Wednesday, April 15, 2026
The point has been made that autocracy and corruption go hand in hand.
Paul Krugman pointed out that this can be tracked statistically. The biggest take away from the chart he showed was the comment in the chart that “no country is rated as both highly democratic and corrupt.”
Rachel Maddow pointed out that Victor Orban’s Hungary had anemic economic growth (.4%) and we in the U.S. under Trump are at .5%.
Then there are the charts showing that the worst states economically and educationally are all under Republican control. In the case of Texas it used to be #7 in reading under Democratic governor Ann Richards. Under the Bushs and Greg Abbott it has fallen to #47.
Every Republican president from Ronald Reagan on has increased the deficit, made the economy worse, and infringed our liberties. Yet, the Republican candidates keep blaming the Democrats for the messes that they the Republicans create. Or as Bill Clinton has said, “their big complaint about the Democrats is we don’t clean up their messes fast enough.”
Imagine if Trump while in office had done nothing, just let things go at their own pace. We’d have a deal with Iran. We’d be pushing Russia back on its heels in Ukraine. The economy would be booming. Health care and education would be increasing. Basic research would still be going on. Instead all those things are in decline.
Then there is Trump and Russia. Is he a tool of the Russians? Every indication is that he is. We’ve never learned about the server in Trump Tower that was communicating directly with a server in Russia.
Then there is Jeffery Epstein. Does anyone believe that a man who hung out with Jeff for over ten years, swapped birthday cards with innuendos in them and has been photographed with numerous underage girls and been accused by multiple women of sexual assault not know what was up?
Then there’s Trump’s latest speech where he said the world cannot believe what they are seeing. Indeed they can’t but they’ve learned.
The best indication of what people think of Trump is to look at the price of oil. During his latest speech the price of Brent Crude went up $8 a barrel.
We will be paying for this reckless, incompetent, corrupt insanity for decades.
I doubt we will ever get back to our standing in the world that we once enjoyed.
Well, not in our lifetimes. One foot in front of the other, that’s what mama said. . .
John Oliver’s April 5th program pointed out how Trump has been using Victor Orban’s playbook. He didn’t say it outright but sure alluded to it. That was before anyone was paying attention. Lo and behold the next week Vance and his wife went to Hungary to promote Orban’s bid for reelection. If you don’t watch Oliver, you should. He is always pointing out events that aren’t necessarily on anyone’s radar.
I cannot imagine the cost it will take us to repair the damage that has been done. I am sure it will cost much more than that damn arch!
Keep on Keepin’ On Rick! Enjoy reading your observations.