Robert Reich points out an important piece of the resistance movement against Donald Trump in this Facebook blog post: the resistance must include the conditions that allowed his presidency and of which continue to give him support.
One other point I would like to make: Hillary Clinton can’t be a significant contributor to the conditions that created President Trump and at the same time claim resistance to them. Clinton represents all that Trump’s supporters were complaining about. She needs to either promptly change her stripes or disqualify herself from the resistance movement.
“I’m part of the resistance,” Hillary Clinton said today[Tuesday, May 2] in an interview on CNN, in which she criticized Trump’s conduct in office, his foreign policy, and his penchant for posting on Twitter.
Last Sunday Joe Biden also sounded resistance themes in his visit to New Hampshire to rally Democrats.
I welcome Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden to the resistance.
But two gentle warnings:
1. The more the “resistance” sounds partisan, the less effective it will be – because it then allows Trump and his enablers to characterize as nothing more than the Democrats trying to regain power. In fact, it's a people’s movement dedicated to protecting our Constitution and system of government from a dangerous sociopath.
2. The resistance is also more than just resistance to Trump. It must be resistance to the conditions that created Trump -- which is as much the fault of the Democratic Party as the Republicans. Too many Democratic officials have aided and abetted a rigged economy, most of whose gains have gone to the top. Too many Democrats have sought big money from large corporations and Wall Street -- money that has inundated and undermined our politics. The Democrats haven't had the backbone to demand a hefty tax on the rich -- including a wealth tax -- to pay for what we need to do as a society, including better schools. And the Democratic Party still hasn't had the guts to come out for a single-payer health care system.
Resisting Trump is necessary. But getting behind an agenda that takes back our economy and our democracy from the privileged and powerful is essential.
By ALEXANDER BURNS
