Letters from an American - You Are Not Alone

Starting point is 00:00:06 August 22, 26. On Tuesday, August 18th, during a debate for a runoff to win the South Carolina Republican senator Darlene Graham, a Republican of South Carolina, answered a question about Taiwan and the importance of the South China Sea by saying, I'm not that informed on national security. She paused and added, but I do support the military. The audience reacted with booze and gasps. Senators are supposed to manage national security. Trying to clean up her mistake, Graham went to an interview with the friendly Sean Hannity at the Fox News Channel, where she tried to make a virtue of her error by saying it reflects that she is not a politician. Then she added that people in South Carolina are less worried about foreign affairs than they are about affordability,

Starting point is 00:01:03 Boys and Girls' Sports, the Second Amendment, Illegal Immigration, and the Save America Act. Journalist Parker Malloy noted that trans girls have been banned from competing in K-12 girls' sports since 2022 and are banned from competing in the NCAA and the Olympics. This is literally an issue that doesn't affect South Carolina at all anymore, Malloy noted. They got what they wanted. How is this still a priority? Graham perfectly represents the modern Republican Party. South Carolina governor, Henry McMaster, appointed her to fill the vacancy caused by the death of her brother, Senator Lindsay Graham.

Starting point is 00:01:49 McMaster said Trump thought it was a great idea for her to replace her brother, and she has indicated her loyalty to Trump and her willingness to pass the Save America Act he so badly wants in order to rig the 2020. 26 mid-term elections. Graham has little political experience, and with little to offer voters other than loyalty to Trump, she is simply echoing Republican culture war talking points that worked for him in 2016. But it appears voters don't like living in the world Trump is creating. As Cleve R. Wootzen Jr., noted yesterday in The Washington Post, Trump went to South Carolina last night to help Graham's campaign. He told those attending the rally that the election was really about him. Although Graham's opponent in the runoff, Representative Ralph Norman, has made much of

Starting point is 00:02:43 Graham's inexperience, Trump told rally attendees, they're only fighting Darlene because they want me to lose. Wootzen notes that Trump is hoping for a Graham win to restore some of the power that is slipping away as his popularity continues to slide to new lows. Primary candidates he backed for governor in Iowa, Georgia, Wyoming, and Minnesota all lost, as did those he backed in congressional primaries in Michigan and Tennessee. Indeed, as Graham was fumbling the debate last Tuesday, two former teachers endorsed by Democrats flipped the Sarasota Florida School Board. That board had been dominated by right-wing candidates since 2022, led by Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler, who has said public schools are indoctrination centers for the radical left, and that she wanted to bring

Starting point is 00:03:41 religious values to them. Formed in 2021, Moms for Liberty was behind the book banning of the past several years. Ziegler is married to the former chair of the Florida Republican Party, who was forced out of his position after a woman alleged he had raped her in relation to the three-way sexual relationship she had with the Ziegler's. Bridget Ziegler refused to step down from the school board after the scandal broke. As Carrie Sheridan of WUSF reported, Beth Mayberry and Megan Teneman ran on issues of school funding, academic achievement, and helping students in underserved areas. both won their races by more than 10 percentage points. As political historian Joanne Freeman put it Saturday morning in our chat on what the heck just happened,

Starting point is 00:04:37 when Republican leaders in 2020 decided not to write a political platform at all, but simply to reassert the party's strong support for President Donald Trump and his administration, and to say it would continue to enthusiastically support the President's America First Agenda, They gave him every reason to think that all of the things that he's doing to promote himself, the races and the gold and everything else, that's all campaigning. It's all about him. Then, when party leaders in 2024 essentially turned Trump's social media posts into a platform, they embraced the idea that the party could stay in power through slogans. They promised to defeat inflation and quickly bring down all prices.

Starting point is 00:05:26 to bring back the American dream and make it affordable again for families, young people, and everyone, to promote a foreign policy centered on the most essential American interests, starting with protecting the American homeland, our people, our borders, our great American flag, and our rights under God, and so on. The Republican Party tied itself to Trump and remains tied to him as he devotes his time, to celebrating himself with his ballroom, a UFC cage match at the White House, his triumphal arch, renovations to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, and now this weekend's Freedom 250 Grand Prix around the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in which 25 IndyCar drivers are covering 147 laps

Starting point is 00:06:19 at speeds up to 150 miles per hour, around a 1.7 mile, or 2.7 kilometer, seven-turn street circuit loop, past the U.S. Capitol, the Washington Monument, the National Archives, and the National Gallery of Art. The race has required workers to weld down more than 200 manhole covers, move traffic lights, and put up barriers that have disrupted traffic. while the National Gallery of Art has had to protect its sculptures from vibrations and airlines have had to reroute flights. Meanwhile, the country remains embroiled in an apparently purposeless war in Iran. The economy is slowing and prices of food and gas are rising.

Starting point is 00:07:07 Americans are horrified by the tactics of ICE and Border Patrol, who have abused and killed immigrants and U.S. citizens alike. Trump, his family, and his allies have put at least $2.2 billion in Trump's pockets, and Trump has alienated our closest allies. Just after midnight on August 21st, Trump imposed a 50% tariff on a range of goods from Canada. Canada's Prime Minister, Mark Carney, suspended trade negotiations with the U.S. and said Canada will impose retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. beginning September 8th. In a statement, Carney said, we have recognized from the beginning that America has changed and that we will not return to our old relationship. Canada, he said, will be focused on

Starting point is 00:08:00 building our strength at home and diversifying our partnerships abroad. And now, the story that the closest advisor to the President of the United States is a 35-year-old woman who seems unhealthly obsessed with him, ties Republican Party leadership to the reality that they are permitting the destruction of the United States with barely a whimper. As Trump led Republicans into a box canyon, they have left an open field for Democrats to redefine the nation's politics. On August 17th, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg recorded a video to assure those Americans who oppose the Trump administration that they are in the large majority. He noted that the strategy Republicans are pursuing shows how unpopular they are. Think about it, he said. They're not out there

Starting point is 00:08:59 showing that the economy is somehow better than it looks. They're not defending their cuts to health care. They're not defending the tax cuts for the wealthy. They're not defending the corruption that's going on in Washington. It's too late for all that, he said. because we've all seen that those policies have failed. They made us all pay tariffs and said the reason we got to do this is to bring manufacturing jobs. Well, we paid the tariffs, and then America lost manufacturing jobs. They cut taxes for the rich. They said we've got to do that in order to speed up economic growth.

Starting point is 00:09:34 And what happened? Economic growth slowed down. They said they were going to cut costs and prices. Inflation is actually higher now than the day Donald Trump took off. office. They said they were going to drain the swamp, and then they expect us to be okay with the first family making a billion dollars or more in crypto deals while the president's in office. A lot of people believed this president and Republicans when they said no new wars. Then what do we get? A war with Iran in the Middle East right now, which means all of us here at home are paying higher

Starting point is 00:10:10 gas prices. The Republican strategy is not to change their policies, Buttigieg said. It's changing the maps, changing the rules, because that's the only way they could win. They know they're on the wrong side of the American people. You're already in the majority if you think that we need health care for all, not Medicaid cuts and cutting Obamacare. Right now, if you think that the wealthiest people in the country need to be paying their fair share in taxes, which is more than they're doing today, where they currently pay less than a lot of teachers and nurses and firefighters. You are definitely in the majority if you believe that the wealthiest nation in the world ought to do the best job of funding public education and making sure it works.

Starting point is 00:10:57 Not this Republican approach, which is to literally eliminate the Department of Education. You're not alone if you think that in any decent economy, one job ought to, ought to be enough. And you're certainly not alone if you believe that a woman's health care decisions ought to be up to her and no one else, that in a free country you should get to be who you are and love who you love and live a life of your choosing. When you believe these things, you're not just not alone. You're part of a powerful majority, really a super majority of the American people. So whether you're a Democrat, an independent, or someone who has generally voted Republican in the past, most voters want the same things right now, to be led and represented by normal people who are good at getting things done.

Starting point is 00:11:50 People want leaders who respect those who disagree or vote differently instead of calling them the enemy. People who know that God does not belong to a political party in the United States of. America. Most voters want to elect leaders who are not simply trying to rebuild the past, but are trying to create something new and better. Letters from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dead in Massachusetts. Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.

Letters from an American - You Are Not Alone

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