Good morning, C&C, it’s Wednesday! For C&C’ers who do not normally read the comments— they exploded yesterday, soaring well past the keystone 1,000 mark into top-post territory. It seems my affordability primer yesterday provoked over-brewed angst to percolate right out of the coffeemaker onto the comments countertop. The media’s narrative spinning is working. So let’s roll up our sleeves; this is what Coffee & Covid lives for. Today we have a combo response and roundup.

⛑️ C&C ARMY POST | MAILBAG ⛑️

Coffee & Covid’s comments section is one of the most consistently active, congenial, and thoughtful threads on Substack. Yesterday, longtime reader and valued contributor Jeff C’s* extra-caffeinated comment led the lists, reflecting a deeper well of distrust and discomfort. (* Similar name, no relation.) As of this morning, his comment garnered 268 likes and around 500 replies, which appears to be an informal record.

First, I readily concede JeffC’s accusation of being an unrepentant optimist. It’s like that famous psychological study where scientists put twin boys into separate rooms. The first room was filled with shiny new toys. The second room was piled high with horse manure. After giving each child an hour, the researchers opened each room.

They found the first boy sitting silently, sulking among the toys, already bored, and fretting about breaking something. But when they opened the door to the second room, they found his brother gleefully digging through the nauseating sludge with both hands, wildly flinging dung helter-skelter.

“What on earth are you doing?” the researchers asked in shocked horror.

The boy paused, looked over his shoulder with a huge grin, and said, “With all this sh—t, there’s gotta be a pony in here somewhere!”

That’s me. I admit it. But … as long-time readers can attest, since I started predicting hope for the pandemic five years ago, my optimistic predictions have all turned out to be right. So.

Obviously, along the way, my pandemic optimism deeply offended brigades of officious Branch Covidians and their swarms of white-coated citizen volunteers. There was even a deplorable time when optimistically comparing covid to the flu could get a writer banned from Facebook. (I can confirm.)

But less obviously, my positive takes also offended folks on our side; folks who preferred equal-but-opposite predictions of civilization’s imminent collapse. Not from covid— but civilizational collapse from depleted immune systems worn out by mRNA vaccine poisoning. Or, they wished I’d warn everyone about 5G-powered nanomachines made from graphene oxide in the jabs that would turn us all into mindless robots, or that Governor DeSantis was secretly conspiring to quarantine citizens in FEMA camps, or that the United Nations would take control of the US government any second now.

Jeff is one of them!, these dear readers would grumble from time to time. He’s helping cover it up!, they worried. (I have the receipts; don’t test me.)

But I never wrote about any of those worst possible futures— and they never manifested in reality. I was right— but those doomish readers weren’t wrong, either; they were expressing as best they could the distorted reflections of their real-world anxieties. They were trying to make sense of a chaotic world, while victimized by media psyops just as profoundly as were the Branch Covidians.

Countering fear-psyops is Coffee & Covid’s mission. I basically live for it. Here we go again.

⛑️ JeffC’s comment wasn’t wrong. He accurately rounded up this week’s media complaints about the President and wrapped them in a deeper fear; a fear of the moronic affordability crisis narrative, which seems to be ‘working,’ as purportedly evidenced by last Tuesday’s election results. JeffC channeled a vein of disquiet running straight through MAGA. He’s not alone.

For example: Yesterday, respected conservative pollster Mark Mitchell of Rasmussen, even more frustrated than JeffC, made the very same complaint about Trump’s careless China gaffe in an anguished livestream alarmingly titled “The MAGA Coalition is Crumbling.”

Mark also complained bitterly about how lots of young people can no longer afford houses bigger than an old-time outhouse:

It is absolutely true. It is absolutely a horrible problem. But it isn’t Trump’s fault!. Clinton got the gas can ready; Obama poured fuel all over the economic drapes; and then Biden set the house on fire during the pandemic. Trump inherited the problem, and there is no quick fix.

Real estate prices floated with Bidenflation even faster than groceries. This housing affordability problem can’t be corrected until young peoples’ wages have been boosted and millions of illegal squatters self-deport.

Only Trump can fix the economy so well that wages rise without more inflation. The Democrats can’t do it; don’t make me laugh. Complaining about Trump while he is trying to fix the problem helps nothing. It’s not making him work any harder or faster.

Let the man work.

🪖 The appalling truth is that we’re facing a Democrat affordability narrative that is even starting to work on MAGA folks. Progressives quietly unleashed it before the November 5th elections, and it took root. For example, on Monday, CNN revealed that consumer feelings about the economy are in the commode; further in the dregs than at any time since the Great Depression:

CLIP: Polls shows lowest consumer sentiment on record (3:19).

Consumer sentiment has fallen off a cliff into a bottomless pit. It has reached the absolute lowest point since they started measuring consumer sentiment. It’s worse than after the 2008 financial crisis, and worse than during the stagflation of the late 1970s. “Ordinary” folks, especially those not invested in the stock market, feel economically stressed, are convinced next year will be “even worse,” and are “really, really down” on the economy.

But … is it true? Does the economy just have the covid flu, or is it Ebola? Put differently: is the economy actually cratering— or is this just a successful psyop?

⛑️ Consider Exhibit A— consumer spending. We can argue over government statistics about the economy, like labor and inflation rates, and whether those figures are trustworthy. But they can’t fudge whether people are spending or stuffing their cash into mattresses and mason jars in underground bunkers.

Last week, both Visa and Mastercard, which each process hundreds of billions of annual transactions, told investors they saw no sign of any consumer pullback, which they would expect if consumers really smelled a Great Depression coming:

Retailers reported October sales grew about +5% compared to last year. The National Retail Federation forecasts additional holiday sales growth of +3.7%-4.2% over 2024 levels, showing consumers are still spending like it is a great economy. This week, CBS reported that holiday spending predictions are very optimistic, even though consumers sound gloomier than ever in surveys:

In other words, while people tell pollsters they feel bad about the economy, mostly they are happily spending at or above prior-year levels.

Thus, economists have coined a new post-pandemic term to explain the disconnect. It’s not a recession, it is a “vibe-cession.” Meaning, people say they emotionally feel like they are in a 1930s Great Depression, but they are rationally acting like they’re in the Roaring Twenties.

What, pray tell, could explain this vibey disconnect? I wouldn’t call it a vibecession. I would call it a mediacession.

🪖 “In an era of extreme political polarization,” the investment site Motley Fool recently explained, “it’s likely that politicians will attempt to sway voters based on a vibecession caused by a real or imaginary downturn.” Not just politicians. The media.

Last year, when the media was trying its best to convince voters that Biden’s economy was terrific, and fool everyone that there was no inflation, the media even threw themselves under the bus. Headline from the Atlantic, January 2024:

Question asked! And that was even when they were actually trying to boost the economy, rather than destroy it, like now. (Hilariously, the article began by citing Biden’s “champagne-popping” jobs report that, after the election, was revised far downwards in a “correction.” But I digress.)

The San Francisco Federal Reserve compiles a “Daily News Sentiment Index,” which tallies negative words used in media headlines about the economy. Here’s the current chart, as of November 3rd. Notice anything?

Can the media do this? Does media hold the power to convince people that the economy is terrible even though the fundamentals are strong, or even great?

I don’t know, but some people (cough) have concluded the media terrified the entire world into believing an average flu season was a deadly pandemic, and tricked them into putting cut-up t-shirts on their faces, standing six feet apart in checkout lines, and following arrows on supermarket floors like trained hamsters. So.

⛑️ Trump’s team is not sleeping at the wheel. They are (correctly) getting all over the affordability issue. Yesterday, White House Deputy Chief of Policy Stephen Miller said President Trump is not satisfied with the strong economy, and there’s a lot more good stuff coming.

CLIP: “We’re focusing relentlessly on affordability… we are fighting to bring down the cost of every single consumer and household good” (1:29).

“We are at the precipice of one of the great economic periods in the whole history of this country,” Miller predicted. Believe him or not; but you can’t say they aren’t taking the issue seriously.

It’s not just talking points. They are issuing executive orders, killing regulations, and winning lawsuits. Plus, many of Trump’s biggest tangible policy changes haven’t even kicked in yet. For instance, Miller predicted, “when we make life more affordable for our companies, for domestic industry, for domestic manufacturing, with 100% expensing, with the largest tax cuts in history, then prices are going to keep coming down.”

Miller was referring to the One Big Beautiful Bill, which slashed corporate taxes effective in just over a month, on January 1st, 2026. (A reminder for Portlanders: corporations don’t actually pay taxes. They just collect taxes from consumers.) Much of the OBBBA’s best parts —like taxless tips and social security— have yet to fire up. And the OBBBA is the only help Congress has given the President.

Notwithstanding all the terrific points, the comments burst with outraged complaints:

“Still nothing about the single largest expense that is stressing everyone out: the obscene cost of housing.”
“Where is our economy becoming stronger or better? I don’t see that almost anywhere.”
“We have not seen any action on waste/fraud/and abuse … All talk No Action from Congress.”
“What good will this do us if Trump brings in cheap labor?”
“Until we have mass deportations and stop visas none of this will matter.”
“I’ll believe it when I see him shut up about foreign policy and focus on a domestic agenda for two minutes.”

Good grief. I guess these people should vote for Mamdani. Seriously, what do folks think could have been done in the last ten months that wasn’t done? And Trump had to drain the swamp first! Not one of these senseless complaints includes a legitimate, practical demand. And most of them betray a shocking ignorance of what is actually happening and a lack of gratitude for how far we’ve already come.

Not only that, but as far as “healthcare” affordability, Trump has been clearing the decks. In announcement after announcement, his team is rolling out drug price reductions and structural fixes. Just last week, for instance, they announced making biosimilar generics easier to approve:

There’s only so much Trump can do without Congress. He is already wielding executive authority far beyond any President in modern history. He’s demanding Republicans stop hiding behind the filibuster. What do complainers think Trump should be doing more of?

I am deeply suspicious of people who claim to support Trump, but complain without doing their homework or having any real request. They are just regurgitating corporate media talking points.

Stop. Helping. Media.

⛑️ For the sake of time, I won’t respond to every point JeffC raised. I’ve paraphrased his much better-worded comments for brevity. I tried to do it fairly; hopefully he won’t think I misquoted him.

“Last Tuesday’s elections were a disaster and a wake-up call.” I mostly disagree. The elections weren’t a disaster. In these tiny-turnout, off-year elections, riled-up Democrats came out and Republicans didn’t. That’s it. Politically, the GOP “lost” nothing that wasn’t well predicted by local demographics. But JeffC is 100% correct that last Tuesday was a wakeup call for sleepy conservatives.

“There’s a coordinated effort from Conservative Inc to take out Tucker, JD Vance, (and others.)” I have a simple rule: I don’t join red-on-red attacks. Why waste time publicly attacking people on our own side, when there are so many corrupt liberals who need mocking? And I flee from ideological purity tests, especially on our own side. Stay focused on the mission.

“Trump is losing it; he’s off script; he got booed; Laura Ingraham frowned.” This is where I’ll ask JeffC to take a breath. It’s easy to become marinated in all the relentless media negativity and start thinking there must be something to it. Trump talks non-stop, improvisationally, and he constantly runs on two hours of sleep. He won’t always say everything elegantly.

As for the admittedly ugly stadium video of Trump being booed at the Commanders’ game— well, it was in Washington, DC. What do you expect? And according to reports from some attendees, the boos were only audible because everyone sane had quieted down to listen to Trump speak.

“Trump is soft on China! (He defended Chinese students!)” China is a more interesting topic. I believe that Trump has come to view Old Europe as a greater threat to America than China. But that’s a post for a different day. Regardless of Trump’s softer rhetoric toward China this week, his DOJ is rounding up Chinese spies like they’re on sale at Macy’s Basement.

For instance, here’s a press release from the DOJ website, just last week (during the shutdown):

Also last week, the Eleventh Circuit upheld as constitutional a Florida law banning Chinese land ownership in the Sunshine State. Reuters, November 4th:

The breathtaking 2023 law prohibits any Chinese who are not U.S. citizens or green card holders from buying real estate or land in Florida. An earlier 3-judge appellate panel had upheld an injunction to block the law from taking effect; but now, two years later, the entire 11th Circuit has overruled them.

Reuters wryly observed, “the ruling could encourage other US states to adopt similar laws.” Yes. That’s the idea.

Trump might be speaking softly, but in classic Teddy Roosevelt style, he’s clubbing China with his big stick. Headline from the Wall Street Journal, this morning:

Trump is waging an economic war against China, to avoid a kinetic war. Trade wars are complicated, often delicate, and frequently happen behind the scenes.

For Heaven’s sake! Under Biden, we were ten seconds away from a hypersonic war with China in the Taiwan Strait. Pelosi was flying in and out of Taiwan on her broomstick to evacuate her cash, and U.S. generals were openly talking about hellstorms. Does Trump get no credit for calming that down? Forget about affordability; you can’t buy houses burned up in nuclear fire.

And he’s winning. What, exactly, do people want Trump to do about China that he isn’t already doing even better?

⛑️ Finally, and I can’t believe we must do this again: “Epstein! And Trump!” Long before Trump was re-elected, while Kash Patel and the rest were promising to one day publish the “client list,” I told you we would never see the client list. It is too politically radioactive. It’s not going to happen.

It wouldn’t convict anyone of crimes anyway.

As far as Trump goes: There is zero evidence that Trump was close with Epstein or did anything inappropriate with Epstein’s trafficked victims. Period. Trump has sued the Wall Street Journal for $10 billion for even suggesting it (the case is pending, and the Journal has yet to produce an original or even identify where it is).

Meanwhile, ample evidence suggests that Trump helped law enforcement build a case against Epstein as early as 2005, and that Epstein viewed Trump as an enemy. Trump threw Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago, and Trump’s DOJ finally indicted the notorious pedophile.

In spite of Trump’s comments about Epstein being a “Democrat scam,” there is also zero evidence that Trump has tried to cover anything up. To the contrary: More new Epstein details have emerged in the last ten months than during the previous twenty years. As a direct result of the new disclosures, major political figures have been forced to retire or, in Prince Andrew’s case, stripped of titles and banned from royal properties.

Thousands of new emails are now available. New deposition transcripts from Ghislaine Maxwell were published. New birthday letters are trickling out. But somehow … Trump gets no credit? The Epstein Crew is suspiciously silent about enough new evidence to fuel dozens of podcasts and three new volumes of Epstein books. Where are they?

And what about all the RussiaGate indictments, grand juries, and investigations? Trump’s MAGA critics give the President exactly zero credit, despite having apoplectically demanded arrests. Why?

🪖 JeffC is a good sport and a valued contributor who won’t mind me hijacking his comment for this post. In no way should anything I said today be interpreted as being critical of JeffC’s comment, which drew attention to an important issue. We agree on 90%. We can disagree on 10% (if that much) and we remain friends.

I’m not trying to quash legitimate criticism of the President. Go for it. But let’s not be reckless, and hurt Trump without any benefit. Here is my advice. Do four quick things before complaining:

Figure out exactly what Trump is already doing about the problem, not just whatever he supposedly said.
Clarify exactly what you think he should reasonably do differently— within his presidential powers.
Decide whether Democrats would handle it better.
Calculate whether ending Trump’s presidency and everything else that is going well justifies attacking him over this issue.

Then, if you still feel public criticism is necessary, do it, but in a way that doesn’t give Trump’s political enemies more ammunition. For example: “I’m still voting for him, but I wish Trump would dump the whole Epstein client list along with all the other great stuff he’s gotten out there, so that Democrats will quit barking.”

We have a war to win. Don’t help the enemy.

Have a wonderful and grateful Wednesday! Coffee & Covid will return with a traditional and OPTIMISTIC roundup tomorrow, with even more terrific essential news and commentary.

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