Also encouraging are electoral outcomes, in various states, in reaction to Republican tactics: proofless impeachments, banning history, criminalizing abortion, teaching Prager U in public schools (Slate: /prager4u). Ironically, any forthcoming subpoenas are already invalid, per Trump’s own justice department (Politico: /2pullstrings) and (Newsweek: /nosubs4u).ĭespite worrying about the future my grandchildren face, I’m betting there are more Americans who see Trump for the danger he represents than don’t enough to ensure that the next president will not be him. Which, as mentioned, he’s doing now, according to reports, personally directing the transparently political, evidence-lacking, un-voted-upon impeachment inquiry into President Biden. There’s little doubt Trump will be the Republican nominee, and none that he’d receive millions of votes, from people who love his dictatorial promises to imprison his “enemies” and, as opposed to the fairytale accusations of Joe Biden, actually to weaponize government as an instrument of revenge. When united by these convictions, America is stronger as a country and an inspiration for others” (Bush Center: /pres2speak). The statement stopped short of naming Trumpism explicitly, but the message was clear, and concluded thus: “By signing this statement, we reaffirm our commitment to the principles of democracy undergirding this great nation, protecting our freedom, and respecting our fellow citizens. Why now? Because until now, until Trump, it was unnecessary. Bush Presidential Center, calling for a return to the foundational principles of our democracy. Signed by presidential centers of 13 former presidents from both parties, an extraordinary statement was just released from the George W. There are, in fact, people who know better. From the authoritarian rule Trump promises, of which his orchestrated “impeachment inquiry” is an example, to cheers at his rallies and silence from Republican “leaders” who should - possibly do - know better (Daily Kos: /gonegov). That party, of course, ceased to exist long ago and freedom is precisely what the 2024 election will be about. And the fate of American freedom would be in doubt.” Referring to Trumpism’s abandonment of conservatism, he said, “Should the new populism of the right seize and guide our party, the GOP as we have long known it will cease to exist. To his credit, usually wind-fingering Mike Pence, who has zero chance of becoming the Republican nominee, just called out the degradation of his party.

Trump’s attack on the Capitol, also thwarted by brave Americans, got further. Osama bin Laden’s attack on the Capitol was thwarted by brave passengers on United Flight 93. The preceding Civil War reference is appropriate, as many of their party’s leaders are warning of it, while others openly call for it should Trump not be reelected, for any of several democracy-preserving, defeat-demanding reasons. Based on their willfully anti-democratic actions, the party of patriotism and law and order can no longer claim either nor, since they “elected” Trump, have they bothered to pretend otherwise.

Rather than finding his increasingly projectile, fascist-adjacent ranting abhorrent, supporters’ eyes remain unbatted (ABC News: /revenge2u).Īctions, we’re told, speak more loudly than words. So much so that Trump is running, specifically, on the ways he’d subvert it if elected. Begun before Trump but raised stratospherically by and for him, Republican attacks on democracy have become platform-level policy. Add to the equation respect for the rule of law, even laws with which one disagrees, and accepting election results, even those which one finds disappointing, and it’s incontestable. If threats to democracy brought us together, the Civil War would never have happened and today’s Republican Party would have been relegated to irrelevance, long ago. The attack was on people, American citizens, mostly, but not our form of government, per se. The podcast was well-intentioned and, other than the “democracy” proposition, approximately true. (Except Trump, whose actions on and after that day should be memorialized along with the attacks: (Daily Kos: /trump9114u)). When our democracy is threatened, he posited, Americans come together. 11, 2001, I listened to a podcast in which the speaker remarked on the unity Americans felt that day. On Monday, the 22nd anniversary of the attacks on Sept.

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