Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich penned an editorial just two days ago, and now with the explosive Cohen testimony behind us, and news of Trump slinking back to Washington in the wee hours, after yet another botched attempt to negotiate the de-nuclearization of North Korea, it’s grown even more relevant, incredibly. Reich’s premise is simple: the issue with Donald Trump is not whether he will be impeached or forced to resign, like Nixon, our last manifestly corrupt Republican president. Reich’s take, is that the American people have already fired Donald Trump.
Reich says that when the American people fire a president before election day, as they did with Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon, and Herbert Hoover, they don’t send him a letter telling him he’s fired, they simply render him invalid. The person isn’t gone already, but he might as well be, because all the attention of the country is elsewhere, and not on the irrelevant, ineffectual former leader. Or in Trump’s case, n’er was leader.
Reich also points out that in the cases of the presidents named, the work of the country is carried on by career civil servants, and we see that today, and more interesting and effective politicians claim the spotlight. We see that as well, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez being a prime example.
Reich fantasizes America writing a termination letter to Trump and it would go something like this: Common Dreams: (cross-posted at Salon, and the San Francisco Chronicle)
Dear Mr. President,
While many of us disagree on ideology and values, we agree on practical things like obeying the Constitution and not letting big corporations and the wealthy run everything.
Your 35-day government shutdown was a senseless abuse of power. So too your “national emergency” to build your wall with money Congress refused to appropriate.
When you passed your tax bill, you promised our paychecks would increase by an average of $4,000, but we never got the raise. Our employers used the tax savings to buy back their shares of stock and give themselves raises instead.
Then you fooled us into thinking we were getting a tax cut by lowering the amounts withheld from our 2018 paychecks. We know that now because we’re getting smaller tax refunds.
At the same time, many big corporations aren’t paying a dime in taxes. Worse yet, they’re getting refunds.
For example, GM is paying zilch and claiming a $104 million refund on $11.8 billion of profits. Amazon is paying no taxes and claiming a $129 million refund on profits of $11.2 billion. (This is after New York offered it $3 billion to put its second headquarters there.)
They aren’t breaking any tax laws or regulations. That’s because they made the tax laws and regulations. You gave them a free hand.
You’re supposed to be working for us, not for giant corporations. But they’re doing better than ever, as are their top executives and biggest investors. Yet nothing has trickled down. We’re getting shafted.
Which is why more than half of us support Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s proposed 70 percent tax on dollars earned in excess of $10 million a year, and more than 60 percent of us support Elizabeth Warren’s proposed 2 percent tax on households with a net worth of $50 million or more.
You’ve also shown you don’t have a clue about health care. You promised us something better than the Affordable Care Act, but all you’ve done is whittle it back.
A big reason we gave Democrats control of the House last November was your threat to eliminate protection for people with pre-existing conditions. Are you even aware that 70 percent of us now favor Medicare for All?
Most of us don’t pay much attention to national policy, but we pay a lot of attention to home economics. You’ve made our own home economics worse.
We’ll give you official notice you’re fired on Nov. 3, 2020, if not before. Until then, you can keep the house and perks, but you’re toast.
Respectfully,
America
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could put one of these together and get 300 Million signatures on it?
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[cross-posted to PolitiZoom]