General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: This is so messed up: Trump didn't win. [View all]anarch
(6,535 posts)I don't see how the orange shitgibbon figurehead stays, but Pence probably will...which may have been the R's end-game from the start, those who were aware of the collusion but not directly involved (McConnell & Ryan, at least, I would suspect).
As far as saving the Republic...it's not going to be easy, but I think it can be done, if we get more people engaged in the political process and fix some of the things that allowed this travesty to happen (such as the election process itself, the gerrymandering, and the suppression of non-white votes in some areas). This will indeed take years, probably decades to fix, and it's by no means a sure thing--it will require people to actively care about saving their country, and I'm not so sure about a large percentage of the population.
Either way, Putin's goals are accomplished...U.S. power and credibility has been diminished, probably beyond the point of recovery, and domestically we will be a mess for a long time to come. The government's in shambles, and the confidence of the American people is shattered. Russia "wins," for whatever that winds up being worth to them...perhaps the Balkans, and likely a bunch of oil money (especially if Tillerson stays in place--he's kind of the key guy to the real conspiracy, I think...).
Even if the entire criminal junta falls apart and is thrown out of office, we've basically already lost the war...and there are so many brainwashed morons and/or white nationalist assholes that will still defend the criminal Republican scum. There's no way out; much of the damage is already done. We don't necessarily need to start completely from scratch, but it's going to be a long road back to any real resemblance of the democratic nation we are supposed to be.