Quite the conversation Robert Reich had with a former Republican member of Congress.

[kpete]

Link to tweet

[Docreed2003]

1. So GOPers know Trump a unhinged and are scared of what hell do

But not scared enough to do anything before getting tax cuts passed...awesome. SMDH

[mrs_p]

2. Trump is acting exactly as I expected

How is it republicans thought he would be different? He told us who he is time and time again.

[coolsandy]

3. Trump is behaving exactly as HRC said he would. We were all warned.

[Wounded Bear]

17. Well, not sure why you put it that way...

there were a lot of folks telling us exactly who Trump was and why to not vote for him.

Frankly, anybody who was watching and didn't see it is either an idiot or was badly fooled.

[boston bean]

23. I know why they put it that way. People had a choice. They chose the fucking nutjob.

[madokie]

4. Yup

We're up shit creek without a paddle

[steve2470]

5. You know, this simultaneously terrifies me and infuriates me....

Hypothetical scenario:

3 AM, Trump's not sleeping, gets pissed off at Kim Jong-un for godknowswhy, calls up the Pentagon/wherever you call, and orders a nuclear strike on Pyongyang. No one around to tackle him, so to speak. Who's going to deny the CiC the nuclear launch ?

Let's say it all goes down, launch is done, Pyongyang is incinerated, and China gets involved, in a nuclear way.

WHAT THE FUCK ARE ALL THESE REPUBLICANS GOING TO SAY ? "Oh um don't blame me"

[Pacifist Patriot]

6. Terrifying and Infuriating

Yep, sums it up for me.

[steve2470]

9. I do my best to be calm and rational about the Idiot in Chief.....

but wtf, when I read frank conversations like that..... sigh. Party before country, until, you know, a nuclear war.

I never worried about the nuclear launch codes under ANY President for the last 59 years. Until now.

[modrepub]

14. A little Insight

My father was part of the Air Force's Missile Program back in the 60s; he was a math major and worked on trajectories for ICBMs and had a very brief stint with NASA. He told my brother about the times he was stationed out in the missile silos. Him and one other person were literally locked into the silo for their shift (it was either this or risk getting drafted). If an order to launch was given both men (this was the 60s) had keys that they used to activate and launch the nuclear tipped ICBM. They were instructed to shoot the other officer if they failed to follow orders. Of course this never happened and my father spent most of his time in the silo reading. I share this to remind you that the "nuclear button" the president has probably doesn't automatically launch anything. There will be a chain of command to launch and at any point a person, hopefully with some thought and ethics, can decide to follow orders or decide they don't want to end the human race. Of course that could mean they take a bullet from a fellow officer who does not share their concern.

I've tried to console myself after last November with the thought that Rome survived its Caligula's and we will survive our self-inflicted Trumps. Having taken an interest in Roman history from an early age, I find comfort in this comparison since I know what happened to Caligula and his immediate family at the end of his reign. If you don't, look it up.

[steve2470]

16. I do hope someone would refuse that order and take a bullet (or not, hopefully)

That person would truly be a national hero for the ages. Oh, and yes I'll go refresh my memory about Caligula, thanks

[Proud Liberal Dem]

24. +1

Sums it all up nicely! And, unfortunately, not quite farfetched, which is the terrifying part.

[woodsprite]

26. If I was a republican congresspersons spouse, child, or grandchild,

I would be beyond furious with them. They don't care anything for Americans (other than the money they can get out of us), they'd don't care about our country's history, security, future, etc. BUT they also don't care about their own families. They may think they can protect themselves from nuclear war, but guaranteed someone they love (or profess to love) is going to suffer if DT releases the nukes.

THEY JUST DON'T CARE!!!

IN THEIR WORLD, GREED RULES.

THEIR ONLY LOVE, THEIR ONLY CONCERN AND ALLEGIANCE IS TO MONEY!!!

[Baitball Blogger]

7. I don't think we have to barter a tax code for impeachment.

It is going to happen, and Trump is going to take the whole Republican party down with him. Reelection is an unnecessary worry.

[unblock]

8. i'm not even buying the "keeping him for the tax cut" b.s.

we're seriously supposed to believe that a president pence and joint republican control of congress won't push through a tax cut for the rich?

seriously, if that's what republicans want, they should remove donnie as quickly as possible, and let pence call for putting it behind us and pressing for a tax cut the very day he becomes president.

i'd rate that strategy as vastly more likely to succeed than leaving it in donnie's hands, as donnie has proven to be inept at getting bills passed even if you agree with his legislative agenda.

[steve2470]

10. +1

Yea, Pence is bad news too, but I'd feel vastly safer with him handling the nuclear codes than Trump. That's pretty fucking sad, but it's how I feel.

[unblock]

11. i'm only really considering the tax cut angle from the republican point of view.

from my point of view overall, impeachment and removal followed by pence could be far more damaging to the country in the long run.

best case scenario for republicans is to get rid of donnie and sell the story that the rest of the party is normal and only donnie was the crazy racist bastard. making pence president would go a long way toward that.

perversely, the longer they implicitly stand by donnie, the more his stink rubs off on the entire party, which would be better for democrats and the country in the long run.


assuming he doesn't drive us all over a cliff in the meanwhile, that is....

[GoCubsGo]

12. I'm guessing they know Pence is caught up in the Russia conspiracy.

Along with every republican in succession line, up to Orrin Hatch. I think what they're really trying to do is get their fucking tax cut through before Mueller is through doing his job. They know that once that happens, their whole goddamn party is screwed, as so many of them are likely complicit in the Russian conspiracy.

[unblock]

13. that's more plausible

mind-boggling though it may be....

[GoCubsGo]

15. It's not really that mind-boggling, when you think about it.

Consider who we are talking about here. We're taking about the GOP, who we've long known care only about their own financial enrichment, and that of their financial backers. That has blinded them to everything else, including the possible destruction of the planet. They are nearly as sociopathic as is Trump.

[unblock]

18. i agree.

the mind-boggling part is that we've gotten to the point where the controlling political party got so wrapped up in power that it's declared war on the truth, anyone that's not a white christian european-american able-bodied male, either rich or supportive of the rich, and allied themselves with a country that is a rival at best and an enemy at worst.

that and the fact that the media is so narrowly focused on eyeballs and ratings that they're happy to go along with it no matter the consequences to the country.

[GoCubsGo]

29. Yep. That is for sure.

Mind-boggling, and sickening all at the same time.

[JI7]

19. It has to do with trumps racist base

That they need to win the primary. Unless they themselves cam prove to be more bigoted as roy moore did.

[unblock]

21. exactly. it's not about the tax cut. it's about lacking a spine and lacking principles.

all they're trying to do is figure out how to get themselves re-elected.

they don't think they can oppose donnie without paying a political price.

so they're standing by, hoping, waiting, for the moment when donnie does something that causes foxnews and then his base to turn on him.

*then* they'll discover a backbone.



except that that will never happen.

[PunksMom]

27. So true!

[gratuitous]

20. So, if I'm reading this right

Congressional Republicans are willing to risk nuclear war if they can get their tax bill cut - and their tax bill is ridiculously low as it is.

That's what your political leaders are doing: Putting the world in danger so they can hang on to a few more dollars, and they have more money than they can spend now.

What did Lin-Manuel Miranda say? Y'all are going straight to Hell.

[Whiskeytide]

22. It's the base, not the tax cut bill...

... Trump controls about 30-40% of the repub base. Any Repub congressperson who defies him in any way will lose a lot of votes, and be vulnerable to losing to the Dem.

It ain't rocket surgery.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

25. Probably true except for why Republicans won't impeach him.

They've been winning elections by wooing the crazies for decades. They're afraid to alienate those voters despite how they went "too crazy" by electing Trump.

[Motley13]

28. the repug that comes to mind is John Boehner