Good morning,
To my Republican friends, who either support Donald Trump or who indicate they will vote for him over Joe Biden (on some theory that spending is bad but not collecting taxes is just fine or that woke-ism is destroying America), I say, “shame on your party.” The Republican party of years gone by would be appalled at your party’s coddling of a would-be autocrat and its unwillingness to warn its supporters of the real dangers Donald Trump poses to American democracy, world peace and stability, the climate, and the global economy. Yet here we are. A man who has declared war on American democracy is moving toward potential reelection.
It’s not like it’s difficult to guess at what Mr. Trump wants—he wants to create an executive bureaucracy beholden to him first and the Constitution second, to weaponize the Justice Department, to interfere with military promotions, to seek “retribution” against his enemies, to add internment camps for immigrants, to use the Insurrection Act against American citizens, to pull out of NATO, and to otherwise act is autocratic ways. Listen to his words. And then pick up this month’s issue of The Atlantic, to read articles detailing his plans and what his second term might look like—many of which are written by Republicans and conservatives.
GAFFES-PRONE VERSUS UNHINGED AND DANGEROUS
We have heard a lot recently about how Joe Biden is senile and/or frail, how he says things that are non-sensical, and about how he’s too old to be president. Well, I attended an event in Los Angeles a 10 days ago and he was smart, funny, articulatte, and in control.
While Joe may be slower than he was, he is a far cry from senile and he’s been doing a pretty good job as President. But then Donald Trump, only two years younger, opens his mouth and utters completely absurd statements—statements not only indicative of questionable intellectual capacity (he has, after all, been saying things like this for years), but of declining mental acuity and indicative of truly awful intent if he should be reelected. He is unhinged, unwell, and phenomenally dangerous.
In his last term, by way of example, he pardoned war criminals, despite his generals and defense department pointing out the dangers to discipline and encouraging similar behaviors in the future. Now he says he’ll pardon many of the January 6th rioters, signaling to insurrectionists of the future that all is forgiven when your desired political leaders are in power. He’s made clear that he thinks General Milley should be subject to a potential death sentence. He plans on thinning the number of high-ranking career civil servants and replacing them with more sycophants. He has promised to use the Justice Department to go after his political adversaries. He has indicated he is “the retribution” (and all that entails). Meanwhile, Senator Tommy Tuberville has been holding up hundreds of armed forces promotions, ostensibly due to his objections about enabling inter-state travel for abortions, but presumably also to be able to allow Trump to nail down the pesky “uniforms” who might interfere with his supremacy. All of these things are not merely troubling, but dangerous to a functioning democracy.
Besides everything we see and hear on the news, I have witnessed his behavior first-hand, have heard from former members of his administration, spoken with his former business associates, and met a high school classmate (who noted that Mr. Trump was thrown out of several schools and was known as being “unwell” back then). Yet we are reminded that Mr. Biden is gaffe-prone and moves more slowly than he has in the past.
Howard Soloway pointed me to one of Mr. Trump’s most absurd recent statements. During a speech in Anaheim, Mr. Trump asserted that people in Beverly Hills are having their water rationed and that they are not allowed to take long showers. He then said that’s why people in Beverly Hills smell so bad.
I’m not sure who is Beverly Hills is being denied water. It certainly isn’t in the Sonnenberg household, where regular showers are de rigeuer!
But here are a few more recent Trumpisms, (thanks, David Lash, for pointing out several of these):
He said you need an ID to buy bread. Has anyone shown ID to get Wonder Bread lately?
He said that he ran against Obama in 2016. He ran against Hillary Clinton.
As a reporter noted (on Fox, no less), “He warned that Biden will get us into World War Two, which I’m pretty sure we already fought and won.”
He confused Jeb Bush and George W. Bush and said Jeb got us involved in the Middle East (that was George).
He lectured Jews on how they should vote, based upon his belief in dual loyalty.
He declared that General Mark Milley deserves to be subject to the death penalty for attempting to de-escalate with his Chinese counterpart (despite Milley’s coordination of his remarks with the Secretary of Defense and other Pentagon officials).
He stated Hungary shares a border with Russia (it does not)
He referred to President Viktor Orban as the leader of Turkey (he is not—he is the Prime Minister of Hungary)
He referred to the CEO of Apple as “Tim Apple.” I’m pretty sure he meant Tim Cook.
He refers to President Obama, rather than President Biden, as his adversary in the upcoming election.
The latest Trump defense of his gaffes is that he intentionally refers to Obama, as he believes Obama is running things from behind the scenes.
Of course, all of these ridiculous statements pale by comparison with Mr. Trump’s agenda if reelected. Eviscerate the FBI and the Justice Department, promote only officers in the military who are perceived as allies, pardon the January 6th rioters, go after news organizations, and use the Justice Department to go after his political enemies. And this is nothing compared to his concerted effort to undermine American democracy and its elections. It would be bad enough that any politician were to suggest even some of this. Trump promises us even more. And it’s another thing entirely when realizing this man is the likely Republican candidate for president and who, because of the skewed electoral college system, boasts at least 200 “safe” electoral votes before the election is even held.
THE DANGER IS REAL
Trump is an Extremely Dumb Fascist: https://newrepublic.com/post/174706/indictment-trump-complete-fascist
Trump’s Promise of Lawlessness: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/28/opinion/trump-debate-milley.html
Trump’s Mental Gaffes Can’t Be Ignored: https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/13/opinions/trumps-mental-gaffes-obeidallah/index.html
MEANWHILE, THE INTERNET IS POISED FOR MISINFORMATION NEXT YEAR
Buried in the news is the Republican effort to de-fund the State Department’s Global Engagement Center. The guy leading the charge? None other than Ken Paxton, together with the right-wing media, who are suing. They claim this is “one of the most egregious government operations to censor the American press in the history of the nation.” The House Republicans are trying to kill-off the agency entirely, despite its mission to thwart non-U.S. sources of disinformation in social media. Elon Musk, the ultimate arbiter of logic, declared that the center was “a threat to democracy.” Meanwhile, an appeals court has found no meddling with domestic social media. Like claims of a stolen election, evidence of wrongdoing is unnecessary—merely the yelling of the far-right. Putin is loving this, no doubt.
It will be nuts next year, as misinformation and disinformation will be exploding on the Internet. And Facebook, always concerned about our democracy, is unprepared. Here is a sobering note from Glenn Stoller:
“Way to go Facebook. I posted about a war crime in Ukraine where Russia attacked people shopping.
Facebook comes back saying there is no proof that a policeman in Chicago shot a teenager at a gym.
Heaven help us if Facebook is like this next year.”
Have a great day,
Glenn
Thank you Glenn! I switched my voter registration to Republican in order to vote for Nikki Haley. The CA primary is 3/5/24 and will have a big impact in building momentum for Haley. Whether you have been a lifelong Dem or an Independent, voting Haley for the Republican nominee is essential to keep this lunatic off the ballot. You can always switch later and vote as you wish for the election!!
Well said Glenn. Liz Cheney’s new book should be required reading for all voting republicans.