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NRaleighLiberal

(60,014 posts)
Thu Jul 6, 2017, 10:51 AM Jul 2017

Slate - "It Will Get Worse"

The false promise of Trump’s impeachment will not save America from true disaster.

By Jamelle Bouie

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/07/trump_is_not_going_to_be_impeached.html

We are just six months into Donald Trump’s term as president. But the rapid pace of news—and the extent to which those events are quickly metabolized by the public—has made it feel like an eternity. Each week brings new revelations of misconduct and transgressive behavior, from Trump’s breathless attacks on the press to his open contempt for the independence of federal law enforcement. And if it’s not Trump’s individual behavior that drives headlines, it’s the actions of his administration and its allies in Congress, from the “Muslim ban” to the full-on effort to gut Medicaid and unravel what’s left of the federal social safety net. The sheer volume of controversy feels unsustainable, and it’s hard not to be gripped by the sense that this is the nadir of Trump administration; that it can’t get worse.

But it can. It likely will.

Consider the last Republican presidency. Between the Iraq war, torture, and the disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina, George W. Bush’s critics remember him as one of the worst presidents of America’s post–World War II era, a woefully ill-prepared and ill-informed figure who left the nation and the world worse than how he found it. Memory being what it is, it’s easy to remember Bush as being terrible from the beginning, that the dark course of his administration was evident from the moment he entered office.

This isn’t true. For most of his first year, until the attacks on Sept. 11, Bush was an unremarkable, even mediocre, president. His was a typical Republican administration, with an interest in tax cuts, deregulation, and conservative social policy, with occasional bipartisan cooperation from a Senate Democratic majority. The milestones of Bush’s administration—the events and choices that form the bulk of his legacy—wouldn’t happen for at least two years after his inauguration. From the perspective of July 2001, it was far from obvious that Americans were facing an era of profound political turbulence, and even less obvious that this would be the function of an empowered executive branch, flexing its muscle at every opportunity.

snip - read on at the link.

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Slate - "It Will Get Worse" (Original Post) NRaleighLiberal Jul 2017 OP
The GOP and Trump are waiting for a 9/11. mn9driver Jul 2017 #1
They are waiting for their Reichstag fire workinclasszero Jul 2017 #3
yep Locrian Jul 2017 #4
Bush was the most popular president in history after 9/11 oberliner Jul 2017 #9
Good article Canoe52 Jul 2017 #2
You can call this "a perfect storm." A shallow, senile blowhard as president; Pubs Nay Jul 2017 #5
It takes 67 votes to remove Trump and so this is not a real option Gothmog Jul 2017 #6
Well, yeah.. I thought that Cha Jul 2017 #7
oh, undoubtedly... Blue_Tires Jul 2017 #8
I wouldn't want to be in Pyongyang, Seoul or Tokyo right now. Marcuse Jul 2017 #10

mn9driver

(4,423 posts)
1. The GOP and Trump are waiting for a 9/11.
Thu Jul 6, 2017, 11:22 AM
Jul 2017

When they get anything even close, they will use it as an excuse to dismantle everything.

Except the war machine.

 

workinclasszero

(28,270 posts)
3. They are waiting for their Reichstag fire
Thu Jul 6, 2017, 11:25 AM
Jul 2017

To snuff out the last vestiges of a country for anyone but the super rich.

Locrian

(4,522 posts)
4. yep
Thu Jul 6, 2017, 12:08 PM
Jul 2017

And they know they can wear us down with the constant trump antics.
I keep saying trump is NOT the only issue: there are a LOT of gop/elite/etc players using him as a distraction. They have resources, time, and the will to implement a truly evil agenda - they just need an event.

trump is the perfect dumpster fire distraction and eventual scape-goat when needed.

We had terrorist attack, war, natural disasters, near economic collapse - under bush. Wait until something happens with trump at the helm....

Nay

(12,051 posts)
5. You can call this "a perfect storm." A shallow, senile blowhard as president; Pubs
Thu Jul 6, 2017, 12:18 PM
Jul 2017

in a majority of offices from dogcatcher to vice president; a rabid "I've got mine, fuck you" racist and Nazi-like public attitude cultivated by RW radio and TV for 40 years; vilification of education and teachers; and, finally, the utter corruption of the Citizens United ruling and bang, it's essentially unfixable.

IMO, we'll be picking up the pieces for a hundred years, if there are even people to pick up the pieces. The Pubs have a lock on everything, folks. Expect them to implement the most godawful oligarchy possible, just because they can, after the inevitable shock doctrine event.

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