E.J. Dionne Jr.: The beginning of the end of Trumpism

[DonViejo]

E.J. Dionne Jr. Washington Post 11 hrs ago

WASHINGTON — Don't waste time mourning the Senate's failure to convict Donald Trump for crimes so dramatically and painstakingly proven by the House impeachment managers. The cowardice of the vast majority of Republican senators was both predicted and predictable.

Instead, ponder how to build on the genuine achievements.

Led with extraordinary grace by Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a diverse and able group of prosecutors laid out an indelible record not only of what happened on Jan. 6 and why, but also Trump's irresponsibility throughout his term of office.

This record matters. No matter how much we might pretend that we can move on and forget the past, our judgments about the past inevitably shape our future.

By tying themselves to Trump with their votes, most House and Senate Republicans made themselves complicit in his behavior. And Trump will prove to be even more of an albatross than Hoover, who, after all, had a moral core.

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https://greensboro.com/opinion/columnists/e-j-dionne-jr-the-beginning-of-the-end-of-trumpism/article_63008840-6f13-11eb-b716-7ff8c6e4e141.html

[BobTheSubgenius]

1. If a country doesn't let the past shape the future, as the OP states,

that country is well and truly f'ed in the long run. Everything that happens, good and bad, leaves a mark.

[certainot]

2. trumpism dies with limbaugh. trump/putin piggybacked limbaugh/talk radio into the WH and

limbaugh is dying

at some point, maybe soon, he'll retire to croak and then the ad industry and various owners of the 600 limbaugh stations are going to go different ways. one guy can't replace him and the replacements are all second rate. the dittoheads will disperse and there will never again be a coordinated army of single minded idiots like that again to take over the GOP. the constant anti-democratic pro corporate and KKK buzz will disperse. limbaugh was averaging 100-150 "trump" mentions every day since the 2016 primaries. that was the trump 'branding genius' that he got praise for. trump based all his politics on 30 years of talk radio bullshit and hate.

researchers at MIT prototyped a large scale automated recording, transcription, and analysis of talk radio. that's going to happen. advertisers will flee if they see how easily they can be associated with the RW shit,

the ad industry will have to break up the monopoly

democrats can speed up the process - the ad industry just has to get wind of major monitoring and boycotts coming to start breaking it up

[SunSeeker]

4. Limbaugh was supposed to be dying a year ago, yet he is still on the air.

He reportedly had inoperable stage IV lung cancer a year ago. How is he still alive? Does the devil refuse to take him?

[certainot]

5. they don't want him there either. ironically trump killed him, literally. it was diagnosed in jan

but wasn't called terminal until oct and according to one of the subs he was delaying treatments to serve trump, such as to spin things like calling covid a hoax, the mueller report, biden debates, etc. it's possible with the best treatments avail to billionaires and their essential personnel he might have made it.

[Tommymac]

3. Very interesting that this opinion comes from a North Carolina publication.

I sincerely hope the State where I spent a large part of my youth becomes Blue again.

Senator Sam, you are sorely missed.

[wnylib]

6. I am more skeptical.

The most outrageous forms of Trumpism will fade, but there are still Senators and Congresspersons, backed by their home state constituents, who will push for the kinds of policies that were promoted under trumpism. They might not be as flamboyant, but that could be worse if they are smarter and smoother than the orange fascist.

There are still 74 millionn Americans willing to follow a demagogue. There are still militias and racist hate groups.

[Nitram]

8. We don't know that 74 million Americans would vote for Trump again. Yes, even if it's 25 or 30

million, they can cause damage, as can armed militias and racist hate groups. But just as some of them tearfully begged for forgiveness after Charlottesville because they were scared of going to prison, the same is true of some of the Capitol insurrectionists. Some of them now hate Trump for firing them up and then abandoning them. Many of them are cowards who will keep a low profile from now on. Many QAnon adherents have been disillusioned. Yes, there are still a lot of whackos out there and we have to be vigilant. But this may also have been a major turning point. Let's hope so.

[Nitram]

7. E.J. Dionne is always right on the money, always with a compassionate and humanistic POV.