Politics

Out of context: Reply #31117

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  • allthethings4

    Twitter thread this morning, from @djrothkopf

    Watergate occurred when I was a teenager. But I remember vividly that the mood at the time was different from now. As the investigation continued, it became clear that profound issues were at stake: the Constitution, our democracy, the presidency, the rule of law.

    Those words get used a lot today. And there is no question but that the stakes are every bit as high or higher thanks to the serial abuses of Trump and his supporters and the specter posed by Trumpism, a malevolent, hate-driven, racist, nationalist movement as destructive...

    ...as any we have seen in our country's history. Trump has already shown a disregard for the institutions of the country and our values that surpasses by far Nixon's criminal enterprises. He seeks power for himself, to satisfy his greed and his ego.
    He has failed every test of leadership put to him. HIs betrayal of the country to a foreign enemy is the most despicable, most damage traitorous act in our history. The gutting of our Department of Justice by Bill Barr far surpasses any damage done by Nixon's cronies.

    Mitch McConnell has shown an unwillingness to place country before party or personal political gain at every turn rendering the Senate into an obstacle to justice and the will of the people rather than maintaining its tradition as the world's greatest deliberative body.

    No, he crimes of Trump exceed those of Nixon in every way, as does the damage he has done and the threat he poses to the future of the country. And yet,something feels different this time that is also a great threat,a threat to Trump, McConnell & Barr ever being held accountable.

    The tone of the national debate at the moment seems more shrill and less serious. Certainly there are serious voices out there and sound analyses. But in general the feel of the moment seems more like some great sporting event than it does a battle to restore a damaged nation.

    This is due in part to the nature of 21st Century politics, to the superficiality and emotion of social media debates, to the lunatic fringe fatuousness of media outlets like Fox...but also to the sound-bite, story-of-the-minute shallowness of most broadcast networks.

    I'm not nostalgic for Watergate. But watch the video of the era, read the news stories. They had gravitas. It seemed most major actors--not all to be sure, but most--realized the stakes and that history was the audience that would ultimately judge them.
    We need to stop a moment and recognize the stakes, the grievous nature of Trump, McConnell & Barr's crimes, the preciousness of the institutions and values they are defiling, and the unspeakable damage to America and the world that would be caused were justice not to be done.

    We must put our best selves forward, our best leaders, our best voices. We must prepare the case against Trump and his co-conspirators as if all will be lost should we lose, we must prepare to persuade the most skeptical and demanding judge.
    We need to find rigor and moral certainties and the words to frame our actions and our goals. We need to realize this is a different time from a week ago. The next few months will and must resonate for decades and centuries to come if they are handled properly.

    If we allow this to be more of the vituperative circus of the past 3 years, we will cede victory to those who are obliterating what is best about our government, seeking to bend it into a tool of their own personal greed and ambition & that of some of our worst enemies worldwide.

    Speaker Pelosi is seeking to do this. Chairmen Schiff and Nadler and Cummings are doing likewise. But we all have a role in this. We all define the mood and the moment and the direction in which America's political tides will flow from now forward.

    Look backwards, look at history, weigh the stakes. And look forward, look at your children and consider what failing might mean for them. It is one of the moments by which we will all be judged, by which posterity will judge our collective character.
    Trump will be impeached. What happens thereafter will be the consequence of whether the impeachment process and what comes after is handled by a people who are acting as though the future of one of the world's great nations depends upon--as it most undeniably does.

    allthethings 4Permalink
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    • Hyperbolic, frightened, word-salad. The Democrats are here to save the nation! Yeah right.IRNlun6
    • If he wasn't trying to sell his new book called "Bad Orange man bad!" I would probably take his words seriously, but the dude has to eat.robotron3k
    • sounds right to me...i also think the wave is already started it will not be broken, trumpi is gone.neverscared
    • it´s all about cleaning up his madness from here.neverscared
    • Had a conversation with my grandfather recently about what is going on in politics and how it compares to the Nixon/Watergate era.yuekit
    • Was surprised to hear him say he thinks what is happening now is much worse than Nixon -- not even the recent revelations, but just generally how things areyuekit
    • going under Trump. I think we've all lost perspective on how far standards have fallen....and the sad willingness of some people to defend the indefensible.yuekit
    • same goes for my parents, they think it´s super sad what happening, guys who ones were moderate and moved all to the extrem level theywill get their fair shareneverscared
    • most often later than sooner but it will balance out finally.neverscared
    • I’m not on Twitter, but is this what happens when the 144 character limit is removed?monospaced
    • twitter thread, multiple tweets.fadein11
    • What's wild to me is I would have been right there with you all no more than 4 years ago.IRNlun6
    • The expansion of the US war on terror under Obama was a heartbreaking disappointment. Hillarys maniacally laughing at Gaddafi being butcher in the streets...IRNlun6
    • Syria, Libya, Ukraine, Guatemala.. the disregard for human life and ignorance of the social impact of millions of people migrating to Europe so quickly.IRNlun6
    • I didn't like Republicans to begin with, and after supporting Obama and seeing nothing change, I lost all faith in US government. It's a belief I cannot unsee.IRNlun6
    • Fuck yeah, Obama & Co. raped and pillaged. He was not squeaky clean. Trump will walk, the proof, he's got the largest war chest in political history.robotron3k
    • More minorities will vote for Trump in the coming election that ever before, why? Because most all us minorities are naturally converative.robotron3k
    • Yeah. He was basically one of the good ol boys except he was black.monospaced
    • We'll he was reborn as Trudeau, in brown face...robotron3k
    • Disillusioned with Obama, lost faith in government...so let's elect an amoral lunatic instead and excuse everything he does?yuekit
    • Still waiting for a defense of Trump that makes some kind of sense and isn't built on a wafer thin premise.yuekit
    • there was no Fox News and murdochs strangle on the media with Nixon. Simple as that. Amazing how the masses can be so easy manipulated.inteliboy
    • watch them laugh at and ridicule the tiniest smallest most insignificant guffaws of dems - i.e. the tan suit. yet their side is holier than thou.inteliboy
    • trump impeachment will do nothing. hyperbole, fear, trolling and the cult of personality will continue to sell.inteliboy
    • yuekit i gave you some reasons why trump is better than most. mostly regulatory related. but i can hoesntly say his best trait is his cowardice.
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    • he would probably never admit but full aware and quite obvious through behavior, but it is passive and prefers non agressiveness.
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    • the US is quite a fuckin dick. and fucks so much shit up. and still do with trump tariffs, but in much a less degree so far. tariffs could go farther but also
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    • easily worked around. transponders on tankers and the such. or china runnign goods through neighbhors. feels better than bombing shit
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    • can you not find anything actually good about trump admin? youd shoudl find a bit and still be able to not like the guys political style or lack of substance
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    • @yuekit I have no expectation to convince you of anything. I'll stick with a flawed man that loves and prioritizes this country over career long politicians.IRNlun6
    • Never have they shown remorse, contrition, or acknowledgement of their failed policies which led to the election of Trump.IRNlun6
    • Why would I ever support those who do nothing but try to silence me, try to take away my right to defend myself, increasingly tax me, do nothing but insult me?IRNlun6
    • And somehow think they hold any moral authority over me?IRNlun6
    • Nobody is trying take any of that from you though. Guns they want regulated, so you’re fine. Only speech restricted is when it legally hurts someone. You’re finmonospaced
    • Taxes are just to maintain programs that benefit you and the nation.monospaced
    • Hmmm...so politicians insulting people is a problem and therefore you support Trump?yuekit
    • Hopefully you'd agree you can't just use "past governments were bad" as a blanket justification, you need to look objectively at the alternative and whetheryuekit
    • it's really a solution or actually making the problem worse.yuekit
    • For instance, with past governments everyone can agree there were issues with corruption and revolving door between public and private interest.yuekit
    • With Trump, you now have a guy who refuses to divest from his businesses, whose finances are completely opaque.yuekit
    • He's appointed more lobbyists than any past administration. Even went so far as to appoint his kids to high ranking positions in the government.yuekit
    • Past administrations, both Obama and Bush, had issues with civil liberties, Trump on the other hand just blatantly calls every negative story about him fake,yuekit
    • wants to silence journalists, calls for whistleblowers to be executed, wants the government to have the power to indefinitely detain and torture people.yuekit
    • This is not progress, it's like a ridiculous parody of everything that was bad about past governments.yuekit
    • The fact that "the establishment" and the media are against him...well, if you have a guy in power who constantly makes stuff up, has no moral standards oryuekit
    • respect for the law, demands unconstitutional actions...what did you expect? The current situation is the logical outcome of electing someone like that.yuekit
    • Or, the establishment is doing everything in its power to stop him. Including lying about him, his finances, his family, and his supporters.IRNlun6
    • Here's a social experiment for you. For one day, wear a Trump hat, or say you're a Trump supporter.IRNlun6
    • You know you won't. You know the venom that will be directed towards you.IRNlun6
    • Take a cold, sober approach at what the Dems are trying to do here. They're trying to overthrow a popular(among his based) democratically elected president.IRNlun6
    • They're trying to silence any opposition. From from media to tech companies, to mobs of anarchists attacking people in the streets...IRNlun6
    • We've been in a cold civil war for nearly 4 years now.IRNlun6
    • I'm sure you've heard people say that once the president gets elected, they sit them down in a room and tell him how the world really works.IRNlun6
    • Now image the response if they said no, that's not how the world works anymore. To quote Chuck Schumer:IRNlun6
    • "Let me tell you: You take on the intelligence community — they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you"IRNlun6
    • What I see are people, who are totally pro Trump, going to work in the White House. And then two or three months later they quit or are fired saying theyuekit
    • President is erratic, amoral, impossible to work with etc. Is that really all a conspiracy, or could it maybe be that the guy who you see babbling incoherentlyyuekit
    • in every interview actually is dangerously unqualified to be running the country?yuekit
    • Good question. Who knows? Believe me I recognize what a huge waste of time it is to go down these underlying narrative rabbit holes.IRNlun6
    • I feel the world is so much darker and more complex than the information we're presented. We live in a world where global elites run pedophile rings.IRNlun6
    • Speaking of rabbit, god I should have listened when he/she told us all to buy Bitcoin like 10 years ago.IRNlun6
    • If these so-called global elites couldn't block a clown like Trump from getting wall to wall TV coverage and then elected to run the most powerful country inyuekit
    • the world, what good are they? I'm sure there are powerful people and conspiracies out there but clearly they don't have that much power. Turns out we really doyuekit
    • live in a democracy and have to live with the consequences of our own actions, even the really stupid ones.yuekit
    • The online information age has completely changed access to information and control of narratives.IRNlun6
    • Agreed, however it's also true that Trump got a huge amount of TV coverage from the major networks. Way more than other candidates.yuekit
    • If there was a conspiracy by "elites" to marginalize him, they did a pretty terrible job.yuekit
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