Friday, August 28, 2020

going forward


I didn't watch any of the DNC but I read enough via social media to know that it was positive, uplifting, and inclusive and that Biden and Harris will make a genuine effort to heal this country and address some of the social problems and try and get back in the good graces of our allies, repudiate Putin and all other dictators, and try to win back a place on the world stage as well as reversing the most grievous actions of Trump and his administration.

I didn't watch the RNC either and again I read enough on social media to know that another 4 years of Trump will be the end of this nation unless Democrats can get veto proof majorities in both houses of Congress which is unlikely but hopefully we will have the majority in both houses. Last night he pulled off his biggest fuck you to the nation and democracy by staging it on the White House lawn, the people's house and our tax money are not to be used for partisan politics, blatantly  violating the Hatch Act while he claims to be the LAW AND ORDER president. And the Republican response? Eh, nobody cares.  

an aside here,  how long do you think it will take these same republicans to cry foul if Biden does even the least most minor illegal thing Trump has done or if he starts issuing Executive Orders. 

Nobody outside of DC cares. That's their attitude. And the Republican Party has no platform this time around, you know, the document that tells us what they stand for and what they would like to achieve. Apparently Trump is their platform, just Trump and you know just use the whole 2016 thing, whatever it is he wants to do. Basically Trump's whole platform is 'I am the only guy that can fix what I broke'. We're supposed to trust the repair to the guy who broke it.

The RNC was full of stunts from the dictator's handbook...the massive array of flags, the citizenship ceremony of a small but diverse group that didn't know this was going to happen, the pardon, the parade of family members and token others (black, latino, women) singing his praises about what a wonderful caring guy he is 

this is the same guy who had peaceful protesters in front of the White House tear gassed and forcibly removed so he could take a stroll for a fake photo op but yeah, what ev

and how much he has done for them as if we haven't seen and heard with our eyes and ears the lies and cruelty of the Trump administration, demonizing anyone who isn't on board as only he and the people that support him are patriots, and then the fear fear fear, fear of what the country will become unless he is president. 

He paints a dystopian picture of America under Biden...civil unrest, crashed economy, a pandemic out of control, constitutional rights under attack...without acknowledging the fact that this is the current picture of America under his administration. Seriously, he thinks we're that dumb, and unfortunately so many are, but there are indications that this schtick that worked so well last election is falling flat this year. Not with his core cult followers or desperate Republican politicians or the old white men who are desperate to keep the power they have always enjoyed, but with the more moderate Republicans and Independents that voted for him last time. People are tired of the lies, of the division, of the hate and cruelty, of his whining and constant blaming of others, of his ignorance and petulance, of the disregard for the Constitution and the traditions and the laws of this country, tired of footing the bill for the vacations and travels of his entire family and this was reflected in the all important, for Trump, ratings. People didn't watch and in fact last night had the worst ratings in the history of the RNC. The novelty has worn off.

As Heather Cox Richardson wrote in yesterday's newsletter re the old white men desperate to keep the America where they have power over all other Americans: “But that world is passing, whether they like it or not. Even if Trump wins in 2020, he cannot stop the future from coming. And while the United States will not meet that future with the power we had even four years ago, we will have to meet it nonetheless. It will be no less exciting and offer no fewer opportunities than the dramatic changes of the 1850s, 1890s, and 1930s, and at some point, Americans will want to meet those challenges.”

I think I'll end here on that hopeful note, that it come sooner rather than later.




8 comments:

  1. I have nothing positive or hopeful. Some days are just like that.

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  2. I, too, believe that the people who have enabled trump have as much blood on their hands as he does, maybe more. you just reminded me we need not just majorities in the house and senate, but veto proof majorities. off to research that. we are all becoming constitutional scholars under trump, and so we all know just how trampled upon and insufficient that original document is in the face of a despot and his henchmen, whose attitude seems to be "who's gonna stop me?" hopefully, in november, we will. may it be so.

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  3. Seriously, how can all this be possible.

    A colleague, US citizen but living here for many years now, said last week that if trump is reelected, "my country will be a new version of North Korea".

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  4. That is a hopeful paragraph and I wish I could believe it. To me it seems that the basis of the United States which is, of course, the people, has grown foul and rotten. It's like that one small potato that turns to a vile liquid and thus infects the whole bag before you quite understand it's there and can do anything about it. Or the one bad apple if you will. The country is infected with such vileness that I am not sure anything can be done about it. Or at least the ones who vote. If Trump is reelected, it will only be proof to me that there is no hope for America. A majority will have asked for evil to rule.
    No wonder I feel a little bit sick all the time. I think a great many of us do.

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  5. What Rosemarie said. "Insufficient original document" " who's gonna stop me"- We are dead in the water.

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  6. I still cannot understand why the center of our country voted for Trump. I'm so hoping that those of us who didn't vote will get off their asses and vote this time.

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  7. I didn't watch the DNC, but read all about it. I did watch the RNC. Up to bringing Melania on to speechify, and that did it. We need Biden to win. The Republican's are up to their noses in their power, their takeover to their benefit of all we believe in for all of us, for the common good. We need to normalize the police, protect all workers and wage earners, and so on and so forth. I will beat my drum to the end. This administration must go.

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  8. I almost shared that same column with that very same quote, but I was gun shy. Then I got in a fight on FB later anyway.

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.