Guess what, tingbudong? That “citizen attitude” is now spreading among the MAGAbots. The C-Span caller is even given credit. (My bold)
Let’s get this straight: Hillary Clinton was such an extreme threat to the security and future of the United States (besides being an evil, uppity woman), and there was a chance she might win (Oops! She DID win the popular vote :o ), so we welcome the illegal, secret interference of a historically hostile foreign power to make sure she was blocked from the Presidency and to make sure we elected the very, very brilliant doofus with the intelligence and attention span of a goldfish,* who would wear his underpants on his head to Christmas dinner and likewise all other important state events. Right. :smack:
He’s chairman of a sub-committee (Information Technology Subcommittee) which seems like it would have some oversight authority on cyber-attacks on elections.
I’ll give him kudos when he holds hearings - words are cheap.
In another thread, I posted that I think the USA is a fascist state. I go back and forth on this as to whether it is fascist or is on its way to becoming fascist. And it is stuff like this which reinforces the idea that it is certainly heading there. I know a lot of Americans will stick their head in the sand and believe it cannot happen in the USA, but it is happening. Donald Trump is undeniably a fascist. No question at all. Does having a fascist president make the country fascist? Maybe, maybe not, but it speaks volumes about Americans willingness to accept fascism.
Look a few posts up. See where the House Intelligence Committee helped cover up whatever went on in Helsinki by refusing to subpoena Trump’s translator? That was on the same day the House overall voted to cut funding for election security.
The House and Senate leadership are actively collaborating with Trump’s attacks on democracy. Any member of Congress who voted for that leadership is as guilty as they are. If Hurd takes Trump’s treasonous behavior as seriously as he claims to, his first priority should be putting Nancy Pelosi in the Speaker’s seat so that serious Congressional investigations could be conducted. Anything short of that is just handwringing and hot air.
What we need to do here is do the things we normally wouldn’t do - like subpoena the translator - because this president and this presidency isn’t normal.
As a country, we need to do these things and decide that we’re not setting a precedent for the normal state of affairs. If - og forbid - we ever get another Donald Trump, then we can do these things again, but not for the next Bush or Obama or Reagan.
I’ve come to the conclusion that saying things like “We can’t do this because it’ll set a precedent we don’t want” is just another step towards normalizing an extremely abnormal situation.
He’s speaking, but what is he actually proposing? Moreover, notice the subtle passivity of how he speaks. “Trump is being manipulated by Putin,” as though Trump himself isn’t knowingly and willfully acting with malice toward our strategic partnerships with democratic allies and our own democratic norms.
Here’s the chilling part in all of this:
We’re perilously close to having the head of the FBI and the Director of National Intelligence resign because they’re beginning to realize the futility of working with a president who doesn’t believe in reality, and partisans in congress who enable him and try to erase their work. This would be nothing short of another escalation in the current crisis. And this is something that I spoke of a while ago: a scenario in which competent non-partisans are forced to resign or otherwise purged and replaced with loyalists who turn institutions of democracy and the rule of law into institutions that reinforce the abuse of executive power.
There are no good Republicans right now. Not until at least some of them start openly talking about impeaching the president. Then I will be convinced that their party can be salvaged.
Some of the very highest intelligence directors and counter-intelligence directors have weighed in on these matters. You would have us ignore their opinions and listen you, confessedly ignorant on such matters. Got it.
Well apparently if you’re a Democrat you only have to think about maaaybe doing something to set a dangerous precedent for Republicans to follow.
Case in point: The “Biden Rule” TM, (R)
So, if you’ve thunk about it, you’ve already done it.
Americans don’t understand how democracy crumbles, because it’s been an article of faith over the years that we were born a democracy, we’ve always been a democracy, and we will always be one. Americans tend to forget our own flirtations with authoritarianism over the years: the rise of fascism’s popularity in the 1930s, the popularity of Huey Long, the harsh anti-immigration policies in the early 20th Century, the Red Scare, the Patriot Act. It’s not like we haven’t flirted with and tolerated authoritarianism before - we have.
But what we’ve never experienced - until now - is having the most powerful political figure in the land openly challenge the very character of our political culture, and openly questioning and casting doubt on the legitimacy of our system. That is new, and we have absolutely no idea how to respond to it.
Our reaction has been similar to the reaction in other democratic countries that have allowed democracies to collapse. There’s reaction and overreaction to a seemingly endless stream of outrages, with one outrage overshadowing and diverting attention form the last. There’s a tendency among intellectuals to assume that since his sheer incompetence will bring him down, always telling him “That won’t work,” “It doesn’t work that way,” “He can’t do that,” only to have him do the very things we’re telling him not to do.
“You can’t fire Comey!” Oh yeah? Watch.
"You can’t separate refugee children from their parents? Wanna bet?
“You can’t equate protestors denouncing racism with militant white supremacists” Says you.
“Oh God, you cannot call our allies foes, and our foes allies.” I just did, bitch. What are you gonna do about it?
We can talk about doing anything, but it’s wasted energy.
What really matters more than anything is having ordinary people decisively rebuke the president and his party at the polls. We can’t waste votes on Gary Johnson or Jill Stein. We can’t waste votes on independents to send a message to both parties. The democrats may not necessarily be the ‘good’ side, but the republicans are absolutely, positively the ‘bad’ here. They are a cancer on democracy, and everyone has to vote against it. Republicans who are fed up with their party, like John Kasich, must stop hoping for their party’s Come to Jesus moment - it’s not going to happen. The duty of a moderate is clear: to be partisan not in favor of democrats, but in support of democracy. And to decisively vote against that which threatens the best system of government we have, however imperfect it may be.
The problem is not that trump is an authoritarian. I realized that from day one, and was chided on these boards for that observation.
The problem is that congress is not just allowing, but encouraging the fascist tendencies with their refusal to hold him accountable for all the other norms he has smashed.
All those who chided my concerns about electing a strongman as president used arguments along the lines of “it can’t happen here”. No real reason why it couldn’t just that it couldn’t. Sure we have checks, but those actually have to be used to be effective. The conservatives give him free reign, so long as he signs their bills that reward their donors.
I wrote a short story a while back called “Asashi the chicken little who cried wolf.” It begins with the villagers refusing to recognize the shapes in the distance as a threat, pointing to the 200+ year old fence as adequate protection. It ends with Asashi calling “Wolf, Wolf, Wolf” and no one comes, because they are all being eaten by wolves.
Interesting Freudian slip. The expression is “free rein,” as in riding horses. But in this case, the Pubs have given him “free reign,” as in treating him like a king, anointed and capable of doing no wrong. So, sadly, the wrong word is the right word.
Sickening.
I was seriously chided when I started the Clusterfuck thread for overreacting, getting hysterical, etc. Some suggested I be banned for general obnoxiousness. It won’t be that bad. It can’t be that bad. No, it’s not bad the way I thought it would be; it’s much, much worse.
Possible good intentions notwithstanding, he is a Republican. He probably had to bite his tongue to keep from adding Benghazi! in there. Or Democrat party.