When Power Targets the Vulnerable

“I exploit you, still you love me

I tell you, one and one makes three.”

- Living Colour

My first inclination that a Trump presidency had the potential to descend into a cult of personality occurred a few months after he descended his golden escalator to announce his candidacy. I had criticized the mocking of Serge Kovaleski, a reporter with the New York Times, by imitating his physical disability. Even though the act was caught on tape for the whole world to see, I was attacked by a Facebook friend for spreading “fake news.” As we went back and forth, she insisted that there was nothing out of the ordinary about the candidate’s flailing arms and broken speech; these were things Trump did all the time and had nothing to do with the reporter’s congenital condition.

This was not a random stranger on Facebook; this was a person I dated in high school and created music with in my first band. We had remained close friends through marriages, divorces, and the deaths of parents. She knew that having two daughters with severe disabilities made me especially sensitive to this type of behavior, especially from a political leader. Still, she was fully aboard the Trump Train and was not going to let a longtime friendship interfere with accepting Trump’s denial of his abominable behavior. It did not matter what was right in front of her eyes; she was fully invested in the altered reality offered by Trump. After decades of friendship, she eventually cut off ties when the gulf between our two realities became too wide.

“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.”

- Donald Trump

When Trump bragged about his electoral invincibility, he was talking about people like my former friend. She was a caring, smart person who taught high school English in an inner city school, but still she could not bring herself to criticize even his most morally deviant behavior. Unfortunately, there are millions just like her.

Freed by his base from any type of accountability, Trump has moved from simply mocking the disabled and other vulnerable populations to motivating cruelty against them. This has been particularly true during the record-breaking government shutdown. Seeking to protect his cuts to Obamacare, he has used students with Special Education needs and Americans needing food assistance to push the Democrats to cave.

Special Education

In the 14 previous times the government has shut down due to budget impasses, workers deemed to be non-essential were furloughed until an agreement was reached. They then returned to work and received back pay for the time they were unable to work. 

Trump ignored this precedent during the current shutdown and has attempted to fire thousands of federal employees, including almost the entire staff of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), the department that ensures that the 7.5 million students with disabilities are receiving the services required by federal law.

These cuts will be devastating to a population that is already scapegoated for draining funds away from their typical peers, largely because Congress has never provided the federal funding promised when the landmark Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was passed 50 years ago. If allowed to stand, Trump’s cuts will jettison any attempt to ensure that these students receive a Fair and Appropriate Public Education. This will bring us one step closer to returning to a time when these “children were often refused admission to schools, including public schools, or warehoused in substandard facilities where they learned little and enjoyed few rights.”

SNAP Benefits

During past shutdowns, payments that put food on the tables of families living in poverty were considered a third rail; recognizing that “feeding Americans is a fundamental responsibility of the federal government,” previous administrations have ensured that SNAP benefits (in the past referred to as Food Stamps) continued to be paid via available federal funds. Trump suspended this essential program, claiming that no funds were legally available, even as he found the money needed to demolish the East Wing of the White House.

Multiple court rulings ordering that SNAP benefits continue to be paid because a law had been passed requiring Congress to have billions of dollars in reserve funds available whenever SNAP funds were insufficient gave Trump the legal cover he needed to ensure that food continued to be available to the 42 million people who rely on the program. Instead, he appealed the decision. The party that claims to be “pro-life” was willing to starve 16,380,000 children to maintain a bargaining chip in their fight to eliminate healthcare coverage.

Further compounding the cruelty to our poorest citizens, Trump’s administration blocked private companies from providing their own assistance during the shutdown. Misusing a law that protects SNAP recipients from being gouged when using their benefits, Trump sent notices to participants in the program to remind them that “offering discounts or services only to SNAP paying customers is a SNAP violation” and would jeopardize their future participation in the program. No good deed goes unpunished.

Under these conditions, it should not be a surprise to anyone that voters in New York City were finally able to shake off the dire warnings about Democratic Socialism by Republicans and establishment Democrats to elect their new mayor. It is hard to worry about philosophical arguments when you are worried about putting food on your table. When cruelty becomes policy, change becomes a matter of survival.

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Dr. Diane Ravitch has recognized Carl Petersen, an education advocate, as “a valiant fighter for public schools.” A former Green Party candidate for the LAUSD School Board, Petersen is a passionate voice for special education, shaped by raising two daughters with severe autism. He recently relocated to the State of Washington to embrace his role as “Poppy” to two grandsons. Explore more at TheDifrntDrmr.