I would no more accept Trump as President than I'd accept Hitler as Chancellor if I were a German living in Heidelberg in 1933.
"I am not with President -Elect Trump and I am not here to help him in any way. In fact, when his policies border on the unconstitutional, the criminal and the morally unjust, I am here to oppose him in every possible and legal way." -- George Polisner, former Oracle Executive.
Technically, of course, the matter of who is one's President is defined at a specific time and place, via a presumably fair election. Then, definitionally, that person who has most electoral votes - however obtained - becomes President putatively for all Americans. That is by way of operational, political definition.
On the other side is the matter of active investment and support of whatever presidency manifests. As a matter of record, virtually no white Republicans supported Obama after his 2008 election, and the congressional Republicans sought to block him at every turn. This was based on orders from Sen. Mitch McConnell to reject everything Obama offered, any Obama-Dem policy.. The current president -elect, Trump, actually sought - via the birther movement - to delegitimize Obama on the basis of the specious claim he was not born an American.
So it is all kind of choice now to behold the political and media Right squawking like recently fucked hens and yelping that we need to "get over it", "get behind our President" and "cease trying to delegitimize him". My answer? Fuck no! The guy is as illegitimate as they come all on his own, as bad as Hitler when he ascended to the German Chancellory in 1933. I could recount a hundred reasons, but those who want specifics can check out any of my recent posts.
Let's turn events upside down and envision the situation if Hillary Clinton had won the electoral vote, and Trump the popular vote by the same 2.9 million difference. Does anyone seriously believe that Trump and the Repuke contingent would now be all nice and comfy with that setting and prepared to "get over it". Hell no! They'd be fighting like rabid ferrets, filing lawsuit after lawsuit and pursuing recounts in every state. Trump would also be on Twitter nonstop, expelling infantile blabber and bollocks, trying desperately to mock and delegitimize HRC. There'd be no end to it and further, all the "deplorables" who voted Trump would also be solidly behind rejecting HRC as their President.
Taking that tack I adopt the exact same position as George Polisner, who offered the quote at the top of this post on his way out at Oracle. Well, his response to Trump as President-Elect is exactly the same as mine - when he assumes power. That is, to oppose him in every possible moral and legal way when his policies veer into the unconstitutional, the criminal and morally unjust.
And let's not bandy words, we know in advance this will occur because of Trump's very personality traits and who he's surrounded himself with. In terms of the first, I already described the man's premoral character and the narcissism and authoritarianism derived from it. See e.g.
http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2016/10/narcissism-pre-moral-mind-and-donald-j.html
That his actions are already on record, and hence can predict future actions, has been noted in a Sunday Review NY Times piece, e.g.:
"Trump has encouraged violence among supporters; pledged to prosecute Hillary Clinton; threatened legal action against unfriendly media; and suggested that he might not accept the election results.This anti-democratic behavior has continued since the election. With the false claim that he lost the popular vote because of “millions of people who voted illegally,” Trump openly challenged the legitimacy of the electoral process."
Past is prologue, and Trump's previous actions are the prologue to how he will lead. Hence it is kind of incredible to read the words of the delirious Joe Klein in his recent TIME magazine column (Dec. 26, p. 34), babbling:
"Trump hasn't actually done anything yet, and his opponents are acting as if the sky has fallen. ...what if this turns out to be a popular presidency"
After which this Neolib hack goes on to regale us with an assortment of beneficial, imagined Trump policies and actions which clearly have been fermenting as fantasies in his wishful- thinking brain. These include "cleaning out the cobwebs at departments and agencies like Health and Human Services, Labor, Education and the EPA". Is he serious? With the likes of Ben Carson at HHS, and Betsy DeVos at Education - committed to destroying public education. What has Klein been smoking anyway? Or is it some new kind of drug that implants preposterous ideations when confronted with a guy every bit as regressive as Mussolini or Hitler? But most puzzling is how Klein could write this refuse after 4 paragraphs earlier noting Trump "is without question the most expert news manipulator in American history". Well, evidently Joey boy is not immune to his manipulations, besides having a memory of 4 minutes duration.
Truth be told, Klein ought to be ashamed for even writing such doggerel which, let us acknowledge, will be part of an ongoing media effort to normalize Trump and his minions. The purpose will be to get as much of the country to get behind this fool as possible under the banner of "unity", which will also translate into calls for "bipartisanship". The Dems will be pressured to act like little sycophants as opposed to a real opposition, and this we cannot allow.
Cancelling out Klein's nonsense, the same TIME issue, 20 pages earlier, gets down to reality with the short article 'How Trump is Restocking the Washington Swamp'. The piece reminded people how Trump bragged at his rallies (e.g. in Akron, OH in August) that he planned to "drain the swamp" in DC. Trump, in his Ohio performance, denounced career politicians and lobbyists that help run the nation's capital. His pledge to drain the swamp was also "slapped onto bumper stickers and hashtagged on tweets" As the article observed "it helped lift the swaggering outsider to his upset victory".
But what did we find post-election in the transition of team Trump? Well, all those fine words went by the backboards. As author Zeke J. Miller puts it:
"The President-Elect is stocking his Cabinet and senior staff with the same sort of connected insiders that he railed against on the campaign trail."
Or as one comic correctly put it, "He ain't draining the swamp he's stocking it with crocs and alligators!"
Miller added:
"He's tapped four billionaires for his administration not to mention three former and current financiers from Goldman Sachs"
For those with short memories, Goldman Sachs was one of the few investment banks that made out like bandits after the credit and housing crash in 2008. This is because they used credit default swaps to bet ON mortgage failures not against them. Go figure! Maybe the Trumpie voters can't or won't, or they just don't care.
Most worrisome, and a primary reason I wouldn't back this ambuulatory bag of snot if he was the last president ever:
"Meanwhile, the Washington influence machine has kicked into overdrive. Scores of lobbyists and political consultants are brokering meetings between their clients and members of the Trump transition team . The President -Elect and his advisors are also holding fundraisers where they will collect checks of up to $1 million each - including from corporations."
And:
"While some supporters may balk, Trump's decision to embrace those who have wallowed in the Washington muck has spread a sense of relief among those in the capital's political class."
Well, of course it would spread a sense of relief! It shows all his campaign bloviations which suckered his voters, were bullshit and crappola. Contrary to the bill of goods he sold all those stooges, as one insider put it, he "will govern like a normal Washington insider".
So much for draining the swamp. The swamp that really needs to be drained is Trump's if and when we finally manage to remove this walking, talking turd - if we ever do! In the meantime, no, I don't support turds as President, even turds with orange hair. Neither do many millions of others and one emblematic display has the Trumpies in a lather, that is - the design of the pin worn by the Rebel heroes in the new Star Wars flick, Rogue One. One beholds an image of the Rebel insignia with a safety pin through it, a reference to the symbol of solidarity with persecuted minorities that has gained currency in the U.S. following the election.
Given most Trumpies are racists they can't handle this display of covert free speech and are now calling for boycott of the film (which we saw yesterday). Well, good luck! But you better get used to it because you're gonna see a lot more!
Other Trumpists (as a recent letter writer to the NY Times) have taken those of us to task for "threatening democracy" if we hashtag "Not My President". The specious claim being circulated - with tons of chutzpah and irony (as if they wouldn't do the same if HRC was elected) is that by not accepting the results of a democratic election we are sowing the "seedbeds of violence". But we are under no such obligation if the person "elected" managed that trick by recourse to preventing people from voting (using the voter ID ruse) or refusing to count provisional ballots.
Also, we are under no obligation to get behind a leader who appoints slime for key positions. Riff raff and vermin why are dedicated to destroying the very agencies of government to which they've been appointed. No, in such instance it is WE who defy and resist who are the true patriots and defenders of democracy. Just as we will be when we must take on Trump and his hired hit men if they try to destroy what remains of our nation. As for "seedbeds" of violence, that totally depends on those who try to infringe on first amendment rights of the defenders. Bear in mind our own Declaration of Independence clearly sets out the option to remove a government if it fails to meet the adherence to the Constitution and principles of liberty, e.g.
"Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government"
See also:
http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/jack-lessenberry/70380/fascism-with-yellow-hair
And:
http://inthesetimes.com/article/19660/trump-inauguration-sick-out-general-strike
And:
http://www.salon.com/2016/12/25/no-middle-class-no-republic-gop-plans-to-destroy-americas-safety-net-will-also-kill-democracy_partner/
No comments:
Post a Comment