Quote of the Day
And life is what we make it.
Ferrante & Teicher, "Live For Life"
Quote of the Day
Leaders are made, they are not born.Ferrante & Teicher, "A Man and A Woman"
This is the sixth in a series on the Trump/Harris debate. Prior posts are here, here and here, The debate transcript is available here.
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: People are paying privately for insurance that have worked hard and made money and they want to have private. She wants everybody to be on government insurance where you wait six months for an operation that you need immediately.
COMMENT: it is fair to remind people that Harris in 2019 did pursue a single-payer-system and nearly two-thirds of people generally like their private sector coverage, typically employer-provided insurance. Kamala has pivoted to more popular Obamacare, with private-sector participants.
LINSEY DAVIS: President Trump, thank you. We have another issue that we'd like to get to that's important for a number of Americans, in particular younger voters, and that's climate change. President Trump, with regard to the environment, you say that we have to have clean air and clean water. Vice President Harris, you call climate change an existential threat. The question to you both tonight is what would you do to fight climate change? And Vice President Harris, we'll start with you. One minute for you each.
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: Well, the former president had said that climate change is a hoax. And what we know is that it is very real. You ask anyone who lives in a state who has experienced these extreme weather occurrences who now is either being denied home insurance or is being jacked up. You ask anybody who has been the victim of what that means in terms of losing their home, having nowhere to go. We know that we can actually deal with this issue. The young people of America care deeply about this issue. And I am proud that as vice president over the last four years, we have invested a trillion dollars in a clean energy economy while we have also increased domestic gas production to historic levels. We have created over 800,000 new manufacturing jobs while I have been vice president. We have invested in clean energy to the point that we are opening up factories around the world. Donald Trump said he was going to create manufacturing jobs. He lost manufacturing jobs. And I'm also proud to have the endorsement of the United Auto Workers and Shawn Fain, who also know that part of building a clean energy economy includes investing in American-made products, American automobiles. It includes growing what we can do around American manufacturing and opening up auto plants, not closing them like what happened under Donald Trump.
COMMENT: Once again, Harris is really not really responding directly to the moderator's question, which, for example, did not even mention manufacturing. She's using the context to launch a separate attack on Trump. Keep in mind that the US trend of service to manufacturing jobs is part of a long-term global trend, not peculiar to the US economy. Our manufacturing sector has been productive but there is a separate trend of increasing productivity, like automation and robotics
We libertarians take a dim view of industrial policy or corrupt crony capitalism. We don't need elite policymakers gambling with the tax revenue of future generations. The EV subsidies will profit said producers but will have expensive marginal effects on one type of greenhouse gas. There seems to be no thought on how that energy is going to be generated reliably, like via nuclear power
Harris asserts basically all recent weather events are based on human-based climate change; I had a prior related discussion during the VP debate and I excerpt here:
The problem is that “expectations” are predictions, usually based upon climate models that have overstated the actual temperature record by a factor of about 2.3." What do scientists really say? { Benjamin Zycher)
[T]here is still no consensus on the relative magnitude of human and natural influences on past changes in Atlantic hurricane activity, and particularly on which factor has dominated the observed increase (Ting et al., 2015) and it remains uncertain whether past changes in Atlantic [tropical cyclone] activity are outside the range of natural variability.
LINSEY DAVIS: Vice President Harris, thank you.
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: That didn't happen under Donald Trump. Let me just tell you, they lost 10,000 manufacturing jobs this last month. It's going -- they're all leaving. They're building big auto plants in Mexico. In many cases owned by China. They're building these massive plants, and they think they're going to sell their cars into the United States because of these people. What they have given to China is unbelievable. But we're not going to let that. We'll put tariffs on those cars so they can't come into our country. Because they will kill the United Auto Workers and any auto worker, whether it's in Detroit or South Carolina or any other place. What they've done to business and manufacturing in this country is horrible. We have nothing because they refuse -- you know, Biden doesn't go after people because supposedly China paid him millions of dollars. He's afraid to do it. Between him and his son. They get all this money from Ukraine. They get all this money from all of these different countries. And then you wonder why is he so loyal to this one, that one Ukraine, China? Why is he? Why did he get 3 1/2 million dollars from the mayor of Moscow's wife? Why did he get -- why did she pay him 3 1/2 million dollars? This is a crooked administration, and they're selling our country down the tubes.
COMMENT: Trump's response has nothing to do with climate change. Once again, Harris has succeeded in getting under Trump's skin. Trump ends up rehashing debunked conspiracy theories like the alleged $3,5M bribe to Biden. Trump is a one-trick pony starting trade wars which harm American consumers and the economy/
LINSEY DAVIS: President Trump, thank you.
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Thank you.
DAVID MUIR: We'll be right back with closing statements from both of our candidates. A historic night, this ABC News Presidential Debate from Philadelphia. Back in a moment.
DAVID MUIR: The time has come for closing statements. And Vice President Harris, we begin with you.
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: So I think you've heard tonight two very different visions for our country. One that is focused on the future and the other that is focused on the past. And an attempt to take us backward. But we're not going back. And I do believe that the American people know we all have so much more in common than what separates us and we can chart a new way forward. And a vision of that includes having a plan, understanding the aspirations, the dreams, the hopes, the ambition of the American people, which is why I intend to create an opportunity economy, investing in small businesses, in new families, in what we can do around protecting seniors, what we can do that is about giving hard-working folks a break in bringing down the cost of living. I believe in what we can do together that is about sustaining America's standing in the world and ensuring we have the respect that we so rightly deserve including respecting our military and ensuring we have the most lethal fighting force in the world. I will be a president that will protect our fundamental rights and freedoms including the right of a woman to make decisions about her own body and not have her government tell her what to do. I'll tell you, I started my career as a prosecutor. I was a D.A. I was an attorney general. A United States senator. And now vice president. I've only had one client. The people. And I'll tell you, as a prosecutor I never asked a victim or a witness are you a Republican or a Democrat. The only thing I ever asked them, are you okay? And that's the kind of president we need right now. Someone who cares about you and is not putting themselves first. I intend to be a president for all Americans and focus on what we can do over the next 10 and 20 years to build back up our country by investing right now in you the American people.
COMMENT: Kamala Harris has no credible public sector administrative experience. She's basically had 7 undistinguished years in DC, 3 as a junior Senator and the last 4 as VP. At low interest rates, we have a $1T debt service expense, more than our inflated DoD budget. We have a nearly built $2T annual deficit, and she has not improved the last 4 years of failed Biden Statist policies, no retreat from overextended international meddling. She offers nothing new other than throwing more money at problems which do little more than exacerbate inflationary pressures
LINSEY DAVIS: Vice President Harris, thank you. President Trump?
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: So, she just started by saying she's going to do this, she's going to do that, she's going to do all these wonderful things. Why hasn't she done it? She's been there for 3 1/2 years. They've had 3 1/2 years to fix the border. They've had 3 1/2 years to create jobs and all the things we talked about. Why hasn't she done it? She should leave right now, go down to that beautiful white house, go to the capitol, get everyone together and do the things you want to do. But you haven't done it. And you won't do it. Because you believe in things that the American people don't believe in. You believe in things like we're not going to frack. We're not going to take fossil fuel. We're not going to do, things that are going to make this country strong, whether you like it or not. Germany tried that and within one year they were back to building normal energy plants. We're not ready for it. We can't sacrifice our country for the sake of bad vision. But I just ask one simple question. Why didn't she do it? We're a failing nation. We're a nation that's in serious decline. We're being laughed at all over the world. All over the world, they laugh, I know the leaders very well. They're coming to see me. They call me. We're laughed at all over the world. They don't understand what happened to us as a nation. We're not a leader. We don't have any idea what's going on. We have wars going on in the Middle East. We have wars going on with Russia and Ukraine. We're going to end up in a third World War. And it will be a war like no other because of nuclear weapons, the power of weaponry. I rebuilt our entire military. She gave a lot of it away to the Taliban. She gave it to Afghanistan. What these people have done to our country, and maybe toughest of all is allowing millions of people to come into our country, many of them are criminals, and they're destroying our country. The worst president, the worst vice president in the history of our country.
COMMENT: Extremely bad closing statement. it's mostly an attack using Harris' old 2019 positions in the Dem POTUS primary and decisions made by Biden, not Harris. This is a guy whose foreign policy was a mess: discarding trade deals with Pacific and European partners. He ended a nuclear power deal with Iran, supported Saudi Arabia's genocide in Yemen. he mishandled the pandemic, including signing massive pandemic relief, a deferred part of the inflation story. He has no solution to nearly bankrupt senior entitlements, no plan for eliminating a nearly baked in $2T deficit. His anti-trade and anti-immigration stands harm economic growth
LINSEY DAVIS: President Trump thank you. And that is our ABC News presidential debate from here in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center. I'm Linsey Davis.
DAVID MUIR: And I'm David Muir. Thank you for watching here in the U.S. And all over the world. And from all of us here at ABC News, good night.
Quote of the Day
It is how people respond to stress
Ferrante & Teicher, "Khartoum"
I normally don't like gross humor but the video clip of WWE wrestlers on Halloween Havoc trying to guess the contents of a box by feel--the head of worm-devouring Boogeyman--was creepily funny.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 28, 2024
Nope. Kaepernick was essentially a washed-up backup quarterback who opted out of his existing SF contract. Lots of other athletes protested without this leftist crackpot conspiracy theory playing against their careers . He played 6 years in a profession where the average is 3.3
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 28, 2024
Politics is increasingly uncivil, particularly leftists name-calling supporters of the only viable alternative to the incumbent administration with a 41% approval rating. There is no one on X more Never Trump than me but this whole crackpot Nazi obsession is a step too far.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 28, 2024
I will be glad to see the flood of pro-abort political ads stop in blue states like MD. People can choose who they want for whatever crackpot reason, but abortion is not a general government issue. Servicing a $35T debt costs more than defense spending.https://t.co/CQbcxDWihi
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 28, 2024
Well, Trump doesn't know how to run a Reaganesque inspirational campaign. He lives in a zero-sum world. This is just a special case of his recent deplorable rhetoric calling America the garbage can of the world. https://t.co/hmmZByA4ZY
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 28, 2024
Watchin the Trumpkins worship Melania Trump is nauseating. I do like the fact she, unlike Donny, is multi-lingual. My Franco-American parents loved Jackie Kennedy's fluent French. Jackie was the model of classy First Ladies.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 28, 2024
Interesting. After all the WaPo meltdown over no POTUS endorsement (of Harris), leftists canceling Amazon Prime et al., it turns Amazon itself is a Harris campaign contributor. pic.twitter.com/hdXBMaiYKJ
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 28, 2024
I generally like Rand Paul (except on his COVID rants). I don't think being in a position where you might have to compromise, like in a leadership position. Whereas there's a lot to be said he might be able to leverage his positions, we need more principled leadership. https://t.co/tssk4qMrVP
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 28, 2024
I'll never forget a Mexican student in my MIS class personally hand delivered an invitation to his family's celebration of his graduation. Unfortunately, I already had plans to attend my baby sister's UTSA graduation that day, but I was moved by the invite.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 28, 2024
In pro wrestling, there's a term for Trump's
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 28, 2024
shtick: it's a work. This is a guy who blamed Romney's loss on his cruel self-deportation policy. He flipped to manipulate "conservatives". All of this, of course, is toxic stuff, and any moral person rejects it.@GeraldoRivera https://t.co/muViq8kIls
My latest essay rants about one of the weirdest election years we've ever seen.https://t.co/8RCdQTIpGf
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 28, 2024
A lot of leftists can't spell German names. Drumpft does not spell Hitler
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 28, 2024
Not Biden or Harris.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 28, 2024
I don't understand this Fifth Circuit decision not to count nailed ballots with postmark by Election Day. it's not a chain of custody issue. I was born a military brat and I can't imagine a military conservative Republican not supporting the voting rights of out-of-state troops.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 28, 2024
It's un-American to deprive another citizen the right to have their votes counted for circumstances beyond the voter's control. I don't give a damn what Trump or his similarly idiotic minions think. Simply have the USPS filter out any newly received post-election ballots.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 28, 2024
Pathological liars. A federal ban is unconstitutional, short of an unlikely constitutional amendment; anyone who read Dobbs KNOWS this. Where Project 2025 talks about abortion is correctly rejecting funding for killing preborn children and/or promoting the practice . https://t.co/u0FeGUaFZe
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 28, 2024
No, you are ignorant about the issue. A minority of ballots lack a postmark, likely a USPS training issue. How is it your business to deny another citizen the right to vote? That is screwed up and un-American. Have you ever played chess? Postmarks post-election?
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 29, 2024
This is a BS issue. It is illegal for aliens (not naturalized) to vote. They have to register to vote. That would document them for purposes of deportation. STOP BS conspiracy theories!
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 29, 2024
AS usual, you are uninformed. There are data on past purges. you have stuff like purges on obsoleted data, e.g., recently naturalized citizens who are entitled to vote. Stick to commenting about something you know about, like rockets.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 29, 2024
You're an incompetent liar. What you knowingly ignore is the fact that Trump paid LIP SERVIVE to condemning neo-Nazis. But he pointed out "peaceful" protesters at UVA. Who happened to be chanting "Blood and soil!" Think really hard: is that a Nazi slogan? I'm waiting...
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 29, 2024
The real injustice would be stripping away a legitimate US citizen's vote for reasons beyond his control. I'm tired of us having to fend off crackpot conspiracy theories from a sore loser who doesn't have the balls to admit he lost an election..
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 29, 2024
Lots of people are buying into this phony Trumpist talking point about missing postmarks on mail-in ballots. Only a minority of ballots don't have a postmark, a USPS issue. This means most post-election ballots will bear an invalid postmark. The vast majority of ballots are legal
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 29, 2024
Ithought this was a pro-abort theme citing the late first Lady. Nope, one of George W.'s twin daughters. In the past, the left cited Ron Reagan voting Dem. Barb is free to make her own mistakes; after all, I voted for Jimmy Carter when I was young.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 29, 2024
"Barbara Bush"
A lot of retired folks are stuck in supplemental low-earning fixed assets where the underlying principle is being cannibalized by inflation. Many retired people are going back to work, and others of us approaching retirement are planning to work longer.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 29, 2024
Peter St. Onge claims under the Biden/Harris Administration, 401K's have lost $2.5T in inflation-adjusted terms. Note they haven't done a damn thing about fixing dwindling reserves needed to assure full payment of senior entitlements over paygo https://t.co/dr7dBUbe0S
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 29, 2024
Like me, George Bush hasn't voted for Trump, who has personally attacked him several times. He either didn't vote or wrote in someone like Condi Rice. He's never going to endorse a leftist like Harris.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 29, 2024
Never mind his numerous unconstitutional executive orders, his assassination of an Iranian government official, his unprovoked cruise missile attack on Syria, his administration's dismal rollout of government COVID tests, and piling up a $7.8T national debt.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 30, 2024
"The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration."
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 30, 2024
This does not mandate an income tax. Did Congress pass one? Yes. It can be repealed
Leftist political hacks never learned from Clinton's provocative reference to "deplorables". Name-calling is divisive, and I'm speaking as a Never Trumper https://t.co/OxgsyM4ytP
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 30, 2024
At least the Yankees staved off an embarrassing 4-game sweep in the Series.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 30, 2024
Thurston also points out that TN is one of 3 states where the LP nominee, Chase Oliver, is not on the ballot. But note that he wrote in Rand Paul in 2016. He says his main objective is to help Trump win the popular vote. He implicitly condemns us LP voters as virtue signaling.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 30, 2024
The Yankees haven't looked like the AL's best team in the first 3 games of the Series. In fact, they were in the hole in the first inning in game 4; it wasn't until the 8th inning rally that I felt they were finally going to win one. Judge is no Reggie Jackson.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 30, 2024
I still remember my contractor supervisor at a Chicago city department in the early 2000's introduced me to Drudge Report, one of the few places you could get a center-right perspective. I don't know the story between Drudge and Trump. I'm Never Trump, but his page is polemical.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 30, 2024
As an original Never Trumper, I get why most people can't stand him. But if you go beyond his obsession with the media and self-promotion (and he's wrong on trade and immigration), his other policies are better for the economy than some unqualified delusional California leftist's
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 30, 2024
It reminds me of another economically clueless empty suit. He infamously couldn't figure out why Midwesterners weren't supporting him; he offered them a better deal on taxes. The Dem leadership still hasn't figured that out to this very day.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 30, 2024
This is all morally corrupt Politics of Envy. The general government was never intended to implement a social welfare state. That's why the 16th Amendment is so evil. But the bottom line is there's not enough money to pay off Harris' promises even if you rob the rich.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 30, 2024
I was trying to figure out Kamala Harris' demands for doing Joe Rogan: a bowl of brown M&M's? #sarcasm
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 30, 2024
No, she wanted Rogan to come to her latest event city and wanted to cut off after an hour.
Just a reminder: non-citizens cannot vote in federal elections. Now to be honest the number of non-citizens won't materially change results, and documentation of them casting a ballot would be legal suicide. https://t.co/JvmRxOJgU7
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 30, 2024
One nasty thing to Trump's corrupt USMCA: remember the infant formula crisis? (Abbott factory closure.) Trump had limited milk exports from Canada; guess what counted as milk?
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 30, 2024
One of the most irksome things about Kamala harris is how she continues to promote this tariffs/"Trump sales tax" nonsense. In fact, on average Trump's tariffs do hit lower/middle class Americans. What she doesn't say is Biden has kept those tariffs on: Biden/Harris sales tax
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 30, 2024
This is pure leftist lunacy. First, the abortion issue is totally bogus. The Dodd decision means the general government cannot legislate the issue, pro or con. A plurality of states have Roe-like restrictions.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 30, 2024
Second, Project 2025 is a conservative think tank agenda. Trump not c https://t.co/yrQVzpVdpq
Close. Trump smells like a goat. He's also about as monogamous as a goat. #sarcasm
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 30, 2024
"Trump is the GOAT"
Oh, I believe that Trump truly believes thar he, unlike Dukakis, could pull off riding a tank. Me, I don't buy any of these staged gimmicks like Trump pretending to be a McDonalds fry cook. I wouldn't buy a single fry from that dude. #sarcasm
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 31, 2024
The Gray Lady is trying to put a positive spin on falling GDP growth, trying to promote economic illiterate Harris. McDonalds have seen same-stores salesdecline for a second quarter in a row.Customers are buying necessities on credit terms at Walmart.Dollar stores are struggling.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 31, 2024
Judge has finally broken out of his slump with a first inning 2-run homer in Game 5 of the Series.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 31, 2024
Wow, the top of the fifth in Gane 5, Cole, pitching a no-hitter with a 5-run lead: Judge drops an easy fly ball, the shortstop blows an easy out at third, and Cole fails to cover first base on a routine grounder to first. The end result: the Dodgers rally to tie the game.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 31, 2024
Congratulations to the Dodgers winning the World Series in 5 games. However, this has to be the crappiest clinching victory I've ever seen with the Yankees blowing 2 leads, the miserable fifth inning with 3 boneheaded plays and later the catcher's interference call.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 31, 2024
You can simply quote the hateful lies Trump routinely says about immigrants, and he has been saying them since 2015, which are REAL hateful conduct. I know Musk is vested in Trump's candidacy, but I don't do things like call Trump Hitler. i don't get why my criticism is hateful.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 31, 2024
The wrongdoing really lies with Mississippi state officials with control over funding, including compliance with federal strings attached to funding. Favre has since repaid the money. Favre has not been charged over the payments. (2/2)
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 31, 2024
I first heard of the polling kerfuffle, that pollsters are trying to adjust for the bashful Trump supporter by oversampling Republicans, from Thurston of GML. Nate Silver responds skeptically: https://t.co/3an7pVvHWI
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 31, 2024
The moron Donald Trump enthusiastically references Operation Wetback, which got killed in Congress because they deported American citizens. What solved the problem? Legalizing foreign workers. The number of arrested migrants dropped hugely. Trump is not smart enough to do that.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 31, 2024
Labor unions (Dems) opposed continuation of the legal worker program. There has never been a credible immigration path for Latin Americans. So, just like any Prohibition, people work around broken systems. What you don't mention is Trump did cut immigration: legal ones.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 31, 2024
(2/2)
Like we need a reminder that Hollywood celebrities are leftists who basically still read from the politically correct script most people grow out of when they turn 30. They don't understand middle-class families struggling with decades high inflation.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 31, 2024
"Jennifer Anniston" https://t.co/nCNKJPJfEk
Well, Bill O'Reilly is wrong as usual. Government spending & Fed policy had a lot to do with it & global supply chains also played a role. But oil production increased under Biden; energy exploration does have a long-term effect. But Trump's pandemic spending had deferred effect https://t.co/WnoDtneWJE
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 31, 2024
Well, Go back to 2020. Trump really opposed early voting. His campaign this year is trying to bank his vote early. This doesn't imply he's doing better; it just evens out his support.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 31, 2024
I don't think Trump could last one day on Mike Rowe's show. https://t.co/e3XMEHfdMy
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 31, 2024
#AmericaNeedsTrump to get lost.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 31, 2024
Jesus Christ, Hogan considered running against Trump, in the GOP and No Labels. He endorsed Haley before Iowa. He has publicly said he won't vote for Trump. Trump backed another candidate to succeed Hogan. Trump has other reasons for backing Hogan in the Senate. https://t.co/heyKZ7xEBv
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 31, 2024
Amazon is offering for free some book on Kamala Harris' political achievements. Seriously, you need more than a paragraph? Not even worth my disk storage or clicking for the Kindle edition.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 31, 2024
Michael Bublé on The Voice referred to "The Power of Love" as Celine Dion's song. As much as I love Celine from my ancestral homeland, and she did take her remake to #1, I remember and love Jennifer Rush's original version from the mid-80's.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 31, 2024
I love Jeff Flake but supporting Harris undermines his credibility. I'm not arguing he should support the SOB Trump, but his stands are closer to the LP than to Harris or Trump. https://t.co/xa7bQUQeeJ
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 31, 2024
I liked Tyrus more when he danced with the Funkadactyls.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 31, 2024
Nope. No intelligent person supports Trump or Harris. They both represent the uniparty of easy money, anti-trade, tax and spend, international meddling, and remote autocracy https://t.co/QXdAnW2DoP
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) October 31, 2024
There is NOTHING conservative about Harris. if you were honest with your principles, you would vote third party, like I've voted LP in all the Trump elections.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) November 1, 2024
The fact is, Haley was picking up to like a quarter of GOP primary votes AFTER withdrawing. So, pretending the RINO Trump has unified the GOP is absurd, and ignoring the people who supported her is political suicide in a close election.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) November 1, 2024
"Nikki Haley"
Well, "Linda McMahon" is indebted to Donny Trump for finally giving Vince the haircut he deserves. #sarcasm
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) November 1, 2024
Poor New York fans. On top of the Yankees blowing a second victory to force the Series back to LA with bonehead errors, the young Jets wide receiver Malachi Corley dropped the ball just before entering the end zone for the touchdown.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) November 1, 2024
Best wishes for their surviving family members. #sarcasm
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) November 1, 2024
#HarrisWalz2024InALandslide
Trumpkins are having a meltdown, saying that the transcript of Biden's recent remarks has been altered to imply Biden was condemning a single Trumpkin's viewpoint vs. Trumpkins as a whole.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) November 1, 2024
"Presidential Records Act"
OMG, why in the world would an undisciplined Trump openly fantasize about Liz Cheney facing a firing squad? IMO, this is a sign of mental illness. https://t.co/KTem9j4qtG
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) November 1, 2024
Score one for the Trumpkin. Of course, Marist may have adjusted its methodology over 8 years, but I'm not sure how you adjust for bashful Trump voters. https://t.co/nHrftu8jR8
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) November 1, 2024
Trumpkins want you to believe that "Heel Spur" Trump is really discussing chickenhawk neo-cons &Liz Cheney, one of his most vocal GOP critics, was arbitrarily chosen for this firing squad context. Just a reminder Trump added a third to the DoD budget, had many civilian casualties https://t.co/Ip1jqnnrx0
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) November 1, 2024
There were a lot of other alternatives, including barebones major medical coverage, enabling risk pooling across states, shoring up assigned risk pools, etc. We don't have health plans fund ordinary health expenses; we cap the tax-free base, provide cost incentives for patients.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) November 1, 2024
People don't realize conservatives floated a number of market-based healthcare alternatives vs. this centralized rigged marketplace which has resulted in high costs and limited choices. Trump erred in suggesting he could build a better mousetrap, i.e., his own centralized system.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) November 1, 2024
My fifth post on the Trump/Harris debate is available. I don't know if I'll finish analyzing the POTUS/VP debates before Election Day. https://t.co/VJ0ZH5O3O8
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) November 1, 2024
BS rationalizations. There are many neo-cons Trump could have chosen to make his alleged point. He chooses someone who hasn't been in Congress this session to make a point? This comes from a hypocritical dude who chose the biggest neo-con John Bolton to be NSA.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) November 2, 2024
"Trump is 100%" https://t.co/Pvhn90f4UN
So help me if another meathead libertarian buys into Trump's "America First"/noninterventionist pitch! You would think a real non-interventionist wouldn't raise the defense budget by a third. He's really an anti-trade crackpot who thinks others skimp on defense to use on trade
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) November 2, 2024
Interesting. Stossel's election betting odds site has Trump's odds sharply lower although still better than even. It looks like they think Michigan is trending blue. They also think the Dems will retake the House, but the GOP is a solid favorite to flip the Senate.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) November 2, 2024
Those phony middle-class Kamala Harris ads are so GD bad. Like 'I'm not rich so Trump doesn't care about me. Kamala does and her price control law will help.' Seriously, dude? Like people think Biden's policies have worked for them these past 4 years?
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) November 2, 2024
These leftist Dem trolls are as obsessed with sex as a bunch of teenage guys. None of these idiots can cite a single Trump policy they have an issue with but they will pursue any high school rumor involving his judicial nominees.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) November 2, 2024
Trumpkins are getting spooked. A major Iowa newspaper shows Harris with a small lead that nobody saw coming. Election Betting Odds shows Trump down to a 52% chance of winning, down about 10 pts from a week ago. Get ready for Sore Loser v. 2.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) November 3, 2024
Quote of the Day
If there is one thing upon this earth that mankind love and admire better than another,Ferrante and Teicher, "Smile"
The latest weekly stats from CDC::
Blog readership is trending close to all-time blog lows of maybe 1K month pageviews. The goal of 500 posts is doable assuming I keep up the trend of 40-odd posts a month. We have Election Day Tuesday so I may do some one-off analyses. I've also done a number of commentaries on the last POTUS and VP debates. I won't finish by the election, but I may continue after then just to provide an alternative discussion. Twitter/X varies but I've seen reports of over 3K impressions over a week and I can remember rates a fraction of that. At last note I had 48 followers (it fluctuates daily). I've earned these the hard way: the quality of my content and a distinctive sense of humor.
I'm in some sort of a billing loop with my personal physician's clinic. I have insurance including supplemental for co-pays. I saw this similar bill maybe I or 2 months back. It looks like a jumble of repeated applied discounts like $165 and then it bills me for the discount. So, last time I called, they agreed it was a mistaken invoice and they would take care of it. So obviously they didn't. I don't want them messing with my credit history. I know I don't owe them anything. I 'm just irritated it didn't get fixed last time.
I'm ticked off at local Maryland stations. One was supposed to carry my PhD alumnus UH Cougars taking on ranked Kansas State with a fourth quarter come from behind victory. i had checked on the score in the third quarter.
I can't figure out what is going on with Lidl's budget eggs (I don't need any); I'm just trying to reconcile a $2.15 price in the app with a giant $3.77 sign at the egg case. I'm pretty sure they (Walmart) keep track on each others prices. They both price their budget whole wheat bread at $1.97.
I got hit with a wicked cold this past week. My appetite suddenly disappeared Monday afternoon and I spent the next few days in bed fighting off symptoms. I have an RN sister in Ohio and she mentioned her family has also gotten recently hit coincidentally.
WWE Crown Jewel was held earlier today. I did not expect them to put petite Liv Morgan over Amazonian Nia Jax; I also think Nia's sidekick Tiffany with the MITB championship shot is becoming to look like Lucy with the football. It's starting to get stale. I did expect them to put Cody Rhodes over Gunther for the male version of the super championship belt, but I thought Goldberg might interfere leading to his rumored retirement match. They kept the tag titles on Bianca and Jade, although a lot of us have been waiting for the two to start a feud, perhaps over a title loss. I also don't get why after years of an invulnerable Roman Reigns. they have him jobbing to the "new" Bloodline..
Quote of the Day
Language does have the power to change reality.
Ferrante and Teicher, "Tonight"
This is the fifth in a series on the Trump/Harris debate. Prior posts are here and here, The debate transcript is available here.
DAVID MUIR: And just to clarify here.
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They threw him [Biden] out of a campaign like a dog. We don't even know, is he our president? But we have a president...
DAVID MUIR: Mr. President,
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: ...that doesn't know he's alive.
DAVID MUIR: Your time is up. Just to clarify the question, do you believe it's in the U.S. best interests for Ukraine to win this war? Yes or no?
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think it's in the U.S. best interest to get this war finished and just get it done. All right. Negotiate a deal. Because we have to stop all of these human lives from being destroyed.
COMMENT: I think Trump's personal attacks on Biden and Harris are contemptible. Trump's evasion of the moderator's explicit question is unacceptable. The moderator should have reminded Trump he signed military aid to Ukraine into law. Yes, war is terrible, but let's remember Trump's hypocritical backing of the Saudi aggression in Yemen against explicit Congressional opposition.. The military industrial complex did well under Trump.
DAVID MUIR: I want to take this to Vice President Harris. I want to get your thoughts on support for Ukraine in this moment. But also as commander in chief if elected how would you deal with Vladimir Putin and would it be any different from what we're seeing from President Biden?
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: Well, first of all, it's important to remind the former president you're not running against Joe Biden, you're running against me. I believe the reason that Donald Trump says that this war would be over within 24 hours is because he would just give it up. And that's not who we are as Americans. Let's understand what happened here. I actually met with Zelenskyy a few days before Russia invaded, tried through force to change territorial boundaries to defy one of the most important international rules and norms, which is the importance of sovereignty and territorial integrity. And I met with President Zelenskyy. I shared with him American intelligence about how he could defend himself. Days later I went to NATO's eastern flank, to Poland and Romania. And through the work that I and others did we brought 50 countries together to support Ukraine in its righteous defense. And because of our support, because of the air defense, the ammunition, the artillery, the javelins, the Abrams tanks that we have provided, Ukraine stands as an independent and free country. If Donald Trump were president, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now. And understand what that would mean. Because Putin's agenda is not just about Ukraine. Understand why the European allies and our NATO allies are so thankful that you are no longer president and that we understand the importance of the greatest military alliance the world has ever known, which is NATO. And what we have done to preserve the ability of Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians to fight for their Independence. Otherwise, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv with his eyes on the rest of Europe. Starting with Poland. And why don't you tell the 800,000 Polish Americans right here in Pennsylvania how quickly you would give up for the sake of favor and what you think is a friendship with what is known to be a dictator who would eat you for lunch.
COMMENT; Odd answer from Harris who once again ignores the moderator's question of how her foreign policy from Biden. Harris doesn't know Trump's plan for ending the Ukraine/Russia war. The fact is that the US meddled in the 2014 Ukraine revolution, particularly under the Obama Administration and has essentially treated Ukraine as an informal NATO ally. Trump should be addressing this as context . The Harris domino theory is ludicrous and should be called out.
DAVID MUIR: Vice President Harris Thank you. We heard from both of you on Ukraine tonight. Afghanistan came up in the last hour -- I wanted her to respond to something you said earlier.
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I have to respond.
DAVID MUIR: Please I'll give you a minute here.
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Putin would be sitting in Moscow and he wouldn't have lost 300,000 men and women. But he would have been sitting in Moscow
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: (inaudible)
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Quiet, please. He would have been sitting in Moscow much happier than he is right now. But eventually, you know, he's got a thing that other people don't have. He's got nuclear weapons. They don't ever talk about that. He's got nuclear weapons. Nobody ever thinks about that. And eventually uh maybe he'll use them. Maybe he hasn't been that threatening. But he does have that. Something we don't even like to talk about. Nobody likes to talk about it. But just so you understand, they sent her to negotiate peace before this war started. Three days later he went in and he started the war because everything they said was weak and stupid. They said the wrong things. That war should have never started. She was the emissary. They sent her in to negotiate with Zelenskyy and Putin. And she did and the war started three days later.
DAVID MUIR: Vice president...
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And that's the kind of talent we have with her. She's worse than Biden. In my opinion, I think he's the worst president in the history of our country. She goes down as the worst vice president in the history of our country. But let me tell you something. She is a horrible negotiator. They sent her in to negotiate. As soon as they left Putin did the invasion.
COMMENT: Trump has no evidence here to support his point of view. Trying to blame Putin's invasion on failures of Biden/Harris's alleged diplomatic failure is ludicrous.
DAVID MUIR: President Trump, thank you. You did bring up something, you said she went to negotiate with Vladimir Putin. Vice President Harris, have you ever met Vladimir Putin, can you clarify tonight?
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: Yet again, I said it at the beginning of this debate, you're going to hear a bunch of lies coming from this fella. And that is another one. When I went to meet with President Zelenskyy, I've now met with him over five times. The reality is, it has been about standing as America always should, as a leader upholding international rules and norms. As a leader who shows strength, understanding that the alliances we have around the world are dependent on our ability to look out for our friends and not favor our enemies because you adore strongmen instead of caring about democracy. And that is very much what is at stake here. The President of the United States is commander-in-chief. And the American people have a right to rely on a president who understands the significance of America's role and responsibility in terms of ensuring that there is stability and ensuring we stand up for our principles and not sell them for the benefit of personal flattery.
COMMENT:: Let's be clear. We are not the policeman of the world. This is primarily a European security problem. Harris has not drawn a line defining our security interests. We have a limited budget. The US has meddled in the affairs of other nations (consider Iran). After the collapse of the USSR, we had promised Russia we would not expand NATO to Russia's borders. There is moral hazard in Harris' seeming blank check to Ukraine. I don't really care about issues of personal style, how Trump admires Putin, etc.
.DAVID MUIR: We've talked about Ukraine and Vladimir Putin. I do want to talk about Afghanistan. It came up in the first hour of this debate.
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: David, one thing.
DAVID MUIR: I want to move on to Afghanistan.
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Secretary General Stoltenberg said Trump did the most amazing thing I've ever seen, he got these countries, the 28 countries at the time, to pay up. He said I've never seen -- he's the head of NATO. He said I've never seen -- for years we were paying almost all of NATO. We were being ripped off by European nations both on trade and on NATO. I got them to pay up by saying one of the statements you made before, if you don't pay we're not going to protect you.
COMMENT I am not going to repeat the arguments against economic illiteracy behind Trump's unnecessary trade war with the EU. First of all, NATO this year finally reached 2%--under Biden."In February", NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said: “In 2024, NATO allies in Europe will invest a combined total of $380bn in defence. For the first time, this amounts to 2 percent of their combined GDP.” As of this year, Trump cannot withdraw from NATO withoutCongressional consent: "Most recently, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024, enacted on December 22, 2023, prohibits the President from unilaterally withdrawing from NATO without approval of a two-third Senate super-majority or an act of Congress." Trump's unprecedented bullying behavior has been divisive within the alliance. [Note: as a libertarian I think NATO, especially post USSR, is an anachronism and in a sense has contributed to the Ukraine/Russian conflict.] But Trump is part of the reason the US spends more than 3% of its GDP on defense, more than the target 2% for NATO. So of course the US spends about 2/3 of NATO funding.
DAVID MUIR: President Trump--
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Otherwise we would've never gotten it. He said it was one of the most incredible jobs that he's ever seen done.
DAVID MUIR: Thank you. I want to turn to Afghanistan. We witnessed a poignant moment today on Capitol Hill honoring the soldiers who died in the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. I do want to ask the vice president, do you believe you bear any responsibility in the way that withdrawal played out?
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: Well, I will tell you, I agreed with President Biden's decision to pull out of Afghanistan. Four presidents said they would, and Joe Biden did. And as a result, America's taxpayers are not paying the $300 million a day we were paying for that endless war. And as of today, there is not one member of the United States military who is in active duty in a combat zone in any war zone around the world, the first time this century. But let's understand how we got to where we are. Donald Trump when he was president negotiated one of the weakest deals you can imagine. He calls himself a dealmaker. Even his national security adviser said it was a weak, terrible deal. And here's how it went down. He bypassed the Afghan government. He negotiated directly with a terrorist organization called the Taliban. The negotiation involved the Taliban getting 5,000 terrorists, Taliban terrorists released.
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: And get this -- no, get this. And the president at the time invited the Taliban to Camp David. A place of storied significance for us as Americans, a place where we honor the importance of American diplomacy, where we invite and receive respected world leaders. And this former president as president invited them to Camp David because he does not again appreciate the role and responsibility of the President of the United States to be commander in chief with a level of respect. And this gets back to the point of how he has consistently disparaged and demeaned members of our military, fallen soldiers, and the work that we must do to uphold the strength and the respect of the United States of America around the world.
COMMENT: Well, once again, Harris ignores the direct question from the moderator to defend the messy withdrawal from Afghanistan. She simply tries to blame Trump for it, but that doesn't explain why Biden withdrew when he did, without consulting the Afghan government, etc. As for the lie highlighted above. we have troops in harm's way in Syria and Iraq.
DAVID MUIR: Vice President Harris, thank you. President Trump, your response to her saying that you began the negotiations with the Taliban.
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, thank you. So if you take a look at that period of time, the Taliban was killing our soldiers, a lot of them, with snipers. And I got involved with the Taliban because the Taliban was doing the killing. That's the fighting force within Afghanistan. They don't bother doing that because you know, they deal with the wrong people all the time. But I got involved. And Abdul is the head of the Taliban. He is still the head of the Taliban. And I told Abdul don't do it anymore, you do it anymore you're going to have problems. And he said why do you send me a picture of my house? I said you're going to have to figure that out, Abdul. And for 18 months we had nobody killed. We did have an agreement negotiated by Mike Pompeo. It was a very good agreement. The reason it was good, it was -- we were getting out. We would have been out faster than them, but we wouldn't have lost the soldiers. We wouldn't have left many Americans behind. And we wouldn't have left -- we wouldn't have left $85 billion worth of brand new beautiful military equipment behind. And just to finish, they blew it. The agreement said you have to do this, this, this, this, this, and they didn't do it. They didn't do it. The agreement was, was terminated by us because they didn't do what they were supposed to do.
DAVID MUIR: I want to move on.
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And these people did the worst withdrawal and in my opinion the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country. And by the way, that's why Russia attacked Ukraine. Because they saw how incompetent she and her boss are.
COMMENT: Trump's argument he terminated the agreement and would have not arranged for his own quick exit is not credible. In fact, it looks like he wanted credit for a withdrawal in the final days of his Presidency: "Then, after the election, Trump reduced the American troops from 5,000 to 2,500, even though the Taliban did not live up to the agreement, including talking to the Afghan government. And one of his aides then went to the Pentagon and said all troops out by January 15, just five days before Biden was to be inaugurated. Pentagon officials balked and said it can't possibly be done that quickly."
DAVID MUIR: President Trump, thank you. I want to move on now to race and politics in this country. Mr. President, you recently said of Vice President Harris, "I didn't know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black." I want to ask a bigger-picture question here tonight. Why do you believe it's appropriate to weigh in on the racial identity of your opponent?
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don't. And I don't care. I don't care what she is. I don't care. You make a big deal out of something. I couldn't care less. Whatever she wants to be is okay with me.
DAVID MUIR: But those were your words. So, I'm asking --
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don't know. I don't know. All I can say is I read where she was not Black, that she put out. And, I'll say that. And then I read that she was black. And that's okay. Either one was okay with me. That's up to her. That's up to her.
COMMENT; Trump has no credibility here. The fact is, she went to a historically black university and was president of the Black Law Students Association in law school. Now yes, her mother was Indian, but she has consistently identified as black since her youth. Trump is making up this crap about equivocation over her heritage.
DAVID MUIR: Vice President Harris, your thoughts on this?
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: I think it's – I mean honestly, I think it's a tragedy that we have someone who wants to be president who has consistently over the course of his career attempted to use race to divide the American people. You know, I do believe that the vast majority of us know that we have so much more in common than what separates us. And we don't want this kind of approach that is just constantly trying to divide us, and especially by race. And let's remember how Donald Trump started. He was a, a, a—land, he owned land, he owned buildings, and he was investigated because he refused to rent property to Black families. Let's remember, this is the same individual who took out a full-page ad in The New York Times calling for the execution of five young Black and Latino boys who were innocent, the Central Park Five. Took out a full-page ad calling for their execution. This is the same individual who spread birther lies about the first Black President of the United States. And I think the American people want better than that. Want better than this. Want someone who understands as I do, I travel our country, we see in each other a friend. We see in each other a neighbor. We don't want a leader who is constantly trying to have Americans point their fingers at each other. I meet with people all the time who tell me "Can we please just have discourse about how we're going to invest in the aspirations and the ambitions and the dreams of the American people?" Knowing that regardless of people's color or the language their grandmother speaks we all have the same dreams and aspirations and want a president who invests in those, not in hate and division.
COMMENT; Well, Harris overplays her hand here. She's basically calling Trump a racist and again launches a personal attack on Trump. The birther nonsense had nothing to do with Obama's racial identity. All she needed to do is say she's the proud daughter of a Jamaican-American professor, and Trump knew nothing about her heritage. -
DAVID MUIR: Vice President Harris thank you. Linsey?
LINSEY DAVIS: President Trump, this is now your third time --
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: This is the most divisive presidency in the history of our country. There's never been anything like it. They're destroying our country. And they come up with things like what she just said going back many, many years when a lot of people including Mayor Bloomberg agreed with me on the Central Park Five. They admitted -- they said, they pled guilty. And I said, well, if they pled guilty they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately. And if they pled guilty -- then they pled we're not guilty. But this is a person that has to stretch back years, 40, 50 years ago because there's nothing now. I built one of the greatest economies in the history of the world and I'm going to build it again. It's going to be bigger, better and stronger. But they're destroying our economy. They have no idea what a good economy is. Their oil policies -- every single policy -- and remember this. She is Biden. She's trying to get away from Biden. I don't know the gentleman, she says. She is Biden. The worst inflation we've ever had. A horrible economy because inflation has made it so bad and she can't get away with that.
COMMENT Trump calling Biden/Harris the most divisive in American history is like the pot calling the kettle black.. This is the only President to be impeached twice. The J6 crisis over a lost election was unprecedented in American history. But it would be hard to argue against Abraham Lincoln, with over 1M Americans dead. Trump's statements about the Central Park Five have sparked a lawsuit; the defendants never pled guilty. "A decade after the attack, a different man confessed to the crime, which was confirmed through DNA analysis". And Trump is delusional about growing the greatest economt in the history of the world; he didn't even reach the GDP growth rate trend since WWII. Trump's COVID relief package was part of the story in what ignited inflation, never mind he initially named Jerome Powell to the Fed.
DAVID MUIR: Mr. President, thank you, your time is up. Linsey --
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: I want to respond to that, though. I want to just respond briefly. Clearly, I am not Joe Biden, and I am certainly not Donald Trump. And what I do offer is a new generation of leadership for our country. One who believes in what is possible, one who brings a sense of optimism about what we can do instead of always disparaging the American people. I believe in what we can do to strengthen our small businesses, which is why I have a plan. Let's talk about our plans. And, and let's compare the plans. I have a plan to give startup businesses $50,000 tax deduction, to pursue their ambitions, their innovation, their ideas, their hard work. I have a plan. $6,000 for young families for the first year of your child's life. To help you in that most critical stage of your child's development. I have a plan that is about allowing people to be able to pursue what has been fleeting in terms of the American dream by offering help with down payment of $25,000, down payment assistance for first-time home buyers. That's the kind of conversation I believe, David, that people really want tonight as opposed to a conversation that is constantly about belittling and name-calling. Let's turn the page and move forward.
COMMENT; Harris doesn't have the funding for these programs, desperate attempts to bribe voters, never mind dubious constitutionality and which only serve to exacerbate inflationary pressures, instead of dealing with the real economic issues ; she's already $2T in the hole every fiscal year
DAVID MUIR: Vice President Harris, thank you.
LINSEY DAVIS: We have to move on. President trump --
PRESIDENT TRUMP: She is destroying our country. She has a plan to defund the police. She has a plan to confiscate everybody's gun. She has a plan to not allow fracking in Pennsylvania or anywhere else. That's what her plan is until just recently.
COMMENT: Deliberately false on each count. She never agreed with defunding the police; she did call for some funding shifts to reimage public safety with education, etc. No, she does not support mandatory gun confiscation; in her 2020 campaign she did talk about buying "assault weapons". The fracking she took in 2019 only applied to federal leases and has changed.
LINSEY DAVIS: President Trump, President Trump.
VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS: The former president has said something twice and I need to respond too. I just need to respond one time to what he has said multiple times.
LINSEY DAVIS: I'm sorry, we're going to move on, Vice President Harris. This is now your third time running for president. you have long vowed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. You have failed to accomplish that. You now say you're going to keep Obamacare. Quote, unless we can do something much better. Last month you said, quote, we're working on it. So tonight, nine years after you first started running, do you have a plan and can you tell us what it is?
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Obamacare was lousy health care. Always was. It's not very good today. And what I said, that if we come up with something, we are working on things, we're going to do it and we're going to replace it. But remember this. I inherited Obamacare because Democrats wouldn't change it. They wouldn't vote for it. They were unanimous. They wouldn't vote to change it. If they would have done that, we would have had a much better plan than Obamacare. But the Democrats came up, they wouldn't vote for it. I had a choice to make when I was president, do I save it and make it as good as it can be? Never going to be great. Or do I let it rot? And I felt I had an obligation, even though politically it would have been good to just let it rot and let it go away. I decided -- and I told my people, the top people, and they're very good people -- I have a lot of good people in this -- that administration. We read about the bad ones. We had some real bad ones too. And so do they. They have really bad ones. The difference is they don't get rid of them. But let me just explain. I had a choice to make do I save it and make it as good as it can be or let it rot? And I saved it. I did the right thing. But it's still never going to be great. And it's too expensive for people. And what we will do is we're looking at different plans. If we can come up with a plan that's going to cost our people, our population less money and be better health care than Obamacare, then I would absolutely do it. But until then I'd run it as good as it can be run.
LINSEY DAVIS: So just a yes or no, you still do not have a plan?
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I have concepts of a plan. I'm not president right now. But if we come up with something I would only change it if we come up with something better and less expensive. And there are concepts and options we have to do that. And you'll be hearing about it in the not-too-distant future.
COMMENT: Trump is evading the issue. He wanted to repeal and replace 7 years ago and he can't still outline what his plan would be? We libertarians don't believe the answer is a better centrally-administered mouse trap. We believe in a more decentralized approach.
LINSEY DAVIS: Vice President Harris, in 2017 you supported Bernie Sanders' proposal to do away with private insurance and create a government-run health care system. Two years later you proposed a plan that included a private insurance option. What is your plan today?
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: Well, first of all, I absolutely support and over the last four years as vice president private health care options. But what we need to do is maintain and grow the Affordable Care Act. But I, I'll get to that, linsey. I just need to respond to a previous point that the former president has made. I've made very clear my position on fracking. And then this business about taking everyone's guns away. Tim Walz and I are both gun owners. We're not taking anybody's guns away. So stop with the continuous lying about this stuff. As it relates to the Affordable Care Act, understand, just look at the history to know where people stand. When Donald Trump was president, 60 times he tried to get rid of the Affordable Care Act. 60 times. I was a senator at the time. When, I will never forget the early morning hours when it was up for a vote in the United States Senate and the late great John McCain, who you have disparaged as being – uh, you don't like him, you said at the time because he got caught, he was an American hero. The late great John McCain, I will never forget that night. Walked onto the Senate floor and said no, you don't. No, you don't. No, you don't get rid of the Affordable Care Act. You have no plan. And what the Affordable Care Act has done is eliminate the ability of insurance companies to deny people with pre-existing conditions. I don't have to tell the people watching tonight, you remember what that was like? Remember when an insurance company could deny if a child had asthma, if someone was a breast cancer survivor, if a grandparent had diabetes? And thankfully, as I've been vice president and we over the last four years have strengthened the Affordable Care Act, we have allowed for the first time Medicare to negotiate drug prices on behalf of you the American people. Donald Trump said he was going to allow Medicare to negotiate dr, drug prices. He never did. We did. And now we have capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month. Since I've been vice president we have capped the cost of prescription medication for seniors at $2,000 a year. And when I am president we will do that for all people understanding that the value I bring to this is that access to health care should be a right and not just a privilege of those who can afford it. And the plan has to be to strengthen the Affordable Care Act, not get rid of it, (in audible) in terms of where Donald Trump stands on that.
COMMENT: Well, the moderator here does not probe Kamala's change in principle. It reminds me of the Dem-controlled House in the 111th Congress; Pelosi essentially backed the so-called public option; what company could survive a predatory price attack from a government competitor which can run up a $35T deficit? But the Senate Dems included members at risk for 2010, leading to infamous political deals like Gator Aid, the Louisiana Purchase and Cornhusker Kickback; After Scott Brown's upset election to succeed Kennedy allowing the GOP to filibuster bills, the Dems took the corrupt ObamaCare sausage and forced it through the House. The basic architecture created a rigged super-regulated marketplace of private entities. It is well-known for high premiums and deductibles and limited industry participants. The Dems disingenuously argue that the government is cheaper based on economy of scale and lower marketing/administrative costs. I have written in various X and other posts about the $35 monthly insulin cap before, which in fact was initiated by the Big 3 vendors; other vendors were entering the marketplace, and Dems were comparing list prices usually sharply discounted. Trump also had similar trial programs in process. But insulin and prescriptions affect more than Medicare beneficiaries, and Harris doesn't discuss them. Once again, most of this is a personal attack on Trump.
LINSEY DAVIS: I want to move to an issue that's important --
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: She made a mistake. Number one, John McCain fought Obamacare for ten years. But it wasn't only him. It was, All of the Democrats that kept it going. And you know what? We could do much better than Obamacare. Much less money. But she won't improve private insurance for people. Private, medical insurance. That's another thing she doesn't want
LINSEY DAVIS: President Trump.
COMMENT:. Sen. McCain died in 2018. ObamaCare passed in 2010. His vote to save ObamaCare was in 2017. Not quite a decade. Trump is claiming lower costs, but he doesn't provide specifics. And Harris started her response attesting to her acceptance of private carriers.