"A billionaire regularly mocking concern about affordability only makes matters worse."

~ E.J. Dionne

#Trump #economy #affordability #EconomicElites #TaxCuts #tariffs #dolls #pencils #ApprovalRating #ballroom
/2

nytimes.com/2025/12/13/opinion…

"Tuesday night at Mount Airy Casino in Pennsylvania, America got a fresh reminder of one of the iron laws of politics in the Year of Our Lord 2025. The signs said, 'Lower Prices Bigger Paychecks,” but the message was, 'You poors don’t know how good you’ve got it.'

Donald Trump can’t reset the narrative."

~ Rick Wilson

#Trump #economy #affordability #EconomicElites #TaxCuts #tariffs #dolls #pencils #ApprovalRating #ballroom #racism #immigrants
/3

lincolnsquare.media/p/trumps-h…

Trump's Hot Mess Rally

It's the Fyre Festival of affordability tours.

^{Rick Wilson (Lincoln Square)}

"Donald Trump is the narrative.

And the narrative is a hot mess....

Every time you hope he’ll sell a positive, reality-based economic story, he chooses the dopamine hit of grievance and racism."

#Trump #economy #affordability #EconomicElites #TaxCuts #tariffs #dolls #pencils #ApprovalRating #ballroom #racism #immigrants
/4

"'You can give up pencils … Every child can get 37 pencils. They only need one or two,' he said, adding, 'You don’t need 37 dolls for your daughter. Two or three is nice. You don’t need 37 dolls.'”

~ Robert Reich

#Trump #economy #affordability #EconomicElites #TaxCuts #tariffs #dolls #pencils #ApprovalRating #ballroom
/5

robertreich.substack.com/p/sun…

Sunday thought: How Christmas will steal the Trump

His malignant narcissism prevents him from understanding public anxiety about the cost of living

^{Robert Reich}

"It’s rich — Trump preaching austerity while raking in billions from his crypto investments and bribes: a luxury jetliner from Qatar, gold bar from Apple, wealth from the Saudis, gold Rolex clock from Switzerland, and so much more."

#Trump #economy #affordability #EconomicElites #TaxCuts #tariffs #dolls #pencils #ApprovalRating #ballroom
/6

"It must be clear by now that the reason the rich guys like Republicans is that the Republicans were actually not interested in the overall economy at all, they didn’t care about outcomes for the country or the people. They just ensured that, over the course of the past half century, America’s wealthiest got wealthier and wealthier."

~ David Rothkopf

#Trump #economy #affordability #EconomicElites #TaxCuts #tariffs #dolls #pencils #ApprovalRating #ballroom
/7

davidrothkopf.substack.com/p/t…

They Really Don't Care, Do They?

Trump and the billionaires don't even live on the same planet as the rest of us.

^{David Rothkopf (Need to Know by David Rothkopf)}

"They have proven that they-really-don’t-care-do-they that the cost to the economy, to society, was damaging in the long run…& that in turn is because they don’t really care about the long run. ...

The reason they supported Trump was that they knew he was like them and vice versa. Their metrics of success were his metrics of success. Their blindspots and lack of concern for the world at large meshed with his."

#Trump #economy #affordability #EconomicElites #TaxCuts #tariffs #dolls #pencils
/8

"We are now deep into the era of what Trump calls the tariff shelf. You’ve heard about it. It’s apparently stocked with trillions upon trillions of dollars—so many, in fact, that the number changes depending on who’s holding the microphone. ...

The administration has already spent the money it insists is sitting on that imaginary shelf."

~ Michael Cohen

#Trump #economy #affordability #EconomicElites #TaxCuts #tariffs #dolls #pencils #ApprovalRating #ballroom
/9

meidasplus.com/p/trumps-arithm…

Trump’s Arithmetic of Make-Believe

This is what happens when slogans outrun spreadsheets; an economy governed by talking points, cheerleaders, and numbers that sound impressive until someone asks to verify them.

^{MeidasTouch Network (Meidas+)}

"On paper, at least. Tariff revenue has been promised to reduce the national debt. It’s been pledged for rebate checks. It’s been earmarked to bail out farmers harmed by trade disruptions. It’s been floated as funding for childcare programs. And in moments of rhetorical enthusiasm, it’s even been suggested as a substitute for federal income taxes altogether."

#Trump #economy #affordability #EconomicElites #TaxCuts #tariffs #dolls #pencils #ApprovalRating #ballroom
/10

"Same dollar. Five commitments. Zero proof. Zero possibility. ...

The 'tariff shelf' is a prop. Trillions are fiction. Promises are illusions."

#Trump #economy #affordability #EconomicElites #TaxCuts #tariffs #dolls #pencils #ApprovalRating #ballroom
/11

"The highlights from that speech are just... I mean, he's telling people you're doing better than you've ever done. Again, going back to you don't need 37 dolls, you know, two or three are nice. You know, school kids, children just need a few pencils, not a whole box of them."

~ Joe Trippi

lincolnsquare.media/p/trump-is…

#Trump #economy #affordability #EconomicElites #TaxCuts #tariffs #dolls #pencils #ApprovalRating #ballroom
/12

Trump Is Weaving Right into an Oncoming Train | That Trippi Show

He wants you to believe affordability is a "hoax."

^{Joe Trippi (Lincoln Square)}

"Which is amazing when he himself is plating everything he can in the White House in gold and building a 200, you know, actually it's now 300 or 400 million dollar glorious ballroom. And at the same time, lecturing people that they've never had it better. I don't think any of that seems to be working."

#Trump #economy #affordability #EconomicElites #TaxCuts #tariffs #dolls #pencils #ApprovalRating #ballroom
/13

"Make no mistake: Trump wasn’t president because of his policies, his qualifications, or even primarily because of his base. He was president because America’s wealthiest class funded his rise, protected his power, and enabled his worst instincts, at least so long as he delivered the goods."

~ Thom Hartmann

#Trump #economy #affordability #EconomicElites #TaxCuts #tariffs #dolls #pencils #ApprovalRating #ballroom
/14

hartmannreport.com/p/chapter-5…

Chapter 5: Powered by Plutocrats

Your weekly excerpt from one of my books. This week: "The Last American President: A Broken Man, a Corrupt Party, and a World on the Brink"

^{Thom Hartmann (The Hartmann Report)}

And although it’s all about the securing of wealth held by a few, it bleeds over into all cultural aspects to propagate positions of power, and truth becomes a casualty. As basic as the origin of the species. Consider the narrative under a white supremacist railing about garbage countries? Or consider the 1939 Nazi narrative. Power gained by inciting people to turn on each other, for perceived favor, driven by tribalism/racism. 🔥🤔 2:2

sapiens.org/archaeology/human-…

Did Human Evolution Begin in East Africa – SAPIENS

Evidence from fossils, objects, and DNA is prompting researchers to rethink Homo sapiens’ origin story—and what it means to be human.

^{Keridwen Cornelius (SAPIENS)}