HAIR ON FIRE: TRUMP AND THE SHUTDOWN – GUERRILLA THEATER?
By Carla Feinkind
Blame Trump and the GOP for the viciousness and cruelty of the past 2 years and now the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. Trump uses hate to hold his “basket” tight. The GOP has nurtured the “basket” since Reagan and Lee Atwater’s. Southern Strategy of appealing to racial prejudice to maintain Republican support in the Southern states. Trump grabbed the basket and ran with it heaving unvarnished hate and racism from day one when he rode that escalator. We think the GOP and FOX news invented fake news, lies, and fake polls; but many of those dirty tricks date back to Reagan and Atwater.
The government shutdown is just the latest scene in this ugly play. Trump didn’t invent using hate as a political tool but he sure has gilded that lily. The GOP is either enthusiastic or silent. In this act, Trump is using the shutdown which affects “just” 800,000 federal workers (including TSA workers) to get $5.7 billion for his wall/barrier against those ‘dangerous brown people’. We know way more than “just” 800,000 people are affected because government workers have spouses, partners, and kids. Those families spend money in their communities. The pain goes beyond “just” those 800,000 workers. Trump does not feel the pain of those families and their communities. Does the GOP???
We watch Trump rant and rave but the real atrocity happens as the GOP works furiously to enact their far right agenda of greed and spite. The GOP worked swiftly to stuff the courts from SCOTUS on down with young far right judges. The GOP quietly rolled back EPA regulations and consumer, food, and work place protections. The GOP attacked the Affordable Care Act from day one, even before Trump. They also rammed the heinous 2017 tax reform bill through in just 51 days, with no deliberation, negotiation, or even a full understanding of how much debt it would create. Once again, the “fiscally” conservative GOP is literally breaking the bank.
The shutdown is a real crisis but, it is just the most recent act of malice and cruelty that has our attention. It is not just Trump. The GOP is allowing this sadism. The GOP is standing with Trump. Right now, make noise to end the government shutdown. Make 800,000 American federal workers and their families whole and secure again. They are people not stage props. Call Congress. 202 224-3121. Thank Democrats for their opposition and blame the GOP. Let’s hope this shutdown will end soon, maybe even before you read this. We can hope – and we must call. Remember the GOP keeps showing us how cruel and racist it is. These are dangerous times and the GOP brazenly uses hate to hold their basket tight. So, let’s get busy building the big blue wave for 2020 and stay united to end the callousness and barbarism of Trump and the GOP.