In fact that famous democrat president George W Bush was the previous tariff imposer. Sorry @Timex, tariffs have been part of the GOP vernacular far longer than Trumpster Fire.
Flood their neighborhoods with heavily armed police, harrass and intimidate them at every opportunity, impose maximum penalties for minor offences and if no drugs are found, plant them to get the arrest?
Again, while perhaps not the case for national level politics, Tariffs have absolutely generally been supported by labor unions (generally they are the only voting block who does), who have virtually always been supportive of Democrats.
And when Bush imposed steel tarriffs, they too were generally opposed by folks on the right.
Protectionism is something that folks like Bernie Sanders push.
But hey, don’t get me wrong. I am absolutely happy that you guys all realize how dumb that shit is. It doesn’t work.
The thing is that Trump is using the Tariffs more as a way to penalize bad behavior, at least in the case of China and Europe. I don’t necessarily disagree with the Chinese Trade war, just that it would have been far more effective had the effort been made to get the TPP signatories on board. As to Germany, I think it was a huge mistake to attack an ally like that, especially one with Germany’s history. It also appears as if the renegotiated NAFTA may be an improvement, despite Trump’s best efforts to submarine it.
As I said to Matt a couple posts a couple posts above, my use of the word “we” was ambiguous. I meant “we liberals.”
Still I find it very discouraging that my fellow liberals respond to advice that we think more strategically with a chorus of how wrong the other side is. Seems to me that feeling we are right ought to be motivation to think strategically so as to win. Instead, it too often seems (not sure if this applies to you or not) that people feel that our being right and their being wrong is a substitute for thinking strategically.
But I’ll readily admit my apprehension about our local House race is making me especially dour tonight. :)
And I’ll note it didn’t work. He got stomped by Carol Miller. I remember reading an interview with a guy from his district: “What’s more important to you, someone who shares your life and values and will work for you every day in Washington or a Republican majority in the House.” Answer: “The Republican majority.”
The urgency of the Republican strategy stems in part from the recognition that the core of the GOP agenda—slashing the social safety net and reducing taxes on the wealthy—is deeply unpopular. Progressive ballot initiatives, including the expansion of Medicaid, anti-gerrymandering measures, and the restoration of voting rights for formerly incarcerated people, succeeded even in red states. If Republicans ran on their policy agenda alone, they would be at a disadvantage. So they have turned to a destructive politics of white identity, one that seeks a path to power by deliberately dividing the country along racial and sectarian lines. They portray the nation as the birthright of white, heterosexual Christians, and label the growing population of those who don’t fit that mold or reject that moral framework as dangerous usurpers.
The Democratic Party, reliant as it is on a diverse coalition of voters, cannot afford to engage in this kind of politics. There are no blue states where Democrats have sought to make it harder for white men without a college education to vote, even though that demographic typically votes Republican. Democratic candidates did not attack their white male opponents as dangerous because four white men carried out deadly acts of right-wing terrorism in the two weeks prior to the election. Democratic candidates for statewide office did not appeal to voters in blue states by trashing other parts of the country considered to be conservative. Democratic candidates who ran for office did not advertise their willingness to use state violence against groups associated with Republican constituencies.
So one compromise idea which I kind of expect movement on now - Infrastructure Week!
And I think it will be much, much better than the massive giveaways that were being bandied about under the House GOP leadership. It’s still needed.
Also, CyberSecurity. I think there is a lot of room for bipartisanship there.
I hope so, though I wonder if Trump has orders to keep this from happening (or simply will choose to distract from it knowing that dirt from Russian hacking is one his biggest strengths in 2020).
I’m not sure where this belongs (probably not here), but this was too good not to post:
https://twitter.com/kmt188/status/1060280239744581633
It’s about racism denial, and its effects.
To me, elections are a very particular type of window into how this dynamic plays out on a national level. More than almost any other event/ritual in collective American life, we can see white accommodation and inertia play out in real time.
Worth a read, IMO.
The local Catholic High School here has had over the years many high profile athletes who were black. The Lopez brothers currently playing in the NBA went there. I think, depending on the community, the Christian schools are good alternatives to what the public schools may offer.
??
Did you even read the twitter thread?
Not all schools or cities are the same.
Not all whites are the same.
Unless of course you think they are?
It’s almost like the Twitter thread came to life and posted itself here!
That wasn’t the point of the twitter thread at all. I mean, really, your response is #notallwhites? It’s a complete non-sequitur.
Yeah, it wasn’t like he was singling out Catholic schools. I’m going to chalk that one up to Scuzz being tired or distracted, because that response was from an alternate dimension.
We all have our off days. :)
<Insert comment about Boomers here>
LOL
you son of a …………. :)
Ok, so Joe Biden has a really great plan to bring back manufacturing, clean energy jobs, huge infrastructure projects, etc.
The problem is, it only helps the American people, so I don’t see any political incentive for Mitch McConnell to agree to any of that.
So here’s my proposal, if McConnell passes the huge $7.3 trillion plan, then Biden agrees to include with it a $7.3 trillion tax cut for the rich. He can say to the Republicans, look, the rich get a tax cut, which will spur job growth and increase overall taxation, and this will pay for the $7.3 trillion infrastructure part by increasing the revenue.