It is just too much to watch the impending acceleration of the middle class’ demise, especially because it was spurred by Trump-driven policies. The problem is that knowing there are people who do the extensive research to see through the fraud just isn’t enough. We need to somehow reach our Trump-supporting brothers and sisters, and win over the Trump voter.
Many respected Democrats and progressives put all Trump voters in one basket. They suggest that we give up on the white working class, saying they are permanent Republicans who are nativists, racists, anti-immigrant, and much worse. And that is true for many—but not all.
Others say that it is time to recognize that the Democratic Party is the party of people of color, and there is no need to keep trying to win over the white working-class voter. That is just as dangerous a statement as the instantiation of the Republican Party as a white party.
The Democratic Party must be the inclusive party, one where absolutely everyone feels welcome. It is true that for too long the Democratic Party suffered from the same racial animosities people of color have long faced, but with a facade of progressivism. Democrats would do well to clean up their own house before being too self-righteous.
The vast majority of humans can have a change in the head, if not the heart. The problem is it requires a lot of sustained work from activists, and that’s something many aren’t willing to give.
The right invested boatloads of money to indoctrinate voters and create a false reality, and it’s one which many believe and live by. They followed the Powell Manifesto almost verbatim. But what the left lacks financially must be compensated in volume and engagement.
I came up with a standard phrase on my Politics Done Right radio show broadcasted on 90.1 FM KPFT Houston, a Pacifica Network radio station: The scariest thing for the plutocracy is the uniting of the ghettos, the barrios, and Appalachia. While it is a bit stereotypical, the point is clear. It is for this exact reason that Trump magnifies and fosters divisions on many fronts.
Trump must divide Americans given that absent the manufactured conflict, citizens would unite against his fraudulent and deceptive policies. After speaking to voters of every stripe, one thing is true: we mostly want the same thing. It wouldn’t be difficult to craft a chart or graphic to illustrate that reality. But for now, let’s concentrate on the clear and present danger to our “personal economies.”
Donald Trump’s healthcare policy and tax reform scheme will continue the decimation of the middle class, making him a far cry from the populist president that he purports to be.
Illness does not know party or ideology. Most yearn for a program that allows Americans to get the health care they need when they need it, and Trumpcare does not offer anything close. Trump is asking us all to believe that he can cut the amount of money going into health care and magically get better outcomes, reduce premiums, and give a higher level of care. That is hogwash, a mathematical impossibility. The president needs the savings from health care to give larger tax cuts that will mostly go to the wealthy, since they pay a larger percentage of the taxes. The reality is that every Republican plan so far means higher premiums, higher out-of-pocket costs, or bankruptcy. Middle-class Americans will suffer.
Many on the left and some on the right prefer a single-payer Medicare for all system. It is clear many on the right are not convinced that is the best way. So there is a good reason in the short term to keep the Affordable Care Act and apply fixes until we come up with an American health care system we can agree on in the long term. For the super ideological reader, note that the Affordable Care Act had its genesis in the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Only when Republicans slapped the name Obamacare onto it did it become verboten.
We could work toward a bifurcated system, with single-payer Medicare for all for those who don’t have employer-based health insurance. It is likely that the efficiencies realized in such a system will lead us closer to the rest of the industrialized world. But at least we could have that real-time test.
Trump claimed that his tax reform plan was mostly to give the middle class tax relief. Unfortunately, even though his tax reform framework is short on details, it is clear that the only sure beneficiaries are the wealthy, including a $1 billion dollar tax break for the president. And here is the kicker: the average working-class voter can pay up to 35 percent of their wages in taxes. However, if you are a doctor, lawyer, or belong to another high-income profession, you get the ability to convert most of your income to business profit, which would cap the tax rate at 25 percent. So much for being a working-class tax reform.
There are many social policy differences between the left and the right, but let’s resolve those separately from that which can negatively affect us economically. Let’s not allow Trump or anyone else to play us against each other. When we allow that, both sides are left holding the bag while they, those running the plutocracy, eat the caviar.
Trump voters: let bygones be bygones, for everyone’s sake. For the well-being of every member of the middle class, we need you all on board.
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