I write this not to explain in detail exactly what we need to do to end this ongoing

[Atticus]

nightmare of daily outrages for which there never seems to be any consequence. No, I "take pen in hand", so to speak, simply to say "this is how I feel" and if you feel the same, maybe we're both sane.

I feel like we're headed for an explosion; a tragedy that could be avoided but likely will not be. We know what's wrong; we know WHO is wrong; we know what they've done so far and we know what they'd like to do---to us--- in the future. But, when the Founding Fathers drafted our Constitution, somehow they did not foresee the possibility that Americans would one day day allow a corrupt, incompetent, overbearing, lying dictator-wannabe to occupy the White House and that the majority of the Senate would be OK with that. And, they had no way to even imagine the speed at which political crises today can "erupt" from the insane words and actions of a traitor in charge of the ship of state.

So, all of the remedies--- the laws and rules and policies and customs---that served us so well in all prior administrations, just don't seem to quite "fit". As a result, a whole lot of well-meaning decent people are, in effect, milling around as they try to assure each other that "it will all work out" and endlessly review how past "situations" were handled.

This is NOT normal and it IS unprecedented. While I am not suggesting anything illegal, I am suggesting that it may be necessary to reconsider and reconstrue existing "common wisdom" and consider new ways to proceed against a novel assault on our government from within. If something is not done soon to get rid of the traitorous maniac currently playing POTUS, that "explosion" I mentioned earlier may be unavoidable.

The usuals can now explain how I am "politically unsophisticated" and "not living in the real world". I don't think I am alone.

[onecaliberal]

1. You're not alone.

[Brawndo]

2. You aren't alone

If they throw out the Rule of Law and cause that "explosion", they don't have the numbers to impose their will on the majority population.

[Hoyt]

3. Yep. Biggest problem is that if trump leaves tomorrow, we are still left with ignorant white wingers

who elected him and similar GOPers around the country.

Clearly it will help to remove the Racist-in-Chief, but millions who supported this crud will still be pulling voting levers.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

22. Step 2

[Hoyt]

33. As long as we plan for the next step, I'm good.

[barbtries]

4. our democracy is in grave peril.

i think a general strike is called for, but the will to do it still has to build up more. here on DU we are almost all people who really pay attention; we're engaged. most people are just slogging through life and maybe they watch the local news at 5 and browse fb for news.

i think comparisons to nazi germany are apt. i don't think the republicans or trump and his cult can be underestimated as to how low they will go.

Dystopia, civil war, mass incarceration and extrajudicial murders of resisters, scientists, immigrants? i don't know, i just think that they are that bad and it would be unrealistic at this point to keep saying it can't happen here. i never thought what has gone on already would ever happen here.

where i thought wrong: i knew trump was a walking talking catastrophe. I did NOT know that republicans would abandon their posts and the rule of law and allow this corruption to blossom.

[Mr.Bill]

8. It wouldn't even take a general strike.

If every truck driver and every public transportation worker stayed home this country's economy would grind to a halt in a matter of weeks if not sooner.

[barbtries]

10. yes.

but i would like to see even more. no trash pickup, no fast food, just a general strike until democracy is restored. it might just wake some republicans up. i wish i knew.

[Mr.Bill]

11. It would cause

the stock market to crash and that's the only thing that will get their attention.

[Susan Calvin]

14. I'd take it, in spite of what it would do to my savings.

I said that with Bush, I say it now.

I won't say that I haven't got things as safe as I can manage.

[barbtries]

17. works for me.

IF we survive this presidency we'll be generations trying to right the ship. makes me so sad.

[Stonepounder]

16. I wish I had your confidence.

I personally don't think there is a way back.

General Strike? Blame it on the Democrats, nationalize the Guard to pick up the slack, arrest the strikers and declare Martial Law. If necessary say they are guilty of Treason (seeing as how Trump considers anything that criticizes him to be Treason) and start shooting the strikers. (It has been done before.) Then, if even more is necessary, toss a couple of nukes into Iran.

What are we going to do when a court rules that Trump must do "A" and he says NO? And McConnell refuses to do anything about it and claims that the President has the right to disobey a court order and the AG orders the DOJ to 'stand down'?

God, I hope I'm wrong.

[barbtries]

18. i'm sure it would get ugly.

but the sheer numbers should prevail. people bled to end slavery, for civil rights, to end the war in Vietnam. if there is a groundswell from the people, their power will take the day.

personally i'll volunteer, i'm already pretty old and so want future generations to have a shot at decent lives.

my lasting takeaway from reading the People's History of the United States is that the real power rests in the people. he may want to turn this country into another north korea, but the percentage of totally brainwashed people is too small.

[Stonepounder]

34. We might be able to recover, eventually,

but the cost. Take a look at Germany and look what they had to go through to get rid of Hitler. And that was before nukes. 6,000,000 civilians dead in concentration camps, a nation in ruins, divided into East and West, the Berlin Wall. Finally, in my lifetime the wall came and Germany was reunited, and worked its way back to being a Democratic nation.

Maybe we can do the same after my admittedly worst case scenario. Guess I'm just watching too much news.

[barbtries]

37. yeah.

me too. it's so dire.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

23. We have fallen into Trump's trap and it will take more

than old ideas to get out. Perfect storm...we are caught in - trump crazy and instant news for profit as well.

That is why we need revolutionary, out of the box thinkers running our party and figuring out a savvy media plan. Not people who's eyes are caught in the headlights living in the old gentile world.

Step 1:. Private sector leader..steyer?
Call a one week retreat somewhere. Gather NYC ad men, Hollywood creative types with money, the best and the brightest democratic strategic minds, IT experts, IT campaign experts and FIGURE OUT how to get this MF out.

[colsohlibgal]

5. This Is An Extraordinary Time

This hare brained evil excuse for a human being must be stopped.

This isn’t funny anymore, he and his true believers are a clear and present danger for our country and way of life. Our democracy is on the rocks.

[Karadeniz]

6. What is left for Trump to do? He tried stalling. He tried defiance of subpoenas. So far

that's a bust. He's tried lying, got others to lie. What's left? He's got to explode.

[watoos]

19. What's a bust?

Barr is going to control the narrative for Trump. The Mueller report is over, it exonerated Trump, the FBI and Democrats (Hillary) committed treason, Barr is a bigger liar than trump, he will spin a bs tale to prove it. Trump will put Hillary on the 2020 ballot.

The only way to spin the narrative back is to start an impeachment inquiry.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

24. +1

[alittlelark]

7. I was just about to post something similar to your post.....

This Is The Moment..... We are at a point in history that will be written about by elementary school children 10+ years from now. Provided that we allow them the opportunity to have free speech.

[alwaysinasnit]

9. Thank you Atticus.

[NRaleighLiberal]

12. You are not at all alone. Here's the sad thing - I've feared about pretty much all we've seen since

9 PM on election night when it was clear that it was stolen. It has been a long, depressing scary time with no clear end in sight.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

25. But why no end in sight? Because we have no game

And I mean REAL savvy game

[NRaleighLiberal]

28. we play nice. we go high. the two sides are playing completely different games right now

Last edited Sat May 25, 2019, 09:10 AM - Edit history (1)

what makes it worse is the world-wide turn toward authoritarian regimes. Social networking (LIES) have been weaponized and are brainwashing the masses.

Things go in cycles over time - we are in a really bad place on the human cycle right now.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

39. Agree. Back home, there's a very active brainwashing

tool ... Facebook. Saw it first hand here in Texas. Beto was on rise vs. Cruz and a couple weeks before they unleashed smears and they spread like wildfire. And then Beto plateaued. Low infos believe anything and don't bother to research.

Why can't we combat? Why can't we buy the same lists that trump buys? (Btw already spent millions last month on FB ads). Set up a rapid response team to scour for false ads and as soon as they pop up, post rebuttal ads? Rapid response team with $$.

[dchill]

13. With ya.

[Marie Marie]

15. Even if Trump gets impeached by the House,

he will not be removed from office because of the Senate. He will claim it a victory. Most normal humans would still feel a sense of shame at being impeached but not this blob. He has no shame. That is why comparisons to Watergate don't work. This is a man without a conscience or a moral compass. And the Republicans enable him every day. The only thing that would affect him would be either losing his wealth (?) and his brand or jail. Until that happens, he will continue to take this country down. We are screwed.

[watoos]

20. That is absolutely not what one of the authors

of one of Trump's books said. He said that Trump will be devastated if he is impeached. I see Trump having a nervous breakdown.

If we don't impeach, Trump will claim vindication, will claim that Democrats carried on a witch hunt, That it is the FBI and Democrats who need to be jailed, or in his words, shot for treason.

[Marie Marie]

21. I am not arguing against impeachment, make no mistake about that.

He has broken so many laws and standards of decency he deserves to be impeached. But, if the Senate protects him, he may seethe in private (as he currently does over EVERYTHING he perceives as criticism), but he will still claim victory, go hold a rally and whine to his base and be reassured by their blind adulation. Then he will continue to run us into the ground while exacting revenge for those that sought to remove him. These are strange times - normal standards of conduct just don't work with him. So we are screwed no matter what we do. He simply has no decency.

I happen to think That Nancy and the Democratic committee chairs are working their asses off trying to hold him accountable and get to the truth and I applaud them for that. Many good Democrats are trying their best. But with him, it's like trying to nail Jello to the wall because he refuses to play by the rules and the Republicans let him get away with it. JMHO...

[Laura PourMeADrink]

27. Not true. He does NOT want to have impeachment

Tied to his brand. Nope, never. That it's said he is begging for it is inexplicable.

[Marie Marie]

31. I'm obviously not explaining myself very well.

I didn't say that he WANTS impeachment. I'm saying that without removal, he will plod on, doing his evil and and convince himself that he is exonerated. That is the way his mind works. Unless he suffers some REAL consequences, (like jail) he will stay emboldened to do whatever the Hell he pleases. I was just trying to agree with the original poster, not start an argument. Like I said... JMHO.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

38. Sorry, I hear ya now. Guess I think two things

Strikes me that with no slap on the wrist at all, he is already "emboldened to do whatever he pleases.". He is already saying he's exonerated every day. And his followers are saying ..must not be anything there since Dems would have impeached if there was.

Secondly, one of the arguments for impeachment is that if he is formally accused of crime X, it will be much less likely for him to commit again. If the world is shown proof you obstructed justice, you're probably not gonna try it again.

[Corgigal]

26. Thank you for your thoughts. Graphic

I've been telling my husband, when a grandma is shot and killed on Pennsylvania Ave, it might be the pause point.

[srobertss]

29. It's unbelieveable

I spent the first year waiting for the cracks in Congressional GOP support. Instead, we saw weak protests and a whole bunch of retirement. I spent the second year shaking my head over the depths of their hypocrisy. All they care about is power.

So my hope is they find some financial crime soon which will also draw a nice arrow pointing to the reason for all of this obstruction and begin impeachment inquiry. When he’s really rattled and refuses to govern, his numbers start to drop. When his numbers start to drop, we will see more Republicans grow a semblance of a spine. At this point, I don’t even care if it takes until the election, I just want to see his numbers drop. In fact, it would be better if it weren’t too dramatic so he doesn’t feel driven to the point of starting a war.

But the other question that has me stressed is why this rightward swing all over the world? I think it’s these virtually stateless billionaires driving income inequality. They’re all in the same club and are really competitive with each other. Faster means of communication has made them more aware of each other and how to best manage structures to increase their wealth. I think we’re going to boomerang to a more effective tyrant unless we do something about this. Income inequality correlates with every social ill, including deaths of despair and, I suspect, a swing towards totalitarianism.

[SergeStorms]

30. No quarrel from me, Atticus.

I feel exactly the same way. I have to turn off the news lately so I'm not the one who explodes. I, too, have a feeling that this is not going to end well. I sincerely hope our country is not the entity that explodes as well.

[saidsimplesimon]

32. Thank you so much,

you are not alone. Before IT was elected, my "intuition", along with established facts, is my reason for sharing my thoughts.

If we continue on the current path, the prediction is more of the same insanity with echo chambers. This time I hope (not fact based) that the odds are with US.

[lunatica]

35. Many of us have been aware of this for over two years.

We did gain something important in the blue wave, but that was only half of what we need. The next election will be the deciding election. We’ll know then. In less than two years.

[vlyons]

36. I suspect that there are folks out there,

who are already thinking "sic semper tyrannis"

[LiberalLoner]

40. Thank you for this post.

You are not alone.