r/ANormalDayInAmerica

In order to remain in power, Trump, MAGA, and the Republicans will gladly sacrifice the lives of children for a single vote.

It has taken decade upon decade to almost rid ourselves of the scourge of smoking. The diseases caused by inhaling foreign substances --– substances made of chemicals we can’t pronounce and didn’t know were added to tobacco – are deadly, and now in order to entice teenage children to again risk their lives, the ghouls in the White House will again legitimize vaping.

There exists no legitimate reason to do this, there is no benefit, but that doesn’t matter to the GOP as long as it might promote votes.

Medicaid has been virtually destroyed, SNAP benefits eliminated, and poverty levels rising all across America, but instead of working to keep our nation healthy, Trump and his billionaire goons are doing just the opposite.

See this – Boldface mine:

 

Opinion by David Badash

© provided by AlterNet

Nobel laureate Paul Krugman calls right-wing politics “deadly” — and predicts that “MAGA Will Kill Many Americans,” by the thousands, driven by greed and willful ignorance. Krugman goes one step further, arguing outright that this is not by accident:

“Does MAGA want to see thousands of Americans die prematurely from smoking and refusal to get vaccinated? Yes,” he writes.

He argues that the right’s decades-long opposition to health care is driven by greed, especially from “wealthy donors unwilling to pay taxes to help others in need.” Krugman points to Tuesday’s decision by Trump’s FDA to allow blueberry and mango-flavored vapes, which critics warn will increase use among the young.

Why?

“Trump is reportedly hoping that support for vaping will win back support from young men,” Krugman writes — a constituency the president has been losing during his second term in office.

There’s also the recent decision, again by Trump’s FDA, to block the release of studies finding the COVID-19 and shingles vaccines safe, with side effects rare.

“Beyond this,” he continues, “right-wing politics in America often goes hand in hand with hostility to science in general and medical science in particular. The deadly linkage between reactionary politics and rejection of science was obvious during the Covid pandemic.”

Krugman also implicates greed in the anti-vaccine movement, saying that “quack medicine is big business.”

“Right-wing radio and social media have long relied on peddlers of snake oil for a large part of their revenue. So much of the attack on medical science can be seen as financially motivated,” he writes.

Ideological willful ignorance plays a part as well — driven by the alliance between oligarchs and white Christian nationalism, the latter of which is “deeply hostile to Enlightenment values, modern science very much included.”

To prove his point, Krugman points to the widely reported resurgence of measles, that was seen as eliminated from the United States decades ago, thanks to vaccines. Now, many parents are choosing to forego vaccinating their children against this highly contagious and potentially deadly disease.

He adds to that the refusal of many red states to expand Medicaid, a program largely paid for by the federal government under the Affordable Care Act.

The data bear him out. Life expectancy in “Trump-leaning” states trails blue states significantly.

There’s “a strong, clear negative correlation between Trump-leaning orientation and low life expectancy at the state level,” Krugman writes. “Deep red states like Alabama and West Virginia have life expectancy comparable to, say, Kazakhstan.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/maga-s-greed-and-willful-ignorance-is-literally-killing-americans-nobel-economist/ar-AA22w64W?

America, Trump and the Republicans are laughing their flabby asses off at you, and you know what, you deserve it. According to them, you must be the dumbest sumbitches wearin’ shoes.

That is, while you can still afford shoes.

In Project 2025 they told you they were going to do away with any meaningful subsidies to the ACA so they could use that money to fund tax cuts for the already obscenely wealthy; then they went ahead and did just that!

They said they were going to reduce as many benefits in Medicaid and Medicare as they could to fund future tax cuts, and they did that, too.

Veteran’s benefits? Trump called them suckers, so let them limp around on stumps.

Food stamps? If the Republican pedophiles aren’t screwin’’ your children one way, they are screwin’ them in another.

Aid to education? Your kids better learn the difference between curly fries and crinkle cut while Barron Trump, a 19-year-old college student, is already a billionaire. A billion dollars could buy a lot of textbooks.

 Social Security? A thousand different Social Services? Regional hospitals? All gone.

Our former best friends now hate us, and our allies now recognize another Trump could come along at any minute, and they now know better than to trust us in anything.

And all the while the GOP is laughing at your sorry asses. They are so blind to the failing economy the Transportation Secretary, a multi-millionaire named Sean Duffy, who never had to worry about paying a bill in his life, is mocking us by blithely suggesting Americans jump into their jalopy and ramble off to see America this summer.

Really, isn’t that what everyone does on summer vacation?

See this – Boldface mine:

 

As Gas Prices Soar, Transportation Secretary Encourages Summer Road Trips

Story by Graeme Demianyk • 2h •

 

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy dismissed concerns about spiraling gas prices caused by the Trump administration's war with Iran as he urged American families to hit the road for their summer vacation. Speaking to a reporter during an event in Philadelphia on Thursday, Duffy suggested Americans are “going to see prices come down immediately,” pointing to the fall in the price of crude oil amid hopes of a U.S.-Iran peace deal.

“So, we're in a good place,” he said.

Asked about when the drop would trickle down to prices at the pump, which impacts the vast majority of Americans who take road trips for their summer vacation, he replied: “First of all, we want to encourage all Americans to take a road trip. Whether you're going to go two hours or two days to see your country.”

His comments come as AAA said gas prices have hit another new high, averaging $4.55 a gallon.

“Pump prices are now $1.40 higher than they were a year ago and have reached their highest level since 2022, when the national average peaked at $5.01 per gallon,” it said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/as-gas-prices-soar-transportation-secretrary-encourages-summer-road-trips/ar-AA22D3JZ?

No other president was stupid enough to directly challenge the Iranians. They control the Strait of Hormuz and anyone who has ever read a newspaper knows it. Challenging them was certain to disrupt the world’s economy with no benefit whatsoever, and only a moron would consider it.

That’s why our deal with them was so effective. They agreed not to develop nuclear weapons, agreed to allow international inspections, and all we had to do was decrease sanctions and release their funds which we had impounded.

(Which, by the way, is the same thing Trump is reported to be considering now.)

But now we are in a war to achieve the same goals we had already attained, and we and the world are paying a stiff price because of Trump’s and the Republican’s sheer incompetence!

Face it, they constantly do stupid things. They never seem to have a game plan or an exit strategy, instead their clumsy stumbles drive us deeper to a dangerous situationions from which we may never recover.

Will they attack another smaller nation after they drag their sorry asses out of the Middle East? A smaller nation, say North Korea who already has nuclear weapons and can deliver them on a moment’s notice?

Or will they go ‘big time’? Take on China and Russia, maybe at the same time to prove just how macho this TACO is?

Gotta’ stop them, America. Gotta’ outlaw the GOP, imprison Trump and all his cronies both in and out of government, while we still have a country and a government.

Take a deep look at what they have already done. They have taken away our healthcare, destroyed our economy by allowing inflation to run rampant, allowed a disease once thought extinct to again ravage our communities and schools, threatened to outlaw voting, turned the Justice Department to a vigilante squad, allowed a home-grown Gestapo to murder citizens in the streets, gerrymandered voters out of existence, and so browbeat the Supreme Court with terrorist rhetoric they kneel before him like some two-dollar hookers.

All the while allowing a blithering fascist to rule.

See this – Boldface mine:

Trump stuck on 'talking points' no one believes while Iran war spirals

Story by Adam Lynch • 2h •

 

© provided by AlterNet

CNN Senior writer Zachary Wolf says President Donald Trump keeps teasing that a deal to end the war with Iran is nearly over, but it never is — and voters are getting angry.

“It’s one of a series of Iran talking points he has been repeating for months,” said Wolf. “The war itself has changed — evolving from one of shock and awe to a monthlong ceasefire in which each side has imposed a costly blockade on the other. But Trump’s talking points have stayed the same.’

Like a skipping record, Wolf said

This, said Wolf, is a problem because situation’s change but Trump’s braggadocio never does.

“There is a ceasefire, but Iran has gained leverage by shutting down the Strait of Hormuz. But the talking point remains the same,” said Wolf. And just before the ceasefire, Trump argued the war was going according to his plan, claiming we are “weeks ahead of schedule." But days later, on March 26, he got mad that Iranians were not willing to agree to a U.S. proposal and began lobbing threats on Truth Social. Indeed, the only thing that’s changed was Trump stopped claiming the was is “ahead of schedule.”

“All this makes it very difficult to know how seriously to take his assurances about the proximity of a deal,” said Wolf, and “the White House messaging on the war has been ineffective, if dour polling is to be believed. “Still, Trump keeps going with it: “It’ll be over quickly,” he told a tele-rally for a Republican candidate in Georgia this week.

“… I think it’s got a very good chance of ending, and if it doesn’t end, we have to go back to bombing the hell out of them,” he told PBS earlier in the week.

“… Very soon,” he told reporters on March 9.

And with each timeframe slippage the end of the war remains “just off in the distance,” far enough away to infuriate voters and bedevil his Republican Party fighting to maintain a House and Senate majority.

 https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-stuck-on-talking-points-no-one-believes-while-iran-war-spirals/ar-AA22MuzW?

Trump’s war is making his biggest problem much worse.

Trump and the Republicans conned us into believing they would lead us into a ‘New golden age of prosperity’. That they would end ‘Forever wars’, end inflation, reduce grocery prices, reduce the costs of rents, housing, heating, and protect healthcare and veteran’s services.

Lies, meant to con us into voting for them, and then what? A rigid middle figure! What did Vinny Barbarino say on Welcome Home, Kotter?

‘Up your nose with a rubber hose’; but it wasn’t really a hose he was referring to.

No, the promises were lies that would enable them to lower taxes on the rich while denying us the very staples necessary for decent living conditions.

While we struggle for the basics, Trump and his crime family are making billions by swindling the very people who put them in office. Want a Trump watch? Send in your deposit and never hear from them again. Want a special presidential medal? Send in your money and never hear from them again. Did you invest in ‘Truth Social? Wanna’ hear something funny…?

To top it all off, Trump’s nineteen-year-old son, Barron, is somehow now a billionaire. A billionaire!

Conned out of our shorts, folks. And if some changes aren’t made in the midterms there isn’t going to be anything lef of our country.

See this – Boldface mine:

 

Trump’s war is making his biggest problem much worse.

Opinion by Nia Prater • 5h • 3 min read

 

Americans have made it clear for months in survey data that they are struggling with the cost of groceries, housing, and pretty much everything else. President Donald Trump’s war with Iran continues to make those problems worse in very visible ways.

According to new figures released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday, the Consumer Price Index rose by 3.8 percent in April, compared to a year prior, with prices rising by 0.6 percent from just March alone. Per CNBC, this marks the highest rate since May 2023, when Joe Biden was contending with the inflation that irreversibly damaged his presidency. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the Labor Department also reported that the core CPI rose 0.4 percent from last month and 2.8 percent over the course of the year.

The new federal data also noted a rise in typical expenses for the American consumer. In April, energy prices increased by 3.8 percent from the previous month. The cost of groceries is up 0.7 percent from March and by 2.9 percent since last year, likely bolstered by the price of beef, which rose by 2.7 percent over the month. Airline fares also saw a jump in costs, rising by 2.8 percent in April. The rising price of gas is likely bleeding into the higher prices shoppers are seeing at the grocery store because of impacts on the supply chain, as The Wall Street Journal noted in a recent report.

Gasoline prices started to spike after the United States launched joint strikes with Israel against Iran on February 28, marking the start of a monthslong conflict that has interrupted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, which transports a fifth of the global oil supply. As of Tuesday, AAA reports that the national average for a gallon of regular gas is $4.50.

Recent polling has provided a glimpse at how Americans are viewing their current financial situation, and the findings are bleak.

A CNN poll released on Tuesday found that 73 percent of Americans surveyed described the country’s economic conditions as “poor” compared to 27 percent who said the current situation was “good.” When asked about the biggest economic issue facing their family, 76 percent pointed to expenses and the cost of living with 24 percent naming the cost of food and 23 percent naming both inflation as well as gas prices and transportation costs.

On the subject of Trump’s actual policies, 65 percent of Americans said they believed the president’s actions have worsened the country’s economic conditions while 22 percent said he improved them. Seventy-five percent also said they believed the Iran war has had a negative effect on their financial situation. The results come as Trump’s approval ratings have been trending steeply downward for months, frequently floating below 40 percent in contrast with his first term when he was at an average of 41 percent, per Gallup. The president’s numbers on the economy, one of his most highly touted issues, have also been impacted. The CNN poll found that 70 percent of Americans disapprove of how Trump is handling the economy, compared to 30 percent who approved. These numbers are likely an unwanted sign for the Trump administration and its agenda ahead of the upcoming midterm elections as voters frequently rate economic issues as their top concern.

The Americans polled didn’t appear to have strong hopes about a resolution to the ongoing financial crisis. When asked how likely they thought it was that the United States would end up in a recession within the next year**, 69 percent said it was very or somewhat likely to happen** compared to 31 percent who said it wasn’t likely at all. The poll, conducted by SSRS, surveyed 1,499 American adults from April 30 to May 4, 2026.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/trump-s-war-is-making-his-biggest-problem-much-worse/ar-AA231idu?