“Watching
this from Germany. America taught us democracy after WWII and now... your
institutions struggle to handle a situation that destroys them. Frightening and
unbelievable!” - Martin Behle
Yes, it IS hard to believe and it IS frightening. What happened in NAZI Germany IS happening here. Minorities are scapegoated and slaughtered. Detention camps are multiplying. Educators and journalists are demonized as enemies of the people. There is no functioning opposition.
The state of the Republic decays under an authoritarian, corrupt, and criminal administration supported a loyal party of authoritarian accomplices.
The
nation’s people of conscience and understanding watch helplessly as the
opposition can’t even find a way to unite against the greatest threat ever to
America’s founding ideal of democratic representation.
David
Leonhardt lays out the facts in the New York Times:
~~~
Donald
Trump vs. the United States of America
Just
the facts, in 40 sentences.
Sometimes
it’s worth stepping back to look at the full picture.
He
has pressured a foreign leader to interfere in the 2020 American
presidential election.
He urged a
foreign country to intervene in the 2016 presidential election.
He divulged classified
information to foreign officials.
He
publicly undermined American intelligence agents while standing next
to a hostile foreign autocrat.
He
hired a national security adviser whom he knew had secretly worked as
a foreign lobbyist.
He
encourages foreign leaders to enrich him and his family by staying at
his hotels.
He
genuflects to murderous dictators.
He
has alienated America’s closest allies.
He lied to
the American people about his company’s business dealings in Russia.
He
tells new lies virtually every week — about the economy, voter fraud,
even the weather.
He
spends hours on end watching television and days on end staying at
resorts.
He
often declines to read briefing books or perform other basic
functions of a president’s job.
He
has aides, as well as members of his own party in Congress, who mock him
behind his back as unfit for office.
He
has repeatedly denigrated a deceased United States senator who was a
war hero.
He insulted a
Gold Star family — the survivors of American troops killed in action.
He
described a former first lady, not long after she died, as “nasty.”
He
described white supremacists as “some very fine people.”
He
told four women of color, all citizens and members of Congress, to “go back and
help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came.”
He
made a joke about Pocahontas during a ceremony honoring Native
American World War II veterans.
He
launched his political career by falsely claiming that the first black
president was not really American.
He
launched his presidential campaign by describing Mexicans as “rapists.”
He
has described women, variously, as “a dog,” “a pig” and “horseface,”
as well as “bleeding badly from a facelift” and having “blood coming out of her
wherever.”
He
has been accused of sexual assault or misconduct by multiple women.
He
enthusiastically campaigned for a Senate candidate who was accused of
molesting multiple teenage girls.
He waved around
his arms, while giving a speech, to ridicule a physically disabled person.
He
has encouraged his supporters to commit violence against his
political opponents.
He
has called for his opponents and critics to be investigated and
jailed.
He
uses a phrase popular with dictators — “the enemy of the people” — to describe
journalists.
He
attempts to undermine any independent source of information that he
does not like, including judges, scientists, journalists, election officials,
the F.B.I., the C.I.A., the Congressional Budget Office and the National
Weather Service.
He
has tried to harass the chairman of the Federal Reserve into lowering interest
rates.
He
said that a judge could not be objective because of his Mexican heritage.
He obstructed
justice by trying to influence an investigation into his presidential
campaign.
He
violated federal law by directing his lawyer to pay $280,000 in hush money to
cover up two apparent extramarital affairs.
He
made his fortune partly through wide-scale financial fraud.
He
has refused to release his tax returns.
He
falsely accused his predecessor of wiretapping him.
He
claimed that federal law-enforcement agents and prosecutors regularly
fabricated evidence, thereby damaging the credibility of criminal
investigations across the country.
He
has ordered children to be physically separated from their parents.
He
has suggested that America is no different from or better than
Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
He
has called America a “hellhole.”
He
is the president of the United States, and he is a threat to virtually
everything that the United States should stand for.
~~~
And now there's "Ukraine, if you're listening..." and whatever the next crime or betrayal of our country will be.
Those
are the facts. The country has fallen into the hands of liars, cheaters, and criminals.
The
Democratic Party is having no more of it. Their message is loud and clear.
"This
time we’re serious and the president’s behavior cannot be ignored. If Trump
continues to commit crimes against the country, humanity, and the planet, the
Democratic Party will be forced to issue stern warnings and statements of
disapproval."
The cavalry can arrive any time now... Oops. They're going to protect a Saudi dictator's oil industry instead.
And so our nation's opposition party decided we're better off to sit and act like we're waiting for Godot.
There is no time to wait for another dark age to pass. This is how it all ends. Or has it already ended? Only Godot knows.
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