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| JEWEL SAMAD / AFP-GETTY IMAGES |
Then I have Article II [of the Constitution], where I have to the right to do whatever I want as president. ~ DONALD TRUMP
"Mistakes were made," as our leaders have famously if rarely acknowledged over the 150 years since President Ulysseys S. Grant is believed to have been the first American politician to utter those immortal words. In a here-and-now context, the biggest mistake of the many made by House Democrats in their crusade to wrestle the Russia scandal to the ground and Donald Trump out the door was putting too much stock in the labors of Robert Mueller.
That, of course, is easy to deduce in retrospect, and I certainly wrote early and often that the special counsel was the only person among we mere mortals -- a prosecutorial superman, in my now discredited view -- capable of ending Trump's presidency.
What I got wrong, much as I had failed to understand when I got blindsided by Agent Orange's 2016 "victory," was that Mueller and I, and probably you, too, live in a very different time. A time of profound national polarization when the unwavering support of Trump's basket of deplorables, variously estimated at upwards of 40 percent of registered voters, is not based on the standards by which we judge a Jefferson, Grant or Kennedy, but an adoration hinged on how Trump keeps beating the system -- whether it is cheating on his taxes or stifling Mueller -- and how they wish they could be him.
The here-and-now is so different, the rot in America so great and the stench in Washington so overpowering, that the logical alternative to the criminal investigation on which Democrats pretty much bet the post-Blue Wave ranch was a national investigative commission not unlike those empaneled after 9/11 and Pearl Harbor. Gather facts and then bring criminal charges based on those facts.
But a national investigative commission was a nonstarter because of another here-and-now fact of life: Republicans will put party ahead of patriotism every time, so the bipartisan support necessary for such a momentous undertaking was nonexistent.
History will judge today's Republicans, chief among them Russian asset Mitch "I Don't Want No Stinkin' Election Security" McConnell, as harshly as it judges Republican-by-convenience Trump, whose (small) hands hold the party in a cult-like trance.
That is small satisfaction because impeachment is hanging by a slender thread -- the eventual success of the House Judiciary Committee's bombshell request to a federal judge on Friday to unseal grand jury secrets related to Mueller's investigation, using the court filing to declare that Democrats have already in effect launched an impeachment investigation against a president who cavalierly, if falsely, says that the Constitution permits him to do anything he wants, including resisting all efforts from Congress to fulfill its constitutional oversight obligations by resisting subpoenas, ignoring contempt citations and refusing to appear before its committees.
Should that initiative fail -- and remembering that previous Trumpian bombshells have almost always turned out to be duds -- it probably will come down to the Supreme Court. If the court rules for the president and against Congress, then defeating a criminal who has been deeply disloyal to his country in 2020 becomes the only alternative to ending our long national nightmare, and that is a very scary proposition.
If you have an idea of how we should move forward, share it with your fellow readers. This, as they say in the blogosphere, is an open thread, so bring it on. Please.
You've done a very accurate assessment. Thank you. Four more years of this will likely do us all in. The problem with being of a certain age is we have the time to analyze all that's going on but have no clue how to intervene. I saw Michael Moore on Seth Meyers Late Show and he says the swing states must put issues on the ballot of interest to 18-34 year olds (marijuana in MI) and blacks (gerrymandering on the MI ballot)and something to bring out women voters who also compromise the Democratic base.I don't think I have the power to do any of that. Here's one of the interview links FYI.https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/michael-moore-trump-mueller-rt-impeachment-democrats-2020-1227219
ReplyDeleteI agree that your assessment is accurate. Although the present occupant of the Oval Office is totally wrong about what the Constitution says, he seems to be right about what he can do as president.
ReplyDeleteHave we've moved beyond issues as far as the election is concerned? Why did Obama win by such a large margin? It wasn't issues; it was inspiration. While I believe almost any one of the Democrats running (with a couple of glaring exceptions) would be a fine president, I don't see an inspiring figure like Obama on the Democratic ticket right now. And the hate and rage of orange one's supporters is frightening and infectious.
Sadly, when considering our present political climate and the failure of our media to address the dire situation, I feel like a doomed animal who has wandered onto I-95. No answers here. As for the Supremes: that seems a faint and unpredictable hope.
A question many of us are asking. I think there is short haul and long haul. Trump is only be symptom of the illness, or the rot as you accurately describe it. It has been there longer that "we?" have known. If we look at things in the historical perspective , is the world any crazier than it was during the World Wars? Is our society and more skewed than it was when our generation decided to blow it up, not only politically by protesting the war, but throwing most of what was taught to us as morality out the window? As a woman I have no nostalgia for the 50s but neither do I feel a yearning for the 60s. when promiscuity didn't work out so well relationships became even more complicated. Our kids muddle along in their own marriages. Now we find ourselves in the clutches of the media, computers as well as news and entertainment. My theory has been that our culture has been controlled by constant exposure to ideas cheapened by greed and controlled by a handful of people, most of whom I would not like. And they gain more and more control over our lives (as I battle to type this and keep it as I typed it, at war with a predictive text that I cannot control). That's where we need to start, but the monster is so big...and it feeds on money and narcissism, and Shaun, I have no idea where to begin. Here in South Africa we watched former president Jacob Zuma, our own Trump, blatantly rape the citizens of what little they had and his corruption seeped all the way down to the traffic departments. Parliament only got rid of him after three attempts. Public hearings expose the extent of that corruption. Cyril Ramaphosa, the new president, is too wealthy to be bought and pledges a major reconstruction. But until then what do we do about all the lives that were damaged by the broken health and education and legal systems? It will take years, maybe decades, if at all. The only thing the people here have to work with is the same determination that got them through apartheid. Is it atill there? Do Americans have it? Do Americans still have a deep and powerful belief in the basic values of our culture...not the pledge of allegiance, but values that reject the utter meanness of Trump's greed for money and power? Will we convince social media that our privacy is of value? Do we continue to march and write and petition? Where is our soul? Because that is all we have to work with right now. Susan Winters
ReplyDeleteCarol:
ReplyDeleteWhile I share your overall view, and the roadkill analogy is appropriate, I hold out hope that SCOTUS will rule against Trump. I base this on precedent (US v. Nixon in 1974) and my belief that Roberts' strict constitutionalism will carry the day.
Susan:
ReplyDeleteMy theory has been that our culture has been controlled by constant exposure to ideas cheapened by greed and controlled by a handful of people, most of whom I would not like.
This is profoundly true although oevrlooked.
The mistake I made was believing Mueller was more a rule-of-law man than a strict institutionalist. I really thought that with the cohort he hired, he'd set a contingent immediately to the task of knocking own the OLC opinion as misread law.
ReplyDeleteNow it's all down to how much pressure Pelosi-loyal members feel from their constituents over the August recess, so we'll see if civic action does as much good as is claimed. It also feels like a D.C. rally a la the Women's March come September would be in order -- Armies of the Night Mailer-style.
Perhaps it's assimp!e as "Teach Your Children Well".
ReplyDeleteI don't want to laden my post with even more baggage, but the question needs to be asked: Did Mueller fail and is Pelosi failing?
ReplyDeleteThe short answer for Mueller is absolutely yes, and for Pelosi, probably yes.
Lucien Truscott IV says it well in b=noting that no matter who the 2020 Democratic nominee is . . .
ReplyDelete“When he’s finished putting down your dog, Trump is going to take away your health care, raise your taxes, eliminate your job, take away your right to an abortion, limit your right to vote, turn your air and water brown, cut your Social Security and Medicare, and tell you if you don’t like it, you can leave.”
To my illi-informed mind the best hope is simply that the Dems put up a presidential candidate who actually inspires people in the way that Trump inspires his people. Maybe Biden would squeak a win, but he is not the sort of inspiring candidate I'm talking about. The Dems fucked themselves last time in making Hillary their candidate.
ReplyDeleteAt this point, impeachment (whether successful of not) has become, to use Kant's phrase, a moral imperative.
ReplyDeleteThere's no nuance in that.
~ Hart Williams
I'm voting , but I've always voted for what it's worth. Hillary got mine in 2016 , and had a majority , but Combover Caligula is in the White House. The Russians have purchased the voting machines in Maryland, or so I've been told. The corporate oligarchy seems poised to purchase the Supreme Court, and I no longer engage any of my neighbors in casual discussions involving anything of substance. I don't know that there will be any moving forward without violence , but with an ecological apocalypse looming the concept of moving forward would seem to involve human extinction. Thats probably being overly negative , but I didn't see Combover Caligula actually attaining the presidency, and having any faith in our current political system would seem to suggest I was overly optimistic. I'm still voting for the last Democrat standing . The monster is real.
ReplyDeleteIt's a given that Russian malefactors and others will continue to try to manipulate U.S. voters by having their troll farms post fake incendiary stuff on social media. Something we all can do is to call out the fake stuff when we see it and note that its purpose is too manipulate. One way to do this is, for example, when you see a fake story about liberals committing outrageous acts -- stories like that aim to rile up Trump's base -- check on who posted the story. It's often obvious when a supposed news outlet is bogus.
ReplyDeleteWe are doomed.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention global warming . . . .
Frankly, I foresee a new Dark Age within the next century--population shifts, famine, and plague. And there's nothing you can store in your underground bunker to prevent it . . . .
I fear for my children.
And that's on my better days.