Waiting on Trump

Richard North Patteson recently wrote in the Huff Post: "For Americans, the singular presidency of Donald Trump impels a measured consideration of what fascism truly is ― and how it grows. For fascism does not supplant democracy overnight. Rather it advances step-by-step, nourished by denial and disbelief until it overruns the safeguards protecting decency and freedom." This is where I think we are now. After watching the debacle of a sexual predator being confirmed to the SC where lies prevail over the truth and realizing a brilliantly researched and written NYT story chronicling the lies of the TTO that is essentially dead in the water, my fear is that the next stages of discovery (Mueller and possible sex charges) that we are desperately waiting and hoping for will have little or no impact. Fascist tribalism prevails for many reasons too complicated to discuss here but also because, unlike what Grassley and McConnell claimed on Kavanaugh, it is the GOP moving the goal posts of decency. Gone are the days when sexual peccadillos or lying to Congress would end your professional career. His base doesn't care. Meanwhile, the Democratic leadership remains impotent, doing little and offering almost nothing. The numbers are horrific. We have a supreme court that is controlled by a minority of voters. Kavanaugh has a 31 percent approval rating yet he will be confirmed. We are outgunned. We are losing the battles and if we are not careful, we will lose the war. Andrew Gillum had a 9 point lead in Florida and then invited HRC, Bloomberg and DWS to campaign for him. His lead is down to 2. I am not picking on HRC or reliving the 2016 campaign. I am simply pointing out that the things that worked years ago work no longer. We need the next generation of leaders to step up and the old guard to step away. We need to vote. We need to be MORE strategic. We need to be proactive rather than reactive. And we need to punish, so the GOP understands there are consequences to their chicanery. Finally, we need to get a handle on something that is becoming more obvious. As someone shared on my twitter feed, "Democrats have got to realize that Trump will not be scandalized into defeat. Attempts to make that happen will only bolster his narratives. He will lose by virtue of the fact that his policies hurt the struggling—provided Democrats offer more than incrementalism as a replacement."

The Kavanaugh Farce

Senators aren’t tasked with measuring her accusation or Kavanaugh’s denial by “beyond a reasonable doubt” applied in criminal proceedings, or with rendering a verdict of guilty or not. Rather, the purpose of SC confirmation hearings is to allow senators to provide “advice and consent” on the nominee for the nation’s highest court. Whether or not there’s conclusive proof of the assault, every senator is entitled to vote yes or no. Senators also weigh their constituents’ views on the nominee, the testimony and other factors. Even if senators aren’t sure what, if anything, happened between Ford and Kavanaugh, if they think the accusation is possible, probable, or even plausible, and decide that it’s too great a risk to put a maybe-sexual-assaulter on the high court, they’re entitled to vote no. If they believe that Kavanaugh lied under oath in answers to written or oral questions related to any part of the confirmation process, they’re entitled to vote no. So no absolute proof required. We are talking about his behavior, not someone else's. I think it clear that preventing a full and proper investigation and by specifically NOT allowing the FBI to interview Kavanaugh, the GOP gamed the system. I know this. If I was innocent like Kavanaugh claims, I’d be screaming from the hilltops for an investigation. He won’t. They won’t. Because he is guilty.