Joe Biden has been laying out increasing populist themes in recent appearances and speeches over the last week.
Many of those themes were reinforced in a speech to Aluminum Union Workers in Wisconsin on Monday, September 21, 2020.
Please read the following examples of the 2020 Democratic Presidential Nominee's Populist references below.
On Donald Trump not wanting to provoke a panic about the severity of COVID 19.
"When Donald Trump said he didn’t want to create a panic, he wasn’t just talking about a health panic, he was focused on the stock market. Trump was worried that if he told the public the truth, there would be a panic on the financial markets and that would hurt his chances of being reelected."
On this being a battle between Scranton and Park Avenue.
"That’s how Donald Trump views the world. He sees the world from Park Avenue. I see it from where I grew up in a town like this from Scranton, Pennsylvania. Hard scrapple, hard-working town, just like this and so many more across Wisconsin. When you look at the world from Park Avenue, basically all you can see is Wall Street. And you think Wall Street built this country? Well, let me tell you. You think that Donald Trump as Donald Trump does, that handing out a $1.5 trillion tax giveaway primarily for large corporations and wealthy qualifiers is an economic plan? You think like Trump, that $15 an hour is too much for America’s essential workers. You eliminate overtime pay for millions of American workers. You try to take away healthcare from 20 million Americans in the middle of this pandemic."
On Trumps Trade War with China and how it helped Trump but not the American People.
"You think being tough with China is a trade deal that opens the door to big banks to make money in China. That’s basically all we got out of it. A lot of dairy farmers and farmers and manufacturing went under...I didn’t know this at first. I couldn’t understand why he was so excited about it. America’s bank, Citibank, they got to open up in Beijing. They weren’t able to before. He scuttled a deal to lower prescription drug prices. He probably had a deal, but he wanted the pharmaceutical companies before they lowered the prices to do something that they thought was unethical. He asked them to send out $100 checks with his name on it to the elderly saying that, that’s the down payment. They said, “We’re not going to do that.” They weren’t going to do it so the deal fell apart. And now some 30 million Americans are on unemployment."
On Trumps Tax Cuts for the Wealthy.
"You think the way to get the American economy back on track is to give another gigantic multimillion-dollar tax cut to the very wealthy. And here’s what they’re doing. The tax rate all of you pay in here is going to be higher than billionaires who make their money on investments. This is not an exaggeration. He wants to lower, again, costing $30 billion to the Treasury, lower the capital gains tax to 15%. So while someone who makes their money is off the market is paying the 15% rate, you’re paying at a 24, 26, 28, depending on your tax bracket rate. It’s not right. Workers here pay close to twice that amount. Close to 30%. Trump’s tax cut for the wealthy is going to cost billions of dollars a year and who’s hide does it come out? It comes out of your hide. The simple truth is that Donald Trump ran for office saying he would represent the forgotten man and women in this country. And then once he got in office, he forgot us. Not only did he forget them, the truth is that he never really respected us very much."
On Trump's Contempt for his Very Own Supporters.
"Oh, he loves his rallies but the next time he holds one look closely. Trump keeps his distance from anyone in the rally. The folks who come are packed in tight as they can be risking disease, mostly without a mask, but not Trump. He safely he keeps his distance. They showed a couple of days ago, a reporter trying to come up or someone come through, he said, “No, no. You got to keep your distance. I don’t get close to these people.” He’s willing to let everybody else in the crowd risk their life, but not him. And now we know what he really thinks of the people who come to his rallies from someone who saw it up close and wrote about it up close in the White House. The former employee said he calls his own supporters, “Disgusting.” He said one of the benefits of this pandemic, cause he doesn’t have to shake their hands."
On Trump being a Snob that looks down on People.
"I’ve dealt with guys like Trump my whole life. Some neighbor where I come who would look down on us because we didn’t have a lot of money or your parents didn’t go to college. Guys who think they’re better than you. Guys who inherit everything they’ve ever gotten in their life and squander it. Guys who stretch and squeeze and stiff electricians and plumbers and contractors working on their hotels and casinos and golf courses just to put a few more bucks in their pocket. Guys who do everything they can to avoid paying their taxes they owe because they figure the rest of us, the little people, we can pick up the tab for the country. Do you have any doubt that the reason we haven’t seen Trump’s tax returns is because they didn’t want to know what he paid?"
On Treating Everyone Equally.
"I’ve learned a few simple lessons from my parents that I’ve never forgotten. One is from my mother. She used to say, and this the God’s truth, “Joey, remember nobody’s better than you, but everyone’s your equal. Nobody’s better, but everyone’s your equal.” It’s pretty simple. We’re all equal the way I was raised and we should be treated that way. I have to admit, I got my back up a little bit recently about something I saw and was on national television about the race. Some of the national… I don’t think they meant anything by it, but I don’t think they know how insulting it is. It was, Joe Biden, if elected, will be only the first president who didn’t go to an Ivy League school in a long time. Somehow that meant I didn’t belong."
"How could a guy who went to a state school be president? My reaction was the same it has been my whole life and I have to admit it and I’m not proud of it, but you close the door on me because you think I’m not good enough, guess what? Like all you guys, I’m going to bust down that door. My guess is a lot of you feel the same way about a lot of slights you’ve had because of our standing, quote, unquote. I say it’s about time that a state school president sat in the Oval Office because you know what? If I’m sitting there, you’re going to be sitting there too."
On Trump's Economy
"The president talks all the time about how great the economy is. Well, I don’t know what y’all think, but where I come from and a lot of places in this state, it’s not so great. In the middle of this pandemic, now, the billionaires in this country have seen their wealth increase by $800 billion. Let me explain that again. All the billionaires in America during the pandemic, their net worth combined according to studies have increased by $800 billion. And the rest of us, well, 30 million people are unemployed. 20 million Americans are at risk of losing their home because they can’t find the rent payment. Seven plus million Americans are working part time who want to work full time. Evictions are on the rise. And for a lot of families, the kids are at home, not in school. I believe it’s the working people of this country that need a tax break."
On dividing Blue State COVID 19 Death Rates from Red State Ones (PERHAPS THE EYE-OPENING PART OF THE ADDRESS.)
The president said, “If you take out the blue states run by Democratic governors and just look at the red states, Republican governors are doing quite well.” Now, of course, it’s a simple, factual matter, it’s just not true. If you just count all the deaths in the red states, we are number two in the world in death just behind Brazil. But more fundamentally, reflects on the part of Donald Trump that he has a deeply flawed and divisive view of the United States, this nation and the job he holds. Think about what he’s saying. He’s saying, if you live in a state like Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, states with Democratic governors, you’re not his problem. He has no obligation to you. He’s not responsible for you as president, your family or your wellbeing. I don’t see the presidency that way. I don’t pledge allegiance to red states of America or blue states of America, I pledge allegiance to the United States of America. One nation, indivisible under God. For real. I’m running as a proud Democrat, but I’m not going to govern as a Democratic president, I’m going to govern as president.
The former Vice President also offered a variety of progressive solutions to the problems facing the American People like fighting COVID 19, reinforcing his Build Back Better Plan, rebuilding the nation's infrastructure, and expanding on the Affordable Care Act.
He also pledged to honor the nation's fallen and active veterans.
But the highlight of what is becoming an increasingly standard stump address is the theme that Donald Trump is the rich snobby charlatan who cares for no one in the middle or bottom of the socioeconomic ladder.
It is a battle between the ideals and aspirations of people that come from places like Scranton and the greedy plutocratic self-interest designs of those who reside on Wall Street.
It is a very effective speech that, in some version, should be given again and again.
Election Day is in 43 Days.
Save the Courts.
Save the Country.
No comments:
Post a Comment