reflectivepundit

Democrats Must Magnify the Unholy Agenda of Trump’s Congressional Proxies

By Brigitte L. Nacos

President Biden, the White House, and the Democratic Party have received ample criticism for their lack of effective and around-the-clock public communication promoting their considerable policy achievements and countering the hell-bent Trumpian propaganda of lies, most of all, that he and his coterie are the protectors of the American people against their evil enemies within the country.

I have been asked frequently, how Biden and Democrats could counter their opposition's positions and promote their own. Here I provide a very small but, I believe, workable example.

Below you see the closing lines of a New York Times article by Catie Edmondson about current efforts in the House of Representatives to prevent the shut-down of the government later this week:  

"Among the measures that Republicans have sought are one that would restrict access to abortion medication and another to restrict the Department of Veterans Affairs from flagging veterans deemed mentally incompetent in a federal background check needed to buy a gun. They also have tried to block an effort by Democrats to increase funding for nutrition programs for low-income women and children."

There are no better facts than those described above for Biden and his communication experts to highlight as three of many outlandish measures which are typical for the Republican Party’s extreme, inhumane, and violent agenda.

First, Republican House leaders are not content with the conservative U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. Now they try to further limit American women’s decision-making right over their reproductive health by adopting federal restrictions to access abortion medication.

Second, Republicans in the House want to give mentally challenged veterans the right to buy guns by removing their health information from background checks. If they succeed, they will make another dangerous gift to the gun industry in return for generous campaign donations. And that at a time, when mass shootings and the number of innocent victims are on the rise.

Third, in another scandalous move, Republicans in the House want to withhold food from children who live in low-income households by blocking efforts by House Democrats to increase funding for this basic nutrition program. Another heartless move by House Speaker Mike Johnson who claims to be a Christian but does not act like a real Christian.

I, like others, have long been disappointed by the Biden White House’s and more recently by the Biden campaign’s lack of old-fashioned spoken and written public relation tactics that use the opposition’s own measures and demands to explain and amplify the threat that the MAGA/GOP and its Dear Leader pose for all Americans and the democratic fabric of the 250-year old American governmental system.  

Donald Trump is a Clear and Present Danger at Home and Abroad

By Brigitte L. Nacos

Just like other dictators before him (think of Germany’s Adolf Hitler or, more recently, the Philippine’s Rodrigo Duterte), Donald Trump, too, has spelled out his strong preference for authoritarian rule, even if it violates the U.S. Constitution and longstanding pacts with European and other allies. According to his own words, he is not only eager to end America’s two-and-a-half century old model of democracy but also the post-WWII transatlantic bulwark against military aggression, originally by the Soviet Union and more recently by Putin’s Russia.

At home, Trump claims in his social media posts and during his campaign appearances that he and his MAGA movement are fighting “our final battle” to “demolish the Deep State…expel warmongers from our government…cast out Communists, Marxists, and Fascists [ he must not know the meaning of that word] …rout the Fake News Media…and liberate our country from these tyrants and villains once and for all.”

Last weekend, he promised that as president he will immediately order a “door-to-door hunt” for migrants and put them into huge camps.

Trump’s admirers abroad embrace his inhumane plans. In Germany, for example, the far-right party AfD (Alternative for Germany) wants to deport all non-Germanic persons residing in the country, even those who are naturalized citizens.      

During Trump’s first presidency he left no doubt about his disregard for NATO and its European members and leaders. In large part, because his NATO peers treated him as an equal and not superior colleague, the narcissistic Trump threatened them with the American withdrawal unless they paid their “fair” dues to the military alliance.

Although European leaders were shocked by President Trump’s repeated threats and appalling behavior during meetings, the U.S. did not leave NATO. Thankfully, during those years, there were serious defense and national security experts in the White House and the Department of Defense who knew the value of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Last weekend, Trump gave his idol Vladimir Putin another gift, when he said he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to a NATO country that does not follow the financial guidelines of the organization. He also made clear that he would not abide by NATO’s provision that a military attack on one member must be countered by all members.

The guardrails that existed in the first Trump administration in form of responsible officials will not be in place if he wins a second term. In a second Trump administration, he and his equally power-hungry advisers would not select the most knowledgeable and experienced men and women to serve their country—instead, the litmus test would be absolute loyalty to Mr. Trump and his fascist agenda. There would not be a single official in the administration trying to stop the president from undemocratic and illegal measures.

When Trump claims that he and his supporters are fighting their final battle, he surely does not do so for the benefit of the country but solely to install himself as a lawless leader.

Despite the unthinkable threat of a fascist regime coming to power in the foreseeable future, there is no pro-democracy movement here to counter Trump and prevent him from implementing what sounds and looks like an Orwellian blueprint.