Kevin Drum

This is the Volksgarten in central Vienna. During spring it's covered in beds of roses, and each rosebush carries a personal dedication to a friend or family member.

In the background is the dome of the Natural History Museum.

Sure enough, no one has bothered to even mention Donald Trump's loony proposal to punish banks by capping credit card interest rates at 10%. I found a grand total of two items in the news this morning: a MarketWatch piece saying nobody is taking it seriously and a short criticism in National Review.

By contrast, Kamala Harris's comparatively moderate price gouging proposal, often couched as "price controls," absolutely blanketed the discourse last month. The criticism of her attack on the free market was almost unanimous and went on for weeks.

But Trump's attack on the free market? Crickets. Funny how this works, isn't it?

Here's a quick summary of Donald Trump's economic policy, as it's been announced on a random basis over the past few months. There's something for everybody:

No tax on tips! No tax on Social Security! No tax on overtime! Restore the SALT deduction! Extend the tax cuts for the rich! Cap credit card interest rates! 20% tariffs on everything! Cut the estate tax! Tax woke universities! Deduct newborn expenses! Block all food imports! Maybe a child tax credit! Cut the corporate tax rate! Tax breaks for oil and coal producers! Reduce taxes on manufacturing!

And here's everything else, equally random:

Deport 20 million immigrants! Freedom cities! New nonwoke universities! Fire the bureaucrats! Let Putin win the Ukraine war! Bring back incandescent light bulbs! Kill new air pollution limits! Government funded IVF! Cut off funding to schools that require vaccines! Eliminate the Department of Education! Let teachers carry concealed weapons! Build tent cities for the homeless! Send in the National Guard to Chicago! Shoot shoplifters! The death penalty for drug smugglers! Make Taiwan pay for US protection! More school vouchers! Build the wall! Work requirements for welfare bums! Higher military spending! Keep TikTok! Death to Facebook! No more climate change funding! Build an Iron Dome for America! Slash corporate regulation!

Exciting times, no?

Donald Trump just announced that he plans to institute a temporary cap of 10% on credit card interest rates "while working Americans catch up."

Sigh. It just doesn't matter what he says, does it? Most likely nobody will bother reporting this. Banks won't bother protesting it. Wonky bloggers like me won't bother explaining why Trump can't do it. Conservatives will mostly ignore the fact that this really is socialism, far worse than Kamala Harris's trivial price gouging proposal. In fact, just the opposite: His enablers will suddenly produce a spate of explanations for why it's a brilliant, far-reaching, and conservative proposal.

Stuff like this is a product of intersectionality: Trump is both mentally declining and willing to say any weird thing that pops into his fevered brain. Everyone knows it, so nobody takes anything he says seriously. He's treated like a five-year-old running for president.

And yet the five-year-old might win because Kamala Harris hasn't outlined her economic policies in enough detail. Crikey.

BY THE WAY: Credit card debt isn't even an especially big issue right now.

Big news tomorrow! Donald Trump will finally be able to sell stock in his social media company—as long as the shares stay above $12. It's a close call, but it looks like he'll make it:

DJT is now selling below its January price, so everybody who bought in after the Iowa primary surge is already a loser. Trump's fans—who are the ones propping up the price—seem to be losing faith daily in his chances of winning the election, and at their current rate of dejection the stock should be down to $3 by next month.

In any case, Trump's holdings in DJT are now worth only $1.8 billion and falling fast. He says he doesn't plan to sell, and it's certainly true that the stock price would plummet even faster if he did. On the other hand, if he waits he could end up with nothing. It's a tough decision. No wonder he seems like a nervous wreck these days.

I almost forgot that today is YouGov poll day:

Since July 15, Harris has gained eight points compared to where Joe Biden was. Trump has gained two points. Harris's net favorability is +1% and Tim Walz's is even. Trump's is -13% and J.D. Vance's is -14%.

"Who do you think will win" currently favors Harris 42-32%. Trump voters seem to be giving up.

Harris won her debate with Trump by 56-27%.

In the generic congressional poll, Democrats are leading 47-43%.

According to provisional figures from the CDC, the pandemic surge in drug overdose deaths is finally starting to turn around:

Since its peak last August, drug overdose deaths have fallen 13%.

Jesus Christ:

Asked about Haitians immigrants legally working and living in the United States through Temporary Protected Status, Vance criticized the Biden administration for granting that status to Haitians, asserting that the government had “illegally” given them that protection and saying that he would still refer to them as “illegal aliens” anyway.

Not only are they here legally, but most of them have nothing to do with Biden. The parole program for Haitians goes back to the Reagan era.

What an asshole.

The Fed has decided to boldly reduce interest rates by a whopping half point instead of a piddly quarter point:

As usual, their explanation is provided in Fed-speak:

The Committee has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent, and judges that the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals are roughly in balance. The economic outlook is uncertain, and the Committee is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate.

On the way up they raised rates by 0.75% four separate times. But on the way down, no such luck. We have to be satisfied—nay thrilled—that they bestowed a cut of 0.5%. Meh. They should have cut a full point.

Here is last night's lunar eclipse. Can you see it? Huh? Can you?

It was a 3.5% eclipse, and I didn't even catch it at its high point, so all you can see is a bit of a shadow at the top. Meh.

I took it with my new camera and lens, and it's not great because the sky was a little hazy from the forest fires. In any case, compare this to a picture taken with my telescope, which is miles better than anything I can get with the camera.