Trump has been quick to announce his Cabinet nominations over the last two weeks, but he has been slow to reveal the "names of the donors who are funding his transition effort," according to a Sunday New York Times report. This is part of Trump's failure to adhere to ethics norms, which has also reportedly led to his team being left in the dark on key issues.
This news caused some outrage among observers on social media.
[. . .]
Political science scholar Tim Hogan called the development "more evidence that John Roberts and his fascist SCOTUS majority likely destroyed America and started the beginning of the end of our fragile Democracy."
What these arguments all miss, however, is an essential element of Trump’s triumph—the simple and sad truth that hate sells. Ever since he descended the golden escalator at Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan in July 2015 to declare his candidacy for President, Trump has preached an unrelenting gospel of hate, scapegoating immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, minorities, political opponents, journalists, academics, and scientific experts as the cause of our alleged national decline. He has flagged them as “the enemy from within” as a target that must be removed or neutralized.
It’s still tempting to think of Trump and the movement he leads as an aberration that will run its course over the next four years. But nothing could be further from the truth. Despots and dictators all over the world use hate as a psychological tool. Trump is simply the newest member of the club.
All indications are that President-elect Donald Trump has every intention of following through on his promise to ramp up deportations, suspend due process, and restrict legal status for millions of people living in the United States. These include the children of immigrants, survivors of domestic violence, and skilled foreign-born tech workers. He and his newly anointed deputy chief of staff for policy, Stephen Miller, claim this will ultimately help the average American worker.
The truth is that mass deportations are bad for the economy and would be devastating for our communities.
Already, homebuilders are warning about the economic consequences of mass deportations, as they will rob the industry of essential skilled workers. Restaurants will lose long-tenured staff. Textile and furniture factories in my home state of North Carolina like the ones my parents worked at will have to pause or shut down. Local governments will start to buckle after suffering steep drops in revenue from sales and property taxes.
The result will be an economic shock comparable to that of the pandemic—only this time, it will be entirely self-inflicted. This isn’t hyperbolic or speculative. Past immigration raids, many of which occurred during the last Trump Administration, caused chaos in Mississippi, Ohio, and Texas. After a single large immigration raid in Postville, Iowa resulted in the arrests of 389 of its 2,000 residents, the town fell into an economic down spiral.
States continue to count votes in the 2024 presidential election. With very little still to count, Kamala Harris has 48.4% of the popular vote with Donald Trump grabbing 50% of the vote. That's the official AP count right now.
This was not a landslide election nor does Satan have a mandate. We're going to carry this into the snapshot tomorrow. It's very important and due to media lies and personal desires of some Democrats, the above is not registering.
Kamala Harris ran a presidential campaign in August, September and October -- plus four days in November.
She did that and got over 48% of the vote.
She was up against huge odds and she got over 48% of the vote.
Remember that the next time an old racist like Bernie Sanders uses the results to dust off his long ago speeches -- words he never put into play because his whole life has been yammering and not doing.
Remember that when Patrick Murphy and others use sexism to attack women.
When we're forever being told to abandon this or that right.
Remember it.
Kamala hade to go up against a so-called left media -- DEMOCRACY NOW!, IN THESE TIMES, THE PROGRESSIVE and THE NATION -- that attacked her every day.
Why did they attack her? Racism and sexism. Hillary Clinton was a nominee before. You didn't see COMMON DREAMS and others offering multiple pieces daily on what Hillary should be doing.
Hillary was a woman but she was a White woman. It was only when presented with a Black woman that the 'left' outlets felt they were dealing with an idiot and felt they could bully her around and do so on a daily basis.
Anytime she attempted to meet this group of freaks? It would result in rounds of columns and YOUTUBE segments about how "That's not enough!"
She couldn't win with these people because they're not going to have a Black woman boss, they're not going to listen to a Black woman.
You'd think that in the aftermath, left sites would be all over this topic. If this had happened on the right, they would be all over it. But despite their incredible vanity and their obsession with self, they don't care for self-exploration when it means they're the ones being called out.
Much easier to pretend just didn't happen?
You can go back to the start of this century and see that is not how they operated in previous election cycles.
In spite of that, she delivered over 48% of the popular vote.
Certain Arabs and Muslims in Michigan took their direction from Michael Flynn and Russian propaganda. They destroyed the turnout for Kamala in Michigan.
And she still got over 48% of the popular vote.
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., issued the following statement on Donald Trump picking Chris Wright to be nominated for Department of Energy secretary and Doug Burgum to be nominated for Department of Interior secretary.
“It’s sadly not the least bit surprising that Trump’s picks to do his bidding at the Department of Energy and the Department of the Interior have long track records cheerleading for Big Oil, corporate America, and the ultra-wealthy gas executives plotting to fill their already over-stuffed pocketbooks,” Wyden said. “These nominees were selected with the goal of taking our country back in time and rolling back climate progress. American workers and families will pay a steep price as Trump's agenda destroys jobs and shuts down renewable energy projects all over the country that Americans overwhelmingly support.
“But make no mistake: as a senior member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, I will watchdog the Trump administration’s every move. Oregonians voted for elected officials who will stand up to Trump’s climate denying policies and keep fighting to protect our state’s beloved public lands from being pillaged for profit. That’s exactly what I’ll do–all while keeping a spotlight on the urgent need for climate action so all Oregonians have a bright and better future.”
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