Trump IRS Nominee Wanted to Shut Down the Humane Society

December 6, 2024

Jon Hochschartner

There are a surprising number of animal activists who held out hope a second Donald Trump presidency would be good for nonhuman welfare or at least less damaging than a Kamala Harris White House. I often had a hard time sorting out whether these campaigners were naive, contrarian, or fundamentally conservative. In the end, it doesn’t really matter.

Now, don’t get me wrong. The Democrats are indisputably bad on animal issues. But in every measurable sense, they’re far better than the Republicans. For instance, almost all of the politicians who receive 100-percent ratings from the Humane Society Legislative Fund are Democrats. Almost all of those who receive zero-percent ratings are Republicans.

Similarly, almost all of the politicians seeking to advance cellular agriculture are Democrats. Almost all of those seeking to outlaw it are Republicans. Further, the only state in the country that has a ban on fur sales and manufacturing is California, which is controlled by — you guessed it — Democrats. On issue after issue relevant to animal treatment, the choice is clear.

In the latest example of this partisan difference, Trump’s nominee for the head of the Internal Revenue Service, former Missouri Representative Billy Long, previously sought to undermine the nonprofit status of the Humane Society of the United States. In 2011, Long requested the IRS probe HSUS due to the latter’s support for a ballot measure regulating dog breeders.

More:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/12/06/trump-irs-nominee-wanted-to-shut-down-the-humane-society/