If you are a regular devotee of Daily Kos, you fully understand the kind of trouble this nation is in. I am almost 67, and I have never seen a graver political situation than the one in which we find ourselves today. We are faced with a Republican Party which is fully in the grip of its most radical, authoritarian Right wing fanatics. As a former Republican (way back in the day), I can tell you this: these authoritarians do not see you as the Opposition. They consider you the Enemy. They hate you, and no I am not exaggerating. Fifty years of relentless, unceasing, savage, lying Right wing propaganda has poisoned tens of millions of people. Many of these people would be delighted to strip the right to vote from you. A small, but not insignificant, minority, advocates using violence to silence people like you and me. This is not alarmism: it is a statement of bare fact.
The propaganda that has inflamed these people has been overwhelmingly funded by a small group of ultra-reactionary business people, such as Rupert Murdoch and Sheldon Adelson. The members of this group fully intend to crush any and all opposition to their appalling goals. They have used the political system to shovel unbelievable wealth into their own pockets and their media outlets to stir up the emotions of those among us who are bitter about their lot in life, fearful of losing their social status, hateful toward anyone who doesn’t look and sound like they do, and drawn toward “strong men” who promise to hurt the people they hate.
Many of these angry people are devotees of a perverse “Christianity” that preaches worship of the rich, contempt for the poor, suspicion and rejection of science, support for war and torture, and the desirability of a Right wing fundamentalist theocracy in the United States. Such a theocracy would complete the job of strangling our democratic republic to death, crushing free expression, controlling “education” (read indoctrination), and persecuting the theocracy’s hated targets. A corporate kleptocracy at the top and a theocracy to keep the proles under control: this is the Right’s ultimate goal. (To see my take on the Right wing’s ideology, take a look here.)
The program of the ultra-reactionaries is being aided and abetted by organizations such as ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), which have seized control of many state governments, and Republicans in Congress, most notably Mitch McConnell. In my opinion McConnell is the most dangerous man in America, a virtual dictator who is determined to impose a radical Right wing judiciary on America for the next 30 to 40 years. McConnell, who has aptly been nicknamed The Grave Digger of American Democracy is a thoroughly corrupt, hyperpartisan Right wing fanatic. And McConnell essentially has a stranglehold on the entire legislative process due to his position as Senate Majority Leader. McConnell and the other Republicans in Congress have in turn facilitated and enabled the worst policies of the worst president of my long lifetime: Donald Trump.
What more can be said of Trump? He is utterly and comprehensively unfit for his position. Born into an organized crime-ridden family, he is the only public figure of my lifetime in whom I can see no good qualities whatsoever. He is corrupt down to the subatomic level, mind-numbingly ignorant, astonishingly dishonest, narcissistic, disgustingly racist, vulgar, childish, mentally unstable, depraved in his private conduct, borderline stupid, greedy and grasping to a degree that would embarrass a Robber Baron, and loyal only to himself. (I wrote a summary of Trump’s godawful life and his relationship to Russian organized crime. It’s right here.) Trump is, simply, an outright criminal who managed to acquire an office he is completely unqualified for. And here’s the punchline:
The authoritarians that make up Trump’s base, the ultra-reactionary business people goading them on, and their Republican enablers in government fully intend to give Trump a second term.
I cannot overemphasize the threat this poses. As A Daily Kos reader, you know the various crimes and follies of the horrible Trump-Pence-McConnell government. It is not my intent to list these various depredations here. You know them as well or better than I. I simply want to make a statement that some of you will consider too extreme, but I can think of no other way to express it:
If Trump is reelected, the American Republic is finished, and America’s standing in the world will be irreparably damaged. If Trump is reelected, the worldwide movement to establish authoritarian governments everywhere will become unstoppable.
If you care about climate change, if you care about equal rights for all Americans, if you worry about the monstrous imbalance of wealth in America, if you care about Constitutional government, if you care about free and fair elections, if you want to stop Dominionist fanatics from running your life, if you care about public education, if you care about reproductive rights, if you care about press freedom, and if you care about the ideal of the democratic republic itself, your political priority must be the utter defeat of Trump and his enablers. The 2020 election will be the most consequential our nation has had since 1860. WE MUST WIN. THE ALTERNATIVE IS UNTHINKABLE.
So how do we proceed?
I have laid out my basic suggestions here. I advocate a massive program of one-on-one interaction to increase the Democratic presidential vote from 65 million in 2016 to at least 85 million in 2020. I further call for a huge effort to reach groups that can make our turnout goal a reality.
In regard to my other ideas, I will soon be offering more, detailed suggestions. But in short what I will be advocating is this:
The nomination of a tough, dynamic, charismatic candidate to go against Trump, someone who knows how to draw positive attention, a strong speaker, energetic, and personally attractive. I want a brawler, a tough fighter who knows how to dish it out with a smile. They don’t have to agree with me 100%. But they’ve got to be willing to fight hard.
A strong, POSITIVE program for the American people, one aimed squarely at addressing real problems. Health care should be #1 on our list, in my view. Our objective: eliminate poverty, empower the Middle Class, protect the safety net, and deal with the urgent environmental problems we face. We should be advocating public-private sector alliances wherever possible, and refute the vile accusation that we are trying to impose “socialism”, which is simply how the Right wing propaganda machine labels anything that challenges the power and privileges of the rich.
A succinct, powerful summation of Trump’s flaws and crimes. We need a one-two punch. A positive program and a devastating, short, sweet, hard-hitting summary of the damage Trump has done, one that the average American can understand. And in doing this, we must wrap Trump around the throats of every Republican running for office. Trump and the Republican Party are one. They need to go down to defeat together.
An attempt to penetrate the AM radio world with a progressive message. We’ve been beaten on the air for too long. Right wing liars and frauds dominate AM radio air. It’s time to change that.
An effort to register new voters starting NOW. The Republican vote suppressors have labored mightily to disenfranchise as many Democrats as possible. The campaign to defeat them cannot wait until 2020. It needs to be going now. If there are barriers to getting voter IDs, we need to start helping people overcome those barriers ASAP.
A DETAILED program for winning Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, and Arizona while retaining our 2016 states. I get almost physically ill when someone says we need to give up on Ohio or Florida. Sheer lunacy. I will be calling on Kossacks who know those states to offer their strategies for bringing them into the Democratic fold in 2020. (And if someone has ideas about Iowa, Texas, and Montana, those would be welcome, too.)
An ALL OUT effort to unseat Mitch McConnell. Let’s make that SOB feel the heat—big time.
I have three grandchildren. I worry about their future all the time. I cannot—I WILL NOT— leave anything undone in my attempt to bequeath a decent nation to them. I will use any tool at my disposal to achieve this. This is because I realize that Trump’s destruction, and a crippling blow to Trumpism itself, must be our national political priority.
I’m IN.
How about you?