A woman going by the handle Kashoggi’s Ghost (@UROCKLive1) on Twitter (X, if you must), lays out in necessary detail the economic case for Democrats over Republicans, in the race for President, and in all races for Congress.
It’s long. Here’s the text from all 24 Tweets in the thread (more may be added later). Bottom line, Democrats in the White House will make America greater and better, while Republican policies will again crash the economy.
Listen up, you guys, we’ve got a democracy to save! And neither the courts nor the media is going to help us. Buckle up for a long thread.๐งต1) Right now we’ve got a third of the country who believe Trump’s lies, a third who see what’s happening and will vote for Biden, even if they’re not fond of him, and a third who are completely clueless. The third group are the people we need to reach.
Sadly, I can’t go out in the world and be around people, so I won’t have the opportunity to talk to folks and tell them what they don’t know, but I’ve got talking points for y’all.2) First, the economy seems to be what folks are fixated on, but they have their facts wrong, so let’s start there.
To sell this economy, you need to start in 2020. People prefer not to remember that time. Remind them. Besides refrigerated morgues, empty shelves, overrun hospitals and people dying, businesses and schools were closed, unemployment went way up, and we had GLOBAL inflation from the GLOBAL pandemic. Please make sure people understand this. Inflation started all over the world before the president took office, in large part due to messed up supply chains caused by the pandemic. (Not to mention corporate greed, but that’s another story.)3) Biden came into an economic mess, and all the financial pundits were predicting a recession for at least the first two years he was in office. So the president focused on getting the country up and running again, first by making vaccines available to everyone, then by passing the Inflation Reduction Act, which was also the most substantial climate change initiative in history. But that took almost two years to get passed and then signed into law, and then it takes time for it to be implemented and then more time for the effects to be felt. We are only just barely beginning to feel the real results of that.
4) Now we have an economy that’s the envy of the world. Our inflation is more under control than that of our allies. Unemployment is at 50 year lows, the stock market is at all time highs. The president pulled off an freaking economic miracle and doesn’t get nearly enough credit for it.
But the average person has amnesia about the pandemic and is still mad because groceries cost more, something the president has no control over. The fact is, prices are never going to go back to 2019 levels, no matter who is president, because that’s not how anything works. Over time prices go up, sometimes faster than others. These prices are the new normal.
So we need to explain to literally anyone who will listen that the pandemic caused global economic upset, and that the US has handled it better than any other country. And Trump is now threatening to undo everything Biden did if he’s reelected, and the business community is practically yelling that Trump’s proposed new agenda will be an economic disaster, and cause major inflation.5) If we were to reelect Trump, (we won’t) but if we did the economy would keep humming for a couple of years because it would take him time to wreck it, and you can bet that he’d be taking credit for everything Biden accomplished.
But, again, we’re only just barely beginning to feel the effects of Biden’s policies, and we’re still the envy of the world. It’s only going to get better from here. WHY ON EARTH WOULD WE WANT TO REVERSE COURSE NOW?!6) For people to fully appreciate the economic miracle that is the US they need to remember what was happening when Biden came into office, and stop comparing today to 2019. We’re never going back there. And I think to a certain extent the general sense of malaise and depression many experienced after the pandemic (which is still going on, btw) is affecting their attitudes about how good things are now.
So please go out and remind people where we really were four years ago and how historically amazing our current economy is.7) Once you’ve got folks appreciating what Biden has done, please start dispelling the myth that GOP policies are better for the eonomy. That hasn’t been true in my lifetime. But I have a theory on why it persists, and that’s because people associate the current economy with whoever is in the White House, without taking into consideration that it takes time for policies to be enacted, and then more time for them to take effect.
So look at the pattern over the last 40 years. Reagan did what every Republican administration has done ever since: gave huge tax cuts to billionaires and big corporations, gutting federal revenues, and creating a ripple effect that starts slow and gains momentum over a period of years. A smart country would prioritize education, FOR EVERYONE, but instead we keep cutting funding to make up for those juicy corporate tax cuts.8) Triple down economics has never worked. Not once. Not even a little, but every single Republican administration tries it again.
9) So look at the pattern. The economy was already in trouble when Bush 41 took over in 1989. What he did was too little too late, and he lost his job for it. Clinton took over an economic mess, and by the time he left the economy was humming. Dubya came in in 2001, and they did the whole tax cuts for billionaires thing again and before the end of his second term we were in a recession. BECAUSE TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMICS DOESN’T WORK.
So then Obama came into power when things were really bad, unemployment was high, businesses were failing. But after 8 years of Dem policies the economy was cooking again.
Trump came in and took credit for Obama’s economy, and then went right back to tax cuts for billionaires and corporations. He claimed he created the greatest economy, but he created nothing. He just took credit for it. There were already signs that there was going to be another recession in Trump’s second term before the pandemic hit.
And no, the pandemic wasn’t his fault, but the absolutely atrocious way he handled it was. But things would not have turned out that rosy even minus the pandemic effects. We were headed in the wrong direction.10) But Biden won, and instead of the Trump recession we got the Biden rebound. And now we have the best economy in the world, and we’re only just beginning to feel the effects from it. It would be insane and destructive to reverse course now. But that’s exactly what Trump would do. He would cancel everything Biden has done, and take credit for the results of what he couldn’t cancel. It would be a huge mistake.
11) Another myth about Republicans being better for the economy is that they want to bring down spending and cut the deficit, but in fact, when they’re in power they do the exact opposite. It’s been this way for years. Whenever Dems are in power the GOP screams about the deficit, but whenever they’re in power they make it so much worse. They cut spending just a little by hurting the poor and middle class, and they give massive tax cuts to billionaires and corporation which kills our revenue.
Biden’s record is much better on this than Trump’s. Also tell people that they want to defund the IRS so it doesn’t go after rich tax cheats, (to please their rich donors) and that this will actually cost us billions. The money we save by not fully funding the IRS is miniscule compared to the money we lose. And they know this, but they act like they’re doing it to be fiscally responsible.
Tell people this.12) If we really want a spectacular economy, we need to keep Dems in office for more than 8 years. And to do that we need people to start understanding that to know where to place blame or give credit to for the economy, you need to look back four to six years. The economy doesn’t change because an election happened. The economy changes because of the policies enacted. If people could understand that, anyone voting based on the economy would keep voting for Dems.
13) Once you’ve dispelled the myth that Republicans are better for the economy, start reminding people of all the other reasons to vote. The court is HUGE. People ignored the importance of SCOTUS in 2016, and look where that got us. It’s not only women’s right to control their own bodies, this court is doing major damage in other ways. They’re dismantling the administrative state, and taking away the government’s right to protect us. This is another whole thread, and I should probably wait until we see the rest of their rulings.
BUT PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT PEOPLE KNOW THAT WOMEN LOSING THEIR RIGHTS IS BECAUSE OF DONALD TRUMP AND HIS COURT. Getting rid of Roe is one of the only promises he ever kept. But apparently there are people with so little understanding of how government works they think this must be Biden’s fault because he was president when it happens.
And some blame Dems for not codifying Roe without understanding that unless we have 60 votes in the senate, THIS CANNOT HAPPEN. Unless Dems control the senate with at least 60 votes, or eliminate the filibuster, (which I support, but it does have a downside) there is no way to codify Roe. This means women in red states are going to suffer.14) Another GOP scam has been convincing people deregulation is a good thing. In actuality, deregulation means polluted air and water, no safety protections for workers, (or passengers in the case of the airlines) no financial protection for consumers, and no ability to slow down climate change. Deregulation is not our friend, but corporations love it. It saves them money, which they immediately use to benefit shareholders while the rest of us get screwed over. This court wants to eliminate the protections from regulations.
15) This Extreme Court and the Republicans also want to make abortion illegal nationwide, (listen up, blue-staters!) and eliminate access to birth control. THEY HAVE EVERY INTENTION OF DOING THIS. If we elect another Republican, ANY REPUBLICAN, they’re going to appoint justices who will take away protections for birth control, and LBGTQ people will no longer be protected either. Not only could they lose the right to marry, (which is more important for legal reasons than a lot of younger people realize) they could even criminalize gay sex, just like the good old days.
All of this along with this court’s support for gutting voting rights, allowing gerrymandering, etc. will make it a lot harder to fix any of this. Even if you don’t like Biden, whoever gets to appoint the next justices will have an enormous effect on this country for at least a generation. We really REALLY need a Democrat in the White House AND a Democratic controlled senate, or we will suffer for a long time. Probably the rest of my lifetime.16) We need to elect Dems in the House, the Senate, and the presidency, both for the economy, and because if Republicans take control again, the whole country is going to end up like the red states. Women will lose their rights, and the whole country will suffer from red state folly. You’ll notice that the red states have the worst economies, too, and the worst education systems, and the worst healthcare. Why anyone would want Republicans to control the whole country is beyond me, because their record is terrible.
17) So please try to explain all of this to everyone around you, and everyone you meet. Find out about the Dems running in your districts, (statewide offices, too) find out good things about them, and sing their praises to people around you. Get folks to understand the consequences of electing Republicans.
Ask people questions that start with, “Did you know …”
“Did you know that Joe Biden and the Democrats passed the largest and most historic climate change legislation in history?”
“Did you know that Republican controlled states have the worst education, the worst economy, and the worst healthcare in the US?”
“Did you know that we always have a recession toward the end of every eight year Republican term?”18) Help people compare the results from which party is in power.
The recent congresses give you plenty of examples. Obama gave us healthcare, and the GOP (including Trump) have been trying to take it away ever since. In Trump’s first two years he had a Republican Congress and Senate, and really the only thing they accomplished was the usual tax cuts for billionaires thing. He built a couple of miles of wall (which is a stupid idea anyway and this wall is already falling down,) and he came within one vote of taking away healthcare WITH NOTHING TO REPLACE IT WITH. (Thank you, John McCain.) Other than that, they did nothing for the American people. Then we had divided government which means very little gets done.19) In Biden’s first two years with a Dem Congress they passed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, the most comprehensive climate legislation the U.S. has even seen. The law invests hundreds of billions of dollars in clean energy, electric vehicles, environmental justice and more.
The Inflation Reduction Act represents the largest attempt in U.S. history to combat climate change. It includes clean-energy funding covering cars and homes and businesses, while curbing methane emissions, and it sets aside money for communities heavily affected by air pollution, flooding, and other climate-related issues.
This legislation also includes new measures to lower prescription drug costs, including a provision empowering Medicare to negotiate prices with the pharmaceutical industry, a new $2,000 yearly cap on out-of-pocket costs for prescriptions through Medicare, and a $35 monthly insulin cap for Medicare beneficiaries.
They also strengthened our supply chains and set up new programs to support minority businesses, and expanded STEM education opportunities so that more women and minorities can get the skills needed to succeed in a high-tech economy. Plus they gave additional funding to the IRS which raises our revenue.
And passing the Inflation Reduction Act was just the beginning. In the year and a half since its enactment, the administration has focused on developing tax credit guidance and launching programs to implement its many clean energy provisions
The Dem Congress also passed The Electoral Count Reform Act, to try to prevent someone like Trump from trying to steal an election again.
For the two years of a Dem Congress under President Biden, they worked hard to do things that would actually help the American people.20) And what has this Republican Congress done? Mostly a whole lot of nothing. They spent weeks trying to elect a Speaker, and then did that again a few months later. They impeached the Homeland Security Director, investigated Hunter Biden, tried as hard as they could to find a crime they could impeach the president for in spite of having no evidence for it, and they passed a bunch of performative nonsense bills that would accomplish nothing and that they knew had literally zero chance of becoming law, like protecting gas stoves, and naming airports and waterways after the disgraced, twice-impeached, convicted felon they all worship.
They were only barely able to pass a budget, and then the majority of Republicans voted against it. But not once, during this whole time have they even attempted to do anything that actually improves the lives of Americans.
Do we want more of this? Or do we want another congress working for us? If Dems control the House and senate, they will work to make our lives better. And contrary to what the silly owner of this website says, having a divided government doesn’t benefit anybody. It just stops all progress.21) Then there’s Project 2025, which fortunately people are starting to hear about. It’s the blueprint for a fascist takeover. Please tell people about what they intend to do, and explain the damage that would cause. Do you really want a whole country being run by people who put loyalty to Trump over loyalty to the country? Especially knowing Trump will do everything in his power to remain in office to keep himself legally protected. Project 2025’s goals include eliminating access to birth control, eliminating women’s access to a divorce even if they’re suffering from abuse, gutting public education and giving the money to private Christian schools, and giving the president unlimited power. Encourage people to find out about it, because it’s hella scary.
22) If you meet anyone who still believes climate change is a hoax, they may very well be too stupid to reach, but most people know better. Ask people, “Did you know that Joe Biden and the Democrats passed the largest, most historic climate change initiative ever? They’re getting us ready for a clean energy future, and doing it in a way that benefits the economy too. 300,000 new jobs have already been created by this plan, and more to come. Trump and the GOP want to reverse all of it, and give more subsidies to the oil industry.” If you care about climate change at all, you need to vote for Dems, up and down the ticket, because nthe GOP only cares about Big Oil and big donors. They’re even trying to pass laws in some states making it illegal to try to slow down climate change. Republicans are a huge threat to the environment, the planet and our future.
23) Then ask folks if they care about the US’s role in the world. We’re still considered the leader of the free world, even though we’ve done plenty to damage that, but we will lose that if Trump is reelected. Our allies will forgive us for the mistake of electing him once, but if we do it a second time, they will never trust us again. They’re already getting hesitant to share intelligence with us, because they know it isn’t safe if Trump comes back. They will stop altogether if he does, and our whole country will be less safe.
Make sure to dispel the myth that the world doesn’t respect Biden and wants Trump back. The only country leaders who prefer Trump are our enemies, the evil dictators who rule Russia and North Korea. (Also Netanyahu, because although Israel is our ally, Bibi is not, for his own selfish reasons.) But do we really want to elect a president our allies dread and don’t trust and the evil dictators who want to destroy America would rejoice at? The Europeans don’t agree with every detail of how Biden has handled foreign policy, (neither do I) but we all know Trump would be infinitely worse.
I have another whole thread I need to write about NATO, which I’ll add here later, but please make sure folks understand how important NATO is to US and world security. Trump’s threat to pull is out is INSANE, and will make us very much less safe. America First means America alone. NATO is the greatest peacekeeping alliance in recorded history, and leaving them would be extremely dangerous to our national security, not to mention idiotic.
And as far as how the world sees us, how do you think they’ll feel if we elect a convicted felon to be the leader of our country? A criminal whose business organization owes more than a half a billion dollars for fraud convictions? Someone who can’t be trusted with intelligence, and who will sell our foreign policy off to the highest bidder in order to enrich himself. Seriously, it’s downright embarrassing.24) Make sure the low info people you talk to realize that the vast majority of people in Trump’s cabinet (you know, the ones who saw how he actually ran the country) and his Vice President are now refusing to support him, and are saying he’s unfit for the job. This is unheard of in modern history. The people who agreed with Trump’s policies, but saw how he handled being the president are WARNING US NOT TO PUT HIM IN POWER AGAIN. How insane would it be not to listen to them?
I heard today that people actually trust Trump more than Biden to protect democracy. This is nuts. The only reason I can think of for this is that they believe the lies that the president is prosecuting his political rival, something Trump really wanted to do but was held back by the DOJ insisting that there had to be evidence of crimes for them to do this. (Barr tried to find such evidence, but wouldn’t prosecute without it.) Trump won’t be held back by this if he gets another chance.
So if you meet people who believe Biden is unfairly going after Trump for political reasons, tell them this: Merrick Garland stated under oath that he only took the job of Attorney General under the condition that it would be free from political pressure, and that since taking office the White House has never contacted or pressured him about any case. Not about Trump. Not about Hunter. He’s following the facts and the law, and none of this has anything to do with the president. Seriously, if he were directing DOJ, would he allow them to criminally prosecute his own son? Especially for a ridiculous offense that no one is ever prosecuted for.So I’m not done, but I’m going to stop for now because I have things to do and my keyboard has lost its charge. I’ll keep adding to this thread. In the meanwhile, PLEASE, go out and proselytize to every one you meet. Tell all the people not paying attention what the stakes are, and fill them in on all the things they don’t know.
We need to share two stories: 1) the one about the overlooked miracle of Biden’s economic recovery, and all the good policies he managed to enact even with the very slimmest of majorities, and 2) the absolute disaster another Trump term would be. What Trump will do to our country if given the chance, will not be easy to fix if it’s even possible. And fixing it will take decades. For the climate, decades is too late, and for the social and economic policies, those decades will be miserable. Putting Republicans in power will take us backwards.
Really try to get folks to grasp the concept that the economy doesn’t magically and immediately change depending on who is president. It changes due to policies that are enacted, and those take time. They take time to pass, and they take time to implement, and then they take time before we feel their effects. We are only beginning to feel the benefits of what Biden and the Dems have done.
If you want to know who to blame or give credit to for the economy, look back four to six years and see who was doing what. This is why we have a recession at the end of every eight year Republican presidential term. They inherit a great economy from Dems, wreck it, and then Dems have to fix it. Please help people understand the timing thing, because the first four years of a Democratic president’s term the economy always sucks because that’s what they inherited. Then by the end of the second term after Dem policies have had a chance to work, the economy is doing great. Then Republicans win and reap the benefits and people think, “oh yeah, these are good times and a Republican is in the White House, so they must be better for the economy. This isn’t that hard to understand if you can get people to stop and think about it.โข โข โข
Posted by Ed Darrell 
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 