Dear Progressive Reader,
This weekend, voters in Nevada will caucus to choose among a field of Democratic hopefuls for the nomination to run for U.S. President. Republicans will have no choice in Nevada, since the state cancelled its 2020 Republican contest last year. Seven states so far have determined that voters on the Republican side of the ticket do not have a voice in this year’s primaries. The decision is not unprecedented, but it does come at a time when, as cartoonist Mark Fiore illustrates, fears of an authoritarian swing in Washington are growing.
The influence of the President in the sentencing of Roger Stone has raised further concerns about the breakdown of our political structures. As Bill Blum writes this week, Attorney General William Barr is a willing participant in Trump’s quest for unitary executive power. In spite of media reports on the split between the two men, Blum says, the “sad truth is that Trump and Barr are as simpatico as ever in pursuit of their jointly held goal of executive supremacy.” In fact, he continues, “Their tiff is more like a marital spat than a divorce. They are both committed to the relationship and to the task, quite literally, of ending democracy in America as we know it.”
In his State of the Union speech, Trump touted the prowess of his economic improvements, but as Jud Lounsbury explains, “Trump’s claims of a reinvigorated economy are mostly bogus.” Using numerous graphs and charts, Lounsbury points out that most of the gains are due to trends that began under President Barack Obama, and most of the predictions for future growth are disavowed by “Trump’s own White House Council of Economic Advisers.” In the same State of the Union speech, Trump gave “ironclad” promises to protect Medicare and Social Security. But, as Karen Dolan notes in an op-ed, “these, of course, were falsehoods.” Trump’s budget proposal, released the following week, contained more than “$2 trillion dollars [in cuts] from social safety net programs” over the coming decade. Conversely, Kalena Thomhave’s piece from our current magazine explains that we need Medicare for All, but also a lot more. And James Goodman this week gives an update on, and a preview of, actions by the new Poor People’s Campaign as it puts the spotlight on poverty, a topic that will be covered in detail in our upcoming April/May issue.
February 22 marks the seventy-seventh anniversary of the execution of three young German activists, members of the “White Rose” non-violent resistance organization, for distributing leaflets opposing the actions of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi government. Ten years earlier, on July 13, 1934, Hitler had addressed the German parliament following a bloody purge of his enemies known as the “Night of the Long Knives” (named for a line in a popular Nazi song). Hitler told his audience in the Reichstag, “This great process of the cleansing of the nation's political life was followed by no less great economic change. . . .We did not desire to violate the will of the German people or its right of self-determination: we wanted only to drive out the violations of the nation.” Later he would adopt the title of “Supreme Leader” of the German people.
A report yesterday in The Washington Post notes that Trump is now conducting his own purge of “disloyal” elements within his administration, led by newly appointed director of the Office of Presidential Personnel Johnny McEntee. As Mark Twain is reputed to have once said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” The White Rose, in one of the final leaflets distributed before their capture, wrote that a necessary non-violent change in government “can only be done through the cooperation of many convinced energetic people.” Voter turnout in the Nevada caucuses today will be one measure of that energy.
Keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time. And, for the new year, don’t forget to click here to order your 2020 Hidden History of the United States calendar from The Progressive!
Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher
P.S. – Thank you so much to everyone who generously contributed to The Progressive in 2019. We truly could not keep doing this work without your support! 2020 promises to be a busy year with many new opportunities. We look forward to traveling that road together with you, our readers and supporters, as we move forward in this new year.
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