Trump Threatens the future of human civilization
There is so much wrong with Donald Trump that one hardly knows where to start. He is a bully, braggart, narcicist, racist, mysogenist, habitual liar, and tax evader, in addition to being demonstrably ignorant. He has contempt for both domestic and international law, as well as for the US Constitution. However, it is Trump’s climate change denial, withdrawal from the Paris agreement, and sponsorship of fossil fuels that pose the greatest threats to the future of humans society and the biosphere. The general support of the Republican Party for the fossil fuel industry is the reason why Prof. Noam Chomsky has called the party “the most dangerous organization in history”.
Trump’s climate change denial
In a recent article, climate expert Dr. Andrew Glickson wrote: “The train has left the station and global heating is advancing toward +2 and then toward +4 degrees Celsius, as projected by the IPCC and in the words of Joachim Hans Schellnhuber, Germany’s chief climate scientist, signifies the breakdown of civilization. Largely ignored or watered down by much of the mainstream media, betrayed by most political parties, including those who used to regard climate change as ‘the greatest moral issue of our time’, the population continues to be distracted by other issues.
Why did Professor Noam Chomsky call the US Republican Party “The most dangerous organization in the history of the world”? In the primary that preceded the 2016 presidential election, every single Republican candidate with a chance of being nominated was a climate change denier. All received amazingly generous checks from giant fossil fuel organizations. When elected, Donald Trump not only pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement; he also sabotaged the Environmental Protection Agency to such an extent that the carefully collected facts on climate change that the agency had accumulated had to be secretly saved by scientists to prevent their destruction by the Trump administration. Furthermore, Donald Trump not only subsidizes giant coal corporations. He also has sabotages renewable energy initiatives in the United States. This is a major crime. It is a crime against humanity and a crime against the biosphere.
Trump’s botched COVID-19 response
Here are some relevant links:
Children in cages
Here are some excerpts from the written testimony of Clara Long, Deputy Washington Director (Acting) Senior Researcher, US Program Human Rights Watch. The testimony was submitted to the
U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform for a hearing on July 19, 2019:
“Our in-depth interviews with children revealed that the US Border Patrol is holding many children, including some who are much too young to take care of themselves, in jail – like border facilities for weeks at a time without contact with family members, or regular access to showers, clean clothes, toothbrushes, or proper beds. Many were sick. Many, including children as young as 2 or 3, were separated from adult caretakers without any provisions for their care besides that provided by unrelated older children also being held in detention…
“A 7-year-old girl I attempted to interview entered the room silently but burst into tears when we asked whom she traveled with to the US. “My aunt,” she said, with a keening cry. She was so upset we decided not to attempt to interview her, a situation that happened several times during our visit. A bracelet on her wrist had the words “US parent” and a phone number written in permanent marker. We called the number on the spot and found out that no one had informed her desperate parents where she was being held. Some of the most emotional moments of our visit came witnessing children speak for the first time with their parents on an attorney’s phone.”
Trump’s treatment of young children is a crime. It is a crime against human rights.
Threats of war
Donald Trump has frequently threatened foreign countries with war, even nuclear war. For example,
regarding the conflict with North Korea, Trump said “Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime. If [the US] is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea”. Trump has also threatened Iran with war. Such threats are a crime under both the Nuremberg Principles and the United Nations Charter.
The disastrous 2016 election
When Senator Bernie Sanders began his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, few people believed that he could succeed. But as his campaign gained momentum, enormous crowds were attracted to his reformist speeches, and small individual donors supported his expenses. Although the crowds at Sanders’ speeches were at least four times the size of those attending the rallies of other candidates, they were not reported in the mass media. Sanders’ campaign was also sabotaged by the corporate-controlled Democratic National Committee. His huge popularity remains undimmed today, despite his loss in the 2016 and 2020 primaries.
He advocates a social system for the United States similar to these which have made the Scandinavian countries leaders in both human development and human happiness indices.
Against expectations, Donald Trump was elected in 2016. What happened? Disillusioned by the way in which the immensely popular Senator Bernie Sanders was sabotaged by the media and by the Democratic National Committee, and despising Hillary Clinton for her involvement in US wars and Wall Street banks, many progressive voters stayed away from the polls. In their absence, Trump won narrowly. He lost the popular vote, but won the electoral vote. Today the White House is a morass of erratic decisions and lies. The voter figures for the 2016 presidential election are as follows: Trump voters, 63 million. Clinton voters, 66 million. Non-voters, 100 million. This must not happen again!
The DNC has given us another flawed candidate
To its shame, the corporate-controlled Democratic National Committee has again sabotaged Senator Sanders and other progressive candidates, and has given us a presumed presidential nominee closely analogous to Hillary Clinton. Like Hillary Clinton, former Vice President Joe Biden has a record of supporting US foreign wars, and he has close ties to corporations. Thus there is a danger that the disaster of 2016 may be repeated in 2020. Progressive voters, filled with disgust and disillusionment, may stay away from the polls or may support third party candidates. This must not happen! The stakes are too high.
Elizabeth Warren
As of now (May 6), Joe Biden has not yet chosen his running mate. He has an opportunity to unite Democrats and create enthusiasm by choosing Senator Elizabeth Warren, whose solid gold progressive credentials have been established over many years. Let us fervently hope that he and his advisers will make this wise choice.
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