An Existential Threat in Five Parts
Trump, the Corporate Media, the Trump Courts, Plan 2025 and Biden’s Decline and Hubris
We now face a five pronged challenge to our democracy, our Constitution and the rule of law, and they are coming together as an existential threat to our democracy. I will write more on them over the next couple of days, but here is the start. I won’t try to flesh them out tonight because I am pooped, but quickly. They are Donald Trump, the Corporate Press, the Trump Courts, Plan 2025, and the hubris of President Biden. I don’t like having to write about the last.
Donald Trump is number one on the list. He worships authoritarians and dictators and desires to be one himself. He has promised to round up, put in camps, and deport millions of people, mostly immigrants, but also political opponents, and others who criticize him. Trump persists in criticize our allies and acts like a mob boss in his dealings with them, even while praising our enemies, and men like Vladimir Putin, the invader of Ukraine and the oppressor of liberty in Russia. He is a nefarious liar and classic narcissistic sociopath. He makes a living off of projection, that is projecting what he would do onto his opponents. I will flesh this out in the next few days.
The corporate media has turned out to be one of Trump’s biggest strengths. This appears surprising after the pledges of many in 2016 and 2020. But, the lead editor of the New York Times said that “democracy is a partisan issue” and he would not cover it, and then in another interview said that he looks forward to another Trump term because it will be “exciting.” Never has there been such a major abdication of the role that our Founders expected by carving out protections for the newspapers and broadsheets of their day in the Constitution. The New York Times, and for that matter much of the rest of our media are not interested in protecting our democracy or Constitution, but in their profits and ability to have the approval of men like Trump. They are not a “Free Press” but a corporate press. They thrive on salacious stories and innuendo, the truth be damned. They are on track through their normalization of Trump and persistent attacks on President Biden to put Trump back in office. In the words of Don Henley:
We can do the innuendo
We can dance and sing
When it's said and done
We haven't told you a thing
We all know that crap is king
Give us dirty laundry
Then there is the Roberts or rather the Trump Court which has effectively made Trump above the law, throwing into question his criminal convictions in New York and put other trials on hold until after the election, particularly they classified documents trial in Florida, where Trump appointed, Judge Aileen Canon has been working overtime to thwart the prosecution and defend Trump, acting like a freelance defense attorney for him.
Number four is Plan 2025 produced by the real “deep state” the Heritage Foundation. It is a blueprint for a fascist regime. Written by a multitude of former Trump Administration officials it fleshes out many of the things that Trump said or attempted in office or has said in interviews and on the campaign trail. I will flesh it out later but recommend that you read Joyce Vance’s columns about it.
Finally, there is now what I have to call the hubris of President Biden in refusing to even consider dropping out of the race following his disastrous debate performance, his other fumbles, and his very obvious deterioration since 2020 and the State of the Union address. His accomplishments are many, his service remarkable and commendable. It will likely be remembered as a great political life. He has overcome so much, so much adversity, his dogged determination brought him through so much tribulation, not just political campaigns people did not think he could win, but the loss of his wife and infant daughter in a car crash in 1972, and the loss of his son Beau to cancer following his deployment to Iraq. He is an amazing man. Do I think that he might continue as President? By all means, but that is not the question we have to ask. The question now, is can he be elected? I am not sure. Even after the debate, his interviews and press conference today have not been sources of inspiration regarding his ability to right the ship. When he said that it would take “the good Lord himself” to tell him to withdraw from the race I really got worried.
Donald Trump is an existential threat to our democracy and freedom as Americans and that of the free world. He has to be defeated.
There is a danger in polarization which neatly divides a complexity in half and obscures underlying issues which are multifarious and potentially irreconcilable.
Good and evil sets up a dichotomy which always results in a zero sum game. Arab vs Jew, Catholic vs Protestant, Black vs White, Rich vs Poor, Hindu vs Muslim-
leaving us at an irresolvable stalemate, a war of attrition where no-one wins and everyone loses.
We have to ask ourselves: why we are unable to resolve our differences and why do seem to thrive in perpetual conflict?
If we find ourselves in this position at every juncture, then there’s no hope for our survival as a species. The Death Trap is a certainty. The answers to questions: who, what, where and when will vary. But the constant remains: WHY are we apparently incapable of progressing without needless suffering?
Instead of insisting on a schematic which purports to separate Good and Evil based on faulty assumptions, we might seek to find an approach which incorporates the lessons of history with economics and the scientific disciplines, with the technology we have developed.
If l remember correctly, Stephen, you served as a Chaplain in the Marines for decades! If you are concerned that Joe Biden is “leaving it up to G-d Almighty”
- you might as well relax. Despite being a Catholic, the President is a seasonal politician with a personal history of “toughing it out.”
Biden realizes that it’s
basically beyond our control. And we need to recognize there are limits to what we can do!
I propose that we take stock of ourselves (which clearly the Biden-Harris team has done), and not take ourselves so damn seriously.
If our current situation appears all to familiar, it’s probably because we’ve been here before! Only the cast of characters has changed!!
Sit back and enjoy the show.
And bring plenty of popcorn and beer!
And don’t forget to honor your commitment to your personal values. We definitely cannot afford to lose those!!!
In the Arrival Building in Toronto after a short flight from NYC, l observed a small, cheering group with of Palestinians were welcoming the arrival of a young family.