Tennessee WordSmith: A Liberal Dose, May 30, 2025 "Our National Tradition of Opposing Kings and Aristocracies"

A Liberal Dose

Our National Tradition of Opposing Kings and Aristocracies

Troy D. Smith

Did you know that, since he was elected six months ago, the size of Donald Trump’s fortune has doubled? DOUBLED. From 2.5 billion to 5 billion. And I hear people say “oh that wonderful man, he’s sacrificed so much to be president- he doesn’t even accept a salary!” He doesn’t NEED to accept a paltry public service salary -not when he can charge billionaires from around the world to come to his private parties to celebrate the “Trump bitcoin”, or when he can arrange for visiting dignitaries and their (large) retinues to have meetings where they have to pay HIM a fortune to stay at his ritzy hotels, or when new Trump hotels are suddenly going up in every country that wants to do backroom deals with him, or even when he can have taxpayers foot the travel bill (millions and millions of dollars so far) for him to spend every weekend golfing at his own private clubs… where he literally charges the small army of secret service agents protecting him to stay at his pricy resorts, and the taxpayer pays for it.

Did you know that there are only about 800 billionaires in America… and they have as much money as the “bottom” half of Americans put together? That’s about 170 million people (and you are probably one of them). In other words, every billionaire -on the average -has as much money as a quarter-of-a-million working class people. And yet, Trump’s “big beautiful bill” that passed the House of Representatives this week is going to -through massive tax cuts to billionaires and millionaires -add $2.3 trillion to the deficit over the next decade. And that is AFTER all the cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and other programs that the bill calls for (and which will be impacting people you know, and maybe you personally). It is being called by economists the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in American history. To say noting of the tariffs, which some are calling the largest tax hike in American history -because tariffs are ultimately paid by YOU, the consumer, NOT foreign countries. Many economists are warning of, not just an imminent recession, but the biggest depression in history… which, they say, will ruin most Americans but will make the super-wealthy even wealthier. And in the midst of this, Trump wants to raise the debt ceiling -so as to incur even MORE national debt, and further imperil America’s economic standing in the world… all to lower taxes on billionaires like himself. To enable people who already have more money than they could ever spend in 100 lifetimes to make MORE. And all that “waste and fraud” being cut by DOGE -which are mostly vital programs for the wellbeing of the citizens of the country, things to “promote the general welfare” -well, all of it put together is only a tiny drop in the bucket compared to the debts about to be incurred by these robber baron tax cuts.

So no, Trump has not “sacrificed so much” -at least not from his own pocket. He has sacrificed, instead, the poor of this country, and then the working class of this country, and he is about to sacrifice the middle class -including many of you reading this that might have voted for him. The whole point, for the entire crowd, is to tear everything down and destroy the ability of the country to function -and then swoop in and buy everything that is left, cheap. And thereby turn YOU into a permanent serf class… barons must own their peasants, after all. And so far, many of you have just been handing it over to them… but it is about to start hurting YOU.

You’ve probably heard the word “oligarchy” thrown around lately… it means “rule by a small group of people”. Well, there’s another word for it: aristocracy. That is literally what “barons” are, titled members of an aristocracy. Our country was FOUNDED on refusing to be ruled by an aristocracy or a king; on everyone being equal and having a fair shot. Well, that fair shot is dwindling day-by-day in this still-young administration… and the elements our country’s founders expected to resist such a turn of events are floundering. The press is afraid to speak out. Education is being crippled. Republicans who hold a majority in Congress go along with everything the president tells them to, either in fear of Trump’s supporters in the primary or, literally, in fear for their own families’ safety. Lower courts have been standing up, but the Supreme Court is a very mixed bag. How thick the irony that SCOTUS is now complaining that Trump is ignoring everything they tell him to do -when they themselves, less than a year ago, ruled that as president he can literally do anything he wants to and be immune from consequences.

Know who it is all coming down to? YOU. I am talking to independents, fence-sitters, people who don’t follow the news, traditional conservatives who have not gone full-MAGA (and maybe some that have). You’ve been sold down the river along with everyone else. Something has to be done to rein this insanity in… and that means you’re going to have to hold your nose and elect some Democrats to Congress so they can check his power. And while you’re at it, to our own state’s legislature.

Sure the libs are being “owned” and a bunch of social issues that do not directly affect you are being reversed… but very soon, your wallet is going to inform you that this is not what you voted for, and you’re going to have to do something about it.

--Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.

Buy the book A Liberal Dose: Communiques from the Holler by Troy D. Smith HERE