American Politics

[EihTooms]

Here's what Gemini Deep Research says, as to its estimates of federal tax rates borne by Democrats vs. Republicans for the last 8 presidential elections, based on exit polls. Please note that party affiliation was based on who the respondent voted for President. So when Trump ran, there were a lot of upper income, highly taxed Republicans who didn't vote for him. They would show up as Democrats or "other" in the polls.

Average estimated tax rates:

1996 Democrat: 9. 2% Republican: 17.5%.

2000 Democrat: 9. 8% Republican: 16.2%.

2004 Democrat: 8. 5% Republican: 15.4%.

2008 Democrat: 10.1% Republican: 14.8%..

Melania said the baby was delicious although a tad bit overdone. Swear to god.

Um. AI and all the pertinent links in the universe have pointed out that incomes are generally higher in Blue states and there are more Americans with those higher incomes in Blue states. Percentages are fun. But you must already know that smaller percentages of larger incomes can pay for more stuff than larger percentages of smaller incomes.

A 3 percentage point increase in tax rates for higher income earning Dems between 2020 and 2024 in the midst of one of the greatest Dem recoveries and private-sector jobs creation from another Great Repub Economic Disaster had nothing to do with Trump squeaking out another razor-thin election win.

Not one typically Blue state flipped to Trump in 2024.

Only one typically Dem voting demographic in the only three swing states that mattered swung just enough votes from Dem to Repub to secure the win for Trump. And it was on one issue having nothing to do with the economy, inflation, immigration, crime, pronouns or where trannies pee.

Even Trump knows he owes nothing to America's "poor and middle class" for that squeaker of a razor-thin election win by a swing of less than a single percentage point of that one demographic's votes from Dem to Repub spread across those three states. And so does Netanyahu and the Muslim Community of voters in PA, MI and WI whose less than a single percentage point swing of their potential votes in those three states secured that win for Trump.

Which is why Trump has no interest whatsoever in making life easier for the "poor and middle class" in America with his Liberation From Your Job Day Tariffs, his little bit of an excursion to skyrocket gas and energy prices, his total reversal of rally after rally promises to use only USA-made steel for his construction projects LOL etc. He knows there is nothing they gifted him with to pay them back for!

He and Netanyahu and the Muslims in those Gulf States that were to benefit from Trump's utter fiasco Iran War are the ones he is paying back for his razor-thin squeaker of an election win in 2024:

To Netanyahu for delaying the May 2024 Biden-negotiated ceasefire until after the election.

To the less than a single percentage point of Muslim Community voters in those three swing states whose anger with the Biden Administration over its support for Israel which they took for support for Netanyahu was stoked by that move by Netanyahu to swing just enough of their votes from a member of the Biden Administration to Trump in order to squeak out that razor-thin win.

To Qatar for that sweet bribe of a $400 Million airliner.

To the UAE for that sweet bribe of $Billions to bail out the Trump Crime Family's failed crypto venture.

To Saudi Arabia for that sweet bribe of $Billions to Trump's son-in-law and daughter.

Trump figured out paying back those huge favors and sweet bribes with Americans' blood, lives and tax dollars in an unprovoked Iran War was a nifty idea.

But his only interest was in pleasing his benefactors by fulfilling their wishes of America starting the Iran War. After that, he really doesn't give a shit. Of course. As far as he's concerned he did his part to pay back those folks for the great favors and bribes they lavished on him and his Crime Family. The colossal mess and expense that follows is up to them and America to deal with.

LOL. Trump, Netanyahu and those Muslim country leaders would crack up with a laugh "unlike anyone has ever heard" at your assertion that the poor and middle class in America were responsible for Trump's razor-thin squeaker of an election win in 2024. Lolol. You ought to send that to them in a tweet, a text, an email or whatever.

[EihTooms]

No, you did not. You degraded him and claimed that gasoline was $2 a gallon in podunk America. The truth is that gasoline was even less than that if you take away the taxes Oklahoma taxes. I posted the same thing when I was in West Texas after buying a RV.

The really funny part is why gasoline in California is in fact so expensive. For some dumb reason, you always blame who is president on why gasoline prices are what they are. If that is the case, then Trump was wildly more successful than Biden, but that is not reality. California has its own brand of fuckery when it comes to gasoline.

From Doomberg, California is effectively two fuel islands, one clustered around San Francisco and the other around LOS Angeles. Neither half of the state is connected by inbound oil or refined product pipelines to the outside world, and links between north and south are skimpy. Northern California in particular faces an urgent crisis, as one of its few remaining petroleum refineries is shutting down, leaving the region largely unable to provide for its own gasoline, diesel, or jet fuel. Everybody sees the problem coming, and few doubt it's just a matter of time before calamity strikes.

Perhaps recognizing the light at the end of the tunnel for what it was, Newsom spent much of 2025 trying to undo some of the damage he and his party had previously causedif for no other reason than to extend-and-pretend the reckoning beyond his remaining time in office, which closes out in January 2027. When Valero announced the upcoming closure of its Benicia refinery, Newsom responded by negotiating directly with the company, exploring a possible transfer to another refiner, and using new market-stability tools to make continued operation more attractive. However, those efforts only secured a delayed, staged idling and import-terminal plan rather than long-term continued refining at the site..

Thanks is right there in the Subject Line of my response to him providing a link that disproved his "huge economic gains" claim and proved my "middle of pudunk nowhere" minor blip on the disastrous Trump economy screen observation.

[Sirioja]

LOL, or maybe after a decade of searching, he just didn't do anything illegal and he's telling the truth? The search continues. Hahahahaha.

For sure, if was truth Nobel award, he would try to compete, same than for peace. Seem his Iranian war where Americans died, was his desperate try to try to avoid defeat on November, same than criminal Netanyahou makes war with almost everybody, to avoid Israelian justice. Still war when elections would be better for him.

[Spidy]

Absolutely true. Spidy has used South Australia as a role model. Well, conditions for solar and wind there are among the best in the world. But for baseload power, South Australia still must rely on natural gas from the Cooper Basin and interconnects from Victoria. And Victoria generates electricity mostly from dirty, dirty coal.

AEMO boss Daniel Westerman -- "Australia's operational paradigm is no longer 'baseload-and-peaking', but increasingly its a paradigm of 'renewables-and-firming'. It's a crucial point to understand:

• Baseload is not so much a technical virtue as a business model the people who invest in coal generators, and nuclear in particular, count on those machines operating at or near full capacity most of the time. https://reneweconomy.com.au/dan-teha...se-on-nuclear/

What can I say that I haven't already said.

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/a...ns-per-country

Don't say anything! Just listen for a change!

Why do you even attempt to argue Alberta politics with an Albertan? He's going to kick your ass, if he chooses to waste the time to do so.

Unlike the MAGA side of America, I am remain interested in the global south (or north) and world politics related to energy, among other things, other then when your MAGA Fuhrer is blowing up stuff. But by all means you can go back and put your MAGA blinders on.

I'm sure Canada, is quite able to speak for himself and is welcome to try, if he's not too busy, getting his ass kissed by you!

Coal use dropped in China and India in 2025. It rose in USA, hiking energy costs, January 19th, 2025 https://electrek.co/2026/01/19/coal-...-energy-costs/

So in the USA, higher natural gas prices and the policy shift by the MAGA Fuhrer and his shit-show administration, which included issuing orders to keep open coal-fired plants slated for closure, led to the country posting an 8% to 13% increase in demand in 2025 and the largest absolute gains and approximately 37 million tons, leading to a 2.4% increase in carbon emissions in the United States.

And while China is the largest annual CO2 emitter, it is worth mentioning, that while is not everything, it's not nothing either, as they move to electrify everything and mitigate as much of their carbon foot print as possible and how for example Autonomous electric trucks drive China's shift to smart, green mining, https://english.news.cn/20260204/070...a3a0e8b/c.html

Yeah, how about that, just checkout China's smart (5 G technology) green, electrotech coal mining operations. EV mining trucks, autonomously hauling coal, to be used as electricity to power China and themselves, while saving millions in diesel fossil fuel, operation costs.

Chinese driverless, autonomous electric mining trucks ...the U.S. not so much!

[Tiny 12]

This is a classic failure to back up a claim with a credible source link or to at least quote the passage from an AI result that you think supports it even if it doesn't. As it doesn't in this case:

Well, I see nothing supporting what you claimed.

However, the AI response to your question does underscore that Blue states have higher average tax burdens to help pay more for America's needs than do Red states. As I have asserted and repeatedly shown.

It's only that, being deadbeats by their very nature, high-earning Repubs "think", "feel" and "percieve" that they pay too much for those benefits for America despite the fact that Blue states pay more for them while high-earning Dems bellyache, whine and cry far, far less about paying for what benefits America than Repubs do despite the fact that their Blue states are paying more for it than Red states.

Which is exemplified by those higher burdened American tax-payers from California always offering our heartfelt "You're welcome" to Aunt Bea, Jethro, Gomer, Goober, Granny, Ellie-Mae, Uncle Jed, Elvis and you.

Here's what Gemini Deep Research says, as to its estimates of federal tax rates borne by Democrats vs. Republicans for the last 8 presidential elections, based on exit polls. Please note that party affiliation was based on who the respondent voted for President. So when Trump ran, there were a lot of upper income, highly taxed Republicans who didn't vote for him. They would show up as Democrats or "other" in the polls.

Average estimated tax rates:

1996 Democrat: 9. 2% Republican: 17.5%.

2000 Democrat: 9. 8% Republican: 16.2%.

2004 Democrat: 8. 5% Republican: 15.4%.

2008 Democrat: 10.1% Republican: 14.8%.

2012 Democrat: 7. 4% Republican: 18.2%

2016 Democrat: 11.5% Republican: 13.9%.

2020 Democrat: 12.8% Republican: 12.1%.

2024 Democfrat: 16.1% Republican: 11.4%.

So people voting for the Republican presidential candidate paid a lot more than their fair share up through the 2012 election. In 2016 they paid somewhat more. In 2020 the numbers were about equal. And in 2024 people voting for Kamala Harris paid a lot more than their fair share.

Basically, the poor and middle class in America were so fed up with Biden's idiotic economic policies that they voted for Trump in 2024. While upper income Americans were so fed up with Trump they voted for Harris. I of course voted for Chase Oliver, armed and gay!

State and local taxes are irrelevant to the question at hand, which is whether Republicans or Democrats contribute more per person to the federal government. Undoubtedly Californians on average pay more in total taxes, state, local and federal, than residents of other states, because of their greedy and profligate state and municipal governments. Yes indeed, blue state residents pay more taxes than red state residents. And that's why they're moving to red states.

Here's the complete report. I didn't read it.

https://gemini.google.com/share/cea9a3e7c785

Click the down arrows for links to supporting web pages.

P.S. Ellie Mae never would have fucked you. You're too liberal.

[Spidy]

Yes Newsome proposed a balanced budget just like he proposed the following.

Proposed High speed rail. Billions spent and no high speed rail.
Proposed fixing the homeless problem. Billions spent and more homeless year after year.
Proposed new gas tax to fix the roads and highways. Billions collected in gas tax and CA roads worst in the nation.
Proposed a balanced budget in 2025 and huge deficit.
Newsome proposal tax the millionaire to collect more taxes. Millionaires leaving state for Texas and Florida so collecting less taxes.

Yes almost, but not as proud as you are, having your MAGA Fuhrer, increase the national debt by $2.25 trillion, in the first year back in charge, https://fortune.com/2026/01/20/how-m...ice-president/

Yes almost, but not as proud as you are, having your MAGA Fuhrer, interfere in an sovereign election and give Argentine $40 billion (and not USA Farmers and businesses).

Yes almost, but not as proud as you are, having your corrupt MAGA Fuhrer, pick-pocket American taxpayers (so far) to the tune of $3.4 bn, into his own pockets and family pockets, while in his second term in office. https://factually.co/fact-checks/pol...-office-847256

Yes almost, but not as proud as you are, having your MAGA Fuhrer, plunge the United States into insolvency. https://fortune.com/2026/03/23/us-go...al-crisis-fix/

Yes almost, but not as proud as you are, having your MAGA Fuhrer, in illegal war after illegal war, costing $1+ billion a day (by some estimates).

Let's face it, most big utility projects will have cost overruns. But California's HSR project ran foul and suffered from a shit-ton of "right-of-way" and eminent domain legal conflicts. When the laws and legislation around "right-of-way" get cleaned up and simplified, the better off America will be for such large scale nationwide or state projects. Something I might add Florida HSR, never had.

It's a whole other conversation, but even the HSR in Florida, isn't producing the ridership, touted by Gov. Ron DeSantis, as investors are delayed again for payment owed. Which brings up a really good question, "Will HSR ever really be viable and widely adopted, in the U.S.?"

According to EithTooms latest post here:http://www.internationalsexguide.nl/...=1#post3059439 under Gov. Gavin Newson, California's California's $4 Trillion economy outpaces major nations and is now the world's 4th largest economy, passing Japan. That says a lot, despite all the concerns and challenges, you cite. https://www.edhat.com/california/new...-report-shows/

But this much is clear, while Newsome has always had Californians best interests at heart, your MAGA Fuhrer only cares about enriching himself, his family and his billionaire cronies on the backs of hardworking Americans.

I'll finish by quoting EihTooms:

California, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and the Dems offer a heartfelt, "You're welcome, Aunt Bea, Jethro, Gomer, Tiny, Elvis and Granny. "

[EihTooms]

This is a classic failure to appreciate Simpson's Paradox. How many welfare Democrats live in blue cities in red states? And how many Republicans live in the suburbs and commute to Dallas and Houston? How many successful business owners in California are Republicans?

Why don't you ask AI what's the average federal tax paid by Republicans versus Democrats? I did, and it said "about the same. ".Like I said, devolve more taxation and spending and power to states and cities. Then people can do what they want instead of having it imposed on them by Washington politicians. And flight from blue cities and states will increase.

As to benefits, it's about the same for Democrats vs. Republicans looking at social security, Medicare, welfare and the like. As to defense spending and Biden's corporate pork, exactly how do apportion that? Does a military base in South Carolina just benefit the civilian residents of South Carolina? That's probably the kind of assumption your LWM sources make.

This is a classic failure to back up a claim with a credible source link or to at least quote the passage from an AI result that you think supports it even if it doesn't. As it doesn't in this case:

what's the average federal tax paid by Republicans versus Democrats?

+6
Data indicates no direct, official record of "average federal tax paid" categorized by political party, as tax filings do not track party affiliation. However, partisan differences exist in tax burdens: high-income earners (often in Republican-leaning states) feel they pay a disproportionate share, while Democrats more often support progressive tax structures. Generally, 68% of Republicans view their federal taxes as too high compared to 37% of Democrats, reflecting different perceptions of fairness rather than strict average payment differences.
Pew Research Center
+4
Partisan Perspectives on Federal Taxes:
Partisan Disparity: Roughly 67% of high-income Republicans ($100k+) believe they pay too much, compared to 45% of high-income Democrats.
Perceptions of Fairness: According to, 62% of Democrats in 2025 feel the federal taxes they pay are fair, compared to only 35% of Republicans.

State-Level Differences: Red states (Republican-leaning) generally prioritize lower tax rates, while blue states (Democrat-leaning) often have higher average tax burdens.
Party Goals: Republicans often focus on lower taxes for corporations and high-income families, while Democrats typically target increased taxes on the top 1%.
Gallup News
+4
.........
There is no official data tracking federal tax payments by political affiliation. However, analysis shows that Republicans generally report higher dissatisfaction with their tax burdens, with ~68% reporting taxes are too high compared to 37% of Democrats. Furthermore, 79% of upper-income Republicans feel they pay more than their fair share, compared to 57% of upper-income Democrats.
Pew Research Center
+2
Key Findings on Taxation & Political Views
Partisan Tax Views: As of 2026, 68% of Republicans say their federal taxes are "too high," a sentiment shared by only 37% of Democrats.
Income Disparities: The difference in perception of paying "too high" taxes is most pronounced among high earners: 67% of Republicans earning over $100,000 feel they pay more than their fair share, compared to 45% of Democrats in the same bracket.
Party Goals: Republican initiatives often focus on extending tax cuts for high-income families and corporations, while Democratic proposals tend to target tax increases on top earners and expand credits like the Child Tax Credit.

Perceptions of Fairness: According to 2025 Gallup data, 62% of Democrats consider their tax burden fair, whereas only 35% of Republicans feel the same.
Gallup News
+5
Note: The Tax Foundation provides data on tax payments by income level, but not by political party.
Tax Foundation
+1

Well, I see nothing supporting what you claimed.

However, the AI response to your question does underscore that Blue states have higher average tax burdens to help pay more for America's needs than do Red states. As I have asserted and repeatedly shown.

It's only that, being deadbeats by their very nature, high-earning Repubs "think", "feel" and "percieve" that they pay too much for those benefits for America despite the fact that Blue states pay more for them while high-earning Dems bellyache, whine and cry far, far less about paying for what benefits America than Repubs do despite the fact that their Blue states are paying more for it than Red states.

Which is exemplified by those higher burdened American tax-payers from California always offering our heartfelt "You're welcome" to Aunt Bea, Jethro, Gomer, Goober, Granny, Ellie-Mae, Uncle Jed, Elvis and you.

[Elvis 2008]

Wow. I actually thanked him for the link

No, you did not. You degraded him and claimed that gasoline was $2 a gallon in podunk America. The truth is that gasoline was even less than that if you take away the taxes Oklahoma taxes. I posted the same thing when I was in West Texas after buying a RV.

The really funny part is why gasoline in California is in fact so expensive. For some dumb reason, you always blame who is president on why gasoline prices are what they are. If that is the case, then Trump was wildly more successful than Biden, but that is not reality. California has its own brand of fuckery when it comes to gasoline.

From Doomberg, California is effectively two fuel islands, one clustered around San Francisco and the other around LOS Angeles. Neither half of the state is connected by inbound oil or refined product pipelines to the outside world, and links between north and south are skimpy. Northern California in particular faces an urgent crisis, as one of its few remaining petroleum refineries is shutting down, leaving the region largely unable to provide for its own gasoline, diesel, or jet fuel. Everybody sees the problem coming, and few doubt it's just a matter of time before calamity strikes.

Perhaps recognizing the light at the end of the tunnel for what it was, Newsom spent much of 2025 trying to undo some of the damage he and his party had previously caused—if for no other reason than to extend-and-pretend the reckoning beyond his remaining time in office, which closes out in January 2027. When Valero announced the upcoming closure of its Benicia refinery, Newsom responded by negotiating directly with the company, exploring a possible transfer to another refiner, and using new market-stability tools to make continued operation more attractive. However, those efforts only secured a delayed, staged idling and import-terminal plan rather than long-term continued refining at the site.

The two remaining Bay Area oil refineries—Chevron's Richmond facility and PBF Energy's Martinez complex—can supply just half of the region's needs, with much of the balance earmarked for seaborne imports. Given the unique and expensive fuel grades demanded by state regulators, new layers of risk are compounding: importing refined petroleum products, such as CARBOB gasoline or California reformulated diesel, presents its own set of substantial economic, safety, and environmental drawbacks that compound the challenges facing the state's crude supply chain. While California already brings in some finished products, relying more heavily on imports exposes consumers and the state to a much more volatile, complex, and expensive supply system. The specialized transportation fuels that are required in California are costlier to produce out of state because most refineries elsewhere are not configured to meet California's unique CARBOB specifications.

We note with interest that refined products from India—which became California's largest source of imports of the stuff in 2025—were almost certainly derived largely from Russian crude, which the US is currently attempting to sanction off global markets. So too with Chinese imports, although those likely contain a few molecules from heavily sanctioned Iran as well.

End of link.

Doomberg also has a graph linking data from California's own site about gasoline usage: https://cdtfa.ca.gov/DataPortal/data...uelGasJetStats.

Yeah, despite the electric cars being cranked out, California gasoline usage has been stubbornly high.

Yes, gasoline prices are higher now due to the war, but as I posted before, if you look at oil prices and the futures market, there is no conviction that these price increases are permanent.

That you have Spidy and his petrostate / electrostate nonsense being spewed is just proof to me that you dumb Dems still do not get it. You blast Putin while your cars ride on his oil and that of Iran. CARBOB gasoline? You Californians need your own special blend that you cannot even make in sufficient quantities? No wonder you insult Trump for higher prices but are quiet about your own insane gasoline policies.

How is it possible for blue states to be carrying red ones when you all are paying double for the price of gasoline, insurance, taxes, rent ETC? That math thingy sure has you all strung up. No wonder you all are so desperate to blame Republicans for your economic turmoil.

[Elvis 2008]

No what happened is he got roped into a war by Israel. Stop presenting this fuckwit as anything other than what he is: a fucking idiot.

And this is why you have TDS. You are so anti-Trump that you do not even get what the mission is. Yes, Israel roped Trump into this war but why? Because of how much uranium Iran has. This is like Maduro all over again. You are so anti-Trump that you wanted 30 million Venezuelans to suffer. And now you have such TDS that you are okay with Iran having the bomb and being able to kill millions.

As for the "I am a fucking crazy loon" tactic, Trump keeps playing that card, and you dumb Dems (and now the Iranians) keep buying it. It just blows me away how much this tactic keeps working. You have lost two (and probably three) elections to him and you TDS fools still do not get how you are being played. You keep coming up with all these dumb excuses for why you have been so wrong about Trump, but you do not get the truth: Trump is rational, and his "I am a crazy loon" tactic keeps working because you all want him to be that crazy.

But just because Trump is rational does not mean he is right with this war. I listen to Peter Zeihan who has close ties to the military and the American military arrogance has been on full display. IMO the militaries of both the USA and Israel massively underestimated the damage Iran could do and did not properly plan for it.

I also think Trump may have pulled the trigger too fast politically speaking. He is trying to get this war over and done with before the mid terms. I get the concept that Iran would have had more missiles and drones a year from now, but the greatest military in the world should have been able to ramp up drone interceptors in no time especially given how much money we pour into the military. Trump may have missed the known fact about war: A war is easy to start but hell to end.

But if I hear one more thing about Trump going to war over the Epstein files or about some dirt the Israelis have on him, I swear that I am going to puke. That is the stupidest shit I have ever heard. He is a convicted criminal and we still put him into office.

Trump has admitted being a john, paid off a porn start to not talk after fucking her, is on his 3rd wife and hung around Epstein. We Trump voters knew all that. And you mean to tell me now that Joe Biden and James Comey had all this Epstein information and those two assholes said, "Yeah, we are not going to go there. We are going to make up this complete bullshit about Trump being a Russian agent instead. " Get the fuck out of here!

Even if you had a tape of Trump "raping" a 13 year old, I would not care, and you know why? Because you dumb Dems have lied and slung so much mud at Trump instead of trying to beat him fair and square that I could not believe anything you people would fucking say. If there was a video, I would think you used AI to create it. You tried to win an election with a bogus criminal trial and tried to impoverish him with a bullshit sexual assault charge. You had the Russiagate bullshit then you raided his fucking house and went through his wife's underwear drawer.

Are you going to admit that Russiagate was bullshit? Are you going to admit that the criminal trial was an attempt to rig an election? No? Then I do not care what fucking dirt you have this time. You had the chance to beat Trump in an election and lost because you rolled out an unqualified alcoholic unelected **** as opposition, and that is after lying about a president with obvious dementia. There is no way I could believe anything you people say about Trump.

That you all want to make this war all about Trump is nothing new. We have been listening to that bullshit for a decade. If you want to talk about Trump's decision to go to war with Iran, that is a different matter. Maybe if you talk about the issues instead of the person, you might have a chance at winning the next presidential election fair and square.

[Elvis 2008]

I absolutely agree, although I would have said "some" Iranian muslims. Kim Jong Un never had a death wish. There are Iranian revolutionary guard leaders who would rather die, in preparation for the coming of the Mahdi, than live.

I meant to say Mullahs not Muslims. Thanks for the correction.

[Tiny 12]

Wow. I actually thanked him for the link after merely asking for it on the eventually proven true suspicion a link would not support any contention whatsoever that Trump produced any "huge economic gains" in America and you ultra-sensitive MAGA snowflakes just evaporated instantly.

I asked the question twice to give AI a chance to add or elaborate details on the topic.

Do Blue states pay more in Federal taxes to support America than they get back in value while Red states pay less than they get back in value?

The AI Overview

Inarguable Conclusion: Blue states carry the load for deadbeat Red states.

Ask the question yourself for easy access to the hyper links included and seen in the above quotes.

Oh, and as always, we American tax-payers in California offer our usual heartfelt "You're welcome" to Aunt Bea, Jethro, Gomer, Goober, Tiny and you.

This is a classic failure to appreciate Simpson's Paradox. How many welfare Democrats live in blue cities in red states? And how many Republicans live in the suburbs and commute to Dallas and Houston? How many successful business owners in California are Republicans?

Why don't you ask AI what's the average federal tax paid by Republicans versus Democrats? I did, and it said "about the same. ".

Like I said, devolve more taxation and spending and power to states and cities. Then people can do what they want instead of having it imposed on them by Washington politicians. And flight from blue cities and states will increase.

As to benefits, it's about the same for Democrats vs. Republicans looking at social security, Medicare, welfare and the like. As to defense spending and Biden's corporate pork, exactly how do apportion that? Does a military base in South Carolina just benefit the civilian residents of South Carolina? That's probably the kind of assumption your LWM sources make.

[Tiny 12]

P Iran and putting them back into the stone age, drew a red line in the sand, and worked out a cease fire .

Riiiiight. He worked out a cease fire. No what happened is he got roped into a war by Israel, had no fucking clue what he was doing or what the outcome would be, and was desperate to get out by any means possible. The Pakistanis not he worked out the ceasefire (with a little help from the Chinese) and he seized it like a starving dog. Stop presenting this fuckwit as anything other than what he is: a fucking idiot.

You need to read Elvis' whole post if you haven't. He's got a more nuanced view than you think. I believe he posted when markets believed this mess was largely over, while you posted after it became apparent that it wasn't. I initially might have taken a position closer to yours than Elvis'. But now I'm a complete agnostic. This could end like George H. W. Bush's war against Iraq, a success. Or George W. Bush's, where the USA gets drawn into another "forever" war, hopefully this time without ground troops. Or something completely different, like Iran in charge of the Strait of Hormuz or regime change in Iran as a result of popular uprisings. Only time will tell. In a couple of those scenarios Trump's a hero.

At this point, I learned, 390 kilograms of enriched uranium are known by Israeli intelligence to be stored at the underground nuclear facility in Isfahan, 25 to 30 kilograms at Natanz, and 15 kilograms at bombed-out Fordow.

I read that with the 60% enriched uranium, Iran had enough material to make 6 or 7 very crude bombs without further enrichment. They couldn't be delivered by missile. But Iran could sneak a bomb onto a vessel bound for New York harbor. And there would be no shortage of IRGC fanatics willing to go on a suicide mission to attack the Great Satan, achieve martyrdom, and occupy a high place in the hereafter. I don't think that would happen, but there's some small possibility Iranian leadership could decide to go out like Jim Jones.

Thing is unlike other nations like North Korea or Pakistan, the Isrealis believe the Iranian muslims are crazy enough to detonate a nuke, and they have Trump buying it as well.

I absolutely agree, although I would have said "some" Iranian muslims. Kim Jong Un never had a death wish. There are Iranian revolutionary guard leaders who would rather die, in preparation for the coming of the Mahdi, than live.

[RamDavidson84]

Trump is protected as president, when he appears a lot in Epstein criminal sexual business. His friend, criminal Netanyahou also avoid justice, not for same reason, with his war business.

LOL, or maybe after a decade of searching, he just didn't do anything illegal and he's telling the truth? The search continues. Hahahahaha.

[KeviKev68]

Did they catch Trump in the Epstein Files yet? Haven't had time to follow the news a lot lately?

Trump fired Pam Biondi who was the Attorney General and in charge of releasing the Epstein Files. This occurred approximately 2 weeks before she was to be deposed by a House committee. Now, the DOJ is saying that she won't be appearing. Look folks, the DOJ cannot tell legislative branch who they can talk to bring before the committee.

This line of reasoning is nonsensical especially since Biondi no longer works for the government. Why would you force Hillary Clinton who did not know Epstein or had anything to do with the files testify? When she got there they asked her non related questions about pizza gate. LOL.

I did believe that Trump would be in the files doing anything wrong but Biondi and DOJ were acting strange throughout this process. When Biondi was asked is there any instances of Trump being involved with anyone underage. Biondi had a look on her face like doe caught in the headlights. She was prevaricating every time she got a tough question and talking back congressional members like a wayward teenaged girl.

The "performance" was performative and not a good look for an Attorney General. Trump saw this and got her out of there within weeks. The truth will come out it's matter of when not if.

[Sirioja]

61% Americans think now Trump is turning mad senile. So, must really get rid of him in November, when he is really too crazy dangerous, making messe and danger everywhere and we have to pay for his craziness, many even dying.

Because of Trump, when still mollahs and unfortunately still no freedom for Iranians, but also no freedom in China and Russia which support Iran at war, but now more problems in Ormuz pass and in Gulf countries, making now gas and gaz more expensive for us and products with plastic, when plastic everywhere, will also be more expensive, thank to the crazy. He really fucked Americans with peace promises for election.