Letters from an American - A Party of Radical Extremists

Starting point is 00:00:06 June 26, 26th, Wednesday night after President Donald J. Trump refused to sign a landmark bipartisan housing bill into law and melted down at a midday lunch at which he shouted at senators, Senate Republicans appeared to try to mollify him by voting against advancing a war powers resolution the Senate passed the day before. The Republican Senators' apology for their brief flash of independence was not enough for House MAGA loyalists. Trump said he would not sign any more legislation until the Senate passed the so-called Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, known as the Save or Save America Act, to limit voting before the 26 election. According to Representative Melanie Stansbury, a Democrat of New Mexico, members of the Far Right Freedom Caucus said that

Starting point is 00:01:06 if Trump wasn't going to sign any measures into law, there was no reason to debate anymore. They voted against procedural measures to enable the House to conduct business. Unable to accomplish anything, Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican of Louisiana, sent House members home on Thursday. Stansbury noted, nobody has ever seen a Congress like this before. It is truly a bizarre time here in Washington, D.C. This is not good. This is not good for our country. It is not good for our communities. It is not good for our democracy.

Starting point is 00:01:44 It's not good just for basic common sense and basic human dignity. Like these guys need to get it together. The turmoil in Washington, D.C., reflects the changing world of American politics as the Republicans become a far-right party that embraces white nationalism, while those Americans standing firm on the nation's historic democratic principles,

Starting point is 00:02:09 jockey to create a political system that will represent their movement. On June 25th, the Supreme Court allowed Trump and his administration to end the legal status of more than 350,000 people who are in the United States under temporary protected status, or TPS, after fleeing wars and violence in Syria. and Haiti. The six right-wing justices cited procedural reasons for their decision, but Trump loyalists read it as an endorsement of their white nationalism. White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller, told reporters, this country doesn't have a future if we don't end birthright citizenship. One way or another, this nation has to end birthright citizenship. Yesterday, at a

Starting point is 00:03:01 Faith and Freedom Coalition Town Hall in Washington, D.C., Representative Tom Emmer, a Republican of Minnesota, the third-ranking Republican in the House, made the white nationalism of the Republican Party clear. He said, Minnesotans are so afraid that you're going to call us a racist, you're going to call us an Islamophob. You know what? I would argue that I never did care, but I'm done being careful, even the least bit careful. Somalis don't assimilate, and if they don't assimilate, then they should go the hell back to where they came from. Eric Henderson of CBS News notes that Emmer has moved dramatically rightward in the past decade. In 2016, Emmer told NPR that the Somali community in Minnesota was among the fastest assimilating populations that we've had. I'm going to say it out loud, he said.

Starting point is 00:03:58 when you move to a community, as long as you're here legally, I'm very sorry, but you don't get to slam the gate behind you and tell nobody else that they're welcome. That's not the way this country works. The once-grand Republican Party has become a party of radical extremists, coalescing around white nationalism. Meanwhile, voters in Tuesday's Democratic primaries in New York rejected two established Democrats in favor of, of newcomers with more progressive policies. In response, as Isaac Arnsdorf and Natalie Allison of the Washington Post reported, Trump is trying out midterm messaging that calls Democrats hardcore godless communists. They're animals, Trump said of his political opponents today in a speech to Christian conservatives at a convention of the Faith and Freedom Coalition in Washington. We have to stop this,

Starting point is 00:04:55 this horrible threat of cancer that's permeating our country called communism. Trump's rhetoric shows just how far to the right American politics have slid. Communism is a political ideology that calls for public ownership of major resources as well as the means of production, so that the state, rather than private individuals or corporations, owns factories, farms, mines, and so on. In theory, although seldom in practice, the state then redistributes wealth according to need. Communism has never been popular in the United States, and the only politician calling for state takeover of private industries is Trump, under whom the government has taken stakes in at least nine companies involved in steel,

Starting point is 00:05:48 minerals, nuclear energy, and semiconductors, costing at least $10 billion in taxpayer money. Unlike communism, the sort of government both Democrats and Republicans embraced from 1933 to 1981 was very popular, and those opposed to the Trump administration appear to be starting to demand such a government again. Their views are a response to the extremes of wealth in today's United States. Mary Cunningham of CBS News reported in January that the third

Starting point is 00:06:26 quarter of 2025 showed the top 1% of households in the U.S. owning 31.7% of all U.S. wealth. That's the highest share they've had since the Federal Reserve started tracking household wealth in 1989. That means the wealthiest 1% held roughly, as much in assets as the bottom 90% of Americans combined, about $55 trillion. At the same time, according to a Gallup poll released earlier this month, fewer than half of Americans say they can afford health care. Since the Republicans cut supplemental nutrition assistance program or snap funds in last July's so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, 4.7 million Americans have lost food assistance,

Starting point is 00:07:23 about 11% of those previously enrolled in the program. People are really unhappy, former Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat of Ohio, who is running for the Senate seat J.D. Vance vacated when he became president, told Scott McFarlane of McFarland News today. They believe the system's rigged. They see corporations making more and more money. Corporate executives taking more and more of those dollars for themselves,

Starting point is 00:07:52 stock buybacks, bonuses, compensation of all kinds. They know they're working harder than ever. And they know that more money's going out than coming in. A Brennan Center survey released in early June showed that 92% of Americans worry about corruption in government. That number includes 90% of Republicans, 93% of Democrats, and 93% of independence. 79% of those polled want a constitutional amendment to restore limits on money in elections. 66% of Americans think the government has a responsibility to make sure all Americans have health care,

Starting point is 00:08:36 versus 33% who say it does not. The Democratic candidates Trump is railing against as communists actually argue that robust private enterprise cannot survive unless the government combats dramatic wealth inequality through regulation and taxation and operates the segments of society that people need to survive, like transportation, utilities, and health care. Across the country, we are seeing Democratic candidates calling for an end to government corruption.

Starting point is 00:09:13 The breaking up of monopolies that hurt workers, farmers, and consumers, and shut entrepreneurs out of markets. Protection for workers and consumers. Universal health care and an end to big money in politics. These policy demands are not radical. they are firmly within the political tradition, not just of the Democrats, but also of the Republicans. In 1956, the Republican Party platform approvingly quoted, the great truth first spoken by Abraham Lincoln, that the legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done, but cannot do at all,

Starting point is 00:10:00 or cannot so well do for themselves in their separate and individual capacities. But in all that people can individually do as well for themselves, government ought not to interfere. The platform went on to affirm the party's determination that our children and their children, without distinction because of race, creed or color, may know the blessings of our free land. It called for unimpeachable ethical standards and irreproachable personal conduct by all people in government. Honesty was an indispensable requirement of public service, party officials said. The Republicans of 1956 also said they were proud of and shall continue our far-reaching and sound advances in matters of basic human needs, expansion of social security,

Starting point is 00:11:00 broadened coverage in unemployment insurance, improved housing, and better health protection for all our people. We are determined that our government remain warmly responsive to the urgent social and economic problems of our people. They called for helping foreign countries strengthen their economies and supported U.S. participation in an international fund for economic, development. We shall continue, they said, vigorously to support the United Nations and to maintain U.S. military strength as a deterrent to aggression and as a guardian for the peace for these objectives

Starting point is 00:11:43 only. Then the Republican Party platform addressed the needs of workers. Quoting President Dwight D. Eisenhower, it said, Labor is the United States. The men and women who with their minds, their hearts, and hands create the wealth that is shared in this country, they are America. The platform noted that Republicans had worked to raise the minimum wage and to expand Social Security and unemployment, workers' compensation, and retirement benefits. They supported the growth of unions and collective bargaining. They would, they said, continue to fight for dynamic and progressive programs, which among other things will stimulate improved job safety of our workers. Continue and further perfect its programs of assistance to the

Starting point is 00:12:38 millions of workers with special employment problems, such as older workers, handicapped workers, members of minority groups, and migratory workers. Improved the effectiveness of the unemployment insurance system. Assure equal pay for equal work regardless of sex. Extend minimum wage laws. Continue to fight for the elimination of discrimination in employment because of race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, or sex, and provide assistance to improve the economic conditions of areas faced with persistent and substantial unemployment. The Republican Party believes that the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of the people is as important as their economic health, the platform said.

Starting point is 00:13:35 It will continue to support this conviction with vigorous action. Letters from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dead of Massachusetts, recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.

Letters from an American - A Party of Radical Extremists

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.