Sounding Code Red: Electing the Trump Resistance
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
...As long as Trump is president, he’s unlikely to sign any legislation a Democratic majority in Congress would pass — but that’s not their job for the next two years. Their job is to protect America from Trump’s worst impulses.
Their job is to get hold of at least one lever of power — the House or the Senate — in order to oust the most corrupt Republican lawmakers who lead key committees, to properly oversee the most reckless cabinet secretaries, like Scott Pruitt, and to protect the F.B.I., the Justice Department and Robert Mueller from Trump’s intimidation.
But all of that is on hold for me now, because something more fundamental is at stake: It’s not what we do — it’s who we are, how we talk to one another, what we model to the world, how we respect our institutions and just how warped our society and government can get in only a few years from a president who lies every day, peddles conspiracy theories from the bully pulpit of the White House and dares to call our F.B.I. and Justice Department a “criminal deep state” for doing their job.
So that’s why I have only one thought for this election: Get power. Get a lever of power that can curb Trump. Run for the House or the Senate as a Democrat; register to vote as a Democrat; help someone else register to vote as a Democrat; send money to a Democrat; canvass for a Democrat; drive someone to the polls to vote for a Democrat.
Democrats are never going to win the news cycle from Trump. He’s an attention-grabbing genius. But they can, and must, out-organize him, out-run him, out-register him and out-vote him.
Nothing else matters now. Remember the single stupidest statement from pro-Trump commentators after the election? It was: “The media took Trump literally but not seriously. But his supporters took him seriously but not literally.”
Actually, some of us took him seriously and literally — our only mistake was not taking him literally enough. I assumed that a candidate who lied so casually and so often in the campaign would also do so as president; I just didn’t think he would literally utter 3,001 false or misleading claims in his first 466 days in office. I feared Trump would indeed, as he vowed, tear up the Iran nuclear deal, withdraw from the Paris climate accord and start a trade war with China; I just didn’t think he’d literally do them all at once with so little expert input.
I figured Trump would try to destroy Obamacare; I just didn’t think he’d literally do it without having a better alternative — any alternative — in place. I figured Trump would seek to tighten the border with Mexico; I just didn’t believe that he’d literally ask Congress for $18 billion to extend the border wall. I knew we needed to “drain the swamp” of Washington; I just didn’t think the drain would literally have to start in Trump’s White House and the offices of his cabinet secretaries.
Still, Democrats can’t count on winning by just showing up. They still have to connect with some centrist and conservative voters — and that means understanding that some things are true even if Trump believes them: We do have a trade issue with China that needs addressing; we cannot accept every immigrant, because so many people today want to escape the world of disorder into our world of order; people want a president who is going to grow the pie, not just redivide it; political correctness on some college campuses is out of control; people want to be comfortable expressing patriotism and love of country in an age where globalization can wash out those identities.
Democrats need to connect with some voters on those issues but then take them in a constructive direction, in contrast with Trump’s destructive direction.
In the end, I don’t want to see Trump impeached, unless there is overwhelming evidence. I want to see, and I want the world to see, a majority of Americans vote to curtail his power for the next two years — not to push a specific agenda over his but because they want to protect America, its ideals and institutions, from him — until our next presidential election gives us a chance to end this cancer and to birth a new G.O.P. that promotes the best instincts of conservatives, not the worst, so Americans can again have two decent choices.
Again, this is Code Red : American democracy is truly threatened today — by the man sitting in the Oval Office and the lawmakers giving him a free pass.
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Yesterday the conservative GOP congressman Trey Gowdy, who was present at the briefing where Trump had ordered the FBI to reveal it's motivations for investigating his campaign, said that he learned that in starting the investigation of the Trump associates the FBI did nothing wrong.
This directly contradicts Trump's "spygate" theory and propaganda. Gowdy, one of the most trusted "truth tellers" in the Republican congress, said, clearly, that the FBI acted properly in choosing to investigate the Trump campaign. Trump's spygate theory is nothing but a bold lie (as if that were a surprise.)
We do have a national emergency. " American democracy is truly threatened today — by the man sitting in the Oval Office and the lawmakers giving him a free pass".
What's gonna happen when Congress stays in Republican hands? The latest numbers show the Democrats continuing to rapidly lose support. Democrats on a daily basis prove that they have lost any ability to lead and govern. They have apparently been overtaken as a group by wacky conspiracy theories about Trump, and only seem intent on overturning a fair and honest election instead of winning the next ones. I see a Nikki Haley in their future.
Should Donald Trump stop lying about the FBI?
Trey Gowdy says the FBI investigation into the Trump campaign was justified, but Trump continues to lie about it.
What do you think Greg, shouldn't the President of the United States stop lying?
It's an opinion, not a lie. Even Clapper said that it was spying, although he didn't want to call it that. The lies of the Clintons and Obama seem to have conveniently forgotten.
Are you aware of just how ridiculous the above sentence is?
He said it was though he didn't say it was????
Again, this is Code Red
Might have chose a different color John, your friends on the right may find a sub rosa communist implication here.
Humor aside, yes I am a little surprised that Mr. Gowdy laid off the kool aid for a bit and has become a carrier of truth for the moment. As I stated elsewhere, since he has gotten Benghazi out of his system he has been pushing the Mueller investigation along in his own fashion. Perhaps seeking redemption?
He has done nothing to seek redemption for.
Everything Trump has done since being a childhood bully he should be ashamed of and seek redemption for.
Vote November 6th to put a sane Democratic majority in Congress to resist the Trump Agenda...
Sweeping Generalization "BF"