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Hey NY Times - I do not think those words mean what you think they mean [1]

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Date: 2025-07-04

This is a screen cap from the digital edition of The NY Times, from the front page on July 4, 2025. The Republicans in Congress just passed a budget bill that will take healthcare away from millions, force hospitals to close, leave millions of American children hungrier, while funding more ICE goons to flood the country. There are so many atrocities about to be imposed on the American people, listing them all here would be impractical. (Now that they’ve passed the bill, we’re going to find out what’s in it.) Trump is expected to make a big deal out of signing it — although there are reports he actually does NOT know what’s in it. Quelle surprise!

What I’m looking at here is one of the ways we got to this point — the way the media has internalized Republican framing of issues, doing their work for them. The caption under the headline above shows how it works.

Traditional Supply-Side Economics; a catchy name for a bogus theory. The idea behind it is deceptively simple and historically a failure. It’s the claim that cutting taxes and deregulating will stimulate economic growth, create jobs, help you lose those unwanted pounds, improve your love life, etc. etc. It’s pure snake oil and the one thing it does do is make the rich richer and everyone else poorer. It’s traditional only in the sense that Republicans have been pushing it as the miracle economic elixir for decades.

The NY Times is giving it credibility here as though it’s an actual working theory, not a major driver of inequality and a deteriorating quality of life. It’s ‘traditional’ in the same sense that Ponzi schemes keep turning up over and over again — or scams like Crypto.

Populist Campaign Promises : Funny how populism works. (The link goes to the late Kevin Drum’s 2018 incisive analysis of what Republican ‘populism’ is and how it works.) To put it succinctly, Republican populism invokes racism and bigotry to stir up the masses while transferring their money upwards into the hands of the rich. To put it even more succinctly, Republican ‘Populism’ = Fascism. It’s all about building popular support for policies that will devastate the people who fall for it by giving them scapegoat enemies to hate and blame for their shitty lives.

Conversely, when Democrats propose policies that actually help people, and call on the rich to pay their fair share for the privileges they enjoy, Democratic Populism = ‘Socialism’ as far the NY Times and the rest of the media are concerned. Never mind that in the rest of the developed/civilized world things like health care, access to food and shelter, access to education, living wages, basic human rights, etc. are considered mainstream middle of the road policies. America is too exceptional for that, and the media wants to make sure the Overton Window never gets moved to where people can see how things work elsewhere.

The easiest way to enslave a people who think they are free is to put the chains in their minds. Framing is one of the ways that happens — and here we are.

I’m a working musician, so I’ll be marching in a couple of July 4 parades today. It feels more like a memorial to what was, than a celebration this year. Enjoy the day, and don’t forget the real meaning of it. For a reminder, here’s the Gettysburg Address:

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/7/4/2331668/-Hey-NY-Times-I-do-not-think-those-words-mean-what-you-think-they-mean?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web

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