Fewer people in the US are going to want to spend that much on a plushy. Unemployment is going to rise under Trump. There will be increased costs for needs and less cash for wants. But we will probably have continued inequality, so if a small scale artist can sell to rich people, they may do well.

Yep. In the next few years I expect more Americans to raise pigs on their suburban plots.

Don’t forget land sales tax which happened a lot after the Louisiana Purchase and the Gold Rush.

Yep. We will need Nuremberg trials to actually move on from this.

We need to weather the storm and come back strong. We need a FDR 2.0 to transition from chaos and oligarchy into a more equitable America with universal healthcare and more support for struggling Americans.

The car metric is for a new car. I think it’s a valid assessment even if buying a used car is the better option for most people.

I love New England

You are right on why he bought it. But he then got funding from outsiders who would benefit from it’s transition away from effective gathering and communicating space

The position is to acknowledge results of an election. That should be enough. For more information there is a ton of resources like Harris’ website.

In a two party system this is always true. But what do you mean by “Trump”. What does it mean to not be like him?

This is a result of the electoral college. It is more important to get centrist states to vote than for millions urban voters to be excited.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/07/14/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-on-combatting-climate-change-and-building-a-clean-energy-economy/ She is far better on climate change than Trump. She supports an energy transition. Trump hates wind farms.

The FTC is just starting to go after oligopolies. So yes, institutions supported by Democratic bureaucrats are going after powerful conglomerates. Results can be seen in the denial of the Capri tapestry merger and the language used by the judge in the case.

Trump is the urban elitist you are referencing. Why does he get a pass from the voters from rural places?

The state of Maine disagrees. Dems got ranked choice to pass.

I also wish the Dems would promote more progressive policies. At the same time, the media does not celebrate the wins for Dems, such as the creation of the CFPB that Elizabeth Warren established. They don’t celebrate the response to oligopoly through review of mergers and acquisitions by the FTC under Lina Kahn. They don’t celebrate the reduced child poverty rate under the expanded child tax credit. Positive progress doesn’t make it to mass media even when it does happen, which isn’t often enough.

Idk. Maybe. I think Biden has done a great job if you look at his policies, and I would have hoped people were excited about them. I take your comment to say that people are fooled into having more enthusiasm for a candidate with the same policies just becase a different face has been put on them. But there can be other reasons for the enthusiasm. For example, maybe people believe she will do a better job since she is younger and more energetic. And those people think a younger, more energetic candidate makes for a better President even while holding the same political views. If that gets people excited, fine. It may be from being fickle and fooled or may be from a realistic view of how leaders impact the group and how a younger leader could be better.

It is not just bots but an infrastructure of heavy investment in mass media that mislead americans. Fox News, NAEBC, Tucker Carlson, the NRA, Breitbart and then you can add in the bots on social media.

Trump received 74 million votes.

The NRA, which has proven to be infiltrated by russian assets has about 5.5M members so that’s almost 7% right there. https://www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-members-news/wyden-unveils-report-on-nra-ties-to-russia-findings-show-nra-misled-public-about-2015-moscow-trip#:~:text=New evidence that NRA insiders may have violated U.S. sanctions,pursuit of personal business opportunities.

In 2021 there were about 20M users of Parler which amplified russian propaganda: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2020/10/01/report-fbi-catches-another-russian-made-fake-news-site-targeting-us-voters/

There’s probably some overlap, but with just two instances we’ve seen how over 20-25M right wingers (1 out of 3 trump voters) are subject to russian propaganda.

So it is a replacement for Western Union. Not a bad thing if it’s helping people transfer money without a middle man taking too much.