the bill, "than climate change. Failing to protect our planet will endanger the lives of millions, hurt our economy and jeopardize our children’s future. The wildfires in my district were worsened by drought conditions and are a sliver of what is in store if we fail to act. My bill is bold because we need to be bold on climate change. Now that Democrats are in the majority, we can and will be more aggressive on curbing the impact of climate change and creating a sustainable future for generations to come."

There are other excellent climate bills out there by Peter Welch (D-VT), one sponsored by Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), one sponsored by Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) and, of course, the Alexandria Ocasio-sponsored Green New Deal from the Sunrise Movement, which has been endorsed by pretty much all the sponsors of the other bills as well.

I guess it would be out of the question for Pelosi to disinvite the illegitimate fake "president" from giving a State of the Union address based on his actions hastening the end of mankind of this planet. But for something more targeted, like the government shut down? That works.

Midnight Meme Of The Day!

-by Noah

The State of the Union is Fucked.

Usually, presidents stand before Congress and the national TV audience to give their "State of the Union" speech and say "The state of the Union is strong." It's showmanship. It's a designed cheer and applause line no matter what the real state of the union happens to be at the time. I suspect that, on Tuesday night, our psychopathic 300 pound fartbag of a president will say something to the same effect, maybe even the exact same words, if he is having a good night reading his teleprompter, that is. But, what will happen is anybody's guess. He could say those magic bullshit words. It would be in keeping with his propensity to lie. He is incapable of a true statement. To him, truth is a disease. Even his name isn't his name.

More than likely, "Trump" will say "The state of the Union is strong" and then he will start rambling about how we are strong because of his own tremendousness and magnificence, his deal-making, his leadership, his indisputably stable genius... you know how it goes. He will claim to have "signed more legislation than any previous president"; still not understanding that signing executive orders is not signing legislation. He will say all this and the obsequious republicans in the hall will stand up and stomp and cheer. All the while, Mike Pence will be sitting on the dais in back of Trump praying to his fake Christian god that his boss will just keel over dead right then and there so he can take over the big podium and start bringing his dreams of Christian jihad to full flower at a faster pace. Right next to him will be a smirking Paul Ryan, applauding Trump's every utterance and white power hand gesture, while he also prays for Trump's sudden demise and adds Pence's demise, too; not that he disagrees with anything Trump or Pence say or do, but but because he has his own dreams, the darkest dreams of all dreams.

Yes, Republicans will cheer whatever their beloved leader has to say. They will cheer his batshit insanity as if it is there own, because it is their own. If Trump says we need more pedophiles in government, they will applaud that. If Trump says no more black or brown, no matter how many billions they contribute to our economy, they will of course, applaud that. If, after nodding to Pence, he announces a government taxpayer-funded program of "gay conversion," they will applaud and cheer that; even the self-loathing closet cases among them. If Trump starts talking about closing down public schools and replacing them with Trump Universities, they will applaud that. Selling the Grand Canyon? Yeah, they will applaud that. Yosemite? That, too. Make DACA children build "The Wall" for a dollar a day? Total Republican bliss! Even more deficit-multiplying redistribution of wealth up to the top 1% via more tax scams? C'mon do ya have to ask? The benefits of coal ash and lead in our water? You bet. If Trump says he wants to join with Russia in a new USSR and sell all our resources to Russia for 10 cents on the dollar, they will applaud that, and the TV cameras will pivot to the guest section where they will find a beaming Vladimir Putin. For extra measure, Putin will be flanked by an American porn star on one side and a Russian porn star on the other, all in a display of the new unity.

Then, in a consolation prize nod to China, he will announce that helping Puerto Rico recover is no longer an American problem (not that he ever thought that it was) because Jared has dealt the island to China in return for cash for his New York real estate ventures.

Most of all, if Señor Trumpanzee actually does have a highly unlikely moment of honesty and says "The State of the Union is Fucked," Republicans will applaud, cheer, and stomp for that the most of all. They will then unfurl a huge gold banner with sparkling diamond letters that spell out "Mission Accomplished." And this time it will be true. Trump will grin at Putin, looking for approval from daddy. As he does that, Kellyanne Conway, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Mitch McConnell, and, Lindsey Graham, and Louis Gohmert, all dressed up in 1950s cheerleader outfits will all start conga line dancing off the dais and up the aisles, while Stephen Miller takes over the podium mic and sings "Springtime For Hitler."