This is the week that pushed me over the edge of being merely concerned about our democracy surviving, to freaking out about the fact that it truly seems threatened by Trump.
Which is scary.
Being as old as I am -- 70 -- I've lived through Richard Nixon (Watergate), Ronald Reagan (Iran/Contra), Bill Clinton (blow job, yawn), George W. Bush (no Iraq weapons of mass destruction), and various other WTF-is-going-on scandalous presidential behavior.
But Donald Trump is in a league of his own. And that's not a compliment. He's the only president who has refused to abide by norms of generally decent behavior that have allowed our country to remain a vibrant democracy through good times and bad.
Until now I've read books that disturbed me with the possibilities they raised of what could happen to the United States in these Trumpian times. How Democracies Die. The Monarchy of Fear. An Uncivil War.
After this week's events, my brain has jumped from possibility mode to holy shit we're in deep trouble mode.
I hope I'm wrong. I hope our national institutions -- Congress, courts, public opinion, elections -- are up to the job of keeping Trump from becoming the dictator president he clearly wants to be.
At the moment things don't look very encouraging, though. Let's count some of the reasons I feel this way.
(1) Most Republicans are willing to let Trump do whatever the hell he wants. His Gallup approval rating has jumped six points to 45% recently. Trump's approval among Republicans is 89%, among Democrats 8%, among Independents 39%. But Trump only considers himself president of his base, not the whole country. So he feels entitled and emboldened.
(2) William Barr, his Attorney General, seems determined to be Trump's personal lawyer rather than an impartial dispenser of justice. He unilaterally determined that Trump didn't obstruct justice after Mueller said evidence of this was equivocal. This week Barr claimed that the Trump campaign was "spied" on even though there's no evidence of this. A hit job on people considers to be his enemies seems to be Barr's goal. And Barr is doing his best to keep the Mueller report as hidden as possible.
(3) Trump wanted Kirstjen Nielsen, the homeland security secretary, to close the border with Mexico, even though Nielsen told him this would be illegal. Nielsen then resigned. Now Trump is putting his cronies in charge of immigration policies. Rather than being embarrassed by reporting that a plan to move migrant detainees to sanctuary cities had been considered, but rejected, Trump now is saying he is seriously considering doing this -- an atrocious and likely also illegal move.
(4) The Mueller investigation was treasonous, according to Trump. He's used that term 26 times. Greg Sargent writes, "Because Trump knows the seriousness of the charge, he therefore must be interpreting treason the way King Henry VIII did, in the lèse-majesté sense: Treason is anything that offends the dignity of the sovereign. Disagreement with Trump is an offense against the state, just as Henry executed unfaithful wives for treason."
(5) Trump reportedly offered to pardon the acting Homeland Security director if he violated the law and was arrested for blocking entry into the U.S. along the border with Mexico. That's obstruction of justice, but since his Attorney General believes it is impossible for a president to obstruct justice, Trump feels free to indulge his dictatorial tendencies.
Maybe this is a low point for American democracy and an upswing is coming. If so, it can't come soon enough for me. We can't wait for the 2020 election to make things right.
And I've got to say that while until now I've scoffed at Bill Maher's contention that if Trump loses the election he won't leave office willingly, that possibility is starting to seem a lot more likely to me.
The focus of "fear" you articulate is worrisome.
Are you suggesting U.S. citizens of the Republican perspective are prepared to follow out of fear this self-advertising, bloviating entertainer no matter what he says?
That suggests to me the rule of law, as well as our county's Constitution, is being challenged by fearful individuals unwilling to support our messy democratic process and that Trump supporters favor a directorial form of government. Say it isn't so.
Maine Senator King has offered an alternative description:
“This guy (Donald Trump) thinks he’s CEO of America and it’s a family-owned company. He doesn't have to answer to anybody." … “He thinks he can just run over everybody and if he doesn't like the law that Congress passed years ago he can just ignore it or tell his people to ignore it.”
I thought I lived in a republic, the United States of America; not the United States of Trump. I didn't realize the CEO thought he was leading a family company rather than a representative democracy.
Posted by: E.M. | April 13, 2019 at 01:28 PM
Jesus H. Christ!! The lying, corrupt media and PC culture in this country has the Blogger's head twisted upside down and sideways, IMO. One sits there couch-locked on a potent indica soaking it in.
I'd address the points raised in the post, but it's not going to change anything. The chasm of perception is wide. One argument leads to another. Who's going to read it anyway? The few participants here stand on opposite sides of the gorge spouting opinion like jackals, neither hearing the other because the perceptual/philosophical/conditioning distance is so wide. This disconnect is what I think threatens the country. Not Trump.
Being nihilistically inclined, sometimes at least, I think "What does it matter anyway?" It's all dust in the wind in the end." Yet, here we are with the life we are presented. We know it's futile and ephemeral but we play the game as if it matters. We build our sandcastles knowing the tide will rise and wash them away (if we are not in denial). We could go live in the wilderness, as some do, and let the madness of the world go on without us. You don't have to move to Alaska or a remote region of Utah to do that. You can do it in the wilderness of your own mind and just drop out.
If all you hear is CNN, MSNBC, NBC, NY Times, Washington Post, Colbert, Maher and the rest drummed into your head night after night you're going to believe it. They all babble in unison. A chorus of dogs barking at an imagined threat created by their pack mentality. If you hear this group think all the time, discrimination falls away and you start to believe it. You get absorbed as by a sponge. You're lost. They own you as they in turn are owned, by each other, their bosses, the leftist financiers, the ratings. Hate for Trump boils your blood... He's HItler! A racist! A white nationalist! A misogynist! A xenophobe! A liar!, A cheat! He's a Russian agent!! He's one really evil fucked up dude, man!!... But all he wants is the border under control.
I have lived near the border for much of my life. Believe me, crappy immigration policy has been a crisis for decades. I have been an employer of Mexicans. Some are great people. Some suck. I see the economic damage in the billions of dollars to a system so very easily gamed. I've seen the crime. The trash of immigrant camps. The blight of loiterers as well as the honest effort of people wanting a better life. I've been a victim of immigrant crime numerous times over the years. I have witnessed a girl who had been raped by a gang of thugs who shouldn't have been here in the first place. Sure, there are American rapists but THAT rape did not need to happen.
I heard someone mention RealClearPolitics.com as a less biased news/information source.
I said LESS biased. Everyone is biased to some extent, at least some of the time. Myself included.
Posted by: tucson | April 13, 2019 at 02:10 PM
All joking aside, I have to tell you that I take no pleasure in other's pain.
I am a regular reader of several of my liberal friend's blogs and feel for their severe TDS condition.
As a word of encouragement, be aware that you are not alone.
There are others, some with many thousands of liberal followers that are similarly afflicted:
Rosie O Donnell for example.
Joy Behar is another one of your fold.
Remember; TDS is not your fault. In fact TDS may only be a symptom of the real problem...
The real problem is "Stockholm syndrome".
You, (and Rosie and Joy), have become SO accustomed to your TOTALLY useless and worthless "leadership" that you have lost all hope. Now, once strong, focused, leadership comes into force you cannot acclimate to victory on the cusp.
I was lost in the forest for several days once as a child. I later read that in this situation the lost hiker will often run and fight the rescuers out of delusion.
America has been TOTALLY devoid of any shred of leadership since Bill Clinton.
It's been so long that ANY attempt at leadership will be labeled "dictatorship".
America has been long overdue for strong direction.
If America's executive does not put it's citizens first; who will?
Get ready for 5 more years....
Hugs & Kisses!!! XOXOXOXO
Posted by: Skyline | April 13, 2019 at 09:41 PM