Barbara Lee

Opinion: Trump is Leading a Revolution That is Destroying America

Published

5 years ago

December 19, 2019

As the House of Representatives moves toward impeaching President Donald Trump this week — by what all predict will be a vote divided largely by party — it is time for reflection.

The House will indict the president for abuse of his office: trying to enlist a foreign government to intervene in our election by announcing an investigation of his potential opponent in the upcoming presidential race and for obstruction of justice in his extreme efforts to block the congressional investigation of his abuses.

This is an indictment focused, for simplicity sake, on a single course of action and its coverup.

In fact, the challenge posed by Trump is far greater than that. Trump is leading a counterrevolution against the America that is, and the America that will be.

He does so by savagely attacking American institutions, and by unrelenting lies designed to produce a cocoon of misinformation, an alternative reality, to con his ardent supporters.

Trump has scorned the Constitution and its tripartite division of power.

He scorns the Congress, both the Democratic House and the Republican Senate, ignores its subpoenas, dismisses its powers and holds himself and his administration immune from its oversight.

He traduces the courts, appointing right-wing activist judges while impugning the motives of any justice that rules in ways he does not like.

He floods the courts with lawsuits, many groundless, to delay and to avoid accountability both personally and as president.

He abuses the press, accusing them of being the enemy of the people and of spreading “fake news,” even as he retweets and recycles false conspiracy theories and big lies.

He has dismantled the interagency national security process, upended American policy — often with the sole apparent motive of reversing anything President Barack Obama accomplished — while abusing allies, his own appointees and the career professionals with sudden reversals of policy and pronouncement.

He has clearly decided that the presidency is above the law, as well as beyond the reach of Congress and courts.

While I, and many other reformers, agree with some of Trump’s stated goals — to bring the “endless wars” to a close, to transform our trading policy, to pressure the Federal Reserve to keep its foot off the brakes of the economy without clear evidence of rising inflation — Trump’s imperious and impetuous actions do more to discredit those goals than to serve them.

In other areas, most significantly in the existential threat posed by catastrophic climate change, Trump has abandoned the most important responsibility of the president to defend the nation’s security.

His conscious political strategy is to foster division, inflaming racial, gender and other divides. This has fed an already rising tide of hatred that is breeding more violence in this land.

Rather than signing the bipartisan immigration reform that he had previously agreed to support, he chose instead to preserve the contention rather than to move to solve the challenge.

The result of this reckless and ruthless course is a country ever more divided.

Trump clearly has cemented the support of about 40 percent to 45 percent of the American people.

That support has cowed Republican legislators, senators and representatives, who now rise to defend behavior that they know is dangerous and policies that violate their previously cherished conservative principles — from free trade to support for allies to presidents serving as moral examples.

Now, as senators gear up for holding what looks to be a sham trial on the impeachment charges brought from the House, they might pause for reflection.

For many, this vote may be their last historic vote, one which will help define their legacy.

All face constituents — Trump’s so-called “base” — who demand that they support the president no matter what he does.

This is a test of leadership.

True leaders don’t follow opinion polls, they mold opinion.

They do not allow the fervent few to drown out the call of their conscience. They recognize the obligations of party, but also the call of honest patriotism, of acting in moments of historic decision for the sake of the country.

They realize that history will hold them to account, as well as their own children and grandchildren. Trump’s minions are demanding abject loyalty.

Senate Leader Mitch McConnell has already confessed that he is taking his clues from the White House. Before bowing to that pressure, senators should pause, reflect, look in the mirror and probe their conscience.

Who are they? What are they prepared to stomach?

By Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

Posts by By Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

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Barbara Lee

Congresswoman Barbara Lee Reflects on Historic Moment Less Than One Week from Election Day

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-12) today released a piece on Medium reflecting on Vice President Kamala Harris’ historic presidential campaign 50 years after Lee worked on the presidential campaign of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm.

Published

2 weeks ago

November 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Congresswoman Barbara Lee.

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-12) today released a piece on Medium reflecting on Vice President Kamala Harris’ historic presidential campaign 50 years after Lee worked on the presidential campaign of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm:

“As Election Day approaches, I’m reflecting on a few dates and numbers that mean something to me.

Zero: the number of Black members in Congress 56 years ago. Next Congress, we hope to swear in over 60 members in the Congressional Black Caucus.

Three: The number of Black women to ever serve in the United States Senate since the first Congress in 1789.

Two: The number of Black women that will be elected to the Senate this year alone if we do our job.

1972: The first time a Black woman, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, ran for president in one of the major political parties of the United States.

Zero: the number of Black women to ever serve as president of the United States.

IF we do the work, we can change that with President Kamala Harris.

As I reflect on what would be Congresswoman Chisholm’s 100th birthday next month, I could not help but remember that my first official involvement in U.S. politics was working for her presidential campaign in 1972.

Over 50 years later, I have been involved in every single campaign since. Shirley was my mentor — she was a bold visionary, a progressive woman who understood that working together in coalitions was the only way to make life better for everyone, to build an equitable society and democracy that lived up to the creed of “liberty and justice for all.”

The historic moment we are in today is not lost on me. I have had the privilege to have known Vice President Kamala Harris for over three decades. She, after all, is a daughter of the East Bay. She, like Shirley, truly is a fighter for the people.

And I know she can move our country forward in a new way. As a member of her National Advisory Board, I have campaigned across our country to help take her message, her legacy of service, and her “to-do list,” as she says, to voters who were almost starting to feel hopeless, but are now feeling hopeful once again, captured by the politics joy and the bright possibilities brought upon by a possible Harris-Walz administration.

Recently, I visited churches in North Carolina with members of the Congressional Black Caucus. The chair of our CBC political action committee, Chairman Gregory Meeks from New York’s fifth district, eloquently and powerfully presented a vision of what Dr. Maya Angelou wrote in her famous poem, “And Still I Rise:” “I am the dream and the hope of the slave.”

Meeks remarked that on Jan. 20, 2025, we will observe the birthday of our drum major for justice, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

He also described that on Jan. 20, IF we do the work — if we knock on doors, if we make those phone calls, if we spread our message — standing on the podium at the U.S. Capitol will be the first Black speaker of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries.

In the wings will be over 60 members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Holding Frederick Douglass’ Bible will be the first African American woman appointed to the highest court of the land, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

She will be swearing-in the first Black woman to serve as president, Kamala Harris, in front of the shining white dome of the United States Capitol, built by enslaved Black people.

In front of her and beyond, the tens of millions of Black men and women who voted for her. The world will witness the hope and the dreams of our ancestors ushering in a new way forward.

As I sat in front of the stage this week at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., as Vice President Harris delivered remarks with the Oval Office behind her, I could not help but feel that our country was ready for this historic moment.

We are not only voting for a Black woman as Commander in Chief of the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world. We are definitively stating that we will not allow the clocks of freedom and justice to be turned back.

We are voting for our ancestors’ hopes and dreams. We are voting for the generations that will come after us, long after we are gone. We are voting for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Let’s get this done.

Oakland Post

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Activism

Surge of Support for Vote ‘No’ on Recall of Mayor Sheng Thao

Prominent local political leaders have issued strong statements urging voters to oppose the recalls, including Rep. Barbara Lee, State Senator Nancy Skinner, Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson, and Sandré R. Swanson, a former member of the California State Assembly (see their statements elsewhere in this issue of the newspaper).

Published

1 month ago

October 15, 2024

Oakland Post

Mayor Sheng Thao spoke Sunday, Oct. 6 at a campaign rally to reject the billionaire-backed recall on the Nov. 5 ballot. Photo courtesy of Oaklanders Defending Democracy.

By Post Staff

Since its official launch on Sunday, Oct. 6, the campaign to reject the recall of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao has received a surge of support. Many local organizations with deep roots in Oakland and very prominent elected officials are getting the word out, saying Oakland is not for sale.

Oakland City Councilmember Carroll Fife also condemned the recalls. “The financial and morale cost of these recalls is more than our city can bear. In the face of a budget deficit, a $10-million-special election would be painful in more ways than one. Ten million (dollars) could go a long way to addressing some of the issues in Oakland people care about.”

Said William Fitzgerald, campaign spokesman of Oaklanders Defending Democracy, which opposes the mayor’s recall, “One rich guy in Piedmont thinks he could buy himself a mayor of Oakland. What we’re seeing this week is a tidal wave of support rejecting the premise that the ultra-wealthy can hijack the democratic process. The facts are clear: Mayor Sheng Thao has massively reduced crime in Oakland and is bringing business opportunities to the Town.”

Pastor Servant BK Woodson, a steering committee member of the “Respect Our Vote – No Recalls!” coalition, said, “It is entirely reasonable to fear the continuing accumulating of power into fewer and fewer hands. History is replete with examples of the despotism, destruction and harms that oligarchs, dictators and demigods bring into the lives of ordinary people.

“The privilege to struggle to make these United States of America a more perfect union has taken the form of this consequential election. In Alameda County we must reject the recalls and elect our forward-thinking and progressive candidates,” Pastor Woodson said.

Oakland Rising Action wrote on its website, “(The) recent recalls have been led by a small group of millionaires and conservatives, and their agenda is to undermine our democracy.”

The Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club wrote on its Facebook page, “Deny the Lies.”

“Crime increased during the pandemic, and Oakland and Alameda County were not spared. Both recalls have claimed otherwise and placed the blame on District Attorney Pamela Price and Mayor Sheng Thao, even while crime is on the decline,” the club wrote.

Other organizations opposing the recall of Thao include the Alameda County Democratic Party, SEIU 2021, Alameda Labor Council, Oakland Tenants Union, Nor Cal Carpenters, East Bay for Everyone, Local 21, Oakland Firefighters 55, eVolve California, National Union of Healthcare Workers, John George Democratic Club, Latine Young Democrats of the East Bay, APEN Action, Block by Block Organizing Network and East Bay Young Democrats.

Oakland Post

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Activism

Rep. Barbara Lee Hosts Roundtable on Public Safety, Congratulates AASEG on Oakland Coliseum Deal

Congresswoman Lee’s roundtable united community leaders across her district and strengthened relationships while fostering collaborative solutions to their common challenges. Attendees were city leaders from Alameda, Communities United Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ), the Peralta Community College District, Kingmakers of Oakland (KOO), Live Free USA, and numerous Oakland community and nonprofit leaders.

Published

3 months ago

August 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-12), left, and Jonathan Paul Jones, African American Sport & Entertainment Group (AASEG). Photo by Conway Jones.

By Post Staff

On Wednesday, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-12) hosted a transformative community roundtable at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center on Ninth street. The gathering brought together leaders from various sectors to unite around a shared mission: to address public safety, gun violence prevention, and social justice in the East Bay.

By connecting leaders from across the East Bay, the roundtable facilitated meaningful dialogue on combating crime and promoting public safety. The event underscored a collective commitment to addressing violence and fostering social justice in the region. The event was hosted by Francis Lan, president of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce (OCCC) and Carl Chan, president of Oakland Chinatown Chamber Foundation.

After the roundtable, Congresswoman Lee set up some time to talk to Jonathan Paul Jones from AASEG to congratulate them on the Coliseum deal and express her excitement saying “It’s a major deal and I am excited to see African Americans leading this deal. It’s been long overdue!”

The AASEG Coliseum purchase and development initiative has garnered support from leaders including OCCC and has inspired optimism about the potential for homegrown entrepreneurs and businesspeople to create opportunities and restore the community.

As the momentum for change builds, Oakland stands on the brink of a new era of community empowerment and revitalization. The city’s leaders and citizens are coming together, exemplified by initiatives like Congresswoman Lee’s roundtable and the efforts of AASEG.

It’s time for Oakland to rise above its challenges, embrace its potential, and become a beacon of hope and progress. With unity and determination, Oakland can transform its future and inspire communities everywhere.