Schatz: Trump’s Authoritarian Tactics Meant To Distract From Unpopular, Unfair Republican Tax Bill

WASHINGTON — In a speech on the Senate floor today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) condemned President Donald Trump’s use of authoritarian tactics in response to protests in Los Angeles and exposed Republican efforts to push through an unpopular bill that slashes health care and food assistance in order to fund tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy.

“If you heard that a leader of a foreign country was sending armed soldiers into his own cities, you would correctly call it authoritarian behavior,” said Senator Schatz. “The fact that this is happening right here in the United States against fellow citizens at the direction of the president does not make it less dangerous.”

Schatz warned that these distractions are deliberately timed to shift public attention away from a Republican-led legislative package, saying, “Trump does what he always does. He creates a spectacle out of nowhere in order to distract people from what is actually happening. They are cutting Medicaid. They are slashing nutritional assistance for children and families. They are jacking up everyone’s health insurance premiums and energy bills.”

Schatz continued, “We can still kill this bill. What we need across the country is a bunch of people saying, ‘Don't cut Medicare. Don't cut Medicaid. Don't cut food assistance. And certainly don't use all of those cuts to provide resources to the wealthiest people to have ever walked the planet.’ We're going to fight as hard as we can. We've only got 47 votes. We need four Republicans to say enough is enough.”

 

The full text of Senator Schatz’s remarks is below. Video is available here.

If you heard that a leader of a foreign country was sending armed soldiers into his own cities, you would correctly call it authoritarian behavior. If you heard them say that the bar for unleashing troops on their own civilians is “what I think it is”, you'd put them in a long line of dictators throughout history and the world. The fact that this is happening right here in the United States against fellow citizens at the direction of the president does not make it less dangerous.

But here's the thing: the price of everything is going up under Donald Trump, and instead of doing anything about that, Republicans are racing to pass a deeply unpopular bill that would cut taxes for billionaires by throwing 16 million people off of health insurance.

And so, Trump does what he always does. He creates a spectacle out of nowhere in order to distract people what from what is actually happening, which is they are cutting Medicaid. They are slashing nutritional assistance for children and families. They are jacking up everyone's health insurance premiums and energy bills. And the reason they're doing all of this is to take the money that they have saved (and by “saved” I mean really taken from you: food, electricity, health care) and providing the biggest tax cut to the wealthiest individuals who have ever walked the planet.

So yes, we are witnessing a dangerous Rubicon being crossed in real time, and anyone on any side of the political aisle who believes that we ought to be a nation of laws needs to call this what it is: creeping authoritarianism. But what is also true is that this is actually a distraction meant to deflect people's attention from a really unpopular piece of legislation.

Because here's what's going to happen if Republicans pass this bill. Anyone making $4 million a year or more will get a very nice tax break, and the more you make the more you'll get. So if you're a millionaire, you get close to $70,000. But if you're a billionaire, you're looking at $300,000.

Now, if you're wondering, “Well, what about me? I'm not a billionaire or a millionaire. What do I get?” Well, next to nothing Next to nothing. Worse than that, you're going to be subsidizing these enormous tax cuts with cuts to your benefits and services 16 million Americans, including 60,000 people in the state of Hawai‘i, will lose coverage through Medicaid because of these cuts, meaning even when people get really sick, they're going to avoid going to the hospital and buying medication because they cannot afford it. And then they're going to turn to emergency care because they have no choice.

Tens of millions of people will see their insurance premiums and co-pays go up by hundreds of dollars every single month. I promise you, no one asked for this in the last election. A lot of people voted for Donald Trump for various reasons, but no one wants their premium support to go away. No one wants their monthly health care bill to go away. No one wants electricity shortages. No one wants nutritional assistance to be cut all for people making more than $4 million a year.

And tucked into this bill is also a whole bunch of special interest nonsense. For instance, it prevents judges from holding people accountable for violating court order for violating court orders It defunds the ability to enforce a court order. Another provision gives people buying gun silencers a $200 tax break. And here's what I think about this: these are individual provisions that will offend and may not even survive the Senate process, but here's what it shows. It shows they're going for all the marbles. It shows they think this is their one chance to pass all of their special interest hobby horse. A tax credit for silencers? Like, who's asking for that? Even strong second amendment people are not like complaining about how expensive silencers are, and they need a subsidy for that.

Donald Trump and the Republicans are behaving as if there is no tomorrow, and they're going for all the marbles. The bad news for the rest of us who aren't millionaires or billionaires is that we're going to be stuck with the short end in every way imaginable, in terms of our health, our finances, and our quality of life. Trump will continue to try to distract us all, but make no mistake: every day we're not talking about this bill and how terrible it is and how unfair it is and how economically stupid, it is a good day for Donald Trump. And every day, every moment that we are all talking about what a miserable piece of legislation this is is a good day for us and a good day for the American people.

We can still kill this bill. It felt like this right before we blocked them from repealing the Affordable Care Act. It looked like they had the votes. It looked like it was inevitable. They had the trifecta. It was about to happen. And then people rose up in every part of the country and said, "Please, don't do this to me. Please don't do this to me." And so what we need across the country is a bunch of people saying, "Don't cut Medicare. Don't cut Medicaid. Don't cut food assistance, and certainly don't use all of those cuts to provide resources to the wealthiest people to have ever walked the planet.”

We're going to fight as hard as we can. We've only got 47 votes. We need four Republicans to say enough is enough.

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