Day: August 23, 2021

Minority Rule in Congress Likely to Worsen – 2020 Census Shows Dramatic Reduction in Rural Population

Jon Ponder
Percent Change in County Population 2010 to 2020
Percent Change in County Population 2010 to 2020

Slate.com: “[While] metro areas grew, vast stretches of the country continued to bleed population. About 53 percent of all U.S. counties shrank between 2010 and 2020. You can see them in the sea of burnt orange on the graph [above], rural regions and small towns that often have few residents to begin with. In total, they were home to about 50.5 million people in a nation of more than 331 million.”

“This isn’t a new story per se. Rural America and small towns have been losing residents for decades. But the trend seems to have accelerated. From 2000 to 2010, for instance, only around one-third of all counties lost residents.”

This will undoubtedly exacerbate a longstanding inequity of representation in Congress.

[…]

‘Socially Liberal’ Republicans Are too Scared to Leave GOP

Buck Banks

“Data and interviews with Gen-Z Republicans illustrate a cap on young Republicans’ more socially liberal views, particularly as it pertains to recent political fights over ‘cancel culture’ and how socially progressive or ‘woke’ Americans should be. … This could be related to research that suggests Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say that they self-censor their political views due to fear of judgment for what they believe.”

— FiveThirtyEight

Thanks for Helping Pay for the Unvaccinated Sick

Buck Banks

$2 billion

A new Peterson-KFF analysis finds the spike in hospitalizations of unvaccinated adults — which are almost all preventable — cost the U.S. health system more than $2 billion in June and July. Axios: “Those costs are ultimately shouldered by all of us, not just those who remain unvaccinated and then get severely ill. A coronavirus hospitalization costs, on average, around $20,000.”

Biden Firm on Afghan Withdrawal — No One Will Be Fired

Buck Banks

“Let me be clear: The evacuation of thousands of people from Kabul was going to be hard and painful no matter when it started, when we began. It would have been true if we had started a month ago — or a month from now. There’s no way to evacuate this many people without pain and loss of heartbreaking images you see on television. It’s just a fact.”

— President Joe Biden, who “isn’t inclined to fire any senior national security officials over the chaos in Kabul unless the situation drastically deteriorates or there’s significant loss of American life,” Axios reports.

Republican Kinzinger Blames Trump for Afghan Crisis

Buck Banks

“Let’s keep in mind, Mike Pompeo met with the Taliban. As Donald Trump was publicly saying, ‘We have to get out of Afghanistan at all costs. It’s not worth it,’ Mike Pompeo meets with the Taliban and tries to negotiate something.” He added: “They set this up to fail. But always, of course, Joe Biden could have easily turned this around, and instead used it as the excuse to get out.”

— Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) placed blame on the Trump administration for the unfolding crisis in Afghanistan, saying its 2020 agreement with the Taliban sowed the seeds for the United States’ turbulent exit from the country, CNN reports.

Biden’s Approval Drops Over Afghanistan Pullout

Buck Banks

49%

Gallup: “Gallup’s latest job approval rating for President Joe Biden, conducted mostly before the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban earlier this week, is 49%.” “With Biden’s last two job approval ratings around 50%, the honeymoon phase of his presidency is over. His approval shows its first sustained decline and now sits below the historical average 53% job approval rating. The Afghanistan crisis may serve to further erode his public support.” A new CBS News/YouGov poll finds Biden’s approval rate has fallen to 50%, down from 58% last month. A new NBC News poll finds Biden’s approval rate at 49%.