The More Trump Gets Away With Things, the More Emboldened He Becomes

If the stakes were not quite as high as they are, it might be funny that many of the same Republicans who supported the invasion of Iraq a decade and a half ago are now bending over backwards to forgive Trump all of seemingly countless trespasses. Yes, many of these Republicans argued for war with Iraq on the principle that we should have learned the lessons from World War II about the dangers of appeasing a power-hungry tyrant. Now, they make a habit of appeasing a home-grown tyrant right here at home, and American democracy and the Constitution are likely only the first casualties.

How did the party that kept praising Ronald Reagan for standing up strong to the Russians and taking a hawkish approach towards perceived enemies of America suddenly grow so spineless and weak when faced with a transparent threat by this business tycoon who clearly knows nothing - and cares even less - about American democracy?

Trump is growing ever more bold, as he keeps getting away with things, time and time again. He ran a campaign of hatred and lies in 2016, and won the White House. He got away with covering up Russian ties with the Mueller investigation, and so he sought help from the Ukrainians via quid pro quo literally the day after the Mueller investigation ended. He keeps promoting hatred and division within the country, and again, he is allowed to get away with it.              

This man is dangerous, and the threat that he poses is growing ever more serious with each passing day.              

I have said this before, and will say it again now: this was the last man Americans should have trusted with this highest office in the land. Once he got in, he was not likely to give it up too willingly. And it has become clear now that he intends to keep it for as long as people will let him get away with keeping it for. He has already hinted at the possibility of being there for a third term, and even hinted at a presidency of 20 or more years.              

Of course, presently, that is against the law. But this man is so outrageous, and so transparently knows no limits to his hypocrisy and lust for more power and attention, that it would not feel at all surprising if he actively sought to maintain power even beyond two terms. And frankly, I am not entirely sure that he will give up power even if he loses the upcoming election. I wish that I was joking, but another thing that he has hinted at is the possibility of a civil war. Do you think that he was joking?              

The thing is, he always seems to “joke” about things like that, and he always seems to be the one to gain power in all of this supposed joking, whether it’s becoming “president for life” or attaining the level of respect from his countrymen that Kim Jung Il, the dictator of North Korea, forces his people to pay him in that country.

Once again, Donald Trump is tacitly inciting violence, being careful to do it in just such a way as to be able to plausibly deny that this was what he actually meant, should Something indeed happen (as it has happened in the past with this man’s tweets).              

I mean, really, let’s be serious for a second: let’s say that someone – some trigger-happy rightwing lunatic who idolizes Trump and follows all of his tweets, and takes them all seriously and quite literally – decides to go ahead and do this president’s bidding. Let’s say this guy goes out and finds some way to harm, and perhaps even kill, Adam Schiff tomorrow, or the next day. Would it even be plausible for a minute that Trump’s tweet was somehow not inciting some retribution in the form of violence, and that this guy, lunatic or not, would feel that he was merely obeying some indirect orders, or some command. Perhaps believing that he is doing his patriotic duty to “make America great again,” the way that Trump sees it?              

Now, these days, we have legions of self-identified conservatives who indeed would like explain away how Trump “didn’t really mean” this tweet literally, and was not calling for Schiff to be physically harmed or even killed.              

Yet, if such a scenario happens (and admittedly, it seems inlikely right now, even though in this country’s present political climate, it cannot be discounted as impossible), then it would feel just a little too coincidental to be merely a fluke, right? Clearly, the lunatic would believe that Trump was asking someone to make Schiff pay, and pay dearly. In this case, probably to make him pay with his life, quite literally. Sure, the man himself would be responsible in a literal way, and Trump supporters would surely harp on that fact. But again, I already mentioned that this theoretical guy has some serious mental issues, and is prone to violence. That would not be in question. The question, then, would be if this man acted upon what he felt were instructions, or some kind of indirect order to hold “Shifty Schiff accountable for perceived crimes against the country, or if he was about to do harm to Schiff already, and there would be some strange coincidence in timing between Trump’s tweet and this man’s actions.              

Frankly, that notion would be preposterous.              

Yes, this is all theoretical, but it feels like something that could actually happen these days. It feels frankly not as strange and as impossible a scenario as maybe it once did, say 10 or 20 years ago. Or hell, even five years ago.              

What has changed?              

Well, the man in the Oval Office, and the circumstances that this has created, of course. That is why that scenario, while literally seemingly unlikely, is not completely unthinkable any longer these days.

Nowadays, as a result of the relentless appeasement of a bona fide American tyrant by his weak-willed fellow party members, another scenario that seemed almost impossible, and certainly unlikely, not long ago, seems almost probable, perhaps even inevitable, these days: the end of democracy and Constitutional law in America.

WHY TRUMP, FACING IMPEACHMENT, WARNS OF CIVIL WAR  By Jelani Cobb  October 5, 2019

https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/why-trump-facing-impeachment-warns-of-civil-war?fbclid=IwAR2W4j677PzCeYNKNHoevkPC-VqNDhgCO9m1N6eVOd6i_R4RY6ogj8eGgLg