This story first appeared at ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
Look at the fat fuck posing in this picture like he thinks his head should be on a coin.
Arteriosclerosis please save us now.
Trump’s Washington, D.C. isn’t a swamp, it’s a sewer.
Somehow “out of the frying pan and into the fire” also comes to mind.
So.Much.Grifting.
Elrod says that despite it all, he still plans to vote for Trump in November, citing the administration’s friendlier stance to his company on regulations.
And this is why I have little sympathy for Elrods plight. He, like the farmers getting hit, brought it upon himself and has a simple solution to ending it: Vote D for everything from Dog catcher to President. If he doesn’t do that, he’ll have no one the blame but himself when his business goes bankrupt.
In other news of self-destruction…
So small business gets the “round around business” while the big corporations and multi-nationals get to still call the shots.
Needs to be proclaimed loud and clear that Trump, and now his maladministration is still screwing over the small business owner. And if challenged he’ll have no idea that this is going on, and “we’ll have to take a look at that” will be the quote that gets printed.
Quelle surprise
Looks more like he’s doing his Alec Baldwin imitation.
He’s thinking, “should I have the chocolate cupcake with sprinkles or an oreo blizzard”?
They can’t stand the thought of being wrong about trump and by extension, they really can’t stand that he’s a piece of shit compared to Obama. They’d rather die on that hill than admit they really fucked up and their white guy is a maniac and the black guy was a great president.
The sparkle of the young Dem bomb thrower has more than worn off.
I can’t get over the fact that the youths are just gaga over the old white dude.
Elrod’s story sounds like the merchants in the UK who voted for Brexit, people whose businesses would suffer due to it. Flower merchants, for example, their businesses would crater if a hard Brexit comes to pass. These attitudes paired with harsh realities reinforce my belief that there is no helping some people. Voting habits and belief in fairy tales are just too strong to sway certain individuals to a healthier alternative future.
It’s the ‘wonderful intentions with a rather tenuous grasp on political reality’ syndrome. It’s even infected me more than once. I always get over it though. At the end of the day, political idealism and an empty hat is worth the empty hat–especially in a 21st century world.
“Elrod says that despite it all, he still plans to vote for Trump in November, citing the administration’s friendlier stance to his company on regulations. As for draining the swamp, Elrod doesn’t blame the president.”
I got nuthin’.
Did I not read in the last week or two that US Manufacturing was down 10%? Was I dreaming, delusional,…???
AOC needs to shut the everlovin’ fuck up.
Whoever told her that she was all that and a bag of chips needs to be slapped.
Hard.
Hope no firewall.
Last two paragraphs:
Each side is planning for a disengagement that limits the other superpower’s day-to-day influence, reduces its long-term threat and mitigates the risk of economic sabotage. This involves an exceptionally complex set of calculations, because the two superpowers are so intertwined. In technology, most electronic devices in America are assembled in China, and, reciprocally, Chinese tech firms rely on foreign suppliers for over 55% of their high-end inputs into robotics, 65% of those into cloud computing and 90% of those into semiconductors. It would take 10-15 years for China to become self-sufficient in computer chips and for America to shift suppliers (see Technology Quarterly). Likewise in high finance, which could serve as a vehicle for sanctions. The yuan accounts for just 2% of international payments and Chinese banks hold over $1trn in dollar assets. Again, shifting trade partners to the yuan and winding down the banks’ dollar exposure will take at least a decade, probably longer. And when it comes to research, China still trains its best talent and finds its best ideas in America’s world-beating universities—at the moment there are 370,000 mainland students on campuses in the United States.
Were the superpower rivalry to spiral out of control, the costs would be vast. To build a duplicate tech hardware supply-chain would take $2trn or so, 6% of the superpowers’ combined gdp. Climate change, a great challenge which could provide a common purpose, would be even harder to cope with. Also at stake is the system of alliances that is a pillar of America’s strength. Some 65 countries and territories rely on China as their largest supplier of imports and, asked to choose between the superpowers, not all of them would opt for Uncle Sam—especially if it continues to pursue today’s policy of America First. Most precious of all are the principles that really made America great: global rules, open markets, free speech, respect for allies and due process. In the 2000s people used to ask how much China might become like America. In the 2020s the bigger question is whether a full superpower split might make America more like China.