Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
WaPo: From torture to Trump: Republicans no longer even pretend they have principles
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/01/22/torture-trump-republicans-no-longer-even-pretend-they-have-principles/
By Paul Waldman
Opinion writer
Jan. 22, 2020 at 12:39 p.m. EST
President Trump is on trial in the Senate, but so is the entire Republican Party. And 1,300 miles away in Guantanamo there’s another trial taking place, one that implicates the GOP just as much.
In these two trials we can see the complete moral wreckage of their party, and how they’ve carried America down with them.
What does the trial of a group of alleged terrorists have to do with impeachment? When seen from the perspective not of one president but of what Republicans ask all of us to accept and how they frame their own moral culpability, they are waypoints on the same devolutionary road.
To understand how, we’ll have to briefly revisit one of the darkest chapters in American history, the torture program initiated by the George W. Bush administration as part of its “War on Terror.” After the September 11 attacks, the administration began scooping up suspected members of Al Qaeda all over the world and interrogating them to stop future attacks. Worried that they weren’t getting enough information, they decided that the prisoners should be tortured. The problem was that no one knew how to go about it.
</snip>
By Paul Waldman
Opinion writer
Jan. 22, 2020 at 12:39 p.m. EST
President Trump is on trial in the Senate, but so is the entire Republican Party. And 1,300 miles away in Guantanamo there’s another trial taking place, one that implicates the GOP just as much.
In these two trials we can see the complete moral wreckage of their party, and how they’ve carried America down with them.
What does the trial of a group of alleged terrorists have to do with impeachment? When seen from the perspective not of one president but of what Republicans ask all of us to accept and how they frame their own moral culpability, they are waypoints on the same devolutionary road.
To understand how, we’ll have to briefly revisit one of the darkest chapters in American history, the torture program initiated by the George W. Bush administration as part of its “War on Terror.” After the September 11 attacks, the administration began scooping up suspected members of Al Qaeda all over the world and interrogating them to stop future attacks. Worried that they weren’t getting enough information, they decided that the prisoners should be tortured. The problem was that no one knew how to go about it.
</snip>
Once we're past the 2020 election (should we win it), the diseased Republican Party problem is going to have to be addressed, once and for all. That's why the Republicans are fighting for Trump tooth and nail; it's because they know if he goes down, he's taking the whole diseased party with him.
4 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
sends chills up my spine. It shows that while IQ45 is indeed a serious problem, it is the REPUGS that are the most serious - and we cannot ignore them - we must defeat them!
