Slumlord president Donald Trump shames California Democrats on eviction ban
Sure, it's a cynical move. Everyone knows Trump doesn't care about renters.
But, depressingly, his ban is a lot more generous than what's on offer in
states and cities all across America.
Yasha Levine
Sep 3
Donald Trump did a federal eviction moratorium. It's true. Our abusive
slumlord president - through an executive order, now carried out by the
Center for Disease Control and Prevention - just made it much harder for
landlords to evict tenants because of their failure to pay rent.
As far as things go, Trump's eviction ban is still limited and narrow.
It only applies to renters who are facing eviction because of lost income or
medical expenses. So it doesn't protect people in situations like mine and
Evgenia's, as we're dealing with a landlord who wants to clear us out of a
rent-controlled apartment for no good reason whatsoever. Doesn't matter if
it's happening to us during a pandemic, we're not covered. On top of that,
Trump's eviction ban also doesn't last very long. It expires in January,
right after the presidential election in November - at which point it looks
like renters will be on the hook for past due rent.
So the ban delays the inevitable eviction crisis - delays it long enough for
Trump to leverage it for his reelection. And after that? Who cares what
happens, right?
Trump in the New York Times, 1985
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Sure, it's a cynical move. Everyone knows Trump could care less about
renters. But politically it's smart. And here's the thing: despite its
limitations and cynicism, Trump's ban is a lot more generous than what's on
offer in states and cities all across America.
It's definitely better than the crappy eviction "moratorium" signed into law
a few days ago by California governor Gavin Newsom. Out here in the land of
liberalism and the Democratic Party, renters are now protected but only if
they can keep forking over at least 25 percent of their rent. But if you
lost your job and can't keep paying the monthly protection money to your
landlord? Tough luck. Go sell some homemade masks, get creative, rob
someone. No one cares how you get the cash. And if you can't cut it, well,
take your family and fuck off. Plenty of sidewalks and freeway underpasses
to choose from.
That's the political brutality the Democratic Party is selling out here,
wrapped up as the pinnacle of progressivism: "We shut down the economy to
protect you from a pandemic and now that you're unemployed because of it,
you're pretty much on your own." The panicked desires of landlords come
first.
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-Yasha Levine
