The Necrotic Toddler claims he cut drug prices 600 percent — in other words, if the drug cost $100, it would now earn us a $500 rebate. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick tries and fails to make it make sense.
The Toddler is a bullshit artist. As Paul Campos puts it at the link above, he’ll say whatever he thinks will get him the sale or the vote or shut up those mean people who think he’s not the bestest little baby who’s ever been president. Like declaring unemployment is only up because of all the government employees he fired. It isn’t.
As Paul Krugman points out, it’s also that he has no other cards to play. He has no solutions that work. “Faced with adversity, he’s unable to propose policies to improve the situation. All he can do is continue to gaslight the public and claim that everything is great, while smearing his opponents.” So we get ideas like “instead of giving money to insurers, I’ll give it to people to give to insurers! See how different that is!”
While this is good news for Dem prospects, it’s horrible news for lots of people, like those whose insurance is spiking way, way up next year (I know a couple). For all the things government does wrong, it does a lot right, and we need competent people to make it work properly. We do not have that now.
While we’re on the subject of lies, JD Vance has announced that “We don’t treat anybody different because of their race or their sex” so it’s good Republicans are rejecting DEI. “In the United States of America, you don’t have to apologize for being white anymore.”
JD Vance lives in a fantasy world where criticizing white power or patriarchy means white people and men are being told to apologize for the accident of their condition. No, people have to apologize if they’ve been racist/sexist dicks. And he’s made no secret about treating women differently: he talks a lot about childless cat ladies but I don’t hear him judging childless men the same way. And shall we mention that the Felon administration is hating on Somali-Americans simply for their ethnicity?
Oh, he seems to be okay with throwing out anti-semitic dog whistles too.
I’m sure Vance sincerely doesn’t want white people judged. But he’s fine judging everyone else.
And for a final lair, Batya Ungar-Sargon who claims the theme of the Necrotic Toddler’s first year is bringing dignity back.
