Post Tagged with: "Steve Chabot"

Donald Trump speaking at CPAC 2011 in Washington, D.C. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)

On Tuesday, Jan. 3,  Americans woke up to news that Republicans were going to gut the House Ethics Committee. The first thing I did was post the news to several groups, with a short ask for people to call their member of Congress.

I called Republican Steve Chabot’s office here in Cincinnati and actually reached someone. I told Steve’s aide I was calling to urge him to vote against gutting the Ethics Committee and commented that it seemed like a funny way to #draintheswamp. She was quick to tell me that Steve had opposed the committee vote and would vote against it.

The attempt at gutting the committee ended up going down like the Hindenburg.

More importantly though, it made something clear: The people who voted for Trump believed him when he said he was gonna fight for the little guy.

Here’s why this matters—and how to use Trump against Trump and the GOP Congress.

If Trump’s cabinet appointments are any indication, the Republican agenda is going to be selling off the remainder of the country to private interests. Betsy DeVos at Education is a proponent of privatizing schools. Tom Price at Health and Human Services is an opponent of the ACA. Scott Pruitt at the EPA is an oil lobbyist. Rick Perry, the candidate for the Department of Energy, has proposed scrapping the Department of Energy. Corporate raider Carl Icahn is going to be advising the president on regulations. Paul Ryan has plans to privatize Medicare.

It seems pretty obvious what’s coming: Republicans and the Trump administration are going to try and realize the corporate special interest dream of selling off the country to the highest bidders.

I think the way to stop this is to oppose everything loudly. As the authors of “Indivisible: A Practical Guide to Resisting the Trump Agenda” write:

The hard truth of the next four years is that we’re not going to set the agenda; Trump and congressional Republicans will, and we’ll have to respond. The best way to stand up for the progressive values and policies we cherish is to stand together, indivisible — to treat an attack on one as an attack on all.

This is not what we’re used to. We’re used to talking about what we believe in. Unfortunately, Republicans are going to control all three branches of government so if we have any hope of keeping the country in the hands of “We, the people,” we’re going to have to resist. This guide is well worth sharing for its outstanding practical advice. What’s in the four sections of the guide:

1. What we can learn from the tea party: How the tea party targeted individual representatives of Congress
2. How members of Congress think (Hint: re-election, re-election, re-election)
3. Identifying and organizing your local group for action
4. Four tactics that work

I’m not going to go into the detail, but I thought I’d talk about some highlights.

I noticed something about the campaign yard signs as I was walking our dog the other night in our quiet neighborhood of Cheviot, Ohio.

None of them were red. This may not seem odd until you realize that Cheviot is in the heart of a district which Republican Steve Chabot won by 70,000 votes in 2012.

There was no way all the candidates here could be Democrats. Could they? What was going on?

My curiosity led me to the following informal survey of campaign signs in Southern Ohio.

Dear Congressman Chabot, I am curious as to why Republicans don’t seem willing to compromise on our budget. Democrats seem willing to make many of the tax cuts you want. Why not get rid of some of the tax loopholes that they are asking for? I don’t understand your position […]