The Grand Illusion
Right now, it appears to me as though the majority of elected Republicans are cowardly, lying, hypocritical apologists for both Trump and the rest of the American oligarchic class.
When someone like Edward Snowden or Chelsea Manning makes off with classified documents, Republicans are all for throwing the book at them, but when Trump does the same thing, and the FBI tries to recover the documents – not even to charge Trump with anything criminal – Republicans scream that it’s a raid and an outrage. Their attacks against the FBI make it even more apparent that they prefer that the law only be enforced against the poor and the powerless.
The majority of them deny that the January 6th insurrection was violent or that Trump did anything wrong, and they attack any Republican who dares to tell the truth about what did happen, especially those few who remained law-abiding and principled. Yet many of these senior Republican officer-holders deplored the attack immediately after it occurred, and now they’re repudiating what they said then… which can only mean that they’re not only unprincipled, but they’re also self-serving cowards who care more about being re-elected than being truthful or upholding the principles on which this country was founded.
They bend over backward, at least in public, not to offend Trump, despite all his lies and misdeeds, and they depict him as a victim because the FBI used a search warrant to find and remove classified files from his Mar-a-Lago mansion, files that he had no right to retain – and that was only after months of efforts by the FBI to obtain and return the records.
Trump has called avowed and criminally violent white supremacists “good people” and even said that he loves them – actions that elected Republicans conveniently ignore. When being deposed about possibly criminal business dealings, Trump obviously didn’t want to tell the truth or lie under oath; so he took the Fifth Amendment to avoid making statements that could incriminate him.
And the vast majority of national Republican officeholders go along with Trump and so does a significant fraction of the Republican Party, all of whom obviously believe that Trump’s lying words and illegal actions matter less than truth and honestly… and that no crime is too great so long as it serves to get votes.
And people want to re-elect him President? What does that say about the Republicans?
LEM, you had a very telling remark in your latest book, “Councilor”, to the effect that people prefer excess to accuracy. I had never really considered how thrilling it must be to be a Trump cultist or follower of Q-Anon or other conspiracies, but I now realize that identification with such can bring excitement to an otherwise humdrum life, a sense of belonging to a select group that is “in the know”, and a purpose to one’s life. Of course, the right wing has no monopoly on such tendencies, but they seem to wield greater political power right now, and power that actually threatens the very existence of our democracy. But your observation helped provide some perspective to me about why people would believe in such otherwise incomprehensible people and notions.
Well said.
Trump is a thoroughly unpleasant human being in some respects, but that does not make him guilty of anything, let alone everything, his haters would hang on him.
The “Russia collusion” narrative was finally shown to be a hoax, although it took a long time, and there were pretty much no consequences for those who paid for and sought to benefit from the hoax. I wonder how many other allegations of misdeeds will eventually also turn out false.
That doesn’t make Trump necessarily the best candidate; he’s certainly got a LOT of baggage; and at least to trash some other candidate, those opposing that candidate would have to dig and fictionalize and start new narratives rather than using existing ones. But his policies rather than words, even if one very much disagrees with them, are not all that alarming.
However balance does NOT exist. The far left is vastly more evil than even (in the US today) largely imaginary right wing extremists (how many more did Mao and Stalin alone kill than Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo, NOT that any even semi-sane right-winger would claim any of the latter three as one of their own!), and almost infinitely more evil than someone who is merely offensive and inclined to throw all the entrenched powers-that-be under the bus (where most of them belong).
Hamilton,
As far as DJT and Republicans, you are totally blind, deaf, and dumb.
The so called Russia hoax was shown to have merit by the Republican controlled Senate report. There are credible actions carried out or directed by Trump that nearly any other American would have been indicted and convicted for (in some cases, his buddies did just that for him and wound up being pardoned for their loyalty). Alan Weisselberg is being reported to plead guilty to tax fraud later this week. He’s willing to go to jail to protect his messiah, DJT. The presidential records issue is a problem entirely of Trump’s own doing. Trump cannot keep his big yap shut and took the issue public or he just might have been able to avoid the public knowing the search ans seizure for illegally holding presidential and classified records. The DOJ and National Archives may have been satisfied to simply retrieve them.
DJT is NOT a victim of the American judicial system. He has benefited greatly by virtue of his positions of power and money that enable him to avert and delay justice that few other Americans could do.
I for one,acknowledge your right to freedom of religion and unfettered worship of DJT in the privacy of your home. But please recognize that many Americans (most in fact based on the voting records from 2020) are entitled to freedom FROM that religious endeavor. Citizen Trump is no idol to me. Let justice take its course.
You’re right that Trump’s considerable unpleasantnesses don’t make him guilty of anything besides being a despicable human being. But his acts could make him very guilty. There’s certainly probable cause for business fraud, for violations of the Espionage Act, and for attempts to subvert voting results in Georgia… and likely a few others as well.
Clearly you never actually read the facts on these things, Sir.
All the way back to the actual hearings about the supposed “Hoax”, ie actual collusion with Russia, Mueller specifically noted multiple issues which would be violations of law. At the end he then stated that as a Sitting President it was not the position of the DoJ to punish him but the Legislative Branch.
Which was controlled by his loyalists and so did nothing.
Just like the Impeachments. Essentially he was found guilty twice but then his controlled Senate decided on consequences.
That he got away with it does not make it a hoax and I don’t understand why you could possibly think otherwise.