Wow! I just had a talk with a older lady about Trump and let me...

[imanamerican63]

tell you she didn’t hold anything back! I have a a delivery here in Georgia and went to the little fuel stop across from where I have to deliver. The place wasn’t busy, so we started to chat. She was very pleasant and we talk about the weather then she brought up Trump. Now I didn’t know how react when she began. I thought “oh boy here we go”, I’m in Georgia too. But to my surprise, she was so against him! She is her early 70 & all still has to work. She was retired nurse and was doing fairly well until Trump cut her social security and Medicare. She had voted for him but will not vote for him this year. She went on to say that she lost her husband to cancer two years, because of the cuts here in Georgia. She than turned it on and said if any Republicans can’t see what Trump was doing to our country need to be put out on our he street too. I guess you just never know people think? We talked a bit more and then she need to her job done cause it was the end of $12 an hour shift.

[Skittles]

1. I am curious but

how did Trump cut her SS and Medicare

I know he WANTS to.

[lunatica]

3. My question too.

Maybe a state law?

[LakeArenal]

55. As a former nurse, maybe she had a pension cut because she was in a union?

[Midnight Writer]

4. Thanks, Skittles. I thought I must of missed something big.

I have no doubt that this lady believes this, but I wonder why.

It reminds me of stories my co-workers would tell me about how their insurance companies screwed them after "Obama took over the health care". Even though none of them were on an Obamacare policy, they had the same company insurance they had carried all along.

[radical noodle]

9. I'm in my 70s and my social security and medicare

have not been cut.

[Nay]

35. I have not had any cuts, either -- I wonder what the lady was talking about? Sounds like

she got cuts from somewhere, the state maybe?

[radical noodle]

38. The state can't cut SS or Medicare

but if it gets trump one less vote, I'm not going to quibble.

[Nay]

41. Yeah, I know, but I wondered if she was on some state program that got cut and she

thought it was Trump's fault, and was mistaken in thinking it was an SS cut. But the other explanations about how her husband's death had changed her SS -- that's what's going on, I think. But that's just the way SS has always worked.

[James48]

12. Answer:

Her husband died. So their family Social Security was cut from two people, to survivors benefits- one person.

From the SSA website: “When a Social Security beneficiary dies, his or her surviving spouse is eligible for survivor benefits. A surviving spouse can collect 100 percent of the late spouse’s benefit if the survivor has reached full retirement age, but the amount will be lower if the deceased spouse claimed benefits before he or she reached full retirement age. (Full retirement age is currently 66 but is gradually increasing to 67 over the next several years.)

If you were already receiving spousal benefits on the deceased’s work record, Social Security will in most cases switch you automatically to survivor benefits when the death is reported. “


She must think Trump did it. It’s always been the law, but I wouldn’t bother to correct that misinformation.

[Skittles]

17. strange

it's almost like bait

[radical noodle]

40. Thanks for clarifying

but OMG the things that get in people's heads. (and thanks for not bothering to correct her)

[ribrepin]

23. Her husband died two years ago

She probably lost some social security. They let the surviving spouse choose between their own social security or the husband's so she lost one social security payment.

[Skittles]

25. and that is Trump's fault....how

?

[MiniMe]

49. Just a coincidence that it happened the year tRump took office

That is actually not tRump's fault, though my guess is that tRump would like to get rid of SS.

[Hortensis]

31. That's my guess too. She for sure lost income because of that.

[Blue_true]

57. I hate to sound unethical.

But if a Trump voter in 2016 now feels that he has screwed them and plan to vote against him AND any republican they can, why the fuck should we worry about minute details? Let's just welcome their potential vote and work to reenforce their hatred of him and republicans. If Facebook and other social media sites are going to allow the telling of obvious lies, are we well served to insist on always telling or insuring the telling of the truth?

[catbyte]

2. That thing wasn't too popular today in the little neighborhood grocery store I shop at.

I went to stock up on supplies for the winter storm that's supposed to hit this weekend and there was a crabby-looking old guy in a red MAGA hat in front of me at the checkout. I glanced back at the woman in line after me and she looked at him then rolled her eyes. Then I looked at the front door and two people came in, looked at the guy, rolled their eyes, shook their heads, and laughed. Then when he left, the checkout clerk rolled her eyes and shook her head. I just had to laugh. And most of the folks doing that looked like they could've voted for him in 2016.

[lunatica]

5. There's a epidemic of rolling eye strain in our country

[Judi Lynn]

7. Love your post! It is surely the bright spot in my day. Thank you. n/t

[aeromanKC]

11. MAGA hats have become modern day scarlet letters

(shakes head and rolls eyes)

[mahina]

21. I just love this post. It deserves to be an OP

What part of the country are you in if I might ask?

Dare I hope the south?

[mnhtnbb]

29. Catbyte is in Michigan.

[Hortensis]

32. :) In MI's fine too.

[mahina]

42. That's really good news too.

[catbyte]

36. I'm in Michigan, but it is one of the rust belt swing states that installed that thing in office

Last edited Fri Jan 10, 2020, 02:26 PM - Edit history (1)

--by only 10.3K votes out of almost 5M cast. That's a margin of "victory" of about .002%. There are parts of the state that should be renamed Michissippi. Because of gerrymandering, Michigan was red, red, red. They dominated both houses of the state legislature and have held all of the major state administrative offices since 2010. 2018 saw a seismic shift. We won the election for Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, and Chief Justice of the MI Supreme Court--all of them women. We also have the first African American Lieutenant Governor and we managed to make significant inroads in the state legislature. The gop lost their supermajority in the state senate (losing 6 seats) and reduced their majority in the house (losing 7 seats). We also passed an anti-gerrymandering prop that will completely redraw the map after the 2020 Census. An independent commission instead of the state senate will be drawing the map which will eliminate the gerrymandered districts. That thing has a 31% approval rating according to the last polling I've seen & 61% think that thing should be removed from office.

Things are looking up in the Great Lakes State.

[mahina]

43. Thank you for the context.

Best news all month. Cheers!

🤙🏼

[itcfish]

45. My Son-in-Law is from Michigan

he is very liberal and was a big Bernie supporter in 2016 but voted for Hillary. He now is a Pete supporter but again will vote Blue No Matter Who, but his family is very MAGA, very immigrant hating very, liberal hating and my poor daughter suffers so much when she visits Michigan. All she sees are all the Trump 2020 signs. She hates all the remarks from friends and family about immigrants. My parents were immigrants from Europe and my husband is Iranian. Can you imagine? She sees Confederate flags all over the town, she just wants to leave Michigan the minute she arrives. Are there any progressive areas in Michigan besides Detroit? Could it ever go Blue?

[catbyte]

47. What part of Michigan is your son-in-law from?!?

[itcfish]

48. Milan

But my daughter travelled around a lot in the state. She says it is beautiful

[catbyte]

51. Figures. Southeast lower Michigan is the heart of Michissippi.

There are goobers & rednecks in other areas of the state, mainly rural northern lower & upper Michigan, but that area is the absolute worst. There are lots of blue areas of the state as evidenced by the 2018 elections and will be even bluer when the districts are un-gerrymandered.

[itcfish]

53. Thank you

Good to hear!

[SWBTATTReg]

54. Great news! Thanks for the status...it's always good news to see something like this tidbit of...

news being positive! Thanks for the uplifting news on this Friday!

[MuseRider]

44. I live in rural Kansas

close to Topeka but rural. My county is often blue but has become a little more competitive sadly, it went for Trump. I spend a lot of time in feed stores and farm supply stores and have seen only one MAGA hat. I know my feed store guys very well but we do not talk politics. I would wager money they voted for Trump but when that MAGA hat man left (he is actually a retired doc that we know since I as a nurse and my husband is a retired doc and we were stunned by the hat) the all looked rather amused. Support for Trump here is not normally loudly known or shown. I am really surprised by that because support for W was pretty out there, of course the war spurned that on quite a bit. It actually got a little weird and disconcerting but faded. It is odd how support comes with support from the true believers. I do not think there are many here.

Thanks for your post, it is always good to read.

[UniteFightBack]

6. After the how's your 409k comment today my deplorable co worker had to concede he is

dumb ass.

[marybourg]

8. Well, when her husband died, she lost one

s.s. check. She may be getting his amount now, if it was more than her’s, but it’s still only one. The same people who were dumb enough to blame Obama for this sort of thing may now be blaming tRump.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. Ummm, Trump did not cut her SS.

If she lost her husband, and lost his SS, I'm sincerely sorry, but that has nothing to do with who is President. It has to do with how SS works. And I'm also sorry that she didn't understand that.

If she's a nurse, and works as a nurse, she would be getting a fuck of a lot more than $12/hour. Nurses are very well paid, depending on where they work and exactly what they do. But $25/hour is pretty much the rock bottom minimum. I have a cousin who is an ER nurse in the NYC area and she makes six figures.

However, all that said, I'm glad this lady (my age, I'm 71) is anti Trump.

[Turin_C3PO]

13. I disagree that nurses are paid well.

Where I worked (as a CNA), we made $9 an hour and nurses made $22/hr. Granted this was in 2013 but nurses should be paid much better than that. I’d say at least $40/hr. Their job is as important as a doctor’s, IMO.

As far as the SS thing goes, just let her think Trump did it lol, couldn’t hurt.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

15. Where were you?

I know that location matters a lot.

Here in Santa Fe, back in 2011, newly minted nurses were making $25/hour. With all due respect, a CNA isn't a nurse. Although they should be paid more than they are.

My mother was a nurse. She became an RN back in the 1930s, so long ago that she wasn't taught to give injections. Yes, a very different world. And although she knew she could get work anywhere, which was why she had the courage to take her five children from upstate NY to Tucson, AZ, in 1962 to escape an abusive, alcoholic husband, the pay then was truly abysmal. She worked every extra shift she could get just to keep us afloat. A year or so later I had a Saturday babysitting job that paid all of $3.00 for the day, which in all fairness (and working with an inflation calculator) was around $25 in today's money. Because we were truly desperately poor, I always spent that money on groceries for my family, usually asking the mom of the girls I babysat to please stop at the grocery story when she was driving me home. She was always astonished, and I never was, because keeping us fed was basic. And Mom didn't always earn enough for that.

But when nurses earn six figures(as my cousin does), while they do deserve it, they are not underpaid.

Teachers should earn as much.

[Turin_C3PO]

46. About the CNA's, I

never said they should be paid anywhere near what a nurse gets paid. Although I will say if the minimum wage goes up to $15/hr then CNAs should get $17-20/hr, IMO. And yes, I agree, teacher’s pay should be much higher.

[Tess49]

14. He wrote that she works in a convenience store. n/t

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

16. That's not clear in the OP.

But I sort of wonder why a nurse would work in a convenience store.

[Tess49]

18. My impression was that she was working at the "fuel stop" across the street from where he

made a delivery. Aging may have something to do with working in a store, rather than in her field of nursing. Nursing involves a lot of lifting etc., that she may not be able to do at this point in her life.

[yonder]

19. From the OP:

"She was retired nurse..." Maybe her license lapsed, age related disability, etc. Who knows?

[Ilsa]

28. She was a retired nurse.

As an older nurse, I've noticed the physical, mental, and emotional stress all add up, and she may not be able to do that job any more.

[druidity33]

56. Western Mass...

$18 an hour average... not including overtime.

[Indykatie]

20. Trump is Terrible But He Hasn't Cut Any One's SS ......Not Yet Anyway

The annual increased tied to the CPI has been very small but at least Trump hasn't reduced the monthly SS payments. Same with Medicare. Nothing has been cut yet for existing beneficiaries of Medicare. I'm glad this woman won't be voting for Trump but I think she's attributing sins to him that he hasn't committed yet.

[imanamerican63]

24. Maybe in the tax laws, or she was confused?

[NewJeffCT]

39. he's proposed cuts to SS and Medicare/Medicaid

for the next budget, I believe

[ooky]

59. The OP mentions the lady voted for him in 2016.

She doesn't sound all that smart. But at least she has figured out Trump isn't helping her.

[mahina]

22. I'm hesitating because I don't want to be an ass

...Nah! Going!

Ok- there’s a name for this logical fallacy.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc, or
“If that, then because if that”, or “correlation is not necessarily causation.”

Examples? Sure

I gave my kid her vaccinations and she is autistic. Must be the vaccines.

The crops failed after a new family moved into the area. They must be witches and crops failed because of their presence.

It it always necessarily being an insufferable jackass to get excited about sharing logical fallacies?

Most schools don’t teach reasoning and we have an apathetic and 49% misinformed electorate that has an amazing tolerance for disinformation. Well there may just be a correlation there.

[Loki Liesmith]

26. Post hoc ergo propter hoc?

Last edited Fri Jan 10, 2020, 07:55 AM - Edit history (1)

[mahina]

27. Sorta! Thank you.

[Loki Liesmith]

30. Except for a stupid typo in my title

Autocorrect don’t know propter

[brooklynite]

33. Trump hasn't cure SS or Medicare///

He may want to, but the benefits nhaven’t changed.

[DeminPennswoods]

34. Let her think Trump cut her SS/Medicare benefits

and encourage other Trumpers to think the same. Don't feel bad about not giving out the correct information either.

[duforsure]

37. Had something similar happen,

A couple of people in my family have seen the light after being strong supporters , and now are almost fanatical about being against him. So much so they have already convinced others to switch away from trump.I think a lot of people have woke up to trump and the republicans , and are fed up with all their lying and corruption, and alignment with other corrupt criminal dictators.

[Binkie The Clown]

50. I play poker with a group of gun-toting redneck conservatives.

And, yes, they actually are really very nice people, but when the subject of Trump comes up they don't hold back. They hate Trump with a passion. That tells me that all hope is not lost.

[getagrip_already]

52. one other possibility...

Is that here aca benefits either got whacked or her ability to use medicare expansion benefits never materialized because GA didn't vote for it.

There was something about states having to vote for medcare expansion that would effect aca benefits, but I'm fuzzy on the details.

On Edit: This is what I was thinking of. https://tcf.org/content/commentary/georgia-waiver-plans-gut-aca-protections-state-residents/?session=1

It was medicaid, not medicare, but it effectively guts aca benefits in GA, and the feds approved it.

[questionseverything]

58. that is what i was thinking, her medicaid or what it pays for might of gotten cut

or she doesn't qualify for food stamps because of fed changes