politics

Just How Crazy IS He?

by MyBaconPress

I’ve long been a proponent of the idea that Trump isn’t really trying to run a winning campaign. Instead, he’s simply playing a role. His job is to be the crazy distraction from anything that might appear anti-Hillary. He’s doing a pretty good job, too. For example, when FBI Director James Comey made his oh-so-damning statement about Hillary, Trump praised Saddam Hussein’s ability to kill. The press stays on Trump’s insane statement until Comey’s statement fades into the past, Hillary is protected from the fallout…

Sure, it seems crazy but consider this: during the week Aug 15 through the 19th there have been no new charges, no new accusations against Hillary – and the Donald has been quiet…sane, even.

Here’s a rule.  No, a law: If a person can control when and how he or she is “crazy”, the person isn’t crazy…

The Trump Insane Game…

by MyBaconPress

Okay, so by now any astute person paying even a modicum of attention has noticed that every time some new accusation comes out against Hillary, the Donald saves her by making some big “gaffe”.  James Comey makes his “she’s guilty but we’re not going to pursue it” statement and Trump praises Saddam Hussein’s ability to kill terrorists.  The corporate disinfotainment machine pushes Trumps comments to the forefront and keeps it there until Comey’s statement fades as quietly as possible into the background.  The DNC primary rigging emails come out, Trump praises Putin and invites foreign hackers to attack.  Clinton repeats the lie that Comey “cleared her” and Trump picks a fight with a gold star family.  There’s a pretty solid correlation.

Each time a new charge comes out about Hillary, Trump has to say something to distract.  But the accusations against Hillary just keep coming and, according to Julian Assange, they’re not going to stop any time soon.  If Trump is going to continue his successful distraction campaign, he can’t just keep repeating crazy things he’s already said.  He does, anyway, from time to time, just to keep those things going but we’ve all heard those crazy things.  They are, literally, yesterday’s news.  If he’s going to be certain to control a news cycle or two, he needs to come up with new and ever more crazy things.  But where can even the Donald go from ‘Second Amendment Solutions’ to his opponent?

He has attacked his own party.  He has attacked veterans and gold star families.  He suggested women seeking abortions should be jailed.  He threw a baby out of a rally!  He heaps praise on the likes of Putin and approves nuclear first-strike.  He suggested requiring all members of a given religion wear a visible symbol to identify them.  Each time, he dominates the news cycle and nobody is asking anything about Hillary.  In short, the plan, so far, has worked perfectly.  But where does he go from here?

That’s the game: where does Trump go with his NEXT “gaffe”?  Wikileaks seems determined to release information slowly – something of a steady drip of damage rather than a simple, single punch to the gut of the campaign.  This suggests we can expect some new, damning information about Hillary and the DNC in this coming week.  THAT means, the Donald is going to have to come up with some newer, crazier thing.  So what’s it going to be?  Will the Donald suggest blowing up the moon?  A hunting season on Muslims?  Hillary in collusion with Stalin?  Hell, it could be anything.  So what’s your guess?  How will the Donald distract from the next Hillary accusation?

Note: there is no prize.  You just get the warm fuzzy feeling of being correct should you name the actual distraction he chooses…

How Do Half-Measures Help?

by MyBaconPress

No final bill, yet, I know.  But the more I look at what Congress is doing, the more I fear the net end result is that I’ll be an “outlaw”.  It seems the ONE thing the Congress critters have agree upon is that we need a law that requires people to buy health insurance.

It’s classic wrong-headed thinking.  Our so-called “representatives” seem to believe that people wouldn’t pursue health care unless they’re forced to.  MY problem is that all of my discretionary income is used up on “housing” and “food”…

Think of me as a drowning man, going down for the third time.  I can pay my bills…unless anything goes wrong.  Anything at all.  That includes a shiny new mandate about where I’m legally allowed (or required) to spend my money.  If I pay my PG&E, I can stay warm, forestall pneumonia, and avoid a need for health care.  If I pay my newly minted health care bill, I can’t stay warm.

So, I’ll be warm and take the same chance I’ve been taking for ten years, now.  (Hell, why SHOULDN’T a guy approaching 50 have confidence in continued robust health?  I mean, what could go wrong?)  But here’s where such a law would help: if I DO get sick and go to an emergency room, they’ll have a basis to deny me services: failure to comply with national health care laws…

Apparently, both measures currently include some form of government health insurance.  The Senate lets states “opt out”.  I don’t so much mind the “opt out” bit.  I don’t really think any states will opt out.  Oh, one or two might, just for show, but they’ll “opt right back in” just as soon as their constituents are done with them.  (Remember how all those “red” states who screamed about “stimulus money” nevertheless accepted “stimulus money”?)

It’s looking like the final product will also leave somewhere between 12 and 16 million people without coverage, too.  Oh, and both plans include a “phasing in” process so NONE of this stuff happens now.  Hell, the current House measure won’t be fully implemented until 2019!  Sarah will be nearly finished with her second term by then and righties will have had MORE than enough time to convince Americans “it doesn’t work”.  (And, really, because of these half-measures, it won’t…)

Some people are willing to accept “baby steps” or half-measures.  The concept is the ‘foot-in-the-door’ theory.  “Just get a bill…any bill.  We can tweak it later.”  So the Dems accept nearly any compromise, counting on the “tweak it later” part.  Repugs push for every concession, knowing the weaker the bill is now, the easier it will be to kill later.

Again, I acknowledge there is no final bill yet.  We’ve heard all kinds of scary stories about what it will and won’t do or how such-and-so provision is “dead” only to see it resurrected (or never dead in the first place…)  So it’s best to wait until we see the actual contents of the actual bill Congress sends to Obama’s desk.  But through it all, I can’t help but remember: all they had to do was expand Medicare…