Trump’s Profound Effect on the Presidency of the United States

by with No Comment Gen Z

For better or worse, Donald Trump has had a profound effect on the Presidency of the United States – possibly more drastic and long lasting than any other President in modern history. After years of Republicans nominating nice guys for president (Ford, Reagan, both Bushes, McCain & Romney), they got weary of the nice guy’s finish last scenario the last couple of elections and nominated a fiery & crass bulldog in Trump. He is also the first POTUS in modern history to actually keep all his campaign promises, much to the delight of his supporters and dismay of his detractors. Instead of running hard to the right or left during the primaries and then pivoting back to the center for the general election like most Republicans and Democrats do, he ran to the far right and stayed there for the general election and then kept a hard right line throughout his young Presidency. This has caused a massive polarization in this country as he has the highest support from his party in the history of the Republican party, as well as the highest disapproval from the opposing party. This has caused a deep divide in our country that hasn’t been experienced since the Civil Rights era. 

Trump is doing a fantastic job and everyone should be happy, but there are many on the other side of the political spectrum that dislike him immensely because they can’t get past his brash and crass narcissistic demeanor. It turns them off and they feel it is below the dignity of the Presidency for Trump to act the way he does and say the terrible things he says. His supporters argue back that it is the only way to get results in the “swamp of Washington DC.” 

Love him or hate him, it is hard to argue with the results of his Make America Great Again campaign. Too many to list here, but his Tax Cuts, Deregulation, Exporting Energy, Renegotiating NAFTA and the South Korean Trade Agreement, getting us out of TPP, etc… has unleashed an economy like this country has never experienced. The manufacturing industry created over 300,000 jobs and 337,000 construction jobs have been created since President Trump took office. Fourteen states reached record low unemployment rates. The African-American unemployment rate reached its lowest ever recorded. Job openings have reached 6.6 million, the highest level recorded. Jobless claims reached the lowest level in 45 years (1973). The number of people dependent on food stamps has fallen by 2.6 million or 6.2% since January 2017. The number of people receiving unemployment benefits is running at the lowest level in 45 years. Average 3% growth in the last three quarters – under President Obama, annual growth averaged 1.9%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit record highs more than 80 times under President Trump, including closing higher than 26,000 points for the first time in its history. Since President Trump’s election, more than $5 trillion in wealth has been created for the U.S. economy. 

Economic confidence rebounded to record highs under President Trump because his pro-growth policies have and continue to put American workers and businesses first. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index rose in November 2017 to a 17-year high of 129.5. The National Association of Manufacturers’ Outlook Index had the highest annual average in its history.  Small business optimism has sustained record-high levels under President Trump according to the National Federation of Independent Business. The Longest Consecutive Positive Monthly Job Growth on Record – Total payroll employment grew by 213,000 in June 2018 (18,000 over forecasts) led by gains in professional and business services, education and health services, and, once again, manufacturing.  This is the longest consecutive, positive monthly job growth period on record (93 months). Unemployment remains historically low, as the number of Americans filing for unemployment hit its lowest point since 1969. 

As good as all this economic news is, it means nothing if we can’t all come together and heal the divides in this country. All the jobs and money in the world won’t matter one bit if we can’t all get along and have a peaceful America.

Trump has done a great job with the Business End of America. Now he needs to turn inward and do the same with the Emotional End of America, or his Presidency will be a disaster. President Trump – Make America Care & Love Again!  #MACLA 

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KANYE EXPOSED US

by with 3 Comments CultureFeatured

He had me at Jesus Walks.

Having grown up in an evangelical church, I began exploring my own musical palate outside of gospel music in the late 90s. Like most adolescents growing up in Brooklyn at that time, my ears immediately gravitated to the sweet sounds of hip-hop. So listening to this collision of flavors in gospel and hip-hop music almost instantaneously turned me into a massive Kanye Omari West fan. Two years later I was able to briefly work with Kanye and meet his mother, Donda, on one special evening early in my career.

Over the last fifteen years, I have defended Kanye’s contributions to American culture and interpreted his infamous rants with much aplomb. Most of the time I felt that Kanye and I were kindred spirits and I had the ability to articulate the beauty in his messages. In doing so, I felt connected to one of history’s musical geniuses. Often, I would end my defense of Kanye with a prophetic word saying, “history will view Kanye’s contribution to music more favorably than his contemporaries.”

Having closely followed his career, I know that Kanye mostly engages on social media when he is looking to push a product. So it came as no shock to me that Kanye returned to Twitter with content that would spice things up. However, before spicing things up he was tweeting overwhelmingly positive messages before folks began to pay attention. But in this climate, positivity doesn’t sell.

As is my modus operandi, I put on the full armor of Kanye defenses and prepared for battle. In full regalia I defended Kanye, that is until the salute to Candace Owens knocked off my helmet. But I pressed on, explaining that he merely said that he liked how she thinks. That is until the signed Make America Great Again hat penetrated my shield. Only left with a sword to defend myself, I battled on evangelizing to any left-leaning person that would listen about the framework of our American Democracy. That is until the sword was knocked out of my hand when Kanye basically insinuated that American slavery was a choice that our ancestors made for themselves. Defenseless and fallen to my knees in defeat, I began asking folks, “Why they thought American slavery wasn’t a choice?” The various answers that I received not only invigorated me but exposed the bedsores riddled all over America’s already brittle skin.

The response to the question, “Why wasn’t American slavery a choice?” begins with the fact that slavery was rooted in the Founding Documents of America and backed by the full power of the American legal system and military. Specifically, the iconic Supreme Court Dred Scott v. Sandford case where Chief Justice Taney basically informed Mr. Scott to leave his courtroom as he was property and therefore property had no right to adjudicate the case. American slavery was an American government-sponsored genocide and exploitations of my ancestors. Continue to research and follow that line of thinking and let me know how you feel.

There were more white people in the South than the slaves? NO

The slaves were not educated and therefore weren’t smart? NO

The slaves didn’t have the will because their master repeatedly broke their will? NO

The slaves didn’t… NO

Even when the slaves decided against slavery for themselves, like Dred Scott, it was the Rule of Law that returned them to their slave masters at best or to their deaths at worst. Remember that Amistad and 12 Years A Slave were both award-winning films where the Law is the main protagonist. Our ancestors were intellectual, intentional, and strong-willed people who would not have chosen slavery for themselves had it not been for the Law of the land that they were captured too. Any explanation that is not first rooted in a discussion around American Law is shrouded in racism and victim blaming.

As responses to my question poured in what I realized is that Kanye is uninformed and a majority of the public are also uninformed. So in effect, it was the uninformed shouting down the uninformed. This lack of understanding is a glaring indictment against the education system of one of the wealthiest empires in the history of the world. In the end, it’s imperative that we continue in a relentless pursuit of knowledge.

Thanks for exposing us Ye.

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The Deadly Decisions of Donald Trump

by with 2 Comments Uncategorized

NPR published a story this week highlighting the recent increase of the number of coal miners diagnosed with progressive massive fibrosis, otherwise known as black lung disease, in central Appalachia, the heart of coal mining in the US. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) says that they have identified the largest cluster of advanced black lung disease ever reported. More than 400 new cases between 2013 and 2017 were reported by just three clinics in the area.

The disease was nearly wiped out in the mid-90s, with those clinics reporting five to seven cases per year. The number of cases has multiplied alarmingly to five to seven cases every two weeks or so. The spike is attributed to several causes, including longer shifts and the mining of thinner coal seams, grinding up the surrounding rock into silica dust, which is deadlier than the coal dust itself. The increase of layoffs and retirements also contributed, and brought in more miners into the clinics to take advantage of federal black lung compensation programs.

The Trump Administration is looking into rolling back some of the protections implemented just two years ago, which increased protections for miners by forcing operators to limit mine workers’ exposure to the dust by adding filters to the work areas, among other things. While the administration may not touch the regulations themselves, they are impacting the ability to enforce those regulations.

As in other departments, Trump’s strategy appears to be hiring the fox to guard the henhouse. The former mine safety chief of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, Joe Main, was the driving force behind these tougher regulations. Trump’s pick to replace him is David Zatezalo, former chairman of Rhino Resources, which has been cited numerous times for mine safety violations.

Workers in the coal industry might see this appointment as bringing in one of their own. The coal industry is declining, and miners need to feed their families. However, no critically-thinking human can deny that the coal industry is killing people, destroying families, abusing the environment, and enriching the oligarchs. When one takes into consideration all of the factors, Trump’s rhetoric about caring for the coal miners rings hollow.

Similar read: Betrayal of the Coal Miner

Progressive Woman Responds to SOTU

by with One Comment FeaturedPolitics

Last night, I went through a wide range of emotions watching the State of the Union address. I typically enjoy listening to this address, as it provides a high level report card on what the President and Congress have accomplished the previous year. I knew to expect some Republican propaganda, as all State of the Union addresses are heavily influenced by the party of the sitting President. However, something about last night was different causing the up and down of emotions I experienced.

President Trump touched on a wide variety of topics, from taxes to nuclear weapons and immigration to the opioid crisis. Unfortunately the common theme used when talking about the majority of the topics was fear. In his speech, Pres. Trump continuously pitted immigrants against Americans; environmentalists versus the coal industry; and the rich versus those who are less fortunate. Comments such as “Americans are Dreamers too;” “clean coal;” and everything he said about MS-13, though reports show White male Nationalists have killed the most Americans than any other political, ethnic or religious group in recent years, shed light on the fear he is striking in America, but packaging under the “Make America Great Again” theme.

Lastly, the showcasing of the many anomalies with all the guests in the audience he told stories about felt more like reality TV than true appreciation and/or sympathy. The Pres. and his team purposely sought out the most extreme examples and shamelessly used the grief of these families to drive his point home. Why did these families subject themselves to such a spectacle, I will probably never understand.

Immigrants and the American Dream: Making America Great Every Day

by with No Comment CultureFeatured
[Congress is running out of time to save Dreamers via DACA. Immigrants, like several of our contributors, keep America great. Here’s an article from one of our contributors detailing her journey. She’s part of the solution, not the problem.]

Remember when you were seven years old? How carefree and wonderful it was? All you had to worry about was your next sweet treat and perhaps the decision to wear your frilly pink skirt or Spiderman shirt the next day. Now imagine this is your life and you’re abruptly told that in two days you will be leaving for a new life, new country, new experiences, new everything. In that split instance, you know that life will never be the same. After all, you can’t take all of your Barbie’s and accessories on the plane with you to your “new life”.  But, somehow you smile and go about your last two days at school knowing that you will never see your friends and teachers again.  You can’t express your fear, nor tell anyone because migrating north is a secret.  Seventy-two hours later it’s “Goodbye Ecuador, Hello America”. You arrive at JFK, and your search for the “American Dream” begins.  This was me in 1994, and today the search for the “American Dream” continues.  

I remember my first day of elementary school in New York like it was yesterday – mostly because it was the day that I made up my mind that I would be successful.  I sat and stared at a green chalkboard in a classroom where I knew no one and understood nothing.  My new home was a two-bedroom apartment that I shared with nine family members (a drastic change from the beach house I’d spent the last seven years of my life in).  I remember sitting on the top bunk at night and crying, “I’m dying to learn English.”  At only seven years old, it was clear that life would be tough, but I knew that I was tougher.

I attended public schools from the age of 7-17 while being undocumented. I was a typical high school student that played soccer and worked a part-time job.  During my senior year of high school, while everyone debated about majors and what college they would attend, I secretly wished to do the same – but I couldn’t because of my immigration status.  Instead, I pretended not to care about college and repeated over and over, “College is just not for me,” to anyone that asked.  I wonder, how my life would be different – if I would have been on the same playing field and had the same opportunities as everyone else.  If I would have known as a young child that I could have been anything I wanted, what kind of life could I have created for my family? For myself?

Today, I look back on my life and I’m proud of every struggle as well as the prosperous moments.  I actually attended and graduated college, started a family, and currently work as a Director for a non-profit that helps students achieve successful careers.  I wonder where I would be without the struggle of searching for the “American Dream.”  The desire to build something from nothing is what built this country from the ground up.  The desire to succeed, beat the odds, and do the impossible is what created this great nation.  Immigrants bring that desire to this country, and that desire is what will continue to build this great nation.  It is what we should be fighting to have in this country, not push out.  

As we move forward in this post “build the wall” election, I question the motive behind blocking individuals with the passion and desire to succeed.  As an immigrant, I have aspired to be the best contribution to the land I have chosen to live in.  I choose to make MY America a better place, and I choose to do so in the America that molded me into the woman I am today. Those who come to this country in search of the “American Dream” have given up everything in order to achieve success, and if given the opportunity, they will keep America great instead of “Making America Great Again.”

This article was originally published on 3 July 2017.