It's the corruption, stupid.
Iranian propaganda videos are onto something.
Democrats should not count on a bad economy doing the political work for them. There is a better issue.
The economy might improve. Fuel prices might go down, the stock market might go up. It is unpatriotic and bad luck to hope the economy tanks and Trump gets the blame.
Democrats learned that the "democracy" argument didn't work well. Issues involving Trump's flagrant abuse of U.S. law, international law, and the Constitution have less political effect than Democrats had hoped. Voters want stuff. Voters want government to work. They don't really care who imposes tariffs. They care whether the tariffs help or hurt. Remember yesterday's post: Congress has a 10 percent approval rating! Trust Congress? Get real. Congress looks like dysfunctional geriatrics hung up in a government shutdown. A president can act; Congress cannot.
Trump's popularity is the Achilles heel of American warfighting. We have overwhelming military strength, but we have minimal resilience. Higher gasoline prices and upticks in inflation make Trump unpopular, which diminishes his control of the GOP senators and members of Congress who protect him from impeachment and conviction.
War is more likely to cause regime change in the U.S. than in Iran. Iran's government can take a licking and keep on ticking. Trump could lose the House and his legitimacy to fight a war.
Take three and a half minutes to watch the video. The YouTube video is better if you click on the little captions button marked CC at the bottom toward the right.
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| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7pOq-cjnOI |
The focus of the message is that Donald Trump and his "fortunate sons" are corruptly using the office to get rich.
The video makes the point of the corruption of the whole family, a timely message amid this week's news that Eric Trump announced on Fox Business that the family created a startup robotics business which immediately received a $24 million government contract. No apology. No embarrassment. No recognition that this looks like, and is, an extraordinary conflict of interest.
The video doesn't try to untangle or explain the big money for Trump family grift, the crypto business. Easier to understand is the Saudi sovereign funds bringing Jared Kushner two billion dollars.
President Trump, Melania, and the Trump family have been aggressive in finding ways to extract money through this office. Iran is doing what Americans have been slow to do: identify it, condemn it as corrupt, and make it the center of the attack on Trump. There is plenty for Iran to work with: the $40 million payment to Melania for the rights to her story; the Omani luxury jet; the $10 billion lawsuit against his own government, which allows a "settlement" between himself and himself; the pardons for campaign donors, and the crypto scheme, the Trump library hotel. The hits keep on coming.
Will Republican voters tolerate it? They might. But Trump's wealth-seeking is very open, and there is no denying it. Republicans did not like Hunter Biden's Burisma nepotism. Trump and his family are not shy about making hay while the sun shines.
Americans -- especially right-oriented populist voters -- are suspicious of politicians and good old boy corruption. Trump is risking his base.
Iran has a message: They are not on the ropes, and it is America that needs regime change.
I posted a short video on YouTube this morning on this subject: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7VIdUqYrmLo
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4 comments:
Trump’s corruption couldn’t be more blatant, but his deplorables couldn’t care less. As long as he and his toadies remain in power, he’ll continue playing us for the suckers we are. Meanwhile, those who care about ethics and the law can join the losers who believe that government should promote the general welfare. It’s the new paradigm: Ask not what your country’s leaders can do for you – ask what you can do for them.
I get a lot of the videos on my tic tok feed and really enjoy them. What a surprise that a guy who fancies himself as a mobster boss would be corrupting. Maybe his dementia will become so severe he will stop being able to steal.
I have watched a number of these videos. They make all kinds of salient points about things that are wrong with America. But they only occasionally mention Iran, and then those mentions are all something like, “We really love you, and are sad at how you have gone wrong, and we hope you can correct yourselves and become what we love again.”
This message, coming from a regime that constantly chants, “Death to America,” is a total lie. But the videos are really well done, and the Iranian propagandists producing them are counting on many Americans being too dumb to notice the lie. And, for all I know, those propagandists may be right.
I am just hoping that America and Israel have similarly talented people who can produce propaganda for us at that same level of effectiveness.
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