The election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the
United States caused me to become amazingly depressed. As I learned that most of my friends and
family were equally upset by this event, I was able to lose a tiny bit of that
depression. However, his continues to
say and act like a 3 year old.
Additionally, some of the people who have supported Trump, think that
now they can do or say anything and it is OK.
School students had told teachers and fellow students who “look
different” to go back home where they belong.
Women have been molested by men who think they no longer have to be
“politically correct.” These are
isolated incidents but I fear that they will increase over the next months.He has appointed the strangest cabinet in history. His appointment to Health and Human Services has lobbied against Medicare and Medicaid for years. The new head of the EPA is against that agency and its ability to regulate and from his prior role has sued the EPA several times.. The Secretary of Labor is against any type of minimum wage. The Secretary of Education is against public education and has spent her career working for Charter schools. The Secretary of State has too close a relationship with Mr. Putin and the Russian government. The Secretary of the Treasury makes Ebenezer Scrooge into a saint. He foreclosed on hundreds of people with reverse mortgages or who were minimally behind in payments, during the financial crisis in 2009.
With a Republican Congress as well as a Republican President willing to
sign their bills, Congress has started to repeal the ACA without any idea how
they will replace it. Trump has given
lip service to keeping some provisions of the law but the Congress has no plans
to do so. More than 20 million people
will lose their health insurance and therefore, health care. Although he has
said he will not touch Medicare and Medicaid Congress under Paul Ryan will try
to destroy the social safety net. Is
there any wonder why some Americans are frightened?
Sometimes a friend's remarks clarify past events better than my memory. Last week at dinner Phil pointed out that Hillary was one of the most admired women in the world until she announced that she was running for President. Then all of a sudden she was so vilified that she fell from grace. She was accused of everything including murder and it became so bad that someone showed up at a Pizza Parlor after reading that she was involved in a sex ring using children and the Pizza Parlor was the site. He showed up with a gun, of course.
The second comment he made was that the Tea Party began almost immediately after President Obama took office. Suddenly there were protesters complaining about taxes (which had not changed) and that the President was a Kenyan Muslim whose mother filed his birth announcement in a Honolulu newspaper after giving birth in Nairobi. Do I think that there was a racial component to the Tea Party? YES. Will I ever believe otherwise? NO! All Presidents have been vilified while in office. However, this President was attacked not because he is stupid or inept but because he is an African American, highly intelligent and well educated with an equally intelligent and well educated wife. That was just too much for many Americans to accept.
I still don't know how Mr. Obama was civil to the orange haired man at their meeting. Cheers for Mr. Lewis questioning Trumps legitimacy.
When Congress wanted to gut their Ethics Committee, the public flooded them with calls and e-mails. When Governor Christie tried to retaliate against newspapers, the same happened in Trenton. Both issues were put aside. A vigilant public can stop a lot of mischief. What if we all e-mailed our GOP Congress people who are itching to repeal the ACA and have no idea of its replacement (but Trumps said it would be "terrific"). We tell them that the replacement must also serve as health care for Congress. We will accept no less since it will be so terrific and that they can't repeal until the replacement is passed!
Amazingly the GOP Congress believes that it doesn't need an Ethics Oversight Program. They are so "Terrific" that they would never do anything unethical! What a place to start the new Congress. Now Tom Price introduced a bill favoring a particular company in which he invested a couple of days before. That’s not unethical, is it?
Hooray for U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters. With any luck this is the exact same attitude other Democrats will adopt when it comes to cooperating with Donald Trump. Let's give him the exact same level of respect initiated by Mitch McConnell who vowed to make Obama a one-term president.
I guess the big question is, "When will the Trump supporters who honestly believed him and believed that a business man will lead well realize that the country's safeguards for the economy, the environment, and the social safety net are all in jeopardy?" Paul Ryan wants to eviscerate social security, Medicare and Medicaid. The proposed head of the EPA is against the EPA, the Proposed Labor Secretary is against organized labor and the minimum wage. The proposed Secretary of the Treasury is a Wall Street mogul who doesn't like regulation and the proposed Secretary of State thinks Putin is a wonderful guy! The POTUS Elect thinks he is so smart that there is little to learn. We have been cursed to live in interesting times!
I hope that everyone who loses their health insurance thanks to the GOP rush to repeal with no intentions of replacement remembers who caused this next November and vote these people our of office. My Congressman, Chris Smith is a republican who also voted to repeal the ACA. He, of course has not responded to my e-mail. I'm sure that there are thousands of his constituents in Trenton who will lose their insurance. This district is not a very wealthy one. I'm sure there are people throughout who needed the ACA. Yet Smith wins each year with 70% of the vote!
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