A Liberal Dose, October 2026

People seem to forget that when Donald Trump left the White House the first time (kicking and screaming), he left the nation’s economy in the toilet. Yes, things were rough under Biden -he had Trump’s mess to clean up -but year by year it was gradually improving. Since Trump took back over, that trajectory has reversed. Inflation was at 2.9% when he took over the second time, now it is at 3.7. This is partly because of the huge jump in gas prices over the course of this year, caused by the war with Iran that Trump promised would never happen, as well as by the tariff wars he has started with our trade partners. People are suffering, especially farmers. Working and middle-class people in general are suffering. Two years in, it is Trump’s economy, and he can’t keep trying to blame it on the previous administration, especially since every factor leading to these increases is due to specific decisions Trump has made. Heck, Republicans have not only been in charge of the White House, but of both houses of Congress and largely of the Supreme Court. And all the while, all Trump seems interested in are ballrooms, triumphal arches, statues, and slapping his name on everything in sight, and he and his family making as much money as possible, while the rest of the country suffers. And all while taking every possible measure, and many that are patently illegal, to prevent those Epstein files from being released.

If you voted for Donald Trump, this is not what you voted for.

Meanwhile, in the state of Tennessee and in every county in the Upper Cumberland, Republicans have been in complete control of everything for fifteen years or more. Yet Tennessee ranks near the bottom in almost every measurable category. And still they are all running for reelection, promising to solve all your problems (just like Trump did in 2024). If they’ve been in complete control for fifteen years, where do they think your problems came from? Just like their leader, they have spent almost all their time trying to get you worked up about trans athletes and furries, tiny minorities, while doing absolutely nothing to make your actual life better.

Are you better off now than you were two years ago? We all know you aren’t unless you were pretty darn well off to start with. Is life in Tennessee better now than it was in 2010, the last time we had a Democratic governor? We know it’s not. Then what have they accomplished, and why do people keep electing them?

Instead, they have been draining money from our public schools and funneling it into the pockets of rich people so they can save cash by sending their kids to private schools. They’ve been bending over backwards to make it easier for data centers to come into your communities and to introduce new ways to track your every move and access every piece of information about you. While telling you that these high food and gas prices are your imagination, or that you need to quit whining about it and accept what they choose to give you.

The scales are falling off people’s eyes. You’ve been scammed, neighbors, and scammed hard, and they have their hands out for you to empower them to scam you some more.

Take a good look around. Be honest with yourself, even if you won’t admit it to anyone else (because we are all always embarrassed to admit when we’ve been had).

We are halfway through early voting, and election day is only a couple of weeks away. If you can’t bring yourself to vote for a Democrat, then vote for an independent instead. Stop handing your keys off to the same burglars and wondering where all your furniture has gone.