EDITORIAL:
The GOP Embraces Trump
EDITORIAL:
Corruption, Bigotry, and Intolerance
The last thing America needs is another four years of Trump in the White House tweeting crazy ass nonsense 24 hours a day, indicting his enemies, attacking the media, and defaming private citizens from a seat in the Oval Office. Come on America, we are definitely better than this guy.
By D. S. Mitchell
The Last Thing America Needs
Donald J. Trump, the last thing America needs in public office, has seen his poll numbers skyrocket among Republicans, as his criminal indictments mount. Trump, the forever grifter, is making millions selling his mugshot on T-shirts. The Grand Old Party of Lincoln has collapsed. What we now have in its place is total acceptance of the unacceptable. Gun packing white supremacists, torch carrying Neo-Nazi’s, vitriolic officials denying the obvious truth, Joe Biden won the election. When Republican politicians like Liz Cheney, and Mitt Romney can’t talk sense to these crazies, and instead leave the party to become unaffiliated voices; it just proves that today’s Republican Party is not the party of your father-or your grandfather; and certainly not Lincoln.
Against The Trump Plan
When all the votes for the 2020 presidential election were counted, Joe Biden’s ballot tally totaled 81,283,098 votes, or 51.3% of the vote. Donald Trump only garnered 74,222,958 or 46.8% of the vote. Miscellaneous other candidates captured a meager 1.8% of the vote. In other words, Joe Biden, kicked Trump’s butt, besting the Mango Mussolini by over 7 million plus votes. Go Brandon!
In MAGA World, The Biggest Flag Wins
But, those numbers were obviously out of sync with Trump’s election plan. Trump demanded recount after recount, all the while inflaming his supporters, convincing them, falsely, that he was the victim of voter fraud, mostly in the black and brown big cities of the country. Votes were counted and recounted and lawsuit after lawsuit brought by Trump challenging the election were dismissed. Everyone from the bloated and lawless Bill Barr to Cybersecurity Director Chris Krebs called Trump’s claims of voter fraud, “bullshit.” But, three years later, I still see signs proclaiming, “Trump Won!” usually accompanied by an oversized American flag.
On A Personal Note
I admit it, I’m angry. The MAGA election deniers have highjacked the American flag, as if it is their private property. Pre-MAGA I would fly the flag in front of my house every President’s Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day (my son’s birthday), the 4th of July, and Labor Day, I no longer display the flag on the above noted holidays, but instead I now keep my treasured flag in a drawer. The last thing I want is for anyone, at anytime, to assume I’m a Trumpie. I am furious that these MAGA lug nuts have so brazenly, as if they are the patriots, stolen the stars and stripes as decor for their civil disobedience. I am convinced these fake patriots are an existential threat to our democracy. It isn’t a far stretch to imagine Trump using armed militias to implement Bashar al-Assad tactics to hold on to power if he is ever returned to the White House.
As It Plays Out
Because of Trump’s lies, our country has grown even more painfully divided. Instead of the bloated orange fruit fly conceding the election, to Joe Biden, like every other loser before him has, Trump chose to create chaos, dissent, and mob violence. Authoritarians do that sort of thing, call the validity of elections into question. If Trump becomes the Republican nominee in 2024 I am sure we will see more armed election observers, more lawsuits, more threats of violence, more white supremacist saber rattling, and more talk of Trump as a lifetime president.
Ramping Up
Trump is a walking, talking, tweeting, crime wave. His surprise election to the presidency, gave this leach on society free rein to pull grift after grift. During Donald’s administration, corruption ramped up to a level that was neck snapping. But for some reason the DOJ took the stance that a sitting president could not be prosecuted, apparently no matter how corrupt. I guess this is where a sitting president shoots some guy on 5th Ave and is never prosecuted.
Immovable Support
Why would so many, mostly white voters idolize and worship Trump? I can’t imagine they are all racists. I can’t conceive that all Trump voters are visiting extreme right wing platforms being radicalized. Many claim it is older white folks afraid of a changing demographic, that support Trump. That isn’t the whole story. So, it looks as if we will need to leave the “why’s ” of this phenomenon to the historians, statisticians, and political pundits of the future to dissect and interpret Trump’s immovable 41-47% voter support.
Call Him Out For Lord’s Sake
A few Republicans called Trump out after the January 6th riot, McConnell and Graham in the Senate and Kevin McCarthy in the House. That moment of courage lasted about three days until Trump snapped the whip and they all heeled up nicely. Trump’s refusal to accept his loss is a national embarrassment. His run for a second chance at the White House is not only an embarrassment but a total outrage. The only Republican candidates calling Trump out for what he is, is Chris Christie. The rest of the field seems to be auditioning for VP or Secretary of State, in a second Trump administration.
The Outrage Is Not Real
The voters spoke loudly in 2020. There was even dancing in the street. Trump lost. Hooray! The pretend king was gone, with his gold tower and his silicone infused wife. Well, not quite so fast, Donald had decided to scream foul and keep screaming foul. Despite the fake electors, despite Cyber Ninja ballot re-counts, despite the Rudy Giuliani -Sydney Powell bullshit, Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden. Trump despite all the bluster is a loser. In 2022, the candidates Trump supported lost dramatically. Normal people are ready to move on; that of course does not include the orange cupcake and his supplicants. Re-living the “steal” at every rally has become part and parcel of the Trump “victim” story. I think a man talking insane bullshit, dwelling on a fabricated past, confabulating the irrelevant, would quickly have folks calling him demented. TV, Woman, Refrigerator.
Conclusion
There are trials and court actions awaiting the X- president. Time to get out there Mr. Trump and face your many trials, and leave the presidential campaigning to those in the political world who are not facing multiple criminal and civil lawsuits in several states and jurisdictions.
Of course, running for office gives Trump a huge platform from which he can continue to spew his hate and venom, while offering him a chance to make all the criminal charges go away, if he somehow manages to win another term. The very fact that this criminal, liar, and thief, is allowed to even run for president again is outrageous. Whether he wins or loses, his rhetoric has cast a dark and perilous cloud over all future U.S. elections, at least until his death.
As long as the media and the American people allow it, Trump will be a disruptive force in our political ethos. According to the man himself, he intends to, when re-elected, suspend the U.S. Constitution, eliminate the civil service system, and disassemble government as we know it. This man will stop at nothing to further his ends, and those ends have no relationship to the needs of the American people.
Several concerned groups from various political persuasions are attempting to keep Trump off the ballot in as many states as possible, using Section 3, of the 14th Amendment, as justification. I salute their efforts and wish them well. While these folks pursue efforts to keep Trump off the ballot, I’m pleading with all citizens who fear another Trump presidency and love democracy to please, Vote Blue in stratospheric numbers in 2024. Save Choice. Save Democracy.
