Right vs Left and Short Memories

All my life I’ve seen presidents get blamed for things their predecessors did, or for things they have no control over. I wonder if John Adams got blamed for stuff Washington did? This political blame game probably dates back to kings, emperors and pharaohs.
 
One modern example is the so-called Obama Phone. The consensus from the right seems to be: Obama decided to give free cell phone service to people too lazy to work, and your taxes are paying for it.
 
Wrong on all counts.
 
The Lifeline program was launched by President Reagan in 1984 to provide reduced landline service to low income consumers. This gave them the ability to call emergency services, and made job hunting easier.
 
In 2005, the Bush administration expanded the program to include wireless plans. Then, in 2008, Bush modified the program to allow the discount on wireless OR landline service. The consumer could choose one or the other, but not both.
 
The first wireless Lifeline cell phones began distribution in 2008, 3 months BEFORE Obama took office.
 
Lifeline telephone service is paid for by a fund that Telecommunications companies contribute to. Your taxes don’t pay for the program.
 
But of all the political diversions I’ve seen, I’ve never seen anything like what Trump supporters do. Gas and grocery prices are great examples illustrating how his conspiracist supporters deflect facts. Rising prices are actually not the fault of either Trump or Biden, but the craziness started during Trump’s term and Biden is getting all the blame. No I’m not a Biden fan, no I’m not Democrat; I’m not even a liberal. I just like to keep the facts straight.
 

I already covered the Covid vaccine issue. Blame Biden all you want, but Trump did that.

 
Trump supporters apparently have forgotten all the madness with OPEC while he was in office. I don’t remember the exact details of the disputes, but oil coming out of Arabia and a couple other major players dropped so low that American producers couldn’t compete.
 
So Trump decided we would import our oil, and he initiated the biggest domestic oil shut down in this country’s history. Bad for the producers, but gas prices at the pump did plummet.
 
The public had mixed reactions, because consumers want low prices, but they hate relying on foreign suppliers. Kind of like shopping at Walmart because they’re cheaper, but you hate Walmart. So anyhow, Trump then proposed filling the reserves (a good thing). If you’ll remember, he was laughing that the government usually buys high and sells low (that sounds about right!), but he was buying low, then when the gov’t sold the oil in the future, they’d be making a profit. You can probably find his speeches about all that at YouTube, and you can certainly find the transcripts at the White House archives, all available online. Although the propsals to buy the oil were made, as it turned out, it never happened.
 
Don’t call me delusional, all that info is out there for anyone who bothers to look, including Trump’s own speeches on video.

Timeline of events:
…while Trump was in office

• Oil prices went negative (I never knew such a thing was possible)
• As a result, gas prices got lower. Trump got the credit, even though OPEC was responsible for the ridiculously low oil prices
• Trump cut domestic production in response to the flooded market
• Many oil companies went bankrupt
• Covid hit the country. So many people stayed home, gas demand dropped, so prices dipped. Lower prices at the pump had zero to do with Trump
• Grocery prices began rising due to a perfect storm of events: crop failures around the world (flood, drought, early & late freezes), and supply chain issues due to covid. Trump had nothing to do with it, and nobody thought to blame him anyhow.

…Biden took office

• Grocery prices continued to rise for the same reasons as above, but this time, Trump supporters blamed Biden (and still do).
• Russia invaded Ukraine, causing an immediate rise in gas prices. Biden got blamed
• Attempting to lower gas prices, Biden issued more domestic drilling permits
• Grocery prices began rising faster. A major factor was fertilizer shortages. Most fertilizer comes from Russia and neighbors, and Putin halted most exports of it. Before you blame Biden for grocery prices, ask farmers how much more it’s costing to raise their crops compared to pre-Russia/Ukraine war.

Trump-supporting conspiracists are completely unable to remember the timeline of events or make the connections. No matter what evidence you show them, even a video of Trump himself saying whatever it is that is contrary to what they are claiming, they will find a way to explain it away. What gets me is, they will blame it on Biden, even though Biden wasn’t the president when all the insanity started going down.
 
One last Trump fact I’ll mention: There is currently (April 2024) a post being shared all over social media about store closings that people are blaming on Biden. People sharing this have completely forgotten about the Retail Apocalypse that was going on while Trump was in office. There goes that selective memory thing again. The link is for 2019 only, before Covid hit. It got even worse after Covid hit, while Trump was still in office. But his supporters remember nothing that might reflect badly on him.

So before you start blaming a president for whatever you think they did, do some research first to refresh your memory and get the facts straight.