The great majority of Americans support democratic government. Clearly, Donald Trump does not. He is doing whatever he can to consolidate power and create an authoritarian state under his control. If all the people who believe in democracy come together, we can stop him from destroying our country and establishing an autocracy. But we must act now before it’s too late.
Too many Americans are sitting at home in fear and hopelessness. That is exactly what Trump wants. The more people his presidency can immobilize, the stronger Trump becomes. Anyone who is not actively resisting Trump’s autocratic regime is, in effect, helping him to succeed.
Fortunately, a country-wide resistance is being launched this week to stop Trump. One Million Rising is a national effort that Indivisible is organizing in all fifty states to train a million people in the tools and tactics to fight authoritarianism. This may very well be our best chance to stop Trump. But it will take all of us to beat him. I urge you to join in.
The first of three training sessions is this Wednesday, July 16, at 6 pm Mountain Time, 8 pm Eastern. To sign up for the training, go to https://www.mobilize.us/nokings/event/803953/. Together, we will save our country and build a better 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.
The Save Our Democracy Campaign, a project of Indivisible Santa Fe, is calling on New Mexican Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D) to establish a bipartisan caucus to save our democracy. We are urging him to reach out to Alaskan senator Lisa Murkowski (R) and offer to co-chair this caucus. Indivisible members in Alaska have already approached Sen. Murkowski with this proposal.
President Trump is clearly attempting to destroy America’s democracy and create an autocracy with himself in total control of our country. We must stop him now, before it’s too late. A bipartisan senate caucus would work to prevent this from happening. The more Americans, especially New Mexicans, who lobby Sen. Lujan to join our campaign, the more likely he will get on board. You can help by writing him at https://www.lujan.senate.gov/contact/ with a message like this:
Dear Senator Lujan,
It is quite clear that President Trump is working to destroy American democracy and establish himself as an autocrat in total control of our nation. Indivisible Santa Fe has initiated a Save Our Democracy (SOD) campaign to stop him. I am writing to urge you to join in this effort.
As an independently minded Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski has demonstrated her willingness to oppose Pres. Trump’s corrupt, unlawful policies. Many Americans from around the country are calling on her to form a bipartisan caucus to block those policies and save our democracy. Most importantly, this effort is catching on with her Alaskan constituents.
I am writing to urge you to reach out to Sen. Murkowski in support of establishing this caucus and offering to co-chair it with her. The caucus would ideally have an equal number of members from both parties and deal with issues that clearly threaten our democracy, like Pres. Trump’s ignoring Supreme Court rulings or an attempt to suspend the right of habeas corpus.
Time is running out to stop President Trump and his MAGA cohorts from overthrowing our democracy and creating an autocracy. I believe that a bipartisan SOD caucus could be a very effective tool for preventing that from happening. I hope you agree and will move quickly to create this caucus to save our democracy. I guarantee that the vast majority of New Mexicans, as well as Americans across the country, will have your back and want to work with you.
Respectfully yours,
(Your name)
Help Save Our Democracy Now, Before It’s Too Late! Ask your friends, family, and others to contact Sen. Lujan as well.
A variety ofexplanations have beenprovided for why Harris and the Dems lost the 2024 election.A few stand out.
For instance, the Dems lost because they failed to listen to and address the concerns of the working class.[1] And, the powerful right-wing media “fed their audiences a diet of slanted and distorted information that made it possible for Trump to win.”[2] And, Harris failed to distance herself from Biden’s foreign policy, especially regarding his unconditional support of Israel in its brutal annihilation of the people of Gaza.[3] These and other factors all played a part in Trump’s win over Harris.
Still, Professor Peter Bloom sees a more basic issue that for decades has prevented the Democrats from realizing their professed goal of a society of true equality, justice, and sustainability. He argues that the Democrats mistakenly put all their ‘eggs’ in one basket: electoral politics. Bloom calls this the “Goldilocks complex,” which “manifests in the perpetual search for the perfect capitalist politician who can somehow thread the needle between radical change and mainstream acceptability…The fundamental flaw in this approach is the misguided belief that true systemic change can come through electoral politics alone, particularly within a party fundamentally wedded to capitalist interests.”[4]
Bloom believes, “This myopic focus prevents the development of alternative structures and intersectional movements necessary for genuine socialist change…Real progress demands building grassroots organizations, reinvigorating labor movements, creating mutual aid networks, and fostering broad coalitions that address the interconnected nature of various forms of oppression.”[5]
In Bloom’s view, the principal culprit in the Democrats’ futile efforts is capitalism itself. The Party’s failure to address its structural limitations keeps it “beholden to corporate interests and wedded to capitalist ideology.” Bloom concludes that as long as the Democrats continue to work “within a system designed to prioritize profit and maintain existing power structures,” they will not achieve true economic and social justice. We all “must recognize that the solutions to our most pressing problems lie outside the confines of capitalist politics.”[6]
Perhaps Trump’s victory will finally force the Democrats to take Bloom’s advice and move beyond capitalist politics. For years, Sen. Bernie Sanders has urged the Party to adopt Democratic Socialism. He rightly maintains that “the issue of unfettered capitalism is not just an academic debate, poverty, economic distress and despair are life-threatening issues for millions of working people in the country.”[7] Restrained by capitalist politics, the Democrats have not effectively addressed these issues and met the needs of the working class.
Sanders explains, “The challenge we confront today as a nation and as a world is, in many ways, not different from the one we faced a little less than a century ago…Then, as now, deeply-rooted and seemingly intractable economic and social disparities led to the rise of right-wing nationalist forces all over the world.” It is unclear whether the Democrats truly understand this.
The question before the Democrats and all Americans is: Will we meet the challenge of Trump’s authoritarianism and the right-wing Republican Party by going beyond capitalist politics before it’s too late and American democracy dies?
(Note: I will only be publishing my blog occasionally for the next several months so that I will have more time to complete my memoir, From Camden to Kathmandu.)
Bruce Berlin, J.D.
A retired, public sector ethics attorney, Berlin is 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 is also the author of Breaking Big Money’s Grip on America. (See breakingbigmoneysgrip.com.). Contact him at breakingbigmoneysgrip@gmail.com.
We are entering the home stretch of the 2024 campaign with only 78 days left until Election Day. As the Democrats open their convention in Chicago today, the wind is at their backs. They now have a 3 to 6-point lead in national polls.[1] The big question is: Can they channel that momentum into a winning Blue Wave come November 5th?
The convention is the first step in that effort. All the Party’s factions are coming together to ensure Democratic wins up and down the ticket. The future of our democracy is riding on that outcome.
But a full-blown Blue Wave carrying the Democrats to victory depends on all of us getting out and doing our part. The more time and energy we the people devote to this epic cause, the greater the likelihood of success as well as preventing serious setbacks down the road.
While Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will lead the charge, the tough work of getting out the vote will be up to us. Whether it’s making phone calls, knocking on doors, sending postcards, and more; hundreds of thousands of Americans dedicated to democracy will be needed to generate a Blue Wave and guarantee victory. Sitting on the sidelines and rooting for a Democratic win is not an option.
As usual, the election will be decided in six or seven battleground states. They are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. That is where your help is most needed. And you don’t even have to leave your home to pitch in. Go to https://democrats.org/take-action/ or https://swingleft.org/ to learn how to get involved.
We are experiencing the biggest challenge to American democracy since the Civil War. The future of our country is in our hands. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.
With less than five months until likely the most consequential election in American history, I’ve been trying to figure out what I can do to help save our democracy.
For a while, I considered going to a swing state like Pennsylvania or Arizona and working on the Biden re-election campaign. In which case, I would probably be making phone calls to prospective Democratic voters or going door-to-door. Neither of those motivated me. Nor did I believe my doing them would have any significant impact on the election.
Of course, I could send donations to the Biden campaign and other important races. And I am doing that. But again, I realized that my rather small donations would hardly make any meaningful difference.
That’s not to say that any of the above wouldn’t assist Biden and the Democrats. Every little bit helps advance their campaign toward victory.
Then, the other day I asked myself: what do I like doing that could potentially have some influence on the election? The answer that immediately came to me was working on policy. But what policy?
That same day I read Thomas Friedman’s piece in the NYT, American Leaders Should Stop Debasing Themselves on Israel. Friedman advocated:
“This is ultimatum time. Biden should be telling Israel that it should accept Hamas’s key demand: Totally end the war now and withdraw from Gaza in exchange for the return of all Israeli hostages. Israel cannot think straight while Hamas holds its people.”[1]
Having spent considerable time and energy on U.S. policy toward Israel, I felt Friedman’s article was calling to me. If Biden could get Israel to end the war, it would be a big boost to his re-election prospects.
While I have no illusions that I alone could affect U.S. policy in any area, here was something I believed was worth my time and that I would feel good doing. I have already attended two meetings of a local American Friends of Combatants for Peace committee (AFCFP) which is focused on influencing U.S. policy in the Middle East. One effort proposed at the last meeting was meeting with NM Sens. Heinrich and Lujan and encouraging them to urge the Administration to forcefully push for a permanent ceasefire. Though I had thought I would rather work on the elections than continue participating with this group, suddenly I saw it was my path to making a meaningful contribution to Biden’s re-election as well as to saving our democracy.
AFCFP raises awareness, builds community, and acts to advance the joint efforts of Israelis and Palestinians working for a just peace in Israel and Palestine.[2] If you are interested in joining this effort, email AFCFP at office@afcfp.org, orwrite to greggmanoff@yahoo.com in Santa Fe. And, if this project does not motivate you, with less than five months until the election, find something that does and start working now to save our democracy before it’s too late.
I recently turned 79. Yes, it’s hard for me to believe, but it’s gradually sinking in. For example, I’ve noticed I’m definitely slowing down. As a result, I don’t always get my blog done every week. So, if you don’t get my blog some weeks, you’ll know I’ve slowed down again.
And that brings me to the larger issue of living life in balance. It’s a matter that confronts many of us at different times in our lives. For instance, we may spend too much time on the Internet at the expense of time with our friends and loved ones. Or we work too much and don’t leave enough time for relaxing and enjoying life.
It’s easy to do. We get caught up in one aspect of our lives causing us to ignore another interest or pay less attention to a valued relationship. Sometimes we don’t even realize what we’ve done. Once we do gain awareness, it may take us additional time to get back up to speed with a particular pursuit or to revive a neglected relationship.
Of course, there are many ways we may feel our lives are out of balance. Eating too much, sleeping too little, not getting enough exercise, watching too much TV, not reading enough, or not enough intimacy, to name just a few.
Personally, I feel the need for more time and space for my writing. In addition to my blog, the memoir I’ve been working on for over three years now requires more of my time if I’m ever going to finish it. I also want more time to deepen my relationship with my loving partner. To achieve these goals and get my life in greater balance, I have to figure out what to let go of or at least give less attention to. And that may not be so easy to do. But I’m working on it.
What about you? What do you want to re-balance in your life?
For my male readers, here’s something to help them in this re-balancing effort. A few friends and I are organizing a summer retreat with the theme, Living a Life in Balance. A New Mexican Men’s Wellness gathering, the retreat, with apologies to my female readers, is just for men. It will be held at Story Ranch in Mineral Hill, New Mexico, on the weekend of July 12 to 14. During the event, men will have the opportunity to explore where their lives are in and/or out of balance. It will be a time to step back and take a look at what is and what is not working for them.
In small groups, we will examine how we might get more of what we want in our lives to create greater balance and ease, while reducing or eliminating what we feel burdened by in our lives. You may have a good balance of fun, play, interpersonal connections, joy, quiet time, or whatever. On the other hand, you may feel a bit overwhelmed by too much work, a lack of connection, not enough time with your mate or family, busyness, alone time, or something else.
If you are a man thinking this is an issue worth exploring in your life, we hope you will join us next month. And please encourage other men you know to join us as well. We feel it will be a valuable experience for all. For details and registration, go to https://bit.ly/3yGKaEn.
No one knows for sure who will win the election this November. It’s still five and a half months away. Much will happen between now and then which could alter the outcome. Here are twelve critical factors that will likely play a role in determining who wins the election.
The Trump court trials
At this point, Trump’s New York hush money trial is probably the only one that will return a verdict before the November election. Despite all the media attention, the case will likely not have a significant impact on the election results, regardless of the outcome. Most voters have already made up their minds about Trump and the verdict will not change many voters’ opinions. At the same time, the strong evidence regarding Trump’s involvement in the January 6th insurrection could influence swing voters even though that trial will probably not occur before the election.
The Youth Vote
The youth vote will matter. It is a vital component of President Biden’s path to re-election. According to a March Youth Poll by Harvard’s Institute of Politics, “If the presidential election were held today, President Biden would outperform former President Trump among both registered (50% Biden, 37% Trump) and likely young voters under 30 (56% Biden, 37% Trump).” This is true despite Biden’s approval ratings on major issues being in the 20 and 30 percentiles.[1]
The Minority Vote
A recent Pew poll indicates 77% of Black voters say they would vote for Biden, well below the 92% he received in 2020.[2] Only 52% of Hispanic voters say they support the president.[3] That is 14% lower than the Hispanic vote Biden received in 2020.[4] This could be particularly troublesome for the president in swing states with large Hispanic voter populations like Arizona (25%)[5] and Nevada (20%).[6] Democrats need to do more to bolster their support among black and Latino voters.
The Israeli-Hamas War
This war is a real wildcard. Right now, the war is hurting Biden, particularly with the youth and minority voters, and aiding Trump. If Biden can help orchestrate a permanent ceasefire in the next few months, it likely would bring many of those voters back into his camp. If the war drags on into the fall, Biden’s re-election will become more doubtful.
Inflation and the Economy
As for inflation and the economy, it’s not a winner for Biden and the Democrats. These issues are at the top of many voters’ concerns. If inflation goes down significantly, Biden’s electoral stock will go up. Still, inflation is not likely to get any worse, so it shouldn’t make matters more difficult for the president. That is true for the economy as well. However, while the economy has improved significantly, voters for the most part have a negative view of it. Biden needs to showcase how much he’s done to improve people’s lives as well as what more he will do if he’s re-elected.
Immigration Reform and Border Security
The need for immigration reform and border security are issues the Republicans have highlighted. But Trump’s opposition to the bipartisan bill to secure our southern border continues to prevent the implementation of a reasonable solution.[7] Again, Biden and the Democrats must make it very clear to the voting public that Trump and his pawns in Congress are responsible for blocking a good bipartisan bill that would have gone a long way toward securing our southern border and fixing our immigration system.
The Candidacy of RFK Jr.
In a recent poll, the presidential candidacy of RFK Jr. hurts Trump more than Biden by a couple of percentage points.[8] In a close race like this one, it could make a difference. But I doubt it will be as significant as the votes of Nikki Haley’s supporters or suburban women.
Nikki Haley’s Supporters
The fact is that seven swing states will decide this election. In the largest swing state, Pennsylvania, Haley received over 16% of its recent primary vote.[9] That was two months after she had already dropped out of the race. In the purple state of Arizona, Haley got nearly 20% of the Republican primary vote.[10] While Haley just declared she will vote for Trump in November, the Atlantic’s David Frum points out:
“Most of Haley’s supporters voted for her as a way to stop Donald Trump. Haley’s announcement today that she intends to vote for Trump won’t raise their opinion of him; it will only lower their opinion of her.”[11]
It’s a good bet many of the Republican primary voters who voted for Haley in the swing states will not be voting for Trump.
Abortion Rights and Suburban Women
The large segment of the population who have abortion rights high on their list of election issues will bolster the Biden campaign.[12] The battle over the right to an abortion has energized Democrats and will increase voter turnout. It probably is Biden’s best issue. Moderate Republican and Independent suburban women who support abortion rights and are turned off by the corrupt former president will help boost Biden. Together, they could put Biden over the top in those critical swing states.[13]
The Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court has been overtaken by radical justices thanks to Trump’s three appointments to the Court. Along with the other right-wing justices, they are responsible for eliminating the Constitutional right to an abortion.[14] In addition, they are continuously chipping away at our civil and personal rights, like voting rights and gun safety protections. If Trump wins the election, we likely could see more extreme right appointments which would dominate the Court for several decades. This possibility should further energize a broad range of the electorate to vote for Biden and Democratic senators.
The Survival of Democracy
Finally, there’s the overarching matter of saving our democracy. Trump has made it clear that he admires dictators like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un. He has openly declared his fascist inclinations.[15] We must take Trump at his word. The great majority of Americans support our democratic form of government. Biden and the Democrats must demonstrate that voting for them is the only way to guarantee the future of American democracy.
Despite his shortcomings, Biden is our best and only hope at this point. Putting it all together, he might be a better bet at being re-elected after all.
While it’s not a sure bet, I believe the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol will succeed. And, in my view, there is only one measure of success. That is, the Department of Justice will indict Donald Trump for crimes against our nation based on the evidence the committee presents to the American people.
The country is clearly divided on whether Trump is culpable for the insurrection. Thursday’s first televised hearing was only the beginning of the committee’s effort to lay out its case that he is criminally liable. With Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wy) leading the charge, it was a good initial step.
The committee’s evidence was convincing that there was a conspiracy to overturn the election. For example, it showed video of a meeting between leaders of two far-right groups, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, the night before the attack. Then Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards testified that she observed about 200 members of these groups marching to the Capitol at 10:30 the morning of the insurrection, well before Trump urged the crowd at the Ellipse to go to the Capitol and “fight like hell.”[1]
If the “riot” was a spontaneous response to Trump’s speech, why were these right-wing groups already meeting in advance of January 6th? Why were they encountering police at the Capitol prior to Trump’s Ellipse speech? It stands to reason that they must have conspired in advance to be on the frontline of the larger attack they knew was coming.
The essential question that the committee must answer with concrete evidence in its subsequent hearings then is, to what degree was Trump involved in the effort to overthrow our government. What did Trump do or not do to advance the insurrection and with whom did he interact? As Rep. Cheney asserted, that attempt went well beyond the January 6th attack on the Capitol. In fact, it continues to this day.
Cheney explained that over the course of several months Trump had a “sophisticated seven-point plan” to overturn the 2020 election and prevent the transition of presidential power. In the next couple of weeks, the committee’s hearings will provide substantial evidence of Trump’s central role in executing his plan. When all else failed, the January insurrection was the final stab at accomplishing his goal.
Other elements of Trump’s scheme included:
Spreading false and fraudulent information to the American public claiming the 2020 election was stolen from him,
Replacing the Acting Attorney General, so that the Department of Justice would support his fake election claims,
Pressuring state election officials, and state legislators, to change election results,
Instructing Republicans in multiple states to create false electoral slates and transmit those slates to Congress and the National Archives, and
Summoning his supporters to Washington and directing them to march on the US Capitol.[2]
When you put this all together, it’s clear that Trump’s intent was to overturn the election and remain in power by unlawful means. In practically all criminal cases, proving the accused’s intent is a critical element in obtaining a conviction. It’s now up to the committee to present evidence in its upcoming hearings that establishes Trump’s intent beyond a reasonable doubt. If it can do that, and I think they can, Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice will prosecute Trump for crimes against the United States.
Bruce Berlin, J.D.
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.
On Tuesday, Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced he would call for a Senate vote on S1, the For the People Act, before the end of the month. While Minority Leader Sen. McConnell (R-Ky) and his Republican colleagues are sure to block the vote using the filibuster, Schumer hopes the GOP’s obstruction will help convince Sen. Manchin (D-W.Va.) to change his mind and support S1 because bipartisanship is not really an option.[1]
Manchin has been demanding that the bill must have bipartisan buy-in. And, in fact, it does, just not in Congress. In a May opinion poll, 69 percent of Americans, including 52 percent of Republicans, support the bill.[2] In Manchin’s home state of West Virginia, an overwhelming 79 percent of the people favor the legislation.[3]
Sen. Schumer has indicated that “Failure is not an option, voting is too sacred.”[4] He has also explained, “Now, is it possible we might change a few things here and there? We’re gonna do it. We had discussions with Sen. Manchin and they’re continuing.”[5]
What makes the passage of this legislation even more critical is the recent outbreak of deadly threats against election officials and volunteers across the country. On June 11, Reuters issued a special report: “Trump-inspired death threats are terrorizing election workers.” Its investigation found that “Trump’s baseless voter-fraud accusations have had dark consequences for U.S. election leaders and workers, especially in contested states such as Georgia, Arizona and Michigan. Some have faced protests at their homes or been followed in their cars. Many have received death threats.”[6] This is another dangerous effort by Trump loyalists to undermine our democracy.
Fortunately, the Justice Department is taking these threats very seriously. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday that the Department will double its civil rights enforcement division staff within the next 30 days and take other actions to protect Americans’ right to the ballot. While supporting the For the People Act, Garland stated the Department “would not wait to enforce voting rights while lawmakers fine-tune those pieces of legislation…(and) is going to investigate and prosecute any violation of federal law against” election officials and volunteers.[7]
While Washington officials are doing the right thing, we cannot leave this crucial fight up to them. On Thursday, I attended a Zoom gathering of 15 or so New Mexicans who want to press for the passage of HR1/S1 to protect our right to vote. The meeting focused on initiating a statewide effort to participate in a national campaign urging Congress to approve these major election reforms to save our democracy. This national campaign is being led by the Declaration for American Democracy coalition[8] and Indivisible,[9] two high profile groups with large, dedicated memberships.
The New Mexico Voting Rights committee will meet again via ZOOM this Tuesday, June 15 at 4 p.m. (MDT) to develop a plan of action. We need you to get involved, before it’s too late. The right to vote and protect our democracy hangs in the balance. Don’t wait. Register to attend this important meeting at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcvcuyopjoiGdNRhqptzjTkPjIEv_AHXzM4.
Bruce Berlin, J.D.
(Note: Due to other commitments, I will not be able to post a blog next week but will be back again the following week.)
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 (now RepresentUs New Mexico), 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.
President Trump and his administration “have taken a crisis and turned it into a tragedy…When it comes to the response to the largest public health crisis of our time, our current political leaders have demonstrated that they are dangerously incompetent. We should not abet them and enable the deaths of thousands more Americans by allowing them to keep their jobs.”[1]This perspective is from the editors of theNew England Journal of Medicine, one of the most respected medical journals in the world.
Despite over 210,000 Americans having lost their lives due to the coronavirus, on Monday President Trump told the nation, “Don’t let it dominate you. Don’t be afraid of it. You’re going to beat it. We have the best medical equipment. We have the best medicines….”[2]
Well, that’s easy for Trump to say after receiving the best medical care on the planet at Walter Reed Medical Center following his coronavirus diagnosis last week. “(T)he president’s COVID-19 treatment surpassed what most people would receive. Fewer than 10 compassionate-use requests have been granted for Regeneron’s experimental antibody cocktail,” including Trump. “He would never have gotten access to the monoclonal antibodies if he weren’t the president,” noted Brown University Prof. Rose McDermott who has studied presidential illness.[3]
You or I would have had to pay over $100,000 for the treatment Trump got for free.[4] Actually, in 2016 and 2017, our billionaire president did pay $750 a year in taxes,[5] so his public healthcare wasn’t entirely free. Still, quite a deal, don’t you think?
While Trump receives top-notch healthcare at taxpayers’ expense, he has been doing whatever he can to eliminate healthcare insurance for millions of Americans. On June 25, the Trump Administration petitioned the Supreme Court to find the Affordable Care Act (ACA) unconstitutional.[6]
Incredibly, the Administration’s efforts to gut the ACA is in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic which has infected over seven million Americans and thrown tens of millions off their health care rolls due to lost jobs.
“Dismantling the law wouldworsen racial disparities and make it harder for sick people to get new coverage at a time when COVID-19 is disproportionately impacting Black and Latino Americans and leaving hundreds of thousands with potentially lasting health problems. It would also leave 23 million Americans without health coverage,” according to the Center for American Progress.[7]
Clearly, Trump is not concerned with the healthcare of millions of Americans, particularly when the great majority of them are lower income minorities. At the same time, he had no problem taking care of very wealthy Americans like himself with huge tax cuts that don’t produce significant economic growth,[8] but do significantly increase the national deficit.[9]
But, it gets even darker. Back in February, knowing how dangerous the coronavirus was, Trump downplayed the threat and did nothing to protect the American people.[10] In fact, he was so careless and highhanded regarding COVID 19 that months later Trump and more than 30 of his aides and their contacts contracted the virus. And then, when he returned to the White House from the hospital still carrying the disease, “he immediately removed his mask before entering the building — setting off concern that his behavior may put staffers, complex workers and Secret Service agents at risk.”[11] Of course, his image was much more important than their health and wellbeing.
One last thing. Trump promised to replace the ACA with a much better, “terrific” healthcare plan. After almost four years in office, he has produced no such plan.[12]Once again, Trump has conned the American people. It’s time we put an end to his cruel charade on November 3rd.
Bruce Berlin, J.D.
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.
Breaking Big Money's Grip on America 