Even While GOP Propaganda Says All They Care About Is Trans Sports
Trump and his party have, noted Aaron Carroll, “promised to extend the 2017 tax cuts (nearly half of which will go to the wealthiest 5 percent of Americans) at a hefty cost of $4 trillion over the next decade, but many Republicans are reluctant to add to the federal deficit. How do they square the math? It appears they are prepared to do so at the expense of the poor and middle class, by yanking health care coverage from children, new mothers, people with disabilities and seniors. Republican leaders in Congress have suggested that one option they are considering to bankroll their tax breaks would be to cut hundreds of billions from Medicaid; another proposal would roll back subsidies that have helped middle-class families pay Affordable Care Act premiums. They have made it clear they want to finalize legislation in the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency.”
That isn’t complicated— Republicans’ have a choice: tax cuts for the rich or health care for Americans and we all know which direction they want to go in… if they can get away with it politically. “We should be honest about these trade-offs: Families lose health insurance if we cut Medicaid or slash A.C.A. premium credits. Children go without care. Clinics and hospitals in rural areas close. People suffer.
Carroll noted that “With Republicans holding only a razor-thin majority in the House, it would take just a handful of them to block this plan— and protect the very people who entrusted them with their votes.” He’s talking about Republican members in competitive districts that went red in 2024:
Juan Ciscomani (AZ-06)- R+3
David Valadao (CA-22)- D+5
Young Kim (CA-40)- R+2
Ken Calvert (CA-41)- R+3
Gabe Evans (CO-08)- even
Maria Salazar (FL-27)- even
Carlos Giménez (FL-28)- R+2
Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA-01)- R+3
Zach Nunn (IA-03)- R+3
Bill Huizenga (MI-04)- R+5
John James (MI-10)- R+3
Don Bacon (NE-02)- even
Jeff Van Drew (NJ-02)- R+5
Tom Kean (NJ-07)- R+1
Nick LaLota (NY-01)- R+3
Andrew Gabarino (NY-02)- R+3
Mike Lawler (NY-17)- D+3
Mike Turner (OH-10)- R+4
Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01)- even
Ryan Mackenzie (PA-07)- R+2
Robert Bresnahan (PA-08)- R+4
Scott Perry (PA-10)- R+5
Monica De La Cruz (TX-15)- R+1
Jen Kiggans (VA-02)- R+2
Bryan Steil (WI-01)- R+3
Derrick Van Orden (WI-03)- R+4
And let’s remember, “Cuts to Medicaid would cripple the rural hospitals and patients represented by the congressional Republicans who would need to pass this plan. Republican politicians increasingly claim to champion working-class families, especially as more of these voters lean to the right. Yet shuttering a local hospital to finance tax cuts for top earners would be the ultimate betrayal of those very constituents. Recall that Republicans’ last effort to rescind health care coverage by repealing Medicaid expansion along with the Affordable Care Act in 2017 likely contributed to their loss of the House majority the following year… Gutting Medicaid, or making it impossible for middle-class Americans to afford A.C.A. exchange plans, is callous. No parent should choose between taking a child to the emergency room and paying the grocery bill.”
And yet many voters, according to a predawn report in the NY Times yesterday say that it’s the Democratic Party that doesn’t share their priorities. Many say all the Democrats care about is abortion, trans issues and climate change— exactly what Musk’s third of a billion dollars brainwashed them into believing about Democrats.
Yesterday, Wisconsin progressive leader, Rep Mark Pocan told us that “In lieu of Democrats strongly defining their economic values that fight for the middle class and those aspiring to be in the middle class, Republicans define Democrats however they want. Last November was a classic example of Republicans misrepresenting what Democrats are about with little to no pushback. We need to channel our inner FDR and rebrand to show our dedication to those values we always stood for, but have somehow been obscured to the public. Raising the minimum wage, healthcare for everyone, affordable childcare, taxing the wealthiest for fairness— those and other economic issues are core to democratic values.”
Jeremy Peters and his team at The Times reported that a Times/Ipsos poll found that the issues that people cited as most important to them personally were the economy and inflation, health care and immigration and that the kinds of social causes that they believe are top priorities for Democrats are less important to them, if important at all. Many voters aren’t sold on Trump, but “the poll suggests that people do not view the Democratic Party as an appealing alternative.” That goes to the success of GOP messaging and the failure of Democrats. Like Pocan, Long Island centrist Tom Suozzi, has a perfect voting record when it comes to abortion and LGBTQ issues, but when he’s campaigning in his swing district that Trump won he’s talking about the economic issues voters are worried about.
“Democrats need to clearly demonstrate that we hear our constituents and are working on the issues that they care about, and affect them most. That’s their wages, their benefits and an economy that benefits them. We are for raising the minimum wage, the Republicans are not. We support unions, the Republicans do not. We are for incentivizing businesses to share their stock with their employees, Republicans are only for the incentivizing business part, not the sharing with employees part. Democrats are concerned about economic policies that will keep the economy humming without hurting people, Republicans are for across the board tariffs and mass deportations that will cause inflation to rise. Elections are about choices. We need the voters to see the Democrats as the better choice to help working families…. again!”
This deceitful Republican ad, part of a $215 million campaign strategy that heavily focused on transgender rights and gender-related issues, may have been the most effective of the cycle. "Kamala's for they/them; Trump is for you."
While party officials broadly agree that Democrats should place greater emphasis on economic policy, there’s less consensus on how— or even whether— to address issues like transgender rights.
Views of both parties could shift as Trump moves forward with his agenda. Some of his administration’s highest profile actions do not have widespread support, such as eliminating diversity requirements in government and lashing out at Trump’s political opponents.
People who responded to the poll— including those who said they did not vote for Trump and do not consider themselves Republicans— described themselves in interviews as feeling alienated from Democrats.
…Most Democratic candidates, however, did not run campaigns in 2024 that were as focused on social issues as Americans seem to believe.
For the most part, Democrats, including former Vice President Kamala Harris, did not discuss gender identity. That came from Republicans, who fanned fears about transgender women playing on female sports teams and minors receiving transgender medical treatment.
But Democrats did not agree on a cohesive or effective way to respond.
“Politics is about perception,” said Adam Jentleson, a Democratic strategist who has urged his party to rethink how much influence it allows activist groups to have over its agenda. “And people perceive Democrats as being focused on the demands of activists instead of kitchen table issues.”
The question, he said, “is what do we do about it?”
“We can either whine about media coverage and complain that life isn’t fair,” Jentleson added. “Or we can get real about the realities of politics and actually fix the problem.”
Abortion stands out as an issue that Americans largely associate with the Democratic Party but that also has broad public support. Roughly two-thirds of American support some form of legal abortion access, according to Pew Research Center.
Economy and inflation were, by far, the issues that mattered most to Americans, the poll found. That was consistent across every demographic group.
Wisconsin labor leader Randy Bryce, the likely Democrat to run for the seat Bryan Steil occupies now, told us that “If we want to win we need to talk about everyday issues that affect working people. I fully support LGBTQ, women’s issues and everything that promotes equality and equal rights, but that’s not what the majority of people talk about at the dinner table. I plan on fighting just as hard for those issues as I do the rest. I have. I went to the grocery store the other day and they were just about sold out with a sign taped to the window that one could only buy two cartons of milk. The prices were insane! Get ready for more gouging thanks to Donald’s tariffs. People feel it.”
Bryce also said that “Another issue is how Trump and his party are accepting money from billionaires. We’re already a footstep away from being an oligarchy. Every billionaire is a policy failure. Dems need to walk the walk if we are to stay close to our roots. People see both parties as having been sold out to corporations and Wall St. Billionaires are buying our government and enacting policies that make them contribute less to the upkeep of our society. If you paid one penny in taxes, you paid more than Tesla did. If we want to end this second gilded age, we need to get united and swing back with all that we can. We need to end dependency on the ‘haves’ and make life easier for the ‘have nots.’ Once we bring in new voters we can help educate them about equality for all because we will be helping the majority of voters. The only minority keeping working people down are billionaires. Let me share something Simone de Beauvoir said: ‘The oppressor would not be so strong if he did not have accomplices among the oppressed.’”
Bryce's ad campaign against then-House speaker Paul Ryan was so strong, so effective and was polling so well that Ryan suddenly retired from Congress rather than face him in the general election:
