General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsABOUT THE VOTE IN NOVEMBER
Last edited Wed Jan 22, 2020, 05:49 PM - Edit history (1)
Our great patriot, Adam Schiff has stirred the nations awareness of how near to the end of The Republic we are.
But for me, Eyeball_Kids posts have compelled me to raise a problem for America under a lawless president.
Heres our problem: our unfounded belief that there will even BE a November election.
Every day, millions of us say, oh, well remove this guy in November.
Millions of us assume that MF45 will do nothing to stop that.
What in his past deeds would ever make us think he would not insure his November win? We have no evidence of that. Nothing.
All the more then, do we need to seriously reconsider our assumption that we will retain any voting power. At all.
To ignore that possibility as part of an October surprise" is to mentally hide from everything weve learned about how 45 and Republicans have operated since Reagan.
We have to see whats in front of us. Right now.
Right now, millions of Americans NOW have to think about the consequences of a Senate acquittal that will go way beyond Trumps feel-good rallies.
Already setting up their hold on this government, 45, his cabinet, cyber, ground operatives and Republicans can do a lot thats unseen and unreported in the next ten months. Not only can they wreck the 2020 election, they can force despair and withdrawal of the electorate and Democrats; and they can eliminate future elections altogether. They have come to make us eat, one bite at a time, this dead Republic elephant in the room.
1.
As Eyeball_Kid and others in recent weeks have pointed out, we first need to really see 45's supporters.
They occupy much bigger space than do gullible voters at 45s spite/grievance rallies.
At the top space of federal government, Trumps leadership all support the unitary executive assertions that AG Barr loves. Barr makes the rounds at think tanks, legal foundations and universities to promote that the moral decay of America necessitates a unified power of the executive.
At state levels, Republicans all support a "permanent Republican minority-majority" goal, set in motion by Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay in the 1980s, which continue to include
-- gerrymandering,
-- manipulating voting machines,
-- changing voting data in servers, and
-- radio/TV markets saturated with right wing propaganda.
Do not underestimate the Trump Party's awareness at any of these levels of what they can do after the Senate acquittal. Theyve been at it for forty years, and more is coming.
As for Trump himself, watch the Senate acquittal, and then watch the threads multiply here over Trump and what his henchmen do with that acquittal in the next ten months. But those posts will miss the larger context.
From Eyeball_Kid (somewhat paraphrased):
Next, we'd BETTER remember the Patriot Act, because it gives Trump the power to manufacture a national security emergency in order to cancel the election. It will be within his power to do so if he sees an election loss looming
If you're thinking that the "manufacturing" part will make it invalid, think again. By the time Congress gets the news, it will already be too late. A dictator doesn't have to wait for approval. Besides, this Acquittal will already have rendered Congressional oversight ignored and impotent.
A real and historic crisis is unfolding RIGHT NOW.
When the Senate acquits, the Constitution dies.
Thank you, Eyeball_Kid, for your "Forbidden Logic" post.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=12889779
2.
But a fascist dictatorship will roll out hereafter whether we see it or not. Immersed in the last years of ugly news and legal fights, weve been only vaguely aware of Putins Eurasian Project to destabilize and stigmatize resisting banks, bankers, media, governments and civil rights organizations of the decadent West.
More noticeable has been the Republican Fifth Column inside and outside our government that has taken their money, welcomed them into America, enabled their residency, laundered money, hacked Internet (from utility infrastructure levels to grandparents' zombie computers); fake journalist enemies, fake news, trolls and all. Hybrid insurgency. For the last six years weve read and shared books written about it all.
IF we find that we live UNDER A dictator, it will be because we finally see several components about dictatorship around us:
Well see Barr's and Republicans finally settling the issue that this president can do whatever he wants he will coequal branches of government hierarchalized, hobbled.
Well see when we take into account that 19.5% of Americans didn't know who they voted for, sold their national inheritance for a mess of pottage, the base.
Well face that the rest of Trump supporters still will never admit their mistake, just double down, arm themselves, and forge ahead to run the American house, dragging along their sunk cost fallacy with them like an old, gimp friend.
Hate it or not, well have to accept how much Trumpers have wanted their corporate christo-fascist nazi government, false prophet president and apocalypse (with fundamentalist Barr's hovering support).
3.
When we do we will not be shocked, outraged and crazy when authoritarian followers from bottom to top of our land won't mind a suspension of a general election. Obedience has always been easier. It can happen in ten months.
Well be in a nation of men, not a nation of constitutional law. Where well hear: No ones above the law? Nah, thats all in the past. Ive got news for you: get used to it.
Under that nation of men, the only civil war will be one that Trump foments. What have been random mass shootings are a preview, a mere click away, from purges that are the first thing a new dictator directs.
But honest elections? Never again. Unless
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,719 posts)dchill
(38,546 posts)Trump HAS to do this. Staying in office, or better yet, in power, is the only way he and his cohort stay out of prison. Without a free and fair election, the government has no way to fix itself. Remember, the entire GOP knows this.
ancianita
(36,137 posts)dchill
(38,546 posts)... that you yourself won't answer!
ancianita
(36,137 posts)seek answers. What can we do? Knowing what's happening is just not enough.
The "Republic, if you can keep it" answer from Ben Franklin, demands that we ask each other, "How now can we keep it?"
dchill
(38,546 posts)... demonstration.
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)No.
Their main way is to let the other side (us) look forward and take punishment off the table.
It's worked for them before!
2naSalit
(86,802 posts)IndyOp
(15,535 posts)ancianita
(36,137 posts)saidsimplesimon
(7,888 posts)writer and scholar. imo
This belongs on the front page for at least the next two days. I hope the administrators and other members agree.
Unless...
ancianita
(36,137 posts)triron
(22,023 posts)Same thing as happened in Germany. I will add that if in 1776 the temperament of the present media and voting public
existed, we would probably have stayed British colonies indefinitely.
ancianita
(36,137 posts)not just "We Mutually Pledge To Each Other Our Lives, Our Fortunes And Our Sacred Honor" but coordinate the means by which we can live up to that pledge.
If we see how our leaders do or don't live up to their oaths, can we show ourselves to be better able than they?
Fear is instructive.
What we fear can be named, studied for its strengths and weaknesses.
triron
(22,023 posts)insulated from England by an ocean. We have none of that.
ancianita
(36,137 posts)triron
(22,023 posts)For instance a new republic led by California and another in New England?
ancianita
(36,137 posts)rule of law? How could they work that?
triron
(22,023 posts)ancianita
(36,137 posts)I've had friends in WA talk about a three-state secession -- WA, OR, CA -- and there was talk a year or two ago about the question being on a CA referendum. Nothing came of it. We came up with the name Pacifica.
I always wondered why Texans have talked about seceding, even publicly warned the country.
So I usually have questions when thinking along those lines.
triron
(22,023 posts)Would be worthwhile if we could hear from others here. Seems little interest so far.
ancianita
(36,137 posts)None of what's happening is interesting. What this country's going through is a totally negative range of reality.
Unless it's just us Democrats inability to see a larger reality in the future. Or it's just me.