Oversight erased, Supreme Court hijacked: Trump turns the presidency into a dictatorship

[CousinIT]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/04/09/trump-removes-inspectors-general-blatant-corruption-column/2973535001/

. . . In the course of three days, Trump fired an IG for telling the truth, attacked another for exposing the totality of a health care pandemic, and removed another in a brazen effort to avoid being held accountable for how trillions of taxpayer dollars will be allocated. The sum of these actions is nothing short of blatant corruption in plain sight. Free from the limitations of accountability, there is nothing stopping the president from turning the so-called “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act” (CARES Act) into a $2 trillion personal slush fund.

Trump feels empowered to obliterate the guardrails of checks and balances. Bit by bit, he has stripped away the levers of oversight until there's nothing left. It started by ignoring congressional subpoenas for his financial records. It continued as Trump refused to cooperate with the House impeachment investigation, stonewalling Congress’ attempts to hear witness testimony and conduct depositions with administration officials close to the president. And now he is leading a purge of the final remaining frontier of oversight — the inspectors general.

Supreme Court's dangerous path
For anyone hoping the Supreme Court will assert its role as the third branch of government, it has delayed hearing cases, including three lawsuits involving Trump’s tax returns and financial dealings. And yet, somehow, the Supreme Court managed to reverse a federal judge's order to extend absentee voting by a week in Wisconsin's primary on Tuesday. The result was that voters had to choose between their health and their civic duty.

The court’s refusal to move forward with cases that impact the president, coupled with its willingness to interfere with the Wisconsin election, foreshadows a very dangerous path as we look ahead to the November elections. In essence, the court’s conservative majority is just another political instrument for Trump to wield.

It may be hard to see the forest through the trees in this time of social distancing, but make no mistake about it, our democracy is in the midst of a three-alarm fire. The highest court in the land has effectively been hijacked — serving only the interests of Donald Trump. Congress is no longer a co-equal branch of government, a result of Trump’s toxic brand of obstruction.

By taking a wrecking ball to independent oversight, Trump has made the presidency into a dictatorship. At this point, the only recourse we will have left to save our democracy, repair the institutions of government, and restore accountability to the American people, is to vote in November to save “the soul of this nation.” That is, assuming Trump, the Republicans and the Supreme Court let us.

[lame54]

1. Now Barr wants to prosecute the Mueller team

[Newest Reality]

2. I have seen it coming...

It was easy for some people to just consider this a nightmare term of a really bad President. Who would really want to reckon with the potential of a dictator who actually presents a grave threat to democracy in this country and is a clear and present danger?

It seems that more people are awakening to this fact. I don't think it is such a difficult leap from the holder of an office to a usurper of our democracy and government to totalitarian dictator for life--along with appointed heirs to his regime later.

When we are at least on the same page about the personality and motivations of Trump, (and the complicit GOP) and can see that he has indicated a strong will to power, then we won't be falling for the facade of ineptitude and insanity that he crafts and that are even being mimicked by other members of the GOP, which we see in the actions of certain governments. No, that would be giving them an excuse for what is intentional and orchestrated and clearly destructive.

When you give them the excuses that they are actually trying to evoke, then you miss the point and that only provides cover for their agenda. I would say that the "base" is much easier to manipulate that way because they, being low-information voters, are easier to convince with mere platitudes. We are not that gullible, so we shouldn't fall for the implications of incompetence since it deflects from the truth of the matter.