U.S. PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE:
*TRUMP DECLINES TO DENOUNCE WHITE SUPREMACISTS;
*TELLS NEO-FASCISTS TO STAND-BY;
*REFUSES TO ACCEPT ELECTION RESULTS.
Two nights ago, at the first 2020 U.S. Presidential debate, Americans of all political leanings should be alarmed and sickened by the spectacle that was Donald Trump. Trump, when asked point blank if he condemns white supremacists, refused; instead he told an armed neo-fascist organization to “stand-by.” He further verbalized a series of lies seeking to undermine confidence in the U.S. election system. Together these assertions give strong inclination that Trump expects to lose the popular vote & the electoral college, to be defeated by Joe Biden, and yet to position himself in a way that will allow him a public argument as to why he must remain in power. Never in modern U.S. history has such an extreme rightwing Presidential candidate come so close as to telegraph a coup.
Democratic candidate Joe Biden, for his part called for massive re-investment in America’s infrastructure, building out our renewable energy production, for the creation of millions of new prevailing wage jobs, and for a collective effort to find redress to systemic racism. Biden, who is endorsed by the National AFL-CIO, presently leads Trump in national polls by 6.4%.
Trump has spent the last four years attacking Unions through anti-Labor appointments to the NLRB, by appointing rabidly anti-Union justices to the Supreme Court, and undercutting the rights of Organized Labor at every level. Under his watch over 200,000 Americans have died of the Coronavirus, the economy has tanked, we have been struggling through massive unemployment, and billionaires (not workers) have enjoyed unprecedented wealth growth and tax cuts. And even now he continues to seek a massive reduction to healthcare access for millions of Americans, wants to roll back Roe Vs. Wade, and would rather claim “fraud” than admit that Americans have had enough with his unstable extremism.
Union members, Vermonters, and all Americans must take Trump’s insinuations and threats as dire. We must not allow Trump to be reelected. We, as Labor, also must not allow for a Trump coup to take effect. Nothing less than our future as a nation, a people, a class is at stake. So this November, line up to vote against Trump. And after the election, be united and prepared for what is to come. And know that the Vermont AFL-CIO will be ready to do its part.
United!
David Van Deusen,
President of the Vermont AFL-CIO
Click on the below link to watch the full 9/29 debate:
