Trump has
Us Hanging by a Thread with His Slick Con
(His
Goals: Name, Fame, and Financial Fortune)
Lead-up to the following main story is his reminder from
The Atlantic – an excellent read to set the scene for below post for
today.
Also, this recent related article from
the NY Times.
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The Topic Today: Failed
state USA or a new constitutional crisis ala Donald J. Trump: Is it looming,
half way here, or simply false worry?
Highlights: Ever since his impeachment acquittal by the all-GOP
Senate (minus one), Trump has upped the constitutional crisis ante –
A few actions related to Trump's boldness:
2. Firing inspectors general from several
executive-branch departments.
3. Arguing before the
Supreme Court that he enjoys absolute immunity from
state criminal investigations.
4. Stacking the federal judiciary with right-wing
ideologues.
5. Assisted by AG Barr, who has transformed the DOJ into a partisan enterprise for Trump has taken him into the exclusive rogues’ gallery of past
commanders-in-chief who have wreaked havoc on the constitutional order.
Historically, Trump is following in the footsteps of Andrew
Johnson (VP under Lincoln) who precipitated a constitutional crisis in
his showdown with the Reconstructionist Congress that
ended with his impeachment and near removal (saved by a single vote).
A little more than a century later, Richard Nixon triggered another constitutional crisis over the DNC Watergate
Hotel break-in and all that followed. It ended with Nixon’s resignation in the
face of near-certain removal.
The nation’s most damaging and far-reaching
constitutional crisis, of course, and the one that nearly sealed the fate of
the U.S. as a permanently failed state, was the Civil War.
Some commentators argue that we are in the early
stages of a new civil war.
That possibility is one fueled by Trump’s malignant
narcissism, his frequent use of white-nationalist rhetoric, the corrosive effects of the COVID-19
pandemic on our daily lives, and thus the social fabric of the country filled
with anger about government “over-reach” (some think) is now causing hostilities
to boil over. Not yet degenerated into overt blood-letting in the streets, however
some areas now are heading in that direction (e.g., recent anger and riots
based on the death of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis).
Two other examples:
·
Armed
anti-lockdown protesters stormed the Michigan statehouse in April and May.
·
A
prominent anti-lockdown leader in NC vowed to resort to violence, if necessary, to achieve
the movement’s aims.
Predictably, Trump has done nothing to deter those demonstrations
or even to tone down their heated rhetoric – in some cases he has seemed to
support them, for example (The Atlantic) August
2017, this story as a vivid reminder: Trump appeared to be defending white
nationalists who protested in Charlottesville, VA, saying at one point the
incident included “…some very fine people,”
while expressing sympathy for their demonstration against the removal of a
statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. It was a strikingly different
message from the prepared statement he had earlier delivered, a revision to his
initial response over the weekend.
Speaking in the lobby of Trump Tower at what had been
billed as a statement on infrastructure, a combative Trump defended his
slowness to condemn white nationalists and neo-Nazis after the melee in central
Virginia.
That ended in the death of one woman and injuries to
dozens of others, and compared the tearing down of Confederate monuments to the
hypothetical removal of monuments to the Founding Fathers. He also said that
counter-protesters deserve an equal amount of blame for the violence.
Trump said: “What
about the alt-left that came charging at, as you say, at the alt-right? Do they
have any semblance of guilt? I’ve condemned neo-Nazis. I’ve condemned many
different groups. But not all of those people were neo-Nazis, believe me. You
had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists. The
press has treated them absolutely unfairly. You also had some very fine people
on both sides.”
Trump isn’t the first power-hungry American president to
occupy the Oval Office, or the first to promulgate incendiary lies, large and
small, to manipulate and keep his supporters in place.
But unless he is
defeated in November, he may prove to be the most dangerous and, worst of all,
the deadliest.
My 2 cents: A very good rundown and accurate about
Trump. Not much to add to it except to say in all honesty, I fear for our country,
our foundation, and yes, our future and very survival as a world leader in stetting
democratic principles and standards now for nearly 245 years since our
founding.
Where all we see now leads us to is the key question, but I have faith in
our people and surely cooler heads will prevail for us to stop
the raw, ugly, nasty and far too personal political attacks that sustain great harm - that only benefits those behind all that.
We can disagree on issues and policy and such, but those
things must be solved via a rational process and not based on anger, hatred, or
worse.
Thanks for stopping by.
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