Kachman, a recent graduate of Michigan State University's James Madison College, is a volunteer writer for Wolf-PAC, which seeks to build grassroots support for a constitutional amendment permitting more regulation of money in politics.
Many of us have worked from home during the pandemic, but not everybody has that luxury. Have you been to your local grocery store? Minimum wage workers who have kept food on our tables have been called "frontline heroes" – and yet when the chance arose to increase their wage to $15 an hour, the proposal was voted down. And the vote was not just along party lines – eight Democrats joined Republicans in rebuffing the bill.
These votes are influenced by the massive power that special interests have over our government. Shopping at a National Grocers Association member store? The NGA has taken a hard stance against raising the minimum wage. Ordering takeout from a restaurant? The National Restaurant Association poured almost $3 million into campaign contributions to both major parties to secure influence in Washington, D.C., and defeat minimum wage legislation. This recent disappointment for minimum wage employees is symptomatic of the corruption that prevents fair pay for hourly employees across the country. While some areas are working to remedy this issue locally, it is woefully insufficient in the face of national inaction.
Congress created the minimum wage in 1938 to ensure that the lowest-paid members of society could keep up with the cost of living. But the federal minimum wage has not been raised for 12 years. In 2019, popular support for raising the minimum wage to $15 dollars reached 67 percent, according to the Pew Research Center. If the goal is to help workers and a majority agrees with the raise, what is taking so long?
It is a response to pressure from major groups that funnel millions of dollars to legislators at the expense of the American people. Many prominent business groups publicly oppose H.R. 582, the Raise the Wage Act. Open Secrets, an independent and nonpartisan nonprofit that records public donations, reports the NGA, NRA, National Federation of Independent Businesses and others have all made significant political expenditures in the last two years. The National Association of Manufacturers spent $14,610,000 on lobbying in 2019, the NRA spent $2,890,000, and the NFIB spent $4,720,000. These groups buy influence in D.C., giving them an outsized voice in policies that affect American workers.
Popular and common-sense bills such as H.R.582 will not gain traction until we remind our national legislators that they represent their constituents, not the large corporations and special-interest groups. To achieve fair minimum wage legislation, we must remove the influence of big money on our politicians by reforming campaign finance laws. The idea that politicians might loosen their grip on this money is about as likely as seeing them support a fair minimum wage for their constituents. However, we have a path forward: Amend the U.S. Constitution to control campaign financing, and take the conversation out of the hands of corrupt politicians. This would force national leaders to serve the people. You can help in this effort by joining Wolf-PAC, a volunteer organization dedicated to bringing about such an amendment.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a“ Steel Across America” event ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks on the Ellipse near the White House on Sept. 8, 2026 in Washington, D.C. President Trump welcomed 9/ 11 first responders to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation’ s“ Steel Across America” event featuring a 16,900- pound, 21- foot steel beam recovered.
For Trump, even 9/11 is an opportunity
There was a reason organizers of the 9/11 ceremony in Manhattan told President Trump he could not speak at this year’s memorial service.
A good one, it turns out.
Because in a speech he gave on Tuesday in Washington, he did exactly what they were presumably worried about — he made it about himself.
According to The New York Times, Trump had wanted a speaking role at the service, but the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum, which oversees the site, said no, as they’ve maintained for the past decade-plus that the venue and event should be nonpartisan.
Trump has long used awful tragedies to either puff himself up, trash political opponents, or sell lies to the American people.
He blamed a deadly plane crash at Washington National Airport last year on diversity, equity and inclusion policies. He blamed Puerto Ricans for the devastation they endured after Hurricane Maria in 2017. He reportedly considered withholding disaster relief after the California wildfires based on the way affected regions voted. In an interview on Fox News meant to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, he used the occasion to slam former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi…with graves of the dead behind him.
And now, as we approach the 25th anniversary of what many New Yorkers consider the darkest day in modern history, Trump has done it again.
He told a rambling, nonsensical story — one he’s told before — about going to Ground Zero just after terrorists flew two commercial jets into the twin towers. In the story, which no one has been able to verify, despite multiple attempts, he says firefighters had to carry him out of One Liberty Plaza, also known as the U.S. Steel Building, because they thought it was about to collapse.
As CNN fact checker Daniel Dale notes, there’s no evidence Trump went into this building, especially at a time when NYPD and NYFD had locked down the area. There’s no evidence that building was collapsing — in fact, it was deemed structurally sound and reopened within two months of the attacks. There’s no evidence he was carried out of it by firefighters.
But the lie isn’t even the worst part. Pretend it was all true — why would the leader of our country, and a New Yorker, decide to make that tragic day about himself?
Because that’s who Donald Trump is. He’s a malignant narcissist.
He’s also, incidentally, a terrible and ineffectual president, who’s made ill-fated decisions that he has to keep defending, and there’s nothing he won’t do to make himself look and feel better.
Within the first two minutes of his speech, he was cravenly using 9/11 to justify and promote his dumb war in Iran — two events separated by 25 years and 6,000 miles.
“And I will tell you, we’re right now fighting because we have a certain nation that wanted a nuclear weapon, they were very close to getting it, and now they have no chance at getting it. They will never have a nuclear weapon. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. And they’ve been punished greatly. As you know, we’ve really taken it to them.”
As a New Yorker who lived through 9/11, still one of the worst days of my life, I’m utterly sickened by Trump’s crass, political, and self-promotional framing of that awful day.
And I’m relieved he won’t be given a platform to do it again on Friday’s anniversary in lower Manhattan.
Because for Trump, everything is his for the taking, and absolutely nothing is sacred.
S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.