Part Two – Attack on Free Press, Plus Trojan Horse Tax and Healthcare Plans

​My views are typically not popular with the GOP base since I’m calling out the party, as their views have been so thoroughly distorted by repeated exposure to the echo polluting TV, radio and the internet, they’ve not only become radicalized but immovable.  Many echo-fans are so thoroughly immersed in those bombastic hardcore viewpoints, they not only disagree with my opinions but get flat-out angry.  That just illustrates the enormous challenge we have in bringing them back to sanity, but take heart in that we don’t need to rescue the mindset of most of them, we just need enough to come back to the sensible center-right to save the party.  What’s so obviously missing are more messaging sources promoting rational/pragmatic conservative viewpoints, but as for myself I’m doing all I can.  You can pitch in without the responsibility of writing your own commentary or finding hordes of links to relevant articles, we simply request you please contribute for the good of our nation by forwarding on this info to others.  You’d be doing them a huge favor in case they’ve been unduly influenced by the echo.  Be assured the echo-rhetoric has gotten so extreme and shifted so far right, it’s no longer conservatism based on traditional definitions.  It’s a pathological form of pseudo-conservatism whose popularity stems from eliciting a visceral reaction from their audiences through deception, anger & hate, so it’s time true conservatives stand up against this evil force hijacking our party.

The dangers of echo-rubbish are apparent when we consider their support gave rise to the likes of Trump and Cruz as leaders of the party.  It still boggles the mind Trump not only got nominated, but won (or maybe stole) the election.  That GOP voters would fall prey to leaders who are so extreme, so incompetent, and so completely incapable of governing, millions being trapped in the echo-bubble is the only possible explanation.  We either need to fix the GOP by neutralizing the echo, or else the pragmatic-rational side of the party will have an irretrievable break from the radicals, which will likely bring in a period of Dem rule till the GOP can find their bearings.  Responsible governing can only come about by the center-right GOP working with the Dems on a bipartisan basis, leaving the far-right radicals on the outside looking in, until those prodigal sons see the error of their ways and return to their senses.  The stumbling block is the way the echo is radicalizing their audiences who also happen to vote, meaning too many extremists are getting elected and not enough center-right pragmatists actually win congressional seats so we can get things done.  That illustrates the urgent need to fight the echo.  The more the echo influences the conservative narrative, the more it ensures polarization, obstruction and gridlock.

 

There’s no doubt in my mind the mainstream media leans left, plus it’s apparent they’re out to get Trump and that’s good for ratings, but Trump has brought most of that on himself.  But I’m also convinced the media is nowhere near as far left as the echo is way out on the right.  They are fundamentally different.  The media tends to rely more on real journalists with real sources generating their news stories, whereas the echo is more entertainment generating propaganda based on preexisting far-right ideologies.  The echo uses a proven formula generating interest and controversy from demonizing those who are generally perceived as enemies in echo-world, which really stirred up ratings when Obama was prez and Hillary was the presidential opponent.  Now that neither is in power, other bogeymen were needed and created to hold their audiences, so recently the echo has been cannibalizing their own in the same party.  Those known as RINO’s or the establishment elite have become convenient targets.  Such offenders come from those in the center-right, or any who oppose Trump, or congressional leaders like McConnell, McCain and Ryan.

 

I’ve been saying all along the echo is the enemy of the GOP.  Now the alt-right part of the echo in their figurehead loose-cannon Bannon just confirmed it.  It’s an all-out frontal attack backed by big-moneyed donor and loony crackpot Robert Mercer, who is another at risk of being snared by the Russian scandal and also has Trump bought and paid for (so much for Trump being his own man).  If investigations can link Mercer with any illegalities, that’s just one step away from Bannon AND Trump.  The alt-right has roughly evolved from the remnants of the tea party, who along with libertarians and Trumpeters all tend to fall under the echo-umbrella.  In the announced battle against GOP incumbents, Bannon is going to give the Dems a huge boost in 2018 and beyond. If Bannon’s far-right candidates primary establishment congressional reps, moderate GOP voters and independents could switch to Dems or stay home for lack of enthusiasm.  If those far-right challengers don’t win in the primaries, the angry echo-crowd won’t turn out in the general for incumbents.  So despite a Senate map in 2018 which leans hard against the Dems, with the help of Bannon’s shenanigans by totally dividing the GOP, he could actually be the driving force in the Dems winning back the House and the Senate.  The one thing loose-cannon Bannon is most correct about is he doesn’t think Trump will serve out his term.

 

Complicating matters, it’s true the energy from the base in both parties is coming from the extremes, with the culture wars and economic anxieties really drumming up the anger out there into the politics of rage, with the far-right in particular getting riled up by the echo.  The fanatical messaging sources have definitely created this vociferously anti-establishment mood, which unfortunately has cost Congress moderate reps from both parties, those who were the doers that could work together on a bipartisan basis to get things done.  This upheaval has created a leadership void.  So if we want to know why nothing gets done in DC, that’s why.  The more the echo-mission is to blow up the establishment elite, the more we might find many of them knew their stuff and running them out of DC serves to blow up our whole nation.  Bannon, like Trump, has promised policies to help the working class, and just like Trump those are empty promises.  I agree bad trade deals have contributed to the demise of our manufacturing base, but Bannon’s ferociously anti-trade nationalistic rhetoric would have limited value, probably even backfiring into trade wars complete with tariffs on all sides by our trading partners.

 

So with the Bannon-Trump-Echo triumvirate of bad policy proposals or no good ideas at all, the best way for centrists to push back against these relentless attacks by extremists is to craft and articulate economic policy ideas which are aggressive and far superior to the jumbled mess coming from the hardcore fanatics.  Maybe this radical insurgency can finally spark establishment politicians to quit settling for the status quo and finally come up with innovative plans to help the people.  Better policies should have been pursued years ago once it became clear the working middle class were bogged down in an economic malaise.  But let me reiterate this very important point again to make myself clear.  That Trump’s legislative agenda doesn’t get passed is not because the establishment and/or media are out to get Trump as Loose-Cannon, Dimbulb, Insanity and the rest of the echo-knuckleheads claim.  The real reason is Trump’s proposals on taxes, healthcare, immigration & other convoluted concoctions are simply bills containing too many flaws to unite the very divided GOP caucus, and by missing the mark may actually create more problems than they solve if passed.  Plus we have a President who knows NOTHING about the details of the bills he’s pushing, so he has no credibility in selling them.  Moderate GOP reps do want to pass something, but legislation cannot be tarnished with the poison pills the far-right caucus keeps demanding be included.

 

Many of the articles below have to do with Trump threatening to pull the NBC licensing over what he claims is fake news on a report during a summer meeting where he proposed dramatically increasing our nuclear arsenal, from which Tillerson calling him a moron reportedly stemmed from.  First of all, as is nearly always the case, Trump’s words are what will ultimately be proven fake, and secondly, there is no licensing on a national basis to pull.  It’s just Trump pulling another Nixonian-stunt wanting to discredit a free press.  But Trump’s media attacks go way beyond Nixon or anything we’ve ever seen before, looking to rally his base so they’ll stay on his side when the press reports on all the incriminating evidence coming out of the Russian scandal.  Viciously bashing the media is also the strategic formula used by a wanna-be fascist dictator, since he needs to only legitimize his state-run echo.  Those not mesmerized by the Trumpian mystique can easily tell Trump is the one who’s always lying, not the media.  If he really wants better news coverage, quit insulting the media & anyone else he feels has slighted him, stop lying so much, come clean on Russia, and finally put legislative proposals on the table which actually make sense in addressing our problems.  So far we’ve seen no signs of it.

 

Feast on the many echo-items in the other links below.  There are those articles on Bannon and the corrupting influence of seedy pals like Mercer.  Salon has an excellent article exposing the deceptive strategies and shameless lies constantly spewed by Insanity Hannity.  Near there seek out the sit-down Insanity had with Trump, two of the biggest internal threats to the survival of American democracy, although Bannon is quickly climbing up that list.  The noxious nonsense in that interview on Fox was everything we could have expected, where the dialogue was indeed insane.  These first few articles below are extremely enlightening, providing warnings on Trump from conservatives like Sykes, Sasse & Morning Joe, and what’s that I see?  Even Dimbulb is worried Trump is acting like a dictator!

The question over tax reform is if the real motive is to ultimately help the working middle class as proponents of the bill claim, or is it just more trickle-down tomfoolery which will spike deficits far more than economic growth.  The devil is always in the details, which some articles below provide examples of specifics we should be rightly concerned about.  The greatest value of tax reform should be in reducing tax rates on small business to spark competitiveness, growth & hiring for our primary job creation engine, plus encourage entrepreneurship.  But like eliminating the estate tax under the guise of generationally passing on family farms, providing pass-through tax breaks are promoted as benefitting small business, so we should be leery whether these tax cuts will actually have the desired effects or are really a ruse in providing their big donors with big corporate tax reductions they seek.  Since tax reform needs to first & foremost give tax relief to small business, such pass-throughs should be crafted only for small business.  Structure it as more of a progressive tax, reducing it to 25% up to a certain level of income, with also a nod towards tax credits depending on the number of employees in incentivizing hiring/growth.

 

Let’s not take Trump’s bold promises at face value.  When he sings the tune the tax cuts going to the middle class and not the wealthy, with his GOP choir in Congress echoing those same lyrics, let’s first examine the facts of the final bill before we join the chorus.  Should the tax bill get exposed for what it presumably really is, when it doesn’t pass will not be the fault of the establishment GOP, it’d be because the bill itself doesn’t square with the erroneous selling points.  Trump even made the ridiculous argument laying our deficits on foreign aid.  What is that, maybe 1% of the federal budget at most, especially in an increasingly dangerous world where it’s essential to maintain our influence.  There’s also links below that explain what we really need are bipartisan solutions to our exploding healthcare costs, which by far takes the biggest bite out of our federal budget.  Trump is really a buffoon overall on policies, but he’s believable to his base just because of the plainspoken & convincing way he says things.  So substance be damned.  Let’s not ever confuse Trumpeters with being policy experts.  And let’s not be fooled by mistaking bold promises for an actual fix.

 

In his cluelessness on policy, Trump only knows how to pass the buck and place the blame on others.  It’s why with his leadership nothing gets done despite having so much to do.  For our economic system to function properly again, we need to find a way to swing the pendulum back towards giving the working class a fair shake, correcting the trend where the investor class has gained so much power and leverage over workers.  That’s not going to happen without a major fundamental adjustment to the system.  The GOP’s hands-off approach and the Dem’s handouts/redistributionist approach are not the answer.  It will require a big transformation with big ideas to rightly restore more productivity, dignity, initiative & compensation to the workplace.  Every political move our leaders make from an economic standpoint should incentivize the conditions for matching up workers’ skills with better jobs and opportunity.  A prosperous middle class was always the one thing that kept our economy humming.  Another worthy goal of government is in manipulating the various factors which could lower the standard cost-of-living, especially in areas like commodities and healthcare, which could be a valuable alternative when wage growth remains stagnant.

 

Among the links below, no surprise in a recent Gallup poll.  Americans overwhelmingly want to ditch partisanship to get things done.  Then there are numerous links on Trump’s tax proposal, where last night he got the natives ramped up with the promise of giving us a $4K raise, which is just a load of bunk.  And if it were true, he could in short time double our debt.  He also just tried to justify spiking deficits by somehow conflating debt with a rising stock market, that somehow they balance each other out.  Huh?  In channeling the words of Tillerson, such logic comes from a f****** moron.  The thing about Trump who has already committed 1000+ verifiable lies during his time in office, every time he says “believe me,” which I’ve heard about a gazillion times, that’s a surefire sign of another lie which can be added to the tally.  Rest assured, the current tax plan which probably won’t pass will likely be far too inadequate, off-kilter and simpleminded on its own merit to do much anyway.  That’s because when we see the final form, expect it to revert back to the obsolete GOP trickle-down formula through vastly overestimating economic growth based on pie-in-the-sky dynamic scoring.

 

On healthcare, Trump also just gave us an executive order out of frustration Trumpcare couldn’t pass, although strangely he keeps claiming he has the votes to pass it.  Maybe some good can come out of this directive by giving people the option of buying discount health insurance, but it’s far more likely out of spite his real intention is to sabotage Obamacare, especially by ending subsidy payments to insurers.  If this order takes effect, lots of people will lose their health insurance.  It’s rather hard to evaluate because just like his tax bill, so far we’re seeing it’s long on promises but short on specifics.  What is really needed is a bipartisan healthcare approach providing a permanent fix, which some are earnestly working on, but Trump seems lost in his own little world.  The recent hopes we had Trump was going to reach across the aisle to seek bipartisan remedies on sticky issues like healthcare, such optimism may have been a mirage.  That hope stemmed from when he was thought to have struck a deal on DACA with Schumer, but there’s word Insanity Hannity talked him out of it.  It’s how Trump can be so easily swayed, when one smooth-talking fellow New Yorker convinces him of one thing, then another New Yorker sells him on doing something else.

 

Other links below show the disasters that have been coming at us in rapid-fire fashion, this week being the enormous California fires in Napa Valley.  On Puerto Rico, the urgency to help desperate people has been lacking & the leadership coming from the top of our government abysmal.  Rather than reassure the residents, Trump deems it appropriate to comment the aid will someday be ending.  Some things are better left unsaid when people are still suffering & dying.  Trump’s response & overall attitude toward Puerto Rico only confirms what we already knew about him, that he’s not only a failed leader but also a heartless, despicable person.  It’s just so baffling Trumpeters don’t see it.  They really would still be in his corner if he shot someone on 5th Avenue.