Remember when Trump was talking about it was going to be all milk and honey for coal workers, steel mill workers, and everyone? Good times:
At this sprawling steel mill on the outskirts of Philadelphia, the workers have one number in mind. Not how many tons of steel roll off the line, or how many hours they work, but where they fall on the plant’s seniority list.
In September, ArcelorMittal, which owns the mill, announced that it would lay off 150 of the plant’s 207 workers next year. While the cuts will start with the most junior employees, they will go so deep that even workers with decades of experience will be cast out.
“I told my son, ‘Christmas is going to be kind of scarce, because Mommy’s going to lose her job soon,’” said Kimberly Allen, a steelworker and single parent who has worked at the plant for more than 22 years. On the seniority list, she’s 72nd.
Personally, I knew he was full of shit because he purchased tons of foreign steel for his own construction projects. If only someone had said something about that during the campaign:
Hillary Clinton slammed Donald Trump on Tuesday over a report that revealed the Republican presidential nominee purchased steel from China instead of from the US in two of his last three construction projects.
“For all his tough talk … I’ve listened to Donald as he’s bashed Chinese. You’ve heard him,” she said at a rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. “Well, we found out yesterday that he has been buying cheap Chinese aluminum and steel. Not buying here in Pennsylvania, not supporting our workers, but supporting the Chinese. These stories keep coming out, don’t they? And everyone makes the same point. They add up to clearly demonstrating that Donald Trump is the poster boy for so much of what is wrong in our economy.”
Well maybe if someone without lady parts had said it.
Yarrow
Just like there’s a Trump tweet for everything, there’s a Hillary speech or interview or comment for everything as well. She was Cassandra.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
But, but… he brought back “Merry Christmas”
?BillinGlendaleCA
Dodged a bullet by not electing “That Woman”, she would have shut down the coal mines and steal mills and got us into a bazillion wars.
/FauxNoise
Betty Cracker
@Yarrow: Troof.
kindness
How many of those steel workers voted for Trump you think? I’d still feel bad for them but instead of feeling bad they were losing their job because of Trump, I’d feel bad that they were so stupid because of Trump.
Aleta
OT Two of the 30 y.o.s I’ve known since they were misfit children have found part-time work in the government security industry.
One role-plays bad guys for the FBI in take-’em-down training. He was actively recruited out of his passionate hobby of many years, taking part in medieval reenactment role-play. Also recruited because he’s very very large, I think.
Was a troubled kid, expelled from many a school. No one had an answer, everyone worried about his future. Found his niche thanks to our security state.
The other 30 y.o. does something similar inside SE Asia embassies, for the Marines’ security force training. He’s told to hide and do everything possible to not get caught.
As a kid he was raised self-sufficient by back-to-the landers in the semi wilderness. Didn’t last in school. Scrappy, didn’t “get along,” wouldn’t “take instruction.” So he was homeschooled by building houses from scratch, repairing trucks, sailing and roaming outdoors.
He gets a lot of praise now from his employers for his evasive skills. His parents are so proud. (He says it does hurt when the Marines finally manage to take him down.)
JPL
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: it’s Merry Christmas Again..
Trump has been a con man all his life, and now that he has power it’s scary. The idea that some companies are giving bonuses to garner favors with, is terrifying.
Mr Stagger Lee
The world’s smallest violin is playing My @ss bleeds for Trump voting steelworkers. Or to quote Les Claypool
NotMax
And the beatdown goes on.
debbie
The number they really need to keep an eye on is 17: The number of coal mines announced to be closing down since Trump took office.
hellslittlestangel
The Orange Better One said you’re allowed to say “Merry Xmas.” He didn’t say you’d want to.
mike in dc
Trump pulled some shenanigans vis a vis taxes for Mar-A-Lago, apparently.
Yarrow
Happy Holidays!
Raoul
Curiously, the MN Iron Range had a good taconite year. I think it mostly goes to Midwest mills, tho.
On the minus side, the Trump Feds just announced easing of mine regs here. So we may face 1,000 year sulfide seeps near the Boundary Waters. Bah.
Schlemazel
@Yarrow:
Cassandra was treated better
Schlemazel
@Raoul:
Wait till the Polymet copper mine opens, sulfides will be only a small concern
Adrift
@Aleta: Are you serious or am I completely gullible? I’m afraid either way.
rikyrah
One of the first things the GOP did was take out the ‘Buy American’ steel provision in a big contract.
It went to a RUSSIAN firm (can’t make this shyt up)
JPL
Will no one rid me of this meddlesome asshole?
Van Buren
“But I didn’t think they’d eat my face!”
BC in Illinois
@Yarrow:
I was looking for a book today, and noted that I have three not-very-exciting, campaign books on my shelves:
Putting People First (1992) by Clinton and Gore
Change We Can Believe In (2008) by “Obama For America”
Stronger Together (2016) by Clinton and Kaine
Each of them is a mid-sized, fairly detailed platform (in the 180-190 page range for the first two, 230 pages of smaller print for Hillary); followed by speeches from the campaign.
And for anybody that says “Hillary didn’t propose anything,” I can probably find the section, chapter, and sub-section where she addresses that issue. Starting with section one, chapter one – -12 pages on
Woulda been nice.
P.S. – In the Obama book, health care is on page 42, the public option is page 45.
P.P.S. – Somewhere, I have a copy of Jimmy Carter’s Why Not the Best? (Even he said that it was not great writing. There is also a campaign song, “Why not the Best” that goes a long way toward explaining why campaigns no longer write their own campaign songs.
Mike in NC
The upstanding citizens of places like Johnstown, PA largely admitted that they believed Trump’s promises to reopen coal mines and factories were bullshit, but they were cool with him hating on Muslims and Mexicans, just like them.
Villago Delenda Est
Thank GAWD ALMITEY that we didn’t elect that Clinton woman, and so Goldman Sachs has been thwarted in their attempt to rob the country blind!
Citizen Alan
I feel kinda bad about the single mother who just had to tell her child that Christmas is cancelled. And kinda not. Because the article doesn’t say whether she was a Trump voter or a Hillary voter. And so I’m caught on the razor’s edge between feeling sad for her and laughing at her suffering. She’s like Schrodinger’s Voter.
lamh36
This bit from Dave Chappelle’s soon to come comedy special on Netflix, fits so well here.
The Dangerman
Can you begin to imagine the meltdown if Obama had done something similar; this might not last long as this might actually piss some of his people off:
Maybe an early April Fool’s Joke?
patrick II
David Chapelle had a some things to say about poor white Donald Trump voters”
mai naem mobile
Oh, Cole, I just want to thank you for providing this blog. I would not know what we would do without your exquisite leadership . Goddess herself created you instead of just supervising God in making yoi. All those rants keep us energized and involved. You really are the bestEst blog host evah! I thank Goddess every day for you and that she bless you at least twice a day. You are so perfect,even your animals are angels.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.)
Robert Mueller, a desperate country begs you to hurry the fuck up so we can get this vile homunculus out of office while we still have a country left.
Schlemazel
@BC in Illinois:
Just had an hour long conversation with my 29 YO daughter who is in despair that she or her husband will ever have anything like a decent income with benefits. SHe wants to give up on the Dems & damn near went full Berniebot during the call. I don’t know if I talked her down but I did recommend “Stronger Together” when she claimed HRC had no job programs
lamh36
Cheryl Rofer
??????Merry Christmas!??????
ETA lamh36 just beat me.
Schlemazel
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.):
I accidentally listened to Davie Brooks this afternoon & he seemed to think Mueller has something & the GOP is terrified. He even seemed to understand that the filthy attempt to undermine the investigation and the FBI was horrible. Being the fine, polite, gentleman he is of course he stopped short of calling the GOP out for their behavior.
scav
It’s the Third Ban, I’m hoping we have at least three announcements and why not more!
eemom
@JPL:
Agreed. That bonus bullshit stands out amongst the daily parade of horrors. Seems like another giant step further into fascism.
Another thing that is still more terrifying: the “victorious” tax heist, together with the sickening, slathering, 24/7 blow jobs he’s been getting from pence and hatch and their ilk has totally gone to his rancid orange head. At this point I think he’s convinced he’s God, just like Caligula.
This is qualitatively different — and again, far more terrifying — than the petulant toddler schtick of the last 10 months. In my humble terrified opinion.
Corner Stone
@mai naem mobile: Back away from the Pence juice. Just back away.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@The Dangerman: Looks more like a badge than a coin.,.and we don’t need no stinkin’ badges.
ETA: With the campaign slogan in it, it looks more like a campaign badge like folk would wear at the convention.
Yarrow
The CNN chyron informed me that the White House news conference was scrapped, fearing Russia questions. They are so fragile.
Schlemazel
I think NASA might have spotted hair furor’s soul
http://www.nikolateslafans.com/science/nasa-just-saw-something-come-out-of-a-black-hole-for-the-first-time-ever/
JPL
@eemom: Bonuses are common but now they are being used for favors. Wait until next year when companies thank the repubs again for allowing them to give bonuses again. During an election year it can change the outcome.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@eemom:
I’m sure his feet match his tiny hands…
Drunkenhausfrau
@Yarrow: This. Is. Exhausting. So true, so blue.
Mary G
@lamh36: @Cheryl Rofer: The West Coast has no fucks left to give, and you notice the Supremes aren’t exactly slapping them down.
I know people here don’t like DiFi, but she voted with Kamala against the CR that didn’t restore CHIP or protect dreamers, unlike Tim Kaine and any other number of Democrat senators. WTF, Dems?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@JPL: Don’t forget being able to say “Merry Christmas” again.
NotMax
@BillinGlendaleCA
Caestula = little gloves.
;)
JPL
@?BillinGlendaleCA: It’s not Merry Christmas. It’s Merry Christmas Again.
edit to say thanks to a late host for pointing that out.
btw when does Baud return?
Mary G
Heh, heh, tulips, suckas!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mary G:
There’s that number again.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@JPL:
I don’t know, the morning isn’t the same without him.
btom89
@lamh36: Actually, he’s fighting for his own benefit. Because Chappelle happens to be rich too, he benefits as well. But Trump acts to benefit himself first and above all. And he will do nothing for the suckers who voted him into office. I don’t know how long it’ll take until it sinks in for them….
Brachiator
Would not have mattered. Trump conned a chunk of chumps that he was riding in on a white horse to rescue America from a scary black man.
Aleta
This seems like one of the most idiotic headlines in the world.
CNBC: The last person into a speculative frenzy such as bitcoin never gets out before it’s too late.
Schlemazel
@btom89:
my guess is never. Never is when it will sink it to these morons that they have been had.
chris
This is kinda fun although I’m curious about the 6% of Democratic voters who think that the shitgibbon has Made America Great Again.
jl
@Mary G: “I know people here don’t like DiFi, but she voted with Kamala against the CR that didn’t restore CHIP or protect dreamers, ”
I love DiFi in some ways and definitely do not like her at all in other ways. But i heard a news spot this morning on DiFi’s and Harris’ votes and sent them a thank you note.
Yarrow
@btom89: I heard something on the radio this afternoon where Trump said they wouldn’t have to do much selling when people started seeing the benefits in their paychecks in February. Uh huh.
Millard Filmore
@JPL:
So these companies are buying votes.
KithKanan
@Yarrow: I think I’ll see the benefits of about an extra $40 a paycheck, and I’m (relatively speaking and as much as one can be without being rich) a “winner” (single, childless, live in CA but rent, take the standard deduction, and am making about median national income).
One thing’s for sure, the money’s going in my emergency fund. I’ll need it more come the inevitable downturn.
Brachiator
@Yarrow:
A lot of people will be perfectly happy getting a dollar extra, even if you tell them that the ultra wealthy will be getting an extra thousand. First, they will erroneously think that the tax cuts are proportional, that it is only reasonable that a rich guy get a large tax cut.
Secondly, they will dream about the big tax cuts they will be getting when they become rich.
And they will be in shock in the future, when their tax cuts evaporate while the rich keep getting more money.
waspuppet
He’s the poster boy for so much of what’s wrong in our country. Seriously, he’s been alive for 71 years, and in that time we’ve done a lot of great things, but every crap thing that’s happened in that time is reflected somewhere in his life. The obscene inherited wealth, augmented by an emphasis on wealth over work; the complete disregard for what’s actually good about this country; the fact-free bubble he lives in, and of course the racism and sexism.
jl
If the GOP tax heist works as they say it will to increase economic growth, the idea is that a flood of foreign owned financial capital will flood into the US to invest in productive capital for real goods and services. That will probably explode the trade deficit. So, fun times ahead for workers.
Mary G
@jl: After I posted that, I read that DiFi was originally going to go for the CR, but her polling showed her only about 15% behind Kevin de Leon, the president of the California senate, and her likely opponent next year, since no Republican can probably get into the jungle race, and he’s been dragging her on it, so it was for a selfish reason. Still a good thing.
jl
@Mary G: OK, thanks. Well, like I said, sometimes I like DiFi and sometimes I do not.
JPL
@Millard Filmore: Duh!
TriassicSands
SoopahTrump, the Man of Steal [sic]
Maybe the PA steelworkers who voted for Trump can eat their “I Voted” sitckers for the holiday dinner — should be delicious with gravy. I’m sorry but it is getting more and more difficult to feel sorry for people who helped do so much damage to this country and the world. So many innocent people are suffering, why not some of those responsible for this mess? I used to be more forgiving.
SiubhanDuinne
@The Dangerman:
Gawdamitey, everything he touches is an excess of crass, tacky vulgarity. Next to Trump, Louis XIV was a Trappist monk.
Fair Economist
@Mary G:
I think you meant 15% *ahead*, which is a lot less than she’d want to be vs. a largely unknown opponent.
TS
And The idiot from Wapo on MSNBC is blaming President Obama for not responding quicker to the Russian issue – This is the media who elected trump and who will keep him in office.
Mike in NC
@Brachiator: Trump actually rode in on a white golf cart. Otherwise correct.
TenguPhule
@eemom:
He still can’t fire Mueller without declaring himself an actual tyrant.
I realize this is increasingly less comforting as time goes on.
Yarrow
@KithKanan: That’s probably about average. It’s nice but it’s not really a lot.
@Brachiator: Yes, some people will be like that. Others will be looking at the larger picture. Even simple things like health insurance costs rising mean a lower paycheck. So it goes down in January by a bit due to rising health insurance premiums, up in February by a bit from the tax cut. Maybe they’ll end up about where they are now.
Also, anyone in a higher property tax state knows they’re getting screwed by this new law. Not all of those are blue states. Texas has a very high property tax rate.
Mary G
@Fair Economist: Oops, you’re right. I defend her but I’ll probably vote for the other candidate because I think she’s getting too old.
Miss Bianca
@mai naem mobile: It sounded better in the original Russian.
efgoldman
@Villago Delenda Est:
All of us properly lament the few thousand assholes who made Combover Caligula “president”. But let’s be realistic: Yertle McTurtle and Granny Starver would not have been any more inclined to confirm her nominees, pass her bills, or support her regulations than they were the previous four years. They still would have controlled the majority in both houses.
With her veto pen, she would have controlled their worst excesses but not much else..
For political purposes, having Tangerine Tumor drag his party down to electoral hell is a more than satisfactory outcome. Yes, it will take a long, long time to undo the damage, but it will be a lot easier with firm majorities.
TenguPhule
@KithKanan:
And if Trump damages the full faith and credit of the USA, dollars aren’t going to be the stable store of value they used to be.
Miss Bianca
@Brachiator: and an even scarier white lady.
Yarrow
@efgoldman: I tend to agree. It’s awful and a lot of people are going to get hurt. But we had to have a reckoning at some point. That’s pretty much what this is.
How are you doing, btw? Hope you are doing better and able to enjoy the holiday season. Getting to see granddaughter?
TenguPhule
@efgoldman:
But with proof of Russian influence on their re-elections, she could plausibly either have gotten them to step down or had the FBI do its duty. Sure, it would have triggered a Constitutional Crisis when they tried to impeach her for it, but she’d have been the one who commanded the armed forces.
TenguPhule
@efgoldman:
I remember we thought this was true last time in 2008.
Then we relearned that normal voters are really fucking stupid. The moment there’s a Democratic majority, FOX, CNN & the NYT are going to be blaming our side for not fixing things right away.
KithKanan
@TenguPhule: My e-fund isn’t entirely domestic, for that reason.
Unfortunately, it’s also not large enough for that to help much.
efgoldman
@mai naem mobile:
You forgot
the sarcasm font.Cole also reacts badly to obsequiousness. But you can email him IN ALL CAPS – THAT WILL GET HIS ATTENTION.TenguPhule
There is no Merry Christmas in Puerto Rico.
That I think is going to be the most shameful thing of 2017. Worse then Katrina because our fucking media keeps accepting Trump’s bullshit that he fixed it and left, never mind that the island is still literally in the dark.
TenguPhule
@KithKanan: You may want to invest in non-perishable foodstuffs with a long shelf life.
Schlemazel
@Yarrow:
I was offered a job in Wisconsin a few years back. One of the things I learned while house hunting was that my real estate taxes would have gone up 2.5 times for a similar valued home in high-tax Minnesota. Yeah, the new tax law is going to screw me over but my friends to the East are in for a bigger surprise, Too bad it won’t happen to them until after 2018 elections
mike in dc
@scav: When the 7th Ban is unsealed, the dead will walk the earth.
Cacti
Yeah, but her e-mails!
Goldman-Sachs speeches!
Yarrow
@Schlemazel: Anyone who uses any kind of accountant or financial adviser will hear from them about this property tax issue in 2018 well before the election. People have to plan. Anyone who files quarterly will find out in January or February. In high property tax states it is not going to be a secret.
grandpa john
@Brachiator: Just another of his” All Lies All the time ” approach., About Them raises, I got my SS info this past week and Hey we got a 2% cost of living raise, mine was about 30 bucks a month. Then I read down to the next line deduction for medicare medical insurance and noted that guess what , yep the amount of deduction h ad been raised by you guessed it, 30 bucks a month. So bottom line my monthly SS check is exactly the same as last year my wife’s is the same.
NotMax
@mike in dc
Walk? Old hat. They’ll use Uber.
efgoldman
@Yarrow:
Thank you. I’m thinking about posting a very TL;DR review of my year, just to get it all straight in my own mind.
Alas, no. This year they were here for Thanksgiving and visiting sone-inlaw’s family in NC for Xmas. Reverse next year.
Schlemazel
@Yarrow:
I will bet you a dime the average Dump voter does not have an accountant or a financial guy
Yarrow
@efgoldman: I’m sure everyone wants to know how you’re doing. Sorry you won’t see granddaughter. At least Facetime and Skype can ease that a bit.
Yarrow
@Schlemazel: Some of them will. Need some of them to see how screwed they are to tell their friends and family and word will get out.
Fair Economist
@Mary G: That’s about where I am on Feinstein too.
Corner Stone
@TS: Obama whiffed on that issue. Period.
Steeplejack
@TS:
David Ignatius, (self-important) columnist. Hitting this note again at 8:31. Maybe somebody could let him know that hindsight is 20/20. Preferably with a clue-by-four.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack: Are you still one of the Obama Top 5 Presidents people?
Aleta
@Adrift: True stories.
glory b
@?BillinGlendaleCA:” I’m sure his feet match his tiny hands…”
They do!!! I can’t link, but if you see the pics of Trump and Obama in the Oval office, when they are sitting together, look at the difference in the sizes of their feet! Heck, look at the pictures of the Obamas and the Trumps at the White House on election day. Melania’s feet are bigger than his.
Citizen Alan
@chris:
I would assume that 6% includes Republicans who respond as if they are Democrats to skew the polls, plus the odd person who was drunk or high when they answered the phone.
Brachiator
@Yarrow:
My experience is that most people don’t look at the big picture, especially when it comes to taxes. Hell, I’m dealing with tax preparers who are ignoring learning anything about the new law.
Also, we are not going to see much of anything in January. The IRS does not have withholding tables for 2018 yet, and even those who pay estimates may not have access to good estimator programs or spreadsheets.
Texas doesn’t have state income taxes, so I’m not sure that this law change will hit many people in that state.
A weird twist here is that some single people might be better off staying single in some situations where each of them is paying these taxes.
Steeplejack
@Corner Stone:
I think he’s got a shot. In retrospect, not coming out publicly with the Russian election meddling seems like a huge mistake, but, as I said, Obama didn’t have the benefit of hindsight. Between Comey bellowing about “I couldn’t pin anything on Hillary, but, by God, I think she’s dirty!” (remember, this was old, bad Comey, not anti-Trump, “savior of the Union” Comey) and Mitch McConnell not only refusing to make a joint statement but threatening that he would cry partisan politics, Obama decided to go with the odds that Hillary would still pull it out.
Would Obama going public have clinched the election for Clinton? Maybe. But it would have hardened Republican resistance. And I think it’s possible that it could have caused a backlash that could have given Trump a bigger victory (but probably still not a popular-vote win).
JAFD
A minor point but methot it should be noted.
The steel plant in the story is in Conshohocken (or possibly West Conshohocken – different boroughs but same post office), in Montgomery County, Pa. Montgomery County voted 58.7% for Clinton last fall, 37.6% for Trump.
Map of the suburban Philadelphia counties, here, has Conshohocken circled in gold.
https://ibb.co/c04NZm
We know not exactly how these becoming-redundant workers voted (and almost everywhere on that map is commuting distance) but assuming they’re all GOP supporters is not warranted.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack: Not a chance in Hell. Possibly in the top 20.
And that is only if the ACA survives the Trump WH. Otherwise Obama is bottom 15.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack:
Obama knew better than any of us how deep the RU penetration had gotten. He also had 8 years of the Turtle fucking him over on every single thing possible.
Steeplejack
@Corner Stone:
Balderdash.
History will judge.
Steeplejack
@Corner Stone:
I don’t think Obama was unaware. He was too optimistic.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack: It sure will. And it won’t put him in top 5 status. If our democracy survives this incursion it will be despite Obama, not because of him.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Corner Stone:
I think there is a long list of Republican traitors, Republican obstructionists and fair-weather Democrats who can share the blame if we go down.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’d say just the opposite. This was one time he trusted McConnell to be a partisan warrior and the American people as whole to be stupid and easily bamboozled. The general shrug of the American people now undermines the idea that the grand Oval Office would’ve shifted a whole lot of votes.
and it’s not clear that Russian influence had anything to do with Comey’s grandstand showboating (even trump is right once in a while)
James E. Powell
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
True. And the Russians also had nothing to do with the NYT and the rest of the press/media making hatred of Hillary into a running story.
leeleeFL
@Citizen Alan: The thread, it was won right here!
Brendancalling
@kindness: i don’t even feel bad for them that they were stupid. I have no sympathy for them. None. Not a jot.