For the past year I have studiously avoided adding to the hundred posts in the Trump category of TYWKIWDBI, but if he's going to keep pushing himself forward, I may have to keep pushing back.
This comment at the CPAC conference was obviously a dogwhistle to the Quiverfull faction, but the added comment about "lucky men" is just unutterably creepy.
I'll leave the comment thread open for a little while but will probably shut it down soon.
Not to mention the Handmaid’s Tale-esque implications of paying women to be baby factories. Pretty sure the pay will be a pittance, too.
ReplyDeleteWasn't this the same party which was paranoid about people having numerous children for the purposes of receiving government money?
ReplyDeletePerhaps those weren't the right people.
What luck! The joy of walking on eggshells pregnancy. The sleepless nights for weeks, maybe months after the baby is born. Possible post-partem emotional issues. Sex with the wife? Good luck with that. And if you are lucky enough to have several girls, enjoy those teen years.
ReplyDeleteYou are so lucky...
This is absolutely creepy, even by Orange Guy standards. But why aren't we talking about the Jetsons-style flying cars?
ReplyDeleteConsider the irony of the fact that immigrants tend to have far higher birth rates than natives. This would undoubtedly raise the numbers of residents among groups that the GQP hate!
ReplyDeleteEncouraging families is better for national unity and prosperity than just mass importing immigrants to keep up with job growth. It's a good idea.
ReplyDeleteSuggesting that women should be having more babies because of a fear of white people becoming a minority doesn't address issues with job growth. Women should not be treated as another kind of "labor market".
DeleteI don't think it's healthy for a society to treat childbirth as something to be avoided or feared. Two parents plus children makes a stable society.
DeleteTwo parents plus children makes a stable society.
DeleteReference needed. As well as a definition of stable. And an acknowledgement that there's a silent assumption that this stable society made-up of parents with children is the only desirable option.
Case and point: I don't have children. Am I a threat to a stable society?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTyJ77Y7XB0
Conclusion: I think it's unhealthy for society to have an opinion on whether other people should have children, and how many they should have. Quite frankly, it's none of your business.
FWIW, I don't have children either.
DeleteWell, if you don't have children you don't have the same stake in the future of the country as someone who does.
DeleteHaving children gives you an immediate stake in education, in economics, and in geopolitics, so that they are educated, employed, and not sent off to die needlessly in war. You can have an abstract interest in these topics, but without the threat of harm coming to your child you are far less inclined to make good choices. If you have no children, you have the liberty of indulging your ego. By the time your mistakes bear fruit, you'll probably be gone.
"Conclusion: I think it's unhealthy for society to have an opinion on whether other people should have children, and how many they should have. Quite frankly, it's none of your business."
Delete"Also, use a condom if you can't afford more kids.". (Nepkarel March 1, 2023 at 11:48 AM)
"Well, if you don't have children you don't have the same stake in the future of the country as someone who does."
DeleteThat's an assumption, not a fact, that implies people who have children are better citizens than those who don't.
On average, for the reason I stated, people who have children AND STAY MARRIED are better citizens.
Delete@anonymous 5:06am: I don't see a contradiction.
Deleteif you don't have children you don't have the same stake in the future of the country as someone who does.
That is so much hogwash that I by now have deleted a reply trying to pick it apart three times. I just can't do it within a few paragraphs. But in short, it is quite shortsighted to think people can only care about the future because of their children. In contrast, the state of education, in economics, geopolitics and the environment shows that most people with kids don't give a shit.
"@anonymous 5:06am: I don't see a contradiction."
DeleteNo, you probably wouldn't. Most people, including me, tend not to note the contradictions in their opinions.
Thanks for reading.
Women are terrified of getting pregnant right now, even if they really want children, because if anything goes wrong the medical community has been disincentivised from helping them. One entopic pregnancy and you're dead. It's not worth it.
ReplyDeleteIf Trump and his fellow Republicans really believed in family values they'd support all kinds of families. There's even evidence that they should.
ReplyDeletehttps://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/3887753-children-of-same-sex-parents-see-outcomes-as-good-or-better-than-heterosexual-couples-study/
I grew-up in a blue collar neighborhood. One income per household–40 hour work week. Families owned their affordable homes. I don’t see that anywhere in America today. Why not? Well, the ruling class screwed the worker and feminists made fulltime motherhood a crime, while encouraging women to “walk” if they found marriage/family unfulfilling for any period of time. So, in such an environment, why would either men or women want to have kids? High stress living. Unstable families. Trump’s “solution?” It’s a joke.
ReplyDelete"On average, for the reason I stated, people who have children AND STAY MARRIED are better citizens."
ReplyDeleteThat's much more nuanced than "Well, if you don't have children you don't have the same stake in the future of the country as someone who does," and it's still only an opinion, not a fact.
Nuance is also something Trump could offer more of since he's offering his idea of making women produce more babies without any consideration of any of the implications, beyond how he thinks it will benefit men.
People who make a point of living in places like Florida so that they can undercut their responsibility to support their community via taxes -- schools, infrastructure, etc. -- are categorically NOT better citizens. They're cheats, defrauding their fellow citizens because they worship money over a functioning community. Meanwhile, people who pay their share of taxes despite not using the resources they pay for -- again, schools despite being childless, infrastructure like highways for those who don't drive, etc. -- prove themselves to be the better citizens.
ReplyDeleteYawn. We've had a Child Tax Credit in the US since 1997, and it was expanded by the Democrats as part of the American Rescue Plan in early 2021. Maybe the most surprising thing about this proposal is that Republicans would support it; I thought they were against deficit spending and welfare? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_tax_credit_(United_States)
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, Trump's suggestion that government funding should be considered an aphrodisiac or something is the most effective birth control method I know of.
I don’t feel that extra incentivization is the flex he thinks it is. Why are people not having children? Is it because they are barely keeping afloat financially themselves due to many (by comparison) external factors which could be addressed by government and/or industry without *this* level of desperation?
ReplyDeleteLet’s fix the systems we have before we subject any potential offspring to it. Maybe not jeopardizing a family’s financial future with a medically challenging pregnancy (by providing socialized healthcare), for starters?!
Is it because they are barely keeping afloat financially themselves due to many (by comparison) external factors which could be addressed by government and/or industry without *this* level of desperation?
DeleteNot having kids is a non-action. You do not need a motivation.
Having kids is an action. You should be able to defend it. And not whine if you can't afford them.
Not having kids is generally speaking a conscience choice, and unless you are celibate or physically/medically unable to reproduce, it does require some "action'" on the part of most couples, before or after conception. Couples unable to conceive and same sex couples would have choices as well.
DeleteHaving kids or not, no couple needs to explain or defend their choice, except perhaps to each other at some point.