The Republic Is Doomed

This week has me convinced that Trump is going to win in 406 days. How do I know? Our news media. They reported a surge of migrants crossing the southern border, but didn't point out that the vast majority of them were captured by CBP. Today they are describing Trump's speech in a non-union parts factory as a visit to striking UAW workers. Trump's behavior and past rape is not being covered. His age is not being mentioned. Fascism is coming. There haven’t been moderate Republicans since the Obama administration. Anyone who votes for Donald Trump is a bloodthirsty fascist.

And if, by some miracle, Trump loses, we’re still doomed. 2024 will signal to the world that American democracy no longer functions.

We have already crossed the Rubicon on this. There was no peaceful transfer of power in 2021. There probably won’t be a peaceful transfer of power in 2025.

It’s amazing how some smart people have come around on this. In October 2020, Trump didn’t meet the definition of a fascist. Today he meets and exceeds them. As Trump calls for the executions of people, all he’s lacking now is a military uniform. It’s a good thing he despises the military. He’s just a fascist with a poorer fashion taste. Most fascist dictators put on the dress uniform and medals and call it a day. Trump is happy with his dumb fucking red tie down to his scrotum.

American Totalitarianism Started In 2019

The arrival of Bill Barr. The suppression of the Mueller report. Trump’s secret police. The destruction of the US Postal Service. Voter suppression. The Bible moment (preceded by tear gas). The transparent requests to throw out urban votes (and by urban, I really do mean black).

Democracies are not guaranteed to live forever. They can die. We saw American democracy die a little in 2000 with Bush v. Gore. We saw several more stages of death in the last two years.

It would take an effort of colossal proportions to prevent the republic from dying. The nation is sliding down a deadly slope. One idea to rescue it is to open it up to a new wave of massive immigration. Bring in over 300 Million hard working people to turn it around and fund all new infrastructure and a new surge in education funding. I am not a big fan of Matthew Yglasias, a young pundit who has been incorrect so many times before (or is that Ezra Klein? Oh, it’s Ezra. I get all my millenial pundits confused!). But Yglasias does have a point. Every time the US has had a wave of significant immigration, the nation has gotten stronger and the quality of life has improved. There’s no guarantee that it would work the next time. However, the historical track record is well-established.

If pushing for a doubling of the US population seems like an impossible task, then you have a grasp of how difficult it will be to save the republic. Because something quite radical is required to save it. Any radical change would require a colossal effort that I don’t think we’re capable of - even the activists and progressives among us.

We've Lost Control

We lost control years ago, when we treated Donald J. Trump as a novelty; a form of entertainment. We gave him a television show rather than a New York State jail cell. We treated him as a legitimate president, when in fact he couldn’t hold any regular job and was clearly failing in his elected office. And now we have passed a terrible tipping point into fascism, and there’s probably no coming back.

This is madness. Has a president ever defended an individual charged with murder before?

I was expecting to write a post about how this was the new worst Trump August. And it objectively was. It began with his empty threat to sue Nevada from going forward with mail-in ballots. It continued with his open extortion attempt from Microsoft, should they purchase TikTok (they probably won’t). It continued with his dangerous description of the massive ammonium nitrate explosion, which virtually destroyed Beirut as an intentional “attack.” He said it at least twice. And we’ve already forgotten how he acted while his last surviving brother, Robert Trump, died at Cornell Medical Center. His surviving sisters, Maryanne (age 83) and Elizabeth (age 78) got a preview of how Donald will treat their deaths. Trump waited until a Friday evening to visit his dying brother, some 20-24 hours before he expired, and told the press simply, “He’s having a hard time.” While his brother expired, he played golf. This man is a sociopath.

The middle of August was comparatively calm and normal for a month under Trump - until he incited right wing violence both before and during the RNC, resulting in two men being murdered by a 17 year-old right wing gang member. And the month ended, at long last, with his unhinged presser and a badly edited interview with Laura Ingram, who tried to rescue him several times in an interview that would probably cost any non-elected official his job.

We have lost control. We can’t remove this man from office, even though it would save lives and stop our Republic from bleeding profusely. Removing Trump from office now is a logical action to take. Waiting for an election, watching him narrowly lose, and then waiting for him to leave the White House is not going to work. He will declare victory as the polls close on November 3. He will refuse to accept the results. And he will refuse to leave, which will trigger more violence in our streets.

We should be treating Trump as a clear and present danger, to be removed today. Respecting the democratic process is noble, sure. But this is no time for normality. We have lost control. And we are still losing over 1,000 Americans every day to COVID-19. This period in our history is dire. And it might be the end of this Republic.

The Right-Wing Rape Fetish

I learned a few things in college.  One of them was a checklist of identifying characteristics of fascism.  There are certain ingredients in fascism that make it undeniably fascist.  Not all fascist societies had all the ingredients, but they are key to identifying the system in question.  

It's a weird analogy, but think of asian cuisine.  You see stir-fry chicken dishes all over east Asia.  But if the dish has lemongrass in it, you know it is southeast Asian.

It is similar with political systems.  You could examine two similar systems that have a totalitarian, military junta in-charge, a strong propaganda infrastructure, and state-ownership of industry.  You're pretty sure one of them is communist.  But if the other has added flavors such as xenophobia, constant scapegoating of immigrants and ethnic minorities, and an explicit rape/humiliation claim to motivate and anger the people, then that one is fascist.

Case in point: