As you know today is July the Fourth, or Independence Day in the United States.
But as you also know, many of our good neighbours have very little or nothing to celebrate this year.
With the look on the face of the Statue of Liberty no doubt even more sombre than the day it arrived in America.
With the country's presidency hijacked.
Or gnawed at by rats and traitors.
And as Charles Blow writes, its fate in the hands of a monster.
Every now and then we are going to have to do this: Step back from the daily onslaughts of insanity emanating from Donald Trump’s parasitic presidency and remind ourselves of the obscenity of it all, registering its magnitude in its full, devastating truth.
We must remind ourselves that Trump’s very presence in the White House defiles it and the institution of the presidency. Rather than rising to the honor of the office, Trump has lowered the office with his whiny, fragile, vindictive pettiness.
The presidency has been hijacked.
The Republicans are willing hostages, or stooges.
Republicans have bound themselves up with Trump. His fate is their fate. They have surrendered any moral authority to which they once laid claim — rightly or not. If Trump goes down, they all do.
And it is almost certainly the worst mistake our neighbours have ever made.
There are no new words to express it; there is no new and novel way to catalog it. It is what it is and has been from day one: The most extraordinary and profound electoral mistake America has made in our lifetimes and possibly ever.
A mistake that could very easily end with a catastrophic war...
But at least now it's only too clear what Trump is trying to do. Intimidate the media into submission, and try to suppress the vote.
So that he can rule in the manner of a dictator...
And it's also only too clear why resistance has never been more urgently needed.
Donald Trump is depending on people’s fatigue. He is banking on your becoming overwhelmed by his never-ending antics. He is counting on his capacity to wear down the resistance by sheer force.
We must be adamant that that will never come to pass. Trump is an abomination, and a cancer on the country, and none of us can rest until he is no longer holding the reins of power.
And the good news?
More people want to impeach Trump, than those who support him.
And I'm confident that the good Americans will be able to rise to the occasion. Just as they did 241 years ago when they took on mighty Britain, and won.
And they will win again.
Happy Fourth of July neighbours!!!
And down with the dictator !!!
7 comments:
As an American, I'm beginning to think us running away from home prematurely was a yuge mistake. There's an article in a recent New Yorker issue titled, "We could have been Canada." Coulda woulda shoulda. If we hadn't been so obsessed with doing everything the opposite of our European counterparts -- including the "freedom" to let any nutcase hoard an arsenal, confer upon corporations the rights, privileges, and protections of "personhood" while denying it to actual human beings and Mother Earth, and to harass, intimidate, threaten, and dehumanize people with vulgar and hostile rhetoric under the guise of "free speech" that sends others cowering in fear of expressing themselves -- maybe we'd be better off. Make America Great Britain Again.
I look at Canada like Wonderland through the looking glass. We had our chance at a Pierre Trudeau in 1960. Obviously it didn't work out so well. We had a Justin for 8 years, but made his life a living hell because somewhere between half to two thirds of the country didn't like the color of his (birthday) suit -- it was too "tan" for their liking. We could have ended up with a Mutti Merkel of our own but kicked her to the curb because she wasn't "pure" enough for the sensibilities of the wannabe revolutionary Bernouts, and was all kinds of evil to the unhinged, paranoid haters who voted for Pigface because they wanted an "alpha male."
America is Just Not Ready™ for nice things, because we are not a "nice" country. We never have been and we never will be. Good luck getting anything resembling a Truth & Reconciliation Commission or Just Society in the Untied States -- and yes, that's an intentional misspelling. Justin charms the queen, while we're stuck with a deranged czar in Hair Trumpenfuhrer.
To think, had we negotiated more "politely," we could have had a Pierre. Instead, we ended up with a Putin -- and a balkanized failed apartheid state awash in a third of a billion personally owned weapons of mass destruction as corporations take control of the government and the entire planet is left to burn.
I celebrated Canada Day on my side of the border. July 4 means little of what it used to to me. With Trump in office and Trumpists run amok, as far as I'm concerned it may as well be called In Depends Day. Hail Canada, God Save Justin Trudeau, and a pox on both our legislative houses.
Canada is not taking up arms in 174 countries, just a couple
Trump is attempting to change the venue for the "Big Fight". The political establishment plans on holding it in the brightly lit palace of justice complete with all the time honored trappings to ensure a fair and just trial. The clown in chief wants to hold the trial in the sewers of the nation including the dark recesses of peoples minds. The weapons of choice are rusty old switchblades where opponents will eventually succumb to infection from the torrent of nicks and scratches.
Unfortunately the wheels of justice move slowly; Watergate took approximately 3 years from start to finish. He has plenty of time to change the venue. All that is required is to push the target minority groups until they rebel and two way violence ensues. The Con strategy to captivate their audience is always push until someone pushes back. Trump is just less refined and more viscous about it. A few of the many push actions in progress are, swell the overcrowded prison system with punitive minimum sentences, arm all nut bars by eliminating state gun control, use the political office to incite mistrust and the need to rise up against injustice while targeting injustice at select groups. Hopefully the wheels will pick up speed and squash his plans while there is still time.
RT
hi anon...thank you for this most interesting comment. I must admit I hadn't thought of that, and with good reason. I'm always telling my friends that if I had lived during your Revolutionary War I would have joined the rebels not the loyalists ;)
But you do make some very good points. I don't think your founding fathers realized where some of the things that seemed so stirring then would eventually take your country, like the hallowed second amendment. Or the individualism that could lead politicians to even think of depriving 20 million people of proper medical care. However don't be discouraged, your country has gazillions of good people. My grandfather who was attached to the U.S. Navy during the Second World War to learn how to fly Corsairs, always remembered your country fondly. ( Even if we never could find a soda fountain) And always believed that you could bounce back from any calamity. And I'm sure you will too. Defeating Trump could bring out the best in America again, and of course I'll be cheering for you always...
hi RT...I agree with you. Just when we think that Trump has hit rock bottom, he still manages to go lower. And when you analyze his behaviour it reflects everything he learned as a groupie of the WWF. Thanks to that he does have a good grip on the morons who make up his rabid base. But that won't boost his ratings with other Americans, and sooner or later his sordid road show will either collapse or implode...
Condensed version of the 2 hour and 15 minute Trump-Putin meeting (July 7)
Trump: I am honored to finally meet you, Mr. Putin.
Putin: I know… Call me Vlad.
As the reporters exited the meeting room:
Putin: These are the ones who insulted you?
Trump: These are the ones. You're right about that... except for that babe from Fox News!
After the doors closed...
Trump: If you don’t mind me asking… gotta ask… Did you authorize any interference in our election?
Putin: Of course not! What evidence do you have that I did?
Trump: Well, we really don’t have any evidence. Nobody really knows for sure. We just have a few rumors coming from 17 of my intelligence agencies.
Putin: Look, be a good comrade, Donald. Let’s move forward.
Trump: Let me look you in the eye….. (Trump stares into Putin’s eyes for 3 seconds)
Trump: Innocent!
Putin: See? Told you so!
Later… in remarks to reporters:
Trump: I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul, a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country. Vlad said it, I believe it, that settles it!
Vladimir Putin charms another US president
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/07/politics/trump-putin-meeting-clear-positive-chemistry/index.html
Putin appears to joke with Trump about reporters in front of them
http://www.businessinsider.com/putin-trump-joke-journalists-g20-2017-7
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world-0/us-politics/trump-putin-press-journalists-meeting-russia-president-points-which-ones-insulting-you-a7830046.html
https://twitter.com/jimsciutto/status/883383786007912448
The Most Powerful Man In The World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJgaZIz1xhI
http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/13/politics/fareed-zakaria-putin-clinton-trump/index.html
CNN Newsroom
Aired July 7, 2017 - 15:00 ET
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1707/07/cnr.07.html
[snip]
BEN JUDAH, AUTHOR, "FRAGILE EMPIRE": Thank you.
BALDWIN: We pregamed. Now we will postgame what we know.
You know, channeling Vladimir Putin. You have spent some time with the man. How do you think he would have felt, given the fact that going into this meeting, the White House totally downplayed any sort of bringing up of the Russian meddling in the election and, boom, this is what President Trump, according to the secretary of state, does, out of the gate? What was Vladimir Putin thinking?
JUDAH: I mean, the first thing you have got to remember is that Vladimir Putin is, without doubt, the most geopolitically experienced world leader around.
And we're comparing this to Trump, somebody who is, if we're going to be charitable, a novice at this game. Vladimir Putin has met the last three generations of Western leaders. He met Ronald Reagan in his retirement in his role as deputy mayor of St. Petersburg in the 1990s. He met Margaret Thatcher and Helmut Kohl, Jacques Chirac in that role.
He's obviously met both Clintons. He's met Barack Obama, so intense experience here. So, this is a situation that Putin will be incredibly comfortable in, whereas Trump will be perhaps somewhat out of his depth.
[snip]
In the Russia probe, could Trump pardon himself?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/so-could-trump-pardon-himself/2017/07/07/d2a1af26-60f8-11e7-8adc-fea80e32bf47_story.html
Trump hails G-20 ‘success.’ Others see political chaos and American decline.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/07/10/trump-hails-g-20-success-others-see-political-chaos-and-american-decline/
Video clip: President Bush and President Putin (June 16, 2001)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WusRjrsZP8
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