Hello again, apologies for my absence yesterday, I was mentally exhausted and needed a day out to recharge the batteries and give further thought to what’s next. This week I have endeavoured to try and explain the wider societal implications of Trump’s roll of the dice with taxpayer dollars and the 401k’s of Americans who have invested their hard earned cash to sustain them into retirement.
All we ever hear is markets this, markets that. Behind this market manipulation jamboree for Trump and his rich friends, are everyday Americans who are about to really hurt from this deliberate act of economic self harm to benefit the top 5%.
Trump was forced to do a U-Turn because the bond markets stepped in to remind him who’s really in charge. Yet you saw the usual suspects claiming it was ‘The art of the deal’, when it was really it was ‘The art of capitulation’
Unfortunately, he believed that his 90 day pause would calm things down. As ever, he’s delusional and markets fell yet again. Even more worrying, capital is fleeing the US because trust has evaporated. Yet still a narcissistic fiscal imbecile, is calling for the very countries whose economies he has just thrown into chaos, to join him in his fight against China. Yeah sure Donny, they might be relieved for the moment, but for sure, they are NOT the idiots you take them for.
Have you ever been in that position when you have an absolute moment of clarity? You can look beyond the deluge of disinformation and deliberate deflection and can see just where this is going? It’s like being in the room where a silent disco is taking place. Everyone has headphones on listening to YMCA while you’re on the outside, playing guess that tune. Too many Democrats seem to be suffering from Locked-in syndrome, conscious and aware but unable to move or speak due to political paralysis. This is without question, a real opportunity to recapture the narrative and start dismantling the Republican lie fest.
Of the last 12 recessions, Republicans have presided over 11 of them, soon to be 12 I fear. Bill Clinton caused a stir last year when in his speech at the DNC he claimed;
“Since the end of the Cold War in 1989, America has created about 51 million new jobs. I swear I checked this three times. Even I couldn’t believe it. What’s the score? Democrats 50, Republicans 1”
Let me deal with the pushback that followed his remarks, because like all wiley old political foxes, Clinton was slightly selective with date he used to define the end of the Cold War. Had he used November 1989 when the Berlin wall fell, he would have had to take off the jobs created under George HW Bush, which would have put Republicans into a net negative position and that was not the impact he was looking for.
The truth is (and I’ve checked), according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, since January 1989, Democrats have added 51.5 million jobs. In the same period, Republicans have added just 1.5 million. It’s important of course to look at the context. George HW Bush added 2.6 million jobs, George W Bush added a further 2.1 million, but Donny Delinquent wiped out much of those gains with his loss of 2.8 million. ‘The art of COVID incompetence’ .
Whichever way you look at the figures, Republican stewardship of the economy has been a series of abject failures. On the jobs front, Democrats have presided over 23 million jobs added under Clinton, 10.5 million under Obama and 16.2 million under Joe Biden. Now you can argue that a proportion of these jobs were rehires, but nevertheless, he still added around an additional 5 million jobs over and above the pre pandemic level. Figures show that in the 3 years prior to the pandemic Trump added 6.4 million new jobs. This was less than the seven million Obama added in the last three years of his term. In short, there is absolutely no question that under Democrats, the economy outperforms Republican stewardship. Many say presidents don’t create jobs, policies do, so the result is exactly the same.
So answer me this simple question, why do Democrats persistently lose elections on the economy? It infuriates me and makes absolutely no sense. The simple answer is, time and time again they allow Republicans to dominate the economic narrative, to create a picture of fiscal mismanagement. I’m sat here trying the understand a world in which Trump added $8.3 trillion to the national debt and the Republican messaging machine subsequently portrayed a president who delivered the fastest post pandemic recovery of the developed world, brought unemployment to a half century low, saw persistent economic and wage growth, as fiscally incompetent. What’s worse is, the voting public bought it. Make it make sense to me because it’s simply nuts. If you don’t look at this short assessment and come to the conclusion Democrats have a fatal messaging problem, you seriously need help.
Barack Obama won in 2008 because he used social media and the internet to deliver a compelling message of hope and fund a presidential run with small dollar donations. You can argue, opportunities were wasted during his first term, but I put it to you that it was the Democratic establishment’s refusal to embrace Obama’s use of digital activism that ceded ground to Republicans who picked it up, embraced it and never looked back. It was a catastrophic failure of vision and it’s that lack of vision that has cost Democrats ever since.
Obama was the president that sacrificed political power to deliver affordable healthcare to millions of Americans. He was prepared to throw himself on a political grenade to provide wider access to healthcare that no American now want to be without. Sadly, their own act of self harm in November, may result in finding themselves without the ACA before the end of Trump’s term.
Before Trump, never in the history of American politics had it been possible for a political party to normalise the lie have no political platform and create a complete alternative universe for voters to mentally reside in. It’s Democrats inability to spot this early and counter it, that has led us to where we are today. We now have a situation where the genie can’t be put back in the bottle. MAGA now controls 80% of the social media landscape, which is where most people now go for their news. This is a HUGE problem at a time when Democrats need to reach voters to deliver a coherent path out of the chaos Trump is burying the country beneath.
In my opinion, In the next month, Democrats will have one shot at breaking the fever and they are making me very nervous. Soon, the so called ‘slight adjustment’ as Trump calls it, will kick in. Prices will start to rise, jobs will be lost and just like in the pandemic, Corporate America will use the cover of tariffs to price gouge families yet again. Never has there been a time when Democrats need to be more ready to seize the moment with a sustained easy to understand narrative, which speaks to the suffering many are about to endure. This isn’t just about lower income families, although they will undoubtedly suffer the most. This is also about middle class families who will be hit hard too.
It is beyond imperative that Democrats take the politics out of this and speak directly to the suffering of those they need to reach. There is absolutely no need to make this political, but I fear that they just won’t be able to help themselves and that’s a BIG PROBLEM. The guy they need right up front in this moment is without question Pete Buttigieg. He’s the only person in the Democratic Party who can strip the politics out of it and be a voice of hope in the sea of pain Americans are about to suffer, as they are being cast adrift by Trump.
I want you to watch this episode of Jon Stewart’s podcast and be ready to be inspired. Pete is so switched on, he’s even leaning into irreverence because after he dropped the ‘f bomb’ a couple of weeks ago. He understands it’s a requirement to remove the almost choir boy perception of him. Love it or hate it, he has star power, where his unquestionable good looks are matched by his proven intellect, leadership skills and good nature. What’s not to like if you’re a persuadable swing voter, or even a Republican voter with buyer’s remorse?
There were questions of whether Pete will run in 2028. I’m pretty sure now this is a foregone conclusion and he will run. In this moment however, he needs to put that aside and do as I know he can, become an apolitical voice of reason for all of America. If he does that, he won’t need Democrats to nominate him, because America will do it for him. In my opinion, he stands on the precipice of becoming a once in a generation leader that can truly restore the country he loves to its rightful place on the world stage. This is a man touted as a polyglot, although he would modestly dispute his fluency in some languages. As a president, would it not be awesome for him to be able to speak to allies and trading partners in their native language, not the barely discernible English Trumple Thinskin uses? Regardless, he is clearly a skilled linguist but above all, he’s a ‘good guy’ and I refuse to believe that good guys can’t win.
I’ve been an admirer of his oratory style and skills since his last run for president. I have studied his speeches and interactions with both the public and hostile Republican audiences. He is without question ‘the real deal’. I don’t want to compare him with Obama, because he’s very different, but his ability to understand and articulate a solution to a problem is truly a sight to behold. He can think on his feet like Obama and shred an opponent’s position so politely that all they remember is his polite demeanor as he picked their political pocket. Democrats need to be bold and trust Pete to create a path for the return of sanity to government.
Why are the American people being held hostage by this lunacy? The urgency is real, every day the shreds of democracy that are left are dwindling. He has immunity. He has stacked every branch with loyalists who are just as ill. But yet, we just have to sit here and write letters, make the calls, and hold the signs at peaceful protests while hoping we make it to midterms, let alone 2028. It’s been less than 3 months. 2026 isn’t even imaginable right now. By all means, we’ll keep on keeping on but honestly, it’s tougher every day to have any hope. Unless the democratic and few democracy supporting republicans can sway several of the maga reps and senators to stand up for democracy, NOW, most of us will become what Vance introduced recently - peasants under the regime.
About the clip with Stuart/Buttegieg: Excellent...both men articulate, intelligent, and obviously good-willed patriots. My concern is, the MAGA types don't care. You cannot reach them. They live in their own vacuum and cannot hear or see. They will view all of this as radical communism or bleeding weak liberal thinking. I would vote for Mr. Buttegieg in a flash, but the sick MAGAs are still there.....HOW do we get to THEM??