Reading time – 3:35 . . .
I’m still conflicted about impeachment. On the one hand, there’s the obvious imperative to do the right thing. Trump is bad news in so many ways and many of them are almost certainly criminal. He should be held to account, and not just to punish him. It’s critical that we say to future leaders that we believe in accountability and that there won’t be any more Gerald Ford absolute presidential pardons.
On the other hand, impeachment in the House is unlikely to result in conviction by the spineless Republican Senate. That will give Trump insufferable bragging rights and might help him win reelection. Not good.
Meanwhile, now that the inquiry has started, I’m all for parading before the public Trump’s lawlessness, the violations of his oath of office and anything else that might make it hard for Republicans to continue to stand with him and brainlessly chant idiotic talking points to gaslight the American public.
If Trump were to avoid conviction in the Senate we’ll be left with a president who knows he must stay in office to protect himself from the city, state and federal indictments for tax fraud, money laundering, campaign finance violations and more that are awaiting him when he leaves office.
Consequently, he will scratch, claw, lie and call on our worst demons during his 2020 campaign. He will baselessly accuse political rivals of treason. He will attack our intelligence agencies. He will stonewall every legitimate inquiry and every subpoena.* He will suborn perjury. He will undermine American foreign policy in order to advance his own interests. He will joke about shooting immigrants and building his wall and making it electrified, with spikes on top that can pierce human flesh and a with moat filled with snakes and alligators. He will sacrifice our country and our values for personal gain. We know this because he’s done it all and continues to do these things.
In contrast, Democrats are the party of patty-cake politics. They always bring a knife to a gunfight. They will have to toughen up and put on their big boy and big girl pants to figure out how to beat our ruthless dictator wannabe.
Enter Thomas Friedman.
“You can vote for a man who wants to bring back cars that get bad mileage, lights that use more energy and produce more heat, power plants that produce more asthma, chemical companies that pollute more rivers, coal companies that pollute more air, mining companies that strip more pristine landscapes, and an economy that lags China in the next great global industry.
“Or you can join the Earth Race and make Donald Trump’s presidency an extinct species while saving Mother Nature’s endangered species.”
Friedman has given us the roadmap to beat Trump: hammer on all the ways Trump has hurt Americans. Not America; Americans.
Trump will still get his 38% of voters, the hard core people motivated by, “Don’t confuse me with values or the facts. I’m pissed and I’m voting for the pissiest candidate.” The battle is for the middle 20%, so Democrats must appeal to them. And it will take more than impeachment in the House to get their attention and defeat Trump at the polls.
The power is in the gut
The impeachment horror show is about high-minded values like patriotism, accountability for violations of oath of office, dealing with international extortion and other crimes. Very rational stuff, but not things likely to stir passion in most people. Studies have shown clearly that emotional issues are 4 times more powerful at persuading people than are rational arguments. That’s why the healthcare issue was so powerful for Dems in the 2018 mid-term election. The Democrat’s appeal in 2020 will have to grab people where they live.
And that’s why Friedman’s piece is so important. Link through and read the entire essay.
*Subpoena literally means, “under penalty,” as in, “Do what this requires or go to jail.” Given the stonewalling by Trump and so many connected to him and the complete lack of consequences for ignoring subpoenas, whatever happened to the “penalty” part of “subpoena”?
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NOTES:
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Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
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