Brave, billionaire businessman or bemusing, blonde bigot?
Donald Trump has split opinion around the world and continues to do so as he pontificates over which type of wall he would actually like to cut Mexico off with and which one of Obama's bills he would like to reverse next.
The political landscape now features a ravine the likes of which we've never seen before. On one side are those arguing for welfare through taxation, pro-choice policies, reducing carbon emissions and greater gender and racial equality. On the other are those arguing for tax cuts, pro-life policies, fewer environmental bills and more freedoms for businesses and individuals to do what they like.
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Of course, it's not quite this simple - as Trump has harnessed the support of many millions of Americans for whom politics is fairly new. Instead of focussing on swing states, he targeted those who felt alienated and disenfranchised by the system.
While one might hope that this would breathe new life into the White House, as well as fresh perspectives, thus far Trump's unique blend of preaching and politics has only served to dredge up some horribly outdated ideas and force them into the legislature. However, as we move towards what many are calling a "post-truth age", it's the President's compulsive lying that Senator Al Franken has highlighted in his swan song speech.
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"We are losing the war for truth," stated the Minnesotan politician during his last speech to the senate. "Maybe it’s already lost." The 66-year old, who is also a comedian, producer, author and one of Saturday Night Live's original writers, is retiring after almost a decade in politics.
This is perhaps the most damning section of the speech
"Mr President, 138 million votes were cast in the 2016 presidential election. State election and law enforcement officials found virtually no credible evidence of fraud, and no states—not one state—reported any indications of widespread fraud. None. But that didn’t stop the Trump administration from quickly turning the president’s tweets into policy. The White House created a new commission to investigate the president’s wild and unsubstantiated claim—a commission led by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a right-wing extremist who has made a career out of trafficking in the voter fraud myth and who was fined for repeatedly lying to a federal court in voter ID litigation. When Kobach was asked whether he believed the president’s claim that millions of people voted illegally, he said, quote 'we may never know the answer to that question'. Really? Really?
"Mr President, this episode could almost be considered funny, if the ramifications weren’t so deadly serious. Kobach’s voter fraud commission requested sensitive information about voters—including the names, dates of birth, party registration, and voting history—from all 50 states. This is information that could lay the groundwork for disenfranchising scores of eligible voters, which is why more than 40 states refused to comply with that request. At the same time, the Trump-Sessions Justice Department quickly dropped legal challenges to discriminatory voting practices in the states, further signaling that protecting the right to vote will no longer be a priority for the Justice Department.
"And it’s all based on a lie—and not a lie President Trump came up with. Right-wing conservatives have been raising a false alarm about so-called “voter fraud” for years, despite the fact that no credible evidence has ever been produced demonstrating that it is a real problem.
"Or take the Trump administration’s attacks on LGBT rights. Again and again, lurking behind these policies are lies. The lie that advocates of LGBT rights want to trample on people’s religious freedom. The lie that families led by a gay or lesbian couple don’t provide a safe environment for children. The lie that allowing transgender people to use the appropriate bathroom opens the door to sexual assault.
"President Trump didn’t invent these lies. But he and his administration proudly repeat them.
"Or take the attacks on science, especially climate science. We now have enough evidence to conclude that climate change is real, and it’s man-made. It is a threat to our nation’s security and an existential threat to the planet—Defense Secretary Mattis knows this. And yet, for years, so-called scientists funded by industry have been hard at work casting doubt on the well-established scientific consensus. Heck, a recent Washington Post report revealed that Trump administration officials have prohibited the Centers for Disease Control—our nation’s premier public health and research institution—from using the terms 'evidence-based' and 'science-based' in budget-planning documents."
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"President Trump didn’t launch the war on science. But now he’s leading the charge.
"Or take healthcare.
"President Trump promised that everyone would have insurance. But an analysis by the non-partisan congressional Budget Office revealed that under the House Republican health care bill, 23 million fewer people would have had health insurance than are currently covered today. 23 million people. And to add insult to injury, the House bill would have hit the most vulnerable among us the hardest. According to the CBO, 14 million of the 23 million people who would have lost coverage under the House Republicans’ plan were Medicaid beneficiaries.
"That’s right, despite candidate Trump’s assurances that, quote “everybody’s going to be taken care of much better than they’re taken care of now” unquote, the Republican bill would have cut funding to Medicaid, a vital safety-net program that ensures that our seniors, people with disabilities, pregnant women, and families with children have access to the health care they need. On top of that, the Republican plan would have driven up the cost of premiums, with older and sicker people experiencing the steepest increases.
"Indeed, the health care debate has long been predicated on lies. The lie that, quote “well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does” is provide abortion services. The lie that women only rely on birth control because they’re sexually promiscuous. The lie that the Affordable Care Act is collapsing under its own weight, when, in fact, the Trump administration and Republicans here in Congress have been doing everything they can to sabotage it.
"And then there’s the tax debate.
"Over the last year, Republicans have repeatedly claimed that they would advance policies designed to benefit middle class families, not the wealthy. President Trump pledged not to forget the, quote “the forgotten men and women of our country.” Steven Mnuchin, the Secretary of the Treasury, promised that the Republican tax plan would help the middle class. He vowed that any tax cuts for upper-income earners would be offset by getting rid of deductions that benefit the wealthy—that’s what he said. Let me quote Secretary Mnuchin. He said, quote “there will be no absolute tax cut for the upper class.” But again, Mr. President, 83 percent of the benefits in the Republican tax bill go to the richest 1 percent. What he said just isn’t true.
"Even just the other day, the White House Press Secretary claimed that President Trump himself will pay more because of this bill. We don’t know for sure exactly what its effect will be on his personal finances, because the White House has refused to release his tax returns, claiming—in another lie—that he can’t release them because they’re under audit. You can release your tax returns while you’re under audit. What we do know, Mr. President, is that the tax breaks in the Republican bill for real estate developers like President Trump and his family will save him millions upon millions of dollars.
"Mr. President, the policies pursued by President Trump and allies are not about lifting people out of poverty, or about giving the politically powerless a louder voice in our democracy. These policies are intended to line the pockets of wealthy donors and to protect the power of those who already wield outsized influence in our democracy."
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Senator Al Franken's speech has served to reaffirm what many of us sadly already knew. However, Al Franken is no angel himself, seemingly. He made the decision to resign following pressure from dozens of his colleagues after eight women accused him of sexual misconduct, including unwanted groping, kissing and sexual advances.
However, this shouldn't take from the sentiment of the speech itself. The words of late Senator Paul Wellstone sum it up perfectly: "Politics is not about power. Politics is not about money. Politics is not about winning for the sake of winning. Politics is about the improvement of people’s lives.
