Atlanta, GA – On August 3, a coalition of local activists and community members gathered at Georgia State Convocation Center to protest a high-profile rally for former President Donald Trump and Republican Senator JD Vance.

The demonstration, organized by the Atlanta Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and Atlanta Democratic Socialists of America, was called in response to the extreme right-wing agenda promoted by Trump, Vance and the Republican Party as a whole.

The protesters gathered directly outside the venue, facing off the thousands of MAGA supporters from around the Southeast, as evidenced by the number of people with wearing LSU and Alabama caps, who were unable to secure a spot inside. Police looked on as tensions escalated. Numerous Trump supporters physically confronted activists without consequence, shoving and throwing empty beer cans.

With signs reading “From Atlanta to Palestine, occupation is a crime” and ‘End U.S. aid to Israel,’ activists put special emphasis on opposing the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people committed by Israel and the United States. Throughout the event, chants drew attention to Trump’s hateful, genocidal rhetoric towards Palestine and warmongering in the Middle East.

Protesters also voiced their disapproval of Trump’s record on mass incarceration, and his attacks on immigrant, LGBTQ and reproductive rights.

When the red-faced MAGA crowd tried to drown out protestors with rabidly jingoistic chants of “USA! USA,” the protesters countered with “Free free Palestine!”

Inside the center, Trump and Vance welcomed Georgia’s Republican Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones. Jones’ appearance drew criticism from the protest crowd for his participation as one of the 16 illegitimate GOP electors who falsified documents during the unsuccessful plot to declare Trump the 2020 presidential winner.

Proud conspiracy theorist Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, Congressman Mike Collins – who recently lauded a video of white Ole Miss students terrorizing a Black woman – and former Trump White House Political Director and Congressional-hopeful Brian Jack filled out the five-hour speaking list.

“We’re out here because Trump, Vance, and all these genocide-supporters are not welcome in our city,” said Erica Schneider, a spokesperson for the Atlanta Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

As the march to November and the 2024 presidential election continues, the swing-state of Georgia is likely to be a well-trodden pit stop for both the Republicans and the Democrats. Local activists in Atlanta plan to continue organizing protests and demonstrations to confront both parties and raise a people’s agenda.

#AtlantaGA #AAARPR #DSA #Feature #Trump #Vance #2024Election #PresidentialElection #Atlanta #FreePalestine #Republicans #Republican #GOP

These tricks were thought to put off the debt limit crunch until the fall, but a drop in tax payments by the wealthy has brought the deadline forward. Ironically, it is Trump and the Republicans in Congress who are proposing big tax cuts for the rich that are leading the rich to hold off paying their taxes.

While Mnuchin has called for a ‘clean’ increase in the debt limit – that is one without attached conditions such as cutting funding for Planned Parenthood – Trump himself has not taken a clear position. Trump’s head of the Office of Management and Budget, Mick Mulvaney, who is a former member of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus, has refused to commit to a clean increase that could attract Democratic support.

The House Freedom Caucus and other republicans in congress have used the debt limit in the past to try to force spending cuts on social programs. They repeated this position this year, hoping to blackmail the government into spending cuts to avoid a default on debt payments.

As a congressman, Mulvaney even suggested that it would not be that bad if the U.S. did not raise the debt limit and defaulted on some of his debt payments. Trump himself, who has declared bankruptcy for his businesses many times, also suggested during his campaign for president that default would not be that bad and that he could negotiate lower payments from government bond owners.

On June 2, Mulvaney said that the government would faces “difficulties” if the debt limit were not increased but swore that there would be no default on debt payments. Unfortunately, this could only be done if the government put off paying its other obligations, of which Social Security and Medicare are among the biggest.

In response, Democrat and House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi did not commit to a clean increase, pointing out that increasing the debt limit could enable the Republicans to give huge tax cuts for the rich that would increase the deficit. In fact, the federal government debt has historically had three causes: First, shrunken tax revenues and increased safety-net spending because of a financial crisis, for example, after the depressions in 1929-1933 and then again from 2008-2009; second, increases in military spending and expensive wars in the 1980s under Reagan, and then again in the 2000s under President George W. Bush; and third, the big tax cuts for the rich in the 1980s and 2000s.

While many in Congress, including both Republicans and Democrats, have talked about cutting Social Security and Medicare to help reign in the federal debt, in fact Medicare has paid for itself and Social Security has run up almost $3 trillion in surplus over the last 30 years. The biggest danger to working people is not that the federal government would default on its debt and cause financial chaos throughout the capitalist world, but that a ‘bipartisan’ plan would trade off raising the debt limit (which Wall Street wants), with cutting Social Security and/or Medicare (which Wall Street also wants).

#SanJoséCA #US #PeoplesStruggles #Capitalism #UnitedStates #Socialism #Republicans #DonaldTrump #Default

Minneapolis, MN – The Coalition to Stop Trump and March on the RNC announced today, May 1, plans for a major protest In Cleveland, Ohio, on July 18, the first day of the Republican National Convention (RNC).

The protest will put forward the slogans, “Dump Trump, Say No to the Republican Agenda, and We demand Peace, Justice and Equality.”

According to a statement from protest organizers, “Activists from around the country will be converging on Cleveland, Ohio, July 18, the opening day of the Republican National Convention. Inside the convention hall, Republicans will promote their agenda of bigotry, racist discrimination, Islamophobia, war and austerity. On the streets of Cleveland, we will demand peace, justice and equality.”

Mick Kelly, speaking for the Coalition to Stop Trump and March on the RNC stated, “We are expecting this protest to join thousands of people from around the country. Trump rallies have been hit by a wave of militant protests and the verdict is in – people are sick and tired of Trump’s promotion of bigotry, right-wing politics, and reaction. At the RNC we are going to tell the world that we reject politicians of any stripe who promote war and austerity.”

Tom Burke, also of the Coalition to Stop Trump and March on the RNC states, “We are applying for permits to rally and march and we expect to get them. We have a right to demonstrate and we intend to march, permits or not. We are building a movement to stop Trump, and the Cleveland is the next stop.”

Many of the organizers of this protest helped lead the mass marches that drew thousands at the 2008 RNC in Saint Paul, Minnesota and the 2012 RNC in Tampa, Florida.

Organizers of the protest say the rally site, time and march route will be announced as soon as possible.

To view the Facebook event for the protest: https://www.facebook.com/events/574059672757617/

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #US #PeoplesStruggles #Protest #RNC #Antiracism #Antifascism #Elections #Republicans #DumpTrump

Simi Valley, CA – While Republican candidates debated at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Sept. 16, enthusiastic protesters took to the streets chanting “Dump Trump!” This was the second of the Republican primary debates. Among the many topics of the debate was immigration. Many Republicans are calling for not only the deportations of the 12 million undocumented in the U.S. but also their citizen children. Donald Trump has been leading the right-wing attacks on immigrants, calling for a border wall, while the other candidates are taking up his proposals. Republican candidate Ben Carson said that after deporting immigrants he would allow them in on “a guest worker program primarily in agriculture.” Trump is still leading and gathering support among the right wing. If elected, there will be more attacks on immigrants, more deportations and more militarization at the border – including the widespread use of military drones.

Over 100 protesters gathered at the entrance to the Reagan Library. Protesters came from all over the area. Many had traveled over 50 miles from Boyle Heights and Camarillo. A delegation of Centro CSO (Community Service Organization) made the journey to denounce Trump and his racist attacks. The majority of protesters were Chicano and Mexicano immigrants.

Longtime activist Carlos Montes said, “The Chicano community came out to denounce Trump and the Republican racist agenda.” They waved Mexican and Aztlan flags and held signs and banners reading “Dump Trump,” “Legalization for all,” and “Who's the illegal, pilgrim?” Protesters chanted, “Dump Trump,” and “We didn't cross the border, the border crossed us!”

Speakers from Mecha, Centro CSO, the Brown Berets and the Raza Unida Party addressed the crowd. Across the street, a few counter-protesters showed up, and a few people shouted obscenities from cars.

Anastacio Sarabia, a Roosevelt High School student who travelled from Boyle Heights in East Los Angeles said, “I hate that the Republicans are being stereotypical about Mexican immigrants that we are criminals and rapists. I also can't believe that Donald Trump wants to deport 1 million immigrants a month. The protest had a good turnout. We got a lot of support from our people – we also outnumbered Donald Trump's people. Our message was Donald Trump should stop the deportations and all racist comments he gives the people about us immigrants.”

Sol Marquez, who organizes for Legalization for All, says “We need to understand that Donald Trump isn't necessarily anti-immigrant. His wives and parents are immigrants. Trump is strictly against Mexicans and Chicanos – for what we represent in U.S. history and for the mere fact that we are growing stronger and louder in voicing our demand for not only legalization, but for full equality.”

#SimiValleyCA #ImmigrantRights #ChicanoLatino #RonaldReagan #Elections #Republicans #DonaldTrump #DumpTrump

On July 3, prominent conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer said that the recent decline in the unemployment rate was due to cutting unemployment benefits. Krauthammer told Fox News that “the real problem of long-term unemployment was a function of this anomaly of emergency-extended unemployment, which should never have happened, and whose end has contributed to this excellent result. The debate on that extension is over, and the conservatives were right.”

Many Republicans in Congress blame the high unemployment rate on workers who cannot find jobs and assert that poverty is caused by low-income people.

Steff Yorek, a spokesperson for Freedom Road Socialist Organization responded, stating, “No serious person believes that unemployment is caused by the unemployed. Jobs are there or they’re not. Corporations hire people when they think they can make a profit off their labor. If companies think they cannot exploit workers and make some money – the ‘job creators’ create no jobs. It is time for Congress to address the unemployment crisis and restore benefits to the long-term unemployed.”

#WashingtonDC #PoorPeoplesMovements #Unemployment #EmergencyUnemploymentCompensation #EUC #Republicans #DC #CharlesKrauthammer