Biden cannot govern from the center - ending Trumpism means radical action

[BlueWavePsych]

There is no middle ground between lies and facts. There is no halfway point between civil discourse and violence. There is no midrange between democracy and fascism.

Biden must boldly and unreservedly speak truth, refuse to compromise with violent Trumpism and ceaselessly fight for democracy and inclusion.

Speaking truth means responding to the world as it is and denouncing the poisonous deceptions engulfing the right. It means repudiating false equivalences and “both sidesism” that gives equal weight to trumpery and truth. It means protecting and advancing science, standing on the side of logic, calling out deceit and impugning baseless conspiracy theories and those who abet them.

Refusing to compromise with violent Trumpism means renouncing the lawlessness of Trump and his enablers and punishing all who looted the public trust. It means convicting Trump of impeachable offenses and ensuring he can never again hold public office – not as a “distraction” from Biden’s agenda but as a central means of re-establishing civility, which must be a cornerstone of that agenda.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/16/joe-biden-govern-center-inauguration-trump-robert-reich

IMHO, a must read.

[Faux pas]

1. The

'middle' to me means same old, same old and we all continue to get screwed over.

[Sneederbunk]

2. Relevant to Trumpism, the Center is radical.

[happybird]

4. +1

[Budi]

3. President Joe Biden can govern however he sees fit.

The Guardian opinion writers are not the President.

F this " Biden must", forever.

[Mister Ed]

5. That's not the point, as I see it.

I think the editoral is pointing out that there is no middle ground between truth and falsehood, or between compassion and cruelty. It seems to me that all that's being said is that it will not be possible for Biden to govern from such a middle ground, because it does not exist.

[Budi]

8. And Biden's policy & his Cabinet & Staff selections perfectly exemplify how he will govern.

Maybe Robert Reich should preview President Biden's incredible plans to drag us out of the deep ditch we were driven into before telling Joe how he can & can't govern.

"Biden cannot govern from the center - ending Trumpism means radical action"

Biden will do what he needs to do to get his Country back on the freeway.
And he will succeed, with or without Robert Reich's predictable drumbeat opinion editorials

I'll wait for a positive viewpoint from Mr Reich as to President Biden's direction.
Because he rarely offers one, as of today.

[qazplm135]

10. No one

Has a monopoly on truth.

He will govern from the middle because there are not enough on the left to make any alternative reality.

[Mister Ed]

12. He can govern from a middle ground between left and right,

Because a middle ground exists between left-leaning policies and right-leaning policies.

He can't and won't govern from the non-existent middle ground between fact and falsehood. He would never consider it. No middle ground exists, for example, between reality and QAnon craziness.

He can't and won't govern from the non-existent middle ground between compassion and cruelty. He has no capacity for cruelty. He won't try to strike some sort of compromise between orphaning and caging children or treating those children kindly.

He would never try to find a middle ground between racism and respect. What would such a middle ground be called - Racism Lite? Whatever one might call it, you won't see Joe Biden endorsing it.

[Thekaspervote]

6. Agree! The guardian has become trash the past 6-8 months..done with them

[stillcool]

7. I'm trying to adjust to the "Biden must"

it's already gotten old, but it still gets me. Soon it will only be a revelation about those who say it.

[Budi]

11. They've been driving hard on the "Biden Must, or else!" mantra since Joe ran in the Primary.

Appears Joe Biden succeeded at that long-game beautifully.
President, Senate, House ~💙

Joe Biden will be sworn in as our President, our Leader, in 2 days time.

[comradebillyboy]

9. Exactly. I get tired of people telling Biden what he must do.

Biden won the election in a landslide so he gets to decide how he will run the country.

[beastie boy]

13. I love Reich, but his argument is self-defeating.

From the start, Reich states that "Most of today’s GOP live in a parallel universe. There’s no “center” between the reality-based world and theirs." He makes a clear distinction between "center" and whatever Trumpism stands for. In fact, he suggests that most of today's GOP is so far from the center, it is way out in the parallel universe.

But then, he suggests that the center Biden proposes to govern from lies somewhere between what Reich remembers to be the center long ago and the parallel universe. Nothing could be further from the truth. Biden made it clear that he fully intends to govern from the center which Reich remembers to be the center, not the midpoint between this universe and the parallel one.

If you ask me, Biden's center is pretty radical, given that he intends to drag the country to it out of the parallel universe, and Biden has made it absolutely clear, in my opinion, that he fully intends to renounce radical Trumpism.

And he intends to do so from the center.

[BlueWavePsych]

14. Nice tangent.