By P.S. White
Donald Trump continues to find himself mired in one controversy after the next, and recent revelations of the turmoil in the White House emphasize that we have reached a critical point in our country’s history. Meanwhile, the president’s behavior is growing more irrational and dangerous and we should be seeing the clear warning signs of the threat that he poses to the stability of this country. His attacks against his opponents and our Democratic institutions become increasingly more severe, and his behavior reveals a man on the edge that is unhinged and volatile who could inflict serious damage on our Democracy.
This has moved far beyond the realm of partisan politics. The crisis we are facing is not about Republicans or Democrats, Conservatives or Liberals. This impacts the entire country and has become about a person whose actions pose a clear and present danger. It is time to look past the party blinders and see that the threat of the person sitting in the White House needs to be quickly addressed before his actions cause irreversible damage.
Just a few days ago, Trump met with evangelical leaders and tried to stir up fear by suggesting a dark outcome from the November elections. Following was the warning that he gave if the Democrats were to see significant wins at the polls:
Apart from the beginning of the Civil War, never in the history of this country have elections resulted in large-scale violence. This is just a blatant case of fear-mongering. Especially by linking the Democrats to the Antifa, and particularly the violent extremists that are not representative of that group as a whole. Trump is whipping up fear among these religious leaders, who should know better, just as he has done throughout the country by demonizing those whom he and his ever-diminishing base stand against.
In yet another offensive move, Trump again attacked the Mueller probe this past week. In an interview with Bloomberg, he claimed that he views it “as an illegal investigation”. But his own Justice Department considers it to be perfectly legal and following proper procedures. Trump continues to attack this investigation as it hits closer to home, giving every appearance that he could at any moment create a constitutional crisis by trying to shut it down (case in point: he told Reuters in an interview that “I don't have to stay out. I can go in and I could do whatever.”).
But these are only two of the most recent examples. He has regularly attacked the free press claiming “fake news” on any story that does not put him in a good light. He has attacked the other parts of the government, particularly the judiciary, when they do not fall in line or demonstrate the proper “loyalty”. He has attacked and bullied anybody that shows opposition and/or fails to show blind loyalty to him, even members of his own party and his own cabinet. He has attacked and berated our democratic allies while holding authoritarian leaders such as Vladimir Putin, Rodrigo Duterte, and Kim Jong Un in high regard. He has claimed that he has the power to pardon himself which suggests he believes himself above the love.
And now we have revelations from behind the scenes of just how chaotic and tumultuous the situation is in the White House. Highly-respected journalist Bob Woodward, the one who along with Carl Bernstein outed Nixon, has a book coming out with a devastating expose of the chaos that is the Trump Administration. It is comprised of interviews with anonymous sources in the White House that claim that Trump is unfit for office and that they have worked around him to keep him from doing more damage than he already has. As a confirmation to this, an Op-Ed article came out in the New York Times penned by an anonymous official in the Trump administration claiming that what is essentially a behind the scenes coup has taken place to hold the president at bay and to thwart his “more misguided impulses”.
This has of course pushed Trump further to the edge and caused him to escalate his attacks on the press such as threatening NBC’s license, suggesting that libel laws should be changed, and demanding that the identity of these anonymous sources be revealed. He has even gone so far as to accuse the author of the Op-Ed piece of committing treason.
This has brought us to a constitutional crisis and a time that demands actions from those who want to see the United States remain a free and Democratic country ruled by laws and not subject to the whims of an erratic, unstable leader. The Constitution provides the means to address this either by employing the 25th Amendment upon the assertion that Trump is unfit for office, or going through the Impeachment process, and/or Congress stepping up and clamping down on the president if he continues his attacks on the very system of government he has sworn to lead and protect.
This needs to be a unified action that transcends partisan politics and that has the goal of restoring our country to a stable Democracy that follows the rule of law. This is not the time to follow one’s party, or to hide behind nationalistic symbols claiming to be a patriot, or to simply stand on the sidelines claiming the issue will work itself out. This is the time to act in defense of a free and Democratic America.
We tend to look back on historical events such as the rise of Hitler and make bold claims that we would have never stood by and allowed that to happen to our country. We are presently living through a such a historic event, and the time to act is now. When the Nuremberg trials of our era occur, we do not want to be the ones who say we were only following our party or we thought that the crisis would pass.
Donald Trump continues to find himself mired in one controversy after the next, and recent revelations of the turmoil in the White House emphasize that we have reached a critical point in our country’s history. Meanwhile, the president’s behavior is growing more irrational and dangerous and we should be seeing the clear warning signs of the threat that he poses to the stability of this country. His attacks against his opponents and our Democratic institutions become increasingly more severe, and his behavior reveals a man on the edge that is unhinged and volatile who could inflict serious damage on our Democracy.
This has moved far beyond the realm of partisan politics. The crisis we are facing is not about Republicans or Democrats, Conservatives or Liberals. This impacts the entire country and has become about a person whose actions pose a clear and present danger. It is time to look past the party blinders and see that the threat of the person sitting in the White House needs to be quickly addressed before his actions cause irreversible damage.
Just a few days ago, Trump met with evangelical leaders and tried to stir up fear by suggesting a dark outcome from the November elections. Following was the warning that he gave if the Democrats were to see significant wins at the polls:
It's not a question of like or dislike, it's a question that they will overturn everything that we've done and they will do it quickly and violently. And violently. There is violence. When you look at Antifa -- these are violent people.
Apart from the beginning of the Civil War, never in the history of this country have elections resulted in large-scale violence. This is just a blatant case of fear-mongering. Especially by linking the Democrats to the Antifa, and particularly the violent extremists that are not representative of that group as a whole. Trump is whipping up fear among these religious leaders, who should know better, just as he has done throughout the country by demonizing those whom he and his ever-diminishing base stand against.
In yet another offensive move, Trump again attacked the Mueller probe this past week. In an interview with Bloomberg, he claimed that he views it “as an illegal investigation”. But his own Justice Department considers it to be perfectly legal and following proper procedures. Trump continues to attack this investigation as it hits closer to home, giving every appearance that he could at any moment create a constitutional crisis by trying to shut it down (case in point: he told Reuters in an interview that “I don't have to stay out. I can go in and I could do whatever.”).
But these are only two of the most recent examples. He has regularly attacked the free press claiming “fake news” on any story that does not put him in a good light. He has attacked the other parts of the government, particularly the judiciary, when they do not fall in line or demonstrate the proper “loyalty”. He has attacked and bullied anybody that shows opposition and/or fails to show blind loyalty to him, even members of his own party and his own cabinet. He has attacked and berated our democratic allies while holding authoritarian leaders such as Vladimir Putin, Rodrigo Duterte, and Kim Jong Un in high regard. He has claimed that he has the power to pardon himself which suggests he believes himself above the love.
And now we have revelations from behind the scenes of just how chaotic and tumultuous the situation is in the White House. Highly-respected journalist Bob Woodward, the one who along with Carl Bernstein outed Nixon, has a book coming out with a devastating expose of the chaos that is the Trump Administration. It is comprised of interviews with anonymous sources in the White House that claim that Trump is unfit for office and that they have worked around him to keep him from doing more damage than he already has. As a confirmation to this, an Op-Ed article came out in the New York Times penned by an anonymous official in the Trump administration claiming that what is essentially a behind the scenes coup has taken place to hold the president at bay and to thwart his “more misguided impulses”.
This has of course pushed Trump further to the edge and caused him to escalate his attacks on the press such as threatening NBC’s license, suggesting that libel laws should be changed, and demanding that the identity of these anonymous sources be revealed. He has even gone so far as to accuse the author of the Op-Ed piece of committing treason.
This has brought us to a constitutional crisis and a time that demands actions from those who want to see the United States remain a free and Democratic country ruled by laws and not subject to the whims of an erratic, unstable leader. The Constitution provides the means to address this either by employing the 25th Amendment upon the assertion that Trump is unfit for office, or going through the Impeachment process, and/or Congress stepping up and clamping down on the president if he continues his attacks on the very system of government he has sworn to lead and protect.
This needs to be a unified action that transcends partisan politics and that has the goal of restoring our country to a stable Democracy that follows the rule of law. This is not the time to follow one’s party, or to hide behind nationalistic symbols claiming to be a patriot, or to simply stand on the sidelines claiming the issue will work itself out. This is the time to act in defense of a free and Democratic America.
We tend to look back on historical events such as the rise of Hitler and make bold claims that we would have never stood by and allowed that to happen to our country. We are presently living through a such a historic event, and the time to act is now. When the Nuremberg trials of our era occur, we do not want to be the ones who say we were only following our party or we thought that the crisis would pass.
No comments:
Post a Comment