So yeah, we’re still more than a week away from Baby Donald Trump actually taking the oath of office as President of the United States, and he and his Republican toadies in Congress are already smashing civil liberties, healthcare, environmental protection efforts and who knows what else. Here’s a short list of just what they’ve done in the last few days:
• Yesterday/last night Senate Republicans voted to rollback numerous Affordable Care Act provisions, including protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
• House of Representatives approved the REINS Act, which requires Congressional approval all new regulations. This effectively destroys the federal government’s regulatory process, which is a massive windfall for big polluters and dirty industries nationwide.
• During his Senate confirmation hearing, Secretary of State nominee/Exxon stooge Rex Tillerson refused to condemn Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s murderous anti-drug war.
• Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions shows off his painful record of fighting against civil rights during his Senate confirmation hearing.
And that list doesn’t even include a thousand other offenses against humanity that Trump has committed, including his recent beyond-insulting press conference, in which he denied it was possible for him as president to have any conflicts of interests (a morally bankrupt assertion), then put forward a sham proposal to deal with the massively unconstitutional fact that his Trump empire accepts payments from foreign governments (were Congress run by honest people instead of the craven Republicans in charge now, that would be an impeachable offense, effective on the very first day Trump takes office).
Look, I know all this is scary and infuriating, and it’s all likely to get worse in the coming weeks, months and years, but now’s the time to fight back. If any of this outrages you, call the Washington offices of Senators Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz and Representative Tulsi Gabbard and tell them. Seriously, they WANT you to call and voice your concerns. It’s very easy, and often you’ll just speak into a voicemail recorder. But calls on this stuff (and whatever’s yet to come) matter.
Here’s how to reach them:
SENATOR MAZIE HIRONO: 202-224-6361
SENATOR BRIAN SCHATZ: 202-224-3934
REPRESENATIVE TULSI GABBARD: 202-225-4906
There’s also going to be a Women’s March right here on Maui scheduled for Jan. 21. You can get more details on that here.
Photo: DonkeyHotey/Flickr
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