Tag: Nancy Pelosi

Close out the year with a big win!

The lame-duck session offers Democrats a final shot at notching policy wins before Republicans take control of the House on January 3. Hats off to what the House and Senate are doing.

The clock is running out for Congress to fund the government and avoid a shutdown by Friday, December 16 at midnight.

One of the major needs is to pass a budget covering the next fiscal year, rather than just a continuing resolution. I think the Speakership is the opportunity to get both a more moderate Republican and the budget past. The way it would work is Nancy Pelosi would nominate a moderate Republican like John Kasich of Ohio or Paul Ryan (former Speaker), Liz Cheney, or Adam Kinzinger and trade Democratic votes for Pelosi’s nominee for the budget bill. The Speaker of the House does not need to be a member of Congress. I believe there are enough right-center Republicans who with the Democratic votes, could help make the next two years more livable.

I use the phrase “more livable” but that understates what I think the stakes are.

Our democratic form of government is in jeopardy. Research shows that when 25% of a population subscribes to an idea, there are enough people to change a course of action or a government.  Approximately 23% of the population identifies with the insurgent movement, according to the University of Washington. We saw how close a fraction of the population came to overthrowing the government on January 6. We see how much devastation can be wrought by the attacks on power stations in North Carolina.  Representative Marjorie Taylor Green said on December 12, “the January 6 Capitol attack would have been armed and successful if I had planned it.” After getting blowback, she said this was sarcasm. Hmmm.

Now is a window in time to seize the opportunities to save ourselves. A recent survey found that 36 percent of Americans have a positive view of businesses, down from 45 percent before the pandemic. That’s the lowest mark since the Great Recession in 2008. This anger can be channeled into the productive reform of our institutions.

Is Fascism the future of America?

Like Adolph Hitler and other despots, Trump calls for law and order and promises Americans they will be safe in their suburbs, promising to end the lawlessness that he promised to end four years ago.

Hitler railed against the roving bands of criminals who were destroying law and order

“The streets of our country are in turmoil! The universities are filled with students rebelling and rioting! Communists are seeking to destroy our country! …! Our republic is in danger, yes, danger from within and without! WE NEED LAW AND ORDER!” – Original quote from Adolf Hitler Hamburg, Germany, 1932.

From Donald Trump, we hear:

President Donald Trump declaring himself “your president of law and order” as peaceful protesters just outside the White House picketed.

“I don’t know much about the movement (QAnon) other than I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate. But I don’t know much about the movement. I have heard that it is gaining in popularity…

“I love the under-educated.”

”There can be no prosperity without law and order.”

“We need law and order in America.”

“We’re saving the world from a radical left that will destroy this country. And when this country is gone, the rest of the world would follow.” The U.S. is not alone in turning to the right. Social media spreads malignant ideas around the globe in minutes. In Germany, the approval of QAnon is increasing rapidly.

Like Hitler, Trump creates villains to blame.

Trump declares Biden is somehow tied to unnamed people in cities in “dark shadows” who are “under investigation.” Trump said “some very stupid rich people” are funding protest groups, according to hearsay he said he picked up during the Republican National Convention.

When Trump was asked by reporters about systemic racism, his reply is “We should talk about the kind of violence we’ve seen in Portland and here and in other places,” police killings and calls for racial justice.

Trump ordered the Office of Management and Budget to give guidance to federal agencies on restricting funding to “anarchist jurisdictions” – which is beyond his legal authority.

Trump has suggested voters to attempt to cast ballots twice, which is illegal.

Trump compares police who use force to golfers who “choke.” But choking golfers don’t kill people, and choking is not a crime. The worst that happens is the golfers have a bruised ego.  What Trump does and says, on the other hand, does cost lives.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi tweeted:

 “Unidentified stormtroopers. Unmarked cars. Kidnapping protesters and causing severe injuries in response to graffiti. These are not the actions of a democratic republic. DHS gov’s actions in Portland undermine its mission. Trump & his stormtroopers must be stopped.”

 “First Amendment speech should never be met with one-sided violence from federal agents acting as Trump’s secret police, especially when unidentified. This is disgraceful behavior we would expect from a banana republic — not the government of the United States.”

Is Fascism the future of America? If clothing is a social indicator of what to expect in the future, Melania Trump is overtly showing us what to expect with the outfit she wore for her speech to the Republican convention.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To learn more about America’s devolution into fascism, read this article by Umair Haque who lived through nations turning to authoritarian regimes.

We Don’t Know How to Warn You Any Harder. America is Dying.