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Former White House Chief of Staff, retired Marine general John Kelly, spoke frankly about Trump:
The depths of his dishonesty is just astounding to me. The dishonesty, the transactional nature of every relationship, though it’s more pathetic than anything else. He is the most flawed person I have ever met in my life.
Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. . . We know that we are better than the abuse of executive authority that we witnessed in Lafayette Square. We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution.
Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was quoted calling Trump "a fucking moron." In Foreign Policy magazine he said:
It's really hard to have a conversation with someone who doesn't even understand the concept for why we're talking about this. . . . Just sitting and trying to have a conversation as you and I are having just doesn't work.
Former Attorney General Bill Barr said in a PBS interview last month:
[Trump's] conduct here involved, trying to subvert and prevent the progress, the execution of probably the most important process and proceeding we have in our country, which is the peaceful transfer of power after an election.
And what's being alleged here is that he knew that he lost the election, he knew that the claims of a stolen election were false, and yet he decided he was going to try to stay in office by subverting that process, by putting out misinformation, but, more important, by putting out these false panels of electors and presenting them to Congress and trying to push the vice president to make these decisions to suppress the legitimate votes.
I mean, that was outrageous.
The GOP electorate is undergoing a stampede in the direction of making Trump their nominee. Democrats cannot turn the herd. Only Republicans with national reputations can credibly warn their fellows. So far, Trump can pick them off and isolate them one at a time as they speak out. He calls them RINOs and enemies of the people: the Bush family, Liz Cheney, Mitch McConnell, Mitt Romney, Mike Pence, Chris Christie, and each of those former appointees.
Mitt Romney called the silence of his fellow GOP senators cowardice and careerism. The incentive for ambitious Republicans is to be either a teammate of the winner, sharing the glory and power (Lindsay Graham and many fellow Republican senators and governors), or to be a successor to Trump (most of the presidential aspirants.) The incentive for conservative media is to be a cheerleader retaining the loyal market segment of the GOP base.
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7 comments:
James McHenry was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 who kept a journal. In it he mentions that as the delegates were leaving Independence Hall on the last day of the convention, a lady asked Benjamin Franklin what form of government we have. He responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.”
A republic is based on democratic principles in which power is held by the people and their elected representatives. Its success depends on the people being involved and knowledgeable. That’s why it’s said that democracies are fragile, and why Thomas Jefferson wrote that a well-informed electorate is a prerequisite for a democracy. We seem to be on the verge of losing it.
We have an electorate so uninformed that many can’t even tell fact from fiction, believing without evidence the 2020 election was rigged and stolen. And we have a major political party with no interest in democratic principles feeding them that bullshit. Not only did Trump try to overthrow the government, but his party has done everything in its power to prevent him from being held accountable.
In order for a republic to remain viable, political parties need to follow three very simple rules. First, they must accept election results, win or lose; second, they must refrain from the use of violence to gain or hold onto power; and third, they must openly and unequivocally denounce anyone in their party who violates the first two, even if it’s their party leader. The GOP fails on all three counts. This is how democracies die.
I'm glad to see these comments but they are too little and way, way to late.
These men and others will forever be remembered as complicit until it wasn't convenient. I doubt if any of them would have jumped ship had Trump gotten re-elected. Their tardy about face is only redeemable if it is the beginning of a complete repudiation by the rest of their party of the takeover by extremists and authoritarians.
The problem is that Republican conservatism is a failed ideology which has led them to embrace the racist, bigoted and criminal elements of our society as a political coalition. The plutocrats who fund them are the cause of many of the problems we face, from pollution to economic injustice, aided by enablers who exploit the instability they create for personal gain.
This is exactly what the founders desired to avoid, yet here we are still struggling to bring their idealistic vision of humanity to reality.
I think it will take someone with an equivalent level of charisma. Unfortunately, I don’t see one of those rising up out of the Republican Party. But it’s always possible that Iowa and New Hampshire will surprise us.
When it comes to the general election, it sure ain’t Biden or Harris.
But America has often been a lucky country. Perhaps God will accept Trump to his bosom and we will have been spared, thanks to our entrepreneurial spirit, in this case embodied by McDonald’s.
I predict Nikki Haley—best GOP poll performer head to head against Biden, including Trump, and personally carrying momentum—will stake out some ground amid the smaller debate group this week, and her colleagues on stage like it or not will be compelled to fish or cut bait on Trump. Christie and Rawaswamy will join her in the effort, if from opposite directions. I hope “I predict” does not devolve into …..”I hope”.
If Republicans want someone else as charismatic as Trump, they should nominate Jabba the Hutt. Like them, he lives in a galaxy far, far away and is as real as a lot of the other crap they believe.
Right now the only real choices are "never-Trump" vs "never-Biden/Harris".
I'm for neither. I'm not for DeSantis either, as his turn will come later.
I think Nicky Haley and Tim Scott would make a great pair to run on the R ticket. There may be other candidates for the lesser parties. Unfortunately, those lesser parties will split the vote much like Ross Perot did awhile ago.
On the D side just who can possibly rise and replace both Biden and Harris?
In another comment on Peter's upcoming Tuesday post, I offer a challenge at both the state and federal level:
1. The continuous focus on why Trump should not be President is wasting oxygen. Many knw this, and many are afraid to say this. The secret ballot has value.
So, who should be the candidates for 2024, and more importantly, why? Why should Biden/Harris be reelected, and no fair simply saying that they are better than Trump. Why are they better for the country?
2. I think the whole Trump vs Biden is a big waste of time; a diversion to avoid reality. Neither should be our only choices. So bring this back to Oregon. Is everything perfect here in Oregon? Are the cognoscenti spending too much time worrying about Trump vs. Biden. Whomever wins won't do anything for improving Oregon. Should Oregonians be worrying more about the decline of Oregon instead of the 2024 race for the Presidency?
The GOPee's death wish for this country is not new.
Remember when Raygun said government is the problem?
Why are people surprised when republicans do Russia's work?
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