It’s on AG Garland now, he must realize that failure to indict Trump may very well destroy American Democracy. I understand that there are risks (political, personal and societal) but they must be taken. If they aren’t, this country as we know it will be gone.
I think the dictionary should add a new definition for the phrase "to trump" someone - to con and deceive with malice and complete disregard for anyone else's welfare.
Just as we require truth in commercial advertising (under threat of judicial sanctions), similar guardrails must now be re-established for journalism (written and televised), social media and political campaigning. Free speech, at least in the public domain, should not be a license to lie, cheat, defraud or endanger others by inciting bigotry, hate or violence.
Hate speech gets you thrown in jail in Europe, and the EU is working on extending similar controls to social media platforms as well. Britain is now struggling with the aftermath of their Brexit, which was “sold” to them through totally dishonest claims, by another flawed conman, Boris Johnson….
It is time to put and end to this extreme “anything goes” public discourse, and return to responsable, fact-based public expression - our democracy is in the balance.
We're all so sick of the TRUMP SHOW - making everything all about him, his persecution, his people, his being robbed of the election. The American government MUST stand up to this potential Napoleon (perhaps worse) before we have a Waterloo!
There is more than enough evidence to indict him. I believe that after the midterms he will be indicted,. So, too, should all those politicians who sided with him.
Hmm. Where to start? Personally, I think Trump should be indicted and taken into custody yesterday, or last week, or last year. Trump is a growing menace to all that we hold dear. As we’ve seen, his influence on America only gets worse, especially now that he’s been backed into a corner legally over the top secret docs he refused to turn over to the National Archives.
No matter what happens or when it happens, there will be violence. Our government can deal with it on their terms by making the first move, or our government can wait until Trump & his cult decide to attack...and be surprised and unready. Those are the choices.
Having just done a little research on the subject, there are two important aspects of a government overthrow that should be addressed. First, our democratically elected leader must be confident of the military’s loyalty to him and to democracy. “Democracies often fail when their military sides with anti-democratic insurgents.” The chief prerequisite for a coup is control of all or part of the armed forces, the police, and other military elements.” (Brookings.edu)
There’s reason to believe Pres.Biden may not have their loyalty and that must be addressed. I don’t have any hard data on the subject, but there have been signs that our military, local police forces, state police forces and possibly the National Guard have been infiltrated by white supremacists. Those people must be weeded out quickly. If people balk at weeding them out, withhold federal funds. This is serious. We are at war—not like WWII, but still a war. Trump & Putin are working together to destroy our government.
In addition, it should be kept in mind that Trump successfully converted some of the Secret Service into doing his bidding and we now have reason to believe that Christopher Wray and some fbi aren’t exactly supportive of democracy or Biden. Wray must be replaced asap. But, first things first—President Biden needs solid reassurances that all law enforcement agencies are loyal to American democracy—and not just “lip service,” reassurance, real, tangible reassurance.
Next, the president must be confident in the Courts and their judges. One of the hallmarks of failing democracies is a weak judicial system under heavy political control. (Brookings Inst.)The buck always stops at the Supreme Court, but I’m not confident at all that our current conservative justices can be trusted to uphold stare decisis or the rule of law, or our democratic norms. My suggestion is to expand the Supreme Court ‘tout suite.’ It’s really vitally important. In fact it’s so important that I can’t emphasize it enough. I’m not trying to be melodramatic, we get enough melodrama from magas. I’m trying to convey the seriousness of the situation.
I think the key to getting back to normalcy is by making sure corporate ceos, cfos or in other words “bigwigs” understand the economic consequences of a Trump rebellion and the authoritarian/fascism Trump stands for. Fascism = tyranny. No one thrives under tyranny, no one and no businesses except fascist leaders. (Brookings.edu)
“In a recent Harvard Business Review article headlined “Business Can’t Take Democracy for granted,” Rebecca Henderson argues,
American business needs American democracy. Free markets cannot survive without the support of the kind of capable, accountable government that can set the rules of the game that keep markets genuinely free and fair. And ONLY democracy can ensure that governments are held accountable, that they are viewed as legitimate, and that they don’t devolve into the rule of the many by the few and the kind of crony capitalism we see emerging…”
It would be very helpful for Pres.Biden to convene corporate bigwigs for the purpose of having outside speakers with expertise in tyranny explain exactly why they shouldn’t want Trump or any other fascist regime running our government. Honestly, I don’t think many corporate CEOs give much serious thought to the subject. They’re happy when Trump and republicans generally are in charge because they give corporations hefty tax breaks. After working that out mentally they literally stop thinking about long term consequences.
Dr. Timothy Snyder has written books on the subject and he probably knows of other speakers on the subject. If President Biden does all the talking I’ll bet these CEOs just mentally check out, because in their minds Pres.Biden represents a political party that wants to raise their taxes. So, although President Biden’s presence is key—they have to hear what the consequences would be from speakers with expertise who don’t necessarily have strong political bias. They need to understand the folly and the financial impact of supporting fascist tyranny.
In door-knocking white, working class Independents in Pennsylvania, I was struck by how cataclysmic this round of inflation and higher housing costs has been for them. People who were already vulnerable before the pandemic are now desperate. They don’t feel democracy is worth saving. They mistakenly believe Republicans are better on the economy and are in a “throw the elites out” mood regarding Democrats. In this situation, our advocacy for pronouns looks ridiculously out of touch. (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has shelter and food at the bottom.) Let us not forget that Trump and our wobbly democracy are a symptom of Democrats’ inability to stand up to price gouging, historic income inequality, and to care about the white working class. For too long, we have not put their concerns front and center. Biden has begun this work but it’s too little too late. The media environment is also terrible, baiting Democrats to talk about cultural issues instead of kitchen table issues. Too many Democrats take this bait. We should talk of nothing else but economics.
It is absolutely amazing to see how, what used to be an exemplary American democracy seems to be incapable to effectively and decisively fight off an internal attack sofar and seems unable to vote out the enemy from within. This only is possible when a large part of the American population support the attack The fact the GOP from initially merely condoning the attack, now seems to be actively supporting it , just shows the level of support there appears to be. Whilst it is pretty obvious what is driving Trump and MAGA, it is totally beyond me as an outsider to understand why the GOP is supporting this. Are they so obsessed by greed, liberalism and socialism?? Do they not realise that dictators not only eliminate the political opponents but also do not hesitate to eliminate those who supported them to get into power because there is no room for politics in a dictatorship. MAGA attacking GOP Rhinos is just one of the warning signals... All these (GOP ) people who now shout that their individual rights and freedom are under threat from the Democrats and democracy , wait till MAGA regains power. You soon will find out that you can only live "freely" in a dictatorship if you think, say and do exactly what the government wants.
How large the current support for the attack on democracy is will soon be become clear but even if democracy survives in November , a long and hard battle remains to restore what appears to be the broken integrity of the democracy........and it is not just in America........
We can’t afford to look away, nor can we be apathetic about voting. We like minded folks who cherish democracy with all its flaws, must vote AND get others to vote and vote blue. As Michael Moore has pointed out, we out number the haters, but we must vote in numbers too huge to dispute. To borrow his phrase, a “blue tsunami.” May it be so!
I believe AG Garland will indict. I also believe there is more than a good chance that there will be a lot of serious violence in this country when that happens. Who do you think owns all those AK 47 weapons that the republicans refuse to help ban? And more terrifying weapons of war as well? Anyone saying 'I told you so' at this point would be correct, but we are way beyond that now. I hope President Biden does not cower, if and when that happens. He holds tremendous power to enable our country to withstand this concerted attack on our democracy. This upcoming election will be significant. We must hold the line to prevent destroying freedom in this great nation. To those who would pray, save your breath. This problem will take action from good men and women everywhere, including those who live elsewhere in the world who believe in democracy.
I am reading The Oppermans written in Germany in the spring to fall (real time) of 1933 by Lion Feuchtwanger. It tells the story of several Jewish families in Berlin and the effects on them as the political winds changed in that very short period of time during which the author - almost as a journalist in a sense.
It never names 'the name' referring only to 'the leader' but everything else is factual, and every word is a mirror of present day news reports. It is chilling..
This is very alarming. His rally in Texas,per the video was sickening. Invoking the Angel of Death to his enemies. I pray that God will intervene at this point in our country, our world for that matter. The summary in this post speaks true. All of it. The rhetoric of the politicians, not all, are horrible. Pinning people against each other using religion as their sword. One’s own faith to prove their righteousness against one another for personal power. Hell has unleashed itself and what happens is happening now.
It’s on AG Garland now, he must realize that failure to indict Trump may very well destroy American Democracy. I understand that there are risks (political, personal and societal) but they must be taken. If they aren’t, this country as we know it will be gone.
The Republican’s Agenda
* Congress - vote against whatever the Democrats vote for ( constructive teamwork )
* Economy - Trickle Down Economics, tax breaks for the rich
* Inflation - turn a blind eye to corporations raising prices on everyday Americans
* 2020 election - Denying the 2020 election results even though they have no evidence of voter fraud
* Healthcare - Republicans want to Sunset Medicare and eliminate Medicaid
* Abortion - SCOTUS Overturned Roe v Wade, also on the docket, eliminate contraception, same sex marriage, etc…
* Elderly - Sunset Social Security and repeal lowering drug prices
* Crime - arm teachers, open carry. MORE GUNS ( states with highest crime rate )RED
* Climate change - it’s all a hoax !!
There leader
PATHETIC HYPOCRITE Who are you voting for????
I think the dictionary should add a new definition for the phrase "to trump" someone - to con and deceive with malice and complete disregard for anyone else's welfare.
Just as we require truth in commercial advertising (under threat of judicial sanctions), similar guardrails must now be re-established for journalism (written and televised), social media and political campaigning. Free speech, at least in the public domain, should not be a license to lie, cheat, defraud or endanger others by inciting bigotry, hate or violence.
Hate speech gets you thrown in jail in Europe, and the EU is working on extending similar controls to social media platforms as well. Britain is now struggling with the aftermath of their Brexit, which was “sold” to them through totally dishonest claims, by another flawed conman, Boris Johnson….
It is time to put and end to this extreme “anything goes” public discourse, and return to responsable, fact-based public expression - our democracy is in the balance.
Hitler 2.0. Let’s not make the Chamberlain mistake. Enough already.
We're all so sick of the TRUMP SHOW - making everything all about him, his persecution, his people, his being robbed of the election. The American government MUST stand up to this potential Napoleon (perhaps worse) before we have a Waterloo!
There is more than enough evidence to indict him. I believe that after the midterms he will be indicted,. So, too, should all those politicians who sided with him.
Hmm. Where to start? Personally, I think Trump should be indicted and taken into custody yesterday, or last week, or last year. Trump is a growing menace to all that we hold dear. As we’ve seen, his influence on America only gets worse, especially now that he’s been backed into a corner legally over the top secret docs he refused to turn over to the National Archives.
No matter what happens or when it happens, there will be violence. Our government can deal with it on their terms by making the first move, or our government can wait until Trump & his cult decide to attack...and be surprised and unready. Those are the choices.
Having just done a little research on the subject, there are two important aspects of a government overthrow that should be addressed. First, our democratically elected leader must be confident of the military’s loyalty to him and to democracy. “Democracies often fail when their military sides with anti-democratic insurgents.” The chief prerequisite for a coup is control of all or part of the armed forces, the police, and other military elements.” (Brookings.edu)
There’s reason to believe Pres.Biden may not have their loyalty and that must be addressed. I don’t have any hard data on the subject, but there have been signs that our military, local police forces, state police forces and possibly the National Guard have been infiltrated by white supremacists. Those people must be weeded out quickly. If people balk at weeding them out, withhold federal funds. This is serious. We are at war—not like WWII, but still a war. Trump & Putin are working together to destroy our government.
In addition, it should be kept in mind that Trump successfully converted some of the Secret Service into doing his bidding and we now have reason to believe that Christopher Wray and some fbi aren’t exactly supportive of democracy or Biden. Wray must be replaced asap. But, first things first—President Biden needs solid reassurances that all law enforcement agencies are loyal to American democracy—and not just “lip service,” reassurance, real, tangible reassurance.
Next, the president must be confident in the Courts and their judges. One of the hallmarks of failing democracies is a weak judicial system under heavy political control. (Brookings Inst.)The buck always stops at the Supreme Court, but I’m not confident at all that our current conservative justices can be trusted to uphold stare decisis or the rule of law, or our democratic norms. My suggestion is to expand the Supreme Court ‘tout suite.’ It’s really vitally important. In fact it’s so important that I can’t emphasize it enough. I’m not trying to be melodramatic, we get enough melodrama from magas. I’m trying to convey the seriousness of the situation.
I think the key to getting back to normalcy is by making sure corporate ceos, cfos or in other words “bigwigs” understand the economic consequences of a Trump rebellion and the authoritarian/fascism Trump stands for. Fascism = tyranny. No one thrives under tyranny, no one and no businesses except fascist leaders. (Brookings.edu)
“In a recent Harvard Business Review article headlined “Business Can’t Take Democracy for granted,” Rebecca Henderson argues,
American business needs American democracy. Free markets cannot survive without the support of the kind of capable, accountable government that can set the rules of the game that keep markets genuinely free and fair. And ONLY democracy can ensure that governments are held accountable, that they are viewed as legitimate, and that they don’t devolve into the rule of the many by the few and the kind of crony capitalism we see emerging…”
It would be very helpful for Pres.Biden to convene corporate bigwigs for the purpose of having outside speakers with expertise in tyranny explain exactly why they shouldn’t want Trump or any other fascist regime running our government. Honestly, I don’t think many corporate CEOs give much serious thought to the subject. They’re happy when Trump and republicans generally are in charge because they give corporations hefty tax breaks. After working that out mentally they literally stop thinking about long term consequences.
Dr. Timothy Snyder has written books on the subject and he probably knows of other speakers on the subject. If President Biden does all the talking I’ll bet these CEOs just mentally check out, because in their minds Pres.Biden represents a political party that wants to raise their taxes. So, although President Biden’s presence is key—they have to hear what the consequences would be from speakers with expertise who don’t necessarily have strong political bias. They need to understand the folly and the financial impact of supporting fascist tyranny.
In door-knocking white, working class Independents in Pennsylvania, I was struck by how cataclysmic this round of inflation and higher housing costs has been for them. People who were already vulnerable before the pandemic are now desperate. They don’t feel democracy is worth saving. They mistakenly believe Republicans are better on the economy and are in a “throw the elites out” mood regarding Democrats. In this situation, our advocacy for pronouns looks ridiculously out of touch. (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has shelter and food at the bottom.) Let us not forget that Trump and our wobbly democracy are a symptom of Democrats’ inability to stand up to price gouging, historic income inequality, and to care about the white working class. For too long, we have not put their concerns front and center. Biden has begun this work but it’s too little too late. The media environment is also terrible, baiting Democrats to talk about cultural issues instead of kitchen table issues. Too many Democrats take this bait. We should talk of nothing else but economics.
Professor Reich, WHY do YOU think Merrick Garland is not prosecuting 45? Time is a tickin’.....
It is absolutely amazing to see how, what used to be an exemplary American democracy seems to be incapable to effectively and decisively fight off an internal attack sofar and seems unable to vote out the enemy from within. This only is possible when a large part of the American population support the attack The fact the GOP from initially merely condoning the attack, now seems to be actively supporting it , just shows the level of support there appears to be. Whilst it is pretty obvious what is driving Trump and MAGA, it is totally beyond me as an outsider to understand why the GOP is supporting this. Are they so obsessed by greed, liberalism and socialism?? Do they not realise that dictators not only eliminate the political opponents but also do not hesitate to eliminate those who supported them to get into power because there is no room for politics in a dictatorship. MAGA attacking GOP Rhinos is just one of the warning signals... All these (GOP ) people who now shout that their individual rights and freedom are under threat from the Democrats and democracy , wait till MAGA regains power. You soon will find out that you can only live "freely" in a dictatorship if you think, say and do exactly what the government wants.
How large the current support for the attack on democracy is will soon be become clear but even if democracy survives in November , a long and hard battle remains to restore what appears to be the broken integrity of the democracy........and it is not just in America........
We can’t afford to look away, nor can we be apathetic about voting. We like minded folks who cherish democracy with all its flaws, must vote AND get others to vote and vote blue. As Michael Moore has pointed out, we out number the haters, but we must vote in numbers too huge to dispute. To borrow his phrase, a “blue tsunami.” May it be so!
I believe AG Garland will indict. I also believe there is more than a good chance that there will be a lot of serious violence in this country when that happens. Who do you think owns all those AK 47 weapons that the republicans refuse to help ban? And more terrifying weapons of war as well? Anyone saying 'I told you so' at this point would be correct, but we are way beyond that now. I hope President Biden does not cower, if and when that happens. He holds tremendous power to enable our country to withstand this concerted attack on our democracy. This upcoming election will be significant. We must hold the line to prevent destroying freedom in this great nation. To those who would pray, save your breath. This problem will take action from good men and women everywhere, including those who live elsewhere in the world who believe in democracy.
I am reading The Oppermans written in Germany in the spring to fall (real time) of 1933 by Lion Feuchtwanger. It tells the story of several Jewish families in Berlin and the effects on them as the political winds changed in that very short period of time during which the author - almost as a journalist in a sense.
It never names 'the name' referring only to 'the leader' but everything else is factual, and every word is a mirror of present day news reports. It is chilling..
EVERY Democrat ad should have the few seconds of McCarth & McConnell saying Trump caused Jan 6 insurrection.
EVERY
SINGLE
ONE!!!
Republicans know to take a simple message and repeat it.
Democrats make the same mistake over and over of saying the message once and acting like they've dealt the death blow and won. WRONG!
REPEAT
REPEAT
REPEAT!
This is very alarming. His rally in Texas,per the video was sickening. Invoking the Angel of Death to his enemies. I pray that God will intervene at this point in our country, our world for that matter. The summary in this post speaks true. All of it. The rhetoric of the politicians, not all, are horrible. Pinning people against each other using religion as their sword. One’s own faith to prove their righteousness against one another for personal power. Hell has unleashed itself and what happens is happening now.