Our deepest collective shame isn't that Donald Trump managed to become President

[Tom Rinaldo]

Though that is more than enough to be deeply ashamed of. It is that our society still grants him the power and influence of that office, and that a major American political party still stands by him as their leader heading into critical mid term elections.

It is one thing to elect a demagogue once, it is another not to purge him immediately once that fact is widely known, and another still to then literally acquiesce to his leadership for any number of craven political and self serving reasons. It was not Trump's election itself that so gravely threatens our democracy, it is all that has happened since.

[CatMor]

1. The sad part of all of this is he did not win the popular vote ...

time to get rid of the archaic electoral college.

[brertom]

10. Please

The elector system is where the theft of the office occurred. Gerrymandering is the thief. The elector system has never been allowed to function as designers. Winner take all laws stole the very first election in 1793 and they continue to dis-empower us to this day. Sorry but...

[Bernardo de La Paz]

14. Welcome to DU.

9 years a member and first post today!

Definitely not a troll!

Regardless, welcome.

[a kennedy]

2. I know, AND I STILL CAN NOT BELIEVE IT.

and sorry for yelling.

[Initech]

3. Our deepest collective shame is what he's awakened.

He's awakened neo Nazis, white supremacists, and hardcore racists and sexists - really the worst among us. It's not that he's president, it's that he's brought out, awakened, and enabled America's really ugly side.

[Tom Rinaldo]

4. Yes, and that they now feel so confident about revealing themselves rather than scrambling back

under the rocks they came out from under.

[Initech]

5. What's even scarier is how they're courting the youth.

The younger generation has become more racist and sexist than their parents ever were or could be. I keep saying they're just now starting to vote, wait until they're old enough to run for office. Then the shit will really hit the fan!

[FiveGoodMen]

19. The worst thing for me is that they were THERE to be awakened.

1 in 3 citizens of THIS COUNTRY are god-damned, mother-fucking, Nazi scum. (Look at the approval ratings)

I utterly hate the human race.

We are not worth saving.

[Initech]

20. Yeah you're probably right.

We knew the Nazis were bad the first time, by the time we figure it out the second time it may be too late.

[Trust Buster]

6. I see your point but I still think the worst thing was watching this asshole act like a mad man

For 18 months on the campaign trail and then watching your fellow citizens think he should be the president. It is much harder to remove a president than it is to deny him the position in the first place.

[Tom Rinaldo]

7. I see your point also

But, IMHO, hard as it may be to remove a President it is harder still not to ignore the damage he does daily to our nation while in office. Some (I am not saying most) of those who voted for Trump probably never thought he would actually win and others thought "the system" would provide a counter check to his worst impulses. No one can be under any such illusions now.

[Liberalagogo]

8. It would have been one thing to have been proven wrong about Shithole....

But even BEFORE the "election" of 2016, everything that was said about Shithole then has now been shown to be true!

[DownriverDem]

9. Why they stand by trump

The repubs in the House and Senate are afraid of trump and his base voters. All they care about is winning their elections in November.

[The Liberal Lion]

11. Yes, yes, yes

[mountain grammy]

12. Exactly!

Republicans have no shame. What is happening is a disgrace and will be the end of democracy if we don't turn it around in November.

[Uncle Joe]

13. Conglomeration and dysfunction of our "fourth estate" treating Presidential Elections

as an ongoing "reality" T.V. program led to the inevitable rise of Trump and if future elections are treated the same way wherein critical issues and policies of substance are relegated to drama, polls and celebrity we will not only have a repeat of Trump, it will worsen.

I believe more than any dynamic or institution the corporate media conglomerates created the monster by giving him billions of dollars in free advertising over every inane statement or action of his as if those acts were just "unconventional" politics instead of condemning the side show and placing greater emphasis on lesser known candidates and policies as a means to "gain more viewers" because the "American People get bored by honest discussions and debates of substance" at least that's the media's underlying message.

There are inherent and major conflicts of interest between what's best for the American People and that of the corporate media conglomerates' parent corporations, their CEOs, upper management and major stockholders from health care and global warming climate change to vast wealth inequality and a host of other issues, at least in the short term vision and too often that seems to be all they have.

No matter how much they hate Trump, they love those tax cuts for major corporations and the mega-wealthy that he signed into law and if any political leader proposes raising taxes predominately on those two groups, the corporate media conglomerates frame it more ambiguously as tax increases on everyone without giving a full accounting to the beneficial results of such actions to scare the American People into Pavlov Dog responses.

They knew or at the very least should've known with the most rudimentary of investigations what Trump was years before he announced his candidacy.

The great dysfunction and potential calamitous consequences of having a President at odds with his own government and people is a direct reflection of the corporate media conglomerates looking in the mirror, when Trump calls them "fake news" he knew they went along for the ride but were too scared to get off the back of the Tiger.

Thanks for the thread Tom Rinaldo

[Duppers]

15. Well said, Joe.

They are normalizing the crimes TRump and the GOP have committed and are continuing against our republic.

[Tom Rinaldo]

17. Perhaps the clearest example to date of the conflict between the ideal of a free society

and corporate controlled media. I don't seem to recall hours and hours of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders campaign rallies being broadcast live. Even if one were to accept the argument (which I don't) that there was more public demand to view Trump's antics than to see Hillary and Bernie actually address issues, it was a clear violation of the ground rules for a healthy democracy to provide one side with billions more in free advertising. And the consequences of that are what we are now living through today.

[kentuck]

16. Well said!

Shame.

[Hortensis]

18. Respectfully disagree the worst thing is that our system holds.

You didn't state it that way, but our institutions are working as they were intended under the extraordinary circumstances of congress and the WH being filled with Republicans who are now trying to destroy them. They still stand strong against all these attacks and stresses, and that is very reassuring to me in these dangerous times.

Imo, the worst thing is not even The Donald raging in the oval office.

The worst is that many millions of Americans voted for this depraved, disordered and dangerous buffoon and that most of those still support him and want to reelect traitorous people to office.

The politically deranged mass they've become is the grave danger that may bring down our republic. Trump is a symptom of this far greater disorder.