Interesting read in The Guardian about the silence of former presidents

[NewHendoLib]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/08/trump-former-presidents-criticism?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

What will it take for a former president to speak out against Trump?

The silence from former occupants of the Oval Office has been deafening as the incumbent cuts a destructive path

Long, good read

[CrispyQ]

1. The ones I want to hear speaking out are the dems in congress.

I want a loud, UNIFIED voice about the fascist takeover of our government & what I'm hearing is almost crickets. There's AOC, Murphy, Raskin & a handful of others but they are drowned out by the tsunami of bullshit from the other side. We need every elected dem to speak out & vote in mass against all of his noms.

Someone on DU suggested a daily correct-the-bullshit session led by someone like Pete Buttigieg. Make it daily & invite the media, no challenge the media, dare them to cover both sides. Have guest hosts like the names above, & start showcasing more of our democratic talent & voices.

I was so disappointed more dems didn't join in Rep. Green's good trouble at the address & shame on the ones who voted on censure. WTF?

IDK, it just seems considering the precipice we're on, the party response is underwhelming.

[MontanaMama]

8. Same.

They just seem like they can’t get together on this. And, some of our best messengers get sidelined, like AOC. I was very disappointed in the Dems who voted to censure Rep Green. Decorum? We are way past that.

[calimary]

23. That really rubbed me the wrong way, too.

NOBODY stepped up to defend Rep. Green. trump & comp piled on him for daring to speak truth to power that night, and a group of them actually JOINED the Republican attack dogs. I’ll never respect OR TRUST Marcy Kaptur again. I would never have expected her to side with the enemy when the enemy is out there in public doing war dances and advocating attacks on YOUR camp! Same thing with Jim Himes. SHAME on him, too! Shit - when your side is being unreasonably attacked (by people who hate you and wish you ill anyway) you join with the attackers instead of defending your own?

Approximately 10 House Democrats voted with several Republicans for Green's reprimand. Those who voted in favor included:
Ed Case of Hawaii
Tom Suozzi of New York
Jim Costa of California
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington
Jared Moskowitz of Florida
Ami Bera of California
Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania
Marcy Kaptur of Ohio
Laura Gillen of New York
Jim Himes of Connecticut

https://www.newsweek.com/list-al-green-censure-vote-donald-trump-congress-2040749

Shit. When a rabid pack of diseased dogs comes for you, you JOIN IN with them? Seems like a case of “whose side are you on?” Hell, I’d be building barricades with 8-inch spikes all over the front and on top!

[MontanaMama]

25. At minimum

the Dems should have left with him. Decorum won’t mean jack when Putin is in charge.

[calimary]

26. THIS!!!

They ALL should have gotten up and walked out.

I guess maybe they must never have heard or understood the phrase “divide and conquer”.

[tblue37]

32. Moskowitz?!! I am surprised & disappointed!

[Wuddles440]

34. Same with Himes and Kaptur!

Extremely disappointed with them and even more so regarding Kaptur. We attended a rally for Ukraine the previous Saturday where she spoke passionately about being vocal and resisting. Apparently she's a hypocrite.

[Dawson Leery]

2. kick

[Mysterian]

3. Former presidents need to work on mobilizing people who did not vote

Get them off their asses to perform their civic duty.

[NJCher]

4. Do you remember Kamala's trip back from HI

to DC on Dec. 19?

That was later entered on Biden's log as a cabinet meeting.



Draw your own conclusions.

[senseandsensibility]

7. I think I'm missing something

What does that mean?

[markodochartaigh]

24. I should think that it would be intuitively obvious to the most casual observer.

Obviously President Biden is Catholic and of Irish extraction. Trump's mother was from Scotland. St. Manirus' feast day is December 19. He is a Scottish saint. One of the very few places left associated with St. Manirus is Pollmanire, a salmon pool. In Irish mythology salmon are associated with wisdom and knowledge, "an bradán feasa". Finn Eces spent seven years trying to catch the wise salmon but it was his servant Fionn who, through a story too long to go into here, ended up eating the salmon and gaining all the knowledge. Finn went on to become the leader of the Fianna. The Fenian Brotherhood were named after them.
I hope that we all rest easier now that we know the truth!

[senseandsensibility]

36. Wow

You really had me there at the beginning.

[betsuni]

42. Salmon -- red -- rose -- Rosicrucians -- The Knights Templar. Everything is connected to the Knights Templar.

I can say no more. Draw you own conclusions.

[KPN]

9. ????

Only thing I can draw is a complete blank.

[Hekate]

16. Never heard of it, don't know what "conclusion" you are drawing, don't know what significance 12/19 has

Care to elaborate? Something in the way you say it sounds so dark & sinister.

[betsuni]

19. December 19, 2024, a date which will live in infamy. Why, we don't know.

[Hekate]

21. It was a dark and stormy flight...

[NJCher]

37. let me put it this way

some things are better left unsaid.

But rather than say nothing, I'll throw a signal out there and if you can figure it out, great. If you can't, you'll find out anyway, most likely in the next few months.

[ThreeNoSeep]

29. Another GD inscrutable post

Thanks for nothing.

I'm so tired of this sort of bullshit.

[NJCher]

39. well, hey, you're

only at 194 posts and this is a very complex plot we have going on here.

I'll bet with more familiarity with the site, posting, and reading, you will be able to connect with the posts more.

Hang in there.

[Grokenstein]

5. I honestly can't blame them.

Dem President: (spends four to eight years striving to fix latest Republican-engineered disaster)
The People: DUHHHH NOW US AM BOAT 4 DONNIE HIM TALK TUFF WRECK SYSTEM YAAAAAYYY DUM DEMZ NOT PURFEK BOOOO
Dem President: Fine, screw you
The People: WAAAAAH HIM AM WRECK SYSTEM SAVE ME DEMS
Dem President: Why

[Blasphemer]

38. Correct. It's time to lay the blame at the American people. nt

[betsuni]

41. Perfect.

[Nasruddin]

6. Reality

They are all old (or older) men, who are trapped in the US by security concerns. They are not billionaires.
There is no place they can go that is safe from retribution, and their personal histories mean that there are plenty of people in the world who have it in for them. Or their families. They all have families. They are dependent on US security, and they know too much to be free from observation.

I wouldn't expect anything out of them.

[BattleRow]

10. Everyone knows that when you choose to dance with the devil you don't get to choose the tune..

And you never get to lead.

[calimary]

27. Ooooooooooooh, GOOD one!

[KPN]

11. I still don't get why Clinton, Obama and Joe all

attended the perp’s inauguration, let alone speak up and out against the callousness. It’s as if not attending the inaugural luncheon was a huge enough act of opposition in their minds?

Not a great analogy, granted, but where is our Yeltsin?

[William769]

12. It's a club they all belong to.

With that said in these trying times, They all need to step upto the plate.

[Martin Eden]

13. War Criminal Dim Son should speak up!

He's probably miffed he lost the title of Worst. President. Ever.

[617Blue]

14. It's not up to Obama to save us. He's tried.

I think at this point he's like, if this is what people want so be it.

The rubber is now hitting the road.

[Evolve Dammit]

15. Joe tried to tell us all that Democracy was on the line. And millions were unmoved. You can't fix stupid.

[boston bean]

17. Considering he didn't keep his fucking mouth shut, I don't see why others would.

[Auggie]

18. Save it for the mid-terms. It'll have greater impact then.

[Hekate]

20. Our Dem presidents & Dem candidates for president got repeatedly kicked in the teeth by Dems...

…for not being 100% pure and perfect. And still do get kicked. By us.

To those in this thread who now castigate them for not wanting to play the Savior role — again— I have to ask why they should.

Sure, sure I know what we say we want. But think of this: the last Savior ended up nailed to a cross on a hill, after the whole city celebrated him because they loved the guy so much.

Bitterly,
Hekate

[NewHendoLib]

30. Because they can. And they live in this country.

I wonder how many of us here on DU would cower in fear of the orange menace like the Dem politicians do.

[99MainSt]

22. Silence equals submission. We need a new crop of Democrats, willing to fight for social and economic justice.

So fear of Trump is what's keeping the ex presidents silent. We see the same thing in Congress. Only a few brave souls dare to speak out. This would be less alarming if our government wasn't being dismantled and the lives of so many Americans was not being badly degraded.

[synni]

28. My favorite quote from the article:

Get in the game or don’t ever talk again. If you don’t have anything to say now, while this is going before our very eyes, I don’t want to hear from you ever again.”

That says it all.

[ZRB]

31. In the game, like they were last November? How did that work out

Our Former Presidents owe us NOTHING. They already tried their best.

[Ocelot II]

33. I've been wondering why they've been so quiet.

And I still don't understand.

[WestMichRad]

35. There's been a long tradition...

… of US Presidents who did not speak ill of their predecessors or successors. Kind of a code of honor among them. Understandable.
If I’m remembering correctly, even W did not trash Clinton or Obama. (He let his stooges do it, and the shadow president Darth Chaney).

Then along came Shithead, who breaks all the rules, many times just to spite his opponents. Everything he considers “bad” is the fault of Obama and/or Biden, even if the reality is nowhere close to that. He continues to trash them, over and over.

So, Big Dog, 44 and 46, the gloves are off. Do you really think he won’t sic his stooges on you if you remain silent? Don’t bet on it! The American people need to hear from you!

[Skittles]

40. Hillary is speaking out

she has more guts than all of them put together

[flvegan]

43. "It's a big club, and you ain't in it!"

George Carlin. Go read the whole bit.

[JI7]

44. They spoke out before the election and people didn't listen

What's speaking bow going to do ?

I'm sure they will when elections start up again and they are supporting the candidates running.