MESO-Rx
Anabolic Steroids
Trump Timeline ... Trumpocalypse
- Thread starter CdnGuy
- Start date
Trump’s move to fire Mueller tells us we are wearing a ticking dynamite vest
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2018/01/26/trumps-move-to-fire-mueller-tells-us-we-are-wearing-a-ticking-dynamite-vest/ (Opinion | Trump’s move to fire Mueller tells us we are wearing a ticking dynamite vest)
When someone tries to reassure you that the institutions of American democracy are holding, they are telling you that the president of the United States is a recognized threat to them.
When someone says that the constitutional system hasn’t broken under Trump, what they are saying is “yet.”
When someone says that Trump tried but didn’t succeed in firing Robert S. Mueller III, they are acknowledging that the president was fully prepared to assert a dictatorial power, then decided the timing wasn’t right.
What we are watching is a president who doesn’t recognize any power but his own, and we’re trying to console ourselves with the fact that he picks his moments to break another pillar of representative government. But his intent is manifestly clear. Don’t forget: It began even before he was elected, with threats to contest the result and throw our system into chaos if he lost. He did lose, but lucky for him, he lost in a way that made him president. And so terrifyingly unlucky for us.
The day after the election, I said in a conversation about the outcome, “We may have missed our one chance to stop him.” And we may have. Democracy is hanging by a thread. And the thread is a lit fuse. Looking at who he manifestly is, it is very difficult to imagine him ever ceding power willingly, for any reason, to anyone. His ability to seem reasonable when it suits him should be no reassurance to anyone. Quite the opposite. It lulls us. We have seen time and again where his heart, or heartlessness, lies and how ruthlessly he will fight to protect himself and his power when he needs to. His reckless talk about nuclear weapons is all the indication you need to understand how blithely he contemplates destroying whatever needs to be destroyed to get what he wants.
And so there he resides, waiting, looking for weakness, probing for openings, lashing out at threats, intimidating the timid, pushing, pushing, always pushing for his own prerogatives, and ready to do whatever it takes when the time or opportunity comes. And we are standing by hoping that something or other will keep him in line, as he removes, when possible, one after another of those things.
A word to the wise is sufficient. The number of words we have heard from Trump’s own mouth suggests a certain lack of wisdom on our part.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2018/01/26/trumps-move-to-fire-mueller-tells-us-we-are-wearing-a-ticking-dynamite-vest/ (Opinion | Trump’s move to fire Mueller tells us we are wearing a ticking dynamite vest)
When someone tries to reassure you that the institutions of American democracy are holding, they are telling you that the president of the United States is a recognized threat to them.
When someone says that the constitutional system hasn’t broken under Trump, what they are saying is “yet.”
When someone says that Trump tried but didn’t succeed in firing Robert S. Mueller III, they are acknowledging that the president was fully prepared to assert a dictatorial power, then decided the timing wasn’t right.
What we are watching is a president who doesn’t recognize any power but his own, and we’re trying to console ourselves with the fact that he picks his moments to break another pillar of representative government. But his intent is manifestly clear. Don’t forget: It began even before he was elected, with threats to contest the result and throw our system into chaos if he lost. He did lose, but lucky for him, he lost in a way that made him president. And so terrifyingly unlucky for us.
The day after the election, I said in a conversation about the outcome, “We may have missed our one chance to stop him.” And we may have. Democracy is hanging by a thread. And the thread is a lit fuse. Looking at who he manifestly is, it is very difficult to imagine him ever ceding power willingly, for any reason, to anyone. His ability to seem reasonable when it suits him should be no reassurance to anyone. Quite the opposite. It lulls us. We have seen time and again where his heart, or heartlessness, lies and how ruthlessly he will fight to protect himself and his power when he needs to. His reckless talk about nuclear weapons is all the indication you need to understand how blithely he contemplates destroying whatever needs to be destroyed to get what he wants.
And so there he resides, waiting, looking for weakness, probing for openings, lashing out at threats, intimidating the timid, pushing, pushing, always pushing for his own prerogatives, and ready to do whatever it takes when the time or opportunity comes. And we are standing by hoping that something or other will keep him in line, as he removes, when possible, one after another of those things.
A word to the wise is sufficient. The number of words we have heard from Trump’s own mouth suggests a certain lack of wisdom on our part.
Trump’s first year was marked by what should be called “disachievements” – the undoing of the best of democracy and American life.
These disachievements deserve scrutiny, but they are not new to Trump. They’re what Republican conservatives have wanted for decades. Trump is truly Mr. Republican, destroying the American ideal of a government of, by and for the people and replacing it with a government of, by and for the wealthy.
His major legislative disachievement is the tax cut bill which gave away $1.5 trillion in deficit spending over 10 years during a year when 1 percent of wealthy people got 82 percent of the wealth generated by working people worldwide. That’s $1.5 trillion that will not be spent on the common good – on education, health care, infrastructure, and all the needs of the middle class and the poor – the 99 percent of Americans. Since money is fungible, that is a taking of $1.5 trillion from 99 percent of Americans.
But a lopsided wealth distribution is about much more than money. Great wealth means great power – economic power and political power. This is a huge drain on democracy, in which political power should be equal among all citizens. Economic concentration in the top 1 percent means a great shift of access to the 1 percent from the 99 percent – access to the best of places to live, the best of educational opportunities, the best of medical care, and so on.
Trump’s disachievements are forms of destruction. Take regulations. Regulations are forms of protection for the public and the environment. Eliminating regulations means eliminating protections. His stated goal has been the elimination of 75 percent of regulations, that is, 75 percent of the protections for the public and the environment. And he has appointed enemies of public protections to head major government agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Federal Communications Commission, which have repealed environmental, drug and net neutrality protections.
Many of the disachievements come about by doing nothing – failing to fund enforcement of regulations or to appoint needed officials to government agencies, e.g., the State Department – or by pulling out of previous agreements. The United States pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement and reversed the Obama administration’s wise decision to block the Keystone Pipeline.
And let’s not forget that Trump’s Republicans have stayed busy eroding all norms of civility and respect in our society. They’ve empowered Nazis to march through our streets with torches. They’ve enshrined racism and discrimination in policy. They’ve put the fear of nuclear war front-and-center in the minds of our children.
That’s the bad news that Democrats will hear in the State of the Union speech. But there will also be good news hidden by Trump’s speech.
First, Russiagate. The Mueller Commission is closing in on the president’s obstruction of justice by flipping members of his administration. The Special Counsel is also closing in not just on collusion with the Russians during our elections, but also on the Republican president’s dealing with the Russian mafia and the Russian money laundering operations that have long supported Trump’s business empire. Mueller is closing in so fast that the truth may come out before congressional elections this November.
But the really great good news is the political activation of our citizens. The Women’s Marches were the greatest citizen mobilizations in recent history. The Indivisible movement has taken hold throughout the country. Poll numbers for the Republican in the White House are among the lowest ever recorded.
Our form of government is of, by and for the people. It’s based on the idea that citizens care about other citizens and work together to provide public resources to, as the U.S. Constitution puts it, “establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty.”
Americans are rising up to bring back an America that fulfills these ideals. And we will not stop.
Last edited:
Caught in the web of Watergate, President Richard M. Nixon returned from Camp David and found a skinny young FBI man standing at attention down the hall from the Oval Office. Screaming in rage, he grabbed the agent by the lapels. “What the hell is this?” he shouted.
It was the rule of law challenging the power of the commander in chief—and the beginning of the end for Nixon. He knew that he was doomed. Within a year, the president would be named as an unindicted co-conspirator in an iron-clad criminal case. His impeachment inevitable, he resigned the presidency in the summer of 1974.
We now stand on the verge of the same kind of confrontation.
...
Only the FBI can walk into the White House and compel a president to comply with the law. Only the FBI can build a criminal case against a chief executive. And Trump may not realize he is up against three present and former FBI directors who have proved fearless and fiercely independent when it comes to confronting presidents.
I am Muslim, register me.
I am Mexican, deport me.
I am African, imprison me.
I am LGBTQ+ refuse to serve me.
I am poor, blame me.
I am elderly, privatize me,
I am a woman, defund me.
I am homeless, ignore me,
I am disabled, bully me,
I am sick, uninsure me,
I am indigenous, pollute me.
I am a veteran, voucher me.
I am an American, Lie to me.
I am Mexican, deport me.
I am African, imprison me.
I am LGBTQ+ refuse to serve me.
I am poor, blame me.
I am elderly, privatize me,
I am a woman, defund me.
I am homeless, ignore me,
I am disabled, bully me,
I am sick, uninsure me,
I am indigenous, pollute me.
I am a veteran, voucher me.
I am an American, Lie to me.
