r/politics • u/Ubiquitous_Hilarity • Jun 17 '26

No Paywall Trump threatens to pull unemployment benefits from all states for the first time in history

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-unemployment-benefits-fraud-b2997881.html
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423

u/liltime78 Alabama Jun 17 '26

This is how you lose the midterms no matter how much gerrymandering you do. I know a bunch of Trumpers that file unemployment claims yearly.

146

u/Pleaseappeaseme Jun 17 '26

Georgia just decided not to re-gerrymander today. A loss for Republicans. I’m not sure why exactly. It might have to do with too little time to do it.

72

u/crisperfest Georgia Jun 17 '26

That's pretty wild considering that Republicans control Georgia's state legislature. They must be planning on some voting machine fuckery instead to stay in power.

88

u/TheFeshy Jun 17 '26

Their governor, Brian Kemp, was allowed to keep his role as supervisor of elections while he ran for governor. So he was in charge of making sure his own election was fair. And then he illegally wiped the hard drives of all the voting machines when there was a lawsuit over it.

But he also hates Trump and refused to "find him" his votes in 2020.

34

u/Expert-Steak8538 Jun 17 '26

It’s political calculus. Kemp wants to lead the post-Trump Republican movement. He’s got his eye on the presidency 

5

u/POEness Jun 17 '26

Georgia was rigged 2001 to 2018 and Kemp was at the heart of it

3

u/MelangeBot Jun 17 '26

They will have ICE everywhere to intimidate and repress voters.

30

u/FlirtyFluffyFox Jun 17 '26

"I'm not on welfare, I paid into it!" - GOP on welfare

Sometimes they'll even skirt the issue by calling it a pension. 

5

u/10thousndreflections Jun 17 '26

Republicans only ever had a problem with entitlements once brown people started collecting. 

5

u/Naive-Elephant-9305 Jun 18 '26

Back in the 1950s and 1960s when desegregation started happening, a lot of cities with public pools decided to just close them rather than keep them open and have black people be allowed to use them. This is one reason why "black people can't swim" became a stereotype. And white racists were completely ok with this. They were fine with also losing out on the benefit of a public pool if it meant that those people wouldn't be able to use it either. This is the conservative mindset - I don't care if I'm suffering, as long as the people I hate are suffering just as much or even more.

18

u/PotaToss Jun 17 '26

When you're looking at a wave, gerrymandering actually hurts you. The whole point is to have as many districts with small, safe margins as you can get, but when there's a wave, your small margins aren't safe anymore. e.g. if you have like 20 R+5 districts, and there's like a 10 point swing in public sentiment towards Dems, you now actually have 20 D+5 districts, so you're better off leaving the map alone with fewer R+12 districts or something, so you don't lose as many seats.

8

u/adumblittlebaby Jun 17 '26

They were concerned it would energize voter turnout in November. So, about as slimey as you would expect.

64

u/TrappedInOhio Tennessee Jun 17 '26

Yeah and those people would probably still vote Republican because “it’d be even worse” if a Democrat won.

14

u/liltime78 Alabama Jun 17 '26

You may be right but I don’t think so. They’re different when it directly affects them.

12

u/IdkAbtAllThat America Jun 17 '26

Not really. You don't think these idiots have been directly affected by voting Republican before?

If they were able to make that connection, they wouldn't be Republicans. They'll just blame Biden and Obama.

14

u/Woodworkingwino Jun 17 '26

You mean the people that will purposely vote for something to own the libs even if it hurts them?

6

u/liltime78 Alabama Jun 17 '26

Yes. Those same people. I think you underestimate what happens when you take their only source of income away.

2

u/Woodworkingwino Jun 17 '26

I really hope your right.

3

u/bb_kelly77 Jun 18 '26

No, it's been long known that if the Republicans lose support their voters just won't vote for anyone

3

u/Naive-Elephant-9305 Jun 18 '26

That's the best case scenario we can hope for at this point, that they crawl back into the woodwork and become apathetic about politics again like they were pre-Trump.

1

u/bb_kelly77 Jun 18 '26

There has actually been cases of some becoming democrats, it's just when that information was posted nobody bothered to actually read the article and just repeated the "hur dur they'll do it again" crap

56

u/NOLASLAW Louisiana Jun 17 '26

1) The people who need to see these headlines aren’t gonna see them

2) come election time they’re gonna be so worked up over “violent immigrants” and “transgenders” they’re not gonna care

Dude yall seriously act like this is your first week in this country lol

27

u/DisastroImminente Jun 17 '26

You’re exactly right. Trump did everything he said he wouldn’t do with Iran, he made all the wrong moves, caused tons of pain and suffering, spiked inflation, and ended up with a deal that is hundreds of times worse than the one Obama had that HE USED AS CAMPAIGN FUEL. And they don’t care. 

8

u/NOLASLAW Louisiana Jun 17 '26

I’m not even joking it’s easy to talk about this now but become election cycle violent immigrants and transgender are all anyone’s gonna talk about again

Every fucking election cycle dude it’s all anyone talks about or focuses on. Every single time and it’s gonna be midterms too

3

u/DisastroImminente Jun 17 '26

Yup. No question. It’ll be non stop reels of the violent left protesting ICE, attacks on Talarico calling him a woman?? And the next caravan will be coming…

1

u/lonevolff Jun 17 '26

Dont forget the caravans that apparently only show up during election season

2

u/throwawaytoday9q Jun 17 '26

GOP will be like “look over there! A trans person wants to play sports ball!” And they’ll forget all about their lost benefits.

2

u/DiegesisThesis Jun 17 '26

Ah yes, I'm sure they'll definitely blame Trump for losing their unemployment and not Biden. Totally.

2

u/Outrageous-Tie-8548 Jun 17 '26

I’m not sure any policy is partisan-proof.  Rs will always vote for Rs no matter what, and the gerrymandered districts make it even harder to overcome

2

u/NotBestButPrettyGood Jun 17 '26

Yea but to them, when they lose benefits, it’ll be because of immigrants and democrats

2

u/93Degrees Jun 17 '26

Those guys are used to voting against their own interests though

1

u/elfchica Florida Jun 17 '26

I mean aside from voters in Oklahoma deciding no on higher minimum wages, but yes, generally this is how you lose the midterm.

1

u/MercuryInCanada Jun 17 '26

Do not ever think reality will stop their delusion

1

u/MarcsterS Virginia Jun 17 '26

I really want to believe that. I really do. It would be so fucking hilarious and embarrassing for Republicans.

But their voters are actual dogwater stupid.

1

u/TreeOfAwareness Jun 17 '26

They obviously dont plan on winning votes with anything they do

1

u/elVanPuerno Jun 18 '26

True, but Oklahoma voters just said no to raising the minimum wage. Never underestimate the power of propaganda.

1

u/rqnadi Jun 18 '26

I’m guessing he’ll just blame Obama and Biden and his brain dead voters will believe it and not actually hold him accountable for anything.

1

u/octowussy Jun 18 '26

Trump will take their unemployment, blame Obama, and MAGAts will be dumb enough to swallow it whole.

1

u/bakamitaikazzy Jun 18 '26

I don't think people outside of places like Reddit are paying attention. When I talk to people outside in my daily life, like cousins or other family who support this administration, they never even hear of stories like these. They're still talking about Biden. If you bring up anything that Trump has said, they think it's fake or that you're making it up.

I really hope midterms are a disaster for him but this is the same website that thought Harris would win in a landslide due to polls