JFK60
JFK60's JournalThe only way to beat Republicans is to use their tactics.
Civility, “taking the high road,” following the rule of law, using fair play, allowing the system to self-correct— these have ALL failed.
America is now entangled in an existential struggle. Republicans, who’ve drunk deeply from the cup of autocracy, are just fine with letting democracy die.
Like any bully, fighting back viciously is the only thing that he/she/it understands. We’ve “waited for Mueller,” and what gains have comes from that?
It’s past time to begin impeachment proceedings.
Thomas Frank's "What's the Matter with Kansas?" diagnosed this insanity back in 2004.
There’s an outstanding excerpt from the book (pages 67-68) posted on Wikipedia:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/What%27s_the_Matter_with_Kansas%3F
Not long ago, Kansas would have responded to the current situation by making the bastards pay. This would have been a political certainty, as predictable as what happens when you touch a match to a puddle of gasoline. When business screwed the farmers and the workers – when it implemented monopoly strategies invasive beyond the Populists' furthest imaginings – when it ripped off shareholders and casually tossed thousands out of work – you could be damned sure about what would follow. Not these days. Out here the gravity of discontent pulls in only one direction: to the right, to the right, further to the right. Strip today's Kansans of their job security, and they head out to become registered Republicans. Push them off their land, and next thing you know they're protesting in front of abortion clinics. Squander their life savings on manicures for the CEO, and there's a good chance they'll join the John Birch Society. But ask them about the remedies their ancestors proposed (unions, antitrust, public ownership), and you might as well be referring to the days when knighthood was in flower.
Nothing says "No Collusion!" like a junket to Ukraine.
Is it hubris, or weapons-grade stupidity? 45 mouths “no collusion” into any available hot mic, while his senile attorney plans a trip to Kiev. Genius!
My darker side suspects this, however: Giuliani was never really going to go to Ukraine. Just the announcement, and the stated reason— “investigating the investigation” and some phony crap about “dirt” on Biden’s son— was all 45 wanted to put out into the tribal air, so Fox, Breitbart, et al would start spinning the lies that “Biden got help from foreign powers, too” and “did the witch hunt actually start in Ukraine?”
Bomb dropped, no actual trip necessary.
45's perception of fear is likely as primitive & base as the rest of his cognition.
On the level of a lizard running from away from a push-broom (not to denigrate lizards).
He’s spent his entire adult life suing this, that and the other, and being counter-sued as well. He’s also never had to clean up his own messes, someone’s always been there to handle the difficult shit. So there’s this “desensitized addiction” to chaos in his everyday life.
He knows how to torment and hector people, but he can’t take much in return, and once again, he’s marooned in that self-referential loop, wherein he can do no wrong, so there’s no reflection, no learning from mistakes, no forward motion.
Does 45 have any fear the law, or of breaking any law? Consider: 1) he’s never gotten into anything his lawyers and accountants couldn’t fix; 2) he’s the freest person in America (right now). If anyone else acted in their workplace the way he does, they’d be canned on day one.
What's alarming are all the goddamned Republicans who are backing this downmarket Mussolini.
That so many Americans support this overtly fascist administration is more than sobering. I used to have some trust in my fellow citizens, and believed that if something (or someone) genuinely bad for democracy came along, partisanship would take a back seat to salvaging our republic.
I have no such illusions any longer.
The "folks who don't know yet" are really the "folks who don't care, ever."
They can’t get enough of their Neanderthal figurehead; for them, etc he can do NO wrong. If one ever undertook the loathsome task of looking at RW websites, or watching the vile prime-time Hannity for even a few moments, one can grasp how vast the divide really is. Republicans would LOVE to have a right-wing fascist dictator who “punishes the libs.” That’s how simple-minded and cul-tlike they’ve become.
it’s all there in plain sight: EVERYTHING, every Republican-hatched screw-ups and firings are also very telling.
But whenever things go south, the blame is projected onto the ”lunatic socialist Democrats” and pronto. It’s as evergreen a right-wing trope can be.
Biden's got intelligence, empathy, experience, honesty. He's the Anti-Trump.
A vast majority of Americans are sick to death of the daily in-your-face corruption, chaos and unbridled insanity that is the Trump family and complicit Republicans. They’ve got some serious nerve to subject the country to the crazed and hurtful whims emitted from the pitifully twisted “mind” of such a dangerous buffoon.
Joe Biden is the complete opposite of 45, in every way. He’s time-tested; and he’s “pre-disasterized” in that his past goof-ups are known, so there are no surprises down the road. He looks for the good in others, and yeah, his empathy has been “touchy-feely” at times, both with women and men. But unlike 45, I take Joe at his word that he’ll be more mindful of that.
I understand the longing for a younger, more progressive candidate— and in normal, average circumstances, I’d probably support such a person. But clearly, America has been pushed radically off course, both at home and in relations with other countries. My sense is that Biden is best qualified, both in temperament and experience, to lead a 45-damaged country in a return to normalcy, as a first step.
The one hitch I have in supporting Biden, is that, should he emerge on top, he’d make a grave mistake if he didn’t share the ticket with a younger, more progressive candidate, ideally a woman, who’d be positioned to play a much bigger role than the usual veep, with the idea in mind that Joe may only have one term in him.
All food for thought, while it’s still very early in the game. The best thing is, there are several really terrific Democrats who’ve announced. Whatever happens, there’s little chance of producing a weak candidate.
The BIG question: Is the 2020 election a sure thing for Democrats?
Common sense dictates “yes,” but common sense took an extended hike in 2016 and hasn’t been seen since. There is a number of variables stacking up, far broader than usual, all due to Trump and his unshakable loyalists:
-Will the 2020 election be free and fair? Will it even occur?
-What form and degree will Russian interference take place? (Because it’s the one certainty.) There are rumblings about China and other countries getting in on the act as well.
-Can Democrats come up with a strong, broad-appeal candidate who can beat Trump in the usual “battleground” states, which is where the 2020 election will be decided, as lousy as that is.
It pains me deeply to say it, but I no longer have faith in the American people to do the right thing. Thus, there is a chance that Trump could be re-elected, if he gets the same lucky bounces he did in 2016. That’s a scenario that spells doom for democracy.
All of which is why I’ve come to favor impeachment proceedings. A popular talking point asks, “Why impeach when there’s no chance for a conviction?” Because conviction should not be the immediate goal. Rather, the focus should be on enumerating the lawbreaking, and repeating that message to the citizenry. What’s important to illustrate to the American people is that NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW. Without the rule of law, there is chaos (as we’ve seen for two-plus years), and chaos is an open invitation to authoritarianism— R.I.P. America.
Save our democracy: IMPEACH NOW.
Don't forget that statute of limitations time-frame is in play now.
Rachel Maddow was discussing this yesterday. Almost all of the Trump situations / transgressions / potential criminal involvements that Muller investigated occurred in 2017. The statute of limitations on these events lapses in five years— 2022.
If impeachment is not pursued now, and if, for some extraordinarily crooked reason, Trump should retain the presidency, he will run out the calendar on the investigated incidents (which comprise the basis for impeachment), and he would, effective 2022, become a free man. (Not factoring in the New York State investigations.)
Using the frustrating Mueller guideline that one “cannot indict a sitting president,” should Trump lose the 2020 election and become a private citizen in January, 2021, he can still be prosecuted for what’s already on the books.
Think Trump wants to stay in office much? He will fight like a cornered animal, because losing could mean a trip to prison.
Start impeachment proceedings immediately. Chasten that bastard NOW. No conviction possible? Screw it, that’s not the goal, which is to keep him on the defensive, put him under stress and pressure from multiple directions to exhaust that monster, and have his approval ratings tank lower than ever. If his people and Russia conspire again to throw the election, America will be screwed beyond recognition...forever.
Impeach now. It’s not a sure thing, but it’s the right thing to do. And I seriously doubt that it’d “hand the election over to Trump.” That notion presupposes that there are scads of Trump voters out there who are considering voting for a Democratic candidate. That’s such a bullshit line— as if those who worship their white-nationalist Neanderthal figurehead could be lured away from their fuhrer.
The problem is that those who are destroying democracy are immune to love.
An extreme example is, of course, Nazi Germany. No amount of love could divert those ideologues from their murderous course.
And while Republicans haven’t gone completely full-fascist just yet, they’ve taken some alarming steps in that direction, and are accelerating the placement of partisan appointees to government posts that heretofore have functioned strictly as non-partisan (the Attorney General, for instance). This is a foreboding sign, as it’s obviously clearing the way for more lawlessness and corruption.
My opinion is that it’s past time to fight, tooth and nail, to retain what democracy remains. Kindness, looking the other way, generosity of spirit and taking the “high road,” while noble, have led us to where we are today— a sharply divided country with an autocratic, racist ruler who’s likely suffering some form of diminished cognitive function, supported by a gaggle of freakish, twisted men who, having no conscience or empathy whatsoever, would welcome a right-wing totalitarian government. They already speak of us as some sort of evil, foreign element that has no place in America. If 45 gets a second term, by rigged election or decree, I’d advise younger people to get the hell out: go to Canada, New Zealand, Australia, etc. in a hurry, because the U.S. will not be a healthy country, to say the least.
So fight back. Fight back hard. Do NOT let these lunatics win. They are already killing people with their heartlessness and greed. PUSH BACK WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT. Speak up and out. Avoid infighting with Democrats and progressives. VOTE BLUE in 2020!
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Gender: MaleHome country: USA
Member since: 2003 before July 6th
Number of posts: 22,976
