The president's so-called "skinny budget" will eliminate all federal funding for Amtrak's national train network, meaning 220 cities will lose all passenger service, the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP) warned this week.
"It's ironic that President Trump's first budget proposal undermines the very communities whose economic hardship and sense of isolation from the rest of the country helped propel him into office," said NARP president Jim Mathews.
"These working class communities—many of them located in the Midwest and the South—were tired of being treated like 'flyover country,'" Mathews continued. "But by proposing the elimination of Amtrak's long distance trains, the Trump administration does them one worse, cutting a vital service that connects these small town economies to the rest of the U.S.."
"These hard working, small town Americans," he added, "don't have airports or Uber to turn to; they depend on these trains."
I want to feel badly for the people who were fooled by Trump and are just now waking up to the terrible monster they helped to create.
But I just can't.
They, like all of us, saw who Trump was. They heard about his background, they listened as he stumbled through those debates, they knew that he had no experience WHATSOEVER for this job, and yet they allowed themselves to believe that he, and he alone, would bring back the jobs that they had lost, restore their faith in their country, and keep America out of foreign wars.
And of course he has done just the opposite.
If I feel badly for anybody it is those of us who recognized who Trump was from the very beginning and tried desperately to inform the low information morons that they were being tricked.
Because unfortunately we are now all suffering through this together.
If anything, rail travel should be encouraged in this country. Remember when it was to be part of the infrastructure work proposed by President Obama in 2009. It was rejected then, of course, by the GOP in Congress. Not surprising that the GOP wants to eliminate what's left of rail travel in the US. I'm sure that Trump would never sully himself by traveling by train.
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
Why should it be encouraged? That rail transportation does not bring any $$$ to his oil buddies!
DeleteDo they still use coal?
DeleteHard to decide who are the bigger Dicks.
ReplyDeleteTrump for cutting off his supporters or the stupid Dicks that voted for him in the first place.
What do you want to bet they *still* support him, because you know this is all Obama's fault. Or Hillary's. Or Bill's. Anyone but that fascist prick Don the Dick.
Gryphen, I've been a follower for years, and donate when I can.
ReplyDeleteDude, feeling badly means you can't feel things well.
Feeling bad means you don't feel well.
I feel bad to tell you you shouldn't say you feel badly.
No big deal. You never said you were a grammarian.
Your email link isn't working. I'd preferred to say that privately.
Wasn't Reagan the last one to threaten to close down Amtrak? I hope we can stop this, not just because Amtrak is the only service some places get, but because magic happens on those trains.
Yes, that sounds sappy.
Amtrak is a major connect between towns, between communities.
It's usually my first choice. For $$ reasons.
Round trips, Chicago to New Orleans, San Antonio to Oakland. Chicago to NYC. Most lately, a coast-hugging one-way from San Diego to San Jose.
But there are so many other reasons to love traveling by train besides $$. Spotting 52 Bald Eagles between San Antonio and San Jose. Meeting a man who looked like he should have a crook's name like Black Bart, only to learn he was going home to bury his mother. (I wound up having an invite to come ride motorcycles with the fella and his wife.)
It's not me who stands to lose a lot if Amtrack disappears. It's the folks who want to get between points you can't fly into.
Best stop rambling on.
--Caroline in San Jose
SO true, Caroline. I don't really remember any of the individual airplane flights i ever took. Train rides? You bet. They give you time to think and talk and listen. Things T.Rump is totes unacquainted with. Especially the thinking.
DeleteI commuted to college for four years by train. Every day. I commuted to work for over three years in downtown Detroit before the commuter trains were eliminated (by a combination of the auto industry and nasty GOP voters). A wonderful way to travel.
DeleteIn Europe we've traveled frequently by train and have always enjoyed it.
Beaglemom
"The Press" got the bit in their mouths and ran with every single unproven rumour about HRC and totally ignored all the proven law breaking Drumpf did, all the people he cheated and his mob connections.
ReplyDeleteMike: And now they 'hail our chief'(liar) for being 'presidential' in throwing that fake air attack on Syria, which did nothing to damage anything there, but cost the US somewhere upwards of $90,000,000 just in hardware. AND boosted our liar-in-chief's pocketbook (because he has stock in Raytheon, and their stock got a boost of $1.5 Billion after the attack!).
DeleteAbsolutely true, Mike from Iowa. And now we'll all pay the price.
DeleteBeaglemom
Agree totally, Mike From Iowa. It was so frustrating to watch the press fawn over the idiotic Trump and ignore the steady, informed Clinton.
DeleteThe press didn't question Trump's constant stream of lies and nasty behavior and instead fixated on Clinton's "emails".
The media gave Trump their undivided "positive" attention, far more attention than they gave Clinton, which was undeservedly (IMO) more negative.
Now the press has supposedly "seen the light" and is actually fact-checking him, but now it's too late.
Remember, a lot of us saw Sarah Palin for what she was the minute she opened her mouth, and she was no "hawk-ee maum". Same with Trump--he's been very obvious exactly who he is for the past 30 years. Some stubborn, willfully-ignorant fools will cling to whatever they want to see.
ReplyDeleteNor a "grizzly."
DeleteLazy coward, you betcha!
Longer. I served the shitgibbon a drink back in '78. Knew I should have spilled it on him.
Delete@7:05 Just wondering if you got a 'Tip'?
DeleteI knew a guy who "picked up the 'Tip$'" and walked out with the money. It proved who he wa$.
I don't feel sorry for trump voters at all. We are supposed to fall over backwards to understand their anger and frustration over their real and imagined wrongs, but never have I read that they need to understand others.
ReplyDeleteHow many conservative media types went into communities of color, or Muslim communities, or GLBTQ communities to listen to and take back their perspectives and anger and frustration to their conservative readers/viewers?
As far as Amtrak goes, it is like everything else that trump does. It is a petty, vindictive, small-minded, and bullying slap at Joe Biden, President Obama's VP, who was known for riding Amtrak daily and who has said he thinks he could have beaten trump.
There was no policy or fiscal thought regarding this budget item, any more than there was for any other budget item, because trump is completely ignorant of policy and budgetary issues. It is all personal to him. Who can he hurt or pay back with this decision, or how can he and his controllers profit?
I agree with you wholeheartedly, Nefer. These "Trump" supporters have always voted Republican anyway no matter how dastardly the GOP has treated them. They will continue to vote for the GOP too and Republicans in Congress know that. Whenever people in Kentucky have had the opportunity to get rid of McConnell (who could care less about any of his constituents), he wins.
DeleteI do not feel that I owe any Trump voter sympathy, an apology (for what anyway?), or concern. At a party over the holidays, I was appalled that a very liberal (in a touchy-feely, but not very astute) person was almost in tears at how unsympathetic Democrats had been to the poor coal miners who had voted for Trump. The coal mines disappeared decades ago; the coal mine owners ran as fast as they could after declaring bankruptcy so they weren't forced to help their workers. Hillary Clinton told the "coal miners" the truth but, of course, the media ignored her speeches in the region.
I support programs that help all Americans, including the idiots who voted for Trump. But, by all that is worth anything in life, I'm not responsible for their stupidity.
Beaglemom
Nefer 5:18 and Beaglemom at 7:56, I agree completely with what you both have written. I live in mid-Michigan and I always enjoy and appreciate the thoughtful posts you both contribute.
DeleteI will NEVER feel sorry for any of them. If they're that stupid, then they get what they deserve.
ReplyDeleteLook at those who still cry out for $arah to save them. Nutzoid, and a waste of oxygen pointing out their idiocy.
Gryphen, this is the most eloquent and poignant post I've read on your blog thus far. And it sums up my feelings towards Trump voters perfectly. The problem is that many of them are still not self-aware enough to realize what a horrible mistake they've made; or when they realize what an unmitigated disaster Trump inevitably has turned out to be, they will blame anyone else but Trump or themselves.
ReplyDeleteRegarding this particular slash in the budget to Amtrak; a dark, sarcastic piece of my soul is saying to these idiots, "Meh! It's 'Greyhound' for *YOU* losers!" Until that invariably goes under...
I have seen it already.....they twist and twist for their inherent need to be "right." How hard is it to admit that you were wrong and taken for a fool?
DeleteSaturday Night Live returned with a stellar cold open that featured Alec Baldwin’s Trump heading to Kentucky for a town hall with a bunch of — as ‘Trump’ put it — “people who don’t just whisper ‘oh god what’s happening after I leave the room.‘”
DeleteThe sketch featured The Donald listening to the concerns of his voters on healthcare, drug rehabilitation, and environmental hazards then explaining to them one by one that he’s getting right of all of them but the last one. And, of course, one by one, they expressed dismay that their Dear Leader would take away things they love (like medical care) but still threw their support behind him because Trump supporters are (as science tells us) not exactly the sharpest tool in a box containing a mixed metaphor.
“It’s like you found a finger in your chili and you’re still going to eat the chili because you told everyone how much you love chili,” Baldwin-Trump told his audience.
This is probably the best insult that has ever been leveled at Trump’s supporters by humankind. As Trump once said, he could shoot someone in the middle of 5th Avenue and not lose a single voter. No matter what he does, who he hurts, or which prostitutes urinate on his hotel room bed, his people will stand behind him because they are exactly as proud as they are stupid — and they will never admit they made a mistake.
Watch the cold open below:
http://addictinginfo.org/2017/04/09/allec-baldwin-just-put-trumps-idiot-supporters-in-their-place-and-it-was-beautiful-video/
Greyhound is simply budget air travel that takes longer, and smells worse.
DeleteAnd, because they'd have to admit their rasicm and misogyny overrides even their own sense of normal human self-preservation.
DeleteI've had T.Rump voters (women) tell me no woman can run the country. And others bitch about that half-n!**er, Obama, who is a secret Muslim, with their mixed race grandkids playing on the floor in front of them.
Just wish we could build a wall- and let all the T.Rump voters wallow in their mind filth and ignorance on the other side of it. Think of it as a version of "Escape from NY" the old Kurt Russel movie.
From Syria to Yemen to North Korea, Donald Trump still can’t light his Reichstag Fire
ReplyDeleteTrump, collapsing, keeps trying to stage a game changer –
Four weeks after Adolf Hitler became the German Chancellor in 1933, arsonists torched the Reichstag parliament building. Hitler quickly used the attack as an excuse for wiping out his political enemies and seizing total power over Germany, and we know the rest of that horrific story. With Donald Trump sharing so many stances and ambitions similar to those of Hitler, the world has watched carefully to see if he tries to light his own Reichstag Fire.
https://www.palmerreport.com/opinion/from-syria-to-yemen-to-north-korea-donald-trump-still-cant-light-his-reichstag-fire/2246/
https://www.palmerreport.com/opinion/donald-trump-under-fbi-investigation-launches-second-unauthorized-military-strike-in-three-days/2243/
They don't need no socialist transportation in those GOP states!
ReplyDeleteAlec Baldwin's latest turn as Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live featured a brilliantly clever reflection of the truth about those who voted for Donald Trump. No matter how much Trump hurts them, his voters still support him.
ReplyDeleteAs Baldwin’s Trump was speaking to his supporters in Kentucky, he was told that a supporter on Obamacare had to drive 90 minutes to see a doctor and his premiums were high. Trump’s answer was to get rid of the man’s health care. A Trump supporter who complained that his wife wouldn’t move because she was participating in a federal opioid rehab program, was greeted with a presidential solution of getting rid of the program. A woman who worked two minimum wage jobs and had an underwater mortgage was told by the president that he was going to abolish the minimum wage and take away her house.
All of Trump’s “solutions” would harm his supporters, but each one of them continued to voice their support for the president.
Political scientists have studied for decades why some people vote against their self-interest. Many supporters of President Trump are a textbook example of a riddle that both academics and Democrats have tried to solve.
Many Trump voters continue to support the president, even though his policies are harming them. The message behind the comedy was that Trump isn’t going to help these people, but due to blind partisanship, these folks aren’t going to leave Trump’s side.
It is folly for some on the left to think that they can flip Trump’s die hard supporters by talking about economic policies. Many of these people will never vote for a Democrat because they aren’t making their decisions based on rational self-interest or policy.
Alec Baldwin was his usual dead on self with his Trump impression, but this SNL Trump sketch was different from many others because the president wasn’t portrayed as an in over his head buffoon. In this parody, Trump knows exactly what he is doing, and it doesn’t matter to his supporters that all of his solutions are bad for them.
http://www.politicususa.com/2017/04/09/snl-alec-baldwin-pull-brilliant-trump-supporters.html
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/this-cant-be-good-for-americagop-lawmakers-are-taking-the-lead-in-stopping-trumps-border-wall/
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is that his core supporters in the south don't use Amtrak. They don't care about this. Just another wasteful fancy elitist high-falutin' thing to them. His supporters in the south a) don't leave their confederate flag flying trailer compound, b)are too poor to actually take the Amtrak (it isn't that cheap); c) are comfortable enough to fly or drive; and/or d) don't value innovation or interstate transportation systems. This won't matter one little bit to him and his fool minority-of-the-voters supporters.
ReplyDeleteMany in those part of the country believe in 2nd amendment solutions. Ya think they will be able to figure out who screwed them over?
ReplyDeleteNope.
DeleteBeaglemom
Many of the brainwashed up fox nation sheep still don't know how to turn the channel.
DeleteWell, this is what our shaddow-president said in February:
ReplyDeletehttp://m.dailykos.com/story/2017/2/23/1637009/-Bannon-Reveals-His-Intention-To-Deconstruct-The-Administrative-State-i-e-Destroy-The-Country
Feedback
ReplyDelete"coal and oil and natural gas are like the nectar of the gods. They make everything go, and that’s awesome. "
"carbon dioxide has a funny property—it glows in the dark."
"You think half a million Syrian refugees are giving the government fits? Try adding a zero to that number."
"Trump has essentially said “Screw the planet, let’s make MONEY NOW.”
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/climate-change-101-here-is-how-trump-will-destroy-the-environment/
Ahhh yes the McMorons of the Trojan trump pink pony train? The 45 goals of the communist party to take down America. The dumbing of Americans. Yep reading this online clearly states the plan of KGB pootin but sadly it will not work out too well. In fact it has back fired like a putin fart in the wind. toxic and silent but Identified and exposed. LOL the elevator down to hell in free fall.
ReplyDeletewtf? Hello grammar?
DeleteRailroading made this country. Every town was developed along rail lines. It is the backbone of America. It is the people mover and product mover of American history. It will survive but the trump train will not.
ReplyDeleteRepublicans have been insulted by Amtrak's existence for years. Donald is just doing their bidding.
ReplyDeleteGosh what happened to his proposal to expanse train service?
ReplyDeleteRemember when he enlightened us during the campaign because he just found out that many countries have high speed trains and he wants the same here.
What a moron, 70 years old and just found out about high speed trains.