The WØRD – “Memories”
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From the chair
“Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”
— Ronald Reagan (10-28-1980)
One thing some politicians rely on during their campaigns: how time weakens our memory. It’s a tactic that Donald Trump’s campaign is using: hoping Americans don’t remember just how bad things were four years ago.
Do Americans Have a ‘Collective Amnesia’ About Donald Trump? – The New York Times
For the first half of his term, Trump rode the wave of the 8-year Obama economic recovery. But by the end of Trump’s turn, that wave quickly disappeared thanks to his bungled non-response to the COVID pandemic. Let’s go back four years and revisit the reality Donald Trump would have us forget:
March, 2020
Unemployment was at 4.4 percent. But a month later, it was a staggering 14.8 percent. By the time Trump left office, his four-year record was the loss of 3-million jobs: the worst jobs number for a President since Herbert Hoover. This week, the monthly jobs report showed another 275,000 Americans were employed. Unemployment has been under 4 percent for a record 39 months … dating back to the beginning of the Biden administration.
March, 2020
A total of 80 U.S. cases of COVID had been reported. At the White House, Trump told Bob Woodward in private that he knew COVID was extremely deadly and highly contagious.
But he told the nation that his administration had it under control, and that the virus would disappear in a matter of weeks. His administration offered nothing but happy-talk.
Nearly 1,200,000 Americans have died from COVID. And our economy began to shut down from the pandemic. Hospitals in many cities, including Detroit and Lansing, were jammed to capacity by COVID cases. We had nationwide shortages of personal protective equipment: N95 masks, respirators, protective clothing and even exam gloves. Worldwide supply chains were disrupted, setting the stage for a logjam in the supply chain that would disrupt our economy for three years.
To his credit, Trump pushed the development of the first COVID vaccines…but he didn’t put in place a plan for getting the vaccine to the people.
Joe Biden came into office with the goal of getting 100-million Americans vaccinated within 100 days. They did it in 58 days. Nearly half the U.S. population was vaccinated within the first 6 months. It was the beginning of the end of the pandemic. COVID no longer threatened to shut down America.
March 2020
In world affairs, Trump had already seriously damaged our standing in the world. U.N. delegates literally laughed at him during his 2018 speech to the General Assembly. NATO was on the verge of falling apart due to Trump’s open hostility to the alliance that had kept the peace in Europe for 60 years. And Trump’s open admiration for autocrats – Putin, China’s Xi, Hungary’s Victor Orban (a guest at Mar-A-Lago just this week), Turkey’s Racip Ergogan and North Korea’s Kim Jung Un – was a slap in the face to democracies across the world.
Today, the NATO alliance has been strengthened by the addition of Sweden and Finland: two nations sharing a border with Putin’s Russia. NATO is united in its support for Ukraine, with every nation contributing to the war against Putin’s aggression. World leaders once again respect our nation and its leader.
So: in answer to Reagan’s question, the answer is
Yes! Under the leadership of Joe Biden, this nation is far better off now than it was 4 years ago.
Trump will do his best to make us think otherwise, but he has no choice. He was a disaster as President, and his return to office would be devastating.
The State of the Union
President Biden’s State of the Union address. It was superb, putting to rest the baseless Republican assault on the President’s capability to continue as one of the most effective Presidents in U.S. history. Ironically it came in the same week that featured some Donald Trump speeches where his sentences evolved into incoherent babbling, raising serious questions about his mental state.
It wasn’t just President Biden’s strong presentation. It was also his vision for America: virtually limitless possibilities for the nation. That was a stark contract to his predecessor’s continuing tearing down of our nation, calling it weak, unrespected and even “failing.” President Biden laid out a strong agenda for improving the lives of all Americans, building on the tremendous successes of his first 3 years.
I was also deeply disappointed — but not surprised– by the aura of Republican incivility and downright rudeness during the speech that seems to get worse every year. We remember our shock when Congressman Joe Wilson shouted out “you lie” at Barack Obama during the State of the Union. Now, outbursts like that are seemingly a regular feature of Republican congressional behavior. The heckling from the likes of Marjorie Taylor Green are an embarrassment.Unfortunately, Donald Trump’s crude and rude behavior seems to have become the norm for many elected Republicans.
Joining the podcast this week is the chair of the state House Education Committee, Representative Matt Koleszar who is leading a deep-dive into ways to make our schools safer.
Representative Koleszar is serving his third term representing Michigan’s 22nd House District, which includes the cities of Northville and Plymouth, most of Northville and Plymouth Townships, and a portion of Livonia.
Prior to his election, Koleszar worked as a teacher and coach in the Airport Community School District and president of the Airport Education Association in Carleton. He received an undergraduate degree from Saginaw Valley State University before attending Eastern Michigan University, where he received a master’s degree in english studies.
Koleszar is committed to securing adequate funding for Michigan’s schools, finding effective solutions to fix the roads, and increasing access to and quality of healthcare in the state.
In the News
Michigan Policy
- Lawmakers want more CPR, cardiac arrest training for Michigan schools – Bridge Michigan
- MSU Trustee Rema Vassar responds, calls bullying investigation ‘deeply flawed’ – Lansing State Journal
- Mel Tucker, Michigan State to be sued by rape survivor Brenda Tracy – Lansing State Journal
Michigan Politics
- Conservative law firm earned $730K as Ottawa County’s new attorney, invoices show – mlive.com
- Man arrested for stalking AG Nessel, her wife in Wayne County – mlive.com
- Michigan GOP candidates embrace IVF but face doubters – Detroit News
National Policy
- VIDEO – President Biden’s State of the Union address in under 4 minutes – MSNBC
- Biden uses State of the Union to contrast with Trump, sell voters on a second term – AP
- Official Katie Britt GOP Response to State of the Union Has Republicans ‘Losing It’ – The Daily Beast
- Here’s what some Americans thought of Biden’s State of the Union address, according to CNN polling – CNN
- Healthy labor market continues to beat expectations, boost economy – The Washington Post
- Formula for a Pandemic: Trump vows to cut federal funds for schools with vaccine mandates – Maddow Blog
- Opinion | Republicans’ spending package will cut much-needed police funding – Eugene Robinson/The Washington Post
- The Next Red-Blue State Divide: EV Taxes – Wall Street Journal
- Ronny Jackson was demoted by Navy after investigation into White House actions – The Washington Post
National Politics
- Haley’s campaign exposed cracks in Trump’s GOP – ABC News
- VIDEO – Stefanik picks the wrong fight, asks whether we were better off in 2020 – Rachel Maddow
- RNC votes to install Trump’s handpicked chair, Michael Whatley – AP News
- Arizona’s Trump electors subpoenaed in grand jury investigation – The Washington Post
- No Labels delegates vote to move forward with presidential ticket – POLITICO
- Judge Rules Trump Has to Come Up With $91 Million for E. Jean Carroll Appeal
- Here are the details on Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton fundraiser – NBC News
Political insights from Kalamazoo’s Jordan Klepper…
Throughout his entire presidency, President Biden has delivered for Michigan workers – bringing jobs and manufacturing back to our state and ensuring that we are growing the middle class while leading in the global economy. Donald Trump, on the other hand, will say anything to try to rewrite his record of abandoning Michigan workers and creating incentives to ship jobs overseas, because he is part of the billionaire class and sees the world from Park Avenue instead of an assembly plant floor.
While the Biden administration continues to focus on what is the world’s strongest economy, the other side seems obsessed with a pop star and a football player. Their latest fixation: crazy conspiracy theories about Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, the Super Bowl and the possibility that the pair will be endorsing President Biden’s re-election.
On Friday, Governor Whitmer and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz hosted a national media teleconference on Roe, the Dobbs decision overturning Roe, and the implications for 2024. This week’s podcast shares their comments.
The common denominator in all of this: so-called dark money. In this week’s podcast we hear from Attorney General Dana Nessel who has been at the forefront of investigating and prosecuting public corruption.
While Michigan Democrats have taken significant steps to protect our democracy and ensure an insurrection like January 6th never happens again, the threat is far from gone. Michigan voters know how high the stakes are this November, and will stand with President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Michigan Democrats up and down the ballot as they fight to protect our democracy and defend every American’s freedoms.