I can be doing city conferences in Omaha, Nebraska, this Friday night time and Iowa Metropolis, Iowa, on Saturday morning. Additional, within the coming weeks and months, I and different progressives can be holding grassroots occasions from coast to coast.
Why, at this second, are we doing city conferences across the nation – particularly in conservative areas? The reply is apparent.
Trumpism will not be defeated by politicians contained in the DC beltway. It is going to solely be defeated by tens of millions of People, in each state on this nation, coming collectively in a powerful, grassroots motion which says no to oligarchy, no to authoritarianism, no to kleptocracy, no to large cuts in packages that working folks desperately want, no to very large tax brakes for the richest folks in our nation. And that’s what these occasions are about.
Additional, there are a selection of congressional districts the place Republicans gained by solely a small variety of votes. With the Republican occasion within the Home having solely a three-vote majority we will defeat draconian, anti-working-class laws if simply two Republican members of Congress vote no. And they’re going to vote no if we rally their constituents to demand that they vote no.
Can Trumpism be defeated? Completely! However, if we’re going to make that occur, we have to know precisely what we’re up towards and the way we will greatest go ahead. Right here’s simply a few of what we have to know:
Trumpism has a limiteless sum of money to throw into its efforts. Elon Musk, the wealthiest man on earth, put greater than $270m into Trump’s marketing campaign, a tiny portion of his fortune. Different multibillionaires will be part of Musk in spending no matter it takes.
Trumpism has important management over giant components of the media from which tens of millions of People get their info. Fox and Musk’s platform X, amongst others, aren’t regular media retailers. Their fundamental operate is to not cowl the “information” however to unfold rightwing extremist ideology.
Trumpism is using the idea of the “huge lie” in a manner that has by no means, on this nation, been seen. Day after day, blatantly dishonest statements and conspiracy theories are propagated – and repeated over and time and again.
Trumpism doesn’t consider in democracy or the rule of legislation. Trump just lately posted: “He who saves his Nation doesn’t violate any Regulation.” In different phrases, Trump believes that he can do something he needs for any purpose. He can ignore Congress or the courts. He’s above the legislation.
However, whereas Trump consolidates energy into his personal fingers, there’s one other actuality occurring.
In the present day, 60% of People dwell paycheck to paycheck‘; tens of millions are incomes hunger wages; 85 million are uninsured or under-insured; younger individuals are unable to afford the price of school; 25% of seniors dwell on $15,000 a yr or much less; we’ve got the very best price of childhood poverty of just about any main nation on earth, and we’ve got a significant scarcity in low-income and inexpensive housing.
Oh, and by the way in which, we’re dropping the battle towards the local weather disaster – an existential risk to the way forward for the planet.
And right here’s the kicker. Whereas Trump strikes us away from democracy, whereas the center class continues to say no, the wealthiest folks within the nation have by no means ever had it so good. In the present day, the three main oligarchs, Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, are price $905bn – that’s extra wealth than the underside half of American society – 170 million folks. And, extremely, since Trump’s election their wealth has grown by $217bn.
Our battle, the American folks’s battle, is to guard democracy and the rule of legislation. Equally vital, we should finish oligarchy and create an economic system that works for all, not simply the few. We’re the wealthiest nation on earth and AI, robotics and different new applied sciences will solely make our nation wealthier. It’s absurd, unjust and inhumane that just about all of that new wealth being created goes to the individuals who want it the least.
Whereas Trump now “floods the zone” and occupies a lot of the political oxygen, it’s crucial that we by no means lose sight of the progressive imaginative and prescient – a nation and world based mostly on human cooperation and compassion, not greed and a “survival of the fittest” mentality. What we’re preventing for just isn’t “utopian”, or unachievable. A lot of it already exists in different nations, and ballot after ballot exhibits that it’s precisely what the American folks need.
Within the richest nation within the historical past of the world we should set up that:
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Healthcare is a human proper and should be accessible to all no matter earnings.
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Each employee in America is entitled to earn a good earnings. We should increase the minimal wage to a residing wage and make it simpler for employees to affix unions.
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We should have one of the best public academic system on this planet, from childcare to vocational coaching, to graduate college – accessible to all.
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We should tackle the housing disaster and construct the tens of millions of models of low-income and inexpensive housing that we desperately want.
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We should create tens of millions of excellent paying jobs as we lead the world in combating the existential risk of local weather change.
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We should abolish all types of bigotry.
Not solely should we proceed to combat for a nation based mostly on the ideas of financial, social, racial and environmental justice, we should additionally lead the hassle towards Trump‘s reactionary legislative agenda.
Within the coming weeks the Republicans in Congress can be bringing ahead a significant piece of laws, a “reconciliation” invoice, that encapsulates the worth system of greed and their obedience to oligarchy. It’s the financial essence of Trumpism.
At a time of unprecedented earnings and wealth inequality, this laws will present trillions of {dollars} in tax breaks to the richest folks in our nation. It is going to make the wealthy even richer. At a time when the working class of this nation is struggling to place meals on the desk and pay for housing, this laws will make savage cuts to Medicaid, housing, vitamin, schooling and different fundamental wants. It is going to make the poor even poorer.
We can not permit this to occur. This laws is enormously unpopular. It’s precisely what the American folks do not need. It should not be handed by Congress.
It should be defeated and we can defeat it.
This can be a perilous second in American historical past. Allow us to go ahead collectively.
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