Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Gmail Peter Burgess
It's time to shut this administration down
1 message
Arisha Michelle Hatch, Color Of Change
Wed, Mar 22, 2017 at 8:01 PM
Reply-To: 'Arisha Michelle Hatch, Color Of Change'
To: Peter Burgess

Dear Peter,

This administration is compromised. After months of allegations and revelations, FBI Director James Comey announced this week that Trump and his Klan’s ties with Russia and Russia’s interference in the presidential election are finally being investigated.

Meanwhile down the street in Washington, the confirmation hearing is under way for the person who plans to push forward Trump’s agenda for the next 30 plus years.

This is no longer business as usual. We cannot allow Congress to sit down and move forward with Neil Gorsuch’s nomination while the last illusions of the legitimacy of this presidency come crashing down. It’s time for Senate Democrats to take a stand and put a hiring freeze on Trump’s appointments until the full truth of this investigation is revealed.

Will you join us in telling Congress it’s time to shut down?

Thanks for standing with us against hate.

- Arisha and the rest of the Color Of Change team

The original email is below

Dear Peter,

It’s time to the pull the emergency brake now before Trump totals our democracy.

TAKE ACTION

From the moment that he was elected, Donald Trump carefully selected and ushered through chief strategists, advisors, and department heads that would deliver on his dangerous and divisive campaign promises. In just 12 days, we have seen this regime deliver on those promises and destroy access to reproductive rights,1 detain and deport hundreds of people,2 and decimate healthcare.3

It won’t stop there. Trump has continued to build his regime by just announcing Neil Gorsuch as his Supreme Court justice nominee. Trump’s promise to appoint a judge in the image of Antonin Scalia means our freedom to vote, reproductive rights, and so much more will be threatened if Judge Gorsuch is confirmed. Enough is enough. We will not sit back and watch as the rights we have fought for are swept away. Starting today, we are demanding Congressional Democrats lead a hiring freeze on Donald Trump’s nominees.

Tell Democrats to stand up and block Trump’s appointees.

For the past eight years, we watched as the Republican party banded together and opposed President Obama at every turn. Their collective defiance led to defaulting on the national debt and blocking appointees to various bureaus.4 They even went so far as to stand up and read Green Eggs and Ham to delay the passage of the Affordable Healthcare Act.5 In fact, Antonin Scalia’s former seat on the Supreme Court remains empty because the Republicans remained strong and withheld their consent.6

We now are living in an unprecedented era where the reigning president has no mandate to rule and has nominated astonishingly unqualified and morally corrupt individuals to govern. It’s time for Senate Democrats to borrow this playbook and hold the line on not confirming Trump’s appointees. We’ve already seen the effectiveness of this collective power. Today, Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee boycotted the confirmation hearings for Steven Mnuchin and Tom Price and successfully blocked the vote from happening7 while Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee also came together and used procedural tactics to stall the confirmation of known racist Jeff Sessions.8 When Democrats put their foot down, we are able to delay and derail Trump’s agenda.

Tell Congressional Democrats it’s time for a hiring freeze on Trump’s nominees.

This Supreme Court justice nomination is particularly important to block. In this role Judge Gorsuch would reign indefinitely and make decisions whose effects would echo for a lifetime. As a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, Judge Gorsuch’s record is frightening. During a time where police violence runs rampant, Judge Gorsuch ruled to protect a police officer who murdered a young man with a stun gun as he ran away from the officers.9 We cannot allow a man who refuses to hold police officers accountable to ascend to the halls of the Supreme Court.

Tell Democrats to join us and put a hiring freeze on Trump’s SCOTUS appointee.

The Trump administration has made a clear statement about his new world order. Until last Sunday, the “Our Government” section on the White House website listed “The Judicial Branch” alongside the Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch.10 The Judicial Branch was deleted from the site. We cannot allow Trump to delete the very checks and balances that exist to create justice and protect our rights.

The Supreme Court has afforded us the right to marry who we love, go to the schools of our choice, be appointed a lawyer, and has safeguarded the right to protest. We’ve watched as our most basic rights have quickly been placed in jeopardy by Trump’s cabinet. And we’ve taken to the streets11 and airports12 armed with these rights to let our voices be heard. Without a Supreme Court justice on our side, the rights that we now enjoy can quickly be rolled away and replaced with discrimination. We cannot allow Trump to insert another one of his cronies into our government and usurp the power of the judiciary.

Tell Democrats it’s time to the pull the emergency brake before Trump totals our democracy.

Until justice is real,

--Arisha, Rashad, Brandi, Anika, Jade, Evan, Bernard, Corina, the rest of the Color Of Change team

References:

'Trump's global gag rule hurts the world's most vulnerable women.' The Hill, 31 January 2017. http://act.colorofchange.org/go/7387?t=9&akid=7143.1983090.sV2Rqk
'Of Course It’s a Muslim Ban.' Slate, 31 January 2017. http://act.colorofchange.org/go/7388?t=11&akid=7143.1983090.sV2Rqk
'Repealing the Affordable Care Act will kill more than 43,000 people annually.' The Washington Post, 23 January 2017. https://coc.actionkit.com/go/7389?t=13&akid=7143.1983090.sV2Rqk
'How Republicans turned the unprecedented into the new normal,' Daily Kos, 21 February 2017. http://act.colorofchange.org/go/7390?t=15&akid=7143.1983090.sV2Rqk
'Ted Cruz Reads ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ on Senate Floor — And That’s Not the Weird Part.' Swampland, 25 September 2013. http://act.colorofchange.org/go/7391?t=17&akid=7143.1983090.sV2Rqk
'McConnell: Blocking Supreme Court Nomination 'About A Principle, Not A Person’.' NPR, 13 March 2016. http://act.colorofchange.org/go/6263?t=19&akid=7143.1983090.sV2Rqk
'Democrats boycott confirmation hearings for Price and Mnuchin, blocking votes.' The Washington Post, 31 January 2017. https://coc.actionkit.com/go/7392?t=21&akid=7143.1983090.sV2Rqk
'Dems delay Sessions vote.' The Hill, 31 January 2017. http://act.colorofchange.org/go/7393?t=23&akid=7143.1983090.sV2Rqk
'A LOOK AT NEIL GORSUCH, POSSIBLE TRUMP SCOTUS NOMINEE.' 21 January 2017. http://act.colorofchange.org/go/7394?t=25&akid=7143.1983090.sV2Rqk
'Judicial branch explainer missing from WH website.' The Hill, 29 January 2017. http://act.colorofchange.org/go/7395?t=27&akid=7143.1983090.sV2Rqk
'Women’s March Highlights as Huge Crowds Protest Trump: ‘We’re Not Going Away’.' 21 January 2017. https://coc.actionkit.com/go/7396?t=29&akid=7143.1983090.sV2Rqk
'Thousands of people are protesting Trump’s immigration order at airports across America.' Vox, 28 January 2017. http://act.colorofchange.org/go/7397?t=31&akid=7143.1983090.sV2Rqk

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