A Year of Trump: One of the Most Significant Tests of Our Democracy in Our Lifetime
Before I head to over to the House of Representatives to watch the President give his State of the Union Address, I wanted to reflect on Trump’s first year in office — it’s one that has brought with it one of the most significant tests of our democracy in our lifetime.
Past presidents — regardless of their political party or ideology — have understood that our American democracy is strongest when we unite around a sense of common purpose.
Trump has taken the opposite approach. Where others have worked to unite us, he has sought to divide us — deepening divisions in our society rather than working together to achieve our goals.
As a result, it has been a year that has threatened our democratic institutions and, unfortunately, weakened American’s influence and stature around the world.
Here at home, the President could have started his first term in office by focusing on the economic priority he spoke most about during his campaign — putting more people to work in good paying jobs by investing in modernizing our national infrastructure.
Instead, he took a very different approach. His top priority was to work in lockstep with a Republican Congress to destroy the Affordable Care Act — a proposal that would have resulted in a huge spikes in health insurance premiums and 32 million fewer Americans with access to affordable coverage.
It was a proposal opposed by nurses, doctors, hospitals, and every single patient advocacy organization in the United States — from the American Cancer Society to the Children’s Hospitals Association.
After people from all over the country rose up to protect our health care system and defeat that plan, the President and Republicans in Congress shifted their focus to taxes. They turned to high-priced Washington lobbyists to help them jam through Congress a tax scheme that is a massive giveaway big corporations, Wall Street banks, and billionaires — at the expense of working and middle class America.
Just next year foreign stockholders, who own 35 percent of U.S. corporate stock, will get a whopping $48 billion windfall benefit from the tax plan — while 11 million American families will see a tax increase.
American taxpayers having to fork over hard earned dollars to foreign stockholders — that does not sound like “America First” to me.
The reality is that “trickle down” economics failed under President Bush and it will fail again now. President Trump and his family will get a huge tax cut, and millionaires will get an average annual tax break of $70,000 a year.
Do you really think that money is going to trickle down to you?
The President promised that corporations would give their workers an average pay raise of $4,000 this year — not smaller, one-time bonuses.
Have you gotten your $4,000 pay raise?
What will go way up is our national debt. Medicare and Medicaid will see massive cuts, and our children and grandchildren will have to pay the trillions of dollars added to our national debt.
And make no mistake — Republicans have already passed a budget plan that calls for a $473 billion cut to Medicare and a trillion dollar cut to Medicaid.
Meanwhile, President Trump has refused to support Democratic proposals to reduce the sky-rocketing costs of prescription drugs or combat the opioid epidemic.
And he has refused to support Democratic proposal to provide additional funds to combat the opioid epidemic.
So after one year in office, it turns out that Donald Trump’s campaign talk about helping the “forgotten men and women” was just that — talk. His actions have betrayed hardworking Americans throughout our country.
He has tried to distract attention from the fact that his policies favor the already rich and powerful by cynically pitting Americans against one another based on religion, race, and ethnicity.
That’s demonstrated in everything from his refusal to denounce white supremacists and neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, to his recent comments repulsive and racist comments about certain immigrants, to his attempt to impose a discriminating Muslim ban.
While he has weakened us at home, he has also diminished our influence and stature around the world.
He has refused to hold Russia accountable for interfering in our elections, and lavished praise on Vladimir Putin — at the same time, he has attacked the men and women in our intelligence agencies and the FBI.
He said he was going to hold China accountable for its unfair trade practices, but then backed off after the Chinese leader stroked his ego.
His reckless “foreign policy by tweet” has alarmed our allies and encouraged our adversaries.
His constant attacks on the freedom of the press here at home has given comfort — and cover — to dictators and the enemies of democracy around the world.
His words and actions have undermined the standing of America as the beacon of democracy, freedom, and the rule of law — and that has weakened our own security interests around the globe.
Despite all this, as we enter the second year of the Trump presidency, I have faith in the resiliency, judgement, and goodness of the American people.
Because with every step and tweet the President has taken to divide us, the American people have rallied to fight back.
Patriots in every part of our great country have marched and mobilized to protect the values and principles that make American great.
And you organized to stop the effort to deny tens of millions of Americans access to affordable health care.
Together, we continue to defend the First Amendment and stand up for the truth in the face of a blizzard of false and misleading statements from the Oval Office.
So I have faith in the strength of an engaged citizenry to protect our democracy. And I want to be clear: if President Trump pursues a bipartisan agenda that supports hard working Americans and American values, we will work with him
But if he continues down this path of hyper-partisanship and special interest giveaways, we will fight him tooth and nail.
Silence is not an option.
Inaction is not an option.
If we want a brighter future for hardworking Americans, we must fight for it every day.
The work of democracy has never been easy. And it’s up to all of us to rise up to the challenge — whether that’s joining a local rally on an issue close to home, fighting on the floor of the United States Senate, or holding leaders accountable at the ballot box.
Together, we will defend our democracy from whatever challenges we face.