(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Trump May Take Speaker Spot [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']

Date: 2022-11-02

Could open political Hellscape

Donald Trump is likely to become Speaker of the House if Republicans get the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives next Tuesday.

Republican success would be bad enough, since they want to:

raise income taxes on everyone in the “bottom half” of Americans

use federal agencies against their “enemies”

decrease Social Security and “privatize” it

reduce Veterans’ health benefits

outlaw all U.S. Women who need or want abortions

cut Medicare for Seniors

abolish the Affordable Care Act and bring back higher premiums for “pre-existing” conditions, even allowing refusal of coverage

kill environmental protections

prevent investigating tax cheating by billionaire corporations

let corporations continue climate change & global burning

make it harder to vote for people likely to be Democrats, and

permit themselves to define voting districts, and pack those districts (gerrymandering) so a 50-50 state such as North Carolina can elect only 5 Democrats, but 8 Republicans (probably 9 on Tuesday).

That would end Democracy, start totalitarianism, and make the United States ruled by a tyrant as in China, Saudi Arabia, and Russia.

And what good would any of that do you?

If Republicans Take the House

Two years of legislative, legal, and political hell could break loose, because:

U.S. Representatives can appoint almost anyone to be Speaker,

the Speaker runs the House, and

the House controls U.S. spending.

Trump could take charge of the House by helping those who obey him and threatening political death to everyone else. He’s already done much of that, and with help from Putin and many other billionaires, has turned the Republican Party into the Trumpublican Party.

Benefits to Trump Almost Irresistible

a 24/7 media platform, including TV coverage on C-SPAN

vast opportunities for monetary exploitation, which Trump could use to pay off his billion-dollar debts

power to stop all government progress for the next two years

revenge on everyone who doesn’t slavishly French his butt like Kev & the Trumpublicans do, and

ability to shut the federal government down if his wishes are refused.

This summer, Trump specifically said he wants to:

do away with civil service so he can fire any and all government employees he wants, including federal prosecutors and IRS auditors investigating him

use military troops and soldiers against protests and “unrest”

arrest homeless Americans and move them to “tent cities” on cheap rural land

force strict “voter ID” and in-person, one-day paper voting

execute “drug dealers,” and

kill the Department of Education. Seriously! In 2019, Trump tried gutting the Education Department of $8.5 billion to instead send $5 billion to private schools—so millionaires could write checks for “scholarships” for their kids and have all that money refunded on their personal tax returns.

Of course, Trump wouldn’t need to actually do any of that work—he could delegate that to Kevin McCarthy or Steve Scalise, or the likes of Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Green.

I’m sure they’d spend your tax dollars wisely.

If Trump Takes Control of the House

Trump could butcher the federal budget into little pieces and auction them off to the highest-bidding billionaire corporations. That seems the way he usually does business—making deals that benefit himself. He could vivisection the U.S. Treasury like Republicans have gerrymandered Florida and Texas, punish his foes by cutting their funding, and make everyone else pay for their private slices of the federal budget.

The money you and I pay in federal taxes could go only where Trump sends it. Or he could simply shut the entire government down, creating the chaos he seems to so dearly love—making Jan. 6 look like a church picnic.

For instance, Ukraine could have its U.S. humanitarian and military aid cut to the bone (as Trump threatened already), in return for Putin’s (self-confessed at Helsinki) massive help for Trump in 2016, and Putin’s continuing expert weaponization of our social media to assault us with propaganda against democracy and self-rule.

And as Speaker (third in the presidential line), Trump could greatly enhance his ability to escape criminal conviction and increase his prospects of becoming president in 2024—even sooner if somehow Biden and Harris both die in a terrible accident.

Or in the middle of the night on the same night.

Politics, Chess, and War

In politics, as in chess and war, you always need to figure out what’s the worst thing the opponent can do to you. Everything I have stated above is easily done if Republicans take the U.S. House on Tuesday.

So consider all the above during voting for your U.S. House and Senate representatives, and even for your state, county, and city officials.

If you want a free country with fair laws and decency, vote Blue up and down the line this election. Send money to Democrats you like.

Please spread the word. Thank You!

P.S.: Here’s an excellent guide to giving Democrats money from BlueTent.us, for donors of limited means: < https://bluetent.us/background/giving-to-democratic-candidates-in-2022/ >. Or take this shortcut and send Nancy Pelosi $11 a week or one-time larger amount. She knows where to send it to keep the House safe from predators, and give you a big chunk of peace of mind. < https://secure.actblue.com/donate/npem2022?refcode=20220819_em_fr_b1_pelosi_30_rs&amount=11 >

P.P.S: Here are some links so you can fact-check me:

< https://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/commentary/fl-op-com-rick-scott-marco-rubio-medicare-social-security-20220504-tjnhwxq2tnhohexqjof4w6ft5i-story.html >

< https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/02/republicans-trump-term-america-first-radical-agenda >

< https://www.factcheck.org/2022/03/examining-rick-scotts-claim-that-medicare-social-security-will-soon-go-bankrupt/ >

< https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/11/01/fact-sheet-by-the-numbers-millions-of-americans-would-lose-health-care-coverage-benefits-and-protections-under-congressional-republicans-plans/ >

< https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/23/politics/rick-scott-rescue-america-plan-gop/index.html >

< https://endpts.com/senate-republicans-seek-to-repeal-new-government-drug-price-negotiations/ >

< https://www.lee.senate.gov/services/files/DDF66985-8EC1-410C-BE87-18D7EE2355F5 >

< https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/16/trump-speeches-extreme-agenda-2024-bid/ >

< https://www.wpr.org/ron-johnson-calls-annual-approval-social-security-medicare-funding >

< https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/23/politics/rick-scott-rescue-america-plan-gop/index.html >

< https://banks.house.gov/uploadedfiles/rsc_2023_budget_final_version.pdf >

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/11/2/2133213/-Trump-May-Take-Speaker-Spot

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/

You are viewing proxied material from magical.fish. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.