Dear America,
Donald Trump's two favorite words to describe his adversaries and their deeds are "d" words: disgusting and disgrace. Unfortunately for all of us, those words apply to our current House of Representatives majority party. Republican speaker Kevin McCarthy is so afraid of losing the speakership, which he coveted and pursued even though he was obviously unqualified and to which he was almost unelectable, that he has now put his self-interest and vanity ahead of the welfare of the nation. A reactionary cadre of Republicans...a small one at that...is using the Byzantine rules of the body to prevent even a vote on a "CR," or Continuing Resolution, so as to avert a government shutdown when current funding runs out...today! He could circumvent their effort, at least as to calling the vote needed, but they threatened to put him through another vote on his speakership if he does that. And since what's important to McCarthy is, well, McCarthy and his ego, he won't take the risk. That's disgusting. It became obvious how unfit McCarthy was when he attempted to get the speakership the first time in 2015. He stated on national television that among his qualifications was participating in depriving Hillary Clinton of the Democratic presidential nomination (he failed to do so in the end) with his committee's investigation of the attack on the Benghazi U.S. Consulate. Even members of his own party cringed at what a patent misunderstanding of politics was evinced by his contretemps, even though what he said was an admission of the truth. It dried up all those Republican Benghazi crocodile tears instantly with a single imprudent political breast-pocket handkerchief. McCarthy is a disgrace.
As to disgusting, that adjective is reserved for the entire Republican Party. The plaint of that Republican coven of political warlocks is that the budget needs to be balanced so as to reduce the national debt, but that can't happen as long as the budget runs at a deficit. The deficit is the amount by which spending exceeds income, so if there is one, the debt not only doesn't decrease, it increases. So, as anyone can see, there are two ways to approach rectifying the deficit: one is to reduce spending, but the other is to increase income. But the latter never gets mentioned by the Republicans. Neither does the income-tax reduction that favored the rich preponderantly, Donald Trump particularly. Trump is expected to reap a yearly tax reduction of about $15 million personally. How much did you save? And as more than half of all members of congress are now millionaires, they all benefited disproportionately when their tax windfalls are compared to their constituents'. And in light of the estimates of the non-partisan CBO (Congressional Budget Office) that the Trump tax cuts will by themselves result in an increase in the national debt of over $3.4 trillion over the ten years of its existence, it seems obvious that repeal of that law would be a big first step in reducing the national debt. And Joe Biden and the Democrats have proposed not a total repeal of the Trump tax cuts, but repeal of the provisions that favor all the tax payers in the top 10%, that is everyone making over approximately $200,00. I assume that is not you. I know it isn't me.
But they, that is the conservatives in the Republican Party, are in favor of reducing Social Security benefits, Medicare and Medicaid benefits to make a dent in the deficit. And for that matter, they want to reduce the benefits in all social programs, you know, the ones that help the poorest of us stay fed and housed. So the solution for Republicans isn't helping us down here at all, and in fact, it will likely hurt us if they get their way. And a lot of them go to church every Sunday, or temple every Saturday, and tell God that they are doing good as they cut fellow worshippers off as they try to get out of the parking lot. It's the hypocrisy of it all that offends me, and it seems to me that the Republicans have more than their share of it in their policies.
I suppose that the bottom line isn't the tax cut and who it favors. Nor is it the reductions in entitlement benefits that Republicans favor. The bottom line is us, America. We continue to elect these people, but as long as we do, nothing will change.
Your friend,
Mike
Donald Trump's two favorite words to describe his adversaries and their deeds are "d" words: disgusting and disgrace. Unfortunately for all of us, those words apply to our current House of Representatives majority party. Republican speaker Kevin McCarthy is so afraid of losing the speakership, which he coveted and pursued even though he was obviously unqualified and to which he was almost unelectable, that he has now put his self-interest and vanity ahead of the welfare of the nation. A reactionary cadre of Republicans...a small one at that...is using the Byzantine rules of the body to prevent even a vote on a "CR," or Continuing Resolution, so as to avert a government shutdown when current funding runs out...today! He could circumvent their effort, at least as to calling the vote needed, but they threatened to put him through another vote on his speakership if he does that. And since what's important to McCarthy is, well, McCarthy and his ego, he won't take the risk. That's disgusting. It became obvious how unfit McCarthy was when he attempted to get the speakership the first time in 2015. He stated on national television that among his qualifications was participating in depriving Hillary Clinton of the Democratic presidential nomination (he failed to do so in the end) with his committee's investigation of the attack on the Benghazi U.S. Consulate. Even members of his own party cringed at what a patent misunderstanding of politics was evinced by his contretemps, even though what he said was an admission of the truth. It dried up all those Republican Benghazi crocodile tears instantly with a single imprudent political breast-pocket handkerchief. McCarthy is a disgrace.
As to disgusting, that adjective is reserved for the entire Republican Party. The plaint of that Republican coven of political warlocks is that the budget needs to be balanced so as to reduce the national debt, but that can't happen as long as the budget runs at a deficit. The deficit is the amount by which spending exceeds income, so if there is one, the debt not only doesn't decrease, it increases. So, as anyone can see, there are two ways to approach rectifying the deficit: one is to reduce spending, but the other is to increase income. But the latter never gets mentioned by the Republicans. Neither does the income-tax reduction that favored the rich preponderantly, Donald Trump particularly. Trump is expected to reap a yearly tax reduction of about $15 million personally. How much did you save? And as more than half of all members of congress are now millionaires, they all benefited disproportionately when their tax windfalls are compared to their constituents'. And in light of the estimates of the non-partisan CBO (Congressional Budget Office) that the Trump tax cuts will by themselves result in an increase in the national debt of over $3.4 trillion over the ten years of its existence, it seems obvious that repeal of that law would be a big first step in reducing the national debt. And Joe Biden and the Democrats have proposed not a total repeal of the Trump tax cuts, but repeal of the provisions that favor all the tax payers in the top 10%, that is everyone making over approximately $200,00. I assume that is not you. I know it isn't me.
But they, that is the conservatives in the Republican Party, are in favor of reducing Social Security benefits, Medicare and Medicaid benefits to make a dent in the deficit. And for that matter, they want to reduce the benefits in all social programs, you know, the ones that help the poorest of us stay fed and housed. So the solution for Republicans isn't helping us down here at all, and in fact, it will likely hurt us if they get their way. And a lot of them go to church every Sunday, or temple every Saturday, and tell God that they are doing good as they cut fellow worshippers off as they try to get out of the parking lot. It's the hypocrisy of it all that offends me, and it seems to me that the Republicans have more than their share of it in their policies.
I suppose that the bottom line isn't the tax cut and who it favors. Nor is it the reductions in entitlement benefits that Republicans favor. The bottom line is us, America. We continue to elect these people, but as long as we do, nothing will change.
Your friend,
Mike
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