Trump’s MAGA Agenda as the Movement of ‘No’

After the Democrats took over the Oval Office and both houses of Congress in the 2020 elections, national unemployment rates have fallen considerably to pre-pandemic levels, and wages have risen.

Congress, with the help of President Biden, passed landmark legislation, including comprehensive COVID relief for free vaccines, masks, and home testing kits, and payments to struggling businesses and households.

For the first time since the Eisenhower administration, Congress passed a wide-ranging bi-partisan infrastructure bill to repair outdated and crumbling highways, bridges, sewage and water systems, and mass transit, and to extend internet access.

In addition, President Joe Biden demonstrated true leadership in bringing back together the Western alliance of nations to counter the unwarranted and brutal invasion of Ukraine, a sovereign nation, by the Russian Federation’s totalitarian regime under Vladimir Putin.

Despite this progress, Democrats failed to win the 2024 elections by losing the White House and both houses of Congress because of soaring inflation rates that have hit a 40-year high, even though those rates fell substantially by election day.

Donald Trump promised to reduce grocery prices, shrink inflation and interest rates, bring the war between Ukraine and Russia to an end “by day one” of this second administration, solve the seemingly intractable violence and animosities in the Middle East, deport millions of undocumented immigrants, and, of course, “Make America Great Again.”

What he has actually proposed and has imposed on the US electorate, however, amounts to bait and switch policies that very few of his supporters voted for except for his extremist sycophants, which constitute approximately 34% of the electorate.

As a political observer, I have recorded the MAGA movement’s talking points and agenda items during and since the 2016 election of Trump’s first regime, and I developed a preliminary and continually expanding list of items they have or will initiate for the next two years, and further into the future if they hold majorities in Congress and in the State Houses across the nation in the midterms of 2026.

As it turned out, the list is composed of items that the MAGA Republicans under their autocratic leader, Donald Trump, will delete or substantially reduce rather than provide to the residents of the United States:

• No NATO, No United Nations, No World Health Organization
• No Commitment to the International Criminal Court
• No Commitment to the Allies of the US
• No Commitment to Liberal Democracy
• No Commitment to Any Nation’s National Sovereignty
• No Limits to the Amount of Extortion of Other Countries’ Resources
• No Free Trade or Economic Cooperation with Our Trading Partners
• No Limits to Threats of Imposing Economic Hardships on Allies
• No Foreign Aid
• No Ethical or Effective Intelligence Gathering Operations
• No Ethical Leadership of Any Kind
• No Abortion
• No Federal Funding of Reproductive Healthcare Clinics
• No National Healthcare Plan
• No Appropriate and Quick Response to Public Health Emergencies
• No Commitment to Public Health
• No Trust in Science
• No Funding of Institutions for Scientific Research
• No Dedication to Federal Workers’ Job Security
• No Dedication to Expertise and Professionalism in the Hiring and Running of Governmental Agencies
• No Trust in the Leadership of the US Military
• No Paid Parental Leave
• No National Childcare Plan and No Eldercare Plan
• No Permission or Acceptance to Diversity Inclusion and Equity Programs
• No Knowing about Race in Schools and Society
• No Knowing about Gender in Schools and Society
• No Knowing about Sexuality in Schools and Society
• No Knowing of “Hard” US History
• No Commemoration of History and Pride Months
• No Reading of Books They Deem “Controversial”
• No Commitment to Bilingual Education Programs
• No Commitment to Special Education Programs
• No Commitment to the Federal Department of Education
• No Commitment to Following Judicial Decisions They Oppose
• No Commitment to the Systems of Checks and Balances between the Three Separate Branches of Government
• No Limits on the Power of the Executive Branch of Government
• No Commitment to the Rule of Law
• No Commitment to or Respect for the Free Press
• No Marriage Equality for Same-Sex Couples
• No Foster Care or Adoptions by LGBTQ People
• No Public Accommodations for Transgender People
• No Gender Affirming Medical Procedures for Transgender People
• No Transgender Athletes
• No Sex or Gender Outside the Binary of “Male” and “Female”
• No Commitment to Any Person’s Bodily Autonomy
• No Commitment to or Appreciation of Individuals’ Self-Identities Definitions
• No Separation of “Church & State” by reaffirming and strengthening a Patriarchal Christian White Heteronationalist Supremacist Foundation of Government
• No Consumer Protections
• No Labor Unions & No Collective Bargaining
• No Guaranteed Federal Minimum Hourly or Annual Wage
• No Commitment to the Federal Department of Energy
• No Limits on Fossil Fuel Emissions
• No Limits on Gas & Oil Drilling, Mining, & Deforestation
• No Commitment to Maintaining a National Park System
• No Cleaning of the Environment
• No Commitment to Clean Energy Sources
• No Commitment to the Ethical Treatment of Animals
• No Gun Restrictions of Any Kind
• No Black & Brown Immigrants & No Immigration Reform
• No Path to Citizenship for Black & Brown Undocumented Immigrants
• No Police Reform
• No Commitment to Civil and Human Rights
• No Public Safety Net Programs of Any Kind
• No Reductions on Student Loan Debt
• No Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
• No Reduction in Prescription Drug Prices
• No Voting Rights & No GOP Limits on Gerrymandering
• No Trust in the Electorate to Make Informed Decisions
• No Trust in and Validation of Elections Unless Republicans Win
• No Equitable & Fair Tax Policies
• No Narrowing of the Massive Income & Wealth Gaps
• No Commitment to Ensuring Affordable Housing and Solving Problems of Homelessness
• No Social Security, No Medicare, No Medicaid, No SNAP Programs
• No Government Regulations on Business & Industry
• No Prosecution of Capitol Insurrectionists & of Any Republicans
• No Commitment to the Constitution of the United States of America
• No Commitment to Following the “Two Term” Limit for the President of the United States
• No Commitment to Birthright Citizenship
• No Commitment to the National Postal Service
• No Accountability of Federal Agencies
• No Ethics, No Truth, No Facts, No Decency
• No Desire to Govern Even When They Have the Power to Do So
• No Commitment to Democracy
• No Real Commitment to We the People of the United State and to the World Community

The Democrats, Independents, and non-MAGA Republicans must tell their story, the highlights as well of the items they need to improve. They must also tell the truth that the only thing the MAGA Republicans will do and say is “No.”