Trump is a hack

Vanity

[bigdaddy45]

So I just saw the Trump commercial re: Desantis. He accuses Desantis of wanting to cut Medicare funding among other things. All dark and foreboding in black and white (of course). And here's my favorite part: "Desantis even voted to raise the retirement age to 70"!!

Anyone even halfway responsible who looks at the Social Security trust fund numbers knows the retirement age will have to be lifted. Americans are living longer. There's no other option. Well, there is one other option -- raising SS taxes and/or raising or eliminating the income cap. Both Democrat solutions.

Of course Trump has no proposed solution to this problem. He just promises us a "big beautiful Social Security System" with no details as to how that will happen, and takes shots at anyone having the courage to vote for real solutions. For those of us who are small government conservatives (which used to constitute the majority of Free Republic), Trump is showing his true feathers as just another big government Democrat. Which he used to be.

Solving our fiscal problems and at least slowing down our journey to the financial cliff will require straight talk and courage. When it comes to the budget, Trump has demonstrated neither. The deficit continued to skyrocket during his tenure, and he couldn't sign the stimulus checks fast enough. He even baited Biden because his checks weren't as big as Trump's were.

So if you believe in smaller government and fiscal restraint, and are a Trump supporter, you're being played. He's just trying to buy your vote with your money like the rest of them. In other words, he's the latest in a long line of Presidents who are no-courage hacks.

Of course his supporters will come out of the woodwork throwing rocks. They won't refute or debate any of these points. They'll just rant about MAGA this or Desanctimonious that. They are so firmly entrenched in the Cult of Trump they can't see past the lips firmly planted on his ass.

[soozla]

I missed nothing, my friend. Trump pointed out exactly what DeSantis did....he voted to make cuts to the programs as the advertisement states, and his votes are public record....Trump did not lie about DeSantis’ votes as you seem to imply.....

[windsorknot]

Those who think that Social Security is a viable institution are whistling past the graveyard. It is a train heading for the cliff to eventual destruction. It was destined to fail from the beginning. To call it a “trust fund” is an abomination. No private company could get away with such a “business model”. The citizens of this country would have been better off keeping the money that they were forced to pay into it.

[cowboyusa]

Agree. But Audit first. Oh, how we need an Andrew Jackson.

[Lumper20]

false.

[blueunicorn6]

I don’t recall anything that you have posted.

You may have posted a lot, but it’s hard to recall what you have posted.

If you put it on your personal page, then everybody can quickly read your feelings.

[cowboyusa]

Also, just began reading DeSantis book. He describes the Failure in Iraq as Nation Building Wilsonianism. He nailed it. He understands a Jacksonian foreign policy.

[bigdaddy45]

Afraid of him??? What are you smoking. They think he’s the easiest Republican candidate to beat. Seeing as they are basically running a corpse. So to guarantee he gets nominated... they indict him. His followers get their hackles up, and the renominate him. Easy peasy, and the Republicans get played once again.

[MotorCityBuck]

Thank You.

[CodeToad]

GFY. You’re just another left-wing propagandist. If you think your screeching ranting screed was facts, you really are an idiot. There were no facts in there. You are the Dumbing Down of America on display. You can’t discern fact from the voices in your head. I don’t know what makes you so stupid but it really works.

You did want to be flamed, right? I mean that rant was nothing but flame bait.

[CodeToad]

“Must have been that case of Bud Light in the can...”

Yep, Beer for Queers.

[CodeToad]

“Show me on this doll where Donald Trump hurt you.”

Don’t hand that queer a doll, he’ll try to rape it.

[toddausauras]

Trump 2024

[bigdaddy45]

Geez man, reading comprehension really isn’t your strong suit, is it. Did I say Trump lied? No dumbass. But basically in the commercial Trump took a Democrat position. No changes to the retirement age means hire SS taxes. Thats what he’s advocating for. Just like a good Democrat. You’re getting conned yet again by a snake oil salesman.

[Bikkuri]

No problem ;)

[TomServo]

Bkmk

[Reno89519]

Trump bashing Republicans is hurting the party, and it will hurt his reelection. There’s no call for it, very unnecessary and unpresidential

[Tell It Right]

One strategy to consider is collecting SS at the earliest age (for my generation that's age 62) while still working, even if working at full time.

Pros:
1. You can invest that SS money so that it grows, both while working and later in retirement. This is as opposed to that money staying in the SS fund until you truly retire. Yes, waiting until full retirement age would increase the SS check, but it's a one-time increase. After that the only increases in the SS check is for inflation. If, however, you collect early and put the SS check into investments, that money grows for the rest of your life (hopefully outpacing inflation).
2. Invested money is something you can leave to your heirs. SS checks you can't leave to heirs (except to your spouse if your spouse's SS check is less than yours).
3. This doesn't set your future SS checks as forever reduced. In fact, your continuing to work while collecting SS makes future SS checks after full retirement age recalculate to higher payments.

Cons:
1. If you make "too much" money while collecting SS checks, the SS check can be reduced by as much as half (not so bad considering it's part of the recalculation to make higher SS checks after full retirement age).
2. The SS check itself is taxable income. How much of the SS check is taxed is based on other income. For example, when I plan to collect SS at age 62 (I plan to quit working in my late 50's and do 4% annual withdrawals from tax-deferred investments combined with Roth investments, then later at age 62 the SS check will be icing on the cake), the tax-deferred portion of mine and my wife's investments is liable to be well over $32K which would mean that 85% of my SS check will be taxed. It doesn't mean that 85% of my SS check will disappear as tax; it means that 85% of the SS check will count as taxable income in whatever tax bracket I would be in. Even though in my case I won't be working while collecting SS checks, the principle of income outside of SS checks applies whether it's income from work or income from withdrawing from tax-deferred accounts.

With some people's situation, the Pros of taking SS checks early would outweigh the Cons. But only if the SS check in those early years while still working is put towards investments for the future.

[Olog-hai]

What hurts the Republican party is the left-wing actions of RINOs, not Trump calling them out on that. Not that at this point they want to be an independent entity from the Democrats; their behavior back in 2020/21 was an open demonstration of that.

I often post the 15^th goal of the 45 communist goals for the USA, which is “Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States”. That was published in 1958. Anyone who thinks that was not accomplished long before today is deceiving oneself.

[Robert DeLong]

There were reasons he did so, but as is usually the case, hindsight is always better, vision wise, than is foresight.

Let's just say, that I don't remember hearing anyone raise objections. 🙂

[nopardons]

BTTT