Yves here. It’s become fashionable, at least in the commentariat, to exhibit the cognitive bias called “halo effect” with respect to Bernie Sanders. “Halo effect” is the tendency to see people as all good or all bad. This is the distortion that also leads pretty individuals to be viewed as smarter and more trustworthy than they are. Yet where is the rest of the feckless Team Dem when Social Security, once a third-rail issue, is under Trump assault? Sitting on their hands because they stoopidly believe they’ll be rewarded when Trump succeeds?

So while the press is keeping the headlines full of Trump gaslighting, like his blowing hot and cold on the Ukraine war and tariffs, his fake peace deals (see the Azeris and Armenians), his personal war with Jerome Powell and against truthful reporting on the state of the economy, Trump efforts to dismember social programs that are critical