It's still time to resist and protect much.
All this week, as I've kept up with the thrill-a-minute scandal dumps from Washington, a nagging concern has been building in the back of my mind: yes, the system, our quasi-democratic system of government, seems to be trying to spit out the immature poison pill momentarily lodged in the White House. Though we're just seeing the end of the beginning, we can begin to hope we are seeing the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency.
But that doesn't mean citizen resistance can turn away from the ongoing clusterfuck. This isn't just about the Orange Cheato. This is also about an empowered Republican party which, no less than its figurehead, wants to make America white again for the benefit of the one percent.
- Attorney General Jeff Sessions just ordered federal district attorneys to throw the book at all drug offenders, guaranteed to fill up prisons with more black and brown people.
- All the GOPers seem down with enhanced deportations of undocumented people -- and with wider restrictions on the number of immigrants and refugees allowed in through the regular process.
- There's nothing these human turds won't do to befoul the only planet we've got so as to support coal, oil and gas company profits.
- So-called "health reform" is a scam to throw 14 million or so people in need of help off of insurance so as to make sure billionaires don't have to pay inheritance taxes.
- Oh, and just for shits and giggles, these guys want to "defund" Planned Parenthood, ensuring the millions of women lose access to appropriate, affordable health care.
As Washington ties itself in knots, citizen resistance can't ease up. Citizen resistance gums up the machine and stiffens spines. When Congress gets around to continuing its attack on our paltry social welfare state -- on Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security -- we have to be screaming bloody murder. We need to do all we can to protect Black, brown and Muslim communities under siege. We need to fight voter suppression with voter registration. Eventually we'll have to put Democrats in power -- and then keep beating up on them to keep them accountable. There's much still to do. Lets' do it.
5 comments:
My concern is we are jumping from the frying pan into the fire. I know it's conspiracy time to say this; but what if Pence is the one inside leaking damaging things? If you have followed this guy's ideology, it's far worse than Trump even given all his character flaws. What Pence will do will be directly from his idea of a god. He'll do it with a smile while he slits throats. Most of his policies double down on Trump's. We may soon get to find out as establishment DC would much prefer Pence-- on both sides of the aisle because at heart, these guys are all establishment.
Pence is a guy who never could have gotten elected with his extremist views And you think Trump is scary. The train has left the station and not sure there's much that can be done about it but I don't feel at all good about Pence and even if he got brought down with Trump (seems unlikely) Ryan??? ugh!
Rain: agree that Pence is seriously scary. If he was in on a lot of stuff that is now coming out, he won't come out of this unscathed any more than Trump.
Today's news on increased deportations -- seemingly carried on with gusto and no discretion by DHS -- and putting a real fascist, David Clarke, in that department are seriously bad developments. Most of the federal bureaucracy is just chugging along, but these are Trumpistas.
Pence won't change the deportation if he gets in, but there are other things he's worse on. I am not sure Pence has much to do with what's currently going to be investigated 'again' (for that matter not sure what Trump did either) other than what the weirdo sites are claiming. There is so much of that out there. It'd be funny in a movie-- if it wasn't happening.
What gets me is not so much what happens to Trump, as if he gets impeached, it's how it goes and he wasn't my candidate; but why was the Hillary stuff overlooked? The uranium deal is one example of where she okayed (along with other Obama agencies) letting Russians have 20% of our uranium mines-- but nobody has looked into whether donations to the Clinton Foundation played a role [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/us/cash-flowed-to-clinton-foundation-as-russians-pressed-for-control-of-uranium-company.html?_r=0]. Recently I read that the prime minister of Bangladesh claims she was pressured to do a favor for a Clinton foundation donor. Now maybe not true but who is investigating that? Pay for play happens all too often. I know she's not president but my guess is she's still hoping for another chance at that...
To me, we have a very corrupt system and they, in the establishment, protect each other. It's disappointing, but also worrisome. Both parties claim they care about the people. The proof is in the pudding, and it's not there. Things, like health care, just gets worse with ordinary folks not finding any real relief in the high costs.
Brava, Ms. Jan. And Rain, worrying about Pence (or the Clinton Foundation) is like being in a small boat in the middle of a storm at sea, and wondering, "if I survive, what if I get cancer?"
I'd agree, Michael except Pence has made clear what he'll do if he has the power. He did as governor. So what we don't like about Trump won't go away but I believe worse will come for those most vulnerable. At my age, for me, it's not a big fear for any of them. But I don't want a country that undoes abortion and civil rights. I don't want gay marriage being outlawed-- I might have a gay grandchild for all I know. I can worry about my cancer and the boat at the same time-- they call it multitasking ;). We need to think about where our actions will take us next and is it going in the direction we want?
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