By Michael Woyton
During his first run for president, donald j. felon* said that he loved the “poorly educated.”
He had just won the Nevada Republican caucuses in February 2016, and in a victory speech, he said, “We won the evangelicals. We won with young. We won with old. We won with highly educated. We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated.”
That was one of many statements he made during the campaign that should have disqualified him for the highest office in the United States.
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But it may very well be the one statement that lives on in what is left of his mind.
All that he’s done, particularly in his second term, is evidence that he wants to keep the people who support him as “poorly educated” as possible.
Look at the constantly changing rationale for the illegal war with Iran. He’s given the American public no consistent reason for the very expensive and deadly bombing.
Look also at the constantly changing rationale for his ever-more expensive ballroom. It’s gone from presidents have wanted this for 150 years to a facility from which he will never emerge due to constant assassination attempts.
And the cost of said ballroom has gone from $200 million — all paid by donors — to $400 million, with the Senate actually proposing to spend $1 billion — yep, that’s not a typo — in taxpayer funds for security upgrades.
Both the president and the Senate must think that we all are “poorly educated” if we are supposed to believe that is necessary.
Even today during a television appearance on Fox Business, the president’s chief financial advisor Kevin “Smiley” Hassett beamed when he said that credit card spending is through the roof now.
“They’re spending more on gasoline, but they’re spending more on everything else, too,” he said.
The “they” he’s referring to, that’s you and me. Hassett, and through him the president, wants us to believe that everything’s coming up more expensive roses and that is a good thing.
But the elderly golfer’s, as well as that of his administration’s, disdain for the American people has not been shown to be more apparent than the decision by the Food and Drug Administration to block publication of studies that support the safety of vaccines against COVID-19 and shingles, according to the New York Times. Not only do they want us “poorly educated”; they want us sick or dead.
The studies, paid for with millions of dollars of taxpayer funds, were conducted by FDA scientists who worked with data firms that analyzed millions of patient records.
The studies found serious side effects to be “very rare” and that both vaccines were safe.
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services said the studies were withdrawn because “the authors drew broad conclusions that were not supported by the underlying data.”
“The withdrawal of the studies is the latest step by the administration to try to limit access to vaccines,” the Times said. “It has sharply cut research funding for vaccine development, released unvetted information casting doubt on vaccines, and blocked other information supporting their safety, most recently a paper on Covid vaccine effectiveness by career scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
That the conclusions didn’t support the data, according to opinions of administration officials, is highly suspect.
Keep in mind that “Health” Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., whose history shows he has promoted easily disproven anti-vaccine claims, has allowed the release of information critical of vaccines, citing lower standards.
A memo by Dr. Vinay Prasad, the former head of the FDA’s vaccine division, “drew widespread news coverage by claiming that the Covid vaccine had been linked to the deaths of 10 children, a conclusion the agency has not backed up or explained,” the Times reported.
That is what this administration continues to do, from the demented blitherings of the adjudicated rapist all the way down to his minions/toadies.
They lie constantly, never giving the public the real story, and expect us to swallow it hook, line and sinker — like the “poorly educated” they assume we all are.
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Maybe — just maybe — more of the “poorly educated” are seeing that the convicted felon isn’t all that he seems to be.
Even the daily Rasmussen Report, which is widely known for leaning toward a conservative bias, showed Wednesday that only 23 percent of likely voters strongly approve of the job the president is doing, while 48 percent strongly disapprove. That gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -25.
An NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll released Wednesday said that an increasing proportion of Americans say they now disapprove of how trump is handling the war with Iran and that the military action has done more harm than good.
According to Marist, 60 percent of Americans disapprove of the president’s handling of Iran, up from 54 percent in March. Only 33 percent approve. The poll said that while 72 percent of Republicans approve of the president’s approach, more members of the GOP now disapprove (22 percent) than in March (15 percent).
Regarding the U.S.’s role on the world stage, 62 percent of Americans believe we are now weaker due to the president’s decisions. Only 38 percent think the country stronger.
People aren’t thrilled with the economy either. The poll showed that 61 percent of Americans disapprove how the president is handling the economy, up from 58 percent in March.
Additionally, more than eight in 10 Americans said they feel either a major strain (33 percent) or a minor one (48 percent) on their household budget because of the current price of gas. Only 19 percent said they feel no strain at all.
Who is getting the blame for gas price increases? Sixty-three percent of residents nationally place a great deal or good amount of blame on the man in the Oval.
Marist surveyed 1,322 adults from April 27 to April 30. The margin of error is ±3.1. See the full poll through this link.
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* I’m following what the wannabe king declared on social media that he will only refer to the Supreme Court in lowercase because he has a complete lack of respect for them after the illegal tariffs ruling.
Find and follow me on BlueSky through this link.
Lead art: editorial cartoon by Drew Sheneman.
