Too fucking true: "Hey Democrats, Fighting Fair Is for Suckers"

[friendly_iconoclast]

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/07/04/democrats-majority-rules-norms-trump-2020-218947

If Democrats are wise, they will embrace President Donald Trump’s demonstration that there no longer are any unwritten rules in American politics. (I’ve come to think that the key text for understanding our era is the 1997 movie Air Bud: “There’s no rule that says a dog can’t play basketball.”) Democrats should be preparing to exercise power, beginning as early as 2020, with that lesson in mind.

As we all know, Trump and the Republican Party that enables him eat norms for breakfast. A norm is a tacit and mutual agreement that certain exercises of power, while lawful, also are unthinkable. As a result, a willingness to think the unthinkable is itself a source of power. With that willingness, you can deny a president a hearing on a Supreme Court nominee. You can threaten to jail your political opponents and call an election rigged if you don’t win. You can demand investigations of your enemies, you can fire the FBI director investigating you, and you can quite possibly pardon yourself for federal crimes.

Trump and Republicans are not interested in self-restraint. We ought to be past surprise, for example, that the “let the people decide” standard invented by Mitch McConnell to block Merrick Garland’s Supreme Court nomination no longer applies now that Trump can choose a successor for Anthony Kennedy. Those who care about the future of liberal democracy in this country ought to be beyond outrage and ready for something altogether colder and more disciplined.

Democrats should plan to treat political norms, when and if they’re in charge of a unified government, the way Trump and the Republicans do. They should be readying a program of systematic norm-breaking for partisan advantage—but only if they are willing and able to follow it through to its conclusion.

[BigmanPigman]

1. I agree, the GOP breaks all the rules constantly and they are allowed

to get away with it. The Dems are too goody goody. We need to break the rules at will like the GOP. That is how you beat them at their own game!

[Girard442]

2. Sadly, you can count the number of Dem leaders who buy into this idea on the fingers of one hand...

...and still have room for five more.

[NRaleighLiberal]

4. THIS.

[lagomorph777]

10. That may be about to change. Lots of candidates are not supporting the current leaders.

Bare knuckles are called for now.

[Sanders4life]

3. Ironic

What's ironic is if you pay attention to the old guard republicans, they hate Trump for this more than liberals do.

[Rhiannon12866]

8. You're right, we're seeing more and more of them now on MSNBC

And they're speaking out. Welcome to DU!

[Timewas]

5. No such thing

Fair Fight doesn't exist, if you try to fight "fair" you lost before you started...

[msongs]

6. is it better to lose than be uncivil? some might think so. nt

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. Breaking rules is different from "going low".

Breaking rules leads to jail time and is immediately used against you. Don't give the Republicons that weapon.

Going low (being uncivil) is not a big deal.

Barack Obama beat John McCain and Mitt Romney. He didn't break rules and he didn't go low.

Barack Obama passed important health care legislation and healed the economy from the Great Recession. He didn't do it by breaking rules or going low. In fact, Obama's administration had the lowest number of indictments, prosecutions, and convictions of any administration in living memory.

[ouija]

9. But...but

Two wrongs don’t make a right...hahaha. There is only one rule moving forward, there are no rules. Don’t want to hear, “we are better than that,” then cry when they steal the Supreme Court, steal elections, gerrymander and rule from the minority. Can’t break the rules when you simply change them.

[EricJohnson]

11. We must have fair and free elections before we can do anything.