Dave DaButcher wrote:Clyde_Style wrote:Dave DaButcher wrote:Absolutely Wingo. Let’s all continue to monitor and share insights and developments of particular note as we approach November 6. Though it sounds cliche, given what’s at stake and the fundamental danger Trump and his minions represent, this will obviously be among the most important elections of our lifetimes.
It will also provide a window into the even more consequential 2020 election, which, at the risk of hyperbole, could determine whether this grand (and flawed) experiment will continue or not.
Best, Dave
Just caught up with this thread and read your posts Dave. Thanks. Good on ya for sticking it to the Sea Hag. There's something about her in particular that screams "opportunist" every time she opens her mouth.
She's some mutation of D.C. careerism devoid of partisanship. This was her shot to be the face of an administration and if you had told her she'd have to put babies in a meat grinder on live television, she'd ask "but I still get to be the face of the administration, right?".
People like her and SH Sanders give political hacks a bad name.
In your daily work and encounters, is Mueller's investigation a common topic of conversation or do most in your sphere tend to consume their news on their own and keep their POV under wraps?
Thanks Clyde, and I agree of course with your sentiments.
In my line of work, while this is not universally true, I've been disappointed that people are not concerned enough by what has been happening, and tend to ignore the day to day developments. Indeed, as long as markets go up and the economy is doing well, the latest Trump shock-inducing incident or comment tends to be no more than a temporary topic of conversation, to be quickly forgotten or, by the worst among us, excused.
I think this is a sad reflection of the broader body politic that has become extremely short-sighted, and degraded by the debased behavior of Trump. Policy positions are important, and merit rigorous debate. But over time, they are insignificant relative to the values we all do (or should) share, such as liberty, free speech, a free press, inclusion, tolerance, and compassion, to name just a few.
I fear that if Trumpism is not stopped by well meaning people of every political persuasion, those values will recede and be subsumed by the worst elements that have always existed in the underbelly of America.
Yes, I couldn't agree more. We are definitely in the midst of an historical inflection point on the political fulcrum that could tip either way.
On the one hand, you could see a descent into the passive acceptance of the dismantling of democratic functions as you're describing and all that requires is for people who should know better to stand by idly, because the aggression of fascistic elements will always plow ahead forcefully unless they are stopped by civilians forcing the system to use its checks and balances.
On the other hand, the outcome of the investigations could result in a reset button that washes away the worst aspects of government corruption for the first time in decades. If that coincides with a renewed impulse for actual justice for the average Joe within the Democratic party then there would be a sliver of a chance for actual reforms to be institutionalized on the campaign finance level while addressing the issues of executive branch criminality more effectively than foreseen by the original framers.
It appears Mueller is addressing this systemically which I've done my best to convey repeatedly. This is why I pointed out the RICO approach he is deploying. By RICO-style I mean following the money, nailing the lower tertiary players to flip on those above them in the food chain until you get a domino effect where your paper trail is buttressed by incontrovertible testimonies from the bottom all the way to the top of the criminal enterprise. And the GOP has functioned like a criminal enterprise, thus Mueller is pursuing this in a grand manner. This is not just about Trump, though in the end he is the ultimate objective.
Mueller took down the Gambinos in the same way he is dissecting the GOP. But I must add Mueller is not only a registered Republican when this started (can't blame him if he changes affiliations after this though
), he also just referred Democrats like Podesta to State level investigators as part of his investigation:
Robert Mueller referred lobbyists, including Tony Podesta, to Manhattan prosecutorshttps://www.vox.com/2018/7/31/17637426/robert-mueller-ukraine-lobbyists-tony-podesta-vin-weber-greg-craigThis is a critical point, because Mueller is basically probing anything that crosses his path, regardless of party. If one wants to cynicalize everything you could say he's throwing a few democrats on to the bonfire as a calculated display of neutrality, but that's the kind of BS explanation you'll hear from apologists. The truth is Mueller is not sparing the rod for anyone he discovers broke the law.
Mueller is not a partisan, but he is a patriot. And that is why Mueller's investigation is critical for saving democratic institutions.
The system of three branch checks and balances are now essentially dependent on Mueller succeeding.
The Executive Branch is obviously rogue and co-opted by Russia.
The congressional branch on the Republican side has also gone rogue and been co-opted by Russian influence. But there are major cracks in the GOP and they are no longer backing Trump like before.
(on a side note to everyone here, anytime someone is countered by What About Hillary? rebuttals in the future, just ask "Why hasn't a GOP controlled White House and Congress not launched new investigations into the Clintons?" We know the answer is because the accusations are just vapor meant to incite their base, but then you'll probably get deranged answers that the Clintons run the world.)
The judicial branch at the federal level has been effectively backing Mueller as I showed with a previous post link. He cannot be shut down now as new precedents were established this week in a 92 page ruling in response to a challenge by Roger Stone during his grand jury inquiry:
This Major Mueller Court Victory Means Trump is Doomedhttps://www.politicususa.com/2018/08/05/this-major-mueller-court-victory-means-trump-is-doomed.htmlThat ruling will go a long way towards pre-empting some possible constitutional challenges that could decided by the SCOTUS. For instance, if Trump is subpoenaed for an interview by Mueller, it probably will not reach SCOTUS and he will be compelled to comply much more rapidly now. And we know a Trump interview with Mueller is the cherry on top and a fait accompli as Trump would not survive an interview without repeatedly perjuring himself.
In sum, the ability of a Trump or someone else stonewalling themselves in the WH and evading justice while attempting to behave like a king and not an elected representative of the people should be mitigated soon.
The challenges to this kind of incipient despotism are:
The two branches vs. the executive branch
The electoral public
The Fifth Estate (journalism)
As a significant portion of our public is intellectually challenged to put it politely, all of the above will be for naught if the combined direction of the November mid-terms and 2020 does not deliver a civilian vote that decisively demands actual reforms of the corruption that allowed this to happen.
And the media I've written about before, but as a whole they have swallowed the hit parade of daily travesties like a treadmill and have not as a general rule provided a consistent overview for the public to maintain the mental framework of everything happening.
As a result, the back and forth of social media usually descends into pissing matches over single bullet points and it is rare to find people either online or in the MSM capable of maintaining the big picture. I've done my best to connect the dots for folks on RealGM, but it is generally sorely lacking in the Fifth Estate as a whole.
There is good journalism, but the biggest outlets are OK, but not good enough to provide actual resistance to the foreign takeover we have witnessed.
Moreover, Obama dropped the ball big time and that's a whole other subject, but he knew what was going on with Trump and the Russians, but he was too much of a coward to soil his precious legacy by going out on his sword amidst what would have been the inevitable accusations of Clinton favoritism if he clamped down and blew the whistle. Obama really crapped the bed on that one.
So it boils down to:
1) Getting out the vote;
and
2) Mueller removing a good amount of the swamp across the political spectrum.
Those are the two things that will hold the dam in place and give us another decade to get this right. If either of those fail, then its Goodnight Gracie for democracy in America.
Awesome story.
RIP mags
