In his two-plus years in office, President Trump has stomped on just about every institution in America, lied to the people and the world multiple times a day, tried to bully his enemies, bullied his “friends” in Congress into complete servitude and sullied the Office of the President. He has demanded loyalty from his appointees but not given loyalty in return.
This is not a good man.
He has been beholden to no man or woman but loyal to his base who accepts his behavior as taking on The Establishment, which they feel has ignored them for years and like his speaking “truth” to power.
He has not expanded his “base” at all and in fact may be losing some of those who voted for him but don’t like what they’ve gotten from his behavior and lies.
Imagine he wins a second term when: if he was beholden to no one in his first term – who would be a check on him in a second term?
So far, our American institutions have held. Courts are so far issuing justice and/but Trump and his cronies have been stacking the judiciary with their people, and without much media coverage. Voters flipped one House of Congress to be a check on the President in 2018 and now he ignores oversight requests, refuses to let his people testify in situations that likely would do him great harm, withholds records from Congress, which has a legal right to see them.
Still, the Senate is there to watch his back, and watch it they do – fearful that any opposition to him would cost them Trump’s base and, thus, their re-nomination to office. In a way the branches of government are split: the Judiciary and the House serving as a check on Trump; the Executive and the Senate controlled by a narcissistic man with no morals and who lies like the rest of us eat potato chips and who angers our allies and bows at the feet of the world’s dictators.
This morning, he claimed that he is getting “many” calls from the black community over his recent racist attacks on Congressmen of color and claims of Democrats “stealing billions of dollars” of federal money intended to help their constituents. Those calls, he claim, praise him for his telling the truth! Of course, he provided no proof of either the calls or the alleged theft of billions of dollars. One would think that if the theft were true, Trump would order his Justice Department to investigate. But, there is no such investigation.
Imagine, if you will, Trump winning a second term. Who would be a check on him then? He wouldn't need to worry about votes and he could consolidate power even more than he has, acting more like an authoritarian dictator than a democratically elected President of the United States.
And, he could win a second term. David Wasserman, an editor at the highly respected Cook Political Report, did an analysis that shows Trump could lose the popular vote by as many as 5 million – about twice the number he lost it by in 2016 – and still win reelection via the Electoral College if he drives his supporters to the polls in swing states.
Now, do you wonder why he plays to no one but his base? Without them, he has no chance to win re-election. His base is not racist but a sufficient amount (white nationalists for example) are that he plays the race card lately whenever he can. It’s only 2019. Are you ready for another 18 months of such behavior?
A second term would mean Trump would be accountable to no one.
He knows his base has to be brought out for him to win.
The rest of us (a majority of the population) need to adopt the same attitude. Not only do we need to coalesce behind a Democratic candidate to make sure he or she wins the nomination. The battle for the nomination shouldn’t be over progressive or moderate solutions to the nation’s problems but over who can defeat this monster of a president and provide leadership for the entire country to get behind. Likely that means a more moderate candidate, but the nomination process is just at the beginning. Time will tell.
The fact, though, is we should not assume that Trump will lose the election. We should do whatever we can – including, most importantly, going out to vote -- the foundation, today, of our democracy – to make sure his is a one-term presidency.
This is not a good man.
He has been beholden to no man or woman but loyal to his base who accepts his behavior as taking on The Establishment, which they feel has ignored them for years and like his speaking “truth” to power.
He has not expanded his “base” at all and in fact may be losing some of those who voted for him but don’t like what they’ve gotten from his behavior and lies.
Imagine he wins a second term when: if he was beholden to no one in his first term – who would be a check on him in a second term?
So far, our American institutions have held. Courts are so far issuing justice and/but Trump and his cronies have been stacking the judiciary with their people, and without much media coverage. Voters flipped one House of Congress to be a check on the President in 2018 and now he ignores oversight requests, refuses to let his people testify in situations that likely would do him great harm, withholds records from Congress, which has a legal right to see them.
Still, the Senate is there to watch his back, and watch it they do – fearful that any opposition to him would cost them Trump’s base and, thus, their re-nomination to office. In a way the branches of government are split: the Judiciary and the House serving as a check on Trump; the Executive and the Senate controlled by a narcissistic man with no morals and who lies like the rest of us eat potato chips and who angers our allies and bows at the feet of the world’s dictators.
This morning, he claimed that he is getting “many” calls from the black community over his recent racist attacks on Congressmen of color and claims of Democrats “stealing billions of dollars” of federal money intended to help their constituents. Those calls, he claim, praise him for his telling the truth! Of course, he provided no proof of either the calls or the alleged theft of billions of dollars. One would think that if the theft were true, Trump would order his Justice Department to investigate. But, there is no such investigation.
Imagine, if you will, Trump winning a second term. Who would be a check on him then? He wouldn't need to worry about votes and he could consolidate power even more than he has, acting more like an authoritarian dictator than a democratically elected President of the United States.
And, he could win a second term. David Wasserman, an editor at the highly respected Cook Political Report, did an analysis that shows Trump could lose the popular vote by as many as 5 million – about twice the number he lost it by in 2016 – and still win reelection via the Electoral College if he drives his supporters to the polls in swing states.
Now, do you wonder why he plays to no one but his base? Without them, he has no chance to win re-election. His base is not racist but a sufficient amount (white nationalists for example) are that he plays the race card lately whenever he can. It’s only 2019. Are you ready for another 18 months of such behavior?
A second term would mean Trump would be accountable to no one.
He knows his base has to be brought out for him to win.
The rest of us (a majority of the population) need to adopt the same attitude. Not only do we need to coalesce behind a Democratic candidate to make sure he or she wins the nomination. The battle for the nomination shouldn’t be over progressive or moderate solutions to the nation’s problems but over who can defeat this monster of a president and provide leadership for the entire country to get behind. Likely that means a more moderate candidate, but the nomination process is just at the beginning. Time will tell.
The fact, though, is we should not assume that Trump will lose the election. We should do whatever we can – including, most importantly, going out to vote -- the foundation, today, of our democracy – to make sure his is a one-term presidency.
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