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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRobert Reich: The Theme That Unites All of Trumps Initiatives So Far Is Their Unnecessary Cruelty
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_theme_that_unites_all_of_trumps_initiatives_unnecessary_20170319The Theme That Unites All of Trumps Initiatives So Far Is Their Unnecessary Cruelty
Posted on Mar 19, 2017
By Robert Reich / RobertReich.org
The theme that unites all of Trumps initiatives so far is their unnecessary cruelty.
These cuts come at a time when more American families are in poverty than ever before, including 1 in 5 children.
Why is Trump doing this? To pay for the biggest hike in military spending since the 1980s. Yet the U.S. already spends more on its military than the next 7 biggest military budgets put together.
2. His plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act will cause 14 million Americans to lose their health insurance next year, and 24 million by 2026.
Why is Trump doing this? To bestow $600 billion in tax breaks over the decade to wealthy Americans. This windfall comes at a time when the rich have accumulated more wealth than at any time in the nations history.
The plan reduces the federal budget deficit by only $337 billion over the next ten years a small fraction of the national debt, in exchange for an enormous amount of human hardship.
3. His ban on Syrian refugees and reduction by half in the total number of refugees admitted to the United States comes just when the world is experiencing the worst refugee crisis since World War II.
Why is Trump doing this? The ban does little or nothing to protect Americans from terrorism. No terrorist act in the United States has been perpetrated by a Syrian or by anyone from the six nations whose citizens are now banned from traveling to the United States. You have higher odds of being struck by lightening than dying from an immigrant terrorist attack.
4. His dragnet roundup of undocumented immigrants is helter-skelter including people who have been productive members of our society for decades, and young people who have been here since they were toddlers.
Why is Trump doing this? He has no compelling justification. Unemployment is down, crime is down, and we have fewer undocumented workers in the U.S. today than we did five years ago.
Trump is embarking on an orgy of cruelty for absolutely no reason. This is morally repugnant. It violates every ideal this nation has ever cherished. We have a moral responsibility to stop it.
uponit7771
(90,364 posts)Squinch
(51,021 posts)democrank
(11,112 posts)festers where his soul should be.
leftyladyfrommo
(18,874 posts)Just like a whole lot of the stupid, nasty, crooked little men in Congress.
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)Cruelty." Trump gave broad cultural expression to the cruel who live among us as our neighbors and co-workers (and possibly even family members). I will brook no excuses from those nut-jobs; they all need to be hospitalized involuntarily.
leftyladyfrommo
(18,874 posts)It was worse in the 50's when they were lynching people for no reason at all.
I don't feel sorry for them at all. Hateful assholes.
Dustlawyer
(10,497 posts)We need some new rules through the FCC to require truth in news. We also need to eliminate the "entertainment" exception created by a Florida court of appeals that said that Fox News was not news, but entertainment.
VOX
(22,976 posts)"You little people are so far beneath me, you should feel lucky that I'm even here."
(Not an actual #45 quote, but it's in the spirit-of).
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)Christopher Lasch's The Culture of Narcissism to call it The Culture of Cruelty. Trump gives voice to a broader disturbing cultural trend: the mainstreaming of sado-masochistic values into public policy and discourse. I don't really know what the point would be, since my writing and possible publication would be 'preaching to the converted.' But I still think about it from time to time. Truth is that I also don't have the background in public health, sociology or cultural anthropology to pull off a credible attempt.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)What is the point of what they are doing? There is really no financial reason for it. We can afford all these programs that are being cut. Christ, only one weekend of his at Mar-a-Fucko would pay for Meals on Wheels for a year. This is all just hateful, bitter action toward the nation's most vulnerable citizens and it must not be allowed to stand.
Cha
(297,723 posts)who he is in the campaign.
Now he has a bunch of equally cruel assholes pimping for him.
When he gets gone.. D.C is going to have to be Wiped Clean.
Orrex
(63,225 posts)My Trump-voting community is going to be hit hard by these cuts, and yet even now they are praising him as exactly the kind of new vision the country needs.
Local seniors and welfare recipients are literally going to starve, freeze and die because of Trump, and they're happy to do it as long as they can gaze lovingly into his gaping sphincter of a mouth as the casket lid drops on them.
And if you have the nerve to point this out, they mock you for being a Libtard snowflake who's looking for a handout.
Fuck every last one of them. Fuck them all.
dalton99a
(81,599 posts)Orrex
(63,225 posts)That I think you're exactly correct.
Solly Mack
(90,787 posts)malthaussen
(17,217 posts)Mr Trump is the incarnation of the vindictiveness of the people who voted for him, or abstained from voting because they wanted to burn everything down out of spite.
-- Mal
bronxiteforever
(9,287 posts)Well those people are finding this out.
dchill
(38,546 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Martin Eden
(12,875 posts)Republicans don't think the federal government should be doing any of the things he's cutting, and they always want tax cuts.
Bottom line, the Republican Party is inherently unnecessarily cruel.
linnknee
(52 posts)When you truly don't even understand the job of being the president. When you have been winging life for 70 years -- NOT A GOOD BUSINESSMAN -- LIEING - CHEATING - what would have made voters think the man was capable of being president. I blame the GOP for not standing up to him and getting rid of him in their primaries and the MSM for only caring about their ratings.
So what he does now - since he has no idea about HEALTHCARE, FOREIGN AFFAIRS, THE CONSTITUTION, THE WAY THE GOVERNMENT WORKS, GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS, ETC. He follows and puts out policies, plans, budgets, etc. that other people tell him.
HE ONLY TALKS THE SAME IDEAS OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
His last rally, supposedly only was half filled. Only a source or two reported on that.
EVERY SINGLE DAY THE MSM STARTS EVERY PROGRAM WITH THE ORANGE BUFFOON'S WIRETAPPING SAGA. Somehow Russia gets buried as an afterthought.
WHY DO WE EVEN GIVE ANY AIRTIME TO THE WIRETAPPING OF TRUMP TOWER. Let's talk about the serious damage this imbecile is doing to our country.
I feel like the Late Night Shows and SNL do a better job of reporting on the moron.