Robert Reich: The Real Scandal of Donald Trump

[babylonsister]

https://prospect.org/article/real-scandal-donald-trump


The Real Scandal of Donald Trump
Robert Reich
March 26, 2019
Trump's threat to our democracy goes far beyond Russia.

snip//

A president’s most fundamental responsibility is to uphold and protect our system of government. Trump has weakened that system.

When, as a presidential nominee, he said a particular federal judge shouldn’t be hearing a case against him because the judge’s parents were Mexican, Trump did more than insult a member of the judiciary. He attacked the impartiality of America’s legal system.

When Trump threatened to “loosen” federal libel laws so he could sue news organizations that were critical of him and, later, to revoke the licenses of networks critical of him, he wasn’t just bullying the media. He was threatening the freedom and integrity of the press.

When, as president, he equated neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members with counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, by blaming “both sides” for the violence, he wasn’t being neutral. He was condoning white supremacists, thereby undermining equal rights.

When he pardoned Joe Arpaio, the former sheriff of Maricopa county, Arizona, for a criminal contempt conviction, he wasn’t just signaling it’s OK for the police to engage in brutal violations of civil rights. He was also subverting the rule of law by impairing the judiciary’s power to force public officials to abide by court decisions.

When he criticized NFL players for kneeling during the national anthem, he wasn’t really asking that they demonstrate their patriotism. He was disrespecting their—and, indirectly, everyone’s—freedom of speech.

In all these ways, Trump undermined core values of our democracy.

This is the essence of Trump’s failure—not that he has chosen one set of policies over another, or has divided rather than united Americans, or even that he has behaved in childish and vindictive ways unbecoming a president.

It is that he has sacrificed the processes and institutions of American democracy to achieve his goals.

By saying and doing whatever it takes to win, he has abused the trust we place in a president to preserve and protect the nation’s capacity for self-government.

Controversy over the Mueller report must not obscure this basic reality.

[watoos]

1. Yeah, I totally agree but,

controversy over the BARR REPORT, is kinda important too. Keeping the Mueller report, the real report, hidden, emboldens Trump to do everything mentioned and then some. You ain't seen nothing yet if we let Trump get away with this bs.

[rainin]

2. We will never learn. Trump is untouchable. McConnell should be our lightening rod.

Every minute. Every day. He is the single person who could reign in trump. We've lost time. When will we learn?

[babylonsister]

3. We will never learn?

Learn what? We know the report has to come out and I believe one way or the other it will. It might take getting Mueller on the stand, but we will find out just how corrupt this asshole is. Most everyone here already knows what a skank he is.

[rainin]

4. Perhaps you skimmed my comment. I said we must make McConnell a lightening rod.

We wouldn't be having this fight to see this report if it weren't for McConnell refusing to vote on the resolution to release the report.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/435703-mcconnell-blocks-resolution-calling-for-mueller-report-to-be-released

Instead of talking about trump (the child), talk about McConnell (the parent who refuses to scold the child or hold the child to account).

[watoos]

5. From what I hear,

getting Mueller on the stand isn't going to be easy, I'm hearing it could be delayed until the election.