Hanaguma

No, I left out the Covid years for BOTH presidents as they are outliers. But you can see that even in 2023, with covid fading away in the distance, Biden STILL nearly doubled the deficit that Trump had pre-covid. 1.7 trillion to 0.98 trillion. I would say that Biden is spending like a drunken sailor, but that would be an insult to drunken sailors. At least the sailors are spending money that they have, not spending money that their children will have to pay back in the future.

No, the revenue increase is a lot to do with extra and needless taxes on people. But it does dispute Tug's false assertion that government takings decreased compared with Trump. More tax is being taken, PLUS more money is being borrowed and added to the yearly deficit. Not a winning combination.

Nope, sorry. Government revenue under Trump was in the 3.4 trillion dollar range. Under Biden, from 4.0 to 4.4 trillion. Source; https://www.statista.com/statistics/200405/receipts-of-the-us-government-since-fiscal-year-2000/#:~:text=The total receipts of the,about 6.8 trillion U.S. dollars. Wanna try again?

Trump's three pre-covid deficits were 0.7, 0.8, and 1.0 trillion dollars. Not great to be sure. BUT... Biden's two post-covid deficits have been 1..4 and 1.7 trillion respectively. So, respectfully, you are talking out your cloaca. Inflation and interest rates are killing average Americans' futures.

True. SO, in that case, the only safe thing to do is to release the entire tape, unedited and uncut, certified by the recording body. That way, any cuts or misuse would be obvious. BUT, release it. To do otherwise looks like the Democrats have something to hide.

Ah yes, the infamous Biden Stutter. Which was never talked about until he began his presidential run in 2020. I guess he was able to control it for his entire political career from Nixon to now, and has just these past few years..... stopped? Come on, man. It defies logic. Stuttering doesn't affect memory or cognitive skill. It also doesn't make you sniff and stroke little girls' hair.

Jeezus. What kind of ghouls kidnap the dead as well as the living? Godspeed to the IDF in removing these monsters from the earth.

What a thin excuse: "oh, the other side might edit it selectively and use it for political gain..." Sure. Like that has never happened before. Remember "very fine people on both sides"? It's all part of the game, sometimes it hurts. I don't think the Democrats really have a problem with cutting and splicing and editing. The announcement that Biden made challenging Trump to a debate was cut and spliced 5 times in just 15 seconds! The reality is that the Democrats don't want audio of a befuddled Biden sounding like, well, an 80 year old man. They are trying so hard to keep up the pretense that he is still lucid that the audio would completely blow that claim out of the water.

Tug, thank you for not addressing your complicity in the needless deaths of thousands of young Ukranians. Instead of trying to come to an agreement, all that is happening is more suffering. Ukraine cannot win. It's really quite simple. They are running out of bodies to use the weapons you want to give them. As for NATO, they needed a wake-up call. They have been riding Uncle Sugar's coattails for too long. With the end of the USSR and the Warsaw Pact, there is no need for the US to be anything more than a simple member state. They have the resources and technology to easily defend themselves. What Europe lacks is the will and the incentive.

Biden's friends seem to forget that Ukraine was only invaded during HIS presidency, and that of his boss. There was no need to stop Putin militarily during the Trump years. And in any case, it is the height of arrogance to suggest that it is OK for the US to fund a war purely to bleed Russia dry. You seem to forget that it is ALSO bleeding Ukraine dry. Your flippant attitude is killing thousands of young Ukranians every month.

EVERYONE stuffed it up, from the bad orange man to the current occupant of the White House. Plenty of blame to go around.

So, at the very least he didn't screw it up, right? And even helped it along. I seem to remember the doom-and-gloom predictions when he took office by various economists and talking heads on the news. Didn't happen.

Trump would be an absolute fool to testify. Which makes it a fifty/fifty chance that he might, just to assuage his ego. But I hope he doesn't, he can only hurt his case. In any case, the result will go to appeal and take a long time to finally be decided.

Yep, run on that. Best of luck. The pre-Covid economy under Trump was fab. Good for everyone, great for minorities (historic low unemployment for blacks and hispanics), low gas prices, etc.

Paul is cherry picking more than George Washington's mother after the tragic 'axe' incident. Looking at trends and longer term paint a far different picture. Eg. Unemployment under Trump fell gradually but steadily until covid- to about 3.9%. Covid saw a spike, then falling to 6.5% when Biden took over. Since then, slowly falling again. Not sure where the 14% number came from. Inflation the same, but kept falling to 1.4% when Biden took office. Now much higher. Plus the disastrous cost of interest rate hikes on home mortgages, car payments and so on. Stock market is irrelevant to most people. Housing prices are very relevant. Up more than 30% under Biden. Rent is similar. So by all means, please PLEASE let Biden run on his economic record.

Was the jury screened for "Trump fans"? Wow, never heard that. Wonder if they also screened for TDS... What people think of the daily grind of the trial seems coloured by their preconceived political beliefs. Gotta be honest, I am still struggling to see why this is such a big deal, even if it was technically a breach of the law. But that is for me to fix.

You may be right. I have a feeling the jurys' eyes were glazed over with all the legal ramblings and theorizing. The actual hush money payoff was not illegal- it is common. The key is the accounting of the money and who knew/approved. Cohen looked sketchy as heck, but that is to be expected. He IS sketchy. How much his credibility will matter is up to the jury. I have heard that there are actually 2 lawyers ON the jury, and they might just be violently angry at Cohen taping conversations with his clients. So yeah, a hung jury is a definite possibility.

Off topic, but the misinformation came from Official Washington, regardless who was in the White House. Remember hearing the President say, "if you get vaccinated, you can't get Covid?" Well I for one can personally attest that he was not telling the truth. My wife and I both got the Phizer and both got Covid.

I would say Walker's cut and paste game is pretty good, other than that... The big puzzle to me is why this is such a big deal in the first place. We are talking about a payment of $130,000. This is miniscule. The Trump campaign raised more than $700 million in 2020. Democrats spent even more. Total of $14 billion spent in the election cycle. So why is this particular payment so important?

This might be the real reason. I mean, the cringey announcement Biden made- had to have 5 cut and pastes in a 15 second video clip. Plus the lack of a live crowd- point in Biden's favor. As for the CNN moderators: I personally like Jake Tapper, he is a fairly old school journalist. Obviously leans left but keeps it in check. Dana Bash though...

Love how nobody on the left side of the aisle actually wants to talk about the...topic...of the discussion, instead they prefer to obfuscate and repost their talking points ad nauseum.

As I said before, I wonder what prompted Biden to insist on these debates, and these rules, instead of the traditonal debates held by the non-partisan CPD? Or will there be both debates held under the auspices of the CPD and these ones? I think that would be the best option for everyone, especially the voters. The more the candidates can get in front of the public, the better.

Yeah, about the same margin in 2016 when Trump beat Clinton.

Sadly, both parties are living in the past, judging by the candidates they chose. But I do understand- the collective butthurt from the interrupted coronation of Queen Hillary I still twitches from time to time. And when the popular vote matters more than a bucket of warm hamster vomit, please let me know.

Gee, nobody seems to want to crow about Cohen's testimony today. Why is that?