Robert B. Reich's Blog, page 51
October 16, 2018
TRUMP IS AMERICA’S MOST DANGEROUS EXPORT
Donald Trump is not...
TRUMP IS AMERICA’S MOST DANGEROUS EXPORT
Donald Trump is not only undermining democracy here at home, but he’s also emboldening dangerous authoritarian movements around the world. Trump’s presidency has become America’s most dangerous export.
FIRST: Trump has provided cover for authoritarian leaders around the world who are actively attacking the media and suppressing the truth to entrench their power.
He congratulated Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on his electoral victory, despite Orban’s efforts to undermine democracy and stifle freedom of the press.
On Twitter, Trump vowed to join with Polish president Andrzej Duda to “fight the fake news”. Duda has placed media outlets under strict government control.
Trump welcomed to the White House the Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who has locked up tens of thousands of his political opponents and decimated the human-rights community there.
Trump reached out to Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte, who has invoked Hitler’s mass extermination of Jews as a model for how he would like to dispose of drug dealers and addicts.
He has courted Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has imprisoned critics and human-rights activists, caused thousands of civilian deaths in Yemen, and – evidence increasingly suggests – is responsible for the gruesome death of Washington Post journalist and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi.
And, of course, Trump infamously made excuses for Vladimir Putin when asked about the murder of Russian journalists.
SECOND: Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and rhetoric have lent legitimacy to racist and xenophobic political parties across Europe. His success playing on racial fears and stoking nationalist sentiment has been a model for their efforts.
Look at Italy’s new deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, who campaigned on mass deportations and has evoked the language of Benito Mussolini.
And Austria’s far-right Freedom Party has demanded tighter border security, expedited deportations, and financial “sanctions” on immigrants.
Close behind them, although not yet in power, are France’s Marine Le Pen and Britain’s Nigel Farage, who Trump has complimented on Twitter.
THIRD: Trump has undermined the international institutions committed to protecting human rights and defending democracy.
Unlike former U.S. presidents, Trump doesn’t publicly mention human rights.
In a break with decades of U.S. foreign policy, Trump has attacked NATO, weakening the alliance as Putin threatens to undermine democracies in Western Europe.
He has also called the European Union a “foe,” playing into nationalist movements.
As in the 1930s, economic strains are fueling the rise of demagogues who direct anger and resentment toward scapegoats such as immigrants and minorities – lying about them with impunity.
But the truth is still getting through to most people, and democracy is still alive. Yet in sharp contrast to the 1930s when the president of the United States defended our democratic ideals, Trump is now helping lead the charge against them.
October 15, 2018
The Truth About the Trump Economy
October 10, 2018
Living in a New Gilded Age
Trump Justice Department has approved a $69 billion merger between CVS, the nation’s largest...
Trump and the End of Antitrust
Trump Justice Department has approved a $69 billion merger between CVS, the nation’s largest...
October 6, 2018
Containing the Catastrophe
September 30, 2018
America’s Bullies
head shorter than other boys, which meant I was bullied – mocked,...
September 29, 2018
It’s Up To YouOkay. Time to stop complaining about Trump. ...
It’s Up To You
Okay. Time to stop complaining about Trump. November 6 is
your chance to create a firewall against this catastrophe, and flip the House
and even the Senate.
How do we get out of this mess? It’s up to you.
First and most obviously: Vote! Even if you’re in a pure blue or
deep red state or district, don’t assume your vote doesn’t count. You never
know how close the vote can be.
Verify your registration, find your polling place, and make a
plan to vote on Election Day. If you still need to register, do so today.
Second: Encourage others to vote. Typically, in midterm
elections, only about 40 percent of eligible voters go to the polls. The
upcoming election will be decided by turnout.
The most powerful way to motivate others to vote is the personal
touch. So call your friends and family. Talk about what’s at stake in this
election. If you live in a blue state or district, be sure to also call family
and friends in red or purple states and districts.
Third: Get young people to the polls. In the last midterm
election, in 2014, only 16 percent of eligible voters aged 18 to 29 voted,
compared to 55% of people over 50.
The millennial generation is now the largest voting block in
America, for the first time outnumbering Baby Boomers and older Americans.
So please urge your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews,
and even their friends to vote. If they don’t already know, explain how
important this election is to them and to their future.
Fourth: You can do even more to get out the vote. Host a phone
bank, knock on doors, make sure people know where to vote, help drive them to
polling places. Groups like MoveOn have tools to get you started today.
Folks,
our democracy depends on all of us – now more than ever. This November 6th,
please do your part.
September 27, 2018
Kavanaugh, Ford, and Power
September 25, 2018
Donald Trump Has Betrayed the Working Class. Start with his new...
Donald Trump Has Betrayed the Working Class.
Start with his new tax law–one of the very few laws he actually got through the Republican Congress. Trump said it would likely give every American worker a wage increase of $4,000, but the typical worker’s wages have gone nowhere, which is one reason Republicans have stopped campaigning on the tax law.
Now, Trump wants to use executive action to cut taxes on the rich by an additional $100 billion.
If that weren’t enough, Trump has cut the pay of average workers. His Labor Department repealed overtime protections, at an estimated cost to workers of $1.2 billion in lost wages each year.
Trump and the Republican Congress repealed a rule that required federal contractors with long histories of wage theft, safety violations, and employment discrimination to mend their ways in order to receive any new federal contracts. Now, they can continue to get federal contracts and still shaft their workers.
Trump has also considered cutting back child labor protections in hazardous jobs. His other regulatory rollbacks would expose working families to pollutants in drinking water and reverse decades of work to finally ban asbestos.
Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, has even argued that the government has no authority to protect the health and safety of workers in sports and entertainment, even though the government has long regulated safety in the entertainment industry.
Oh, and remember Trump’s promise to replace the Affordable Care Act with something better? Well, you can forget that one, too. Instead, Trump has done everything he can to undercut the Act, resulting in an anticipated near 20% increase in health insurance premiums, and the biggest burden falling on working families who earn too much to be eligible for subsidies.
As a result of Trump’s undermining of the Affordable Care Act, the number of Americans without health insurance rose by more than 3 million in 2017, after years of declines following the implementation of the Act.
Trump’s most recent budget proposal skewers working people with a proposed $763 billion cut in Medicaid and other health programs, $494 billion of cuts in Medicare, and major cuts in education and nutrition over the next 10 years.
Trump has betrayed the working class – but he still claims he’s on their side. That’s one of his biggest lies of all.
September 23, 2018
Why I’m Betting on Millennials, this November 6th
siblings, generation Z’s) are the largest, most diverse and...
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