(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Spotlight On Trump Must Never Be Turned Off [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-01 What’s Donald Trump’s latest try for a payday worth? Now we know. It’s $1 billion. How far would he go to subvert the rule of law? All the way to tearing up the Constitution. We know that now, too. The danger of a Trump presidency is well-document, all while a shockingly high percentage of this country is either oblivious to reality or doesn’t give a damn. A couple of stories in the Washington Post show just how much damage the most corrupt president in history can do if he returns to office. In one he offers to decimate efforts to combat climate change and asks the oil industry to donate $1 billion to his campaign. In the other he plans to ignore the Constitution’s mandate of freedom of speech and go after folks who have protested against Israel’s actions in its war with Hamas. I know, scary. Very scary. In a meeting with some of the country’s top oil executives, Trump asked them to steer $1 billion to his campaign, all while pledging to immediately reverse dozens of President Joe Biden’s environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted, sources told the Post. Giving $1 billion would be a “deal,” Trump said because of the taxation and regulation they would avoid thanks to him, sources said. We all know what that means: the massive profits of the fossil fuel industry will keep growing, while our critical efforts to address climate change will be dead and buried. Wish your kids and grandkids the best of luck. They’re going to need it. Among Trump’s objectives are scraping Biden’s policies on electric vehicles and wind energy, ending the Biden administration’s freeze on permits for new liquified natural gas export, auctioning off more leases for oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, and reversing restrictions on drilling in the Alaskan Arctic. It’s a fossil fuel industry wet dream. And it will come true if we’re stupid enough to put Trump, who’s called climate change a “hoax,” back in the White House. As we know, the Republican Party is owned part and parcel by the fossil fuel industry. These puppets will do anything possible to help these fat cats make more money including deregulation, tax cuts, and opening up more opportunities to drill, the environment be damned. A couple of things to keep in mind: The United States is now producing more oil than any country in history – nearly 13 million barrels a day. ExxonMobil and Chevron, the largest U.S. energy companies, reported their biggest annual profits in a decade in 2023. Let’s listen to a couple of other guys who make it clear the fossil fuel industry means business when it puts maximizing profits over the future of our planet. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who’s been a key figure in the development of the Trump campaign’s energy policies, said this at a fundraiser: “What would be the No. 1 thing that President Trump could do on Day 1? It’s stop the hostile attack against all American energy, and I mean all. Whether its’s baseload electricity, whether it’s oil, whether it’s gas, whether it’s ethanol, there is an attack on liquid fuel.” Dan Eberhart, chief executive of the oil-field services company Canary and a Trump donor, said, “Biden constantly throws a wet blanket to the oil and gas industry. Trump’s ‘drill, baby, drill’ philosophy aligns much better with the oil patch than Biden’s green-energy approach. It’s a no-brainer.” Here’s another no-brainer: If you care about the issue of climate change and what it could do to our planet if not addressed, then you can’t vote for a Republican. No matter how much money the fossil fuel industry pours into the campaign through dark money groups, super PACs, and donations, no matter how intense the stream of lies that will come from the Right, The GOP will not address the problem. In fact, they’ll make it worse, all in service to their fossil fuel masters. As Biden campaign spokesman Ammar Moussa said in a statement: “Donald Trump is selling out working families to Big Oil for campaign checks. It’s that simple.” You can read the Post’s story here. *** Trump told a group of wealthy donors in a closed-door meeting that he’ll crush pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses and deport those from foreign countries who are involved, the Post said. “One thing I do is, any student that protests, I throw them out of the country,” Trump reportedly said. “You know, there are a lot of foreign students. As soon as they hear that, they’re going to behave.” There’s a problem with that, and it’s not just that a man who wants to be president demeans and dismisses educated grown men and women by talking as if they’re toddlers. We have a constitution that ensures freedom of speech and the right to peacefully protest. Trump’s play is right out of the wannabe dictators’ handbook, and the fact that he’s even suggesting such a thing shows his total disregard for the rule of law and our democracy. He must be kept out of the White House. Trump called the demonstrators part of a “radical revolution” that he vowed to defeat. “Well, if you get me elected, and you really should be doing this, if you get me reelected, we’re going to set that movement back 25 or 30 years,” Trump said according to donors. That’s another popular GOP ploy: Demonizing groups of people to push the base to hate or fear them. When all the facts are against you, it’s time to try to divide us even deeper, to keep repeating the lie, to keep engaging in the con. You can read the Post’s story here. *** I’ll be honest with you, I don’t understand this country anymore. I don’t understand how the corrupt, unamerican things – often by elected officials -- that I see on television are allowed to happen. How the greatest country in the world could deteriorate to this point. How do you beat Trump? You’ve got to keep shinning a light on him, and being aware of stories like this is critical to that effort’s success. You have to be unafraid to upset some people, maybe even lose friends, by standing up for what this country was founded on and against the MAGA cancer spreading through us. As sickening as it is to read or listen to the news, you’ve got to stay educated. You may very well be the only person in your circle who knows the truth. You can never let the lies overrun the truth. In November, we’ll have the most important election in our history. That’s how much is riding on it. We can’t let them win. *** Thank you for reading my post. You can see my other writings on my blog: Musings of a Nobody. Please share and subscribe for free via email on its home page. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/1/2243973/-The-Spotlight-On-Trump-Must-Never-Be-Turned-Off?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/