Step 46: On the last day of 2016, Donald Trump tweeted his unique New Year’s greeting to the nation: “Happy New Year to all, including to my many enemies and those who have fought me and lost so badly they just don’t know what to do. Love!”
Step 47: On December 30 Donald Trump had his private security force remove Harry Hurt III, author of the 1993 biography, Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump, from the golf course at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. Hurt’s book is unflattering, to be sure, and among the bits he documents is Ivana Trump’s allegation in a sworn deposition that Trump had “raped” her during their divorce battle. Hurt was a guest of the notorious billionaire David. H. Koch, a club member. You’re fired!
Step 48: I’m on the Trump/Pence email list as a result of having gotten a ticket online to the notorious Trump rally in Chicago during the campaign. I get fund-raising pitches constantly, and this one arrived at the start of the new year: “Friend, With Inauguration Day just weeks away, we’re launching an Inaugural Collection of special-edition merchandise to commemorate this historic day in American history. First among the Inaugural Collection is a set of two Made-in-America 16-ounce pint glasses decorated with a special seal honoring the 45th president. Get your Official Inauguration Pint Glass Set now to celebrate the swearing in of President-Elect Trump.” Cheap.
Step 49: One hundred corporate CEOs possess company retirement funds totaling $4.7 billion—this is equivalent to the entire retirement savings of 41% of US families. Donald Trump’s pick to direct the Office of Management and Budget says: “We must end Medicare as we know it.”
Step 50: The new Republican-led Congress voted behind closed doors to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics, dismantling reforms adopted in the wake of a previous Republican ethics scandal. The measure would take away authority and independence from the investigative body and give more power to lawmakers to self-monitor—the good old days. A firestorm of opposition—much of it raising the specter of Donald Trump’s embedded conflicts of interest and pending kleptocracy—forced an almost immediate reversal.
Pay attention! Resist and be heard!
Bill Ayers 