January 4, 2018
The provocative excerpts released from Michael Wolff’s new book detailing the inside of the Trump White House merely confirmed what we already knew and had ample evidence of — this administration is a nest vipers where no one has any loyalty or a shred of interest in actually serving the country. We didn’t need multiple quotes from administration officials to know that Trump is a semi-literate child. His Twitter account offers daily proof of that.
A mere day into the New Year, Trump got into a Twitter fight with Kim Jong Un over the size of their nuclear “buttons.” The real scandal here is Congress’ obdurate refusal to use its Constitutional authority to check Trump’s intemperate recklessness, even as he literally endangers the world!
The chaos and scandal erupting on a daily basis is compelling in the same way that we can’t look away from a train wreck. The problem is that we are all on the train. We can’t afford to spend our time gleefully indulging in schadenfreude watching Trump and Bannon tear each other apart. Nor can we be tempted to embrace a sulfurous racist and anti-Semite like Bannon simply because he confirms our assessment that the Trump campaign engaged in treason. Never forget for one minute that Bannon was CEO of the Trump campaign and a top White House advisor. His vituperative statements read more like an attempt to avoid indictment than anything else.
In the midst of bomb threats, both meteorological and nuclear, we must remain focused on critical issues where we can have an impact. Congress has a ticking time bomb of its own, as it must reach a deal on the budget by January 19th to avoid a government shutdown. While Democrats are demanding parity in domestic spending, which would include reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (“CHIP”), they have not committed to insisting on the passage of a clean DREAM Act (Source: “Shutdown Threat revived as Congress returns,” by Sarah Ferris and Jennifer Scholtes, Politico.com, 1/2//18).
Our task is clear. We must pressure Democrats in Congress to take a hard line in budget negotiations and insist that any deal must include CHIP, ACA stabilization payments and a clean DREAM Act. Congressional Democrats must understand that, until we can retake the House in 2018, it is their job to mitigate the misery that Trump and the Republicans are hell bent on inflicting on the most marginalized among us. This is no time for timorous decorum given that our opponents are literally power-mad zealots without a conscience. Democrats had better develop spines of steel and a laser focus. Consider it our job to make sure that they do.
Call your representatives (U.S.Senate.gov and house.gov)!
#Fireandfury
#CleanDREAMActnow
#Resist