Vladimir Putin‘s Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused oil prices to skyrocket. That has in turn caused gasoline prices at the pump to increase sharply. This was entirely predictable. We are having yet another war over oil. Apparently the world has learned little since both Gulf Wars. Indeed, even Japan’s attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor over 80 years ago was largely over oil.
But some folks are saying that “expensive gas is the price of freedom.” This meme can be seen all over social media. For example:
Trump White House official at work on government website
As a recent New York Times article (reprinted here at Yahoo! news) indicates, one of the many areas where President Joe Biden is trying to undo the extensive damage done by Donald Trump is the language used by our federal government. Obviously, Trump and his minions agreed with what we have written about here for more than 10 years, i.e. that “messaging matters” and, in particular, that Republicans are experts at framing issues in ways that favor their point of view. Part of this framing is the use of certain loaded words and phrases. While Trump was in the White House and not busy playing golf, he liked to use Nazi propaganda tactics such as the repetition of big lies, and he had his federal government employ loaded words, or prohibit the use of other words, to gain political advantage. The two areas where this seems most prevalent were, perhaps not surprisingly, the politically contentious subjects of immigration and the environment/climate change. Take a look after the jump to see what Trump did, and how Biden is trying to repair the damage:
The Democratic National Committee (DNC), the governing committee and voice of the Democratic Party, has a video up at its website, as well as on YouTube, which shows the party’s “mission” and “message.” Here is the video:
Not surprisingly, the DNC video stands in stark contrast to the mission and message expressed by Donald Trump and the Republicans:
For the past two months, Democratic U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has figured out the secret of dealing with Donald Trump: treat him like the toddler that he is. The results have been remarkable. First, on December 11 of last year, Pelosi cleaned Trump’s clock in a televised Oval Office meeting that also included Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and a silent Vice President Mike Pence. Pelosi called Trump’s threatened government shutdown the “Trump Shutdown,” and even dared Trump to ask for a vote in Congress on his desired border wall. The Trump Shutdown label stuck, and angry voters punished Trump and the Republicans for their failure to keep the federal government open despite controlling all of its branches.
This November’s midterm elections could easily focus on Donald Trump alone. After all, this week Trump arguably moved closer to impeachment after his former attorney, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to crimes that implicated Trump, and former 2016 Trump presidential campaign chairman Paul Manafort was found guilty on eight financial crime counts as part of the investigation into Russia‘s interference in the 2016 elections. Even before this week, Trump has been a natural target who likes to grab the spotlight each day with an outrageous action or statement. And of course, the first midterm elections two years into a presidency naturally are a referendum on the president. However, it would be a mistake for Democrats to concentrate solely on Trump. Rather, Democrats should make this election largely about us. When Democrats do mention Trump and the Republicans, they need to talk about the pain that these opponents are causing everyday Americans in our lives, and the much better Democratic policies and vision.
Democratic U.S. Senator Bill Nelson urges Republicans to act on climate change.
With the 2018 mid-term elections less than 100 days away, the Democratic Party is showing off a big tent that encompasses a diverse range of people and ideas. The same cannot be said of the Republican Party, which has developed into a Donald Trump protection cult.
As many people feared, Donald Trump yesterday withdrew the United States from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement that was signed by 195 nations. Trump has added America to an extremely short list of outliers, including only Syria and Nicaragua. However, all is not doom and gloom as a result of Trump’s bad decision. First, plenty of state officials and companies will continue their commitment to fight climate change, for example, by deploying more clean energy such as solar and wind power. Second, there are many efforts each of us can make to bridge the climate change gap that Donald Trump is creating:
President Obama at the Tomb of the Unknowns, Nov. 11, 2016.
President Barack Obama is leaving office on a high note. Many people might not remember what it was like when Obama took office in January 2009. The Bush Recession was underway, and America was losing 779,000 jobs per month. Stores were closing. Restaurants were empty. And our treasury was also empty (in fact, trillions in debt) from Bush’s disastrous Iraq War. Obama, with no help from the Republicans, turned things around to the point where he will be turning over a country that, by most objective measures, is doing very well. Let’s take a look at some of those numbers, so that we will have a comparison for the future:
Intermountain Power Project coal-fired plant, Utah
The death of Republican U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has refocused attention on how much is at stake in the 2016 presidential election. We have an ongoing series on this subject, including the president’s power to nominate Supreme Court justices and other federal court judges. Another area of great importance and great difference between the parties which is at stake in November is the future of our environment, including fighting climate change.
Last week in Nevada, we asked the waitress not to give us straws in our soft drinks. The drinks didn’t need to be stirred, and we didn’t need to waste more plastic that ends up in a landfill or a floating trash archipelago in the ocean. “Oh, you’re one of them,” said the waitress. We could only conclude that “one of them” meant a hippie liberal environmentalist who should be mocked for wanting to conserve our resources. We concluded that our waitress is a conservative who might be brainwashed by Republican talking points from Fox News and other sources that sheath their pro-corporate messages behind a veil of “individual freedom” and an “us versus them” mentality.
