[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 113 (Tuesday, July 9, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4251-S4252]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Trump Presidency

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, American democracy faces a test of 
survival in 2024.
  Almost 8 years ago, Donald Trump was elected President and commenced 
one of the most chaotic periods our country has seen in our lifetimes. 
Under a Trump Presidency, Republicans tried to rip away affordable 
healthcare for tens of millions of American families, and they nearly 
succeeded. Under a Trump Presidency, Republicans packed our courts with 
radical judges who took America back half a century by repealing Roe v. 
Wade.
  This week, the Senate will take up a simple resolution cosponsored by 
every female Senator in our caucus and myself that asks a very simple 
question: Where do Senators stand on freedom of choice? Do we believe 
that a woman should have the basic right to reproductive care? Do we 
agree that the rights protected under Roe should be Federal law?
  Freedom of choice is perhaps the defining issue for Americans this 
year, and, this week, every Senator must show where he or she stands.
  Of course, there is more. Under a Trump Presidency, megacorporations 
and the richest of the rich--the very, very wealthy--saw their taxes go 
down and profits go up, while middle-class families kept paying more 
for prescription drugs, childcare, and basic necessities.
  Under the Trump Presidency, America was plunged into utter chaos. The 
pandemic was far worse than it needed to be because Donald Trump 
refused to confront it head-on and refused to be honest to the American 
people. We lived in constant anxiety about the next tweet from the 
White House.
  Our allies saw Trump and questioned if they could trust him, while 
autocrats saw Trump and wanted to be like him. It is no wonder that 
Trump went out of his way to pay fealty to dictators like Putin and 
buddy up to Kim Jong Un. It was downright un-American.
  Four years later, Trump wants to do it all again. But there is a big 
difference between then and now. For all the chaos and disaster of the 
first Trump Presidency, it pales in comparison to the threat of a 
second Trump Presidency and the threat it would pose to our democracy.

[[Page S4252]]

  Over the last few weeks, there has been a whole lot of attention 
about a policy platform drafted by the Heritage Foundation, arguably 
the most influential conservative think tank in America. The platform, 
in effect, is the Trump manifesto. The project is staffed by over 200 
former officials of the Trump Presidency and is connected to Trump 
Cabinet members, former campaign advisers, political appointees, and 
more.
  If you read through this Trump manifesto, it is very clear what the 
hard right is telling America: Put us in power, and we will gut America 
from the inside out.
  Trump's manifesto calls for the most conservative agenda America has 
ever seen, one that makes 1964 Barry Goldwater look like a moderate.
  The Trump manifesto lays the groundwork for a nationwide abortion ban 
and calls for removing mifepristone from the market. It calls for 
defunding the Department of Education.
  The Trump manifesto calls for reversing Democrats' clean energy 
agenda, while empowering the Nation's biggest oil and gas polluters.
  The Trump manifesto calls for silencing and attacking all of Donald 
Trump's political enemies. The hard right is done speaking in 
euphemisms. They are saying it straight to our faces: If you disagree 
with Donald Trump, watch your back.
  To see this happen in America is bone-chilling.
  MAGA's political threats are reminiscent of the autocratic fervor we 
saw in Europe in the early 20th century, and for the first time, we are 
wondering: Could it ever happen here in America?
  I hope not, but it all keeps going.
  The Trump manifesto also calls for defunding Federal law enforcement 
and replacing thousands of Federal personnel with individuals loyal, 
above all, to Donald Trump.
  And, finally, of course, the Trump manifesto calls for more tax cuts 
for the very wealthy, more tax cuts for corporate elites, more tax cuts 
for megacorporations, and oil and gas polluters. This is really the end 
goal of MAGA extremism: tax cuts for the top 1 percent, dystopia for 
everybody else.
  Donald Trump promised that he would be a dictator on day one, and 
this manifesto is the playbook for how he will follow through on that 
threat. It is dangerous. The damage may be irreversible. The 
destruction could be unthinkable. And it would be a betrayal of 
everything that our Framers fought for, that the Union fought for, that 
the ``greatest generation'' fought for.
  Donald Trump cannot--must not--be allowed within 10 miles of the Oval 
Office ever again.