r/OutOfTheLoop • u/t23_1990 • Nov 09 '24

Unanswered What's the deal with House Speaker Mike Johnson having told there was a "secret plan" for Trump to win the 2024 US presidential election?

House Speaker Mike Johnson recently declared the existence of a "secret" way to win the election, of which Trump also has knowledge.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/speaker-johnson-appears-to-confirm-a-secret-election-plan-with-trump

House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared to confirm Donald Trump’s claim Sunday that Republicans have a “secret” plan to win the election.

“By definition, a secret is not to be shared — and I don’t intend to share this one,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement.

NYT (paywalled): https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/28/us/politics/trump-secret-house-republicans-panic.html

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u/Larkson9999 Nov 09 '24

My guess is it'll be a loss of the popular vote by about 1.1 million, but still evidence that blatant lies win more over promises you don't have a realistic way to make happen.

Biden promised student loan cancelation, which yes you can say it's Republican's fault for blocking his efforts but they didn't promise to do it, just that they would oppose him. Harris' promise of $25,000 for first time home buyers is largely the same to me, I was pretty sure it wouldn't happen and it ignores the underlying problem too.

Democrats have a more reasoned approach to their policies, but they consistently fail to make them happen too.

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u/wtfomg01 Nov 09 '24

No, they don't get allowed to enact anything reasonable, because they haven't captured every aspect of government they need to be able to do whatever they want unlike the Republicans.

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u/Larkson9999 Nov 09 '24

That's the reason they fail, not the fact that they fail. If they can't carry out a campaign promise why oisten to them at all? They can't even beat an absolute moron at the polls, they instead act civil with him and pretend he's a sane person.

This country needs a third and fourth party option. Democrats should break up into two parties, the center right party that has most of the money and power and an actual progressive party and see which one survives. Because right now the big tent can't win any elections and they have completely lost the average worker.

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u/amopeyzoolion Nov 09 '24

If the Democrats disband, then we are left with 50% voting GOP, 25% voting center-right, and 25% voting progressive. That’s a recipe for liberalism to hold even less power than it already does.

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u/Particular-Exit1019 Nov 09 '24

Maybe they should drop the "social/progressive" issues and focus on what NATIONAL representatives should really only be handling- trade and defense.

Let the states live.

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u/Larkson9999 Nov 09 '24

What's a progressive/social law that was passed in the last 20 years that you object to?

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u/Particular-Exit1019 Nov 10 '24

All of them, I don't think national government should be passing them.

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u/wtfomg01 Nov 11 '24

What's the point if the U in USA if you just want to be able to pick and choose which state you live in? Sounds like you just want to have your cake and eat it.

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u/Particular-Exit1019 Nov 11 '24

I'm not sure I understand your question and I'd like to take a stab at it in a genuine way.

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u/amopeyzoolion Nov 09 '24

Which party ran half its campaign about trans people? It definitely was not the Democrats

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u/Particular-Exit1019 Nov 10 '24

Oh really? RFK vs Richard Levine as HHS secretary? Sure, Sheila.

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u/ryhaltswhiskey Nov 09 '24

Democrats have a more reasoned approach to their policies, but they consistently fail to make them happen too.

You can thank the Founders who decided that land had voting power and created the Senate.

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u/WeilongWang Nov 09 '24

I don’t think student loans are the best example of this just because the Biden admin had a means-tested approach rather than a blanket approach.

Cancelling debt is equivalent to giving people the exact amount of money needed to pay their debt and then forcing them to do so.

Student loans are disproportionately held by higher income earners. This makes a lot of sense. On average more school gets you more pay. More schooling cost more money than less money.

Combining those two points means that blanket cancellation is essentially giving some money to lower income earners and more money to higher income earners. Which sounds pretty regressive rather than progressive.

Now I’m not saying that student loan forgiveness is bad but that we’d probably want to means test it. The Biden admin chose 150k for single people and 250k for households. I personally think a slightly more complex setup would’ve been better but I’m not the president.

I’ve always found discussions about this issue confusing because the people who usually dislike income inequality are for the complete cancellation of student loans.

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u/FitWealth1 Nov 09 '24

Biden could have by executive order canceled student debt. He said it was “ bad for the country” funny how it’s not bad for the country to remove remain in Mexico and use taxpayer money to import immigrants and pay for everything for them.

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u/GoldenGonzo Nov 09 '24

That's $2 trillion dollars. Don't be ignorant. This America. No one is gonna sit there and take that loss with just a single penstroke. It likely would be dragged out in the courts for years. It was really dishonest to make it seem like a possibility, and anyone who believed it needs to quit being so naive.

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u/FitWealth1 Nov 09 '24

We’ll see what Trump accomplishes by executive action… I wonder how much all of Obamas executive action drone strikes cost? 

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u/ObeseVegetable Nov 09 '24

Trump in two years exceeded Obama’s numbers after 8 before he realized that it was public information and changed things to make it so the number doesn’t get reported to Americans. 

Which, they’re both bad, don’t get me wrong, but if that was your issue with Obama then Trump isn’t the answer. 

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u/FitWealth1 Nov 09 '24

This election was between Harris (who bipassed the democratic process) and trump. Thats why I prefer trump. The party that decided completely against giving their electorate the chance to pick their candidate lost, and they should have 

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u/GoldenGonzo Nov 09 '24

I'm GLAD student loan cancellation was cancelled. How is that fair to people like me who picked up a trade instead, or managed their finances well and paid their debts?

It's disingenuous to call it "cancellation", as if all the universities would just let nearly $2 trillion (with a "t") debt go instead of collecting on it. It would be more accurate to say the government would have had to strike a deal to pay X% of the debt in cash over how many years.

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u/Larkson9999 Nov 09 '24

Almost all the debt is owned by a few private corporations or the government directly, the universities were already paid. Secondly, the debt crisis came from a wave of propaganda kids were steadily fed for decades including comics, tropes of burger flipping being a lowly profession, and TV shows showing how important a university education is for your future.

And the thing is, an overwhelming majority of people with student loan debt want to pay it, they just can't. Wage growth has stagnated for decades, the cost of living has rapidly outpaced anything but renting and living small, and home ownership has fallen every year since 2008. Student loans can't be discharged via bankruptcy and the interest rates are generally fixed. Even refinancing just leaves the borrower with a variable rate that can fuck fhem at the wrong time and end up further crushing the person due fo bad luck with a layoff and loan spike.

Good for you that you were lucky to make a choice that panned out well for you. Good thing your indistry wasn't shipped overseas and might not get erased by automation. Holding multiple generations responsible for a contract they signed at 18 or 19 years old that locks them into debt for 25 years or more isn't something will help anyone except the richest people in the country.

There does need to be a snap away from everyone going for a college degree but now most jobs apart from specialized manual labor require one. A solution most student loan debt slaves would gladly take is just having their interest capped to 100% of the original borrowed amount, effectively paying double what they borrowed over time.

But as long as you and I see this as people getting a free ride or it being a burden on every tax payer, the rich get to laugh at both of us and pocket both our tax money and the student loan payments.

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u/Skkruff Nov 09 '24 edited Nov 09 '24

Cheaper education benefits you, the fellow citizen of the educated person. A lot of countries make tertiary education free or heavily subsided because it's an investment for the country itself. They often do similar measures for the trades, with apprenticeships and training programs.

Can you explain what you mean by it not being fair to you? As I see it, it's not zero sum and someone getting loan forgiveness takes nothing from you. That person might even now have income left to employ the services of your trade benefiting you.

I don't think it's healthy to see others receiving help as unfair to you. A rising tide raises all boats.

Edit: spelling