Trump Vows To Cut "Entitlements" If He Gets A Second Term

That was quite the Fox New town hall in Scranton-- Biden's brithplace-- Thursday. The very first question was about his incompetence regarding the coronavirus. Trump responded that "we've been given tremendous marks... We've gotten the highest poll numbers of anybody for this kind of a thing." An election between he and Biden would leave voters to decide which codger's dementia is worse. anyway, Trump's answer wasn't just disjointed and manipulative; it was false. The U.S. response is being held up all over the world as the worst responder imaginable.

"Mike Pence is working 20 hours a day on this-- or more-- on this and really doing a fantastic job." Gee, how did he fit in that Vern Buchanan fundraiser in Florida where he shook hands with a guy now quarantined as a suspected coronavirus sufferer? "Nobody is blaming us for the virus-- nobody." OK, true-- he didn't create the virus; he just allowed it to spread to the U.S. with his stupid response to it.

Then he started lying about the impact of the pandemic on the economy. "we were set to hit 30,000 on the Dow. This is a number that nobody even came close to. And already we have the number and even though it’s down 10 or 11%, it’s still the highest it’s ever been, by far. It certainly might have an impact. At the same time, I have to say, people are now staying in the United States, spending their money in the U.S.-- and I like that. I've been after that for a long time. You know that. I've been saying 'let's stay in the U.S. and spend your money here-- and they're doing that, sought of enforced doing that. We met with the airline companies yesterday. They're doing a fantastic job... It's gonna all work out; everybody has to be calm. It's all going to work out. Feel reassured? The Dow dropped another xx points when it opened a few hours later.





Later they got to Trump promising to cut "entitlements," which is the way conservatives refer to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. It came inside the discussion of trillions of dollars by which Trump has run up the national debut (up 18%). He said he had to fix the military; didn't mention the tax cuts for the wealthy. And then blamed the debt on Obama. He said he will focus ("absolutely") on cutting the debt in his second term. Asked about entitlements, he answered flippantly, "Oh, we'll be cutting."

Jonathan Chait noted in his column yesterday that that Trump's attempt to reassure people about the economy amounted to a "string of sentences like an onion of stupidity, and peeling back each layer revealed even more stupidity lying beneath." That's an accurate description. Trump's followers at the event cheered and applauded throughout. After all, Biden has spent his entire career vowing to cut entitlements as well. Maybe I made a mistake when I moved back to the U.S. from Holland in the '70s.

Morris Pearl, Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires and former managing director at BlackRock, noticed Trump admitting his intentions even if the fools in the audience didn't. He reminded everyone why no one should be surprised. "This is straight out of the Republican playbook," he said. "First they passed the $2 trillion Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, giving a huge windfall to millionaires, billionaires, and special interests. Next, they play shocked that cutting taxes results in less tax revenue, and say that the only way to shrink the deficit that they caused is to cut vital services that millions of Americans rely on. As GOP donors laugh all the way to the bank, GOP leadership calls for cuts to services the American people need and have earned and have paid for. That’s just un-American. When Republicans are cutting taxes for the rich they are allowed to change the deficit to whatever they want. When Democrats try to pass spending legislation, the deficit number is written in stone and cannot be changed. And when the Republicans decide to be 'deficit hawks' again and claim to worry about the increasing deficit, the only people they ask to sacrifice are the poor and needy. Tax cuts for the rich we can afford, but programs that give the poor and elderly healthcare are out of the question. This is textbook behavior, and it’s textbook cruel."

The perfect Democratic Party scenario-- a lesser of two evils election. The elites at the top of the party don't believe in Democratic Party values so they offer Republican-lite candidates as alternatives. Voters are then forced to choose between a complete nightmare or a... bad dream. Trump or Hillary? That went poorly. Trump or Biden? If that happens it will probably go even worse. Imagine an election about which one's family is more repulsive and corrupt. Which one's dementia is more advanced? Which one will cut Social Security and Medicare less? This is what anyone who votes for Bidenin the primaries is asking for. Knock yourselves out; you'll deserve exactly what you get... and it ain't gonna be pretty. Remember, a lesser evil is still evil. After primary season, it's too late to fix that.