Trump gives the Democrats a taste of their own medicine
And they don’t like it one little bit.
Two can play at the “pen and phone” game, says Trump, who is tired of the Democrats holding out for their leftist wish list before they will help Americans suffering during lockdowns. And so he decided it was time for some executive orders such as these:
1. Create a payroll tax holiday for Americans earning less than $100,000 annually. The executive order will be retroactive to August 1 and end on December 31, putting more money in employees’ pockets.
2. Continue enhanced unemployment benefits at $400 per week, which is $200 less than the Democrats were demanding, which Trump alleges (probably correctly) makes going back to work more attractive.
3. Extend the eviction moratorium on federal subsidized housing.
4. Suspend student loan payments.
Democrats can sue, of course. But remember DACA, and how that went? Obama couldn’t do it, but then he did. And ultimately, the courts not only upheld his right to do so, but stopped Trump from undoing it. And the Democrats cheered.
Funny thing, they’re not cheering now, because this puts them in a bind. Not only does it demonstrate their flagrant hypocrisy – which has been amply demonstrated before, and their supporters don’t care – but it makes them out to be the meanies standing in the way of Americans getting relief. And the election is in three months.
Between a rock and a hard place:
Look, I get it. I’d be lying if I said I thought that this end run was kosher. But neither was DACA and look what happened when Trump exercised his absolute legal authority to end it. With America’s cities going up in flames and Bolshevik Revolution 2: BLM/Antifa Boogaloo a red nether hair’s breadth from wiping us out for good, should we be sticklers for following rules that the other side never does?
Or perhaps I’m over analyzing this whole thing. As I said, from a political standpoint, it was brilliance. Trump read Alinsky’s damn book and played this perfectly. Look at what the Democrats are being forced to do – oppose a program giving money to average citizens who are hurting because of Democrat-imposed lockdowns and shutdowns. Cutting off the people from Uncle Sugar does not go down well with the public, especially less than 90 days from an election.
I have often thought that one mistake Democrats make is to believe their own propaganda, in this case their continual assertion that Trump is stupid. It’s fine for them to tell the peons that, but do Pelosi and company believe it? After all this time, they really shouldn’t. But he’s smart in a way they continually fail to anticipate.
Of course, I don’t make a similar mistake and think that they are actually dumb. Sometimes they make dumb moves (as does Trump at times). But the Democrats and the left didn’t get where they are by being dumb in the tactical sense much of the time. However, they are dumb if they think Trump is dumb, if you know what I mean.
One of the reasons Democrats can afford to be dumb more often than Republicans can, though, is that the Democrats have all the institutions – and especially the press – fully on their side. That advantage can make up for a lot of dumbness.
I don’t think at all that democrats are dumb.
They play hardball and will use any and all means – legal or illegal – to further their agenda. They are first class politicians (this is not a complement).
It is the republicans who are really dumb , stupid and incompetent. Their agenda appears always to be a response to what the dems do/decide/offer.
They consistently, in their stupidity and ineptitude, try to bargain in good faith with the demokrats or try to placate the propaganda arm of the demokrat party; the media.
Trump is really not a republican at all; he is an AMERICAN!!! He realized that the demokrats are literally EVIL, anti-American socialists or communists in spirit if not literally, and hold the majority of Americans in contempt.
(Recall the deplorables, and the gun toting, bible thumping middle-America as described by the ultimate elitist, Barry HUSSEIN Obama).
Trump also realize that the republicans are just inept and incompetent and more often than not will do whatever it take to remain in office, as opposed to really promoting and EXPLAINING their agenda to the people.
This latter point is an incomprehensible notion to republicans.
These above reasons are why Trump is really really hated by the demokrats and just tolerated – barely – by the republicans. Though some republicans have come around (minus scum like Romney and the deceased John McCain).
It is a huge mistake to think that anything done by the demonkrats is based upon their ignorance and stupidity. Everything they do has a goal; sometimes (most of the time ?) it works for them, other times not. But they will try anything and see what sticks.
Republicans will never complain much if their candidate loses the electoral college vote but wins the popular vote. They realize and ACCEPT the rules of our political processes.
Contrast this with the demonkrats; they immediately will agitate for the elimination of the electoral college – despite it’s existence and function explicitly described in the US Constitution.
The demonkrats do not care if their policies are unconstitutional because they are about achieving absolute power; the Constitution be damned.
The demonkrats HATE the US Constitution and everything about the USA (other than being able to become incredibly wealthy living here) and at least half the citizenry (especially blacks and hispanics; which is why demonkrat policies are aimed at keeping these groups perpetually in poverty and thus, under their control).
Got to give credit,where credit is due; when it comes to achieving one’s goals, the demonkrats are the experts; they never, ever give up.
I’d say dems look dim because they don’t reach their announced goals. But they do reach the unannounced goals. Not a bad mix.
I don’t know that I subscribe to the whole, “Trump is playing 4-D chess, while the Democrats are playing checkers” thing, but with the MSM hardly even reporting on Trump’s march through his political/legislative/agenda, it appears that Trump may be taking a lot of consequential actions that just don’t make the news.
Thus, you might remember the huha a couple of weeks ago when Trump announced that he was pulling some 12, 000 U.S. troops out of Germany.
Well, according to information that I have just become aware of, while a lot of those U.S. troops will be brought back to the States, a good proportion of them will be re-positioned in Poland, to include the reactivation in Poland of a V Corps Headquarters element i.e. Trump is moving some of our military forces Eastward, closer to Russian territory.
See https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2020/08/04/with-the-germany-withdrawal-poland-is-set-to-be-hosting-a-lot-more-us-troops/
I have often thought that one mistake Democrats make is to believe their own propaganda, in this case their continual assertion that Trump is stupid. It’s fine for them to tell the peons that, but do Pelosi and company believe it?
1. Democrats are given to shallow thinking. One strand of that is confusing intelligence with articulateness (see Thos. Sowell on this point).
2. Another is confusing credentials with accomplishment.
3. Conjoined to the above is a refusal to actually scrutinize their own ‘leadership’. If they did, they’d have to acknowledge that BO was an empty suit, that Hellary’s entire legal career was derived from connections, that John Kerry was a common-and-garden Boston lawyer who put on airs, that Albert Gore was a newspaper reporter who was in Congress because voters are weirdly brand-loyal, and Nancy Pelosi’s skills consist of politicking among swamp dwellers – she has no discernible interest in substantive public policy, hasn’t faced a competitive election since 1987, and was on the map to begin with consequent to Sala Burton’s sponsorship, full stop.
Neo: “But he’s smart in a way they continually fail to anticipate.”
I believe it was VDH who said that Trump has an innate ability to read people, which has been sharpened by all his years in doing business deals. That makes him a formidable opponent. Additionally, unlike most GOP politicians, Trump is not afraid of the Dems or the MSM. Though sometimes clumsy in his speech and execution of policy, his affection for the average citizen is obvious.
The Democrats aren’t used to having to deal with someone who can’t be bullied by their usual mendacious plots backed up by the bull horn of the MSM. They have been constantly trying to bring him to heel/down since the day he was elected. Russia collusion, the Mueller investigation, impeachment, and now, trying to use the pandemic against him, have all failed. Those with an eye for humor might well see the comparison of the Democrats to Wiley Coyote and of Trump to the Roadrunner. I’m amused by the frustration that Nancy and Chuck show on nearly a daily basis. Beep, beep! 🙂
You are so right about them believing their own propaganda. I’m amazed at how many commenters I see who still are convinced that the president is both an obvious idiot and in Vladimir Putin’s pocket.
“…the Democrats have all the institutions – and especially the press – fully on their side. That advantage can make up for a lot of dumbness.” – Neo
You can say that again.
The institutions definitely include schools and prosecutors, as well as the press.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/teachers-openly-fret-parents-might-hear-them-brainwashing-children
https://pjmedia.com/columns/stephen-kruiser/2020/08/10/the-morning-briefing-the-mainstream-media-has-betrayed-its-constitutional-privilege-n765954
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/tyler-o-neil/2020/08/10/antifa-rioters-again-turn-portland-into-a-war-zone-with-barricades-fires-and-mortar-fireworks-n770169
And don’t forget social media.
https://babylonbee.com/news/conservatives-are-being-censored-on-social-media-says-conservative-in-viral-social-media-post
“Of course, I don’t make a similar mistake and think that they are actually dumb.”
Yes, they really are dumb. They believe the government has an endless supply of free stuff they can buy votes with. Well, the only stuff the government has is stuff they take from somebody and eventually they run out of other peoples stuff. Like they did in Venezuela.
The US Congress gives the Byzantines a run for their money.
Look at what else was in the Democrat bill Trump rejected.
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/stacey-lennox/2020/08/10/and-you-thought-democrats-wanted-to-tax-the-rich-n771105
The GOPe is stupidly opposing this maneuver in the person of Ban Sasse and various neverTrumpers on Ricochet. A gentlemanly loss is alway preferable ro these worthies.
CW2.0 may be starting a little earlier than expected.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2020/08/10/breaking-trump-abruptly-taken-from-press-conference-by-white-house-staff-n2574071
Slightly off-topic (all political topics are intertwined), this post should be read and pondered by any conservative still wondering if they should support Trump’s re-election. It’s long, but all of it is important.
https://townhall.com/columnists/waynegrudem/2020/08/08/letter-to-an-antitrump-christian-friend-n2573909
@Ray. It’s perfectly possible to be ridiculously dumb in one area but incredibly astute in another.
The policies the promote and advocate are indeed beyond dumb.
However, the way they sell those ideas (especially when those ideas are so stupid) is remarkably effective. Everything from their march through the institutions, to their appeals to supposed virtue at it’s most obnoxious, to their race-baiting, and amplification of baser human instincts like envy has had a remarkable effect.
That’s not to say they don’t have blindspots. One of the most glaring is reality itself, which (like in Venezuela) no sales pitch can subvert forever.
A second is how although their approach is incredibly effective at firing up the converted and does pretty damn well on the less-informed and naive, it’s absurdity divisive and almost ensures bad blood from lots of us.
You gonna trust somebody who thinks of you as a literal Hitler sympathizer to preserve and protect your rights?
So it’s a smart way to set the seeds (the long march) for an eventual quick power grab. It’s also almost assured to be a disaster once their in power and will require some form of despotism to survive.
The only thing Trump’s EO’s do is put the Democrats [and some Senate Republicans] on their heels a bit. But it’s questionable that this is more than political theater. I need the extra unemployment as my job is in limbo in a industry that is completely shut down so I applaud Trump wanting to get something done. It might be what the Senate needs to pass something. But I’m not sure they will.
That said, the payroll tax holiday scares me because it’s the first step toward getting rid of Social Security and Medicare. I know some here probably don’t need Social Security or use Medicare but millions out there [Republicans too] rely on the monthly payments and the health care benefits in old age. Ending that would be a true disaster for many millions.
Actually this end run is kosher…
they want you to think not, but the money will come from 1.4 trillion still in cares
heh…
Montage: the payroll tax holiday scares me because it’s the first step toward getting rid of Social Security and Medicare.
That was an outright dem lie..
they been really going nuts with the false things…
you have to be quite the [censored] to believe that, especially from them
The thought that keeps me up at night: How effective is the media blackout?
I agree with the original post and with basically all the commenters. It’s all quite obvious…to us.
Are we the typical voters? Are we representative of the electorate?
If we were, Obama wouldn’t have been elected. But he was; and he was reelected after that. Have things changed that much since 2008, or 2012?
What percentage of persuadable voters have ever heard even a rumor of Trump’s executive orders and the Democrats’ opposition? 3%? 4%?
On Instapundit now-and-then I see a quote along these lines: “Modern journalism is about covering all the important stories. With a pillow, until they stop moving.”
Biden’s an addled sock-puppet being used as a Trojan Horse by neo-Marxists. We know it; but anyone who merely watches CNN and reads the largest-circulation newspaper of the nearest large city — any person who’d have been considered well-informed by the standards of a quarter-century ago — will have no notion that Biden’s gone round-the-bend.
How successful has the blackout been? I don’t know. I don’t have any way to know.
All I know is that when tidbits of information which make Trump look more palatable and the Democrats less-so manage to trickle their way through the dike every left-of-center voter’s been building around his brain, they angrily get busy with a caulk gun. Sure, there’s #WalkAway and #Blexit, but how big are they?
I don’t have a read on it. So, while I take courage in the narrowing poll-numbers and hold out some hope that the 2020 election will reveal a pent-up Preference Cascade that destroys the Left, I remain fretful.
And who pushed this on Trump? My friend Steven Moore! (Well, Moore is more my friend’s friend than mine….)
Ray. The dems don’t, or don’t have to, believe it’s endless; but enough for this election and the next for them to get rich, and not need votes.
@RC I don’t have a read on it either, but I would say two things. 1. This ‘disturbance in the Force’ runs way deeper than our ego-consciousness – and Nancy Pelosi’s. Remember Brexit preceded Trump. 2. Whatever has been going on beneath the level of consciousness has probably been accelerated by events. So I don’t think the lack of public awareness about what was going on in 2008-2016 is much to go on. Maybe the disgust with Trump has been growing – most Americans like my family in the US would be in that camp. But maybe the overly confident antics of the Democrats while being slowly revealed to be in cahoots with the bureaucracy and the media etc is becoming increasingly visible to anyone taking the trouble to look. As obvious as Watergate, back in my salad days. But – yes it is spot on to say we have no way of knowing how this stew will turn out on election day. I will make this big picture observation – what the EU did to create Brexit was to undermine democracy by transferring the real governing power to the bureaucracy in Brussels. That is essentially the same as what has happened in the US. ‘The just powers of government derive from the consent of the governed’. My sense is that people are getting red pilled at an increasing rate and that Trump may do better than we think, just as the voters in the UK emphatically reinforced the original Brexit referendum. I’m not trying to make happy talk. I am trying to say that just as all the institutions are defending the status quo, the perturbation below the level of ego-consciousness, may be going much further in the opposite direction than we can see. I think it is fair to say that Trump clearly has a connection to this level and the Democrats and the Never Trumpers do not. So, yes, he plays 3 dimensional chess, but it is one messy game because no one, including Trump, really knows the way forward at this point.
Lorenz—
Black people reject the defund police and abolish family of the Marxist BLM, first it was by two thirds to 70% by Rasmussen, then the latest by 80% in Gallup.
Be of good cheer! Back in a February, Black likely voters polled at 43% job approval ratings for Trump. The last poll I heard on black registered voters (a larger, less informed segment) was mid-30s…34%? Trump job approval….And That was last weekend.
Both very stellar measures!
Trump can win decisively. And the steam and law and order disgusted storm is building.
Back in ‘72 and ‘84, the electorate decisively rejected Socialism of McGovern and the Big Government of my neighbour, Veep Mondale, respectively. 60% to 40% splits occurred, more so at the electoral college level.
But since ‘92, Prez elections have been closer, much closer. And with a Propaganda Marxist media, and Big Lie driven CommieCrats, bent on vomit projection, plus the virus crisis, who knows? I think Big Win would be 55% to 45% today. But in weeks, I think we’ll get a clue as to whether a Big Win is building.
However, with reports of 2,000 fake driver IDs seized in Dallas, and 20,000 in Chicago — both from China, natch — we know the Big Steal election is on for the Treason Party. I do worry there.
So talk this up! Dare to share Knowledge with friends, even in states where it’s spelled “Nnowledge” (I’m a teasing u, Cornflour!)….
Listen to Seb Gorka’s Happy Warrior interviews on his America First podcasts or radio. These will stoke you in pride, knowledge, and optimism.
For example, what states have the largest rate of Covid-19 deaths? Democrats.
What states have the highest rates of unemployment? Democrats.
Which states have the highest ballooning rates of crimes waves? Democrats.
And which states are people leaving in the highest numbers? Democrats!
Share the wisdom: no Sane person but Mayor Bane of Gotham City wants Democrats in power!
And would any of you want Biden fronting for you with a record of collapse and failure and death like this to campaign on? Of course Knot!
Go Tell It on The Mountains!
Trump can win Big!
Some up to date data on Dem state/City decline, here
https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3873268/posts
Keep reading down…it gets better!
I think the Dems are maybe on a victory high. They think they are winning so convincingly that they are now taking things beyond what any somewhat sane person can tolerate. By “somewhat sane” I hope I’m including many run of the mill Dem voters. Even the mayor of Portland seems to have been shocked a bit, but then turns around and predictably blames Trump.
The police chief of Seattle has resigned after the council votes to defund the police. I love her backhanded last line of the letter: “seeing how this department moves forward through the process of re-envisioning public safety. I relish the work that will be done by all of you.” ie I’m going to enjoy seeing you reap what you are sowing.
And now, today, BLM in Chicago rallies in support of the looters. How is that going to play in Peoria?
Maybe I’m seeing a bit of hope here, very unusual for a pessimist like me. The left may be pushing too hard, too fast before the election. But then, maybe the election is a moot point, and they know it so why not go all in now?
I guess in the commentary above I was the only person claiming that the dems were not dumb.
Think about this; the massive size of the federal bureaucracy and the (eventually) unsustainable, ever growing spending on non-discretionary items, the zillions of federal regulations that restrict economic growth, the zillions of arcane tax laws/rules/regulations that created the tax preparation industry; the federal policies that incentivized US based companies from setting up shop overseas with the resultant loss of US jobs; the unrestricted (till now perhaps) influx of illegal aliens, etc. etc., just to name a few.
ALL of these policies and the massive federal agencies that implement them, still exist and were created by the demokrats – while the dumpublicans sat with their thumbs up their ass or just went along with them.
The institutions/bureaucracy created by the demokrats never gets smaller – only bigger and more pervasive and more repressive.
Yea, the demokrats say stupid things and oft times appear ignorant, yet somehow they implement their stupid policies.
It’s all part and parcel of their socialist / neo-communist agenda; more govt., more control, less individual liberty.
Trump is merely a temporary roadblock; within 4 years at most he will no longer be prez.
Then what?
Another demokrat prez. or another useless republican liberal progressive like Bush or a Romney.
I for one never underestimate the resolve and determination and the nefarious / evil intentions of the demokrats.
FDR got the snowball rolling for them and it keeps rolling down that snow covered hill, getting ever bigger – with fits and starts.
I note Montage’s self-pitying comment above. And we should be forced to help you out?
Maybe you live in CA or NY, two states whose governors have pissed away tax revenues so cannot afford to shoulder the $200/week share of continued unemployment benefits. their financial pantries are empty. And we should be forced to help them out?
NO to both.
“Modern journalism is about covering all the important stories. With a pillow, until they stop moving.” – coined by David Burge aka Iowahawk.
Other greatest hits:
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/389136/
JULY 23, 2020
ROGER SIMON: Et Tu, Nashville–How ‘Liberal’ Democrats Ruin American Cities.
Or as Iowahawk would say:
[can’t copy embedded Tweets, sadly, but it’s worth memorizing for later use]
* * *
https://twitter.com/iowahawkblog/
The Life Cycle of a Luxury Brand Image
1. I’m so rich I can afford this
2. I’m so stupid I spent a week’s salary on this
3. I stole this
* * *
Two to one vintage-auto insider-baseball posts to political snark.
But it’s goooood snark. Samples free on days ending in “y.”
https://threadreaderapp.com/user/iowahawkblog
“Jack, an entertainment industry hedge fund attorney, and wife Jill, CEO of Love Chukkers, a non-profit that teaches polo to inner city trans youth, expressed concern that the Southampton awareness fundraising season would be interrupted by COVID newcomers from New Jersey.”
“So your criticism of my criticism of his criticism of her criticism is to blast my timeline with SO YOU’RE SAYING questions? How do I subscribe to your podcast?”
“You can displace and ruin dozens of businesses, create a violent anarchist free-fire squatter’s camp, but by God if you as much as THINK of interrupting my Netflix-and-chill, I will nuke you back to the Stone Age
Jenny Durkan’s new campaign slogan: My Life Matters”
“Did you ever post a lighthearted tweet only to receive sternly worded rebukes from every last doctrinaire Akshuallyist on this hellsite [Twitter]”
* * *
Instapundit and Twitchy keep an eye out for Iowahawk sightings.
https://twitchy.com/samj-3930/2020/07/27/iowahawk-mocking-aclu-staff-attorney-who-got-his-feelers-hurt-by-the-harry-potter-person-results-in-brutally-hilarious-debate-with-blue-check/
@Montage:
Re: “…the payroll tax holiday scares me because it’s the first step toward getting rid of Social Security and Medicare.”
Crazy talk.
That’s like saying, “the Jan 31 closing down of the border with China scares me because it’s the first step towards a genocide of Asian-Americans, by rabid Mennonites, wielding sporks, while wearing clown masks and tutus.”
Look, we all live in bubbles of limited experience, so it’s important to check our gut inclinations against other folks’ perspectives (as I did above, on another topic). But you must take care not to trust, on this topic, sources which either (a.) have a vested interest in frightening you; or (b.) are themselves individual outliers of very limited experience. My guess is your fears are a triangulation between what Democrats claim about Republicans and what your anarcho-capitalist uncle said after 3 beers.
I have rubbed shoulders with classical liberals (that is to say: conservatives and libertarians), both wholesale and borderline, of every description, for a quarter-century. The more libertarian types (representing perhaps 15%, tops, of the overall right-of-center electorate) do, in fact, believe that it would have been better for Social Security and Medicare to have never been enacted; and they furthermore, in an ideal world and under ideal circumstances, would want a future phase-out of both, along with most other Federal-level assistance programs and about half of the state-level ones.
If I were to stop there, and say no more, you might think there was something to your fears re: Social Security and Medicare…albeit only in reference to 15% of the right-of-center electorate, which is a pretty small slice.
But that incautious “hot take” is the maximum extent to which your fears could be considered plausible. Further examination of the reality makes them far less plausible.
First, you must ask those 15% why precisely they wish those programs were eliminated. The first thing you’ll hear is: “Because the bad architecture of these systems actually tends to further impoverish the very groups they purport to help. Systemically they tend to replace better solutions with worse ones. In a system where no such systems had been established, people would have more, not less, for retirement and medical needs than they do now.” Then, if you ask them, “Thinking, as you do, that Medicare and Social Security impoverish the elderly and the needy, making their existence more tenuous, if you had the power to do so, would you abolish them instantaneously?” …, 99% of them will answer, “Whaaa…? Hell, no! You have to fulfill obligations to those grandfathered into the system! And you have to phase the thing out with minimal disruption! And you’ll have to do it in proportion to, and dependent upon, the availability of alternative systems! The whole point is to help better, while excising the dysfunction caused by government usurpation. Now that the damage is done, undoing the tangled web would be a 25-year project, minimum.” And when you ask them, “So, out of all the high-priority items you’d enact were you to have the power to do so, where does this one rank? Top priority?” they’ll chuckle and answer, “Actually, it doesn’t even make the top 20.” And finally, when you pry into their political opinions generally, you’ll find that the folks thinking this way are the libertarian purist wing, which is to say: The kind of people who never actually get elected, even in the GOP, with the notable exception of Ron Paul.
There. That’s a clearer picture for you, of this tiny sliver of the right-of-center landscape.
Now how does Donald Trump fit into this picture? Does he strike you as a “movement conservative,” a man with a principled, purist, small-government ideology?
*choke* *snort*
Are, indeed, any of the current GOP elected officials or candidates, apart from members of the Paul family, describable in such terms? Does Donald Trump have such persons in his cabinet? Among his advisors?
*crickets*
Even if he did, what power do they collectively have to initiate such an agenda? What evidence is there that such a political agenda is high-enough priority to expend limited political capital on it? What evidence is there that such an agenda could succeed over political opposition and be enacted? If they tried it, what evidence is there that current recipients wouldn’t be grandfathered in? What evidence is there that the current system wouldn’t, in fact, be replaced with a superior one which cared for retirement and medical needs better? And even if the replacement system were worse, what likelihood is there that you would live long enough to see its first year of use?
If you dispassionately consider all these questions, I think you’ll see that the odds of your fears materializing are so small as to be practically nonexistent. Your risks of being struck by lightning, or seduced by Kate Upton, or being contacted by a real Nigerian prince who needs help with a monetary transfer, are far more worthy of your time and attention.
Cordially,
R.C.
R C – thanks for the very informative lesson.
GW Bush wasn’t even able to get a portion of SS shifted to private investment accounts, which was widely supported by the voters, so replacing anything now is an uphill haul.
Of course, when the system finally crashes under its own weight, replacing it will be another situation entirely.
Here’s a good article on why Bush’s reform plan never materialized. The headline is somewhat unfair; the “losers” were the standard-issue bureaucrats of the DC establishment, and he was distracted by other concerns, which enabled them to change the reform platform he ran (and won) on.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterferrara/2011/04/07/how-george-w-bush-lost-personal-accounts-for-social-security/#15471421494d
And here’s an interesting counter-factual from 2015.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/what-if-george-w-bushs-social-security-reforms-had-passed