Must-read piece by Charles Blow (NYT)

[MBS]

Last edited Fri Feb 16, 2018, 01:54 PM - Edit history (1)

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/15/opinion/scandal-ridden-scoundrel.html?

He first recounts the many scandals of this regime (you know what they are), then goes on with this call to arms:

Any of this would have crippled another president, but not Trump. In a perverse way, Trump appears to benefit from the sheer volume of his offenses. They overwhelm many Americans’ ability to process and track, maintain outrage or even fact-check. This may rightfully be called Trump’s Deluge Doctrine of American Politics, a thing that many of us never properly feared because we never thought it possible. We never thought a man of such moral depravity and such little respect for propriety, protocol and honesty would ever be president.

But the storm is upon us; we are in it. I must continue to submit that although I disagree vociferously with Trump on policy, my objection here isn’t about policy or partisanship. This is a fight for the soul of the country. When more than a third of the country — among them many who once considered themselves part of the “moral majority” — stand with a man who is the literal antithesis of all the values they once professed, that is a problem for America. They are no longer interested in the health of the democracy. Their mission and objectives have veered into a dark place where vision is short and risks and dangers are multiple. I know that it is a fool’s errand to try to convince these people that honesty, valor and character are fundamental requirements of the American presidency, and when they are lost from the office, the country itself is in peril.
. . .
. . . Wray testified at the same hearing that he had never been “specifically directed by the president” to prevent Russia from interfering in our elections. That is a jaw-dropping statement. As the Harvard professor of constitutional law Laurence H. Tribe wrote on Twitter: . . " Wray just testified in the Senate that — despite Russia’s ongoing intrusions into our electoral systems — Potus has never charged the F.B.I. with protecting U.S. elections from Russia! Let that sink in. That’d be like F.D.R. doing nothing in response to Pearl Harbor.” Let me be clear: Any president who refuses to protect Americans from a foreign threat is himself a domestic threat. How can any of this be sustained? How can it be rationalized? How can it be tolerated?
. ..
This is the politics of the petty, where people dance and shout as the republic burns.
We patriots and dissidents, we many, we strong, we steadfast, are the last hope the country has of returning to what remains of a pre-Trump America, where porn stars weren’t paid off, accused wife beaters weren’t valorized and our president showed more allegiance to our country than to another.

We have to win this fight.

[UpInArms]

1. Am going to repeat this part for more emphasis

When more than a third of the country — among them many who once considered themselves part of the “moral majority” — stand with a man who is the literal antithesis of all the values they once professed, that is a problem for America. They are no longer interested in the health of the democracy. Their mission and objectives have veered into a dark place where vision is short and risks and dangers are multiple.

[MBS]

2. YES.

I think of this every time I contemplate that stubborn ~37% who, even after a year of this nightmare, continue to "approve" of his "job performance." Unbelievable.

[RandomAccess]

3. Great quote

[Hermit-The-Prog]

4. truly "must-read"

And the closing paragraph is a wake-up call.

[MBS]

5. Yes! n/t