August 2023 – Dr. Common Good

ON TRUMP INDICTMENTS, SHAMELESS REPUBLICAN PROPAGANDA, AND DEMOCRACY

Dr. Common Good

OK folks, let’s stop messing around. There is so much distortion and outlandish BS out there about the Trump indictments, denying Trump’s destruction of democracy, and the Biden administration that we need to set the record straight and clear:

Indictments and Democracy

Trump is not being persecuted, and he is most definitely not the victim of some effort by the Biden Administration to get him out of the way for the 2024 election. Biden has not “weaponized” the Justice Department, and it is beyond belief that Trump and his loyalists could even say such a thing with a straight face, given Trump’s blatant use of the Justice Department to further his personal goals (coercing Justice Department staff to support his election fraud claims, using AG Barr to threaten Michael Cohen, distorting the Mueller Report, and countless other actions). Biden has remained hands-off and his AG Merrick Garland, as well as the special prosecutors, have been accorded full independence. Trump alone is at fault, along with his sycophantic gaggle of political hacks and gutless wannabees, for all of this, from day one. No other president in the history of the United States has ever come close to the rank criminality, abuse of office and absolute selfishness of purpose as this shameful individual. Hard as it may be to say, even President Nixon ultimately acted with some sense of country over person. But Trump is not even capable of thinking beyond himself. He has been, and is willing to destroy a country and its democracy for his own twisted benefit.

The primary victim here is the United States of America and its people. Trump has stained our democracy, manipulated so many people, and deeply damaged our global reputation as a country, all while foisting the MAGA lie on millions of unwitting Americans.

And make no mistake. His right of free speech is not being prosecuted or curtailed. That is a pure load of crock, repeated by GOP leaders who really know better but do not have the fortitude to act better. He is being prosecuted for actions – including knowingly making false statements to the FBI, the illegal retention and display of classified documents, obstructing justice by attempting to destroy security cameras/hide evidence, orchestrating multiple attempts to overturn the will of American voters and illegally restore himself to power (including fake elector schemes in multiple states, attempting to coerce the Vice President to refuse certification of the election results, coercing the Georgia secretary of state to “find” votes so that he could overturn the state’s election results, coercing the Justice Department to open sham investigations to reinforce fraud lies, threaten witnesses, and other such actions). Trump has had plenty of opportunity, in more than 60 court cases, to demonstrate evidence of fraud, and he has never been able to do so. Nor did the high-profile “audit” of the Arizona vote find anything either.

This does not even count the other indictments and convictions related to sexual abuse, tax fraud, and much that is in the Georgia indictments for blatantly conspiring to change the Georgia vote count in his favor.

Biden Administration

On the allegations of Biden corruption and bribery repeated endlessly by GOP oversight committee chair James Comer and others? Patently false. Comer’s supposed “star witness” Devon Archer actually refuted the claims of corrupt connections between Hunter Biden businesses and President Biden under sworn testimony, for which there is no evidence. But Comer, following the Trump repeat-the-lie strategy, continues to spout this garbage. Whatever Hunter Biden did or did not do, that will be determined in a court of law – but there is no evidence at all that President Biden had any involvement in these alleged violations. It is head-spinning, by the way, to hear such allegations from those who defended or ignored Trump’s constant and corrupt use of his own businesses to get government funds, his facilitation of multi-billion dollar deals between the Saudis and son-in-law Jared Kushner, grifting of his supporters under false pretenses, and more.

As part of the larger propaganda swarm, Republican propaganda keeps referring to Biden as a disastrous president. Nothing could be further from the truth. Whatever you think of him personally, we should all thank President Biden for what he has done since his accession to office in 2021, including:

Restoring American leadership and pulling NATO together, a remarkable feat, to stand with Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression, and backstopping the entry of Finland and Sweden to NATO, providing substantial military assistance to Ukraine (with bipartisan support), and imposing a series of stiff economic sanctions against Russia and its oligarchs. Trump, utterly ignorant of NATO’s role, would and could never have done this. He would have kowtowed to Putin, whom he admires.

Passage of the American Rescue Plan, getting more than 500 million COVID-19 vaccinations out to Americans, and providing temporary support for businesses and families affected by the pandemic. The rescue package also cut child poverty in half, and reduced healthcare premiums under the Affordable Care Act by $800 a year. The Plan contributed significantly to the eventual mitigation of the pandemic and the return to work and school for millions. Trump did not do this, spending most of his time denying the severity of the pandemic and the need for masking, costing many lives.

Passing a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, which increased badly-needed investments in roads, bridges, broadband internet, public transport and more. Trump often promised to do this, but never even really tried. And plenty of Republicans who voted against the bill are now taking credit.

Making a $369 billion investment in climate change, the largest in American history, through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. This Act also capped prescription drug prices at $2,000 per year for seniors on Medicare and gave Medicare the power to negotiate prescription drug prices while also reducing government health spending. He also recommitted America to the global fight against climate change by rejoining the Paris Agreement. Trump, by contrast, took the U.S. completely out of this global leadership role and denied climate change as an issue of concern.

Under the Biden administration, the economy has regenerated, even in the face of Ukraine war-driven inflation, to a growth rate of 6.5% in the second quarter of 2023 (according to Business Insider). Inflation, very high for a time, has dropped from 9% to 3.2% (according to a PBS news report). Unemployment rates have dropped to historic lows. In fact, the Biden administration has overseen the creation of more jobs in one year than any other president in U.S. history. As of July, 2023, the economy added 13.2 million jobs, for a total of 3.8 million higher than before the pandemic. The unemployment rate dropped for a time to the lowest in nearly 54 years; unfilled job openings surged, with over 1.6 for every unemployed job seeker (according to FactCheck.org). So much for false Republican claims that Biden has destroyed the economy – and this record outperforms Trump’s by a wide margin (even though he was seen as the “business president”).

Passing the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, to strengthen American manufacturing and innovation, especially in some areas where we have been dependent on foreign products (e.g., computer chips).

Signing the PACT Act to address service members’ exposure to burn pits and other toxins.

Reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act through 2027.

Stopping a 30-year streak of federal inaction on gun violence by signing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that created enhanced background checks, closed the “boyfriend” loophole and provided funds for youth mental health.

And, though many have justifiably criticized the way it was handled, Biden did pull troops out of Afghanistan, ending the longest war in American history. This, by the way, is something Trump promised to do but never actually did – though he negotiated an agreement with the Taliban (behind the back of the Afghan government) that has been seen as a disaster, and that forced Biden’s hand in withdrawing the troops.