Donald Trump loves to take credit for having "the greatest economy in history" or some such wacko claim, that is, of course before the #TrumpPandemic brought things to a screeching halt.
Anybody with any brains understands that although Trump claims to have been left a "disaster" by the Obama administration, the fact is that he inherited a booming economy--one that had been rescued from the Bush trash heap by Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
Last night at a drive-in rally in North Philadelphia, Obama scorched Trump for those claims.
“I get this president wants full credit for the economy he inherited and zero blame for the pandemic he ignored,” Obama said, citing the more than 220,000 Americans who have been killed by the coronavirus. “But you know what? The job doesn’t work that way. Tweeting at the television doesn’t fix things. Making stuff up doesn’t make people’s lives better. You’ve got to have a plan.”
Not only doesn't Trump have a plan to bring Covid-19 under control, Obama said, "he can't even take the basic steps to protect himself."
Added Obama, Biden “is not going to screw up testing. He’s not going to call scientists idiots. He’s not going to hold a superspreader event at the White House.”
Obama's appearance in Pennsylvania illustrate's the importance of the Keystone State, which ended up narrowly in Trump's column in 2016, in the 2020 presidential election. If things are close, Pennsylvania could ultimately decide who is president for the next four years.
And, that means Pennsylvania could determine the future for millions upon millions of Americans.
Health care, for one thing.
Donald Trump and his Republican cohorts in red states across the nation are now before the U.S. Supreme Court trying to overturn the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Obama's crowning achievement. If they succeed, coverage for some 20 million Americans, many of them poor and on Medicaid, will be gone. And, so will protection for preexisting conditions--a disastrous result in the midst of the #TrumpPandemic.
“The idea of taking health care from people at the very moment where people need it most — what’s the logic of that?” Obama asked. “There is no logic.”
But then, logic is not what rules Donald Trump. Ego rules him. And hate. And racist prejudice. That's exactly why he's been obsessed with killing the ACA. Obama created it. And he hates Obama. That's the logic.
Trump has promised to repeal and replace the ACA -- Obamacare -- since his election, all to no avail. Yes, he succeeded in dismantling bits and pieces of the law, such as the requirement that everyone must have health insurance, but his last shot at killing off the entire program is this case before the Supreme Court.
And that case rests on the fact that the individual coverage mandate is now gone, along with its very underpinning of the health care program.
Trump thinks he's got an ace in the hole with Justice-to-be Amy Coney Barrett, an arch conservative whom he no doubt believes will side with other right wing justices to declare the law unconstitutional.
Last night, Obama said “We’ve got to turn out like never before. We cannot leave any doubt in this election.”
He is absolutely right.
First, the future of health care coverage for millions upon millions of Americans is at stake because of the Trumplican challenge before the Supreme Court.
And, second, every signal indicates that Trump will attempt to litigate the election results with the ultimate decider being the Supreme Court, not the American people. He's stacked the Court with Barrett, and if it's at all close, that's exactly what will happen.
To the Undecideds
So, if you haven't decided yet, think about that. Do you want your fellow Americans to lose their health insurance? Do you want them to be unable to seek medical care even in the midst of this pandemic? Maybe you have your health insurance through the ACA and somehow you're unaware that Trump is trying to take it away. Well, he is.
Do you want to forfeit your democracy to this tyrant? Do you want to allow him to rig the system so he can hold onto power? Is that the kind of country you want?
Some say, "oh, I'm sick of politics. I'm not even going to bother. They're all crooks."
If you say that and do not vote, you deserve what you get.
Years ago, I had an editor who had a sign behind his desk that read: "If you don't vote, don't complain."
That, in these times, is the understatement of the century.
November 3rd.