The Witness Chronicles, 4/5/25
Rise up
What Drives Voters to Vote Against Incumbents?
Hint: The state of their finances
The bad news has been relentless lately but, ironically, that may be good news. Right now the best we can hope for is a crashing economy and it sure looks like we’re in the middle of one.
I know, on the surface of it that sounds nuts. Who wants things to get worse?
Right now I do. Why? Because when people are feeling pain in their bank accounts they turn on those in power, including you know who. There is a lot of building anger out there at the inaction and asskissing in Congress and that is bad news for those politicians as midterms loom.
Trump may very well find himself facing a new Congress with a real mandate to stop him and his cronies and their wanton destruction. Trump’s actions, particularly his out of control tariffs policy, seem designed to create chaos and they are doing a great job.
If I were an elected Republican Congressmember, I’d be in a quandary. Do I speak out against Trump policies and risk his revenge or do I stay silent and risk losing my seat? With Musk’s epic fail in Wisconsin this week, the threat of being primaried by a Musk funded opponent has lost much of its fear factor, removing one of Trump’s political weapons he uses to keep people in line.
By now any other President would be facing a rebellion in Congress and in the streets, but Trump’s Teflon factor with his hardcore MAGA people has to this point proven unshakeable. But when this goes on and on and nothing improves, those loyalists will be peeling away. We saw evidence of that in Wisconsin this week.
The Democrat backed State Supreme Court candidate for judge not only won, she won by ten points in every district, including many that voted for Trump. I know the Musk fail was the big headline, but winning by that margin across the board is a powerful indicator of how fed up voters are already, and that is only going to get worse for the right.
Trump’s protection has been the blind MAGA loyalty and the support of the billionaire oligarchs like Musk. But with a crashing economy both of those constituencies may turn on him, putting the pressure on to take a more measured approach, though there is no indication he would respond to that pressure.
Given that Trump is at heart a bully, he doesn’t do well with serious pushback and is known to cave in when seriously threatened, but this time around he is bolstered by a much more organized movement that is using him to take the government apart. So, he may be better supported than last time.
Given the toadying nature of his inner circle, he is in an echo chamber where he only hears what he wants to hear and seems to believe that is reality. It’s the only explanation I can believe for the constant extreme actions and announcements pouring out of the White House on an hourly basis.
He may actually believe he has a mandate, but those of us not in his bubble know that is simply not true. He won by a slender majority and has an even slenderer majority in Congress. And that may change drastically if he keeps up his economic destruction.
In a sign of how detached he is from reality, he hosted a dinner at Mar A Lago that was organized by something called MAGA Inc., and purportedly was a MAGA event. Except the cost of attendance was $1 million dollars per attendee.
Not exactly a picture of actual MAGA Trump supporters, the ones who got him elected and are now out in the cold. The reality is those rabid Trump fans are not welcome in his world and never have been.
Compounding these changes, we have the ultra destructive Trump Tariff policy that has overnight plunged the global economy, including the US, into chaos with markets crashing and prices already going much higher on many goods.
A lot of people’s retirement savings took a major hit this week as stocks fell over ten per cent in just two days after the tariff announcements. Trump’s approval ratings have been holding at around 48%, high for him but low compared to all recent Presidents. It will be interesting to see what new numbers reveal after the steady stream of scandals and his bone-headed disruption of the economy.
If the dust ever clears and we get rid of this guy, groups like the UAW are going to have to answer to the American public for swallowing their historical support for workers and endorsing the tariffs, which are already causing huge job losses in the US auto industry. All three core US auto makers announced layoffs and plant closures as their costs will rise to unsustainable levels.
Those of us who watch this daily have long been wondering where the outrage is and when it may explode. I think we are seeing the first glimmers of an uprising, but maybe I am being hopelessly optimistic. Or maybe not.
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Martin Edic