The Chris Moeller Archives

While preaching to all of us that it's the Trump supporters that are the proverbial "sheep," the news media, to no audible criticism, has extended its blackout on the very real fact of the FBI’s open investigation into Hunter and Frank Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine and China. I was holding out hope that the ban on actual news like this that might be damaging to Joe Biden would be lifted after the election had made us safe from President Trump, that the Washington press corps would return to at least the pretense of its watchdog role in the government, but alas, this has not come to pass. Instead, the continued presence of Trump on the scene, and the need to always invent a foreign military threat to justify immoral government budget decisions, must mean that special safety exceptions in editorial still apply. We’re getting a doubling down on the “Russia threat” this week, which, as a rhetorical device, has now worked for Democrats considerably longer than it ever worked for Joseph McCarthy. 

Though no evidence has been provided (again), we’re told by Intelligence that Russians-- it’s never clear whether it’s the government or some independent players or both-- are responsible for another major hack of the United States government computers. The trumpeting of the news by Democrats reminds us all that the political party that has spent the last six weeks effusively praising the fairness and stalwartness of the American electoral system had spent the 200 weeks or so previous to that telling us that Russia had tampered with our elections, that the actions of this foreign “power” comprised the worst security breach in the nation’s history. The Trumpies are the sore losers, you understand, but it was Vladimir Putin’s secret dealings that subverted the 2016 election, committing what Hillary Clinton called a “cyber 9/11” and preventing the Democratic nominee from making her-story. Sadder, of course, is the willingness of the ever credulous news media to continue promoting any unsubstantiated tale being peddled by the Intelligence State. It’s plausible that Russia has hacked into our military systems, but it’s also plausible that China has done it, or Iran. It may also be the type of “hack” that takes place between countries every day. Nobody in a position of power demands evidence so we’re left to ponder. And, they hope, be scared.

The new reported “hack” gives Joe Biden a chance to whack away at Trump-- because, as Joe says, the hack “happened on his watch.” But distractions like this have also allowed Biden-- and Kamala Harris-- and Barack Obama-- to say nothing at all publicly about a separate issue: that is, the insultingly-low amount of 600 dollars headed to Americans as part of the McConnell/Pelosi pandemic package, the one that, according to at least one economist, can’t accurately be referred to as a “stimulus” bill because it would accomplish nothing resembling an economic stimulus. (Obama, in his defense, however, has given us a list of his favorite movies.) Meanwhile, President Trump has thumbed his nose at lawmakers and the $600 affront to decency, threatening to veto the entire bill and demand instead $2000 to each American-- a number at least more in line with the one being tossed around by Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Tulsi Gabbard, and Senator Bernie Sanders, and the number of equivalent dollars that New Zealanders have received from their government every week since the pandemic began. On behalf of just one of our nation’s left wing deplorables-- thank you, President Trump. 

Nancy Pelosi refused a stimulus bill during the election season because it might have had the additional impact of boosting Trump’s re-election chances. Now she calls $600 “significant,” providing a bill that is a fraction of even the first (and last) insufficient stimulus in the spring and summer, and sees the overwhelming portion of the money being spent going to pork and national defense-- $671 billion just in military aid tacked to the COVID rescue. There’s $166 billion in there for survival checks, but $200 billion on new tax breaks for the rich. It exempts taxes on businesses that are under the Paycheck Protection Program, but it still taxes jobless benefits for workers. It also ends the paid coronavirus sick leave mandate. 

Pelosi never changes. You can find video of her on C-SPAN 30 years ago saying that we’re not ready for Medicare for All. This month, despite some pressure directed at her from below in her coalition, she has refused to bring Medicare for All to a vote on the House floor while privately informing private insurers that their business will not be impacted by any potential health care action. On Tuesday, she practically gave observers whiplash by saying she now supports the president’s plan for $2000 direct payments, but the hidden piece of her claim-- besides the blatant contradiction to everything she had said up until the standard-bearer of the opposing party shamed her into raising her number to match-- is that she wants the increased payouts brought to a vote only by unanimous consent, a procedure in which a single legislator anywhere within the body can kill it with a "no" vote. Then she can inevitably claim she forced the matter to a vote while nothing actually risks changing. 

Biden, for his part, has threatened to veto Medicare for All, in the increasingly unlikely event that it were to even reach his desk as president. He has obsessively pushed for Social Security cuts for decades. That’s who his record says he is: a conservative Republican. The New York Times reports that Biden was “not an idle bystander in the negotiations” for this pandemic bill either. He played a key role in making sure the legislation was cut in half. He provides the political cover, just as Obama did in so many previous thefts. The bill doubles the investment in Congress’ own private health care system but you get a $600 check, less than it may cost to even fix a home appliance. Your Democratic President, ladies and gentleman. Let the healing begin.