As the Trump administration moves quickly and systematically to erase every last remnant of Barack Obama’s legislative and regulatory legacy—from the Iran deal to the Affordable Care Act to the Clean Power Plan—consumer advocate Ralph Nader has a simple question for the former president: where have you been?
“Besides raising funds for his presidential library (about $1 billion), is getting press primarily for being paid $400,000 or more per speech before Wall Street and other big business audiences.”
Click Here: COLLINGWOOD MAGPIES 2019—Ralph Nader
Obama, Nader writes in an op-ed published Tuesday, has remained “mostly silent as the belligerent Trump rolls back or destroys” his achievements.
“The list of protective programs and responsible business laws destroyed by Trump’s wrecking crew of a cabinet grows longer every week,” Nader writes, but “[t]he mere thought of tangling with the Trumpster’s foul, prevaricatory, sneering tweets offends Obama’s own sense of civil discourse between politicians.”
In recent days, the already large list of programs and rules destroyed by Trump has grown rapidly. Over the past week alone, the Trump administration has:
- Signaled its intent to “decertify” the Iran nuclear accord;
- Moved to dismantle the Affordable Care Act through overt sabotage or executive order;
- Intensified the “war against wind and solar” by moving to roll back the Clean Power Plan;
- Issued immigration proposals denounced as “red meat for xenophobic extremists”;
- Circulated a “religious freedom” memo that critics say amounts to little more than a “license to discriminate” against the LGBTQ community; and
- Rolled back Obamacare’s birth control coverage mandate.
The fact that Obama has retained overwhelming popularity and influence on his party makes his detachment from such crucial matters unacceptable, Nader argues.
“Obama owes a different attitude and level of engagement to the American people,” Nader writes.
The former president could, Nader notes, “work to strengthen civic groups and help substantially to create new organizations to address urgent needs (such as averting wars).” He could also “back opposition to Trump’s destructive policies that are running America into the ground while shielding Wall Street and the dictatorial corporate supremacists whose toadies Trump has put into high government positions.”
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