Aware that the American public no longer trusts them and believes them to be deeply partisan, members of the Supreme Court of the United States have been telling public forums that they make decisions objectively, based on legal doctrine rather than personal politics. But there’s no denying their voting records. How can they be so much in denial?
Democrats need to stop grasping at straws.
Shocked by Trump’s win and dismayed at his half billionaire, half military junta cabinet, liberals are thrashing about in the stinking waters of dying American democracy, hoping against hope for something — anything — to stop Trump from becoming president on January 20th. That, or to send him packing as soon as possible afterward.
Some Dems point to the CIA allegation that the president-elect received an assist, via WikiLeaks, from Russian government hackers. If this could proved, they ask, especially if Trump knowingly colluded with Vladimir Putin’s tech-savvy underlings to deny Hillary Clinton her God-intended victory, wouldn’t that force him to step aside?
Sorry, my liberal friends: that deus won’t ex machina.
First, the intelligence community hasn’t presented a shred of evidence, much less proof, that the Russians hacked the DNC or John Podesta’s emails. (Even Americans know that “overwhelming circumstantial evidence” doesn’t mean anything.) When Trump scoffed that the wise men of U.S. intelligence were the same geniuses who gave us the Iraq War, he had a point. The spooks are discredited. No proof, no scandal. Even if there were proof, who would force Trump back to his Tower? Not the Republican congressmen and senators wallowing in the surprise win they handed him. No GOP leaders behind it, no impeachment.
Then there’s the mother of all Hail Mary passes: trying to convince roughly 40 members of the Electoral College pledged to Trump to vote for Hillary instead. This, courtesy of Michael Moore et al., is much discussed in liberal circles. It is a Thing. But it is a Dumb Thing, one doomed to failure. Electors are hacks slavishly devoted to their parties. It’s much too much to ask them to turn “faithless” in support of a coup, to undermine democracy in support of a candidate whose approval ratings never climbed above (tied for) “most unpopular ever.”
There are only two realistic ways to get rid of President Trump: street protests and Democratic intransigence.
A sustained campaign of national street protests might make it so impossible for him to govern that he might lose support among influential Republican leaders, especially those from blue states. Pro tip: “sustained” means 24-7, 365 days a year. Not 20 or 200 people here and there, but thousands and tens of thousands, in every city — a great constellation of Tahrir Squares that brings traffic, consumerism, news, the economy, to a grinding halt.
Of course, Trump might order his cops and soldiers to shoot the protesters. That’s what China did to the students at Tiananmen Square, a crackdown of which Trump approved: “Then [the Chinese authorities] were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength.”
Or, like Obama did to Occupy Wall Street, have his Homeland Security department coordinate systematic beatdowns, or “sweeps” as corporate media dutifully calls such things. Resistance is not a tea party.
Things may and probably will change. However, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for a mass uprising à la Paris May 1968. There’s no party or group capable of mass organizing in the United States, much less a radical leftist front — which is what such a militant mobilization would require.
Protests are boring. It rains and snows. Cops are scary.
This is why the anti-Trump protests following Election Day petered out in less than a week, and why January 21st‘s Million Women March is likely to impress for a day, then be forgotten January 22nd. (Example: men are welcome but don’t know it. Because: stupid title. Was the URL for Million Women Plus One March taken? Also: didn’t we learn from the election that Democrats get in trouble when they snub guys?)
Our best chance to stop or slow down Trump lies with Democratic legislators in the House and Senate.
Recent history doesn’t give reason to believe that Congressional Democrats will turn into a left-wing “party of no,” working as hard as Tea Party Republicans did to block President Obama’s judicial appointments and legislative initiatives. These are the same Democrats whose votes gave George W. Bush the fascist USA-Patriot Act and two aggressive wars of choice with no end in sight.
But what if the party of Pelosi and Reid were to grow a pair? There’s a lot they could do to take the wind out of The Donald’s authoritarian sails.
To a man, Trump’s cabinet picks are morally objectionable, ideologically unacceptable and objectively unqualified: a climate denialist to run the EPA, an idiot at HUD, a general (one of several) for the DOD who wants Congress to change a law mandating civilian rule, the CEO of ExxonMobil as Secretary of State.
Democrats should say “you’re fired!” to every last one of these turkeys.
And they can. Thanks to Harry Reid, the filibuster rule is no more, so Republicans can approve these guys with a simple majority. But any Democratic Senator — just one — may put a secret personal hold on a presidential appointee. That’s exactly what Democrats should do. And that’s what we ought to demand. Let Trump go back to LinkedIn to find better-qualified nominees.
Democrats should demand special prosecutors to look into Trump’s tax returns and the brazen conflicts of interest between his real estate business and his duties as president. Tie the bastard up with endless hearings, just like the GOP did with the Monica Lewinsky scandal and Benghazi.
Since payback is a bitch and Trumpism presents a grave and present danger to the republic, no Democratic legislator ought to negotiate with Republicans or vote for any Republican-sponsored bills. Yes, that counts the stuff Democrats might actually like, such as building new infrastructure. If the GOP wants it, the answer is no. Always. No matter what.
You don’t “find common ground with” or “cooperate with” or “reach out to” a tyrant-in-waiting. Which, after the next terrorist attack or other security threat, is exactly what Trump will expose himself as. Faced with incipient evil you stand firm, united in your conviction that everything that tyrant-in-waiting stands for is evil and un-American.
You block everything they want. You become the biggest Party of No parliamentary democracy has ever known. Because, even if you’re not sure it’s the right thing to do, it’s smart.
Disgusted and now dominant, the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democratic Party is ten seconds from bolting. Democrats have one last chance to act like Democrats — something they haven’t done in 50 years — or watch their party come apart at the seams.
Nonresistance is futile.
(Ted Rall is author of “Trump: A Graphic Biography,” an examination of the life of the Republican presidential nominee in comics form. You can support Ted’s hard-hitting political cartoons and columns and see his work first by sponsoring his work on Patreon.)
First, I have to be clear. I admire Julian Assange. I value WikiLeaks. A lot. He has performed a valuable service to the world.
So why is he acting like a goddamn idiot?
Of all the times to release the hacked Podesta emails, why Friday – the classic media dump day? And why the same Friday when Donald Trump’s gross woman-groping tape is the obsession of the global media?
As the BBC says: “In some alternate universe, the Clinton Wikileaks story would be dominating the news this weekend, as pundits and analysts speculate on whether the revelations could tilt the election to Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush or even Ted Cruz.”
It’s almost like he wants them to be washed away in a tsunami of distraction.
Obviously, Donald Trump is in big trouble, and he deserves to be. Of course, there’s nothing new here. Everyone knew that he was a sexist misogynist pig. Everyone knew that he objectified women beyond the norms of a male locker room. This audio has the effect of making all the stuff that he has said, and all the stuff that his accusers have said, feel and seem more real. But it sure ain’t new.
The Hillary Clinton hacks aren’t really new either, but they do shine a brighter light than the media has been generally willing to do on the fact that she is a total suck-up to Wall Street, that she is a free-trade purist who doesn’t care about American jobs, that she’ll always be part of the 1% and never one of us. This is stuff that pretty much everyone who has been paying attention already knew all along, of course. But it really goes to confirm the Bernie Sanders narrative during the primaries, as well as put a spotlight on the fact that Hillary Clinton was never going to be a good Democratic nominee.
If things go the way that they currently look like they’re going to go – Trump steps aside, Pence steps in – we’re really going to see that. My guess is that the Bland from Indiana will defeat Hillary Clinton. What if it goes the other way? What if Trump stays in the race and loses, or leaves and Pence loses?
Then Hillary Clinton becomes president of the United States without the American people having any clue about what kind of person she is or what kind of policies she generally espouses. That didn’t need to be the case.
Julian, say it ain’t so!
Or that there’s more.
