Houston— and everyone else who cares about our democracy— we have a problem
For months after Trump was elected, I referred to him constantly as a lying, cheating, racist, sexist, mentally and emotionally unstable Russian puppet.
Unfortunately, that phrase rolls off the tongue easier that it does the keyboard. The acronym- LCRSMEURP- is no help either.
But folks, we have a serious matter here. Trumpsky talks big on ‘Merica, but his actions all support Russia.
A Quisling and His Enablers
...Donald Trump is a quisling — a politician who serves the interests of foreign masters at his own country’s expense. Any reasonable doubts about that reality were put to rest by the events of the past few days, when he defended Russia while attacking our closest allies.
We don’t know Trump’s motivation. Is it blackmail? Bribery? Or just a generalized sympathy for autocrats and hatred for democracy? And we may never find out: If he shuts down the Mueller investigation and Republicans retain control of Congress, the cover-up may hold indefinitely. But his actions tell the story…
So Trump is justifying his attempt to destroy the Western alliance by accusing our allies of misdeeds that exist only in his imagination. www.nytimes.com/…
Trump attacks our allies— Canada, Mexico, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Australia,
Japan, etc. — and praises Russia, China, and North Korea. This weakens the alliances that we have built over decades (at the least) and centuries (at the most).
No American President who was true to his oath of office would do this.
But an agent or puppet who put Russian interests ahead of US interests would. (Russia first, America somewhere down the line after that. Whatever.)
Trump Tries to Destroy the West
The alliance between the United States and Western Europe has accomplished great things. It won two world wars in the first half of the 20th century. Then it expanded to include its former enemies and went on to win the Cold War, help spread democracy and build the highest living standards the world has ever known.
President Trump is trying to destroy that alliance...
If a president of the United States were to sketch out a secret, detailed plan to break up the Atlantic alliance, that plan would bear a striking resemblance to Trump’s behavior.
- It would involve outward hostility to the [Western] leaders...
- [It] would involve picking fights over artificial issues... to create conflict for the sake of it.
- [It] would also have the United States looking for new allies to replace the discarded ones.
- [It] would meddle in the domestic politics of other countries to install new governments that also rejected the old alliance. www.nytimes.com/…
What does Puppetmaster Putin ideally want from Trump and a supine Republican supporting cast?
- The destruction of NATO as we know it
- Respect for Russia as a superpower, instead of disrespect as a faded glory
- Removal of sanctions that currently hurt Putin, his gang, and Russia’s economy
- A free hand in Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.
- A free hand in the Middle East
- To demonstrate that democracies are weaker that kleptocracies, but just as corrupt
Enter Donald Trump, the King of Corrupt. The first bullet point has been teed up, and Trump keeps swinging at it as often and as hard as he can. So far, Trump is a terrible driver and our allies keep replacing the ball when he isn't looking.
Why We Are So Vulnerable to Charlatans Like Trump
It’s impossible to characterize a historical period before it’s over, but I think one plausible name for our era will be the Age of the Charlatan. Everywhere you turn there seems to be some kind of quack or confidence man catering to an eager audience: Fox News hosts like Sean Hannity have moved from pushing ill-informed opinion to flat-out conspiracy mongering; pickup artists sell “tried and true” methods for isolated young men to seduce women; and sophists pass off stale pedantries as dark and radical thought, selling millions of books in the process. In politics, too, our highest office is occupied by a man who was once aptly called a “carnival barker.”
What makes us so vulnerable to charlatans today? In part it’s the complexity of the modern world and the rate of technological and social change: Quackery provides what Saul Bellow once called a “five-cent synthesis,” boiling down the chaotic tangle of the age into simple nostrums. Modern life bombards us into exhaustion and boredom as much as anxiety; sometimes we are just looking for entertainment in a surprising notion…
Crucially, the charlatan provides palliatives for a confused public. These nostrums can be either literal pills or phony ideas, for as Ms. De Francesco notes, “a quack is a quack — whether he sells opinions or elixirs.” Frequently they sell both. See for example Alex Jones, one of the most popular charlatans of the present age. He peddles bizarre conspiracy theories, including that the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax, but also his own line of snake oil in the form of dubious dietary supplements. www.nytimes.com/...
I don’t think that Trump is trying to destroy the US,
because he hates all democracies or hates the
US.
I think he places no value on democracy and democratic (small d) values, because he literally can’t see it, feel it, touch it, or understand it. He
is corrupt and motivated entirely by money and fear, therefore, in his book, all humans and human institutions must be motivated exclusively by money and fear.
This is why it is so vital to take our country by the reins and move it forward this November. We MUST do this.
And then we must shut Trump down, and re-build our democracy— step by step, voter by voter, institution by institution, and ally by ally.
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EDITED title to say 6/13/18. Let’s see if the changes set in or not.