Trump is done. (Updated X4)

thanks, yes I am mentoring a 15yo and her friends also hang out at my place sometimes so this is not online, but IRL

(for context, I am a divorced mom with an adult daughter who lives on her own)

also i do my best to educate them to the bigger picture and some of the history, and to get engaged to help their relatives become more informed and to vote

Is it “bots” protesting on every college campus?

A tiny but vocal group. It was El Salvador when I was a kid in college. Reagan won. 

50% is tiny?  LOL!!

www.businessinsider.com/...

So let’s stop giving Israel anything. Then they’ll just buy it from someone else and we will have no leverage. Also, APAIC will then have a reason to shell out billions to defeat Biden. From what I heard, the Israelis were considering nuking Gaza, for real. That was discussed. Next, I heard, they had to “get cruel”. They would turn Gaza into something unrecognizable for generations. These were comments directly after the attack. Now I’m hearing they plan to “voluntarily migrate” everyone to somewhere else and are searching for someone to take them. 

Social media is not the electorate writ large; political obsessives on TikTok aren’t TikTok writ large.

Likely those are Putin black-psyops operatives posting all of that. Vladimir needs the US, and the Biden admin, to be so bogged down with I/P, that our electorate gets “war fatigue” and turns against any “foreign fighting.” Yeah, like support for Ukraine. Ukraine is like “The Preciousssss” to Vlad. “We wants it, the preciousssss!”

Don’t believe anything you read on social media comment sites going forward now. Putin is flooding them with his bot-farm operatives. The fight is on!! 💪🏾

Yeah these protesters don’t seem moved by actual genocide ( kidnapping children for Russification, summary execution of civilians etc ) taking place in Ukraine, committed by the guy who is helping Hamas.

Ok well, whether or not they are bots or Russian operatives it means we have a real problem. Because it's common knowledge that gen z's primary news source is social media. And for all of the talk on the right about banning tiktok the right wing has definitely infiltrated the platform. Similar to how the took over AM radio in the 80s. So yea, you can dismiss social media but it doesn't mean gen Z won't. 

*doesnt mean gen z will

“hijacked by people”.  More likely hijacked by bots and trolls.

Ok. We need to stop doing this. Yes, maybe a lot of the post instagram are bots. But videos with people's faces on tiktok are not bots The protests here in chicago weekly are not bots. Long time friends of friends on Facebook are not bots (I had one such guy just yesterday tell me he is mad because democrats haven't made progress on things like abortion, women's rights, brutality by cops, and that the democrats supported genocide. Then he eventually told me that he wouldn't mind if trump wins and  got rid of all democrats because democrats are scum. Yea, make it make sense).

So now we're at a point that all polls are completely wrong and that anyone dissenting against biden and the for the Palestinians are bots or Russian operatives and are not to be believed. 

Sound right? Cool. Because that honestly sounds exactly like the stuff trumpers were saying in 2016 and 2020 about the support for the orange one.

You are living in a bubble. The truth is trump has as good a chance or better of winning in 2024 than he did in 2016 or 2020 at this point. Could that change? Of course it can. But let's not live in complete denial. 

And the new york trial ruling is going to come out next week. If reports are correct the ruling will go against him. If trump stays where he is at or goes up in the polls after that then I call BS on the claim that people won't vote for a criminal. And we know that the media will try to spin it for him non stop. 

And oh yeah, the polls are not overwhenlgy inaccurate. They were not wrong at least in the national polls in 2022. They just didn't account for the gen z turnout. They were only slightly wrong in 2020. They were not wrong in the kentucky governor's race this year, they were not wrong in the virgina midterm elections which showed that the democrats had the edge going into that election.

They were not wrong in the Ohio abortion vote which had that losing. And they were not wrong in the Florida house election that the dems just flipped.

So let's just stop, ok? 

I don’t think I said any of the things you have said I did.  I DO think bots and trolls are present in just about every contentious issue/platform online.  I did not say the people you are acquainted with are trolls/bots, or that all postings are trolls/bots.  And online was what I was addressing (specifically Instagram in the post I responded to) not in person rallies.

Amen.  They sound exactly like MAGA when they brush every poll/story that doesn’t fit their agenda and ONLY listen to “experts” who magically agree with them.

There are 330+ million people in this country. 

And?

On Instagram his account has been totally hijacked by people calling him worse than trump and a genocidal maniac.

How certain are you that all of those people are actually biological?

You're actually right about this. All of the young people I know are obsessed with this issue and many of them are mad as hell about Biden not doing anything/actively encouraging Israel. It feels like 2016 all over again with the far left Bernie bros shitting on Hillary. This is not something to ignore. Biden needs to do something between now and November to get these voters engaged. It's tough, because the risk is losing moderate Republicans who are scared of trump, but I don't think it can be ignored.

It’s basically irrelevant. Young people have never voted in large numbers and won’t this time. This election will come down to a few thousand people in a couple of states. Biden will for sure lose Michigan. But can he win Georgia and a few other purple states? The biggest problem is Joe Manchin and No Labels and the other third party guys, like West and Russian pal Jill Stein, who have the ability to divert those few thousand voters and defeat us. That is how the other side will win. No way this will be a landslide election. Biden is, clearly, the underdog. He has no built-in base, his party is fractured. Trump, meanwhile, will capture those same 74 million voters who voted in 2020, and has made significant (very) inroads with the Hispanic community over abortion. Biden, who is much less popular this election than he was in 2020, will have a much tougher time winning. Two unpopular wars, an immigration crisis, housing crisis, economic uncertainty, and his age and historic unpopularity (29% approval), all work against him. (There’s bound to be third crisis somewhere to try to swing the election, North Korea or Russia attacking someone for instance). He still can, but he’ll have to fight for each vote.

I live in Michigan. In presidential elections in Michigan Dems have won in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, (NOT IN 2016, by 11,000 votes, or so) and in 2020 (Biden won by 100,000 votes, or so).

In the 2022 election Dems in Michigan had a blue tsunami! They took the state house, and Governor Whitmer won her race by 11 points against an election denying TRUMP worshiper, who was endorsed by Trump. A FREAKING BLOW-OUT. So, Biden will lose Michigan “for sure” because of POLLS that you have recently read? REALLY? Votes are NOT polls. JIMINY CHRISTMAS, when in the LIVING F will people stop thinking polls matter when an election is SO many months away?

Well, first I never brought up michigan. Secondly, the polls all had Whitmer up by at least 5 and one correctly predicted the 11 point blowout.  The only one who had it remotely close was a republican pollster. But all polls predicted a Whitmer win. 

Do you really believe people here would be saying ignore the polls and "the polls are bs" like many are doing here if they consistently showed that biden was ahead? No! I mean some might but not the majority. 

I mean as I said earlier, people are living in a bubble. Biden is in a lot of trouble politically. That's the reality of it. I mean I'm firmly in the biden camp but the rest of the country certainly is not. 

You're not every single person on Daily Kos.  There are responses to other people's posts. How many people or young people are saying that they will do whatever they can to make sure Trump wins with video of people you can confirm are real, voted last time for Biden? 100,000 ? There are 330 million people in this country. 155 million people voted last time. It's January. 😳 Wow. Remember Obama Clinton? I do. Remember Clinton Bernie? I remember that. We're doomed I tell you, doomed. Lol. Democracy is on the line. Biden isn't the Prime Minister of Israel and he is not a god. He just isn't. Netanyahu has agency. He just does. Putting the Muslim Ban guy who attempted a coup to stay in power might not help the Palestinians or Muslims here or people here in other marginalized communities. To improve government whatever that means to a citizen you need a democracy and despite the huge flaws in our democracy, we do have a democracy. 

No Israel genocidal actions will be a major issue because it is all over TikTok and alternative media channels. 
 

Just because you don't pay attention to 30k dead with 90% civilian casualties bankrolled by the US doesn't mean it doesn't infuriate a massive chunk of the base. 
 

I HATE Trump. But this issue and others are making me borderline hate Biden. I'll do the smart thing but I'm paying attention. 
 

a lot of folks aren't*** paying attention and might sit out rather than vote for Trump the traitor or Genocide Joe Biden the butcher. 

Yes. They are calling him that. And we act like someone that views him as a fueling genocide will come home. 

“They” — I think a good chunk of that is bots and trolls. 

The data doesn’t support it. It’s propaganda. Also, it’s not genocide. The ICJ couldn’t even say much to Israel LOL. Be nice, that was the gist of it.

They got anything to say about the stunning rise in anti-semitism since Oct 7? Before Israel even started to defend itself? Anything to say about the mass rapes? The hostages? Crickets….and where are we getting these figures? The Hamas Ministry of Health? 

Cmon now. You are in a leftie corner. We deal in facts if we ignore or discredit things that don't feel good we are no better than MAGA. 

apnews.com/…

The UN is hearing a case on Israel's genocidal actions now and just today* issued a ruling ordering them to avoid genocidal actions and submit a report with measures on what they are doing to prevent genocide. 
 

So no… it's not HAMAS figures, it's reality. Clearly you aren't listening to what Israeli politicians are saying this is. They are framing it in holy terms.

Oct 7 does not justify what is happening now. It may already be to late to recover the Muslim vote and save Michigan  hopefully it's not too late to shore up the youth coalition.

Get out of your media bubble asap.

The ICJ couldn’t even muster a strong statement. Because they knew better. JFC. I have studied history and understand how wars are fought. I don’t follow Israeli politics. We have a war to win right here, and Russian bots and bullshit are trying to derail us from the main goal. I get my info from American sources. The only place I hear constant pants on fire stuff about Gaza and Biden is….right here. No less than Marvin Kalb gave Biden high marks on his responses, and noted that Israel is not wrong; this part of the world does not respect half measures or a weak response; they will only respect a powerful one. His words, not mine. He quotes the leader of Hezbollah who noted that if they knew in the 90’s Israel would be so dogged they would not have taken them on so much. And the UN has a long history of pronouncements against Israel. Also, we aren’t losing MI over the Muslim vote. Go read what the experts have said on this specific issue. Too many bedwetters here. Gaza ain’t our fight. Fascism is at the door, and we can’t let it win because a bunch of fundamentalist terrorists decided to provoke a response from Israel, and have STILL not surrendered. You end a war by winning. And your opponent says I quit. Dresden, Hamburg, Tokyo. By the way Biden is enormously popular in Israel. So what are YOU doing to help win the battle against fascism right here? Or are you just going to continue to undermine Biden so that Putin er trump wins? And I find the characterization of Israel’s defense as genocide particularly galling on Holocaust Remembrance Day.

So what if Biden is enormously popular in Israel? How is that pertinent at all? Are the Israelis going to vote for him? And if you think the pants on fire stuff is only playing here, try Drudge for a few days. Do you ever read any of the opposition sites anyway? “Know thine enemy” or something like that. Only a small number of people on this site live anywhere except their ivory tower, where they can believe the people who don’t think like they do are a contemptible small minority easily ignored.

So you must be super upset that the UN just acknowledged genocidal actions may be occurring and ordered Israel to stop and provide confirmation on the specific actions they are taking to prevent that. 
 

...on holocaust Remembrance Day. 
 

www.nytimes.com/…

The Israeli government is not immune to charges of genocide because their people survived an attempt.
 

Miss me with the outrage lol. 

I'm not a bot or a troll or some fucking random stirring the pot. I'm commenting because I care and I'm sick of folks here ignoring the issue like it will go away. 
 

the U.N. ruled on this today. Biden will get tarred along with Israel when reporters really get in the and the full devastation is revealed. 
 

90% civilian casualties is not war. It's a war crime. 

As per James Smith of Aegis ( a UK based group focused on genocide ), writing in the Atlantic, for charges of genocide to have meaning they must be fairly undertaken. The ICJ made no order for  Hamas, which is formed specifically to engage in genocide, to stop their launching of rockets and inviting more retaliation. Israel took the charges seriously and defended itself ( something Russia didn’t bother to do when Ukraine went to the same court, about which all these protesters on Gaza remain silent ) nor did the court have much to say about the rapes and torture of Israeli civilians. You could mention that the ICC is also investigating genocide charges by Hamas. Israel’s stated goal is defense, not genocide. Hamas can’t say that. As for the hypocrites in S Africa, they were not only silent on the Darfur genocide, they didn’t turn over the architect of it when he visited their country. And their president met with the current RSF warlord, in broad daylight, while shamelessly charging Israel. But then, the warlord isn’t Jewish…..I invite all of you misinformed folks to go read the article in the current Atlantic. Israel does, and should, feel just a bit, that it is being treated unfairly. No surprise there. Putin must be happy as hell. Now please, stop wasting all our time here on this issue when job number one is defeating fascism right here in this country. Surely, if you all don’t understand the Middle East, you can understand that. What have you done to help the fight against fascism lately? 

What if you found out that Israel had been planning to Nuke Gaza strip (for real) and Biden’s team used their leverage to stop this? Point being, nobody knows what is going on or went on behind the scenes. Those 20-30k dead civilians might have been the lesser of two evils (vs 2 milion dead via one nuclear bomb). Also, you think the hard-core RW religious fanatics would not have done this? I think they would. I read that that had been discussed.

Yeah, all those students protesting on every college campus is a crisis actor. (rolllllllllllllllllllllleyes)

I have two kids that just graduated in Dec. I did not see all these protesters you are talking about, and neither did they. Not in NJ, NYC, or OH…..

Well, this says half of Biden voters…..not just college kids…..think it’s genocide.

www.businessinsider.com/...

Indeed. I find it hard to believe that someone concerned about Joe's support of Israel due to humanitarian concerns for the Palestinians would vote for Trump. Trump would be even more supportive of Israel and would support killing all Palestinians. The question isn't do they support Biden, it's who is the lesser evil between Trump and Biden. 

You are forgetting that half this country doesn't vote as is. 
 

Not everyone sees it as my only choice is the lesser of 2 evils. Way too many people think not voting or voting third is the moral option. 
 

That** is our biggest risk this election. Stop framing it in terms of "what, so they're going to vote for Trump!?"

 No, of course not they just won't fucking vote. 

He just sent his CIA director there to work out a cease-fire.

The DNC and any Democrat on the Sunday Talk Shows if this issue comes up: how would TFG be BETTER for Gaza than Biden????

He is afraid of APAIC as are most Dems. They know how to kill any incumbent and have unlimited dark money to do so. (They can spend tens of millions *against* a lower tier candidate). They’re the best at what they do. He does not want (and cannot) give them any ammo if he wants to have even a sliver of a chance at getting re-elected. Also, he can do whatever dog & pony show he wants. Israel and Bibi will ignore him, do the opposite, and rub it in his face to make him look worse than he already looks.

There is no evidence of this. And the rs just scored an own goal on the border; everyone now knows they don’t want a deal because trump told them he wants to run on immigration, and a desperate mother and her children drowning does not play well with the public. 

Sadly, it does play well with cold-hearted xenophobic regressives!

God forbid we should be “cold-hearted”. Get out of your ivory tower and come to New York or Chicago (where I live) and see who else it is playing well with; life-long Dems who say they will vote for anybody who can close the border. Oh, and it is not just cold hearts, it’s cold everything. Chicago’s recent cold snap, with wind chills of -20, probably indicates it’s probably also playing well with the migrants, with the city shoving them anywhere they could to get them out of the cold, and not succeeding all that well. If the migrants could unfreeze their brains long enough they were probably thinking “Who the hell thought up this policy?” The “warm-hearted, non-xenophobic, non-regressives” like you, right? Can’t say what I really want to because it would violate the RotR; maybe I have already. 

Amen…...on everything….especially that last part.  Some people are allowed to break teh rules on here non-stop yet if you give it back to them, they race to cry to the mods and instead of them getting a warning to knock it off, you’re the one that gets the threats.

I’m not crying to the mods just because you are posting nonsense. You don’t even understand the Gaza issue try reading what political experts have to say and stop helping the other side, which is what you  are doing, in case you don’t know.

No, the people “helping the other side” are all the Muslims VOWING they will NEVER vote for Joe over Gaza even though Traitor Trump will be 10,000 times worse.  That’s gonna kill us in Michigan.

I went to school in Ann Arbor and only then realized what a tightly-knit and widespread Arab community there is in Michigan, especially the more affluent Detroit suburbs. The way they practice their religion alone is enough to keep them well-organized and yes, if we don’t do something to change their minds, they can definitely hurt us. Bad.   

I live in the NYC metro area and you are full of baloney. They are not voting for trump over this issue. Biden will kill it in NYC, except for the trump fuckwads on SI. I live just a few hundred meters from SI. So don’t tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about. Where did you find those life-long Dems you speak of? Did you call up NPR. or PBS? Get outta here with this malarkey.

Well, I live in Chicago and every neighborhood they have tried to put up shelters in has had well-organized protests against it. These are the life-long Democrats, people in one of the bluest areas in the country thanks to the Daleys and their legacy. I could name 10 neighborhoods at least where this is happening, large blue and blue-collar areas. They HATE this policy, and yes, this is about as useful for getting votes as the “defund the police”. I guess you think Gov. Pritzker is also full of malarkey and seeing a non-existent problem too, when he sees the potential  loss of votes, talks about it often, and has been begging Biden for some help with the migrants to little avail. If you think everything is great, good for you. Then other people’s paranoid fantasies about a problem that will never materialize shouldn’t bother you.

Well i guesss Biden is a little more worried about this than you are. Below is from Friday. So you can go back to your la-la-land ivory tower and deny it all, since the adults in the room finally seem to be aware of the problem. 

No evidence of this? Where do you live? Chicago? New Yotk? Arizona? What do you read beside the preaching to the choir and back-slapping that takes place here all too often? And a large segment of the American population would not even think twice about a mother and child drowning if their skin was a different color than that large segment, and if they thought they drowned committing an illegal act. Everybody (or almost everybody) here believes everyone else thinks like they do. Not quite.

I live in the metro area. I’m in the city every week. Got friends in the Bronx and relatives in Queens. Any other  questions? The data does not support you so you scream.

Left angler is completely correct about this. I live in chicago. Neighborhood called lakeview. There are protests daily about the migrants. They hate any pro migrant policy. It's one of the reasons why the mayor's approval rating sits at 28%. Not to mention the weekly protests for Palestinians. And yes, it's killing biden in NYC as well. I don't think either state will go red but he is bleeding a ton of support in democratic strongholds.

Sorry I meant sbirny1

No, “everyone” does not know that.  Stop acting like the vast majority of people actually follow politics and know what happens behind the scenes.  The vast majority see the border disaster and blame Joe for it.

No, they don’t. That’s why trump is desperate because its all he’s got and they are losing the issue. Pay attention. Be informed. Stop posting nonsense. You are a part of the problem. 

People blame the person sitting in the Oval.

I have seen no poll that has said that the American people are supporting Hamas. They are strongly and consistently supporting Israel. Support of Israel is never going to be a losing position in American politics. Biden is being pressured by the fringe but in real terms he is in the popular side of the issue.

Also this will all be resolved long before November, not the endless Middle East turmoil of course but the Hamas-Israel War.

The border thing is certainly a mess and potentially dangerous, but the secessionists are going too far, as usual. We will see how that plays out.

I don’t support Israel and I don’t support Hamas either. I support PEACE! I don’t know how many Americans agree with my position, but if peace could be achieved, everyone wins. I can’t imagine a lot of people complaining if the conflict were to end peacefully.

True, but the reason there is a conflict is bc the underlying issue has not been addressed.  Add to that Bibi and his ultra right positions and there is this mess.  Peace has to be a long term solution, not a band aid, altho given the long history of conflict in that part of the world I am not sure that long term peace is even possible.  When the subject of a real two state solution comes up, Bibi rejects it out of hand.  OK, so what would create a long term peace in that region if the two state solution isn’t it?  It’s real easy for him to reject it, but I don’t hear him talking about viable alternatives.  Contrary to his behavior, bombing Gaza into nonexistence is not a solution.  Neither is killing the Palestinian population. 

Most of the Gaza stupidity I have seen does not acknowledge the hamas terror attack that provoked this conflict.  Maybe they know and just never mention it?

I acknowledge and disgusted by the Oct 7 attack. 
 

The whole world was. Then Israel let its right wing govt push the country over the edge and flatten Gaza with over 30k dead and 90% civilians. 
 

images and videos of people waving white flags and being murdered are going viral. Videos of mothers crying over dead and disfigured children are going viral and we know who is bankrolling it. 
 

You are living in your own version of a MAGA fact denial bubble if you think this won't be an issue. 
 

You need to talk to ppl that think differently and diversify your media from traditional (dying) media outlets. You clearly have no clue how folks are feeling

And how the FUCK would Trump do any better? 

Way too many people don’t think that far ahead.  Plus, most people have the memory of a gnat and already forget how AWFUL Covid and 1/6 were and actually say, “The economy was so much better when Traitor Trump was in charge” ignoring how it cratered because he blew off Covid.

Blows my mind that people are this stupid. 

Yup.  Plus, I keep laughing at all the people saying, “Why would they vote against their best interest?  That’s just dumb.  Muslims and Palestinians fans would never stay home and make the situation worse.”

Well, people vote against their own interest ALL THE TIME.  It isn’t just limited to MAGA.  Of course, they’re also the ones to scream the loudest how “much I hate that politician” when it blows up in their face.

Support for Hamas is confined to the lunatic fringe, mostly on campuses.

That is not the same as “support for Israel,” though.

That’s because there isn’t a poll that says “Do you support HAMAS?”.  Every protest says PALESTINIANS.

It doesn’t help Joe that the UN Court just told Netanyahoo to stop his genocide AND that he is on record saying, “I’ll never support a two-state solution” while using the “river to the sea” line that non-Jews get DESTROYED for saying.

Really, the border mess?  THERE HAS BEEN NO POLICY CHANGES REGARDING THE BORDER SINCE REPUBLICANS CLAIMED "SECURE BORDERS".  The difference is that Trump is no longer destroying the country and people want to come here again.

And gaza?  Are there any people stupid enough to think the Muslim-ban guy of the muslim -hating Republican party is going to do more to help the Muslims of gaza?

these are two very stupid narratives.

Nobody is stupid enough to think the Muslim guy will be better. 
 

But ALOT more people than you think Will seriously consider sitting this one out. 
 

they won't vote for Trump but the ideas of voting for "Genocide Joe” will be too much to ask. 
 

We need to stop circling the fucking wagons and pressure the administration to change course. I don't want Trump anywhere near the White House ever again

what do you think the odds are of the fascist right pushing that genocide joe bs?

The facist right is not forcing Biden to blindly keep supporting Israel’s genocidal efforts. 
 

the facist right didn't force the UN to issue a ruling on this yesterday. 
 

the facist right didn't tell Biden to send his spokesman out into press conferences to lie or completely ignore the obvious atrocities we are watching on camera or cast doubt on death tolls. 
 

Nope, Biden admin is earning the nickname all on his own. Hence why I want the democratic base to put real pressure on him.  

The difference is that Trump is no longer destroying the country and people want to come here again.

That is not really what has happened with the immigration issue. The problem is that the Republicans want to make sure the border is in crisis, to harm Dem’s chances in Nov. so they’ve been sending operatives all over south of the border, spreading the message, “The US border is open!  Biden wants you to come to El Norte! Come! The border is OPEN!” So people have been flocking by the thousands to our southern (and increasingly, northern) borders. This has been a vicious tactic, but an effective one. 😠😡👹😈

without trump screwing up the pandemic the borders wouldn't have looked "secure". nobody wanted to come here.

The only thing “stupid” is your claiming people aren’t saying they won’t vote for Joe over Gaza even if it puts Traitor Trump back in the Oval.

Numerous articles just on Muslims saying exactly that….especially in Michogan….which we need.

course, that isn't remotely what I said.

Actually, that’s exactly what you said.

And gaza?  Are there any people stupid enough to think the Muslim-ban guy of the muslim -hating Republican party is going to do more to help the Muslims of gaza?

these are two very stupid narratives.

Someone, I think it was HL Mencken, said that nobody lost money underestimating the intelligence of the American people...or an election.

They may be stupid narratives, but that doesn’t mean we’re safe.

The thing is … Trump wouldn’t help GAZA.  He would tank them.  He’d encourage Israel to wipe them out.  No negotiating.  No food, no medicine, no water.

Many Congressional Republicans don’t want to fix the border now, they want to wait because Trump needs to use it as an issue against Biden. How can they claim it’s such an urgent matter if they’re willing to wait?

I am really afraid of Trump using "no aid to Israel" as a campaign issue. 

With Jerome Powell and the Fed already talking about making rate cuts starting in March—which is 6 weeks away—I feel even more bullish about the economy than I did last year.  And even then I had no worries about the economy, none.

The economy will remain strong as long as people can service their debt. Visa and Mastercard are why we avoided a recession, not policy. At some point there will be an event that causes a lot of people to not be able to pay their debt, and that is when the economic crush will occur.

As long as people can keep paying their mortgages at low interest rates, we will see few foreclosures.  Renters, on the other hand, are at risk.  Rents are far too high and salary increases haven’t kept up.  I believe we’re looking at a whole bunch of new homeless people.  That, I worry about.

if the economy starts to soften, the Federal Reserve now has leeway to cut interest rates.

The economy (markets too) are roaring, blistering,  in the US, I know it just can’t be me reading the business pages. I listened to Janet Yellen today. 

My only question, after the border fiasco,  is will Trump try and take down the economy too with his negative messaging.

is will Trump try and take down the economy too with his negative messaging.

Absolutely. Why wouldn’t he? He’s the kid at the beach running around smashing other’s elaborately constructed sand castles, just to show he can. 😈👹

Tech companies are laying off because they over hired during 2020 and many of them are offshoring jobs as usual.

2023 layoffs were actually the 3rd lowest of any year since 2000. More than that, they were less than any of 2017 — 2019 under Trump. 

The big tech companies are laying off? Then how come tech unemployment is below 3%? 

Answer: most of the layoffs are H-1B Visa holders. They are dumping the Indians — it gets counted in the layoff stats, but of course not in the unemployment stats because they are not US citizens or green card holders. 

Also — big tech always lays off early in the year. Always. They re-prioritize certain projects, and it winds up that people move around to different companies, as big tech is also hiring for other projects at the same time. 

Lastly, remember the December jobs report? Government jobs up like 50K? Oh, but they don’t count right? That’s bad that government was hiring, right? Wrong — that’s a big chunk of who they were hiring = tech workers because they haven’t been able to for the last 2 years because there’s no tech workers available! Same for small businesses too — you don’t hear it but those laid off tech workers get hired by smaller businesses that haven’t been able to hire due to the labor shortage. 

We are in a period at least thru 2028 of a profound labor shortage. Read Eddie Beaver and/or Claudia Sahms over on LinkedIn, very good analysis of the labor market and economy. No guarantees of course, but the economy should be fine in 2024.

Yes I know a young lady from India right now in that situation. But the market is so strong she got another job already. She will have to move to Philly area from NYC. Bu she keeps her visa. 

I would say that despite those layoffs everything right now points to the economy to be good and continue to get better right now. Interest rates might start declining in the next several months and that would be a very good thing.

 let me see….. so the economy is damn good now and going to be damn good in November. If not people are going to vote for Dementia J Trump???? No. Flat no. Trump  is a KNOWN quantity and a maniac.

He is going to lose badly...

Trump’s win in 2016 was a fluke due to the fact that he was running against Hillary. Now he’s running against a VERY successful Joe Biden. Again. 

And he will lose. Again. Because he ALWAYS underestimates his opponents. 

A lot of stupid shit (fbi interference, media malfeasance, foreign interference, 10% of Bernie supporters, Jill stein, etc) occurred to give traitor trump the 70,000 votes over four swing states to win the electoral college against the will of the majority of voters.

James Comey. A name that shall forever live in infamy. 

I do worry that media malfeasance (as per usual) and foreign interference, as well as potential voter suppression in a swing state or two, e.g., Georgia, will make this a too close to call election:/.

Let us not underestimate him!  He has many heinous tricks in his bag.  If he’s smart at anything, it’s his ability to surprise us with his hatefulness.  We don’t see it coming, because we don’t have that ability in ourselves.  If you’re basically honest, you’re at a disadvantage against someone who is completely dishonest.

Let's not forget just how much a lot of people hate Trump. Even more now than in 2020. He's unraveling and he's doing it in the media for all to see. The MAGA cult doesn't care, but they are a minority of voters and the polls show his support amongst independents and moderates has decreased notably.

But everyone in his circle knows this and has now had 4 years to prepare their denial and challenges to succeed this time.  He will never accept loss and is surrounded by people who have a plan up their sleeves.  There is no bottom to what the gop will support him ruthlessly doing and they don’t care the cost to democracy.