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To the editor:
Now that gas has dropped to $3 a gallon, the GOP finds it hard to exploit the issue, leaving it one option — take credit. I predict the GOP will turn to Orwellian doublethink, as is their habit, claiming that gas was still $5 when they took control and that it dropped two bucks immediately, under their leadership.
Though absurd, I have no doubt the GOP base would believe it. Why?, because I witnessed something similar. In early 2009, I was told by several conservatives that Barack Obama bailed out Wall Street. They were convinced of this despite extensive media coverage when George W. Bush signed the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) into law in October 2008. To this day, many GOP voters believe that Obama (not Bush) caused the Great Recession and bailed out the banks.
GOP doublethink has convinced their base that Obama is a foreign-born Muslim and Saddam Hussein conducted the 9/11 attacks, that pro-business tax cuts, deregulation and anti-union measures benefit the working class and, of course, that Donald Trump won in 2020.
Republicans will tell you with conviction that NYC was safer under Rudy Giuliani than now due to “liberal” bail and police reforms. However, NYPD crime data belies this, as 2000 & 2001 saw 149,226 more major felonies than 2020 & 2021 post-reform.
GOP voter susceptibility to disinformation is evident in their belief that Trump was the best job creator. Yet, pre-pandemic job growth was slower under Trump than Obama and Trump was the first president since Herbert Hoover to have fewer Americans employed when he left office (143.017 million) than when he entered (145.628 million).
Pandemic job losses in 2020 wiped out all the jobs created over the prior three years, plus another 2.611 million. In contrast, during Joe Biden’s time in office with a Democratic Congress, all those losses have been recovered and more; a gain of 10.531 million jobs through November, 2022 (153.548 million). I also predict that this progress will halt when the GOP controlled House begins obstructing efforts to help average Americans. Of course, the base will blame Biden.
Joseph Cannisi
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frianno
Good stuff. Funny, I have a relative who yesterday told me that the reason gas is 3 bucks is because Biden is stealing fuel from the military to lower prices! Just unbelievable.
Thursday, December 29, 2022 Report this