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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Rude Pundit: Trump Must Resign or Be Removed from the Presidency
https://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2020/03/trump-must-leave-or-be-removed-from.htmlThe Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
3/31/2020
Trump Must Resign or Be Removed from the Presidency
snip//
We know so many things since March 13, like that Trump didn't really take the death toll seriously. On March 23, a week after the Imperial College report came out predicting up to 2.2 million deaths in the United States, Trump said, "You know and again, I say we have a very active flu season; more active than most. Its looking like its heading to 50,000 or more deaths. Deaths, not cases. Fifty thousand deaths, which is thats a lot. And you look at automobile accidents, which are far greater than any numbers were talking about. That doesnt mean were going to tell everybody, 'No more driving of cars.'" For the record, for the last few years, the number of Americans who died in motor vehicle accidents is around 37,000. The number of people who will likely die of this single strain of coronavirus will exceed the deaths from multiple strains of influenza (which is what we mean when we say "the flu" and the number of motor vehicle deaths combined.
But Trump was playing games with numbers, again failing to acknowledge the human beings behind any of the numbers. Even today, when he finally admitted that at least 100,000 people, maybe as many as 240,000, maybe fewer, maybe more, were going to die in this country, most in the next few weeks, he painted it as a victory that he was leading because it wasn't a million, ignoring that that it could have been far, far fewer had he just acted like a president instead of preening and prancing for his followers before heading to Florida to golf and schmooze with donors and hangers-on, some of whom became infected with the virus.
While some newspapers have called out Trump as being entirely unsuited to this moment in history, of failing not only to rise to the occasion, but to drag us all down with him, they have mostly said things like, as the Boston Globe did, "Come November, there must be a reckoning for the lives lost." But we can't wait until November, or, really, January for Trump to be out of office. It must happen now. It should have happened a month ago (and, yes, it should have happened as soon as he was inaugurated, but it didn't).
While I have not previously been one of the liberals calling on the invocation of the 25th Amendment, which allows for the removal of a president who is unfit to do the job, physically or mentally, I wholeheartedly advocate for it now, as Mehdi Hasan does in a recent piece. Trump can't do what needs to be done. Call it mental illness or some other cognitive impairment or whatever you like. He only thinks in transactional terms about what benefits him, and we don't have time for that anymore. Frankly, at this point, I'd be willing for someone to offer him and his terrible family immunity from prosecution in exchange for leaving office. Trump and his dreadful children will face an angry New York justice system when he's no longer president. Give him the "get out of jail free" card if we can save some lives now.
Pundits and politicians keep saying that they want Trump to act like we're in an emergency. Except Trump is simply too feckless, too narcissistic, and too arrogant to even pretend that it's an emergency. Even today he was talking about a "very, very painful two weeks," as if this is still going to be over in April. He hasn't faced the full force of reality because to do so would mean having to admit failure, and admitting failure means having to say he's wrong. He will not do that.
We have witnessed betrayal after betrayal, and we have heard lie after lie. We need to act like it's an emergency. We need to act like it's life and death on the line.
So he needs to be asked to leave or be removed. I know the likelihood of this is slim to none. But the idea should be out there. The calls for his resignation should be screaming from every newsroom and every media outlet. Democrats should be demanding he step down. He is not a president. At best, he is an accessory to murder. At worst, he's holding the knife and standing on a pile of bodies.
tblue37
(64,980 posts)Funtatlaguy
(10,856 posts)librechik
(30,663 posts)OldBaldy1701E
(4,968 posts)And, since there are still far too many Americans who believe in the Corporatocracy, I can assure you that this is not going to happen. Such an act would require the majority of Americans to face the fact that the green god only has worth when everyone agrees it does. To face all the lies that have propped up the oligarchs for decades and realize that they share a measure of guilt in its perpetuation. Not gonna happen. This country will go all Mad Max before we ever act unified again... the powerful made sure of that when they destroyed community in the name of 'divide and conquer'.
I_UndergroundPanther
(12,450 posts)I hate this game of I pissed here first and I own,and who deserves. Fucking capitalism is bullshit is no way for human beings to live.
We can stop playing the Ogliarchic game at any time if people dared to see through it.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)2naSalit
(86,059 posts)MontanaMama
(23,239 posts)I wish he would be removed but he wont be. Itll take everything we have to remove him on Election Day.
crickets
(25,896 posts)OMGWTF
(3,900 posts)BigmanPigman
(51,432 posts)that he should resign while on this successful high note of achieving his goal, bankrupting and killing the country.
I guess no one read it to him....
LiberalFighter
(50,504 posts)BBG
(2,476 posts)Giving up justice for those deserving of it for some safer prospects is a nonstarter for me. Immunity? Hell to the No.
This one will leave a mark but one that we deserve for allowing such maladministration to become mainstream. We reap what we have sown. And by we I mean we of us.
greblach
(256 posts)I don't post much, but it occurs to me that trump is our modern day version of Neville Chamberlain, except he is appeasing a virus that pay's no attention...
Peace
not_the_one
(2,227 posts)I've only posted between 4000 and 5000, since 2001, most under a previous moniker. I'm retired, now, so may be a bit more prolific (to many's dismay ).
The more participants, the merrier. We're ALL Bozos on THIS bus...
greblach
(256 posts)Thanks....one of my favs
niyad
(112,435 posts)warmfeet
(3,321 posts)Not to mention the hundreds of thousands with permanent disabilities due to Corvid-19. Do we have the right to defend our lives? Who knows?
bronxiteforever
(9,287 posts)Mr.Bill
(24,104 posts)I ask them if they are going to stop wearing their seatbelts and have the airbags removed from their cars. The point is sure, people die in car accidents. That's why we do lots of things and spend lots of money to reduce those numbers. We don't just go about our business like it's no big deal.
Marcuse
(7,398 posts)Nancy Waterman
(6,407 posts)Rude Pundit is spot on!!
"The calls for his resignation should be screaming from every newsroom and every media outlet. Democrats should be demanding he step down. He is not a president. At best, he is an accessory to murder. At worst, he's holding the knife and standing on a pile of bodies.
Nancy Waterman
(6,407 posts)Trump Lied
People Died
America Cried
Blood on his Hands
calimary
(80,699 posts)And he's right AGAIN.
trump needs to be REMOVED. NOW!!!