Trump in La Crosse - now dumber and more economically illiterate than ever!

I recall Republicans saying that they wanted to talk about "policy" in this election. Fortunately, Henry Redman of the Wisconsin Examiner watched Donald Trump's event in La Crosse this week, and gave us Trump's responses on some important issues.

At town hall in La Crosse, Trump rambles on IVF, election conspiracies, Black jobs, Viktor Orban https://t.co/0fhhKhiAQI via @HenryRedrobin

— Wisconsin Examiner (@WIExaminer) August 30, 2024

The first was Trump's newly-announced desperate flail policy on helping Americans pay for Invitro Fertilization (IVF) and similar fertility treatments.....which somehow veered into tax policy before veering back again.

Trump then segued directly into a new topic before returning to the question about IVF: “And as you know, we have no taxes on a thing called tips. You know that? And I said, Tell me, we did three things. We did that, and we did no tax for seniors on Social Security benefits. We want to have that. And I’ve been seeing a lot of IVF, and I kept hearing that I’m against it, and I’m actually very much for it. In fact, in Alabama, where the judge ruled against it, and I countered the judge and came out with a very strong statement for it. And the Alabama [Legislature] they were amazing. The Legislature approved virtually my statement. I mean, full IVF, and it’s really gone — it’s terrific. And I said, so, with the tips and with the Social Security, no taxes on Social Security, I said, maybe for IVF, and I’ve been looking at it, and what we’re going to do is for people that are using IVF, which is fertilization, we are, government is going to pay for it, or we’re going to get or mandate your insurance company to pay for it, which is going to be great. We’re going to do that. Well, it’s big. And you know what? We want to produce babies in this country, right? We want to produce babies. So I think it’s going to be something we told we sort of announced it a little bit.”

A few things to unpack here.

1. Remember how Republicans were all pissy about Obamacare mandating that companies try to cover their employees, or how people were "forced" to buy insurance? How is Trump going to "mandate your insurance company" to pay for IVF? And how much is it going to cost to cover all of these treatement if the government is going to do it?

2. And especially how is the government going to pay for IVF and similar treatments if "a thing called tips" and Social Security benefits aren't taxed? In addition, if employers cut base wages and tell their employees that it's made up for with untaxed tips (a bad enough thing, which is why I oppose both Harris and Trump on not taxing tips), and Social Security benefits aren't taxed, that increases our deficit further and defunds Social Security even more.

3. "We want to produce babies in this country, right?" That's not creepy whatsoever. There's a lot of dark places to take that, but I'll go with this quiet musical interlude instead.

Back to Social Security, as Trump told the audience in La Crosse that he's got that all figured out for the future.

...“I’m the one that’s going to protect the Social Security, but they’re coming. I will tell you, as I did for four years, and there was no age increase, there was not anything they’re going to protect. You know, they destroy you with inflation, and then they want to destroy your Social Security … not going to happen. But this is going to be the most important election in the history of our country. So I just want to say that it’s an honor to be with you tonight. It’s a forum that’s very different, because I have no idea who the hell is broadcasting it, but all we’ll do is we’ll talk because we’re friends. I love this state. I gave them Marinette. We gave them a very big, you know, Tulsi, we have a ship contract. And as you know, we gave Marinette guards, but we gave them a tremendous contract. They wanted her all over the country. I said, we’re going to get it for Wisconsin, and it’s a big one, and they’re doing a great job, I understand. So we got that, and we’re going to have a good time tonight. So let’s go.”

So we're going to save Social Security by...giving more defense contracts to Marinette Marine? (I think that's what Trump is referring to there. If he even knows) That's not really how it works, Donnie.

Also, Trump says "they destroy you with inflation". I assume he means cost of living doesn't keep up with Social Security benefits? Except Social Security benefits were significantly boosted after the inflation bumps of 2021 and 2022, growing by 5.9% for 2022 and 8.7% for 2023. And you know which presidential candidate has submitted budgets that would have reduced benefits that come from Social Security? DONALD TRUMP.

Sure, Trump never asked for an "age increase" in when people could get Socal Security benefits. Instead, he would have done it by screwing over Americans on Disability and others in severe need. Here's a good example from a budget he threw in midway through his term in office.

The 2019 Trump budget reduces disability programs by $72 billion, including reductions to Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) as well as Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which provides aid to low-income individuals with disabilities (as well as low-income seniors).

The budget cuts tens of billions of dollars in SSDI benefits, which are funded out of workers’ payroll taxes and which protect workers and their families if a disability cuts their careers short. One budget proposal cuts in half the retroactive benefits that disabled workers may receive. These are benefits provided to new SSDI recipients to reflect the loss of earnings when they became disabled, even if they delayed applying for benefits because they were hoping to get better and go back to work.

For example, consider a worker whose career is cut short by a car crash, but who hopes she can overcome her injuries and return to work. Under current law, she can receive up to 12 months of retroactive benefits — a critical lifeline that can prevent bankruptcy or homelessness. The Trump proposal would cut that payment in half. A beneficiary who would have qualified for 12 months of retroactive benefits would lose an average of about $7,000 in earned Social Security benefits. Moreover, shortening the period of retroactive benefits can encourage people to apply earlier for SSDI instead of first testing whether they can return to work, since such a test could cost them thousands of dollars in benefits their families may need if they aren’t successful in going back to work.

Let's not forget that by lowering base wages by not taxing tips, it reduces the amount of money going into Social Security and the Treasury in general, which makes it harder to cover the cost of those benefits - or greatly expands the deficit and debts required to pay them. Again, it is not certain if Trump knows this, but the ones that in charge that give Trump money and would handle the actual work in the White House sure do.

And here is Trump's take on energy policy and how he will bring gas prices down.

“I’m supposed to be nice when I talk about the election, because everybody’s afraid to talk about it. ‘Oh please sir, don’t talk about the election, please,’” he said. “You know, if you can’t, if you can’t talk about a bad election, you really don’t have a democracy, if you think about it, right? But what they did, Tulsi, is they took, they took the oil production. The oil started going crazy. That started the inflation. Then they went back. They said, go back to where Trump was. The problem is that we would have been three times that level right now. We would have been so dominant over Russia and Saudi Arabia. Look, Saudi Arabia, Russia, lot of oil. We would have had more. You know, we had something in Alaska, ANWR, that we, that I created. I mean, Ronald Reagan wanted it. You remember, Ronald Reagan wanted it. They all wanted it. And I got it approved. Nobody was able to get it approved. I got it approved. And they, the first week in office, they turned it back. They said, No, it’s the biggest site possibly in the world. Could be bigger than Saudi Arabia. Well, we’re going to start that up. We’re going to become the energy capital of the world. We’re going to pay down our debt, and we’re going to reduce your taxes still further, and your groceries are going to come tumbling down, and your interest rates are going to be tumbling down. And then you’re going to go out, you got to buy a beautiful house. OK, you got to buy a beautiful house. That’s called the American dream.”

Let's back up again.

1. "They took the oil production." WHO IS THEY? And where did they "take the production"? The only US leader I recall asking for a cutback on oil production in the 2020s was...Donald Trump. To his buddies in Saudi Arabia and Russia.

If you wonder why Trump is conspiring with Putin and Mohammad Bin Salman to raise the price of oil on American consumers, recall that Putin's wealth is tied up in hydrocarbons.

I guess if you announce it openly you don't have to worry about whistleblowers (sarcasm) pic.twitter.com/DkumROVEM6

— Teri Kanefield (@Teri_Kanefield) April 2, 2020

2. In fact, the US is pumping more oil than ever today, at more than 13 million barrels a day. That exceeds the previous records under the Trump Administration, which came after a big increase in oil production in the second half of the Obama Administration.

What has changed since Trump left office is that the Biden-Harris Administration has put together strategies to reduce our country's usage of gasoline, as gas consumption in America is signficantly down compared to the Trump years, even with more people working today.

3. How do we "pay down our debt", "reduce your taxes still further", while groceries and interest rates "tumble down"? The President isn't (supposed to be) able to control interest rate policy, because the Federal Reserve handles that. And I thought Republicans were all unhappy with VP Harris' plans to crack down on price gouging and non-competitive practices in the food industry (at least that's what the Republican hacks that run the Wisconsin Grocers Association say). But how else would Trump going to reduce and regulate grocery prices, especially when he wants to put tariffs on imported foods?

It all seems to come down this as a strategy for Trump/GOP.

I haven't even mentioned how Trump told the audience in La Crosse that immigrants are taking "Black jobs", as well as jobs from Hispanic Americans and union members (there is little evidence that this is happening, and in fact, CBO says that our recent wave of immigrants is increasing growth for the US economy). Redman also relays that Trump said he could end the world's wars "with telephone calls by being smart," (how? He doesn't say) and how he proudly wears the Viktor Orban seal of approval.

When you read what passes for "plans" from Trump, what's concerning isn't the fact that it is obvious BS that doesn't add up in the real world. It's that it's clear that Trump has no idea what he is talking about, which was bad enough when he was a candidate from the outside in 2016.

But THIS GUY WAS PRESIDENT FOR 4 YEARS, and has been basically running for President in the 4 years since then (to stay out of prison). How does he still not have a clue about how things are paid for in this country, what current reality is like for the typical American, or have a clue or care about who may be affected by these policy choices? That's the real red flag here - Trump is a foolish, declining BS artist who is desperately throwing things together without a hint of coherence, and GOP politicians and our ratings-needy media are too compromised to tell this truth.

So feel free to pass ahead the Wisconsin Examiner's rundown of Trump's recent event in La Crosse, which is one of the most damaging attacks that can be done against Trump. Just show others what this idiot is saying, and how out of touch he really is.