My flag is usually out on this national holiday, but not today. There is little to celebrate. For eight years we had a decent man and his wonderful family in the White House (WH). The new WH resident spends his time destroying a century of progress, installing true predators to head every major branch of government, saber rattling new enemies, and scaring the world as well as most citizens here at home in America. His disapproval rating is the highest of any president since Gallup began surveying for this.
He dissembles (he’s the Faker in Chief, giving new meaning to the term “projection”), promoting himself, vacationing at a pace that will gobble up enough to put the National Endowment for the Arts back in the budget. His three homes are sinkholes of taxpayer expenditures. The Secret Service outlay for his New York and Florida homes is likely to be historic. And that doesn’t include the fact that there will be a military outpost in Trump Tower as well. In so many ways, we cannot afford the Trump family.
Time and again the Liar-in-Chief takes credit for what he hasn’t done and promotes his own financial interests at the expense of our nation’s interests. The continuing Russia scandals (the election tampering, the business conflicts of interest, and the improper involvement in efforts to bring a pipeline through Ukraine) are currently under investigation, piece-by-piece unpacked with more revealed every day. He got a trademark from China in exchange for a promise of America’s support of a one-China policy. The first couple of days in office he spoke with the leader of the Philippines (he has a real estate interest there) and the leader of Brazil for the same reason. He bills gargantuan sums to the federal government for the use of his properties. He tried to hurt a department store chain because it stopped carrying his daughter’s brand. He banned travel from immigrants of seven countries which never attacked us while allowing immigration from countries which have harmed us, but happen also to have Trump properties. His son-in-law headed over to Time Warner to excoriate CNN, an unprecedented effort to tamper with the media for his own family’s benefit. The list goes on. It is government of, for and by the Trump family.
The WH resident took an oath and swore to uphold the Constitution, which he has repeatedly savaged. His religious test for entry into the US is a flagrant violation. He supports ending the Constitutional required separation of church and state. By leveling false charges of massive voter fraud, he tries to create vote suppression (of lawful voters). By inventing a false claim of his win of the popular vote, he undermined election results. He lied about winning the most votes in the electoral college in recent decades. Every president since Reagan won the electoral college with more votes than Trump. In true Mussolini style, Stephen Miller, White House adviser to Trump, demanded that Trump’s decisions must not be questioned. Trump routinely tries to destroy the press (a pivotal part of a functioning democracy), shutting out legitimate media, continually bashing media outlets, and even calling them the “enemy of the people.” It is unprecedented in America that a man so devoid of any respect for the Constitution and the shared governance of the three branches of government should be in a position to pretend to run our country. As if that is not bad enough, he continues his long list of abusive behavior toward individuals, even threatening during a White House meeting to ruin someone. His petty, mean and abusive behavior cannot continue. Make America great? He’s bringing her down.
It is almost enough to make one give up, except…
The opposition has arisen. We’ve had cascading historic marches in protest of the Trump’s bombastic, threatening, undemocratic, so-called leadership. Rally attendees demand jobs (not just tax giveaways to the rich—they never trickle down). They want sustained job growth, not Trump’s empty claim to jobs that were already in the pipeline. (Obama cut unemployment in half and brought 20 million jobs back after the GOP 2008 economic depression debacle.) Protesters want America to be run on behalf of all Americans. They want equal treatment before the law; protection of voting rights; an end to gerrymandering; and government of, for and by the people.
Millions of Americans have supported of affordable health care for all and strengthening, not cutting, Medicare and Social Security, which we pay for. They want public schools fully funded and protected from Betsy Devos and they want colleges their children can afford to attend. They want clean air and water. They want privacy in their homes and the government out of their reproductive decisions. They want everyone to be able to love whom they love. They demand that our nation’s government comport itself as a true beacon of liberty and democracy, not the fiefdom of a petty tyrant.
For all these goals, which polls show the majority of Americans support, Trumpies lie about those engaging in lawful, constructive protest. But millions of ordinary Americans will not be silenced, ignored or defamed. The very same people who threatened “second amendment remedies,” cannot handle peaceful protest by the other side. Today they even assert that “liberals are ‘burning’ bridges.” What bridges? After eight years of obstruction and Trump’s behavior, there are no bridges.
Now Americans are loud and determined to be heard. They demand to be heard by their congressional representatives, who currently refuse to listen to most constituents at all. And the uprising of these voices of democracy will not be silenced any more than the press will stifle itself to appease the increasingly authoritarian new head of our government. The true grassroots progressive storm vastly outnumbers and swamps the astroturf (Koch sponsored) Tea Party. Newly energized, they will not yield, bend, or submit to the undoing of our Constitution. I’m in. Are you in? (Please use the comments to talk about how you think we should proceed.)
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