Official 2026 Midterm Election Thread (If Trump lets us have one! TIC!)

[dabrockster]

Come on, Brock, the only difference? No other politician, to my knowledge, has expressly made his proposed payment expressly conditioned on the prospective recipients voting in a future election the way he wants. I'm not defending Biden's student loan bailout or. the myriad other campaign promises every politician makes on the stump, but Trump's promise is in a class by itself. If he felt the payment were necessary or appropriate, why doesn't he do it now? Why wait? Simply put, while we have, and will always have, self-serving politicians, we have never had a more venal president that Donald Trump.

If he was smart, he would do it now. But he is not. Influx of money to families can easily sway votes.

Just because Trump is an idiot when it comes to publicly speaking (Among many other things), let’s not try and say these other statements didn’t hit the same tune. I mean, before Dems won all the 3 branches of govt., the talk of the ACA and universal healthcare for all was promised and delivered on by the fact Dems controlled all 3. And to say no threats of dying cancer patients, elderly or any other statements are not made during those times. The difference. They can speak eloquently.

[Donuthole]

If he was smart, he would do it now. But he is not. Influx of money to families can easily sway votes.

Just because Trump is an idiot when it comes to publicly speaking (Among many other things), let’s not try and say these other statements didn’t hit the same tune. I mean, before Dems won all the 3 branches of govt., the talk of the ACA and universal healthcare for all was promised and delivered on by the fact Dems controlled all 3. And to say no threats of dying cancer patients, elderly or any other statements are not made during those times. The difference. They can speak eloquently.

WhatAboutBrock doubles down!

[Moliere]

If everyone gets $5,000 then no one gets $5,000...especially when the Fed has to create the money to give out to people.

Do people really not understand why things cost so much money? Look at the M1 and M2 graphs on the Fed website. Here's a graph using a logarithmic scale to show just how much money was dumped into the economy around covid.

[LVAllen]

If everyone gets $5,000 then no one gets $5,000...especially when the Fed has to create the money to give out to people.

Do people really not understand why things cost so much money? Look at the M1 and M2 graphs on the Fed website. Here's a graph using a logarithmic scale to show just how much money was dumped into the economy around covid.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the cause of the inflation. Blame Biden all you want, but the inflation was caused by the massive increase in money supply (the hump in 2020) as we literally gave money away in an attempt to prevent the economy from certain death. It may have been needed, it may not have been needed, but major inflation was always going to be the result. That said, the spike in M1 is misleading. It reflects a reclassification of savings accounts (previously part of M2, but not M1) into M1 in May 2020. As we got over the hump and tightened down the money supply, inflation fell. Overall prices were never going to go back down to pre-inflation levels. That's now how inflation works.

[PaloAltoCougar]

If he was smart, he would do it now. ...

Well, if he were genuinely smart, and not just street-thug-savvy-smart, he wouldn't propose the idea at all, much less act on it-- an absurdly inflationary, corrupt, and constitutionally violative act.

[Moliere]

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the cause of the inflation. Blame Biden all you want, but the inflation was caused by the massive increase in money supply (the hump in 2020) as we literally gave money away in an attempt to prevent the economy from certain death. It may have been needed, it may not have been needed, but major inflation was always going to be the result. That said, the spike in M1 is misleading. It reflects a reclassification of savings accounts (previously part of M2, but not M1) into M1 in May 2020. As we got over the hump and tightened down the money supply, inflation fell. Overall prices were never going to go back down to pre-inflation levels. That's now how inflation works.

Yep, we created money and that money is floating around in the system. People are paid more than ever but things cost more than ever. Prices of consumables (in general) aren't going down ever. House prices will come down to what the market will bear based on mortgage rates, but since people almost always borrow to buy a house, house prices will continue to yo-yo with borrowing rates. Inflation was never transitory. It was caused by the president (Trump and Biden) and Congress (split during that time) flooding the system with money that the Fed created out of thin air.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Yep, we created money and that money is floating around in the system. People are paid more than ever but things cost more than ever. Prices of consumables (in general) aren't going down ever. House prices will come down to what the market will bear based on mortgage rates, but since people almost always borrow to buy a house, house prices will continue to yo-yo with borrowing rates. Inflation was never transitory. It was caused by the president (Trump and Biden) and Congress (split during that time) flooding the system with money that the Fed created out of thin air.

I agree, but I think COVID-related supply chain issues had a greater impact on inflation than did the money glut.

[dabrockster]

WhatAboutBrock doubles down!

You say whataboutism, I say hypocrisy..

[Northwestcoug]

You say whataboutism, I say hypocrisy..

Believe me, we know!

[dabrockster]

Believe me, we know!

You have at least made the first step. Acknowledgement.

[Jeff Lebowski]

You say whataboutism, I say hypocrisy..

Hypocrisy is when someone does one thing and says another. Whataboutism is when one deflects by claiming the other side does the same thing.

I hope this helps.

[dabrockster]

Hypocrisy is when someone does one thing and says another. Whataboutism is when one deflects by claiming the other side does the same thing.

I hope this helps.

If your argument is “that’s wrong,” and I point out that you defended the exact same thing when your side did it, I’m not changing the subject—I’m pointing out the hypocrisy.

Calling something “whataboutism” is a pretty lame way to avoid the actual point. If I point out that you’re condemning something today that you defended when your side did it, you can’t make that inconsistency disappear by labeling it “whataboutism.” Address the double standard instead of hiding behind a buzzword.

[Jeff Lebowski]

If your argument is “that’s wrong,” and I point out that you defended the exact same thing when your side did it, I’m not changing the subject—I’m pointing out the hypocrisy.

Calling something “whataboutism” is a pretty lame way to avoid the actual point. If I point out that you’re condemning something today that you defended when your side did it, you can’t make that inconsistency disappear by labeling it “whataboutism.” Address the double standard instead of hiding behind a buzzword.

Nah. That's whataboutism.

[dabrockster]

Says the ones who have no other argument when they are called out for their hypocrisy.

They are not mutually exclusive.

[Northwestcoug]

If your argument is “that’s wrong,” and I point out that you defended the exact same thing when your side did it, I’m not changing the subject—I’m pointing out the hypocrisy.

Calling something “whataboutism” is a pretty lame way to avoid the actual point. If I point out that you’re condemning something today that you defended when your side did it, you can’t make that inconsistency disappear by labeling it “whataboutism.” Address the double standard instead of hiding behind a buzzword.

Let me offer some advice. Your expectation seems to be that before we level any criticism against Trump/whatever, in order to pass your hypocrisy meter we must have given that same criticism to the other side previously. And if we haven't done that sufficiently in your eyes, that's your proof of our hypocrisy.

That's not how any of this works, for a couple of reasons. First, your whataboutism is entirely subjective. You are the judge of our 'hypocrisy', and if we haven't met your level of sufficient 'the other side does the same', you pull the hypocrisy trigger. Since you haven't proven to any of us that your own political philosophy is any more free of 'hypocrisy' than ours, why should we trust your judgement?

Second, there has been no other US president like Trump. He is in a class by himself, so any attempt to gauge his awfulness to another leader fails because there is no comparison (I threw this in just to check if your hypocrisy meter is still working!)