Dan Rather: A Moment for Reckoning

[CousinIT]

https://steady.substack.com/p/a-moment-for-reckoning

I am shaken, and I like to think I don't shake easily.

I am moved to a deep and profound sadness, and I don't like to think I am prone to melancholy.

But I am also emboldened and determined that what we saw today, the overwhelming evidence presented by the House Managers in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump, shall not, must not, be a portent for where this country goes. Rather it must be a wake-up call to centuries of injustice and false grievances that a would-be despot, bolstered by no shortage of confederates, weaponized and catapulted into an assault on American democracy. As I write these words I still cannot quite believe what really happened. Nevertheless, there can be no denying the reality.

January 6 was a coordinated attack. It was built atop a foundation of lies doled out with precision over days and weeks. From a different perspective, you might say this was months, years, and even generations in the making."

Will it be the last gasps of a discredited white supremacy and the other forces of intolerance that weaken our nation? Will we be able to successfully fight off the lies and propaganda?

Or will this be part another major strike of the sledgehammer that’s fracturing our democratic experiment?

I firmly believe that the vast majority of American citizens will see this clearly for what it is. But our voices are on the sidelines for now, other than the pressure of conscience we can bring to bear on the 100 senators who will stand in judgement. That these same women and men were also in the crosshairs of the murderous mob and that the trial is taking place at the scene of the crime, makes the events transpiring today on Capitol Hill even more surreal.

For the senators, there can be no hiding from this historic decision... silence or procedural excuses equal complicity.

[tblue37]

1. K&R for visibility. nt

[SheltieLover]

2. K&R!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Everybody who has one or two GQP senators, please contact them!

The only reason they won't vote to convict is that they are afraid of their Trumpist constituents - but in no state are all of their constituents Trumpists. Call them, urge them to uphold their oath to the Constitution - but they don't care about that as much as they do about keeping their jobs. Since nothing matters to them more than their re-election, let them know you will support them against a Trumpist primary challenger. They need to be reminded that not every voter loves Trump.

[Funtatlaguy]

7. My two, Rubio and Scott, are so far up Trumps colon...well, you know.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. Contact them anyhow, but you might have to do it

by rolling up your letter and shoving it up Trump's ass, where they'll find it.

[Darwin2019]

12. I'll call Rubio but Scott is the loest of the low

[ConstanceCee]

13. Contact Them Anyway

If you are a constituent, it's worth it. And encourage other people to do the same. It's sometimes easier to get a live person if you call a local office.

[yellowdogintexas]

15. I have Cruz and Cornyn

not much better

[Tommymac]

17. Mine is Toomey. So far he is onboard.

I (bleech) wrote him already to Convict.

I've also written Moscow Mitch too.

[procon]

4. Republican Senators don't give a fuck about

What Dems do or what we want. We can't really hurt them because they are so well insulated by decades of gerrymandering and a voting base that expects to be catered to.

All this great stuff is utterly wasted on them. They cannot respond like any normal person would and rid themselves of Trump because the same mob we see is the same mob that will rip them to shreds if they waver in their fealty to the cult.

[crickets]

5. Keeping this kicked. nt

[Owl]

6. K&R!

[llmart]

9. That last sentence...

he hits it on the head. How any one of them who votes to not convict can hold their head up in public is beyond me. Their oath means nothing to them. Democracy means nothing to them. Patriotism is just a word to them. They have no idea what true courage and patriotism is.

[Ford_Prefect]

11. It seems to me they are already complicit. They knew something was going to happen on the 6th.

They may have been expecting something along the lines of the Brook Brothers Riot in 2000.

[niyad]

10. KNR

[orangecrush]

14. KICK

[burrowowl]

16. K&R

[hibbing]

18. Beautifully written n/t

[mountain grammy]

19. K & R

[c-rational]

20. The dUmpster knew what he was doing the whole time. He had practiced his whole life

at being a master manipulator of people and their emotion. Wasn't it reported that the only book he read was Hitler's Mein Kampf that he kept next to his bed.

[gulliver]

21. Yep, the Republicans can convict Trump for oath violation or themselves if they don't convict.

[Blue Owl]

22. K&R

[Generic Other]

23. Join his site

Wonderfully moderated by his questions.

[andym]

24. Dan Rather is a voice for the conscience of the American generation that followed just afer WW2

and his words are powerful and speak to us all as Americans. There was once a time when Trump would have been sharply repudiated by his party's senators as Nixon was. But it appears that in our times, the idea of true patriotism, to side with the nation's best interests over all else, has fallen prey to self-interest on the part of many GOP senators.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

25. Every Democrat has to call their senators and demand they vote to convict.

I hate making phone calls, especially that kind. But I did it today.

Emails & petitions, for some reason, don't have the same impact, according to those who know. Letters & faxes are also said to be effective.