Of Quislings and Coups

Cannon here. This must be the most depressing impeachment ever. Trump clearly committed treason, clearly created a mob eager to murder his own Veep. The House managers put on a masterful prosecution, while Trump's lawyers played badly the bad cards they were dealt. 

 

Yet the orange oaf is going to get away with it. Again. AGAIN. Hell, he might even be acquitted this very day. 

 

Trump is an idiot -- yet he keeps winning, or at least surviving. Being repeatedly bested by an idiot is an unendurable humiliation.

Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Republican who voted for impeachment, wants Pence to speak up. So do I. How can Pence not speak? Forgive the crudeness of my phrasing, but: 

 

How can a man of his ambition be so lacking in balls?

Everything that has happened since January 6 deepens my long-held suspicions that Trump keeps the GOP in thrall through the use of blackmail. Trump must be protecting a Big Damn Secret -- a secret which, if revealed, would destroy the party. 

 

It's possible, of course, that Trump has simply weaponized a collection of smaller secrets -- personal sins committed by various key figures. Take Lady G: He had a moment of rebellion on January 6, but he soon reverted to his characteristic servitude. Obviously, a man with a skeletonized closet lost his nerve when he heard the rattle of bones.

 

Common wisdom holds that Trump still controls the party because Republicans fear being trounced at the polls by Trump's cultists. I don't buy that story. Destroying Trump would destroy the cult -- and after a brief period of recuperation, the party would emerge stronger.

 

Meanwhile, liberals continually destroy their own brand by engaging in ever-more insane acts of what D-Jay call OTT PC -- over the top political correctness. I'm thinking of this bullshit. Jesus Kee-RIST! I enjoyed the first season of Mandalorian, but as of now, I'm not watching one more minute. "Cancel culture" could end up cancelling the Democratic party -- and perhaps democracy.

 

As I said: Depressing. 

 

Here's D-Jay.

 

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The Deprogramming Dilemma - 11

Of Quislings and Coups

By D-Jay

In the course of their tour-de-force examination of the January 6^th Trumpsurrection, Jamie Raskin and his world-class team of impeachment managers treated us to a priceless trove of never-before-seen video clips.  Many exposed the crazed violence of the Trump terrorists and the glee with which they turned it on the very police their dear leader always claims to love. 

Others showed just how close a call that awful afternoon really was. 

A minute or two more delay, a few inadvertent turns down the wrong hallways, or an ounce less bravery on the part of the massively outnumbered Capitol Police and Mike Pence, Nancy Pelosi, Mitt Romney, Chuck Schumer and who knows how many more Senators, Congressmen and staff could easily have died.

Thanks to the Raskin team, we now know for certain that the mob was there to kill.

The gallows were ready.

And Trump was cheering it on.  After hearing the details of how coldly he blew off Kevin McCarthy’s frantic call for help and how he immediately doubled down on his targeting of Mike Pence, one is left with the strong impression that Trump would have been delighted to see the mob lead the VP off to the hanging.

Was Donald thinking that, weak-willed sycophant that Pence has shown himself to be over the last four years – with a noose around his neck, he would fold and reject the certifications after all.

All very shocking and horrifying, but can we say surprising?

For myself, I also found a few of the less dramatic clips used to show the background of the event and the overall Trump treason plot even more revealing.

My favorite was one from December’s “Million MAGA March” featuring Trump-loving, self-described “paleoconservative,” Nick Fuentes.  Incensed that some Republicans weren’t quite ready to go full-on crazy in support of the great one’s Big Lie that he had won the election, Nick led a group in the chant:

“Destroy the GOP!  Destroy the GOP!  Destroy the GOP!”

“Destroy the GOP!”

That ought to make the Retrumplicans think twice, right?

Wrong. 

Even in the face of that, even in the face of the overwhelming, incontrovertible evidence and brilliant analysis put forward by Raskin and his team, the Republican Quislings of the Senate are getting ready to sell their souls for a few moments of fleeting political benefit.

Yes, Trump has been organizing a blatant coup d’etat in plain sight for months, but… whatever.

Just as Vidkun Quisling and his Norwegian fascist cronies were all-too-willing to lay down their arms for the Nazis in 1940, with only a few notable exceptions, today’s crop of spineless Republican Senators are poised to bow down yet again to their orange avatar.  After all, what’s your place in history or basic self-respect as long as you can avoid the wrath of Trump?  As long as you won’t be primaried…

Anything but that!

I guess it’s no surprise that Quisling starts with a Q.

Still, all is not lost. 

It’s a foregone conclusion that 17 Senators with enough backbone to buck the Trump worshipers don’t exist in this bunch of Republican jellyfish, so an actual guilty verdict is a near impossibility. 

There is, however, another audience – the American people.

Will the Impeachment Managers extraordinarily powerful presentation break through to any of the 74 million people who cast their votes for Trump?

Will Trump’s willingness to see Mike Pence dead sway at least a few minds?  Maybe even a few more minds in the Senate?  Will the Republican Senators really be fine with the idea that one of their own was being set up for murder?

One can hope. And polls indicate that out in the hinterland, some of the less fanatical Republicans have already been slipping away from the fold.

As we’ve been saying all along in this series, deprogramming is not going to be a simple, one-shot proposition.  It’s going to be a long, hard slog, with limited numbers of people being slowly reeled back in to reality in small tranches.

IMHO, at least, what we’ve learned here in the impeachment trial will help.

And keep your fingers crossed.  As the dark reality of Trump’s treason is exposed in all its ugliness, the possibility of a split in the Republican Party might be inching closer.  Reports of a 120-person Zoom call on the topic were confirmed by former party strategist Susan del Percio during a recent appearance on MSNBC, and Anthony Scaramucci hinted that a break-away movement is being considered in the event of a Senate acquittal. 

Speaking on CNN with Chris Cuomo, the Mooch went so far as to suggest that Romney and a few friends ought to pay a visit to Mitch McConnell and let him know that if Trump is let off again, they will no longer be caucusing with the Rs.

How could they?

Could you?

 

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Contributing factors to our democratic decline:

From the Right

Truth Decay – Destruction of the Ability to Distinguish Fantasy from Reality

Ever Worsening Demonization of the Media

Manufactured Distrust of Science and Expertise

The Iron Bubble of Disinformation

The Dark Money Conspiracy

Information Warfare Aimed at Us

Domestic Terrorism

Emergence of a Full-blown Cult of Personality

Ongoing Voter Suppression and Gerrymandering

Election Security

Continued Weaponization of Social Media

Toxic Right-wing Pseudo-Christianity

Racism

Sexism and a Pseudo-Macho Mentality

Putinism and the International Neo-Fascist Movement

Lack of Education in Civics and Critical Thinking Skills

Destruction of Crucial Democratic Norms

The Collapse of Good Manners and Propriety

Radicalization

Sedition

From the Left (and Sometimes the Center)

OTT PC (Over-The-Top Political Correctness)

Inept Messaging

Lack of Media Investment

Arrogance

Surrender of Rural America Without a Fight

Failure to Call Out and Counteract Toxic Right-Wing Christianity

Failure to Call Out Right-Wing Racism, Sexism and Fascism for what it is, and Counteract it in Time

Framing Too Many Issues as Being Rooted in Race Rather than Economics and Class

Failure to Recognize Just How Bad Things Can Really Get

Forever Bringing Beanbags to a Knife Fight

Failure to Protect Critical Norms