Advice for the Press — Stop Going to the White House

Trump has deployed his game of dominance well within the press at the White House — blocking on camera access, not having regular press conferences, etc.  It makes the press look weak, and it makes the Trump look like big man.  That’s what he wants.

Stop playing the game.  He needs the press more than they need the press conference.

Stop going to the White House.  Stop reporting what the press office says.  Stop asking to have press conferences on camera.  Just Don’t Go.

It will unhinge them.  And then the fun will begin.

Remember, the stories aren’t really going to come out of the press office or their press conferences, so stand up to the dominance game, and just don’t play.

TrumpCare Fucks All Of Us

Yes.  The plan destroys Obamacare, and the individual marketplace, and Medicaid, but it also allows any State to do away with required benefits, community rating, and pre-existing condition exclusions.

Do you think at least one State will not do this?

As soon as one does, the law allows all employer health plans to be “based” in that state.

Like Delaware for incorporating due to low taxes, how many companies will not do this?

We are all screwed by this plan, not just the poor, not just the schlubs without employer healthcare, but all of us.

Get on it, and call your Senator now!

 

TrumpCare Will Destroy Individual Health Insurance Market

To pass Reconciliation Rules, the Senate version of Trumpcare must only deal with budget issues.  And it does.  It is worse than the House bill which means 23 million people lose healthcare coverage, including nursing home care for the elderly.

But it cannot touch anything else, so it says nothing about preexistimg conditions or community rating AND it eliminates the individual mandate as it is considered a tax.

That means healthy people do not have to buy insurance; but can when they are sick at the same cost as anyone else.  Insurance companies need healthy people in the pool to offset the cost of sick people – hence the mandate.  Without it, the market will fail.  Watch for insurance companies to start dropping out completely from all individual markets very soon.

Republicans own Trumpcare.  Shameless devastation of people’s health for a tax cut for the super rich.  Disgusting.

Happy Freedom Day!

Juneteenth is today — the end of slavery in America — may we all give thanks and continue the work for equality.

Bacon Bits — Tick Tock

5 months in and being investigated by a special prosecutor, assigned by his own Justice department no less, for obstruction of justice and financial irregularities . . . tick, tock . . . not long until we get to deal with President Pence . . . sheesh.

The Middle of the End?

I wrote not too long ago about Trump firing Comey as the main reason why he will go down in his absolute corruption.  Today, it was reported by the Washington Post that Trump is under investigation for obstruction of justice.

This is only the tip of this iceberg.  As always, I suggest turning to Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo:

Tip of the Iceberg

Day 39 Of Silence On Senate Repeal Of ACA

The Senate is refusing to have hearings on its healthcare bill — TrumpCare — it refuses to publish any drafts of the bill, it refuses to allow reporters to interview Senators in the fucking hallway of Congress!

I’m beginning to think that we didn’t just get hacked by Russia, but we’ve adopted their modus operandi.

The Senate bill will eliminate healthcare for millions.  It will eliminate the preexisting condition ban.  It will eliminate community rating.  In short, it is a heartless effort to give a tax break to the rich.  How do I know this?  Not because I’ve seen a draft, remember, they won’t release one.  But they’ve been saying this is what they would do for years, and why shouldn’t we believe them?

And . . . its working.  As long as there is nothing to talk about, the media can’t run a story on it.  If there is no story, then there is no opportunity to generate rebuttals and opposition.

This bill will end up on the floor of the Senate and get voted on in about one day, total.

It is an absolutely undemocratic, highly plutocratic, and inhumane act of “democracy”.  Are you surprised?

Call your Senator.  Call him or her every single day.

The Power of Tribe: Trumpism Versus Populism

During 2016, the common description of Trump’s campaign was a “populist” or “populist nationalism”.  It was a useful trope for the media but entirely misleading.

If you accept that his support was populist or nationalistic or both, then why has his support continued when his policies are clearly not populist?

The answer is one we must all struggle with because it lies at the heart of whether we continue to progress as a democracy.  Yes, that sounds somewhat melodramatic, I agree.  However, as I look back over the growing disparity between “parties” over the last 30 years, something I take back to the early Clinton years and Newt Gingrich and the rise of Fox News and the media right, what you see is not a rise of populism but the rise of tribal affinity.  Tribalism is the enemy of a democracy and the friend of plutocracy.

Tribe is about “us” versus “them”.  Tribe means that whatever is good for the tribe, is good, period.  Tribe means that we fight for the tribe and anyone in the tribe — that is the morality, the right/wrong, the rules.

Through that prism, it is clear to see that Trumpism is Tribalism.  Trump is not criticized by those in his tribe (though any of his actions in the last few months committed by a Democrat would have caused a shitstorm on the media right and social media outlets) because Trump is the tribal leader — if Trump is doing it, it is good for the tribe, and that makes it right.

Tribalism is instinctual.  It is how, as a species, we survived to evolve.  It is deeply embedded and can be weaponized when any group begins to see themselves as distinct from the other — whatever that other might be.  When that perception is highlighted, honed, and amplified over years through an echo chamber of your own making (right media, social media, etc.) then the tribe becomes cohesive.  What is more comforting than moving from a world where you are continuously watching your future become less secure to one where the tribe will protect you, will nurture you, will save you from the wicked other?

Tribalism is the problem.  It is not populism.  In fact, I think an argument can and should be made that it is populism that is missing from our politics.  Think Bernie Sanders when I talk about the type of politics that is populism — it is the politics of everyone who is not of the elite classes — that kind of populism is the only cure for tribalism.

We mistake Trumpism for populism at our own peril — because that mistake tarnishes the concept of real populism — that is the answer.

What say you?

ACA Repeal Teed Up in Senate — Call Your Senator!

While the press and most of the country are distracted by Comey-Trump-Russia, the Senate fast-tracked an ACA repeal bill that is amazingly similar to the House bill.  And what of all those “moderate” Republican senators that protested the House bill as too draconian when it passed?  Not a peep.  Nada.  The moderates are caving, like they always do.  Our health insurance is in serious jeopardy.

ACA repeal is about to happen.  24+ million people will lose health insurance.  And this is not just about the poor!  States will have the right to decimate coverage requirements as they see fit.  Companies will have the right to select any state from which to originate their policies.  That means that employer insurance will soon be a race to the bottom — goodbye to pre-existing condition bans, good-bye to lifetime limits, good-bye to guaranteed coverage areas for every single one of us.

Unless you are on Medicare, you will suffer too —  how many companies are going to keep offering great benefits when they are not legally obligated to do so?  Very few.

It is a truly shameful act, and every single Republican is happy to do this.  Call your Senator now and stop this disgusting assault on our health.

Call your Senator!

Senate Suddenly Ready To Repeal the ACA

Erik Mcgregor/Pacific Press via ZUMA

In a scary reprise of the recent House move to repeal the ACA, the Senate is suddenly feeling optimistic about passing a similar measure.  Call your Senator, please.

Note:  Recent studies of the bill indicate that it will allow an employer-based plan to choose the state in which they “offer” their plan.  Remember, states will get the option to eliminate the required benefits, lifetime caps, and basically abolish the guarantees under the ACA.  How may companies do you think are going to suddenly offer their plan from the state with the weakest regulations?