Day 1183 There is no case for impeachment. Oh really?

Day 1183 There is no case for impeachment. Oh really?

Sunday December 22, 2019

322 Days until the 2020 election and 403 days until the Inauguration

Andrew Card was on a news show the other day. He was W’s Chief of Staff. He’s a bit older and in my mind represents the old school Republican. He’s dignified, thoughtful, and well spoken. I was interested in what he had to say. Basically he said he didn’t like Trump’s character, the way Trump acted; but as to what he has done he, Trump, has done a lot. The economy is doing well, unemployment is way down and he’s just negotiated a trade deal with Canada and Mexico. So, even though he, Card, doesn’t personally like Trump’s behavior or character there is no denying that he’s done a good job as president. All of which I say, “Oh yeah?”

Card went on to say that he thought the case against Trump on impeachment was weak and that the Democrats hadn’t done a good job of making or presenting their case, and that he, Card, hadn’t seen anything that rose to a high crime or misdemeanor. To which I say, “Really?”

It seems Mr. Card is giving what I will call the Republican Classic explanation and defense. It sounds reasonable – on its face. However, the flaw comes in the comparison to reality. Yes, the stock market is doing well, but at what cost to our national debt? I mean if you give businesses lots of money via a huge tax cut and they don’t see anywhere to spend it because the average person can’t afford much (remember the statistic about most people are $400 away from financial catastrophe?) then what do businesses do? They either buy other businesses or they buy back their own stock and this keeps the price of stock high.

As to the vaunted low unemployment while true this begs the question as to whether people are better off now then they were before (before when? Take your pick.) There’s the recurring messaging about the person working two and three jobs and not being able to make ends meet, because the pay is so bad. There’s the stat that the average worker hasn’t gotten much if any raise in pay since 1980, so how good is the economy.

As to the trade deal, it’s been summarized as “We are where we would have been with NAFTA, but without the debt.”

Let’s also not forget that Trump has put us further in debt as a nation to the tune of one trillion dollars a year. While he’s done that he’s cut social programs wherever he can get away with it. Right now there is the prospect of 130 million people losing their right to affordable health care if they have a pre-existing condition. 

Let’s do a quick walk down economic memory lane. Nixon, who was the last Republican president to really help the average person and protect the nations resources, was fighting off inflation. When he left office Gerald Ford took up the fight. Remember “WIN”? Whip Inflation Now? Yeah. Well, Gerry couldn’t do it and Carter won. Carte kept Paul Volker* as Fed Chair. and Paul was tough, but he got the job done. It cost Carter the Presidency. Reagan came in and started spending money and cutting social programs, and attacking the unions and cut a deal with the Pope to stop the zero growth initiative.

*Paul died this week.

Remember Trickle Down? People are still waiting for the rich to piss on them. Hasn’t happened. 

Meanwhile Grover Norquist was running around DC getting Republicans to swear to not raise taxes and to cut spending on social programs. Defense? Oh that was sacrosanct. Now, I’m not going to go into a lot about Econ 101, but suffice it to say that any basic econ course (except perhaps one taught by Dave Brat) will tell you that the worst place for a government to put money if you want to stimulate your economy is to put it in the military. (The best? Look it up, because if you’re Republican it will freak you out.)

At the same time Norquist was getting Republicans to swear to no new taxes (yet spending was kind of ignored) there was another group of economic numb-nuts that had the idea that we should spend so much money that we’d have no choice but to cut the government down to the size of a pea. This seemed to go hand in hand with the far Christian right idea of the coming apocalypse where Jesus was going to come down and raise us all up. (Hence, the idea of moving the Israeli capital to Jerusalem.)

Papa Bush (aka Nixon’s bag man) came in and he had no idea what he wanted to do. He continued to stumble forward with Reagan’s econ plans and was amazed by barcodes. He lost to Bill Clinton who actually cut spending and left W with a surplus. At the time everyone was worried about Medicare and/or Social Security running out of money. That money could have gone into either program and put them on a really secure economic footing. W gave the money away. Then a few years later was shocked when the economy imploded and left a huge financial mess for Obama.

Obama spent money to save the banks and the car industry. He spent a lot of money, but it worked. However, he thought the banks would in turn lend money to the average Joe and revive the economy. Silly rabbit. The bankers took the money, shuffled it around, gave themselves big bonuses and parties, and said they didn’t know where it was when asked. (Similar to what they did in 1932 when they caused the Great Recession. Yeah – no, it wasn’t Black Friday in 1929, that caused the stock market crash but it was the lack of liquidity in the financial markets that really spiked the economy.)

Obama put in place financial reforms that slowly pulled us out of the debacle left by W and the Republicans. Then Trump came in and managed to not screw it up for over a year. Then came his massive tax cut to corporation and the wealthy, which we are still waiting for the average Joe to see any benefit from but we certainly are seeing the debt pile up. (Look for people like Jim Jordan to be concerned about that debt as soon as a Dem is in the White House. Just sayin’)

Okay, then we get to Card’s second point that he’s seen nothing that rises to the level of impeachment. That’s a real Wow for me. I mean here we have a sitting president who it has been reported by multiple sources has committed crimes. The crimes have been documented and he has admitted to doing them. Yet, Card is saying he’s seen no evidence that rises to the level of impeachment. Yet, this was the crew that thought six blowjobs did?

322 Days until the 2020 election and 403 days until the Inauguration

PS By the Numbers, this presidency.