Thursday, September 22, 2016

Are we focusing on the wrong issues?

Donald Trump is against net neutrality. He calls it an Obama conspiracy...!

The vast majority of voters -- of Republicans -- favor net neutrality.

Donald Trump wants rid of the EPA, which he calls the "Department of Environmental."
Taken literally, Trump’s proposal to abolish EPA is a recipe for dirty air and legal chaos. EPA doesn’t just invent its regulations out of thin air. It is the agency charged with implementing laws such as the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, which have been passed by Congress. It studies pollutants that are harmful to human health, writes rules to curb those pollutants, and monitors compliance. If Congress abolished EPA but did not repeal the laws that require the federal government to limit pollution, the result would be total incoherence. The government would have legal obligations it could not meet.
Most voters view the EPA favorably. I think that the Flint episode has reminded us all of the need for regulation.

Donald Trump wants to abolish the Food and Drug Administration. The majority of Republicans who expressed an opinion in this poll favor keeping it. In other polls, Americans strongly believe that the FDA should regulate things like e-cigarettes. If voters were reminded of how things were in the days before meat inspection, I suspect that FDA would have nearly unanimous favorability. (In today's fractured society, nothing is 100% popular.)

Most importantly...

Trump's policies, if enacted, would result in a $5.3 trillion deficit. He's running against the wife of the only President to balance the budget. The majority of voters consider deficit reduction extremely important. The vast majority favor increasing taxes on those with very high incomes. Trump will cut taxes for the wealthy.

We've all heard about Trump's racism, his draconian approach to immigration, his arrogance and his overall ignorance. Isn't it about time we mention other things as well?

8 comments:

prowlerzee said...

This wouldn't work. This would require thinking. The most the average Trump voter can manage is "Trump's a successful businessman." Mention the number of bankruptcies and the hidden tax records. Even that won't change anyone's vote but at least they have no comebacks.

Those are actual issues, not the sort of thing news infotainment outlets "focus" on.

Hillary needs to "disrupt" the news channels, use other routes to address the public, as you suggested before.

Michael said...

Trump supporters are doofusses who don't give a damn about facts and policy. You need to be concerned about this other guy, who is stealing votes from HRC.
https://thinkprogress.org/the-myth-of-gary-johnson-8f39a5688fe6#.mx9i0xpbj

Find the connection to Roger Stone.

Anonymous said...

It's all the clintons fault. They never learned to defend themselves after all those years of attacks. Look at the Clinton's foundation debacle. they let the word OPTICS go around for weeks. Why didn't get off their assas and show the real optics: 11.5 millions of people surviving because of the foundation(aids) rebuilding the entire health system in Rwanda , medicine for Malaria ,education....
Why waiting for Canson's book to come out, who reads books anymore. For 25 years I was never impressed by their ability to defend themselves. My God how many times I was physically ill from frustration. Those Clintons will be the death of me.

jo6pac said...

I'm not voting for trump but the fda and epa have taken over by the industries they oversee. We the people no longer matter just greed.


http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/37710-epa-plans-to-allow-unlimited-dumping-of-fracking-wastewater-in-the-gulf-of-mexico

Michael said...

More on the guy who's stealing votes from HRC. He's scary. Almost as scary as Trump.
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/09/why-are-there-any-liberals-supporting-gary-johnson-list

Joseph Cannon said...

Anon, I gotta admit -- you DO have a point. Bill gets on TV to talk about his Foundation, but it's kind of a soft sell. He never says "TRUMP LIES!" or "That goddamned movie 'CLinton Cash' is filled with LIES!" or "No other former president has saves as many lives as I have!"

He lets the facts quietly speak for themselves.

That's the right approach when speaking to educated people who work in offices. They can put two and two together. But the people who work behind the counter at the local fast food emporium NEED the Trumpian hard sell. They NEED to hear you say "ME SO GREAT THEM SO EVIL."

Hoarseface said...

I'm not sure the issues matter at this point either. Personally my hope is that during the first debate, Hillary can successfully troll trump (albeit with truth!) in such a way that he just completely loses his shit and embarrasses himself. Given how thin-skinned he is, can't seem to resist reacting to the smallest insult, hopefully her trainers are giving her lessons on his transparently obvious personality type and how to egg him into a total meltdown live on TV. I can't help but think a skilled debater - not in terms of issues, but in how to manipulate personalities - could play him like a fiddle.

Michael said...

You were right. There IS a dirty-tricks conspiracy targeting Hillary. But it's not Roger Stone behind it, it's these guys:

Palmer Luckey
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/09/22/palmer-luckey-the-facebook-billionaire-secretly-funding-trump-s-meme-machine.html

Milo Yiannopoulos
http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-america-divided/milo-yiannopoulos/