George Gresham, president of the New York-based 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, a position he has held since 2007, recently penned a piece titled "Donald Trump is Destroying Our Planet." According to Gresham, Trump has "destroyed the global health security and biodefense directorate that the Obama administration put in place. " Furthermore, Gresham asserts that "the Trump administration's complete failure in face of the greatest public health crisis in modern history is only the most glaring example of how dangerous his presidency has been." According to Gresham "[w]e have all seen the outright corruption -- not only his personal corruption in looting our tax dollars to make millions from his hotels and golf courses -- but his corruption of the government itself." Moreover, Trump "has waged war . . . against immigrant workers from Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Muslims, Asians and Africans in our communities."

These are certainly serious charges and as Ayn Rand wrote in her essay "How Does One Lead a Rational Life in an Irrational Society, they "require the most precise, the most exacting, the most ruthlessly objective and rational process of thought" in order to refute them.

The first clue to his ideology is the non sequitur he makes about "looting tax dollars" and Trump's ventures in construction. Then, Gresham completely ignores the fact that Trump sent 4,000 respirators and 4,400 ventilators as well as a naval ship to assist New York health workers fighting the pandemic. Also Gresham sidesteps the unconscionable actions of Governor Cuomo who absolutely put health workers and patients in perilous situations when he insisted that nursing homes take back corona virus residents.

Thus, some background on Gresham may be useful. Gresham's position "as 1199 SEIU president has made him a prominent figure in New York politics. Gresham led 1199 SEIU into being a major player in New York's left-wing politics. In 2011, Gresham joined various left-wing activists and union officials at a march led by Al Sharpton and his National Action Network in Washington D.C."

Moreover, "[i]n 2013, Gresham and his union endorsed left-wing Public Advocate Bill de Blasio (D) for mayor of New York City. De Blasio was elected mayor, and he selected Gresham to be a part of his transition team."

Let's review the actions of DeBlasio concerning illegal immigration. Michael Cutler has clearly stated that the Trump administration "is not attempting to deport immigrants but is attempting to deport illegal aliens, especially when they have committed serious crimes and pose a threat to public safety [.]"

In fact, "[n]ot content with simply declaring NYC a 'Sanctuary City' DeBlasio has provided hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens with municipal identity documents that help illegal aliens embed themselves in NYC and provide them with a level of credibility they should not have." The statistics speak for themselves. In addition, over time, "millions of otherwise sensible Americans . . . accept and even laud politicians and their corrupt immigration policies and practices that undermine public safety, public health, national security and the jobs and wages of American workers." Just consider that the California Illegal Alien Giveaway Helpline received 1.1 million calls in one day. I wonder how Gresham will explain away how illegals depress the job possibilities for American Black and Hispanic workers who comprise much of his union. Furthermore, there is genuine and valid concern about Muslims who enter this country not to assimilate but to stealthily impose sharia law.

Then there is Al Sharpton, a con man par excellence. Sharpton supported "Marxist revolutionary Angela Davis for her role in abetting the murder of a California judge." Sharpton fabricated the Tawana Brawley racial hoax. He spread a false rumor that incited a crowd in Crown Heights that led to a pogrom and the death of Australian Jewish scholar Yankel Rosenbaum.

But back to Gresham -- It turns out that "[i]n September 2015, he wrote an op-ed for the New York Daily News calling for a 'bolder' labor union movement [wherein he stated] 'It is also becoming clear that — with the increasing attacks on the rights of women, communities of color and immigrants — social and economic justice [emphasis mine] are inextricably linked.' He called for labor unions to work with activists from Black Lives Matter, transgender rights activists, immigrant-rights activists, and other left-wing activists. Thus, he openly advocates for an increase in the "state's coercive power" to decide who will get his fair share concerning employment, housing, income, health care, leisure, political power, property, social recognition, and wealth."

Black Lives Matter should be more aptly titled Black Lies Matter since as Heather MacDonald points out "The Black Lives Matter movement has been feted repeatedly at the [Obama] White House and honored at the Democratic National Convention. Hillary Clinton . . . incorporated its claims about racist, homicidal cops into her presidential campaign pitch." Even "assassinations of police officers in the name of Black Lives Matter ideology have not slowed down the anti-cop demonstrations or diminished the virulent hatred directed at cops during those protests. "

Apparently Gresham is comfortable with this. Moreover, in 2017 he wrote an op-ed "arguing for a government-controlled healthcare program under the euphemism 'Medicare for All.' Among the countries his column praised was communist Cuba." Again, he is on board for greater governmental control since Medicare for All is all about governmental power and decreased health care.

In addition, "in 2006 George Soros's Open Society Institute awarded a $100,000 grant to SEIU. In 2008, SEIU spent approximately $60.7 million to help elect Barack Obama to the White House, deploying some 100,000 pro-Obama campaign volunteers who 'knocked' on 1.87 million doors, made 4.4 million phone calls … and sent more than 2.5 million pieces of mail in support of Obama."

In reality, SEIU's positions on political issues are rigid leftist thought, i.e., supporting citizenship for illegal aliens, and destroying capitalism via climate control programs.

In "1991, the Union split and the breakaway group, the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS) was established. This 'group ranks third among Marxist organizations in the United States today, in terms of size and influence.' In addition, it seeks to dismantle capitalism and replace it with socialism. Also, it views the United States and Israel as the two chief sources of evil on earth."

Indeed, "[o]ne of those CCDS officials, Rafael Pizarro, went on to help establish the New Party, a socialist organization that Barack Obama would join in 1995. In 2007, 1199's executive vice president Steve Kramer spoke enthusiastically about the role which the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) had played in building up his union.

Thus, it is no surprise when Gresham ends with the following rant about Trump -- "An additional four years of his politics may set the stage for more pandemics and put out of reach humanity's ability to halt melting ice caps, rising sea levels, drowning coastal cities, [and] wildfires [.]" Gresham is an impeccable echo chamber of Obama, the Incompetent.

Gresham's diatribe is particularly illuminating and proof positive of the total leftwing Marxist politicization of the labor union.

It would behoove Gresham to acknowledge that "the secret war the Obama White House declared on Trump before he was even elected, was a war on America. This was a direct attack on the most fundamental institution of our democracy - elections."

But the Left in this country despises what Trump represents as it despises America.

In fact, "[t]he subsequent cynical attempts to frame Trump as a traitor and then to impeach him for concocted offenses is without precedent. Because they were attacks on our democracy itself, Obamagate is the worst political crime committed against our country in its entire history." But why would Gresham concede this? He is in on the war.

What is perhaps most disturbing is that so many truly hardworking, dedicated health workers in 1199 are being duped by their leadership. They are being exposed to the most radical Marxist ideology and don't even know it. And as in any radical Marxist leftwing society, they will be sacrificed on the altar of this corrupt ideology.
Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com.