*************
By Richard Trumka for The New York Times
On Tuesday, President Trump stood in the lobby of his tower on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and again made excuses for bigotry and terrorism, effectively repudiating the remarks his staff wrote a day earlier in response to the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Va. I stood in that same lobby in January, fresh off a meeting with the new president-elect. Although I had endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, I was hopeful we could work together to bring some of his pro-worker campaign promises to fruition.
Unfortunately, with each passing day, it has become clear that President Trump has no intention of following through on his commitments to working people. More worrisome, his actions and rhetoric threaten to leave America worse off and more divided. It is for these reasons that I resigned yesterday from the president’s manufacturing council, which the president disbanded today after a string of resignations.
To be clear, the council never lived up to its potential for delivering policies that lift up working families. In fact, we were never called to a single official meeting, even though it comprised some of the world’s top business and labor leaders. The A.F.L.-C.I.O. joined to bring the voices of working people to the table and advocate the manufacturing initiatives our country desperately needs.
But the only thing the council ever manufactured was letterhead. In the end, it was just another broken promise.
During my January meeting with President Trump, we identified a few important areas where compromise seemed possible. On manufacturing, infrastructure and especially trade, we were generally in agreement. Mr. Trump spoke of $1 trillion to rebuild our schools, roads and bridges. He challenged companies to keep jobs in the United States. He promoted “Buy America.” He promised to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Here’s the thing: Working men and women have been promised the moon by politicians. Year after year. Campaign after campaign. Republican and Democrat. Too often, those promises have ended up being hollow; election year sound bites are often discarded as quickly as they are made. I told President Trump that this time must be different. I made clear that we would judge his administration on its actions.
Nearly seven months in, the facts speak for themselves.
President Trump’s $1 trillion infrastructure bill is nowhere to be found. And according to an analysis from the University of Pennsylvania, even if Mr. Trump did bring such a plan forward, his own budget proposal would wipe it out, leading to a net loss of $55 billion for highways, water facilities and public transit. President Trump has also remained silent on the future of the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931, which requires contractors on federally assisted construction projects to pay their employees at rates prevailing in the communities where they perform the work.
What about Nafta? First, President Trump promised that the United States would withdraw. Then his administration sent a letter to Congress indicating the treaty needed only minor tweaks. Now renegotiation is underway with no clear principles for reform or negotiating goals in sight. Meanwhile, Nafta remains firmly in place.
Although President Trump has promised to protect the social safety net, his budget would slash $1.5 trillion from Medicaid, $59 billion from Medicare and up to $64 billion from Social Security over 10 years. It would strip funding for workplace safety research by 40 percent, even though about 150 workers die each day from hazardous working conditions. And it would force the people who make our government work to endure a 6 percent pay cut.
President Trump championed the Republican plan to gut health care and raise taxes on working people to line the pockets of the rich. And his executive orders that deport aspiring Americans and impose a religious litmus test for refugees are both morally bankrupt and bad economic policy.
Finally, rather than “draining the swamp,” President Trump has filled his cabinet with the authors and beneficiaries of our broken economic rules. He has elevated an anti-worker judge to the Supreme Court and appointed union-busting lawyers to the National Labor Relations Board.
His response to the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville was the last straw. We in the labor community refuse to normalize bigotry and hatred. And we cannot in good conscience extend a hand of cooperation to those who condone it.
In some ways, President Trump presented himself as a different kind of politician, someone who could cut through the gridlock in Washington and win a better deal for American workers. But his record is a combination of broken promises, outright attacks and dangerous, divisive rhetoric.
That’s why we opposed him in the campaign. And that’s why he is losing the support of our members each and every day.
**********
And everybody said Trump would never get indicted and convicted!! Holy crap!!! He just did. What a slice and dice job!! The AFL-CIO may not be what it used to be, but it’s made up of fifty-six national and international unions, together representing more than 12 million active and retired workers. That’s a lot of people paying attention to TrumKA and not TrumP. And those 12 million have families and friends. Perfect. Trump’s tweeters are going to be black and blue.
yeah, Trump’s fucked.
and although we’re obviously biased against what he stands for, we can say this from a completely unbiased perspective (i.e. as political strategists): he needs to resign.
i’d be very surprised if his lawyers haven’t suggested that. he might be able to make a deal to avoid the Russia probe or at least save his son and son-in-law if he’d just agree to walk away.
i know that sounds like extortion and overturning a democratic election by coercion, but it’s not like he hasn’t done this to himself.
The issue of a pass is directly related to the degree to which he or his family will be found to directly involved with (1) aiding, abetting, assisting or otherwise being criminally complicit with the Russians, (2) whether the conduct in (1) amounts to treason, (3) whether Mueller has or can uncover the information, if there be any, which Putin uses to manipulate Trump, as has been justifiably theorized, (4) the extent to which the evidence of Comey’s firing amounts to an Obstruction of Justice, and any related crimes and especially crimes involving cover-up, and (5) the extent to which Mueller uncovers crimes that Trump or his family engaged in prior to or since Trump became president. And that’s a two minute analysis, and there’s more crimes where those came from.
Conditioned on Pence not wanting to commit political suicide by giving a pardon to Trump, I don’t see it being as easy for Trump as it was for Nixon. Trump’s lead off crime is Treason. Muller can’t trade off Treason without completing his work. Without completing his work he can’t make a deal. So, how long will it take him to complete his work? One year? Two years? That’s a problem for America? Because until he’s gets enough evidence to pose a real threat to Trump and his minions, Trump’s not bowing out. And, what if Mueller finds he can make a case on all five elements above, how can Mueller make a deal for a walk? This is tough stuff to contemplate without a headache.
One thing’s for sure, his performance starting last Saturday deprived him of a layer of Washington D.C. political cover/goodwill/whatever that was very important to him and that he’ll never regain.
History in the making. 24/7.
President Pence will only be the more polished, but nevertheless just as evil version of Trump. Who will do more damage in the long run? Hard to say. I guess we will find out.
http://www.officialmikepence.com/
enjoy. lol
Speaking as someone who never believed that Trump actually wanted the job – or, if he did, had no idea what it entailed – I think his ego is now what keeps him in there. There’s probably some pathology at work, but whatever the cause, I think that’s where we stand.
Pence? It’s worth remembering he would never have won the presidency had he ran. If we had another election today, he wouldn’t even be in the running, and in that regard, I agree he is a danger precisely because he is more organized and focused and because he would know that he would not win in 2020 and hence has nothing to lose.
That said, Trump is doing widespread damage to the whole of American society in addition to the political system. In that regard, I’d have to hope that whatever damage Pence might bring to the table, it at least would be in a narrower band and potentially fixable with a latter administration at the helm (I’m probably delusional in that regard).
Truthfully, ignoring the stock market for a moment, I don’t see a viable end game here where I’m optimistic for a version of this country I might be happy with. I fear we’ll be swinging from extreme to extreme until the pendulum (metaphorically) breaks and we’ll be royally screwed. My one ray of hope is the slim chance I’ll die before I see that day (being 64 as I write this). I say slim because if I look back at the damage done in the last eight months, I can’t even envision what even five years from now might bring and I’m hoping to live a mite longer than five years.
That’s great!! #Pence46!! Make Pence Great Again.
Speaking of the Great ones, you’ll love this trifecta of interviews Bannon gave!! Hahahhahaha, Trump will need skull surgery when blows his top after reading who is really the boss in the WH!!
http://prospect.org/article/steve-bannon-unrepentant
https://www.axios.com/what-steve-bannon-thinks-about-charlottesville-2473751951.html
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/08/16/us/ap-us-bannon-interview.html