Things That Happened Before Trump Got Elected Are Definitely His Fault—Just Ask MSN

In a move that shocked precisely nobody, Macy’s is closing seven stores and laying off 5,000 workers across the country. In addition to being predictable because of the rise of e-commerce and the never-ending retail slump that likely ends with brick-and-mortar becoming a thing of the past, it’s predictable because Macy’s originally announced this plan in August of 2016. The only real news to come out of this was the naming of 7 of the 100 stores that are doomed under the original plan.

The particularly astute among you will notice that August 2016 is several months before January 20th, 2017, which is when President Donald J. Trump took office. In fact, it’s even a few months before November 8th, 2016, when Donald Trump was elected. So why are MSN, USA Today, and others acting like this is news today?

Simple. There’s been too much good news in the financial sector since Trump was elected, and, specifically, far too much good news since he signed his tax bill into law. Time to incense the readers a bit. Predictably, it worked.

That’s just three of the hundreds of social media comments on the MSN article. Of course, buried, way deep in the MSN and USA TODAY articles are some other interesting facts.

  • Macy’s digital sales volume is up double digits
  • Even Macy’s brick-and-mortar volume is up 1.1% since Trump’s inauguration, due to the “overall strong economy”

So, lemme get this right…the layoffs were announced in 2016, the economy is booming, Macy’s has been doing better since Trump took office, and yet, somehow the layoffs are Trump’s fault? On the day that the Dow hit 25,000 for the first time in history?

 

Hey, angry social media mob, why not direct some of your anger at your liberal friend, Jeff Bezos? His Amazon is the reason why nobody shops at the mall anymore. Have you been in a Macy’s lately? You could play a game of tackle football in the men’s department without hitting anybody! Trump can’t make people stop shopping online—even Macy’s is benefitting from this trend. They can sell more goods without having to hire people to work their cavernous, far-too-large retail stores. And let’s not forget that under Fearless Leader Obama, Macy’s announced even bigger cuts.

How do you justify your bizarre cognitive dissonance that “manufacturing jobs aren’t coming back” but “retail jobs going away is Trump’s fault?” Hell, Macy’s dumped all of Trump’s clothing lines—he can’t help them now! Maybe if they’d kept them, Trump supporters would be MAGAing all over their stores (probably not)!

With headlines and articles like this, it’s no wonder that Trump is obsessed with the “dishonest, unfair media.” From his perspective, that’s exactly what they are.

32 Replies to “Things That Happened Before Trump Got Elected Are Definitely His Fault—Just Ask MSN”

  1. everybodyhatesscott

    Trump derangement syndrome is still in full effect. It’s probably worse because he’s been more effective than any of us thought he would be. I say this as someone who voted for him. I’m not a particular fan of his style (outside of the schadenfreude of driving liberals crazy) but you can’t ignore the results.

    Reply
    • Fred Lee

      Which results exactly? The only thing I’ve seen is the tax reform package which, against all odds, actually made filing personal income taxes more complex thereby increasing government’s influence on our lives.

      Reply
    • Kvndoom

      It’s okay because I’m expecting Obama derangement syndrome to still be going strong well into my retirement two decades from now.

      America will never get over the fact that that… person (I will leave out the more colorful words that are used in private)… got elected.

      Reply
  2. stingray65

    I remember watching the CBS evening news with Dan Rather in 1981 just after Reagan took office. Interest rates were 20%, unemployment was 10+%, inflation was running wild, and Rather announced a new feature where they would periodically run stories regarding updates to these economic indicators under Reagan, with the idea no doubt to show how all those trickle-down tax relief, anti-union, anti-regulation policies were utterly failing to help the poor working man in Allentown and Flint. I watched regularly for those updates, but they never came because those damn Reagan policies were bringing rapid economic growth, chopping inflation and interest rates, and rapidly reducing unemployment, much to the mainstream media’s disappointment. When the Internet bubble popped shortly after GW Bush was elected, the media of course blamed George who had been in office only a few days, rather than their hero Bill Rapist Clinton. During the past year, as the economy as boomed I have seen lots of stories about how it was all because Obama’s policies to increase taxes, regulation, energy prices, and flood the country with illegal immigrants and refugees from unsuccessful and violent cultures were finally starting to bear economic fruit after 8 years. So it naturally follows (according to Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman) that Trump’s reversal of all of these Obama initiates is and will be the cause of any negative economic news that occurs between November 2016 and when the next Democrat president leaves office. I’m just thankful that the mainstream media is so economically literate and can therefore accurately attribute credit and blame for economic success and failure, because otherwise low information voters such as myself might erroneously give Trump credit for any good economic news.

    Retail shopping creates another gender difference. I always hated being dragged to the mall by my mother, or girlfriend, or wife, but could usually find something in a bookstore, record/video store, game arcade, sports equipment store, or computer store to pass the time. Now they are all gone or greatly withered away due to the move online, and there is absolutely nothing interesting for the male shopper to do at the mall. If women ever get fully comfortable ordering clothes online (and it is moving in that direction), there will be absolutely no reason to keep any mall open.

    Reply
  3. John C.

    The fact is though stores are closing and people have a right to hold the current leader accountable. Hopefully there will be enough new well paying jobs in the areas that have lost so many. Don’t kid yourself that this is easy to achieve. I am not at all sure that the areas that turned from Obama to Trump in 2016 will see enough of a turnaround to justify a second term for Trump.

    Reply
  4. Bigtruckseriesreview

    Trump couldn’t even win the popular vote.
    Hillary won it by over 3,000,000 votes.
    The reality is that Election 2016 presented us with two TERRIBLE, unpopular candidates and demanded we chose the lesser of two evils.

    Most people don’t drink diet coke.

    What bothers me more than anything are all the people who “think” Bernie Sanders could have won.
    THE REALITY IS, Bernie Sanders had NO CHANCE of Beating Hillary and ABSOLUTELY NO CHANCE of winning the national eelection.

    The older democrats were not supporting him. The younger, know-nothing, spoiled brat liberal kids who wanted handouts supported Bernie and believed his ridiculous nonsense about “free tuition and healthcare”, etc.

    Sanders would NEVER have beaten Hillary.

    The problem is that the DNC – which was controlled by the Clintons (according to Donna Brazille) wanted to get rid of Sanders before he stole too much of Hillary’s spotlight and tnethusiam, (which is exactly what happened). Julian Assange from Wikileaks, let it be known that Debbie Wasserman Schultz helped Hillary oust Sanders and the younger voter turned on her.

    Trump is only president because:
    #1 Obama couldn’t run a 3rd term
    #2 Hillary was unlike-able and couldn’t get Obama’s turnout (either 2008 or 2012)
    #3 Stay at home voters let him win.

    This time around:

    Hillary is now finished.

    Bernie Sanders is NO MORE.

    The current DNC is WASTING TIME not getting their message out (they don’t have one) and WASTING TIME not fielding a candidate to support in 2020, while simultaneously preparing for the election in 2018.

    All they really have to do is register as many minorities as possible.

    Moore got his ass handed to him by a sudden turnout of African American (females) which the GOP was so butthurt that they tried to scream voter fraud and “bussing of voters into the area” (obvious BULLSHIT).

    I am certain Trump will be a one term president.

    All the left has to do is show up against him and the right-wing – even with their best voter turnout can’t beat the left.

    Obama didn’t have the same turnout in 2010 against Romney that he had in 2008 against McCain/Palin, but he still beat Romney with a healthy margin.

    This country is moving left – whether Fox will admit it or not.

    BOTTOM LINE: this country’s problems revolve around JOBS.
    JOB LOSS is feeding divorce, illegitimacy, opioid addiction, homeloss, suicide, etc.

    Shipping your factories to CHINA and INDIA or other parts of southeast ASIA was never gonna work.

    With fewer than 322 Million in America, there is no way this country can compete with over 3 Billion Asians living in poverty and willing to work for slave wages. And that’s not counting the 1 Billion Africans or 400,000,000 South Americans.

    We shouldn’t have to compete with the globe for living-wage pay jobs.

    Does that sound protectionist?

    Well good. Cause that’s exactly how/why Trump won.

    Reply
      • Yamahog

        In which BTSR reveals himself to be YET ANOTHER LIBERAL who identifies the will of the people with the will of the majority and uses that as a cudgel to separate the politically legitimate from the politically illegitimate. SAD!

        Newsflash: Sovereignty rests within the State and the essence of Sovereignty isn’t coercion or violence, but the monopoly to decide. That never was nor ever will be the job of the voters.

        Reply
        • Bigtruckseriesreview

          NEWSFLASH…Trump is going to get his ass HANDED TO HIM by the angry voters who rise up against him and the right wing will be powerless to stop them.

          And please – calling me a liberal is a waste of time.

          Thing of me as a DARWINIST who just wants to see fights to the death and wants the strongest to dominate.

          I HONESTLY DON’T CARE who wins so long as my pockets are full.

          You try to group people into “either – or”.

          I am more like THE JOKER. I want to see the Republicans and the Democrats burned to the ground.

          You don’t understand me and you never will.

          People like you can’t understand people like me.

          Sad thing is, TRUMP is like me.

          He’s just able to CON people like you.

          Reply
        • arbuckle

          “In which BTSR reveals himself to be YET ANOTHER LIBERAL”

          Nah, BigTruck’s only ideology is the continued enrichment of BigTruck. He doesn’t really believe in or care about anything beyond that.

          His rants are largely inauthentic. If you watch his videos he’s basically just a normal guy forcing himself to play the role of “troll” because it grants him some Youtube bucks and very minor internet notoriety. If his shtick turns your crank have at it (Jack seems to enjoy it FWIW), but I’ve been glossing over his stuff for awhile now.

          Deadweight might have a stage 4 spectrum disorder but at least when he goes off the handle I think he means it.

          Reply
          • Bigtruckseriesreview

            I consider my rants to be valid and authentic. I couldn’t possibly care less about my detractor’s opinions.

            Glossing over my work is your right.

            There are over 7 Billion potential readers/viewers out there. I don’t need to reach them all – nor will I possibly reach them all. I’ll settle for a fraction of that.

            YES the Youtube revenue is why I do what I do the way I do it.

            No two organisms occupy the exact same niche.

            I found mine and it just happens to pay well.

    • Yamahog

      Moore lost by what? A less than 2% margin? And he only got like 60% of the votes that Trump did?

      The GOP is more electable than most people give it credit for, and the DNC can’t get on message because there’s all but open warfare between rich liberals and poor socialists. It’s the Anna Karenina principle in real life – each party is dysfunctional in its own way.

      The real bane is the first past the post voting and gerrymandering, so few elected officials face competitive elections – where’s there incentive to kick ass and get stuff done if there’s a low risk they’ll lose their job to incompetence. Show me someone who’s been elected to the same position for 20 years and I’ll show you someone who has probably been ‘working’ on the same problems for the same amount of time.

      When Hamilton was a flash in the pan, I got caught up in the moment and thought this might be the thing that helps return us to an elitist democracy but that’s not the case. Right in the federalist papers, Hamilton said the house was elected to two year terms so that accomplished people could do a tour and go back to their affairs. We need better people running this country than the jokers who keep winning elections.

      Reply
      • Bigtruckseriesreview

        A LOSS IS A LOSS

        Regardless how you feel about it: the LEFT is getting ready to come out to vote and they are gonna PURGE the GOP just like they did in 2006.

        NO the majority is NOT going to be held hostage by a handful of people in low population states.

        These idiot BERN-OUTS didn’t show up for Hillary in 2016, but they are gonna turn out like roaches to make sure trump’s a one-term President.

        Kiss his ass goodbye.

        And that’s ASSUMING Mueller doesn’t get him first.

        I see a forced resignation in his future.

        Or at least a decision NOT to seek re-election.

        He couldn’t even get the popular vote the first time around. If this PATHETIC DNC had my voice, we’d be trolling that conman DAILY – 24/7.

        Reply
          • Bigtruckseriesreview

            You misunderstand me.

            Anyone who knows me knows that I have been saying for more than two years Trump was going to win.

            I am absolutely glad that Trump won because I feel that the foot up the ass of everyone which he puts is going to force people to work harder and be better-or else face being destroyed.

            I think too many of these entitled spoiled brats have gotten what they wanted for too long and now it’s time for them to face opposition.

            Insurmountable opposition that they can’t simply rebel against.

            That’ll teach em. This time they better come out to vote or they’ll be plunged into hell for another four years straight.

            If they get off their asses and get out to vote he will be a one term president.

            More importantly: for at least one generation these morons will understand the penalty and consequence that comes if they don’t vote.

            I also suspect that the future DNC will be more careful allowing riffraff like Sanders to interfere with the nomination of whoever they choose to be the predestined candidate.

            I demand that they fight for everything that they get.

            These people are nothing more than chess pieces.

    • Thomas Kreutzer

      Sanders may not have beat Hillary, but a fair nomination process with several candidates would have added validity to her candidacy and could have helped to motivate those people who stayed at home. Instead, the leaked DNC emails showed that the race was rigged from the start and that angered a lot of rank-and-file Democrats. But it goes even deeper than Sanders. Other qualified candidates **cough-Biden!** had to know that Hillary was going to be the candidate no matter what happened and they chose to walk away rather than get mixed up in a shit show.

      As for Trump not winning the popular vote, I think that is a bogus argument. It’s like a football team scoring five field goals beating a that scored two touchdowns. You can say that they don’t deserve to win because they never put the ball into the end-zone (while the other team did it twice!) but the rules say that the team with the most points on the board at the end of the game wins – regardless of how the points were put there. So, Trump didn’t win the popular vote, but the rules of the game that say the win is decided by the electoral votes not popular votes – so, in under those rules, he played it pretty smart.

      As for whether or not the Dems will win the next election, that remains to be seen. Republican voters tend to be very reliable and show up no matter what. Democratic voters are more mercurial and will turn out if there is a lot of outrage (or Hope!) but will stay home if they lack the motivation. The trick for the Dems will be to get their people motivated and keep them that way. Yes, the country is poised to shift to the left – which I can remember happening in the ’70s – but that can come undone very quickly and, meanwhile, the right is pretty staunch and it won’t take many people defecting from the left for things to swing their way again.

      Reply
      • Disinterested-Observer

        re popular vs. electoral: one wonders if the vast majority of states were not winner take all whether solid red or blue states would be more closely contested. I live ina purple state, but imagine if Oregon or New York, or Texas for that matter, gave proportional electors. The turnout in Bend or Syracuse or Austin might improve. What the result would be I don’t know.

        Reply
    • silentsod

      Arguably this country’s problems revolve around the loss of common cultural values and families, but you’d have to read Coming Apart by Charles Murray and some related material to hear the full arguments.

      Reply
  5. Spud Boy

    Wait for the media to suddenly discover the homeless, who’ve exploded in number over the last 10 years, and blame their existence on Trump.

    Reply
  6. Dirty Dingus McGee

    One thing Trump HAS managed to do, is unite the Republican and Democrat parties in their hatred of him. Is he conservative? Hell no. For a long time he leaned Democrat. Perhaps he is the “wake up” call this country needed.

    Career politicians are the bane of this country. I strongly think the one thing the writers of the constitution botched badly was NOT putting term limits on representatives and senators. Of course senate elections are relatively new, as they used to be appointed by the state which would ensure turnover based on who was running a state at the time. Now, “every one of the SOB’s are worthless aholes, except for our’s. He does a good job” and you get the long term oxygen thief’s residing in Washngton forever and ever, amen. And somehow manage to become millionaires while they are there.

    Reply
  7. Duong Ngyuen

    Too bad his idiot attorney general wants to shut down legalized weed.

    I don’t smoke it so I don’t care if state governments tax the crap out of it. Maybe it will keep lawmakers from taxing things I do purchase!

    Reply
    • David Florida

      “legalized weed”

      The AG could not shut down something that actually had been *legalized*. It’s a shame that we keep putting the cart before the horse, eh?

      Reply
  8. Paul M.

    It’s not about Macy’s shutting down. That retail jobs are being replaced by Amazons and the like is a forgone conclusion.

    What I find amazing about Trump, in a bad way, is after screaming about saving jobs during campaign, he had an opportunity to do something about it with the tax cuts that he just gave big companies.

    Would it have been too hard to force companies getting the corporat tax cuts to put at least 1/3 of those cuts into investments in America? Or bringing outsourced jobs back? We all know those tax cuts will instead go to shareholders and Wall Street profits. Opportunity lost.

    Reply
  9. E. Bryant

    Everyone makes a big deal of the internet-vs-brick-and-mortar battle, but currently online sales are only 10% of all retail (with Amazon accounting for roughly half of that). That’s a significant hit, but considering that GDP in general has grown by 35% in the last decade, there should be plenty of pie to go around even with some extra guests at the table.

    Instead of blaming everything on “the internet”, perhaps one should be looking at some of those struggling companies and realizing that that they were dead-men-walking even before the evil Mr. Bezos entered the scene. Or maybe we should be looking at economic policies that have left ever-larger chunks of that precious GDP growth going to an ever-smaller number of individuals (putting a few trillion dollars into the pockets of a million people creates a different economic outcome than putting it into the pockets of a hundred million people, at least with regards to the sales of a retail clothing outlet).

    None of this seems to have much to do with Trump. But the media will keep on blaming him for stuff like this, just as Trump will take credit for something like the 2017 air travel safety record. As far as I’m concerned, Trump and the media are made for each other.

    Reply
    • DirtRoads

      The media thrives on Trump, what do you mean? They get more clicks with their hatred of Trump than any other topic they can find. And Trump feeds them, so they get more and more clicks, yet the irony is that also gets out Trump’s message.

      Journalism is dead. “News” is all about entertainment. There are no news agencies any more.

      Reply
  10. Jim

    I work for the ever hated Comcast. The day after the tax cut I was sent a memo that said because of the tax cut and net neutrality rollback we were given a 1000 dollar bonus and the company was going to do significant infrastructure upgrades. Later The same day my boss called me to come in to the office which was unusual. I was given a 10,000 dollar a year raise because of the tax cut. Believe it or not. I was sceptical of President Trump but now am a firm supporter. His policies are making this country prosper in ways we haven’t seen.

    Reply

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