Strassel- Would rather not compare Trump to Carter
Kim Strassel, the pro-Trump virago embedded in the WSJ op-ed pages, really let it rip on Biden in her Jan. 10 column, ‘Joe Biden Is No Jimmy Carter’ (p. A13). She writes outright balderdash – by way of comparison:
“Carter inherited his problems, Mr. Biden created his.”
Which reeks of bollocks and misinformation.
In fact, as much as I’m a fan of Carter he basically triggered the Iranian
hostage crisis (according to many historians) by enabling the
despised autocratic Shah of Iran to come to the U.S. for medical treatment. By comparison,
Biden inherited (in Jan. 2021) a nation at the height of the coronavirus
pandemic with 3,000
Americans dying daily from Covid-19.
There were newly developed, lifesaving RMNA vaccines, thanks to Trump’s Operation Warp Speed —but Trump had no viable plan to distribute them. Nor did he have a coherent Covid testing plan. Also, Trump himself – aka Dotard- belittled and mocked the use of masks and even getting vaccines, while spreading the use of fake cures like hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine and ivermectin. The dolt at one point even suggested injections of bleach.
This led to thousands more dead and the resulting hobbling of the labor supply as well as inventory at critical businesses including food suppliers, groceries.
Schools and workplaces were shuttered; hotels and airlines had no customers; restaurants tried to survive by offering take-out. The U.S. economy and the world economy were on life support. Biden stepped in and with the help of the Dem congress got the country off life support. Covid test kits became widely available so did the Pfizer and Moderna MRNA vaccines.
Economically, the masses of citizens were helped via cash paid out for example via the child tax
credit. In effect, the Child Tax Credit increased from $2,000 per qualifying
child to: $3,600 for children ages 5 and under at the end of 2021; and. $3,000
for children ages 6 through 17 at the end of 2021. It kept many families afloat
in the early days of getting out from under the pandemic.
In addition, Biden shepherded through the $1.2
trillion infrastructure bill. As well as another major piece of
legislation, the Inflation
Reduction Act, made the nation’s biggest investment ever in fighting climate
change — more than $400 billion. Apart from creating many new jobs.
So never mind Strassel blasted Biden’s "overspending" as the main
cause of inflation. She forgets or
refuses to process that without that extra $$$ many more Americans would now be
homeless, and unable to buy groceries or meds.
Indeed, four years later, the U.S, is in vastly better shape,
at home and abroad. The economy, though still recovering, is the envy of the
developed world; U.S.
stock markets are at or near all-time highs. Our political system has
survived. We have made overdue investments in infrastructure and technology.
And in a world full of conflict and danger, American troops are not at war for
the first time in a generation.
Strassel later on bleats that: “Carter was elected on a
promise never to lie to the American people”
but she makes no mention of Trump’s lying with impunity in every breath he’s
made. Why not compare Carter to Trump,
who has desecrated or demolished every norm Carter worked to re-establish after
Watergate? Not to mention Trump’s current plans to abolish the Dept. of Education which
Carter signed into law in 1979.
Strassel also forgets (conveniently) how Trump’s gang of Nazis and insurrectionists stormed the Capitol, waylaid DC police and sought to deny the certification of Biden’s electoral votes. It seems to me the lady makes claims that exist only in the febrile backwaters of her microglial cells. Because in truth Biden has never compared himself to Carter on any level, just as he never has to the Almighty. But if one is going to make any useful comparisons it ought to be to Carter as the president who embodied all the decency and honor we expect one to have, compared to its antithesis - a lying, toxic traitor and felon like Trump.
Biden’s critics – like Kim Strassel- always find it convenient to look past what may be remembered as his biggest success: Guiding the country through, and ultimately out of, the pandemic. He did this by doing what Trump would not: making test kits widely available, while employing National Guard assets in specific plans to distribute the vaccines and inoculate those who needed them. At the same time providing the necessary infusion of cash to keep ordinary people afloat during the worst pandemic to strike in 100 years.
Strassel's twaddle proved one thing: Just how desperate the WSJ stable of op-ed trolls is to re-invent and protect the felon due to be inaugurated next week. Who knows? Maybe they believe it will help put his renegade cabinet picks through their confirmations - which start this week.
Still, the rational and truly patriotic among us optimistically hope the FBI background checks will prevent the worst from getting through and making this nation's future ten times worse.
See Also:
by Carl Gibson | January 12, 2025 - 6:39am | permalink
As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take the oath of office in just over a week, many Americans are attempting to minimize their own financial burden by purchasing foreign-made goods before his proposed tariffs go into effect.
The Guardian reported that U.S. residents who have been planning to buy goods that could be subjected to the tariffs have been acting preemptively to buy what they need before prices surge. The collectively worry among consumers isn't unwarranted, since large retailers like Walmart have already warned that any new tariff duties would be passed along to customers. This has led to Americans planning on making large purchases in the future to quickly revise their timelines.
"My partner is laying in supplies and materials for a new roof we had planned for the spring," West Virginia resident Jen Thomas told the outlet. "While the rush of a second Trump presidency is still exciting for many West Virginians, my partner and I are neither excited nor optimistic about the next four years."
And:
by Jaime O’Neill | January 12, 2025 - 6:30am | permalink
Well, we're in for it now, aren't we? Many of us realized we were in for it on that dismal November night in 2016 when the barbarians breached the gates. We could see little good coming our way from a sleazy New York real estate developer and narcissist who had bragged about his hobby of groping women he barely knew, if he knew them at all. We didn't think such a guy would be a good role model for American children, including the young girls we would learn he and his pal, Jeffrey Epstein, liked to hang out with.
We may not have known yet about Epstein or his sexual hobbies, but we weren't surprised to learn that Donald J. Trump, the self-professed master of the deal, had lots and lots of shady friends and associates soon-to-be eligible for pardons for crimes they were poised to commit. There was Paul Manafort, for instance, and slimy Roger Stone, the guy who had a tattoo of Richard Nixon on his back. Donald Trump also bestowed upon us the advent of the medical monetizers, people who would become part of his cabal like Dr. Ben Carson, Dr. Mehmet Oz, and Dr. Phil.
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