Week in Review 7-19-2019
Donald Trump has returned to his old playbook of race-baiting and hate-mongering. Standing up to racism is not a political issue. It is a moral issue. Everyone should condemn bigotry regardless of where it comes from and who it is directed towards.
While we were focused on this controversy, the Trump administration was working to ban abortions. Planned Parenthood on Tuesday said it will forgo federal family planning funds rather than comply with new Trump administration rules that prohibit the organization from referring women for abortions. Trump did not face push back this week on his cruel immigration policies, where migrant children are still being forced to live in inhumane conditions, and ICE raids are still occurring.
While the President's racist tantrums continued, the House was not deterred from passing a bill raising the country's minimum wage to $15. The wage has not been raised since 2009. Yet still, the conversation centered around Trump's behavior.
Expect Trump to ramp up his racist attacks as a distraction to Robert Mueller testifying before Congress next week and as more information shows his involvement in the hush-money payments during his campaign.
His divide and conquer methodology is causing deep fissure and turmoil in our country. We have seen turmoil before. In 1969, the Vietnam War and the battle for civil rights divided our country. But nevertheless we came together 50 years ago Saturday to support the brave astronauts of Apollo 11 as they reached the moon. It didn't matter who was a Democrat or a Republican. We were all proud Americans sharing in that moment and the promise for greater humanity.
Today we need to unite as a country. If we let the President use racism and demagoguery to divide us, our democracy is weakened. We can't look away even when he wants us to. Congress needs to continue its work to pass meaningful legislation that will safeguard our freedoms and improve the lives for everyone.
Our job is to pull back the curtain, and make sure we're focusing on the job at hand - electing candidates who care about our issues and ensuring that Congress does its job with dignity and respect for all.
