Politics

America's most important political battle – CNN

Published

4 years ago

April 6, 2021

The battle is visible in skirmishes big and small across the country. Moments like when Rep. Liz Cheney and nine of her GOP colleagues voted to impeach Donald Trump in January, acknowledging his role in inciting the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. Or when Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a conservative Republican, vetoed a bill that would have restricted how doctors can work with transgender patients. Or when Republicans in Georgia stood firm in rejecting Trump’s relentless pressure to overturn the election in their state.

Republicans are locked in battle about what kind of a party they will be: one that stands for conservative values and seeks to craft legislation in support of those ideals, or one that will continue drifting to the extremes, breathing life into lies that rile up the base while undercutting faith in the country’s democracy.

So far, it’s very clear which side is winning, and the potential consequences for the country are ominous.

A new poll from Reuters/Ipsos found that 60% of Republicans believe the Big Lie, the false claim that Trump won the election. And, nearly half of all Republicans believe the latest outgrowth from the Big Lie, the New Lie — Trump’s claim that instead of the deadly violence by his supporters on January 6, the day Congress was certifying Biden’s winning vote count, the rioters were “hugging and kissing” the cops in what was nothing but a peaceful protest. Unless it was violent, in which case it was the work of leftist agitators.

It’s easy to become accustomed and blasé about this new reality. But we should stop to think about what it means: One of the two governing parties in the United States is controlled by people promoting the delegitimization of America’s duly elected president, people who are endorsing or refusing to rectify dangerous lies.

The phenomenon risks making political violence more acceptable. Although most Americans blame the former president for the deadly events at the Capitol, according to an ABC poll, a majority of Republicans think Trump did nothing wrong.

It wasn’t very long ago that the country had two reality-based, generally centrist parties. Democrats and Republicans, with different philosophies, debated the merits of their ideas, in search of a workable compromise.

But then, bit by bit, the GOP started veering in a different direction. By the time Trump became president, the maximalist, nativist, conspiracy-driven, scandal-manufacturing, hate-stoking wing was already ascendant, propelled by the engines of Fox News and other far-right provocateurs. Trump’s victory was the coup that toppled the old GOP and turned it into the extremist MAGA machine.

Many of Trump’s former critics, people like Senators Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz, who had all lambasted him in the past, now praise him with unselfconscious abandon.

The party’s unraveling will be described in unsparing detail in a memoir by the former Republican House Speaker John Boehner, who has been offering tantalizing glimpses.

In an article in Politico, Boehner dissects the rise of the lunatic fringe, tracing it back to the start of Fox News and its quest for ratings. By 2010, he says, the new class of Republican lawmakers were beholden to Fox and had little interest in compromising. Ronald Reagan, he says, had said getting 80 or 90% of what you want is a victory. Now they wanted 100% or nothing. In fact, Boehner writes, by 2013 “they didn’t really want legislative victories. They wanted wedge issues and conspiracies and crusades.”

Notice, this is not about doing what’s good for the country. “The chaos caucus,” Boehner said, “had built up their own power base thanks to fawning right-wing media and outrage-driven fundraising cash.”

This is self-serving politics taken to the extreme, seeking not to legislate but to enrage and fundraise. Boehner names Sen. Ted Cruz in the Politico piece as “the head lunatic leading the way.”

But that was before Trump, who broke through every guardrail of decency, and took most of the party with him.

Every day the GOP sounds less committed to democracy — see the new voter-suppression laws in Georgia and elsewhere popping up. Every day, the leaders who once stood up for democracy and basic truth sound less interested in either.

And yet, the fight is not over. More than a few Republicans are still willing to speak out. This is not about Republicans deciding if they are conservative or moderate, it’s about deciding if the party will respect the truth, democracy, and some manner of principle other than what is good for Trump and those seeking favor with him.

We’ve seen flashes of courage from conservative Republicans, like Rep. Liz Cheney and moderate ones like Sen. Mitt Romney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger. And at the state level, we saw Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and other Republican election officials hold firm despite Trump’s verbal slings and arrows.

Other political battles may seem more interesting, more urgent, maybe more entertaining. But when it comes to America’s future, this one matters most. American democracy will struggle to survive if one of its two parties turns its back on reality and stops believing in democracy.

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Politics

RFK Jr. says Trump would push to remove fluoride from drinking water. ‘It’s possible,’ Trump says

Published

19 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Anne Joseph

PHOENIX (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent proponent of debunked public health claims whom Donald Trump has promised to put in charge of health initiatives, said Saturday that Trump would push to remove fluoride from drinking water on his first day in office if elected president.

Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear and tear, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water has long been considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century.

Kennedy made the declaration Saturday on the social media platform X alongside a variety of claims about the heath effects of fluoride.

“On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water,” Kennedy wrote. Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, “want to Make America Healthy Again,” he added, repeating a phrase Trump often uses and links to Kennedy.

Trump told NBC News on Sunday that he had not spoken to Kennedy about fluoride yet, “but it sounds OK to me. You know it’s possible.”

The former president declined to say whether he would seek a Cabinet role for Kennedy, a job that would require Senate confirmation, but added, “He’s going to have a big role in the administration.”

Asked whether banning certain vaccines would be on the table, Trump said he would talk to Kennedy and others about that. Trump described Kennedy as “a very talented guy and has strong views.”

The sudden and unexpected weekend social media post evoked the chaotic policymaking that defined Trump’s White House tenure, when he would issue policy declarations on Twitter at virtually all hours. It also underscored the concerns many experts have about Kennedy, who has long promoted debunked theories about vaccine safety, having influence over U.S. public health.

In 1950, federal officials endorsed water fluoridation to prevent tooth decay, and continued to promote it even after fluoride toothpaste brands hit the market several years later. Though fluoride can come from a number of sources, drinking water is the main source for Americans, researchers say.

Officials lowered their recommendation for drinking water fluoride levels in 2015 to address a tooth condition called fluorosis, that can cause splotches on teeth and was becoming more common in U.S. kids.

In August, a federal agency determined “with moderate confidence” that there is a link between higher levels of fluoride exposure and lower IQ in kids. The National Toxicology Program based its conclusion on studies involving fluoride levels at about twice the recommended limit for drinking water.

A federal judge later cited that study in ordering the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to further regulate fluoride in drinking water. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen cautioned that it’s not certain that the amount of fluoride typically added to water is causing lower IQ in kids, but he concluded that mounting research points to an unreasonable risk that it could be. He ordered the EPA to take steps to lower that risk, but didn’t say what those measures should be.

In his X post Saturday, Kennedy tagged Michael Connett, the lead attorney representing the plaintiff in that lawsuit, the environmental advocacy group Food & Water Watch.

Kennedy’s anti-vaccine organization has a lawsuit pending against news organizations including The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation, including about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy is on leave from the group but is listed as one of its attorneys in the lawsuit.

What role Kennedy might hold if Trump wins on Tuesday remains unclear. Kennedy recently told NewsNation that Trump asked him to “reorganize” agencies including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and some agencies under the Department of Agriculture.

But for now, the former independent presidential candidate has become one of Trump’s top surrogates. Trump frequently mentions having the support of Kennedy, a scion of a Democratic dynasty and the son of former Attorney General Robert Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy.

Kennedy traveled with Trump Friday and spoke at his rallies in Michigan and Wisconsin.

Trump said Saturday that he told Kennedy: “You can work on food, you can work on anything you want” except oil policy.

“He wants health, he wants women’s health, he wants men’s health, he wants kids, he wants everything,” Trump added.

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Politics

Danielle Smith receives overwhelming support at United Conservative Party convention

Published

19 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Anne Joseph

Danielle Smith receives overwhelming support at United Conservative Party convention

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Politics

America’s Election: What it Means to Canadians

Published

3 days ago

November 2, 2024

Steven Kaszab

Americans and Canadians are cousins that is true. Allies today but long ago people were at loggerheads mostly because of the British Empire and American ambitions.

Canadians appreciate our cousins down south enough to visit them many millions of times over the year. America is Canada’s largest and most important trading partner. As a manufacturer, I can attest to this personally. My American clients have allowed our firm to grow and prosper over the past few decades. There is a problem we have been seeing, a problem where nationalism, both political and economic has been creating a roadblock to our trade relationship.

Both Democrats and Republicans have shown a willingness to play the “buy only American Made product” card, a sounding board for all things isolationist, nationalistic and small-mindedness. We all live on this small planet, and purchase items made from all over the world. Preferences as to what to buy and where it is made are personal choices, never should they become a platform of national pride and thuggery. This has brought fear into the hearts of many Canadians who manufacture for and service the American Economy in some way. This fear will be apparent when the election is over next week.

Canadians are not enemies of America, but allies and friends with a long tradition of supporting our cousins back when bad sh*t happens. We have had enough of the American claim that they want free trade, only to realize that they do so long as it is to their benefit. Tariffs, and undue regulations applied to exporters into America are applied, yet American industry complains when other nations do the very same to them. Seriously! Democrats have said they would place a preference upon doing business with American firms before foreign ones, and Republicans wish to tariff many foreign nations into oblivion. Rhetoric perhaps, but we need to take these threats seriously. As to you the repercussions that will come should America close its doors to us.

Tit for tat neighbors. Tariff for tariff, true selfish competition with no fear of the American Giant. Do you want to build homes in America? Over 33% of all wood comes from Canada. Tit for tat. Canada’s mineral wealth can be sold to others and place preference upon the highest bidder always. You know who will win there don’t you America, the deep-pocketed Chinese.

Reshaping our alliances with others. If America responds as has been threatened, Canadians will find ways to entertain themselves elsewhere. Imagine no Canadian dollars flowing into the Northern States, Florida or California? The Big Apple without its friendly Maple Syrup dip. Canadians will realize just how significant their spending is to America and use it to our benefit, not theirs.

Clearly we will know if you prefer Canadian friendship to Donald Trumps Bravado.

China, Saudi Arabia & Russia are not your friends in America. Canada, Japan, Taiwan the EU and many other nations most definitely are. Stop playing politics, and carry out business in an unethical fashion. Treat allies as they should be treated.

Steven Kaszab
Bradford, Ontario
skaszab@yahoo.ca