Regular readers of the Hotline know that we've been warning for nine months that Joe Biden would not be the Democratic nominee, and it is looking like we were right. The debate appears to have been a setup to get Biden off the ticket. It's hard to believe that the left didn't know how impaired Biden is. The Wall Street Journal described Biden's performance as a "crash".
The betting odds are rising rapidly that Biden will be replaced.
The front-runner is California Governor Gavin Newsom. Newsom is slick, buttoned up, Clintonesque, and liberal as the day is long.
The problem is that California is a basket case.
As you can see below, the Golden State ranks 50th or near last on every economic policy metric.
The new revised numbers for the first quarter of 2024 GDP are out. Originally, we were told that personal consumption expenditure growth was 2.5% and government expenditures were up 1.2% – breaking the streak of government outgrowing the private sector. But wait. Those numbers have both been heavily revised with this final estimate to 1.5% and 1.8%, respectively. That means growth in government expenditures has outpaced growth in consumer spending for seven straight quarters.
This is completely unsustainable, being fueled by Biden's multi-trillion-dollar debt binge. But Biden and the Left are in favor of big government, so they want it to grow and grow.
3) Debate Fact Check: No, Trump's Debt and Deficits Were NOT Higher Than Biden's
Just as we expected, Biden regurgitated the phony claim by leftwing think tanks that Trump was a bigger borrower than he has been.
The claim isn't even close to being true. Here are the deficit numbers once again.
Deficit Trends Over Time, FY 2017-2024
Both presidents have lousy records on the debt, but Biden's deficits are larger, even if we included the COVID year 2020. Trump's deficits are roughly $1.4 trillion a year and Biden's are closer to $2 trillion a year.
Last night Joe Biden couldn't resist calling Trump a convicted felon.
Meanwhile, bravo to former NY Attorney General and Governor Andrew Cuomo for speaking the truth that everyone knows, but almost no other Democrat will acknowledge: the trial against Trump in New York was a farce.
Bill Maher, the host of HBO's "Real Time" asked Cuomo about Donald Trump's conviction in a New York state court.
"That case, the attorney general's case in New York, frankly, should have never been brought."
He continued: "If his name was not Donald Trump and if he wasn't running for president. I'm the former AG in New York. I'm telling you, that case would have never been brought. And that's what is offensive to people. And it should be! Because if there's anything left...it's belief in the Justice system!"
It won't surprise HOTLINE readers that the normally raucous Maher audience of LA liberals went completely quiet at that point.
South Africa is resisting demands from wealthy Western nations that it close its coal-fired power plants. The "Net Zero" countries want it to convert the plants to uncertain renewable energy in exchange for $9.3 billion in loans and grants.
Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, South Africa's electricity minister, says he won't turn South Africa into a "guinea pig" for the worldwide Green New Deal. South Africa suffered the worst power cuts in its history last year and said it must postpone the closure of three plants.
South Africa says the Western lenders "are unlikely to tolerate a significant reversal of the plans," but its newly elected multi-party coalition government there is willing to risk a withdrawal of the money.
Climate change fanatics love to shower money on developing nations to make their fanciful worldwide "Net Zero" emission targets look more plausible. But in reality, they are bribing governments to endanger their energy sectors, impoverish their own people, and actually discourage the economic growth they so desperately need. It is a profoundly anti-human policy and kudos to South Africa for not blindly following Kenya's path.
