Sunday, December 04, 2016

Donald Trump and the Betrayal of the Working Class



I used to stare at those pictures of Donald Trump preaching to his white working class supporters, and wonder how that old con artist managed to fool so many of them.

Make them believe that a billionaire who sits on a gold plated toilet seat was on THEIR side.

And that he would bring back their lost jobs, fight the elites and the special interests, go after the Big Banks, and Make America Great Again.

I didn't believe a word he said, but his faithful followers did, and now they're already looking like suckers.



For while Trump used to go after Hillary Clinton all the time for being too chummy with the capitalist pigs at Goldman Sachs, now they're going to be playing a big role in his government.  

Government Sachs is returning to Washington. 


After a decade in the wilderness, Wall Street’s most powerful firm, Goldman Sachs, is dominating the early days of the incoming Trump administration. The newly picked Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, spent 17 years at Goldman. Trump’s top incoming White House adviser, Steve Bannon, spent his early career at the bank. So did Anthony Scaramucci, one of Trump’s top transition advisers.


Even their president is sniffing out the Trump trough.

Goldman’s president, Gary Cohn, spent an hour schmoozing with President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday and could be up for an administration job, possibly as director of the Office of Management and Budget, people close to Cohn and the transition said.

And to make matters even worse, or even more hoggy, it seems that old con artist has also fooled or seduced his white working class supporters into giving up their health care benefits.

By making the rabid right-wing ideologue Tom Price his secretary of health...



A man who wants to privatize medicare. 


What the choice of Mr. Price suggests is that the Trump administration is, in fact, ready to see millions lose insurance. And many of those losers will be Trump supporters.

You can see why by looking at Census data from 2013 to 2015, which show the impact of the full implementation of Obamacare. Over that period, the number of uninsured Americans dropped by 13 million; whites without a college degree, who voted Trump by around two to one, accounted for about eight million of that decline. 


So we’re probably looking at more than five million Trump supporters, many of whom have chronic health problems and recently got health insurance for the first time, who just voted to make their lives nastier, more brutish, and shorter.


And won't that be a shock?



And that's before they finally realize that their lost jobs aren't coming back either.

Just in case you’re wondering, no, Mr. Trump can’t bring back the manufacturing jobs that have been lost over the past few decades. Those jobs were lost mainly to technological change, not imports, and they aren’t coming back. 

Realize that Trump is no working class hero...



Surprise, surprise.

Finally understand that this is what he meant by sticking it to the elites...



And that even the Republican whore Ann Coulter can see the writing on the wall...



And is now running for cover.


And the best news?

Those poor white working class suckers will also realize this...



So if the Democrats play their cards right, and move their party to the left, they should be able to count on their massive support in the next election.


While Trump worries about other things...






Yes indeed, somebody call an ambulance, or a hearse.


Death stalks Trump's supporters, and when they realize that he has betrayed them, they're going to tear him apart.

Or with a little bit of luck, help send him to the place where that old con artist belongs...




18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here we go....

In exchange for allowing United Technologies to continue to offshore more than 1,000 jobs, Trump will reportedly give the company tax favors.

Just a short few months ago, Trump was pledging to force United Technologies to “pay a damn tax.” He was insisting on very steep tariffs for companies like Carrier that left the United States and wanted to sell their foreign-made products back in the United States.

Instead of a damn tax, the company will be rewarded with a damn tax cut. Wow! How’s that for standing up to corporate greed? How’s that for punishing corporations that shut down in the United States and move abroad?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/12/01/bernie-sanders-carrier-just-showed-corporations-how-to-beat-donald-trump/

Sanders Proposes Bill To Force Trump To Keep Job Promise

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/-sanders-statement-on-carrier-and-outsourcing

Anon 2

Anonymous said...

The white working class betrayed the rest of the working class who were firmly behind Hillary Clinton and her progressive platform.

Anonymous said...

Easy now. She supported TPP and her VP pick, Kaine, not only supported the TPP but was on the Obama team pushing for it until 2 days before he was chosen.

If you would like to put a link on here about her 'progressive platform' that would be insightful. And even if you did she could not be trusted to follow through with it. She was dragged kicking and screaming to support a $15.00 an hour min wage and settled for $12.00

Americas choice was him or her which was like asking if you want a toenail or fingernail pulled out.

She was as neoliberal as Trudeau Libs are turning out to be...

Anon 2

Anonymous said...

Sorry I don't share your optimism about Americans seeing their error and voting the bums out in the next election. The Re-Con strategy is a three pronged skewer. First is religious fundamentalism and associated rhetoric, then comes bastardized capitalism where the ponzi artists line their pockets by churning high risk ventures with other peoples money. Finally comes the patriotic wars where anti government protesters (about anything)are branded as traitors. The wars usually start with a "shock and awe phase" say a small neutron bomb to grab everyone's attention which then settles down into a long drawn out period of fear about a potential or actual war. With the current high level of remote automation good patriots can keep score from the comfort of their tents provided they can still afford the electricity and are healthy enough. Same old scam just new faces.Trump is just a little less polished and more erratic than those that preceded him.
RT

Anonymous said...

Audit the Fed Reserve. Then abolish it.

-MC

e.a.f. said...

When people get desperate, they will believe anyone who is giving them some sort of hope. That hope doesn't have to be "real", but people need something to hold on to and Trump gave them that. For a brief time they were able to believe things would get better. Now they will find out it isn't going to. I have a lot of empathy for those people. they are poor, they have lost control over their lives, their jobs, their communities.

Things did not turn out the way they were supposed to. Their American dream was shattered. Trump promised them a new one. When the economy in the U.S.A. started to shift after Reagan was elected people blamed others for their problems, jobs going over seas, immigrants, illegal immigrants, etc. The one thing they could not accept is they contributed to it and there were things that were beyond their control. Americans have been raised on if you worked hard, did right, things would turn out o.k. for you. That changed

John B. said...

I think the Coulter creature was commenting on his apparent backpedalling on the wall that used to keep getting ten feet higher.

David said...


SNL Lampoons Trump’s Inability to Stop Tweeting 12/3/16 - YouTube
https://youtube.com/watch?v=C5wx7TkBvzw

Donald Trump Prepare Cabinet SNL Cold Open‬‏ - YouTube
https://youtube.com/watch?v=il70dbTtayY

David said...

TRUMP WARNS THAT COMPANIES SHIPPING JOBS OVERSEAS WILL BE SLAPPED WITH ENORMOUS BRIBES
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/trump-warns-that-companies-shipping-jobs-overseas-will-be-slapped-with-enormous-bribes

jrkrideau said...

From what I have read, Trump has been defrauding and shafting the working class and anyone else from small businesses to his bankers all his working life.
No surprise that he's continuing the effort and ingratiating himself with the truly wealthy. He's a wantabe billionaire and is trying to buy approval plus do a bit of standard Trump looting.

Nothing new here. Still, it does look like he is on track for assembly the worst Cabinet in US history.

Simon said...

hi anon2...you know I vividly remember the day I saw a video of the Carrier workers getting the bad news from their bosses, and when I saw that Trump had seen it too my heart sank into my boots. Because I knew that if he promised to bring jobs back, it would be his most effective weapon against Hillary Clinton. And although I read recently that he had forgotten all about those Carrier workers, that sentiment in America helped elect him. As for his plan to save some of those Carrier jobs, as you point out it couldn't be more absurd. And as I think Paul Krugman pointed out, he'd have to do that for the next thirty years to create as many jobs as Obama did. God help us all and thank goodness for Bernie....

Simon said...

hi anon2...Clinton was a flawed candidate, but Trump made a big point of linking her to the banksters at Goldman Sachs, so in that regard at least the angry orange did betray his followers in a most shameful manner...

Simon said...

hi RT...as you know I'm a hopeless optimist, so I hope you're wrong. I agree with you that we could be in for some horrifying times, but I really do believe that Trump will overplay his hand, and not only unite the left, but also cause many of his more decent followers to abandon him in droves. We also have a demographic advantage which is getting stronger by the day. So if we can survive until the next election, I still think we'll have a good chance of winning it...

Simon said...

hi MC...I don't think that can be done, for it's the fly wheel of the U.S. economy, and now that the capitalist pigs from Goldman Sachs are moving, it will be harder to evict them than evicting a raccoon in the attic...

Simon said...

hi e.a.f...I completely agree with you, it was desperate people who gave Trump his victory. CNN's Van Jones has been talking to some of them, and I must say I was moved by what some of them had to say. I can only hope that when they realize that Trump is no real friend of them, they will vote for the Democrats next time....

Simon said...

hi John...you may be right, I'm not aware of what triggered that remark. But I see that Sarah Palin is now blasting Trump for the way he saved some of the jobs at the Carrier factory. Sohope springs eternal... ;)

Simon said...

hi David...Trump seems to be forgetting that many American factories depend on parts made abroad, so if he starts a tariff war and interferes with the supply chain, he could cost his country more jobs than he saves or creates....

Simon said...

hi jrkrideau...I thought Trump would be a little more discreet. But I guess he believes that there's nothing the suckers who voted for him can do now that he doesn't need them anymore. And yes, I think Paul Krugman is right, this is going to be the biggest heist in U.S. history. And as for that cabinet, it just gets worse with every new appointment....