On Friday, President Trump fired the Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Dr. Erika McEntarfer after accusing the economic researcher of manipulating the jobs data for political purposes.[1] But the real reason Trump fired the commissioner is the Bureau’s most recent, unexpectedly weak jobs report which made him look bad. According to the BLS, “U.S. employers added just 73,000 jobs last month and Labor Department revisions showed that hiring was much weaker than previously reported in May and June. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2%.”[2]
Rather than addressing the issue of a weakening economy, our wannabe-king president immediately fired the messenger. No doubt Trump will replace the truth-telling commissioner with someone who will do his bidding and produce a fake jobs report that will make him look good. Afterall, what’s more important: Taking steps to strengthen the economy or bolstering Trump’s ego?
This is just the latest in Trump’s efforts to change the facts to his liking. As former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich notes, Trump is “dismembering the Environmental Protection Agency, which has repeatedly shown that climate change isn’t a “hoax,” as Trump claims, but more like a national emergency.” In addition, Trump “is killing off the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, which are showing the sources of sickness and disease and how we can guard against them.” Reich concludes that Trump just “doesn’t want the public to know the truth. He is turning America into George Orwell’s dystopian 1984.”[3]
As distressing as all this is, our institutions that were designed to protect the country from executive overreach have not done much to obstruct Trump’s march toward dictatorship. The Republican led Congress is in lockstep with Trump’s fascist regime. The Democrats have voiced their dissent but have done little to actually resist his authoritarian efforts. (Yesterday, however, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer did show some backbone by refusing to go along with fast-tracking the confirmation of a bunch of Trump’s nominees without “the unfreezing of federal funds for an array of programs, including the National Institutes of Health and foreign aid.” Trump’s response to Schumer: “GO TO HELL!”[4]) At the same time, the federal courts have not been able or willing to effectively restrain Trump either.
That leaves we, the people, as the last resort to save our democracy. In that regard, a national grassroots organization has been leading the charge. In the last month, Indivisible has initiated the One Million Rising campaign (OMR), a national effort to train one million people in the strategic logic and practice of non-cooperation, as well as in the basics of community organizing and campaign design. These trainees will, hopefully, then outreach to their fellow Americans to create a huge, unstoppable force to block Trump and restore our democracy.
Through over 2,000 local chapters around the country, Indivisible has already enlisted hundreds of thousands of Americans in this effort. On August 13th at 6 pm MDT, the OMR organizers will conduct a Zoom training in basic campaign design and local implementation, as well as plug people into the next national campaign work.
But this campaign will only succeed if millions and millions of Americans actively participate. It’s up to all of us to prevent our country from becoming a fascist state. We have no time to lose. Sign up now for the August 13th training, by going to https://www.mobilize.us/nokings/event/803953/.
Together, we will stop Trump and rebuild our democracy.
Bruce Berlin
A retired, public sector ethics attorney, Berlin is the author of Breaking Big Money’s Grip on America (See breakingbigmoneysgrip.com.), the founder of New Mexicans for Money Out of Politics, a former U.S. Institute of Peace fellow, and the founder and former executive director of The Trinity Forum for International Security and Conflict Resolution. He can be reached at breakingbigmoneysgrip@gmail.com.
Subscribe to this blog at https://breakingbigmoneysgrip.com/my-blog-3/. Join the movement to revive our democracy. Together we can save the soul of America.
[1] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-bad-jobs-numbers-bls-fired_n_688d0a26e4b022644fdec852
[2] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/economy-jobs-report-trump-tariffs_n_688cb8ebe4b05680e80c3cd7
[3] https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-attack-bls
[4] https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-tells-schumer-hell-amid-000135979.html
Breaking Big Money's Grip on America 