Living in a Midas inspired New York Penthouse, with his Slovenian super model wife, Donald Trump was not an obvious candidate for working class hero. But, wealth is not a barrier to action and empathy. No president did more for the working class, and rural poor, than the patrician FDR. Unfortunately, Trump is no Roosevelt.
Faced with an economic crisis Roosevelt sought solutions. Working with his cabinet and talented advisers he crafted the ten legislative and executive programs known as the New Deal. His hard work provided jobs and relief, as well as hope, for a crippled nation.
Trump inherited a robust economy scarred by inequity. Rather than proposing solutions, Trump stokes resentment. He speaks to those who believe that whites are facing federal discrimination, and that Christianity is under attack, He channels and funnels resentment toward the other, be they immigrants, Muslims, or the so called Washington and media elites.
The nation is in turmoil because Trump is stoking a hunger that he cannot, and will not, sate. His disinterest, and disdain for the legislative process, threatens to expand economic inequality. More concerned with notching a win than helping his constituents, he backed health care legislation than would have reduced access to affordable medical coverage. His holy water is ready to bless any tax plan, no matter how slanted to those at the top, that can pass.
FDR worked to calm and help a desperate nation. Trump is fostering fear to help himself.
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