u/Vert_der_Ferk25

I asked a similar question yesterday, but it didn't get a specific response. What is Massie's great sin?

Massie’s alignment with Trump has generally been around 90%. Massie himself recently said he votes with Republicans about 91% of the time.

A lot of Republicans whom Trump has not targeted also fall into that same broad range on party-line votes.

Good-faith question here.

Not only did he agree that he would release them when he was directly asked (Fox & Friends Interview, June 2024, and Lex Fridman Podcast, September 2024), but he also had high-profile surrogates, including Donald Trump Jr., who heavily campaigned on exposing the "Epstein client list," turning it into a cornerstone demand for the MAGA support base.

So, why has he targeted Republicans who worked on his stated goal, and how can Trump supporters wrap their heads around him targeting people like Thomas Masssie?

What if they had said it in the same discussion where they called two female reporters stupid and then bragged about doubling the size of a ballroom they were building?

I'm trying to be substantive and not drop a toll post.

I'm 50, and I've lived through 4 democrat administrations and 5 republican. There have been 9 presidents. Jimmy Carter, George HW Bush, and Biden all just served 1 term. The rest served (or are serving) two terms.

What do the numbers tell us?

Economic Performance & GDP

Democrats averaged roughly 3.2% to 4% annual GDP growth, with Bill Clinton overseeing the strongest expansion of the era at 4%.

Republicans averaged roughly 2.2% to 3.5% annual GDP growth. Ronald Reagan had the highest growth among Republicans in this period at 3.6%.

Since 1976, nearly every U.S. recession began during a Republican administration, which often impacted their final growth and job creation averages. 

Fiscal Policy & The Deficit

Deficits typically increased during republican administrations due to large-scale tax cuts combined with increased military spending, notably under Reagan (where the debt nearly tripled) and George W. Bush.

Democrats have more frequently overseen periods of deficit reduction. Bill Clinton achieved the last federal budget surpluses (1998–2001). Joe Biden’s term saw high spending due to pandemic recovery, though it was followed by efforts to reduce the deficit via the Inflation Reduction Act

Taxes on the wealthy
In terms of taxes, Republicans have lowered the top marginal tax rates, while democrats have raised them. Reagan lowered them from 70% to 28% (a 42-point drop). Both Clinton and Obama raised them from 31% and 35% repsectivly back up to 39.6%. Republicans slashed the corporate rate from 48% in 1976 to 34% under Reagan, and most recently to a flat 21% under Donald Trump. Democrats briefly raised the rate from 34% to 35% under Clinton in 1993. 

Jobs
Since 1976, Democratic administrations have overseen approximately 61 million net new jobs. Bill Clinton was 22.9M, Joe Biden was 16.2 in just one term, Obama was 11.6M, and even Carter was 10.3M

Since 1976, Republican administrations have overseen approximately 19.4 million net new jobs. And 16M of that was Reagan.

The Democratic total includes nearly 97% of the net job growth that has occurred in the U.S. since 1989.

Immigration
Democrats have pushed for immigration reform bills over a dozen times. Republicans have pushed for three (2006, 2007, 2024), and they blocked their own bills each time.

There are three metrics that Republicans beat democrats on

• Energy Production & Independence - The differences between Obama, Trump, and Biden are negligible.
• Business & Investor Sentiment - This is sentiment, focusing on optimism and confidence based largely on deregulation
• Military Spending and Security - This is military spending, not security. Starting wars is a Republican thing, and ending wars is left to the democrats.

Is it just a habit, low information, and disengagement? All the above?
Should voters be responsible for knowing the differences, or should the politicians be responsible for breaking through the noise?