Month: May 2024
Perils of Polls
In candidates poll numbers can strike holy terror,
With pundits cheerfully serving as bad-news bearers.
But it’s good to remember,
We’re a long way from November,
And most poll results are well within the margin of error.
Biden Taunts Trump Over Debates
“Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020, and since then he hasn’t shown up for a debate. Now he is acting like he wants to debate me again. Well, make my day, pal. I’ll even do it twice… I hear you’re free on Wednesdays.”
— Joe Biden challenged Donald Trump to two debates in a video message, circumventing the schedule set by the Commission on Presidential Debates.
Johnson’s Beyond Savin’
Democrats say that House Speaker Mike Johnson
On Tuesday should have stayed in Washington.
Instead, to NYC he humped,
To show his fealty to Trump.
Next motion to vacate, Dems say, calls for a “utilitarian calculation.”
Consumer Price Index Falling Slowly Over three Months
3.6%
New York Times: The Consumer Price Index climbed 3.4 percent in April, down from 3.5 percent in March, the Labor Department said Wednesday. The “core” index — which strips out volatile food and fuel prices in order to give a sense of the underlying trend — rose 3.6 percent last month, down from 3.8 percent a month earlier. It was the lowest annual increase in core inflation since early 2021.
Still, It’s Almost 13,000 Dead Women and Children
12,756
“The United Nations reduced estimates for the number of women and children killed during Israel’s war in Gaza by nearly half, inviting new scrutiny for figures that come from the militant group Hamas,” USA Today reports.“Of the 34,735 people who have died in Gaza since the war began, according to data published May 6 by the UN, more than 9,500 were women and more than 14,500 were children. … But in updated data published two days later on May 8, the UN significantly reduced the figures to 4,959 women and 7,797 children among the 34,844 people reportedly killed in Gaza.”
We Must Remember: Trump Was a BAD President
Jonathan Bernstein in his Good Politics/Bad Politics Substack reminds us of just how bad a president Donald Trump was, and how we have forgotten so much ….
Jonathan Bernstein: “I was one of the political scientists who participated in a ‘rank the presidents’ survey and it was easy to place Trump dead last, given everything. But the truth is that even if Trump had followed and accepted the law, including the Constitutional “emoluments” provision, and even if he didn’t provoke an insurrection in support of his bid to overturn an election he lost, and even if he didn’t have a history of sexual assault, and even if he didn’t regularly make bigoted remarks and encourage bigotry…he was still quite a bit worse at the regular parts of presidenting than any of the modern presidents, at least.”
“It’s hard to know where to begin, and I’m obviously not going to convince anyone in a few short paragraphs or even a full item, but even given how important all that other stuff is his gross incompetency at the job is worth remembering.”
Forgot How Bad
Sure, he played fast and loose with secret documents,
And he totally ignored the Constitution on emoluments.
But it seems we’ve forgotten
Trump’s job performance was truly rotten,
And that his presidency was notable for his gross incompetence.
