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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA healthy democracy...would not allow a deranged, serial abuser of women and children to occupy its most powerful office
Posted by a friend on FB. He's right.
Peter Birkenhead
Yet reporters, pundits and Senators will tell you that they go on having conversations with the president about housing policy and taxes and ballrooms because, well, hes the president, and no matter what hes done that fact makes his every utterance newsworthy and important.
Because the institution of the presidency is important, and must be respected.
Read that again, slowly.
We respect the institution of the presidency so much we must allow it to be occupied and administered by an utterly depraved criminal.
This is not a logic that respects institutions.
This is a logic that worships power.
If an assistant deputy director at the EPA was a serial rapist, no reporter would ask them about anything other than being a serial rapist. No Senator would speak to them.
What would happen if the reporters at a press briefing in the Oval Office asked Donald Trump detailed questions about the sickening evidence of his depravity and refused to let him change the subject?
Yes, he would send everybody out. How do you think that would play on the evening news later?
Yes, he would deny those reporters access in the coming days. How long do you think he could go without on-camera attention from them? Yes, he would only allow sycophants from Fox and Newsmax to attend the next press briefing. How long do you think hed be able to withstand the coverage and criticism of that fact by other news organizations? A day? A week? Two weeks?
What if members of Congress gathered in the Oval Office said to the President, on camera, Weve read the following evidence of your shocking, disgusting behavior and refuse to conduct business-as-usual with an unrepentant, violent criminal?
Does anyone think that would play to the benefit of the criminal?
A healthy democracy, one that actually respected its institutions, would not allow a deranged, serial abuser of women and children to occupy its most powerful office.
In such a democracy it would be a matter of course to speak to a sociopathic rapist occupying the office about nothing other than his crimes, to extend him no deference, no benefit of the doubt, and no opportunities to cause more harm and suffering.
To do otherwise would be to engage in blatant disrespect of the presidency and the principles embedded in the Constitution that established it in the first place.
Allowing Donald Trump to continue wreaking havoc on our institutions and their founding principles is not an act of respect for those institutions and principles. It is an act of disdain for American democracy and an exaltation of power for its own sake.
spanone
(141,185 posts)dalton99a
(92,743 posts)chouchou
(2,908 posts)He said something like: "You know ralph, you remember the YUGO car" "Even "Consumer Reports" said "Worst automobile we've ever tested"
"I'm starting to think America is turning into a YUGO"
Not far from it.
Solly Mack
(96,612 posts)A healthy democracy doesn't torture either.
Alas...
Haven't been healthy for a long, long time.
Blues Heron
(8,498 posts)Well be fighting these bastards the pukes for the rest of our lives. People need to vote. It should be mandatory.
IthinkThereforeIAM
(3,292 posts)... a bit here, a bit there... flipping channels on the boob tube and radio. Trying to watch some news but then, "oh, oh, my kettle on the stove is whistling... oh, no, junior is sceaming and needs his diaper changed"... Never enough of the news article to get the details, usually headlines only and a few first lines.
leftstreet
(39,392 posts)flashman13
(2,195 posts)What would happen if the reporters at a press briefing in the Oval Office asked Donald Trump detailed questions about the sickening evidence of his depravity and refused to let him change the subject?
In such a democracy it would be a matter of course to speak to a sociopathic rapist occupying the office about nothing other than his crimes, to extend him no deference, no benefit of the doubt, and no opportunities to cause more harm and suffering.
EYESORE 9001
(29,505 posts)to say a healthy SOCIETY wouldnt put up with this.A healthy society must proceed a healthy democracy IMO.
ChicagoTeamster
(563 posts)And they've been covering it up all these years
ShazzieB
(22,319 posts)Trump was sent to military school at the age of 13, which would have been in 1959. If he sexually assaulted anyone at that age, I think it's vanishingly unlikely to have been a family member, due to lack of opportunity.
Both of his sisters are older than him. The oldest, Maryanne, was 9 years old when he was born; Elizabeth was about 4. That means they were 22 and 17 when their 13 year old brother was sent away. There wasn't much extended family to speak of, due to their mother being a recent immigrant to the U.S. and dad being the son of immigrant parents. His only other close female relative is niece Mary, who wasn't born until 1965.
On the other hand, he was expelled from the private school he had been attending due to bad behavior at school, and we don't know what all that included. So feel free to speculate there!
ChicagoTeamster
(563 posts)Based on his Mom's comments about him and what we've known about his past and are now finding out from the Epstein drops, it's easy to speculate a lot of bad things just because there's so much that's bad already. He's a horrible human being.
ShazzieB
(22,319 posts)I was very happy to set the record straight in yhis case.
I just happen to know a lot of details about the family and Trump's upbringing, due to books I read during his first term, when I was trying to figure out what the freaking hell was the deal with this weirdo!
SergeStorms
(20,180 posts)BaronChocula
(4,149 posts)Every day is akin to a journalists conducting an interview about a local sports team in the middle of a massive hurricane. They're trying to hit content quotas like ICE trying to hit detention quotas - It doesn't matter what they get, as long as they get something. Softball questions = helpless 5-year olds.
And he wrote this without using the word "normalize." Impressive.
Joinfortmill
(20,417 posts)Bev54
(13,299 posts)along with Israel. Trump and his cabal seriously need to be impeached immediately. Mandelson of the UK received payments through other channels and was involved with Epstein. These could very well be payments from Russia passed through others because they reveal Mandelson sent government information to Epstein. Daily mail is reporting the honey trap which I then watched on France 24 English but can't find it again.
Here is a couple of videos covering:
young_at_heart
(4,019 posts)I can only speak for myself, but I'm guessing there are lots of us who are truly suffering because of this man and his cult.
sarisataka
(22,351 posts)The problem is not allowing such a person to remain in office; the problem is electing such a person in the first place.
They has been no great behavioral change since he took office, no sudden surprises appearing after the election. Much of what has been done he actually used in campaign, speeches, announcing how he would use power.
The problem is despite his known behavior, his openly campaigning that he would act as a dictator and widely publicized criminal history we have an electorate that was supportive of, or so apathetic they couldnt be bothered to vote, such a person that they elected him to office
kentuck
(115,246 posts)Is that just our illusion?
sarisataka
(22,351 posts)Bordering on being as straw man
spanone
(141,185 posts)JT45242
(3,907 posts)He won because to far too many people a white male adjudicated rapist and convicted felon was better than an uppity woman and especially better than an uppity black woman.
We are more racism and misogyny than we are a functioning democracy.
IthinkThereforeIAM
(3,292 posts)... or, "how he filled Congress with businessmen first, statesmen last", with his Contract On America.
I have said this for over 20 years. That is what has nearly destroyed Congress. Just look at the GOP heads of the committees we have had, let alone the nasty speakers of the House. Delay, who got the rules changed to allow/require bribes and pay offs just to get into his office for a visit. Required corporations and anyone interested in visiting with him in his congressional office to provide daily catering for his office. Just one of the things about him and the GOP that I cannot forget.