“Promises Made, Promises Kept!” That is Trump’s 2020 campaign slogan. He and his supportive right wing reactionary Tea Party Republicans are well on their way to keeping the promises they made to the American people.
It is true and obvious to anyone who has payed attention that Trump, the Republican Congress, the religious right, and their cult following are liars, hypocrites, and lacking in moral decency. But the left, center, and “never Trump” from the now defunct conservative Republican Party have missed the big picture.
Since Ronald Reagan’s “Government is the problem,” Republicans have run on the promise to destroy our American way of life. Republican strategist Grover Norquist said it best, “My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.”
The attacks on people who believe in America and our democratic institutions have been systematically attacked. Birtherism was used to convince people that President Obama was not a real American. President Obama was vilified for putting Dijon mustard on his hamburger and wearing a tan suit. There was Hillary’s emails and Benghazi - it mattered not that 10 Republican Congressional investigations could find no wrong doing or even lies. But who knows what damage Pocahontas and her consumer protection agency might do. The last people you should trust are those wanting to strengthen America and its democratic institutions.
After decades of cutting taxes on the wealthy, the radical right has managed to financially bankrupt the government. Now they are going for the kill. For the past two years, they have taken a wrecking ball to our institutions. The people appointed to protect those great accomplishments and institutions were put there to destroy them. Betsy DeVos was assigned the task of destroying public education. Jeff Session to destroy our Department of Justice, a job now occupied by Matthew Whitaker pending William Barr’s confirmation. Wilbur Ross and Mnuchin are charged with destroying commerce and the economy. Ben Carson was taxed to destroy public housing and urban affairs. Zinke and Pruitt to destroy the environment. Tom Price destroys our Public Health system. Mulvaney is now running the Department of Lies.
Most dangerous is their attack on science. Science deniers and science illiterates have been put in charge of our space program, health departments, and sprinkled throughout government agencies where science is paramount. While Trump’s budget called for massive cuts to science, the cuts were not as extreme as proposed. However, some funds have been directed away from basic research, the type of research that gave us technologies like weather satellites, computers, and the internet.
Lying, hypocrisy, and lack of morals are merely the means to their end, an end they share with Putin’s Russia. From Reagan to Trump, the objective was to convince the American people government is their enemy, to shrink government, and leave Americans defenseless, fearful, and without hope.
Promises Made, Promises Kept!
