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Spike Cohen

19 Jan, 15 tweets, 6 min read

Last day of the Donald Trump presidency. Let's see where we're at on those 2016 campaign promises!

1. "I will build a great wall, and Mexico will pay for it!"
Only 80 miles of new wall was built where there was none before. Mexico didn't pay for it... you did.

2. "If I become president, we're all going to be saying 'Merry Christmas' again."
...

3. "I'll eliminate 'Department of Environment Protection' (EPA)"

He did cut the budget, but the EPA is still alive and well. In fact, he felt the EPA was necessary enough to look into his claim of “People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times as opposed to once."
No, really.

4. Heavily surveil and close some mosques in the US, and create database of Syrian refugees.

Good news! No mosques were closed on government order.
But if you really think mosques weren't being surveilled before, or that Feds didn't already have refugees in a database...

5. Never take a vacation while serving as president.

This one is great. Nearly a third of his presidency was spent golfing, an activity he lambasted Obama for, and ended up golfing more than him.

6. "LOCK HER UP!" Hillary Clinton will be put in jail!"

Would have been nice to see, as penance for the innocent drone strike victims during her State Department tenure, but... Friends don't lock up friends.

7. “I would bring back waterboarding, and I’d bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.”

This is a campaign promise I'm thankful he didn't come through on. Torture is inhumane, and is ineffective and does not produce actionable intelligence.
theguardian.com/us-news/2016/f…

8. "Force Nabisco to once again make Oreos in the United States."

*visible confusion*
(they were, and remain a US manufactured item)

9. "Impose new taxes (tariffs) on many imports into the country."

He pulled through on this one. Turns out, trade wars aren't fun! Who could have ever guessed that one?

10. "Simplify the U.S. tax code and reduce the number of tax brackets from seven to four, and eliminate the "marriage penalty"."

As of 2021, there are still 7 tax brackets, and if you braved having a wedding in 2020, I have some bad news.

11. "Reduce the $18 trillion national debt by vigorously eliminating waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government, ending redundant government programs and growing the economy to increase tax revenues."

No.
usdebtclock.org/#

12. "On my first day in office, I will get rid of gun-free zones at military bases and in schools."

HA! Complete failure on all fronts. In fact, more gun control measures were passes under the Trump presidency than Obama's presidency. (and that's not praise.)

13. "Deport the almost 11 million immigrants illegally living in the United States, and triple the number of ICE agents."

The # of interior deportations sits under 1 million, (#NoMoreDeportations) and the # of ICE agents did not even double. (#AbolishICE)

14. "Bring back the American Dream."

The American Dream can only be achieved when we stop letting these bastards control our lives and. We have to take our power back and our freedom back. #YouAreThePower

passed*

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More from @RealSpikeCohen

Spike Cohen

@RealSpikeCohen

18 Jan

As you know, today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Did you know that a jury voted unanimously in 1999 that he was killed by the government, Memphis police, and the mob?

Probably not. Here's the story:

In 1993, a man named Loyd Jowers claimed on national TV that he was paid $100k by Memphis mobster Frank Liberto to help with the assassination of MLK. He also claimed that Memphis Police Officer Earl Clark was who actually shot him, not James Earl Ray, who was just a scapegoat.

Loyd claimed that, after 25 years, he could no longer keep the secret, and wanted Dr. King's family to know the truth, and for James Earl Ray's name to be cleared.

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Spike Cohen

@RealSpikeCohen

7 Jan

The reason for the protests and riots that are happening right now, is for reasons that are way more similar to why the BLM protests and riots happened than either side is willing to admit.

At the core of these riots, at the core of why they voted for Trump in the first place, is frustration and fear over what they see around them: lost jobs, low wages, the cost of living skyrocketing out of control.

Simply put: people who are happy and comfortable don't riot.

The problem is that they're misplacing their anger and rage. This isn't about left vs. right, Republican vs. Democrat, White vs. Black.

It's about the people vs. a relative handful of incredibly powerful politicians and cronies (including Trump and Biden) who rob us every day.

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Spike Cohen

@RealSpikeCohen

5 Jan

You may have heard of Bill A416, a proposed law in New York that would grant the Governor the ability to imprison or deport anyone he deems to be a "public health threat".

But it's actually way worse than that.

Not only does A416 give Cuomo the ability to detain and remove people without trial, appeal or oversight, it would also grant that power to anyone he wishes. "Including, but not limited to" means pretty much whoever he wants.

This bill turns the Governor into an overlord who can appoint anyone he wishes to remove whomever they wish, as long as they decide that person is a "threat".

Given the government's track record on civil liberties, just picture how that could be used in the future.

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Spike Cohen

@RealSpikeCohen

4 Jan

An incredibly troubling part of mainstream American political discourse is the assumption that the US military can kill anyone, anywhere, even civilians ("casualties/broken eggs for the omelette"), and it is simply unacceptable for anyone to fight back to try to not be killed.

While the people who believe this probably also think that they are "supporting the troops", in reality they're dooming them to be sent off to perpetual war.

If the military industrial complex can kill whenever they want, they will, and it's the troops they send off to do it.

Example of this sentiment:

"I don't support our involvement in this war, but we should be aggressive against anyone who fights our troops there."

If our troops shouldn't be there, why should the people who live there simply allow themselves to be killed and not fight back?

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Spike Cohen

@RealSpikeCohen

21 Dec 20

Buried in the "relief" bill is a new law.

If you stream copyrighted content without permission, you're now a federal felon, punishable by jail time, fines, losing your right to vote or own a firearm, etc.

But they gave you $600 of your own money though.

And before you ask: yes, it's a bipartisan proposal.

Ds and Rs always stop play-fighting whenever there's a chance to criminalize you and make your lives harder.

tvtechnology.com/amp/news/pirat…

PERSPECTIVE: they just robbed you of about $2750 each and gave you $600 of it back, but if you watch a pirated copy of Mandalorian you could end up in prison, unable to ever get a business license, buried in fines for the rest of your life...

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