Robert B. Reich's Blog, page 62
November 18, 2017
The Backlash Against the Bullies
November 12, 2017
Patriotism, Taxes, and Trump
plan should be awkward for an administration that has made...
November 6, 2017
A YEAR WITHOUT A PRESIDENTIt seems like forever,
but it was just...
A YEAR WITHOUT A PRESIDENT
It seems like forever,
but it was just one year ago that Donald Trump was elected president. So what
have we learned about the presidency and who is running the country?
1. The first big thing
we’ve learned is that Trump is not really the president of the United States –
because he’s not governing.
A president who’s
governing doesn’t blast his Attorney General for doing his duty and recusing
himself from an FBI investigation of the president.
A president who’s
governing doesn’t leave the top echelons of departments and agencies empty for
almost a year.
He doesn’t publicly
tell his Secretary of State he’s wasting time trying to open relations with
North Korea. Any president with the slightest interest in governing would
already know and approve of what his Secretary of State was doing.
He doesn’t fire half
his key White House staff in the first nine months, creating utter chaos.
A president who is
governing works with his cabinet and staff to develop policy. He doesn’t just
tweet new public policy out of the blue – for example, that transgender people
can’t serve in the military. His Secretary of Defense is likely to have some
thoughts on the matter – and if not consulted might decide to ignore the
tweet.
He doesn’t just decide
to withdraw from the Paris Accord without any reason or analysis.
A president who is
governing works with Congress. He doesn’t just punt to Congress hard decisions
– as he did with DACA, the Iran nuclear deal, insurance subsidies under the
Affordable Care Act, and details of his tax plan.
He doesn’t tell a
crowd of supporters that he’s ended the Clean Power Plan – “Did you see what I
did to that? Boom, gone” – when any such repeal requires a legal process, and
must then withstand court challenges.
Instead of governing,
Donald Trump has been insulting, throwing tantrums, and getting even:
Equating white
supremacists with people who protest against them. Questioning the
patriotism of NFL players who are peacefully protesting police violence and
racism.
Making nasty remarks
about journalists, about his predecessor as president, his political opponent
in the last election, national heroes like Congressman John Lewis and Senator
John McCain, even the mayor of San Juan Puerto Rico.
Or he’s busy lying and
then covering up the lies. Claiming he would have won the popular vote if
millions hadn’t voted fraudulently for his opponent – without a shred of
evidence to support his claim, and then setting up a fraudulent commission to
find the evidence.
Or firing the head of
the FBI who wouldn’t promise to be more loyal to him than to the American
public.
A president’s job is
to govern. Trump doesn’t know how to govern, or apparently doesn’t care. So,
logically, he’s not President.
2. The second thing we’ve
learned is that Trump’s influence is waning.
Since he lost the
popular vote, his approval ratings have dropped even further. One year in,
Trump is the least popular president in history with only 37 percent of
Americans behind him.
Most Republicans still
approve of him, but that may not be for long.
He couldn’t get his
pick elected to a Senate primary in Alabama, a state bulging with Trump voters.
Republican senators
refused to go along with his repeal of the Affordable Care Act. And they’re
taking increased interest in Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.
Business leaders
deserted him over his remarks over Charlottesville. They vacated his business
advisory councils.
NFL owners have turned
on him over his remarks about players. Tom Brady, who once called Trump “a good
friend,” now calls him “divisive” and “wrong.”
There’s no question
he’s violated the Constitution. There are at least three grounds for
impeachment – his violation of the emoluments clause of the Constitution by
raking in money from foreign governments, his obstruction of justice by firing
the head of the FBI, and his failure to faithfully execute the law by not
implementing the Affordable Care Act. And a fourth if he or his aides colluded
with Russia in the 2016 election.
But both houses of
Congress would have to vote for his removal, which won’t happen unless
Democrats win control in 2018 or Republicans in Congress decide Trump is a
political liability.
3. The third big thing
we’ve learned is where the governing of the country is actually occurring.
Much is being done by
lobbyists for big business, who now swarm over the Trump administration like
honey bees over a hedgerow of hollyhocks.
But the real
leadership of America is coming from outside the Trump administration.
Leadership on the
environment is now coming from California – whose rules every automaker and
many other corporations have to meet in order to sell in a state that’s home to
one out of eight Americans.
Leadership on civil
rights is coming from the federal courts, which have struck down three
different versions of Trump’s travel ban, told states their voter ID laws are
unconstitutional, and pushed police departments to stop profiling and harassing
minorities.
Leadership on the
economy is coming from the Federal Reserve Board, whose decisions on interest
rates are more important than ever now that the country lacks a fiscal policy
guided by the White House.
Most of the rest of
leadership in America is now coming from the grassroots – from people all over
the country who are determined to reclaim our democracy and make the economy
work for the many rather than the few.
They stopped Congress
from repealing the Affordable Care Act.
They’re fighting Education
Secretary Betsy DeVos’s plan to spend taxpayer money on for-profit schools and
colleges that cheat their students.
They’re fighting EPA
director Scott Pruitt’s crusade against climate science.
And Attorney General
Jeff Sessions’s attempts to tear down the wall between church and state.
They’re fighting
against the biggest tax cut for the wealthy in American history – that will be
paid for by draconian cuts in services and dangerous levels of federal debt.
They’re fighting
against the bigotry, racism, and xenophobia that Trump has unleashed.
And they’re fighting
for a Congress that, starting with next year’s midterm elections, will reverse
everything Trump is doing to America.
But their most
important effort – your effort, our effort – is not just resisting Trump.
It’s laying the groundwork for a new politics in America, a new era of decency
and social justice, a reassertion of the common good.
Millions are already
mobilizing and organizing. It’s the one good thing that’s happened since
Election Day last year – the silver lining on the dark Trump cloud.
If you’re not yet part
of it, join up.
November 4, 2017
Trump’s Most Damning Legacy
Thursday, Trump said “the saddest thing is, because I am the President of...
November 1, 2017
TRUMP’S TROJAN HORSE TAX CUTThe goal of Trump and
the Republican...
TRUMP’S TROJAN HORSE TAX CUT
The goal of Trump and
the Republican leaders is to pull off a giant redistribution of over $1
trillion from the middle-class, working-class, and poor to the rich, who are
already richer than ever.
They’re selling this
to the public with a false claim that the middle-class will benefit from their
tax cut plan. It’s a gigantic Trojan horse.
For most Americans,
the proposed tax cuts are tiny and temporary. That’s right – temporary.
They will shrink in just a few years. And some middle class Americans
will actually get a tax increase.
Meanwhile, the top 1
percent will get a gigantic tax cut. The Tax Policy Center estimates that the
current plan will save the bottom 80 percent between $50 and $450 in taxes per
year, but that it saves each person in the top 1 percent an average of $129,000
a year. For people at the very top, like Trump himself, the tax cuts are
humongous. And the corporations they own will also get a massive tax cut.
Republicans say
economic “growth” will pay for the tax cuts, so there’s no need to cut social
programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
But Republicans have
just passed a budget that would cut nearly $1.5 trillion from Medicare and
Medicaid to pay for these tax cuts. Pell Grants, housing assistance, and
even cancer research are also on the chopping block.
Now, they say we
shouldn’t take their budget resolution seriously. It was just a device to get
the tax bill through the Senate with 51 votes.
But once these tax
cuts are passed, the budget deficit will explode. The Tax Policy Center
predicts that it will cut federal revenue by $2.4 trillion over the next 10
years.
When that happens, the
only way out of the crisis will be something dramatic – exactly
the cuts in Medicare and Medicaid, and maybe even Social Security – that
Republicans have wanted for years.
By this time, any talk
of raising taxes on the rich will be dismissed.
Using the promise of
middle-class tax cuts as a Trojan horse for a tax windfall for the rich and
deep spending cuts is a tactic dating back to the Reagan administration.
But the version
they’re aiming for now is “YUGE.”
We must see the
strategy for what it is. And it must be stopped.
October 29, 2017
The Huge Tax Heist
set off a bomb down the street from the bank, and while...
October 25, 2017
AMERICA NOW HAS 6 POLITICAL PARTIESThe old Democratic...
AMERICA NOW HAS 6 POLITICAL PARTIES
The old Democratic and
Republican parties are exploding. When you take a closer look, America actually
has six political parties right now:
1. Establishment
Republicans, consisting of large corporations, Wall Street, and major GOP
funders. Their goal is to have their taxes cut.
2. Anti-establishment
Republicans, consisting of Tea Partiers, the Freedom Caucus, and libertarians.
Their goal is to have a smaller government with shrinking deficits and debts.
Many of them also want to get Big Money out of politics and end crony
capitalism.
3. Social conservative
Republicans – evangelicals and rural Southern whites. They want America to
return to what they call “Christian” values.
4. Establishment
Democrats – corporate and Wall Street executives and upper middle-class
professionals. They’d also like a tax cut, but they believe in equal
rights.
5. Anti-establishment
Democrats – younger, grassroots movement types, and progressives who still
call themselves Democrats. Their biggest issues are widening inequality,
racism, sexism, and climate change. They also want to get Big Money out of
politics and they reject crony capitalism.
6. The sixth party is
Trump. This party consists of Donald J. Trump and his fanatical followers.
Trump’s goal is to get more money for himself, get more power for himself, get
more attention to himself, and get even.
Whoever can put
together elements of a governing coalition among these six parties will win
future elections.
One possibility is a coalition of anti-establishment Democrats who want to get big money out of politics and who reject crony capitalism, and anti-establishement Republicans who want the same.
The other possible coalition is establishment Democrats who want their taxes cut and establishment Republicans who want the same.
October 22, 2017
How to End Crony Capitalism
October 19, 2017
Why We Must All Fight
for the Dream Act.By repealing DACA...
Why We Must All Fight
for the Dream Act.
By repealing DACA – Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals – Trump has endangered both these young immigrants and the economic security of America.
In 2012, the
Obama administration created DACA as a temporary way to address the needs of young people who came to America as infants or toddlers, and know no other country.
To apply
and qualify for DACA, these young people had to risk entering the system by
giving their identifying information. Once approved, they were granted two
years of “deferred action” on deportation, with the promise that they
could reapply every two years indefinitely.
This allowed
“dreamers” to go to college, get a job, and pay taxes without fear of
deportation. DACA was never perfect, but for 800,000 immigrant youth it meant
freedom from fear and an opportunity to fully contribute to the country they
were raised in.
But now these young people are threatened with deportation.
For no reason. These young people are
not taking jobs away from native-born Americans. Even the conservative
Cato Institute has said that the economic cost of cancelling DACA would be $200
billion over ten years. And that’s just direct costs. The Center for
American Progress estimates that if we lost these young workers the U.S. gross
domestic product would shrink by $433 billion over the next decade.
The moral case is even
more compelling than the economic one.
These kids grew up in
America. To enter the DACA program they already had to step forward and show
that they were contributing to their communities and then prove it again
every two years to stay in the program. It is immoral to now put them in the
crosshairs of deportation.
This is just the
latest effort by Trump to play to his base and divide us, but we must not allow
that. Americans of all races and creeds must push congress to pass the Dream
Act, and allow these young people to become American citizens – without the
Act being a bargaining chip for more border security or anything else.
These DACA young
people are our neighbors, our colleagues, and our classmates. They represent
the the best of the dream that my parents and most of our ancestors had when
they came to America: To make a better life for themselves, and for their
kids. Trump’s attempt to divide us and fuel our differences along racial
and ethnic lines is an attack on the America I believe in, and we must not let
it stand.
That’s why the DACA
fight is my fight, and why I stand with the dreamers – and I hope you will too.
October 12, 2017
Is Trump Unraveling?
Bob Corker, the
Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,...
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