I don’t view this meme in the context of the most recent election, or current administration; I view it with 40 years of political policy and context I’ve lived through. Over decades, I find this meme to be mostly accurate. I was born at the tail end of Carter’s admin, for context.
Reagan gave us trickle down economics and destabilization of south America and the Middle East with the Nicaragua contra scandal to funnel weapons to Iraq and Iran. Our tax dollars being used to kill brown people. During the 1980s, the United States aided Saddam Hussein’s regime primarily to counter Iran, providing billions in economic aid, dual-use technology, and crucial battlefield intelligence, particularly during the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988). The U.S. supported Iraq’s military efforts, ensuring Baghdad did not lose to Iran, despite knowledge of chemical weapons usage. (Didn’t we eventually fight a war to get rid of saddam? Oops 😬)
The first Bush was also involved in the contra scandal. Just before leaving office, President Bush pardoned six Reagan administration officials, including former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, who were charged with crimes related to the Iran-Contra affair.
Clinton, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999: Repealed the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, allowing commercial banks, securities firms, and insurance companies to consolidate. This removed controls on banks that allowed them to over speculate, and allowed consolidation of industries to be too big to fail. (This set is up for the supprime mortgage disaster that left tax payers holding the bag. Oops.) Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000: Exempted over-the-counter derivatives—including credit default swaps—from regulation. Telecommunications Act of 1996: Significantly deregulated the broadcasting and telecommunications markets. (The deregulation stipulation was that these companies would be rolling out broadband in exchange for deregulation and tax breaks. We still have communities in the USA that don’t have broadband. The telecoms laughed all the way to the bank, and jacked their prices way up. Oops.) President Bill Clinton’s administration (1993–2001) was involved in several military conflicts and interventions, primarily focused on peacekeeping in the Balkans, stopping ethnic cleansing, and responding to terrorism. Key actions included NATO bombing campaigns in Bosnia (1995) and Kosovo (1999), the failed mission in Somalia (1993), the occupation of Haiti (1994), and cruise missile strikes against Iraq and terrorist sites in Afghanistan/Sudan.
Bush the second coming, Iraq War (2003–2011): Launched based on assertions that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and threatened peace. The invasion swiftly removed Saddam, but sparked a long insurgency and sectarian violence. There were no weapons of mass destruction. It was bullshit that helped his buddies in haliburton get rich on the tax payers dime bombing brown people. Oh, remember Guantanamo and the torture? How about the slow response to hurricane Katrina that devastated new Orleans? Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, was convicted of obstruction of justice and perjury in a case involving the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame’s identity. (Oops we sabotaged our ability to gather intelligence.) Dismissal of U.S. Attorneys in 2006, the Department of Justice fired eight U.S. attorneys, raising allegations of political manipulation within the Department of Justice.
Obama gave us the affordable care act, and capitulated to the insurance industries by not pushing harder for single payer care. Authorized air strikes in Libya (2011) and later against ISIS in Syria and Iraq. The Dems had full control at the start of his presidency and wasted it trying to placate Republicans in the interests of bipartisanship. He was the tamest president in the past half century.
We all know what utter trash the 1st trump presidency was, so I won’t rehash it here.
Biden. His entire platform was, we aren’t trump. He honestly wasn’t that bad in terms of initiating military actions.
House and Senate during the second coming of trump. They threw away the leverage they had during the shut down for the promise that repubs would revisit tax subsidies that made the affordable care plans affordable for Americans. The Republican administration let the tax credits expire. How about all of the Dems that voted yes on trumps cabinet pics?
Edited for spelling, and to add info about some of the larger issues that are popular with all Americans, but are still widely ignored by elected representatives.
I don’t view this meme in the context of the most recent election, or current administration; I view it with 40 years of political policy and context I’ve lived through. Over decades, I find this meme to be mostly accurate. I was born at the tail end of Carter’s admin, for context.
Reagan gave us trickle down economics and destabilization of south America and the Middle East with the Nicaragua contra scandal to funnel weapons to Iraq and Iran. Our tax dollars being used to kill brown people. During the 1980s, the United States aided Saddam Hussein’s regime primarily to counter Iran, providing billions in economic aid, dual-use technology, and crucial battlefield intelligence, particularly during the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988). The U.S. supported Iraq’s military efforts, ensuring Baghdad did not lose to Iran, despite knowledge of chemical weapons usage. (Didn’t we eventually fight a war to get rid of saddam? Oops 😬)
The first Bush was also involved in the contra scandal. Just before leaving office, President Bush pardoned six Reagan administration officials, including former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, who were charged with crimes related to the Iran-Contra affair.
Clinton, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999: Repealed the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, allowing commercial banks, securities firms, and insurance companies to consolidate. This removed controls on banks that allowed them to over speculate, and allowed consolidation of industries to be too big to fail. (This set is up for the supprime mortgage disaster that left tax payers holding the bag. Oops.) Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000: Exempted over-the-counter derivatives—including credit default swaps—from regulation. Telecommunications Act of 1996: Significantly deregulated the broadcasting and telecommunications markets. (The deregulation stipulation was that these companies would be rolling out broadband in exchange for deregulation and tax breaks. We still have communities in the USA that don’t have broadband. The telecoms laughed all the way to the bank, and jacked their prices way up. Oops.) President Bill Clinton’s administration (1993–2001) was involved in several military conflicts and interventions, primarily focused on peacekeeping in the Balkans, stopping ethnic cleansing, and responding to terrorism. Key actions included NATO bombing campaigns in Bosnia (1995) and Kosovo (1999), the failed mission in Somalia (1993), the occupation of Haiti (1994), and cruise missile strikes against Iraq and terrorist sites in Afghanistan/Sudan.
Bush the second coming, Iraq War (2003–2011): Launched based on assertions that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and threatened peace. The invasion swiftly removed Saddam, but sparked a long insurgency and sectarian violence. There were no weapons of mass destruction. It was bullshit that helped his buddies in haliburton get rich on the tax payers dime bombing brown people. Oh, remember Guantanamo and the torture? How about the slow response to hurricane Katrina that devastated new Orleans? Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, was convicted of obstruction of justice and perjury in a case involving the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame’s identity. (Oops we sabotaged our ability to gather intelligence.) Dismissal of U.S. Attorneys in 2006, the Department of Justice fired eight U.S. attorneys, raising allegations of political manipulation within the Department of Justice.
Obama gave us the affordable care act, and capitulated to the insurance industries by not pushing harder for single payer care. Authorized air strikes in Libya (2011) and later against ISIS in Syria and Iraq. The Dems had full control at the start of his presidency and wasted it trying to placate Republicans in the interests of bipartisanship. He was the tamest president in the past half century.
We all know what utter trash the 1st trump presidency was, so I won’t rehash it here.
Biden. His entire platform was, we aren’t trump. He honestly wasn’t that bad in terms of initiating military actions.
House and Senate during the second coming of trump. They threw away the leverage they had during the shut down for the promise that repubs would revisit tax subsidies that made the affordable care plans affordable for Americans. The Republican administration let the tax credits expire. How about all of the Dems that voted yes on trumps cabinet pics?
Have Dems been better? Yes, but not consistently. Lately there is not much difference between the parties. There’s been no campaign finance reform. Campaign finance reform holds broad, bipartisan popularity, with roughly 70-88% of Americans supporting stricter limits on money in politics. Majorities favor reversing Citizens United and reducing donor influence, as most citizens believe big donors, corporations, and special interests have too much power. Neither political party has addressed this. Insider trading reform, particularly regarding members of Congress, is extremely popular, with over 80% to 86% of voters supporting bans on individual stock trading by lawmakers. Despite this overwhelming public support and bipartisan momentum, actual legislative action faces hurdles due to skepticism from some lawmakers. I’d say not skepticism, it’s more a fuck you I got mine attitude.
Edited for spelling, and to add info about some of the larger issues that are popular with all Americans, but are still widely ignored by elected representatives.