Hy and Christopher talk about families coming together, Christmas, but the cynicism that kind of overrides our politics. We mention Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s ripping down of the banners on Gallier Hall placed there for inauguration of her successor Helena Moreno.
Political cynicism threatens to take over the holidays, and we talk about President Trump’s address (in detail below and) on the radio show. We also talk about Rob Reiner’s murder, and the President’s reaction. Christopher shares some comments from James Woods, a strong Trump supporter, who also loved Reiner as a fellow patriot— even as they disagreed politically. https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1AGz4WFLFz/?mibextid=wwXIfr
However, we also talk about the “threat” to Christmas. Santa may have been captured by the communists! We have secret footage of his interrogation! https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1BtMfsQ7oA/?mibextid=wwXIfr
However, our main topic centers around this theme, Christopher’s Column in The Louisiana Weekly.
Lord, it's like a hard candy Christmas
By Christopher Tidmore
I'm barely getting through tomorrow
But still I won't let
Sorrow bring me down
The immortal Christmas ballad by Dolly Parton is a lament. It essentially says all of the ways that one’s life will be better in the coming year than the previous, yet the implication of the song – when she sings of the possibility of losing some weight, meeting someone, or moving away – reveals that the singer knows nothing much will change by the next Yuletide season.
One wonders if that was the real truth of Donald Trump’s eighteen minute national address last Wednesday night. To tell us how good things will become – in the hopes that we don’t recognize how challenging life is right now – and will remain.
For those that missed the president’s rant, all negative economic data and social problems were blamed on Joe Biden. Any upturn in the economy, fall in the jobless rates, or positive news came as a Christmas gift courtesy of Donald Trump.
Of course, the president talked about tax cuts, and supply side stimulus does have an impact on the economy. The problem, however, is that most of his tax cuts have yet to take effect. The tax cuts on tips and Social Security will not manifest until returns are filed next April, and the president’s proposed healthcare savings accounts have not yet been enacted, and will likely face a hostile filibuster in the U.S. Senate due to the president’s own opposition to paying subsidies to insurance companies.
Claiming that health insurance underwriters exist as whole-owned subsidiaries of the Democratic Party might come as a surprise to the gaggle of lobbyists who tend to give bigger contributions to Republicans, including Trump. Finally, the president’s proposal to give a $1,776 bonus to members of the military through tariff funds likely won’t come to pass if the Supreme Court outlaws the constitutionality of the White House unilaterally enacting tariffs without congressional support. In fact, many major companies have already pre-filed lawsuits to get the money refunded. Even if Trump does succeed in convincing the majority of the court that he can unilaterally put taxes on anything, he’s already promised tariff money to three other funding schemes. There’s not a lot left, unless he was lying previously.
Hey, maybe I'll dye my hair
Maybe I'll move somewhere
Maybe I'll get a car
Maybe I'll drive so far
They'll all lose track
Me, I'll bounce right back
Maybe I'll sleep real late
Maybe I'll lose some weight
Maybe I'll clear my junk
Maybe I'll just get drunk on apple wine
Me, I'll be just
Fine and dandy
Lord it's like a hard candy Christmas
I'm barely getting through tomorrow
But still I won't let
Sorrow bring me way down
The song presupposes that one’s hope in the promise of a new year is predicated on actions which really make a difference in one’s life, yet the audience (as well as the singer) both understand that no real will exists to undertake those self improvements.
The president has blamed Joe Biden for all of his challenges because Trump finds it impossible to empathize with people who are hurting, or to offer solutions which might actually lower prices and improve the public’s well-being.
True, gas prices have fallen as the president claimed, but some of Trump’s own political interventions in the petrochemical market have scared off investors just as quickly as deregulation has drawn them. Most other of the prices that he boasts about falling occurred mainly due to the same food offered in smaller-sized amounts, such as the frequently noted “Thanksgiving Dinner” package. Trump’s own success at deporting Hispanic migrants has driven up the cost of labor in multiple industries, harming the economy, though it has helped wage growth in some sectors.
The desperate move (made the day after the speech by the president’s minions) to rename America’s main arts complex “the Trump Kennedy Center” feels just like the meaningless self indulgent mood described in the song.
It’s a hard candy Christmas indeed, and next year will be more of the same.
