The Most Important Thing to Remember About Donald Trump is This

[Morbius]

Donald Trump is not the problem. Donald Trump is a symptom of the problem.

Yes, we have to defeat this man in November. We need to win so decisively that any reasonable person will laugh at claims it was stolen. And we need to send Donald Trump's oversized hind parts to jail. But that is only the beginning.

We need to defeat the notion that government is evil, and it's okay to undermine it. Government isn't just necessary; it's inevitable. If they tear down our government they will replace it with something worse. Something much, much worse.

We need to let people know that the "deep state" is comprised of patriots who have dedicated themselves to the public good.

We need to let people know that the brown people aren't coming to this country to take your job. They're coming to take the jobs you don't want, and they're working for really, really low wages. They are no threat.

Actually, there a lot fewer threats than you might imagine.

There's a small cabal of people who have managed to create a concentration of wealth, and therefore a concentration of power. They are entrenched now, but they are not undefeatable. The thing which scares them most is a united populace, which is why they have worked so hard to keep us fighting each other.

Yes, our government could use some improvement. The only way it can be improved is if we, the people, stand together and demand it. Destroying the system won't improve anything.

Beware of people who tell you who and what to fear. They are trying to manipulate you.

OK, had to get that off my chest. Really, we have to win the larger argument. We're the ones who have a vision for what America can become. They're the ones who won't allow it.

[Attilatheblond]

1. Excellant comments

[onecaliberal]

2. The violent threats are coming from white male psychos with guns.

[The Blue Flower]

3. Yes, if the drumpf were to disappear tomorrow, like a miracle...

We'd still have to stand up to the money and power structure that brought him this far. And educate the marks who worship him,

[Dave Bowman]

5. +1 nt

[CincyDem]

4. We must reframe this core philosophy.

Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.

It was wrong when Reagan said it and it’s been wrong ever since. But republicans have been working to validate it and prove it right with 43 years of obstructionism and divisiveness.

[Morbius]

7. You're absolutely right.

Mr. Reagan planted this seed and it has grown like kudzu over what used to be conservatism.

[electric_blue68]

11. Visited The South. Saw the kudzu! Eghads!

[Beartracks]

8. Government is not the problem. Republicans in government is the problem.

[Frank D. Lincoln]

27. It would have been more accurate if Reagan had said

Republicans are not the solution to our problem; Republicans are the problem.

[bdamomma]

6. It's

not us who are the swamp people.

[NameAlreadyTaken]

9. The real problem is the Trump voters

They're not going anywhere and they will continue to vote for the most god-awful candidates.

[Morbius]

10. Not necessarily.

Fear is a powerful motivator. Taking fear away can create overwhelming relief. If we can convince people to simply not be afraid, there's a chance they will vote based on reason, not emotion.

Some of them, anyway.

[Funtatlaguy]

12. He has exposed the massive bigotry in USA.

[AZ8theist]

13. Right now...in this moment in history...DONALD TRUMP IS THE PROBLEM.

If he's not defeated in November and is sent to prison for TREASON (among other things)..............

......there is no more America.

EVERYTHING .....afterwards..........means nothing.

[Morbius]

15. We have to treat the symptom.

If you will reread my post you will see that I wrote we have to defeat Trump in November - decisively. But we also have to remember that this will not be enough. The threat to America is not Trump. The threat will remain after Trump is gone.

Yes, treat the symptom. But also work on curing the disease.

[markodochartaigh]

29. Exactly.

Trump is the ulcerative lesion of the authoritarian cancer that has always infected the US body politic. Before Trump there was Reagan. Before Reagan there was the Businessmen's Plot. Before that the authoritarian governments of the slave states.

When I listen to Trump I hear the same ideas that I heard growing up in Texas a half century ago, even if Trump is often incoherent and self-contradicting.

The hard truth is, even with excellent Democratic presidential and vice presidential candidates, and the Republicans' candidates being by far the most buffoonish and corrupt presidential candidate and one of the least well-thought of vice presidential candidates, the Democratic party is having to fight tooth and nail to maintain parity. If we manage to win, education of the electorate must begin immediately. The cancer didn't start with Trump and it won't end when we rid ourselves of him.

[et tu]

14. 'ask not what your country

can do for you but....'. we have to stay positive and united.
thank you for your post and welcome to du~

[llmart]

16. Excellent post.

I have always hated that Reagan line. It reeked of negativity and in fact, really makes no sense. "Government" is not a single entity. It is made up of millions of our fellow Americans who go to work every day for a government agency or entity - everyone from your local pubic librarian to school principle to township clerk to postal carrier. You get my drift. What would happen to our economy if all of those jobs disappeared because we no longer need government?

Simple minded people like simple minded phrases like Reagan dished out. Why so many fell for his schtick was beyond me.

[lonely bird]

17. Yes, Trump is symptomatic

But that does not explain everything.

Let’s start with the concept of voting against their interest.

They are not voting against their interests. Their interests are entangled with their bigotry, their fear. One of the base issues is changing demographics. The fear of falling, falling from a station either real or, more desperately, the perception/belief of station. They will cling and grasp with an iron grip.

Yes, they must be stopped. The government that they would institute over time would be hopelessly incompetent at best and horrifyingly destructive at worst.

[dchill]

18. We have to defeat Project 2025.

[Morbius]

20. Yes.

And the incredibly destructive mindset behind it, lest it become project 2029, or 2033.

[FakeNoose]

19. K & R Good work!

[Morbius]

21. What does K & R mean?

I've seen it a few times and my curiosity is piqued.

[FakeNoose]

22. "Kick and Recommend"

It's a compliment and it also moves your post back to the top.

[FakeNoose]

24. I see that you're new to DU ... so WELCOME TO THE CLUB!

You can click on people's user names (on their posts) and it shows their background info. Mostly general stuff.
Try clicking on my name and you'll see that I've been on here since right after Chump got elected in 2017.

[Metaphorical]

23. While I agree with you

I'd also argue that Trump IS a big part of the problem.

It takes a truly narcissistic personality to do the damage that he's done. There have been very few people that have been so completely self-absorbed, so fundamentally selfish, so lacking in redeeming qualities, even with the pretty extensive rogue gallery that the GOP has been pushing for the last fifty years. That he was not a career politician I think should also be factored in - he was at least on paper - a plutocrat who managed to buy his way into office, likely with other people's money.

Certainly the conditions favored a Trump - we've been skirting the edge of fascism for a while now, but 2016 became the perfect storm, and Trump was tailor made (as a Russian asset, if nothing else) for the so-called populist push from the right. The Democratic party was bruised and divided, Clinton, while an able politician, also had been in the public spotlight for nearly three decades at that point, and carried with her, right or wrong, an incredible amount of political baggage. Trump lost the general election, but that was not his objective - he just had to cheat sufficiently, and cheating has ALWAYS been his superpower.

We, and by this I mean both parties, don't really know how to deal with cheaters. For Democrats, it's an especially difficult conundrum, because we are by definition the party of law and order ... we have to follow the rules. Trump broke the rules, repeatedly, and most politicians at the time couldn't handle that. His acolytes could and did, but they were not Trump, and in general they fell afoul of those rules.

What makes this year different, in my belief, is that Kamala Harris knows how to deal with cheaters. She knows how to PROPERLY wield the law, and I think that Donald Trump is beginning to realize that he has, in effect, created his opposing force, someone who could check and stop him, and it has him terrified now.

I don't know the future. I hope, very much, that Trump is defeated in a landslide. It's too much to believe that he will be a broken man, you have to have the capacity for reflection and remorse to achieve redemption, and Trump has ALWAYS been broken. He's incapable of feeling remorse for his actions, and his only regret is that he should have cheated even more. However, I hope that he flees the country, because i do not believe that this country is going to be able to heal until Trump is gone.

[Morbius]

25. Thank you for the intelligent and thoughtful response.

My concern is that the country may not be able to heal even after Trump has gone, because there will always be someone - likely someone smarter than Trump - who will seize the opportunity the far-right offers.

[ms liberty]

26. Well said. K&R. Welcome to DU. n/t (which means no/text below reply title line.)

[slightlv]

28. I completely agree with your statement.

However, the problem is... in a pluralistic democracy, what do you do with the 1/3 of the American people who have a *different* vision, but are just as passionately committed to it? To make the problem worse, that 1/3 of the people believe they have waited long enough to see their vision accomplished and are now willing to do anything... lie, cheat, steal, murder... in order to finally make it manifest?

We are committed to our vision, because we believe it's not only constitutional, but also in the spirit of the founding fathers. Unfortunately, there were disagreements within the group of founding fathers. And I think we're still seeing that disagreement play out today. Our continual problem has been striking a balance between these two major disagreements. Today, we've seen it blow up to where "they" feel only violence will end it. I don't see how we get out of this except by splitting the country in two sections. But there are SO many issues and problems doing that... and that's before we get to the point that they will probably never hold true to any compact or treaty.

This should be decided at each and every election. That's the way it should be done. But there IS too much gerryrigging, cheating, attempting to cheat, and election (not voter) fraud. I don't know how we get it back to an acceptable baseline, and I don't know if getting it there will help as long as we have one party who's willing to do anything to ensure they win. One thing I know I do desperately want is one person-one vote, IOW... no more electoral college!

[Morbius]

31. We should agree, along with those whose opinions we hate...

...that above all, we need to give each other a fair hearing.

We celebrate free speech in this country but on both sides, people aren't willing to listen to one another. And there is no point to free speech if no one is listening. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court seems to feel that while we all have a right to free speech, there is no right to be heard. There ought to be. I don't agree with conservatives but I am willing to dialogue with them, as long as they're as willing to listen as I am.

Listening is the answer. But we won't get there until we defeat the toxic anti-democratic miasma which has replaced conservatism.

[CloudWatcher]

30. Old old post of mine: Trump is not the real problem

The world will be a better place once he is defeated, but we have a lot to try and fix.

https://democraticunderground.com/100212942073

[Dave says]

32. Welcome aboard, Morbius

[BlueWavePsych]

33. Yup, yup.

[MadameButterfly]

34. It started with Reagan

"In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people."

But all we remember is the part about "government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem."

The next line seems to be promoting democracy, self-rule, government for, by and of the people
rather than government by an elite group--that would be a dictatorship.

JD Vance and his mentors are for the latter. Never mind that they'll accuse the people who are really for democracy as the elites. They always project, say the opposite of what is true, and pretend to be for whatever they have to say to get elected. That's why Vance and Walz agreed a lot last night. But Walz is the real deal and Vance is a fake.