It is wrong to say this nation is now a dictatorship, an oligarchy, fascist state or a monarchy. I myself have pretty much said these things at one point or another or said we are no longer a democracy. But the US is still a democracy, despite the way DT tramples the landscape of democratic institutions⎼ the separation of powers, the rule of law, and the oath requiring him to protect the constitution. Since he came to power, he has done everything he could to undermine our nation and political system, even suspend constitutional protections.
DT is not a dictator or monarch. He is a “would-be” dictator or “would be” monarch. He is a wannabee. And we can’t crown him with our language. We can’t give him, and must resist giving him, what he wants.
To say the US is no longer a democracy is to say DT has won. He hasn’t. He is losing every day. He has never received the support of a majority of citizens. The fact that we hear and can talk about his abuses of power, lies, negligence, corruption, and incompetence shows this. The fact that nurses (wearing masks and social distancing) could protest outside the White House against his failures in responding to the pandemic shows this. The fact he and the GOP have been trying for years to end the right to protest (depending on who is doing the protesting) and haven’t succeeded shows this.
According to DT, white nationalists, and other armed groups protesting against orders by Democratic Governors that protect people from the coronavirus, are “good people,” ⎼ while African-Americans, protesting the murder by police of someone in their community, are “thugs.”
The fact that he signed an executive order intended to exercise control over social media after Twitter announced it would fact-check DT’s tweets, shows this. The fact that he is trying right now to make sure there are no more whistleblowers and Inspector Generals shows this. The fact that he acts to stop any criticism of him, and will attack or threaten those who do so, especially the media, female Democrats, or any democrat of color, shows how insecure he is. No one, certainly no political figure, is safe from him.
A strong person does not treat an opponent as an evil with no right to exist. But this is exactly what DT does. He is a weak person, yet he unfortunately has tremendous institutional power. He has been unraveling before our eyes, as illustrated by his comments about ingesting disinfectants or taking a drug not proven either safe or effective against the coronavirus, but somehow is still in office.
The fact that he is trying to undermine and de-legitimize the November election, suppress the vote, fight against and lie about mail-in ballots and spread rumors that he might try to end or delay the election or dismiss the results shows that there still are elections and he fears them. He fears us. He imagines we are his chattel, or as White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett put it, we are merely live “stock” because he is too weak to relate to others as equals.
When we hear “it is already too late” we need to recognize this as propaganda and label it as such, even when it is uttered by people who are Democrats and progressive. These words give DT what he wants and might as well have been written by his supporters (or Putin). They express the fear and depression induced by his deliberate campaign of shocking us, day after day, with malevolence, incompetence, and corruption. Their purpose is to create so much fear and depression that we don’t vote or take any political action. Instead, we can remember⎼ DT is a wannabe.
It might not be easy, but when we’re frightened, instead of turning away we can think of the fear as a reminder⎼ this is what we oppose. This angers us. The vote is ours. DT said recently that “voting is an honor,” seeming to imply it was his to grant, not a right guaranteed in our constitution. This complete lack of care for and knowledge of the constitution is appalling. It pisses me off.
There is only one real option now to get DT out of office ⎼ voting for Joe Biden. He is not the best of options, but our only option ⎼ if we mean what we say, and we care about our planet, our own lives and the lives of others. Biden, Sanders, and others realize, just like most of us do, the danger that DT represents. They are forming a task force to fashion progressive solutions to what our nation faces and what DT has wrought. We need to support him.
And if we look at new polls, which I admit is a questionable thing to do, Biden is ahead of DT in the general population as well as in 5 of the 6 key battleground states. And he is winning with a group of voters that used to favor DT ⎼ seniors. Seniors are seeing firsthand in this pandemic that DT cares about only one person or group of people (billionaires) and will gladly sacrifice all others. So, Biden is ahead, and we must do all we can to keep him there.
This nation still has laws and a constitution, despite the fact that DT apparently doesn’t care about what the constitution says or why it is important to us. In order to protect ourselves not only from threats to our rights but from pandemics, we can remember this: DT is a wannabe. It is our use of language, our way of conceptualizing a situation, and the actions we take today that will determine what this nation will become tomorrow.
And I think most of us agree that we deeply want a better nation tomorrow (if not sooner).
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