Now I Get It: Affordability is a Con

 For months, I’ve been a bit confused about “affordability,” the latest Democrat meme. Then, early last week, I read a piece about “affordability” and realized: “of course.” Affordability is just the Democrats’ latest excuse for giving out free stuff to their supporters, paid for by you and me. Even though I can’t find the article that I read, I wrote about “affordability” on my Substack.

If you look at the Congressional Progressive Caucus “New Affordability Agenda” you realize that Affordability is not just about free stuff, but something else. “Affordability” is about politicians trying to fix things they screwed up already. It’s a lame effort to paper over the failure of government programs. Let’s go down the CPC’s bullet points.

• Government program to “directly manufacture generic drugs.” What could go wrong?
• Eliminate “the corporate stranglehold over crop production and [crack] down on price fixing by big grocery store chains.” Sen. Warren (D-MA): Stop the Kroger/Safeway merger!
• Make housing cheaper with “downpayment assistance for first-time homeowners” and “rental assistance.” Hey, sports fans! Remember the mortgage meltdown? That was all about gubmint subsidies to low-income borrowers. Know how to make housing affordable? Stop subsidizing it and stop liberal climate and zoning scams.
• “To make utility bills cheaper… crack down on for-profit utilities price gouging consumers.” Hey, sports fans: how about canceling the Green New Deal and the Climate Change Scam!
• “To make childcare cheaper… provid[e] federal funding for states and localities[.]” Federal funding for childcare? What could go wrong?
• To lower gas prices, how about a “Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax [to curb] profiteering by oil companies.” I know: how about “drill, baby, drill” in the teeth of opposition from the dentist’s lobby.
• And so on.

Do you realize, dear progressive friends, that your affordability agenda is proof of Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt’s fascist doctrine that politics is all about sticking the enemy and gifting your friends?

Enemy? Big Pharma, corporations, grocery chains, utilities, Big Oil.

Friend? Helpless victims of all of the above.

Experts agree that if you parrot the doctrine of a Nazi jurist it means you are Literally Hitler. Don’t you agree, progressives? Of course, experts also agree that the only difference between Soviets and Nazis is in the style of their mustaches. Did you know that the only reason that Hitler did not have a luxurious mustache like Stalin was that German soldiers in World War I had to crop their mustaches so they could wear gas masks? Stalin didn’t serve at the front because “a medical examiner ruled Stalin unfit for service due to his crippled arm.” Bless his heart.

I admit that both parties do the “affordability” dance. The reason that “Trump signs executive order expanding retirement account access for workers” is that the government’s pension program, Social Security, is a failure, and Trump is doing his own version of “affordability” to paper over the failure and gin up support in the ordinary middle class for the midterms.

The real name of the game is “prosperity.” But prosperity is a product of the market economy, and nobody sees it coming. Usually, the experts and politicians try to stop it:

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) introduced “legislation that would enact a reasonable pause to the development of AI to ensure the safety of humanity.”

 

Hey Bernie! Remember when the Brit Col. Sibthorp campaigned against railways?

[He] began a fruitless war against the railway, complaining that they “encourage the working class to move about.”

That was nothing. In the 1950s average Americans were barreling without permission down Interstate highways at 70 mph in 1.5 ton Chevrolets to see the USA. Experts agreed that it would end in disaster, just like fossil fuels half a century later.

At least both Bernie and AOC are both in favor of politicians “flying private” on Fight Oligarchy Tours.

Let me be clear. The Bernie-AOC AI pause has nothing, nothing to do with Sen. Warren helping to tip Spirit Airlines into bankruptcy by blocking its merger with JetBlue.

Fact is that experts are usually wrong in their predictions about new technology. In the 1990s experts thought that the Internet would “only be for technicians,” that people would never trust it for online payments, and online shopping would not succeed.

Nevertheless, our modern age is the age of the Great Enrichment, when the average real per capita income went up by 30 times, or 3,000 percent. There’s never been anything like it.

How did it happen? By accident. Some yahoo started mechanizing textiles. Another yahoo invented the steam engine. Electricity and magnetism were so amazing that Hegel reinvented philosophy.

Finally, the science caught up, and Claude Shannon determined that information is “surprise.”

So really, our modern prosperity is all a surprise, an accident. Until “affordability” destroys it.

Christopher Chantrill @chrischantrill blogs at The Commoner Manifesto and runs the go-to site on US government finances, usgovernmentspending.com. Also get his American Manifesto and his Road to the Middle Class.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2026/05/now_i_get_it_affordability_is_a_con.html

The Dangerous Endgame of 'He Must Be Stopped'

 For nearly a decade, Donald Trump has been the most investigated, scrutinized, and politically targeted figure in modern American history.

That’s not hyperbole. It’s his résumé.

From the moment he descended the escalator in June 2015, the full apparatus of opposition snapped into place. Not routine political disagreement or opposition research, but something far more sustained: intelligence leaks, media narratives, fabricated dossiers, bureaucratic resistance, and cultural condemnation, all rowing in the same direction.

The premise was simple.

Something would stick.

Anything would stick.

Nothing did.

Rewind the tape. Russian collusion. Endless demands for tax returns. Two impeachments. Jan. 6 recast as an insurrection. A steady drip of allegations — some serious, some sensational, some quietly abandoned when they didn’t pan out. Each introduced with breathless urgency and a familiar promise:

This is the one. We have him now. 

Think of Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner.

Wile E. Coyote fell off the cliff and the Roadrunner scooted away.

Naturally, the strategy evolved.

When narrative failed, prosecution followed. Enter “lawfare” — the weaponization of the legal process as a political strategy. Indictments multiplied. Novel legal theories emerged. Statutes of limitations changed. The net widened — not just around Trump, but around his associates, attorneys, aides, and, if possible, anyone who ever shook his hand or voted for him.

The message was clear: if you can’t defeat the man, bury him in the process.

Still, he didn’t go away.

At some point, even the most committed critics had to confront an inconvenient reality: the usual playbook wasn’t working. Not politically, not culturally, and not legally. At least not as they had hoped.

And that’s when a familiar pattern emerges — one that extends well beyond politics.

When repeated efforts fail, escalation is necessary.

Pressure builds. Tactics intensify. Rhetoric sharpens. Guardrails loosen.

Eventually, the line between opposition and something darker blurs.

Recent events have forced that uncomfortable question into the open. Security incidents involving Trump — including a widely reported armed confrontation at the White House Correspondents’ dinner — have underscored a reality that should concern anyone paying attention: the temperature isn’t just high. It’s rising. Soon, it will be at the boiling point.

And not in a metaphorical way.

This is not normal.

It is also not occurring in a vacuum.

Consider the rhetorical environment that has surrounded Trump for years. He is not merely criticized or opposed — he is routinely portrayed as an existential threat. “Threat to democracy.” “Fascist.” “Nazi.” “Hitler.” The escalation isn’t subtle. It’s theatrical.

And it’s constant.

Voices across the media — from Jimmy Kimmel to Rachel Maddow to the reliably outraged panels on The View — reinforce the same narrative frame: Trump isn’t just wrong. He is dangerous. Uniquely dangerous. Historically dangerous.

In other words: He must be stopped.

Repeat that message often enough — night after night, headline after headline — and it does what repetition always does. It seeps in, shapes perception, and hardens belief.

Most people hear politics, but some hear instruction.

That distinction matters more than anyone in the media seems willing to admit.

When impressionable or unstable individuals absorb a steady diet of apocalyptic rhetoric, a small but significant number will take it literally. They won’t parse nuance. They won’t weigh counterarguments. 

They won’t treat it as a metaphor. They will treat it as urgent.

Or worse — obligation.

As David Harsanyi wrote in the Washington Examiner, when rhetoric escalates, behavior sometimes follows. Not broadly. Not predictably. But enough to matter.

No, rhetoric doesn’t pull the trigger.

But it can help convince someone that pulling the trigger is justified.

That’s not a partisan argument. It’s a human one.

And it raises a question no one seems eager to answer: what responsibility, if any, comes with repeatedly telling millions of people that a political opponent is morally equivalent to history’s worst villains?

Apparently, none. Or so we’re told.

Meanwhile, the irony grows harder to ignore.

Trump is repeatedly accused of being a “king,” an authoritarian-in-waiting, a dictator poised to end democracy as we know it.

Really?

If that were true — if he wielded anything resembling monarchical power — the evidence would look very different. His critics wouldn’t dominate the media landscape. Prosecutors wouldn’t compete for jurisdiction. Late-night hosts wouldn’t build entire careers on mocking him.

Kings don’t get investigated.

Kings don’t get indicted.

Kings aren’t mocked nightly on television.

Kings don’t get shot at.

They rule.

And those who object are imprisoned. Or worse. 

Contrast that with Congress offering multiple standing ovations to King Charles — an actual hereditary monarch — while often withholding even basic courtesies from an elected American president.

You almost have to admire the symmetry in the absurdity.

Meanwhile — lost somewhere beneath the outrage cycle — Trump continues to do what he said he would do. Border enforcement. Immigration control. Rolling back DEI programs. Targeting bureaucratic excess. Pursuing policies that, whether one agrees with them or not, were central to his campaign.

Supporters see promises kept.

Critics see heresy.

But what they cannot honestly claim is that they are surprised.

Which leads to the question that has haunted his opponents since 2016. Why hasn’t any of it worked?

Why, after years of saturation-level media coverage, endless investigations, multiple indictments, and an increasingly heated political climate, does Trump remain not just relevant—but viable?

Because voters are less gullible than the narrative assumes.

Repetition without resolution breeds doubt and inattention. 

Because escalation, when overplayed, begins to look less like justice and more like desperation.

And because Americans — despite everything — still retain the right to decide for themselves.

But the real issue isn’t Trump.

It’s what happens when escalation becomes the default mode of a political system.

When narrative fails, escalate.
When prosecution fails, escalate.
When both fail, what then? What’s left?

That question is no longer theoretical.

We are beginning to see the early outlines of the answer, and it should concern anyone who values the stability of the American experiment.

Once escalation is normalized, it doesn’t stay neatly contained. It doesn’t stop politely at the boundaries of acceptable discourse. It spills over — into institutions, into culture, and eventually into behavior.

Robert’s Rules of Order and Emily Post's Etiquette turn into jungle warfare.

That’s the real endgame.

Not persuasion. Not debate. Not even victory.

Just escalation — for its own sake.

And that path doesn’t lead where its advocates believe it does.

It doesn’t restore trust, resolve division, or strengthen democracy.

It corrodes all three.

Once “he must be stopped” stops being rhetorical, it becomes uncontrollable.

Once escalation takes on a life of its own, it doesn’t just target individuals.

It targets the system.

Once that system starts to crack, there’s no guarantee anyone — on either side — will like what comes next.

 

Brian C. Joondeph, M.D., is a Colorado-based ophthalmologist who writes frequently about medicine, science, and public policy.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2026/05/the_dangerous_endgame_of_he_must_be_stopped.html

Why This Biotech ETF — The IBD Stock Of The Day — Just Reentered Its Buy Zone

 The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI), often referred to simply as the XBI, is Monday's IBD Stock Of The Day. Shares of the exchange-traded fund popped into a buy zone on positive news for holdings Axsome Therapeutics and Mirum Pharmaceuticals.

Biotech stocks can be tricky. Playing the ETF game is a sound strategy for getting exposure to a broad industry without the single-stock risk. Although there are laggards in the biotech realm, the industry group is making something of a comeback following four years in decline.

Observers told Investor's Business Daily in late 2025 that "the biotech winter" would end in 2026.

"You can never tell whether it's spring or fall," said Brad Stewart, an executive with advisory firm BDO. "You just know that the temperature is changing."

That's reflected in the year-to-date performance of XBI stock, which has climbed 9.5%, as of Monday's close.

Why XBI Stock Has Climbed

The XBI counts Apellis Pharmaceuticals (APLS), Travere Therapeutics (TVTX), Revolution Medicines (RVMD), Twist Bioscience (TWST) and Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (ARWR) among its top holdings.

There are no slouches in that group. In late March, Biogen (BIIB) said it would buy Apellis for $5.6 billion. Apellis sells treatments for eye and rare diseases. Last month, Travere won Food and Drug Administration approval for its drug, Filspari, in a new kidney disease.

Also, bullishly, Revolution Meds' experimental drug doubled the length of time pancreatic cancer patients lived when compared to chemotherapy. The news sent Revolution stock flying more than 40% on April 13.

On Monday, Twist delivered a top-line beat and raise for its first quarter, though its own shares fell 7% on light gross margins. Twist Bioscience makes synthetic DNA. Arrowhead, meanwhile, is working to expand approvals for its drug, Redemplo, in treating genetically high cholesterol. The FDA approved Redemplo in November.

Axsome and Mirum are also holdings in the XBI. On Monday, Axsome met or beat sales expectations, though higher-than-projected expenses deepened losses. Still, the biotech stock shot into a profit-taking zone, according to MarketSurge. Shares broke out of a consolidation with a buy point at 191.50 on April 27. Mirum shares also hit a record high Monday on positive test results for its liver disease drug.

Shares Hit A Buy Zone

XBI stock also jumped back into a buy zone on Monday. Shares topped the entry on a flat base on April 8. Though the stock pulled back somewhat through April 29, it was never enough to trigger a sell rule. Savvy investors are encouraged to cut their losses when a stock falls 7% to 8% below its buy point.

XBI found support near its 50-day line last week.

https://www.investors.com/research/ibd-stock-of-the-day/xbi-stock-biotech-stocks-etf/