This is roughly what our executive director, Marc Stier, said on Wednesday, February 7, 2025, at the “50/50/1” event on the Capitol steps in Harrisburg. More than 400 people were there to protest the Trump administration’s march towards fascism.
It’s great to see at least four hundred of you here today. I know a lot of people were afraid to come to this event because they didn’t know who sponsored it. So, I applaud you for joining us. It’s going to take courage to fight back against the terrible things happening in Washington, and you are showing that today.
In my remarks today I want to connect the dots between the four things the Trump administration is doing publicly and one other thing that’s happening mostly behind closed doors in Washington. It is the far less public thing that ultimately explains the rest.
The first thing we know the Trump administration is doing is a series of unconstitutional, illegal, and immoral acts:
- Freezing federal spending on about half of everything the federal government does.
- Blocking all international aid and trying to close USAID.
- Giving 20-something-year-old Elon Musk fanboys with no security clearance access to the federal payment system.
The second thing they are doing is shutting down DEI programs that are meant to encourage both public and private employers to seek employees who are women and people of color and to ensure that the workplace is welcoming to them.
The third is deporting undocumented immigrants, regardless of whether they have committed a criminal offense. Many of those deported have been living for years in our country with their citizen children, paying taxes, not receiving benefits, and doing jobs that might otherwise go unfilled.
The fourth is placing tariffs on our allies, tariffs that would disrupt our economy and lead to inflation had they been left in place.
The first two of these actions are unconstitutional and illegal. The last two are immoral and counterproductive. But there is also a fifth that’s happening behind closed doors.
Republicans in the US House are working on legislation, called a reconciliation bill, that would deeply cut taxes for wealthy corporations and the ultra-rich. This is an expansion of the 2017 tax cuts, which basically gave low-income folks around a $70 tax cut, middle-income folks a $910 tax cut, the top 1% a $61,000 tax cut, and the top .1% a tax cut of hundreds of $252,300. The same tax cut slashed corporate taxes on wealthy multinational corporations.
House Republicans not only want to extend but expand the individual tax cuts and add to corporate tax cuts. Depending on exactly what they do, this would increase the federal deficit by $4.2 trillion over ten years or even more if additional corporate tax cuts are enacted.
And that’s the problem. Because, at the moment, House Republicans can’t afford to lose one vote to pass this legislation. And many Republicans can’t countenance such a big increase in the national debt. (Democrats will all vote no.)cpp
So, they are planning to offset the tax cuts with spending cuts. And they are looking at deep cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
These programs are very popular because they help a huge number of people.
In Pennsylvania alone, Medicaid benefits
- more than 2 million adults.
- more than 1.4 million children.
- more than 1.4 million people who need mental or behavioral health care benefits from Medicaid.
- more than 400,000 seniors who receive long-term care in nursing homes or assisted living facilities.
- more than 300,000 Pennsylvanians in treatment for a substance use disorder.
And more than two million Pennsylvanians rely on SNAP to pay for their groceries.
Over 60% of Americans will benefit from Medicaid at some time in their life.
Making these cuts to our social safety net is going to be hard to do because these programs are deeply popular.
How many of you want to see deep cuts to Medicaid. Or to SNAP?
To get the tax cuts he and his billionaire donors want, President Trump is doing all the illegal, unconstitutional, and immoral things I mentioned before.
- He’s trying to go around Congress and make deep cuts in our spending without any legal or constitutional authority.
- While he knows some courts will block his doing so—as they already have—he’s hoping the corrupt Supreme Court will let him get away with these actions, radically expanding his power, while also undermining, the power of not just Congress but the American people.
- To reduce opposition to his tax cuts, Trump is trying to distract people.
- He’s appealing to the racism and sexism of people who object to the small steps forward taken by Black people and women in the last 30 years.
- He’s appealing to the xenophobia of people who think, wrongly, that Mexico and Canada are harming us by selling us things we want to buy and who also believe, wrongly, that foreign aid amounts to 40% of the federal budget when it is only about 1%.
- And by bullying Congress, the Courts, Mexico, Canada, Colombia, and others, he’s trying to scare everyone who opposes him.
This is fascism, plain and simple.
And for those on the other side who ask us what fascism is, let me tell you. It is an authoritarian government that appeals to xenophobia and bigotry with the aim of rewarding those with immense wealth.
That’s what we are facing in America today.
So, the questions for all of us are:
Will we stand up to Trump and Musk?
Will we stand up to the billionaires they serve?
Will we stand up to stop the fascist takeover of the United States?
(Shouts of yes)
Good—because we need every one of you to
- wake up your friends and neighbors.
- call your members of Congress.
- keep going out in the streets.
If we all do this together, we will defeat fascism in the United States—and save this country that could become truly great someday for our children and grandchildren.