Auckland’s Lattefa Simon follows in Barbara Lee’s footsteps, Trump’s eerie Tuesday speech “pre-botted”;
Latte Fasimon, the representative of the Rising Progressive Star, who succeeded Oakland’s icon Barbaraly this year, struggled to see whether or not he would attend Donald Trump’s speech to Congress on Tuesday, even after speaking to her on Monday. Simon, the first member of the Legal Blindly Congress and the first representative of California’s Muslims, was tapped by the Workers’ Family Party to give a “pre-buttal” before Trump’s speech.
“I think it’s my duty to be in this building,” Simon said. “But I certainly don’t want to hear his racist, misogynistic rhetoric. I certainly don’t want to hear the lies that the malicious people in this country work the hardest. But I believe I need to be there. This is our home. The President is a guest.”
She then switched tucks. “I’m struggling with it. I understand. I don’t want to turn my back on my duties.”
Ultimately, Simon decided that it meant that her duties were attending, but the other progressives were not. However, Simon’s “Prevotal” underscored her belief that, regardless of fireworks, Trump knew that he would not say anything in his pathetic speech that he could not predict. She was right.
Trump’s horror show went as expected. “America is no longer awake,” he declared. He boasted about the tragedy he caused and came with tragedy. He said, “The era of unelected bureaucrats is over.”
He brought a sad array of “guests” he introduced as victims, including the family of poor Corey Comperatore, who was killed in an attempt to assassinate Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania last summer. To be honest, my family wasn’t happy to be there at all, but I feel for them. It’s hard to be happy after your husband and father die, and after inexplicably passing away. And Trump welcomed young cancer survivors who couldn’t survive under the cuts in medical and research of his administration, and didn’t look happy to be there either. It was terrible.
Simon’s response highlighted his differences with other Congressional people.
She is the most effective national progressive activist you may not know. She has been running a California social justice nonprofit organization since she was 17 years old. She is the daughter of a single mother from Jim Crow South. A single mother, Simon is a community activist, widow and criminal justice reformer. With guidance from then-San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, she moved to the DA’s office, where she works at the Young Women’s Freedom Center. Teached by Barbara Lee, she was caught in a seat.
Some on the left don’t like what they call “identity politics.” Simon’s identity makes her extremely equipped to understand the needs of Americans targeted by the current administration. She is also a working class warrior.
She spoke on Tuesday nights of her life as a mother and as a widow. “You can’t fight cancer on a budget… I know what it’s like to benefit from death after my husband dies in his early 40s…[and] To rely on the benefits of snaps. …Donald Trump and Elon Musk, among others, didn’t have to put groceries back on the shelves. ”
Simon looks at Trump’s ideal America. Trump’s ideal America is “they are coming at the expense of everyone except the rich who are tricking Americans from a functional budget. People who work in the ’70s and ’80s without the hope of retirement they paid for their lives… [It’s a] Illness and poor America. ”
Unless you’re playing cards and musk, dystopia. That’s Tech Bro Network State Utopia.
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Trump introduced Musk in his speech with more warmth than he introduced his wife Melania. Despite Trump’s diminishing due to it, this bromance doesn’t go anywhere.
Eventually, Simon heads out to Trump midway through his boring speech. I’m sure Melania was jealous of her freedom.
Before the address, I asked Simon how she felt that her minority leader Hakeem Jeffries had encouraged his members to be polite and seemed to deter him from either boycotting or strikes.
“I work differently from my leader Jeffries. His job is to drive us through this mess. Trump has overflowed the space with an outrageous attitude. We all have different professions here.
“As a leader, [Jeffries] Hardcore negotiations with speakers [Mike] Johnson’s office. He is very disciplined for their story points. Even in conversations with me, whether I should be in and out of the room, he is very collaborative in that he needs to lead in the way I need to lead, and that every district needs deep respect for our members and what they need from us. ”
She hinted at a fight where many progressives are upset. It will resist pressure from broken GOP parliamentary leadership and help avoid government shutdowns in the next 10 days.
“What Jeffries told me is that we will reach March 14th and fight,” she added, “but we will be there.”
Donald Trump’s cruel and confusing second terminology is just beginning. In his first month back in the office, Trump and his lucky Elon Musk (or is that the other way around?) proved that they were not safe from unidentified power and sacrifices at the altar of wealth.
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Katrina Vanden Hovel
Editor and publisher; Nation
