There is a big-money push from corporations and the ultra-wealthy to get Trump elected. The press does a piss-poor job of covering his mental lapses and lies. It's barely analyzing and highlighting Project 2025 which strips away checks and balances in favor of an imperial presidency. The six conservatives on the Supreme Court have set the table for presidential abuses of power.
There is a very powerful group of people in the US who are actively trying to kill democracy in this country.
Does no one remember "Executive Time," the thing Trump spent the majority(!) of his schedule on where he would just watch TV and tweet? He was categorically unable to fulfill any of the demands of the office and the press barely cared.
No one remembers the website Trump Golf Count?
Rolling into the oval office at 11, zoning out for the intelligence briefing, whining until they let him wander away and watch fox. That was Trump every damn day. And he flew to one of his personal country clubs to play golf almost every weekend.
Does no one remember "Executive Time," the thing Trump spent the majority(!) of his schedule on where he would just watch TV and tweet? He was categorically unable to fulfill any of the demands of the office and the press barely cared.
No one remembers the website Trump Golf Count?
Rolling into the oval office at 11, zoning out for the intelligence briefing, whining until they let him wander away and watch fox. That was Trump every damn day. And he flew to one of his personal country clubs to play golf almost every weekend.
Project 2025 Prescription Drug Plan Would Increase Costs for as Many as 18.5 Million Seniors and Others With Medicare
If Project 2025 is implemented, at least 1.5 million Medicare beneficiaries with high out-of-pocket costs will pay more for prescription drugs next year.
Over the past two years, seniors and other Medicare enrollees have begun to benefit from monumental prescription drug price reforms thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. However, these lifesaving policies are now under threat.
The Heritage Foundation has outlined a sweeping, far-right policy vision to put powerâand profitsâback in pharmaceutical companiesâ hands. Project 2025âs âMandate for Leadership: A Conservative Promiseâ calls for repealing the Inflation Reduction Act. Similarly, the Republican Study Committeeâs âFiscal Sanity to Save Americaâ fiscal year 2025 budget proposal calls for a full repeal of the law. If Project 2025 is implemented, millions of Medicare enrollees will see their out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs rise, reversing much-needed savings generated by the Inflation Reduction Actâs Medicare Part D reforms and other provisions.
Across the United States, more than 1.5 million Medicare Part D enrolleesâwho are among the most vulnerable enrollees with significant health needsâcould see their 2025 out-of-pocket costs rise if the $2,000 out-of-pocket cap is repealed. But beyond that, 18.5 million Medicare Part D enrollees could lose much-needed out-of-pocket savings from the Inflation Reduction Actâs full package of Medicare Part D redesign elements (as detailed in 1aâf under âWhatâs at stake in the Inflation Reduction Actâ). Some seniors could see an average of nearly $400 in lost drug savings in 2025 alone. Overall, Medicare Part D enrollees across the nation could lose out on up to $7.4 billion in out-of-pocket savings next year.
...See how Project 2025 could increase costs for Medicare Part D enrollees in your state.
HOW IRA REPEAL COULD IMPACT MEDICARE PART D ENROLLEES IN 2025, BY STATE
Ohio
67K
Estimated number of Medicare Part D enrollees who could pay more without $2,000 out-of-pocket (OOP) cap
687.4K
Estimated number of Medicare Part D enrollees who could pay more without IRA OOP savings
$451
Average potential increase in OOP costs among Medicare Part D enrollees with OOP cost increases
$310.2M
Total missed savings for Part D enrollees in Ohio
Sources: Juliette Cubanksi, Tricia Neuman, and Anthony Damico, "Millions of People with Medicare Will Benefit from the New Out-of-Pocket Drug Spending Cap Over Time" (San Francisco: KFF, 2024), available at https://www.kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/millions-of-people-with-medicare-will-benefit-from-the-new-out-of-pocket-drug-spending-cap-over-time/; Bisma A. Sayed and others, "Inflation Reduction Act Research Series: Medicare Part D Enrollee Out-Of-Pocket Spending: Recent Trends and Projected Impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act" (Washington: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, 2023), available at https://aspe.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1b652899fb99dd7e6e0edebbcc917cc8/aspe-part-d-oop.pdf.
The closely watched case focuses on a charge that former President Donald Trump also faces in his election interference case.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday ruled in favor of a former police officer who is seeking to throw out an obstruction charge for joining the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
The justices in a 6-3 vote on nonideological lines handed a win to defendant Joseph Fischer, who is among hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants — including former President Donald Trump — who have been charged with obstructing an official proceeding over the effort to prevent Congress' certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory.
The court concluded that the law, enacted in 2002 as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act after the Enron accounting scandal, was only intended to apply to more limited circumstances involving forms of evidence tampering, not the much broader array of situations that prosecutors had claimed it covered.
The provision targets anyone who "obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so," but the court determined that its scope is limited by a preceding sentence in the statute referring to altering or destroying records.
While he is evil enough, he was never a member of the cabinet.
One little stat to ponder: there are 26 cabinet-level positions in the executive branch. If Trump had 44 cabinet members that would be a lot of turnover in four years.
By my count there were 36 cabinet members confirmed by congress in the Trump administration. Of the 25 cabinet posts at the end of the term only 4 left office before the term was up. The rest sat thru Jan. 6th and rode it out, so maybe that stat is a wee bit of an exaggeration.
Still...
If you count those that didn't make it through confirmation you get 42, and Pence counts too, so that's 43. But the NBC story I think this references just says:
NBC News reached out to 44 of the dozens of people who served in Trump's Cabinet over his term in office. Most declined to comment or ignored the requests. A total of four have said publicly they support his run for re-election. Several have been coy about where they stand, stopping short of endorsing Trump with the GOP primary race underway. Then there are those who outright oppose his bid for the GOP nomination or are adamant that they don't want him back in power.
so it's not members of the cabinet, it's people who served in. A bigger pool. And the responses were 'coy' or 'no comment'. But 4 yays out of 44 people who were certainly some level of insiders isn't a good look.
If you ask the guy leaving the restaurant how it is and he looks at the ground and says "well.... Uh.... no comment", I'd look around.
While he is evil enough, he was never a member of the cabinet.
One little stat to ponder: there are 26 cabinet-level positions in the executive branch. If Trump had 44 cabinet members that would be a lot of turnover in four years.
By my count there were 36 cabinet members confirmed by congress in the Trump administration. Of the 25 cabinet posts at the end of the term only 4 left office before the term was up. The rest sat thru Jan. 6th and rode it out, so maybe that stat is a wee bit of an exaggeration.
I'm betting Steve Mnuchin, former Sec. of Treasury. Got a huge amount of investment money from the Saudis. Also Wilbur Ross, forner Sec. of Commerce and escapee from the family burial crypt.
Then there's Ben Carson, former Sec. of HUD who's apparently still in a long-shot prospect for VP.
But we live in age of cowardice and non-existent morals. Few people would speak out right and reject Trump. And then people say one thing and the exact opposite soon after, like Nikki Haley. Or Bill Barr, who's now endorsing Trump. This NBC News article is from July 30, 2023:
NBC News reached out to 44 of the dozens of people who served in Trump's Cabinet over his term in office. Most declined to comment or ignored the requests. A total of four have said publicly they support his run for re-election. Several have been coy about where they stand, stopping short of endorsing Trump with the GOP primary race underway. Then there are those who outright oppose his bid for the GOP nomination or are adamant that they don't want him back in power.
âI have made clear that I strongly oppose Trump for the nomination and will not endorse Trump,â former Attorney General Bill Barr told NBC News. Asked how he would vote if the general election pits Trump against President Joe Biden, a Democrat, Barr said: âIâll jump off that bridge when I get to it.â
The Trump campaign declined to comment beyond pointing to three former Cabinet members as people to contact â one of whom has endorsed Trump and two others who, when asked, didn't commit to endorsing him at this time.