By Nida Khan
For those expecting the Republican Party to suddenly find their collective conscience and denounce Donald Trump’s reported outrageous ‘shithole’ statements reference Haiti, El Salvador and the continent of Africa – don’t hold your breath. These elected officials had no problem either cosigning his many other racist statements/policies or simply ignoring them in order to get a win and get their agenda through. Whether it was referring to Mexicans as “rapists” and people who brought drugs and crime, or calling for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the country, or stating that there were “some very fine people on both sides” in Charlottesville and so much more, Trump gave the GOP every opportunity to disavow him and distance themselves from him and yet they did anything but. Some feigned outrage at times, a few stated that he did not represent the Party, but you know what? In the end, they realized that he was their ticket to get what they wanted and they all subsequently obeyed the marching orders. It’s like the old adage goes: Democrats want to fall in love; Republicans just fall in line.
Last weekend at Camp David, Trump and GOP leaders held a presser in which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stated the following: “From a right-of-center point of view, 2017 was the most consequential year in the many years that I’ve been here in Congress.” That’s a hell of a statement. There is however a harsh reality to these words that gets lost in the daily endless focus on Trump’s tweets, outbursts and the Administration’s own self-made drama. Granted, some of that does deserve a spotlight and a response (i.e. these latest despicable comments), but also remember that while everyone’s attention is preoccupied, social progress in this country is being stripped away, the divide between the wealthy and the rest of us has expanded ever more, courts are being shaped with increasingly conservative judges (including the Supreme Court of course), the safety net hangs in limbo, civil rights and voting rights are regressing, net neutrality is a thing of the past, all kinds of governmental protections are being eliminated and new mechanisms for disenfranchising voices are being concocted every single day. And that was just 2017.
Trump set a record for the most federal appeals court judges confirmed in the first year of a Presidency with 12 appointments (for context, Obama confirmed only 3, Bush 6). Or as McConnell put it, “the most in the first year of any Presidency since the circuit court system was set up in 1891.” These judges – many of them young and therefore able to serve at length – will help craft the outcome of important cases for years and years to come.
Click here for the full article.
Last weekend at Camp David, Trump and GOP leaders held a presser in which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stated the following: “From a right-of-center point of view, 2017 was the most consequential year in the many years that I’ve been here in Congress.” That’s a hell of a statement. There is however a harsh reality to these words that gets lost in the daily endless focus on Trump’s tweets, outbursts and the Administration’s own self-made drama. Granted, some of that does deserve a spotlight and a response (i.e. these latest despicable comments), but also remember that while everyone’s attention is preoccupied, social progress in this country is being stripped away, the divide between the wealthy and the rest of us has expanded ever more, courts are being shaped with increasingly conservative judges (including the Supreme Court of course), the safety net hangs in limbo, civil rights and voting rights are regressing, net neutrality is a thing of the past, all kinds of governmental protections are being eliminated and new mechanisms for disenfranchising voices are being concocted every single day. And that was just 2017.
Trump set a record for the most federal appeals court judges confirmed in the first year of a Presidency with 12 appointments (for context, Obama confirmed only 3, Bush 6). Or as McConnell put it, “the most in the first year of any Presidency since the circuit court system was set up in 1891.” These judges – many of them young and therefore able to serve at length – will help craft the outcome of important cases for years and years to come.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The Huffington Post
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