President
Donald J. Trump has had a rocky two months in office. His “tweet
feces storm” has embarrassed the nation and threatened our
national security, but it has solidified his right-wing base. His
repeal of Obamacare is also in trouble as is his budget which is on
life support. Trump’s far right education secretary, Betsy
DeVos, is wreaking havoc on public education with his blessings while
unions and Democrats are on their heels. Dr. Julianne Malveaux, a
member of the Black Commentator editorial board, wrote
eloquently last week on DeVos’s noxious education options and
was quickly followed in an essay in the Nation by Dr.
Linda Darling-Hammond, emeritus professor at Stanford University,
underscoring those views.
However,
few are paying close attention to the implementation of the Trump
administration’s primary objective, the implementation of his
“Deep State” initiative, designed to reduce the reach and
protections of the federal government. It is pursuing the creation
of a feudal, white nationalist state in which personal freedoms will
be restricted, and immigration will be downsized.
Conceived
by his key adviser, Steve Bannon of the alt right, who largely
remains above the fray, this “Deep State” proposal is a
multifaceted, political hydra which includes: substantial cuts in
government departments and divisions (Energy, Education, State,
Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency,
Amtrak, etc.). The objective is to wean citizens from the perceived
long arm of government. In addition, the aim is to literally starve
programs for low-income and minority citizens: reducing funding for
meals on wheels; women, infants and children; and other community
services. But a not so subtle goal is to retard the growth of
minorities and to move the country toward a white Christian,
evangelical, anti-abortion, anti-Semitic, and anti-Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) nation.
In
order to achieve this conservative nirvana, Trump has a plan to
install conservative judges at every level of the federal judiciary.
First out of the gate is his U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Judge Neil
Gorsuch of the United States
Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (a seat stolen from former
President Obama who had nominated Merrick Garland, chief judge of the
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit).
If confirmed, Gorsuch will be the linchpin for Trump’s “Deep
State” policies. As several cases in the aforementioned
categories are moving toward the Supreme Court, the first likely to
reach it will be one to eliminate union agency fees which, along with
the rapid spread of right-to-work (RTW) legislation at the state
level, will most assuredly stymie union growth.
The
major question to be answered is whether the Democrats, who are
bankrolled and voted for by unions and their members, will take a
stand against Gorsuch by engaging in a filibuster, forcing Sen. Mitch
McConnell, the Senate’s majority leader, to pursue the nuclear
option (changing Senate rules to a simple 51 vote majority, instead
of 60 to overcome a filibuster, to get Gorsuch confirmed). As
pointed out in a previous column, McConnell does not want to pursue
the nuclear option, especially as President Trump is losing his grip
on his base with his proposed budget cuts and the repeal of
Obamacare. Millions of his most ardent supporters have been provided
affordable health insurance via this law for the first time ever.
Judge
Gorsuch is a smooth-talking, conciliatory clone of the late
right-wing Associate Justice, Antonin Scalia, who set back progress
in civil rights and social justice for a generation. Hand-picked by
the conservative Federalist Society and whose name was given to Trump
as the best adherent to the Scalia philosophy of judicial
originalism,
“ …
a way to interpret the
Constitution's meaning as stable from the time of enactment, and
which can only be changed by the steps set out in Article
Five of the Constitution
… (by)
proposing an amendment
or amendments and subsequent ratification.”
Scalia
and Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, the most extreme originalists,
anchored the most conservative wing of the Court’s five vote
majority. They were funded by the Federalist Society (which is
primarily underwritten by the Koch Bros.) to attend the 2008 Koch
Bros. Palm Springs retreat where they discussed the Citizens
United v. Federal Elections Commission
case before they voted with the majority in favor of Citizens
United
in January 2010, substantially benefitting the Koch Bros. political
machinations to undermine democracy.
As
the Farrell Report
goes to press, Judge Gorsuch, like a snake-oil salesman, is busily
schmoozing Republican and Democratic Senators and the general public
to get on the Court. Democrats have a choice to make, whether to
oppose Gorsuch unconditionally and stand with their biggest
benefactors, or roll over as Sen. McConnell expects at least eight of
them to do. When added to the fifty-two he already has in tow, they
will be enough to break a filibuster. Then McConnell will be able to
declare bipartisan support for Gorsuch’s candidacy.
Currently,
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is already on board, leaving McConnell seven
short. McConnell has targeted Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Sen. Joe
Donnelly (D-IN), Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp
(D-ND), from states Trump won in a landslide, which will leave him
only three short. Now McConnell is aiming to secure the remaining
three votes from the following five: Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sen.
Michael Bennett (D-CO), Sen. Debbie Stabenow (MI), Sen. Gary Peters
(D-MI), and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL)—the latter three whose
states Trump won narrowly.
McConnell
has control of millions of dollars of Koch Bros. and Cartel money to
pressure enough Democratic Senators to vote his way. He is engaged
in a full-court press. Given Democratic fears, McConnell has a good
chance to prevail as Republicans are rock solid in their support of
Gorsuch. Democratic voters must go to the wall on blocking Gorsuch
from ascending to the Supreme Court because of the damage he will do
to immigrants, LGBTs, women’s right to choose, America’s
minority groups, and voting rights. Gorsuch is playing the same hand
as Atty. General Sessions and Education Secretary DeVos, who placed
women and minorities directly behind themselves at their hearings to
send a signal of support for diversity and social justice which is in
direct contradiction to their conservative records of oppression of
women, minorities, LGBTs, and ordinary Americans.
Many
political, business, and civic leaders are urging Democrats to hold
their fire on Gorsuch since he is supposedly more reasonable than the
next nominees Trump will recommend for the Court who will be even
farther to the right. However, Democrats must recognize that the 49
year-old arch-conservative Gorsuch’s elevation to the Court
will result in four of the five Republican Justices being under the
age of 70, and they will have a majority that is expected to overrule
Roe v. Wade,
further decimate voting rights, defund Planned Parenthood for the
foreseeable future, enact Paul Ryan’s draconian personhood
legislation (“…that human life shall be deemed
to begin with fertilization”), and place
the private-sector in the driver’s seat of our democracy,
national security, and economy.
Democrats
need to challenge Mitch McConnell now, as he will shepherd all of
Trump’s appointments through the process. With the
increasingly higher possibility that President Trump will be forced
to leave office due to an indictment or impeachment over his alleged
Russian involvement, there is limited risk to filibustering Gorsuch
at this time. In addition, Gorsuch would have been selected by a
criminal for a lifetime appointment.
It
is time for Democratic leadership to Gut Check! They took
rank-and-file Democrats for granted in 2016, causing the loss of a
winnable presidential election and the U.S. Senate. Since that vote,
millions of Democrats have taken to the streets to oppose the Trump
platform for America. If their elected officials will not stand with
them, it may be time to get a new set. There is no negotiating room
for President Trump’s “Deep State” strategies in
our increasingly multi-cultural, multi-racial nation. Who will blink
first?
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