WHAT THE HELL DO YOU HAVE TO LOSE?”[1]
Published in the Midwest Business Journal, July 2024
July 12, 2024
The Fourth of July 2024 has come and gone. The national holiday celebrating the founding of America’s declaration of her independence (freedom, liberation) from British rule in 1776 was lackluster for me this year. My Dad loved the Fourth of July. During my childhood, he would gather family and friends together for picnics and parades. I remember being hoisted on his shoulders as we watched the parade make its way down Broad Street in Newark, New Jersey, then head to see the fireworks at Schools Stadium in the evening. That was many years ago and thinking about those good times brings a smile to my face. But this year, the 4th didn’t feel like a holiday to me. Though I remembered the excitement of childhood celebrations, I didn’t feel like celebrating or watching fireworks this year. Rather, I found myself in a pensive, melancholy mood; nothing really wrong, just reflective.
Then I realized this was the same way I felt on Memorial Day 2024. What’s going on? For me, holidays are always a good reason to celebrate. I’m not one who suffers from depression or anxiety and am usually in a good mood, but right now, I just can’t get into a festive mood, at least not about holidays that now cause me to ponder their origin, meaning, intent, and impact. I had to sit still a while to sort out my discontent and eventually realized what was causing my mood. What’s been lurking in my mind and spirit are these words, “What the hell do you have to lose?” You may recall hearing this spoken by then-presidential candidate djt (naming him denotes a sense of respect that I can’t find right now, so he will be referred to by his lowercase initials, but you know who I mean.)
Supposedly addressing African American voters, he asked this troubling and insulting question in Dimondale, Michigan, on August 19, 2016. Going off script at a campaign rally he said, “You’re living in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58% of your youth is unemployed – what the hell do you have to lose?”[2]
That’s what’s been brewing and gnawing at me, sitting in the back of my mind, but now resurfacing since this 2024 presidential campaign began. I can’t celebrate because I’m constantly asking myself the same question: What the hell do we have to lose? I’m thinking about that troubling, misleading, disparaging, racially targeted description of a specific portion of American citizens, posed as a campaign promise to improve the conditions he listed (poverty, education, employment) even more now that djt is running for president a third time and, in essence, again posing the same question to Black Americans. He won the 2016 election and was president for four years, yet I find no statistics to indicate that he made good on that promise. Poverty was not eliminated, public education was not improved, and unemployment remained high for African Americans during his term and for every other community that was already dealing with these issues.
Remembering his racist stereotypical and tenuous description of the entire Black community and his unkept promises, it turns out we had a lot to lose. Not only Black Americans, but every working and middle-class person, despite ethnicity, culture, education, or political affiliation, needs to ask themselves this question during this election season- what have you got to lose? Look back to see where you were four years ago; were you, your community, family and friends really better off then? Let’s take a short stroll down memory lane! Two of the most egregious djt memories for me are his border policy and his mishandling of the COVID-19 crisis.
- Don’t forget about the immigrant children at our southern borders who were ripped from their mother’s arms, held in cages, and separated from their families. Some of these children will never be reunited with their families again. All browned-skinned immigrants were referred to as uneducated, terrorists, criminals, rapists, murderers, and animals or as coming from “shit-hole countries.”[3]
- By July 2020, the nation was on lockdown because the president refused to take seriously the impact the deadly coronavirus, COVID-19, would have on the country. His failure to respond, his minimizing the impact of a global pandemic, his telling us it wasn’t that bad and would be gone by Easter (2020), to drink bleach and not wear masks, and his disrespect for the experts in the field were all examples of his failure to respond adequately.
- Is someone missing from your family or cadre of friends because they died from Covid 19? Do you know someone who still suffers from Long Haul Covid? In 2020, it was America’s leading cause of death, sometimes taking as many as 2,226 lives a day that year alone.[4] According to JAMA,
- “The United States, which constitutes 4% of the globe’s population, rank(ed) first in the world in total pandemic deaths (19% of the global total), with the 12th worst (as of December 14, [2020]) COVID-19 cumulative mortality rates of all countries…. Notably, people of color have about twice the death rate as White people; 1 in 875 Black persons and 1 in 925 Indigenous persons have died compared with 1 in 1625 White persons.” [5]
By the end of 2020, over 350,000 Americans had lost their lives to COVID-19, and families and communities were changed forever.[6] I personally lost 20 people, family members or close friends, to this dreaded virus. Certainly, all these deaths cannot be blamed on djt, but they could have been significantly lower had he taken it seriously and warned the nation when he was given the information in intelligence briefings in January 2020.[7]
I can’t stress enough that this is a question all Americans should be asking themselves right now, especially with the threatening promise from The Heritage Foundation and its president Kevin Roberts, of a “second American revolution”[8] based on the “pillars of Project 2025,” making what they call “A Conservative Promise” to America. [9] This conservative promise will change life in America as we know it for all of us. Have you heard of Project 2025? If you aren’t familiar with this movement and document, please learn as much as you can about its contents and intent. Don’t take my word for it, do your own research. Just this past Wednesday, the Center for American Progress[10] held a webinar explaining the potential dangers of Project 2025. Please take the time to view the YouTube Live[11] recording and listen to the speakers explain the dangers far better than I can in this short article. [12]
We all have a lot to lose if this “Presidential Transition Project”[13] is allowed to influence and take over public policy and laws, government and private entities, civil liberties, and “liberty and justice for all.”[14] If djt becomes president again in 2025, all of us will be affected in adverse ways. Don’t think because you are not a person of color, an immigrant, or descendants of dark-hued immigrants, that this manifesto won’t affect you. Read their playbook! Links to their site and the entire document are included in this article.
So I found myself asking, is this the last 4th of July that will be celebrated in a free, democratic America? How many more Memorial Days will the nation be able to commemorate if the democracy and freedoms we say we value are lost to far-right, ultra-conservative forces? Will the sacrifices of millions of Americans who fought in wars on foreign soil to ensure freedom at home be in vain? Did they give their lives and limbs for naught?
A song from the African American religious experience rises up in my spirit and may better explain how I feel. “This May be the Last Time” [15] A spiritual sung in slow, plaintive, mournful voices, the people sang:
This may be the last time
This may be the last time
It may be the last time, I don’t know
It may be the last time we all sing together
It may be the last time we all pray together
It may be the last time we all meet together
Why this song? Perhaps because my people sang this song knowing the dangers Black people faced just to survive in the Jim Crow South and segregated North, fearing that one or more of them would not survive the fight. It seems appropriate at this moment because no one knows what we will have to face after November 5, 2024.
If we as a nation are not diligent, every right and freedom we think we have will be stripped away if maga (lowercase initials) Republicans gain and seize political power. The past three years have shown us that the freedoms, rights, and privileges so many Americans take for granted have eroded, been systematically stripped away by a conservative minority holding Americans hostage to its whims and desires – equal rights, voting rights, abortion rights, affirmative action, diversity, equity, and inclusion; any and all civil liberties are at risk if djt becomes president again. Perhaps I’m not in a celebratory mood because I sense danger ahead. Instead, I’m concerned, very concerned about the future of America, praying for this nation while learning all I can about the issues that will affect the future of everyone living in this nation.
That question, “What the hell do we have to lose?” coupled with what we are hearing more and more these days from djt, who hasn’t hidden his intentions of retribution and retaliation if re-elected and violence if he loses, should cause every American to pause and seriously consider the choices before us.
I’m not trying to be an alarmist or doomsday prophet, but I am sounding a warning. If you think the government has too much power now, allow the far-right Republicans to gain political power. The lives of your children and grandchildren will be radically different from what you envision for them. “Project 2025” concerns me and should concern every justice-seeking person in the country, regardless of your party affiliation. If the Heritage Foundation, Steve Bannon, and their individual and corporate supporters[16] have their way, the Constitution will be abolished, forever changed, and the 1st and 14th Amendments will mean nothing. Sure, you can have your guns (2nd Amendment), but that’s about the only right that will remain. Then, the nation will be ruled by anarchy. There are far too many points of this mandate to cover in this article, so again, I suggest you familiarize yourself with its tenets. Here are a few that immediately trouble me.
Do you work for the federal or state government in a civil service position? [17] Do you think your civil service or government job is secure? Think again. If djt is re-elected Project 2025 promises a:
bloodless revolution (which) includes an action plan to dismantle what (Roberts) has described as “the deep state,” by removing civil service employment protections for all federal employees. …Removing the employment protections, which have been in place for 135 years, would make the civil servants at all levels of the federal government easier to fire and replace with Republican loyalists.”[18]
After replacing the civil service, the Project then proposes the implementation of several more right-wing policies. These include eliminating the Department of Education, reducing the scope of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, rolling back renewable-energy programs to create a regulatory environment that favors the fossil fuel industry, limiting mail-order abortion pills, and removing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) hiring policies from federal programs.[19]
Are you retired or soon to be retired, expecting your Social Security check? If you or a loved one depend on Medicare and or Social Security as I do for income and health care coverage, know that these programs are in serious jeopardy. Remember, these are NOT entitlement programs. Most of us worked 20-30 years or more, contributing from every paycheck into these social programs so we would have at least a small income and health care in retirement. These monetary contributions were not voluntary and were promised to be available when we became senior citizens and needed them to remain self-sufficient and financially stable. That this group of so-called conservatives even considers reducing or doing away with SS and Medicare is unconscionable and morally reprehensible. If this is allowed to happen America would be reneging on her promise to her older citizens. But what have we got to lose?
Do you enjoy watching your local Public Broadcasting Station (PBS) or listening to National Public Radio (NPR)? These politically neutral beloved institutions will be under attack and dismantled. According to the Project 2025 Mandate for Leadership,
“all Republican Presidents have recognized that public funding of domestic broadcasts is a mistake …. The next President should instruct the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) to exclude the stations affiliated with PBS and NPR from the NCE (Noncommercial educational) denomination and the privileges that come with it.”[20]
If this is allowed to happen, all radio and television broadcasts may be controlled by government-owned and controlled media, such as Russia’s RT (Russian State TV News) and Sputnik (Russian State Radio Broadcast.) [21] Dissenting journalists may face censure or prison. The first amendment, assuring free speech, will be under attack. But, again I ask, what the hell do you have to lose?
We are in the midst of a political storm. Can’t you feel the winds swirling around you, picking up speed, about to hit like a category 7 hurricane, destroying everything and everyone it doesn’t agree with? Long-held ideas like the pursuit of happiness, freedom of speech, equal rights, justice, freedom, and liberty for all are in peril. Some days, I feel like I’m sitting at the bedside of a loved one on life support, knowing that the final outcome could go either way: life or death. The mood in the room is somber; people are worried, praying, and crying, and all are wondering what the next days, weeks, and months will bring. But none have given up hope because the loved one is still alive. Yes, there is still hope. America is still America. Democracy is still alive. Let’s gather around her bedside with all of our differences while holding hands, praying for her recovery, and vowing to be her caregivers as she recovers and heals from the internal attacks that would cause her demise. Keep asking “What the hell do we have to lose?” When you have your answer, you’ll know what you have to do. While you’re waiting for your answer, sing this patriotic song by Irving Berlin:
God Bless America
God bless America, land that I love
Stand beside her and guide her
Through the night with the light from above
From the mountains to the prairies
To the oceans white with foam
God bless America, my home sweet home
God bless America, my home sweet home[22]
Yes, there may be difficult days ahead for us, but let these passages of scripture give you hope.
Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
Isaiah 41:10, New Living Translation
Don’t worry about anything; on the contrary, make your requests known to God by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving.Then God’s shalom, passing all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in union with the Messiah Yeshua.
Philippians 4:6-7, Complete Jewish Bible
Peace and Blessings,
The Woke Rev. Jean Derricotte-Murphy, PhD. D.Min
[1] Quote djt https://www.cnn.com/2016/08/19/politics/donald-trump-african-american-voters/index.html
[2] Tom LoBianco and Ashley Killough, CNN. 2016. “Trump Pitches Black Voters: ‘What the Hell Do You Have to Lose?’ | CNN Politics.” CNN. Cable News Network. August 20. https://www.cnn.com/2016/08/19/politics/donald-trump-african-american-voters/index.html.
[3] https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-referred-haiti-african-countries-shithole-nations-n836946
[4] Howard K. Koh et al. “Deaths From Covid-19.” Journal of the American Medical Association. JAMA Network. December 17, 2020. © 2021 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2774464.
[5] Howard K. Koh et al. “Deaths From Covid-19.” Journal of the American Medical Association. JAMA Network. December 17, 2020. © 2021 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2774464.
[6] CDC Podcast. “2020 Final Death Statistics: COVID-19 as an Underlying Cause of Death vs. Contributing Cause.”
[7] Rascoe, Ayesha, and Colin Dwyer. 2020. “Trump Received Intelligence Briefings On Coronavirus Twice In January.” NPR. NPR. May 2. https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/05/02/849619486/trump-received-intelligence-briefings-on-coronavirus-twice-in-january.
[8] Flynn Nicholls. “Project 2025 Leader Promises ‘Second American Revolution.’” Newsweek. July 3, 2024. https://www.newsweek.com/project-2025-promises-second-revolution-1920506.
[9] https://www.project2025.org/
[10] https://www.americanprogress.org/about-us/
[11] Benson, Robert, Marquisha Johns, Will Ragland, and Jamie Friedman. 2024. “Project 2025: Exposing the Far-Right Assault on America.” Center for American Progress. July 10. https://www.americanprogress.org/events/project-2025-exposing-the-far-right-assault-on-america/.
[12] https://www.americanprogress.org/events/project-2025-exposing-the-far-right-assault-on-america/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=amprog_en&utm_campaign=default&utm_content=exc+inv+01+20250709+Project-2025-VIRTUAL+reminder+1+x
[13] https://www.project2025.org/policy/
[14] The Pledge of Allegiance.
[15] Listen here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5r8MzwNJtE&ab_channel=SweetHoneyintheRock-Topic and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp6iRSxjGuY&ab_channel=AmadoMcCarroll-Gallegos.
[16] See Project 2025’s corporate Advisory Board. https://www.project2025.org/about/advisory-board/
[17] https://www.usajobs.gov/
[18] https://www.newsweek.com/project-2025-promises-second-revolution-1920506
[19] https://www.newsweek.com/project-2025-promises-second-revolution-1920506
[20] Gonzales, Mike. Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise. Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project. Playbook. 245, 248. https://www.project2025.org/policy/
[21] 2024. U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State. Accessed July 11. https://www.state.gov/report-rt-and-sputniks-role-in-russias-disinformation-and-propaganda-ecosystem/.
[22] Irving Berlin. God Bless America lyrics © Concord Music Publishing LLC, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc
