Trump Voters – Is This Really What You Wanted?

Donald Trunp taking his oath of office. Photo via WikiCommons.

By Jill Chapin

January 6, 2018

A recent Washington Post article by Philip Bump listed nearly 100 rules and policies that President Trump has undone so far that add up to a stunning accomplishment of reversing so much that was put into place by former administrations.

But his record during his first year depicts an astonishing determination to mainly nullify as much of Obama’s achievements as he can. Any armchair observer can see that Trump has an unhealthy obsession to disparage Obama, in great part because he chafes at polls that show Obama to be a more respected and admired statesman than he. Trump should be embarrassed. He denigrated Obama for making America look weak, and promised us he would bring back respect to the United States. Didn’t happen. A recent Pew poll of 37 nations found only 22% had confidence that Trump would do the right thing internationally, whereas 64% had expressed confidence in Obama’s ability as president to direct America’s role in the world.

For Trump supporters who detest Obama for whatever reasons, it nevertheless might be illuminating to take a look at exactly what Trump has undone. Trump is obsessed with dismantling Obama’s legacy. But in doing so, he is remarkably unconcerned with deliberately harming his most devoted supporters just to satisfy his insatiable need to exact revenge on his predecessor and personal nemesis.

Let’s see what your current president has undone and then ask yourself if you truly intended to elect someone who would pull the rug out from under both you and your loved ones. Some actions on this list defy reason or logic. Money is hardly an issue; further, there don’t appear to be many winners in Trump’s decisions. But there are millions of losers in his reversals and unfortunately, they are you. See for yourself some of what Philip Bump listed:

—Revoked a rule that expanded the number of people who could earn overtime pay. Did you really hope that Trump would deny you the opportunity to earn more money when you work more hours?

—Stopped a rule that would require large companies to report worker incomes by race and gender. This was only designed to reduce pay disparity. Are you glad that you might be paid less for doing the same work as others who are, say white and male, with no way to prove it?

—Ended a rule that barred employers from taking some or all of the tips given to service employees. If you’re a customer you may not care, but your friends and relatives who are paid minimum wage to serve you might appreciate keeping the tips they earn.

—Canceled a rule mandating that financial advisers act in the best interests of their clients. Huh? Does this mean that Trump wants them to give you advice that will enhance their bottom line and not yours? Really?

—Ended a rule that allowed consumers to file class-action suits against financial companies. Yet Trump’s mantra was that you little guys have been taken advantage of for too long, things were going to change, and they sure did. He stripped you of your power to defend yourself. Are you pleased with this?

—Repealed a rule allowing states to create retirement savings plans for private-sector workers. I’m trying to figure out who this benefits. This rule only allowed states; it didn’t require them to do this. If you were one who could have benefited from this retirement savings plan, are you really pleased that you can no longer do so?

—Blocked the Clean Power Plan. This focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Are you breathing a sigh of relief that Trump is willfully making the air you breathe more toxic?

—Rejected a proposed ban on the pesticide chlorpyrifos. Although decades of scientific studies document the risk this bug killer poses to all of us, Trump insists that we need to ingest this insecticide with every bite we eat. Here is an instance of money playing a big factor as Dow Chemical Company will be the big winner here. Are you glad you and your family are being ever so slowly poisoned, courtesy of our commander in chief?

—Ended a rule banning the dumping of waste from mining into streams. The example above only poisoned our food; this one poisons our water. Are you thankful he is looking out for your health by doing this too?

—Rolled back school lunch standards. With childhood obesity fast becoming endemic, can you please ask yourself why he wouldn’t want our children learning good eating habits? Does it bother you that the health problems our young generation are already experiencing will be costly for all of us?

—Reversed a rule that would ban gun sales to those deemed “mentally defective” by the government. This one is truly frightening but maybe you prefer your life to be more dangerous than it has to be. If so, then I can appreciate your thankfulness to Trump for helping you live your dream. But please ask yourself: Why? Why would he want guns in the hands of the mentally unstable? This is not a rhetorical question. It would be illuminating to know his reasoning.

—Wants seven words banned from the CDC budget document. If you think the last one was scary, this one is downright terrifying. These words such as diversity, vulnerable or fetus aren’t profanities. This one was reported just days after Mr. Bump’s list, which shows us the speed with which Trump is going after our basic freedoms. If you aren’t seriously concerned about his wholesale banning of parts of the English language, please recall the vibrant pre-Hitler democratic Vienna and how their freedoms were chipped away. People there scoffed at the idea that their world would be plummeting into an unspeakable hell. We should all beware of those who don’t know their history because we could be doomed to repeat it.

—Revoked a rule barring those who’d served as registered lobbyists the prior year from taking jobs with the administration. Is this what he had in mind about draining the swamp?

—Reversed a policy aimed at reducing mortgage insurance premiums for new FHA loans. Are you happy he did this to you or someone you know who could have really benefited from a lower premium? I thought he promised you he wanted to help the little guy. If his goal was to make the little guy even littler, then he succeeded bigly.

—Canceled public reporting on visitors to the White House. Didn’t he promise us he’d have an open and transparent administration? It’s not like we thought much about visitors to the White House – until we realized that he doesn’t think Americans need to know what is going on in the People’s House.

—Erased net neutrality rules. Everyone will feel the effect of this one. These rules prevented internet service providers from charging more for certain types of internet traffic. Did you know Obama set these rules for you and our current president voided them? I know you detest Obama, but I think he had your back on this one.

And now we have a new tax law that will chisel away at your paycheck. This one should set your sense of betrayal on fire. He railed about the fat cats getting richer while you poor underlings were falling more and more behind. Yet this new bill will guarantee that the wealth gap between the 1% and those of you in the lower end of the income scale who voted for him will only widen.

These examples are shared only to ask if our president lived up to his promises to you. Making changes for the better take time; making changes that will worsen our lives can be done swiftly with the stroke of a pen as we have already seen in just his first year. If you sense that his pace for destroying the protections put in place for you by Obama and other presidents will only quicken this year, you might want to think of ways you can slow him down or undo some of his reversals.

A powerful new year’s resolution would be to decide who you want in Congress and then work hard to put them there. If you agree that what he has done to you so far is nothing short of a runaway train barreling down on you, then putting the brakes on him with a Congress that will stand up to his dismantling more of your protections would be the empowerment we all need to prove to ourselves we aren’t the saps he thinks we are.

Jill Chapin

Jill Chapin has been a guest writer and columnist in several Los Angeles area papers for over fifteen years. She has written a bilingual parenting book titled, "If You Have Kids, Then Be a Parent!" and a children's book entitled, "My Magic Bubble."

More Posts - Website