Yes, it happened again.
By this point, criticisms and even downright attacks on Donald Trump are nothing new, although what is new, and unique to Trump, specifically, is the degree to which members of his own party are willing to go to try and discredit and attack him.
Just lately, it was Senator Jeff Flake from Arizona and, of course, Senator Bob Corker from Tennessee. Both are Republicans, and both have landed well-placed hits on Trump, of course angering a man known to have incredibly thick skin.
Flake addressed his fellow Congressmen and urged them to stand up to this president, suggesting that they are playing with fire and are part of the problem when working as political allies with a man like Trump. He suggested that Trump is “dangerous to our democracy” and called upon his fellow Republicans to not simply accept bad conduct and poor leadership by the president. He said:
"It is time for our complicity and our accommodation of the unacceptable to end. Politics can make us silent when we should speak, and silence can equal complicity.”
He never specifically mentioned Trump by name, yet he made it clear who the target of his criticism was when he elaborated:
“We must never regard as normal the regular and casual undermining of our democratic norms and ideals. We must never meekly accept the daily sundering of our country — the personal attacks; the threats against principles, freedoms and institutions; the flagrant disregard for truth and decency.
"We must stop pretending that the degradation of our politics and the conduct of some in our executive branch are normal. They are not normal. Reckless, outrageous and undignified behavior has become excused and countenanced as ‘telling it like it is’ when it is actually just reckless, outrageous and undignified.”
Criticizing Trump is nothing new for Flake. He has been criticizing him of and on again for about a year, and even wrote a book, “Conscience of a Conservative,” that attacked this president's style, and made clear that Flake is no fan of the direction that Trump has taken the Republican party.
And, of course, Corker's attacks on President Trump has already garnered some major news headlines on their own fairly recently, when he compared the White House under Trump as an adult daycare center, with members trying to contain the conduct of an out of control spoiled brat intent on being as destructive as possible.
Corker was at it again this week, stating that President Trump was “utterly untruthful.” He also called him “the L-word.”
Corker did not stop there, either. In a Washington post article, some of the attacks that he leveled against Trump is a series of public appearances were summarized quite succinctly, as Corker:
said he should “leave it to the professionals” to handle the North Korea nuclear crisis; said he was not a role model for children; and urged West Wing aides to “figure out ways of controlling him.” Corker also said he would not support Trump for election again.
Now, let's take a count. That means that in just the last couple of weeks or so, Trump, a Republican president, has been attacked by two Republican Senators in Flake and Corker, as well as a former Republican president. And if you go back farther,
What does all this mean? What is the significance, if any, that these Republican attacks on a Republican president will have?
Well, here is a quote from that same Washington Post article that might suggest that what we see happening is only the beginning:
“This is the ice beginning to crack,” said Peter Wehner, a Trump critic who has advised several past Republican presidents. “This is an extraordinary moment because the members of the president’s own party know that he is not fit in some fundamental way to be the president. These views that they’ve kept in the shadows are now being exposed to the light.”
Perhaps we are indeed seeing the first real chinks in the previously unblemished armor of self-preservation for the Republican party. Traditionally, they have gone to extraordinary lengths to show a certain degree of party unity and discipline, which are supposed to be mirrors of the stability that they allegedly want to bring to the country.
But what happens when you have an overgrown child like a Donald Trump, a man who is in his advanced years, and yet who, without being self-conscious in the least about his own immature behavior, acts precisely like the snowflake that he accuses so many others of being?
Frankly, Donald Trump is the most divisive, polarizing figure in modern American history. For some, his most loyal supporters, he seems incapable of doing anything wrong. But to the vast majority in this country, it is quite the opposite: this man seems incapable of doing anything right. Even when he says things that most Americans could agree with (which happens very rarely), he nonetheless does these things in such a manner as to come across as either insincere, or as an idiot forced into doing something. President Obama, at some point, was accused of being unable to say anything of substance without a teleprompter. But Trump seems incapable of saying anything remotely intelligent or thoughtful, period. When he tries - and he usually does not have enough patience to give it a good effort - he clearly gives away the ton of coaching that he has received, and you can pretty much rely on some kind of blunder along the way.
Yet, when he speaks his mind freely, the results are even more horrifying. The man is a dinosaur, the product of thinking and "values" that were pretty much outdated decades ago, and which have no real place in a modern country that wants to feel like it is part of the civilized world. The fact that even Republicans are horrified beyond the ability to pull punches at a man of their own party serves as proof that Trump is incredibly polarizing and, quite frankly, difficult, if not impossible, for intelligent, thinking people to generally and genuinely like.
This general immaturity polarizing, and indeed it is the source of much comedy, which is perhaps why comedians have had a field day since Trump came on the scene. However, it is nothing less than a threat to democracy itself when his ignorance and arrogance starts to target democratic institutions. When he attacks the free press and questions whether they should be able to attack him, and when he dismisses every semi-critical story against him as "fake news," it is a threat to democracy, and goes the constitution. When he incites violence, and does in a crafty way where he can back off and claim not to have been serious, it is a threat to the very law and order that he pretends to champion, and it is also a threat to democracy. When he reveals, time and time again, a staggering and, frankly, offensive level of ignorance about how government works, and then acts like his approach is a refreshing change, it is a threat to democracy. When he attacks or ignores facts, and his tens of millions of supporters allow him to do, encouraging more such behavior, it is a threat to democracy. And when he goes before the entire world, such as he did when he spoke before the United Nations, and he calls other world leaders names like a child might do, and threatens to annihilate another country and wipe them off the map forever, it not only undermines our democracy, but threatens continued life on the planet itself, because it is almost literally like playing with fire. It is irresponsible bravado and misunderstandings like this, which Trump thinks is all an appropriate part of his political theater, that threatens the stability of the world itself.
These things so clear, and so urgent, that even Republicans, known for sticking doggedly to their political game face strategy of complete unity at all times, have began to detract and launch serious, hard hitting attacks at Trump and his style of governance, that reveals that Trump is not just a "normal" president, only a little bit more entertaining. Whatever you might think of him, there is nothing normal about Trump. Never has been, and never will be. Trump is a man who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He has never known anything but the most gilded, privileged life imaginable, and he somehow has come to believe that having all of that money, and living a life of extraordinary, exceptional comforts, somehow justified his own belief that he himself deserves to be seen as exceptional. It puzzles me how ordinary folks do not see that, and feel that they can relate to this pathetic man. He does not care about them, and shows it more than even the most polished politician, in his words and in his actions. He is so full of himself, and his exceptionalism and elitism, that he feels that he can say whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and damn the consequences. And he gets away with it, time and time again, because his supporters allow him to get away with it. He gets away with it, because somehow, this is seen as a refreshing change, as some kind of breath of fresh air much needed in our politics. Anyone with an ounce of intelligence and objectivity should be able to see through it, yet tens of millions of his supporters still do not see it. That is really what is most shocking about the Trump phenomenon, is that he still has his tens of millions of supporters, despite not having done anything - not one single thing - to warrant that kind of support.
This general immaturity polarizing, and indeed it is the source of much comedy, which is perhaps why comedians have had a field day since Trump came on the scene. However, it is nothing less than a threat to democracy itself when his ignorance and arrogance starts to target democratic institutions. When he attacks the free press and questions whether they should be able to attack him, and when he dismisses every semi-critical story against him as "fake news," it is a threat to democracy, and goes the constitution. When he incites violence, and does in a crafty way where he can back off and claim not to have been serious, it is a threat to the very law and order that he pretends to champion, and it is also a threat to democracy. When he reveals, time and time again, a staggering and, frankly, offensive level of ignorance about how government works, and then acts like his approach is a refreshing change, it is a threat to democracy. When he attacks or ignores facts, and his tens of millions of supporters allow him to do, encouraging more such behavior, it is a threat to democracy. And when he goes before the entire world, such as he did when he spoke before the United Nations, and he calls other world leaders names like a child might do, and threatens to annihilate another country and wipe them off the map forever, it not only undermines our democracy, but threatens continued life on the planet itself, because it is almost literally like playing with fire. It is irresponsible bravado and misunderstandings like this, which Trump thinks is all an appropriate part of his political theater, that threatens the stability of the world itself.
These things so clear, and so urgent, that even Republicans, known for sticking doggedly to their political game face strategy of complete unity at all times, have began to detract and launch serious, hard hitting attacks at Trump and his style of governance, that reveals that Trump is not just a "normal" president, only a little bit more entertaining. Whatever you might think of him, there is nothing normal about Trump. Never has been, and never will be. Trump is a man who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He has never known anything but the most gilded, privileged life imaginable, and he somehow has come to believe that having all of that money, and living a life of extraordinary, exceptional comforts, somehow justified his own belief that he himself deserves to be seen as exceptional. It puzzles me how ordinary folks do not see that, and feel that they can relate to this pathetic man. He does not care about them, and shows it more than even the most polished politician, in his words and in his actions. He is so full of himself, and his exceptionalism and elitism, that he feels that he can say whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and damn the consequences. And he gets away with it, time and time again, because his supporters allow him to get away with it. He gets away with it, because somehow, this is seen as a refreshing change, as some kind of breath of fresh air much needed in our politics. Anyone with an ounce of intelligence and objectivity should be able to see through it, yet tens of millions of his supporters still do not see it. That is really what is most shocking about the Trump phenomenon, is that he still has his tens of millions of supporters, despite not having done anything - not one single thing - to warrant that kind of support.
Indeed, it still amazes me how many people are standing with Trump still. Here is a man who garners negative attention and controversy everywhere he goes, with every action, and still, many people seem to find excuses for him. The man has proven himself to be unhinged, to be the very picture of the "snowflake" label that he himself like to hurl at opponents. The level of his immaturity and the thinness of his skin has been revealed by his own conduct time and time again.
It reminds me or words spoken by one of the Founding Fathers:
"To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture."
—Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, 1778
AFTER DAY OF FEUDING, JEFF FLAKE AND BOB CORKER JOIN TRUMP TO UPEND A MAJOR CONSUMER PROTECTION David Dayen October 24 2017,
‘Dangerous,’ ‘utterly untruthful’: Two retiring GOP senators sound alarm on Trump
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