Trump has his strategy:
"Blame Biden!"
"Blame Hillary!"
"Blame Obama!"
Will voters whose Medicaid is cut blame Trump? There are concentrations of those voters in bright red areas.
Maybe they will wise up, some readers suggested in the comment section of a recent post.
Comment by John C:
People will notice when they cannot get basic healthcare in their communities.
Comment by Michael T:Trump is a skilled politician. Let’s say he cuts Medicaid, and many of his voters lose their medical coverage. Which makes me wonder, is he somehow going to manage to turn this around on the Democrats? I wouldn’t be surprised.
Both John C. and Michael T. are correct. Yes, voters will notice when services they rely on are cut, and they will be unhappy about it. And, yes, Trump will surely blame it on someone else.
I predict this future with confidence because we have seen it already. As yesterday's post noted, Trump grabs attention and stays in the spotlight saying hyperbolic things. They may be wholly untrue, or mostly untrue, but they are interesting and dominate every news cycle. He deflects. He accuses. He brands other people with the unpopular things he does.
We are seeing an uptick in prices and inflation expectations. We saw this in Trump's Truth Social last week:
That is trademark Trump. Simple. Clear. Deflecting blame. He calls it "Biden inflation." Trump understands branding.
After the jetliner/helicopter collision at Reagan National Airport, immediately, with no information on the crash other than that two aircraft collided, Trump blamed Obama, Biden, and Buttigieg along with DEI hiring of unqualified air traffic controllers. Subsequent information points to error by the military helicopter pilot doing a routine training flight. But never mind the truth. Blame unqualified people (wink, wink, you know, Blacks) hired to meet diversity goals. Not true? Well, it could have been true. It fits the Whites-under-attack idea that Trump feeds MAGA voters.
Nor should Democrats criticize decisive action. People want a government that can get things done. Remember FDR's reputation: active, energetic government. The Biden administration got a reputation for being well-intentioned, but slow and ineffective. Infrastructure projects weren't shovel-ready. Green infrastructure projects were held up by environmental lawsuits and bureaucracy. Biden tarried at fixing the southern border problem. Again, Democrats need to exercise care. Criticize cutting the wrong things, not DOGE's willingness to act. Voters want action. Good. Democrats want action, too.
Trump/Musk/DOGE are cutting things they will call waste but that are, in fact, necessary. Those departments are there because people wanted them. Trump is cutting air traffic controllers even as this week's news is about another airplane crash. People with tax questions for the IRS wait on hold for hours -- I know from experience -- and that will get worse when more cuts are implemented. But the big one will be Medicaid. Medical bills destroy household budgets. Inability to access and pay for health care is a motivator.
Democrats know Trump will blame Democrats for everything bad. Democrats can respond with a strong message that will resonate with voters: DOGE is Trump's doing. DOGE is sloppy. DOGE is a billionaire's idea of priorities. Some of the cuts won't make sense. They will backfire. They will hurt the wrong people.
There is clear contrast. DOGE screwups position Democrats on the side of the abused and forgotten American. "Trump did this" is a simple message. It will conform with voters' experience. It will "make sense."
Incumbents pay a price for sloppy, ineffective government if the opposition is ready with a counterpunch.
[Note: To get daily delivery of this blog to your email go to:
https://petersage.substack.com Subscribe. Don't pay. The blog is free and always will be.]
https://petersage.substack.com Subscribe. Don't pay. The blog is free and always will be.]
9 comments:
We should be reminding Trump and his cult of Trump’s own words. For example, when Obama was president, Trump came up with this definition – “Leadership: “Whatever happens, you’re responsible. If it doesn’t happen, you’re responsible.” Obviously, that now applies to him. Those to weak to handle the responsibility aren’t leaders, they’re just bullshitters.
People also need to be reminded that DOGE is not an official department, that we don’t know who they are or whether they’ve even been vetted. Yet they’ve been given full access to our sensitive personal information in departments such as the Treasury and IRS. God knows what they’ll do with it.
Patty Murray, Washington senator expressed concerns regarding a skeleton staff at Hartford nuclear facility due to lay offs. What could go wrong? Also USDA bird flu officials were terminated. Opps.
So were the staff that handle Freedom of Information Act requests. Do you suppose they have anything to hide?
We are seeing some reporting now, where people are saying, "Wait a minute, that's not what I voted for". Over time, I hope more people speak out because they will have more of an impact.
Is anyone else concerned about the fact that Trump and Netanyahu are conspiring to remove over 2 million Palestinians from Gaza? The fact that they are openly talking about this encourages extremists. A terrorist attack might wake up the Trumpers but I hope it doesn't happen.
Is anyone concerned about nuclear proliferation? If "Europe" has to stand on its own from now on, it's easy to imagine that Germany and probably other NATO members will want their own nuclear weapons. After all, Ukraine gave up its nuclear arsenal. The President of the United States now says Ukraine started the war with Russia. Given the present U.S. leadership, relying on Uncle Sam's nuclear arsenal to deter Russian aggression doesn't seem to be a very wise proposition, all things considered, for Germany, Poland, et al. France and the U.K. have nukes and the U.K. is seriously considering sending "peace keeping" troops to Ukraine if there is a "ceasefire." What could possibly go wrong?
Elon Musk has been quoted as saying once you do the cutting, if you don’t have to add back 10%, then you didn’t cut enough to begin with.
This is his method. We are going to see how well it works when applied to the government.
But it is the case that something needs to be done about the bureaucracy. How long did it take to build the new Interstate Bridge in Portland? Oh, right. It never got built after years of bureaucratic reviews. If it ever does get built, I suspect the paperwork involved will weigh more than the bridge.
Or how about that wonderful new high speed rail connection between San Francisco and Los Angeles? Oh, right. That never got built either, despite all the money that was put into bureaucratic environmental and other kinds of reviews.
If it weren’t for Elon Musk’s SpaceX, this country would have almost no space launch capability. We have that capability only because SpaceX is a private company, and has managed to avoid a lot of of the red tape. Meanwhile, the government‘s space agency, NASA, has only managed to produce a few Incredibly expensive rocket boosters, and some space capsules that don’t work well.
Thanks to layer after layer of bureaucratic red tape, this country can hardly build anything anymore. All we seem to be able to produce is bureaucratic paperwork.That needs to change.
The primary reason for the bridge between Portland and Vancouver not being built is the cost, which is estimated to be about $7.5 billion. The cost is being divided between the states and the feds and it’s currently scheduled to begin construction in 2027, unless President Musk crashes DOGE into it.
Sure, but how much of that cost was due to the tons of paperwork that had to be generated, all the endless red tape? Ridiculous environmental reviews to replace a bridge that was already there? The inclusion of light rail that hardly anyone in Vancouver wanted?
The problem is, we have a system which caters to every conceivable stakeholder, all of whom are given multiple opportunities to drive their stake through the heart of the project.
I don't think anyone would disagree with improving the approval process for construction projects or anything else that makes government more efficient, but that is not the point here. Trump and Musk are using "fraud and abuse" and other lies as excuses to destroy government programs created by congress and gain access to data they have no right or reason to view or manipulate. They have no legal right to do so, that is why there are so many lawsuits. The point is whether or not people who voted for him will realize that he is responsible when the programs they counted on no longer exist.
Post a Comment