I really, really hope I’m wrong about this, but it feels to me like Trump is going to be president again. The election is still 16 months away and, of course, anything might happen between now and then. But even if he doesn’t win, Congress is behaving as if he has won already. They’re obeying in advance.
This week, the Republican controlled House has presaged the coming Revenge Administration with two unbelievably cowardly and weak actions, more about which momentarily.
First, a word on why I think Tweety redux, or maybe I should say “Truthy” redux, is in the offing. His path to the nomination is clear to me – the script is the same as it was in 2016. His mesmerized and cast-in-concrete base is, say, 40% of Republican primary voters. OK, you say, so that leaves 60% who will vote against him.
Not so fast.
If there are 16 other Republican candidates, as there were in 2016, they would have to split that 60% between them, and also split the potential donor and PAC money between them. Trump would pick them off one by one as he did with Little Marco, Lyin’ Ted, Low Energy Jeb, Horseface Carly, and so on. But this time is different, you say, since the Super-Pacs and Dark Money forces have already come out against him, and have already run attack ads.
Well, that’s a ray of hope, I guess, but Trump doesn’t need ads and isn’t particularly hurt by them. He has social media, crazy right wing media, and “lamestream media” all to himself, each salivating to give him as much free air as he wants any time he feels like calling for the end of the constitution or referring to the Biden “crime family”. “All Trump All The Time” is their motto whenever he wants it to be. They haven’t learned a thing except Trump = ratings = dollars.
Moreover, attacking Trump is the wrong way to spend your money. The right way would be to pick an alternative and pump that person up. The anti-Trump forces haven’t done that yet, and the longer they wait, the harder it will be.
But he can’t win the general election, you’ll say. He’s a loser as everyone knows and all those independents, suburban and country-club Republicans, and Trump-haters of every ilk will stop him. Are you sure? Remember, you all said the same thing in 2016. And in 2020, it was only his mis-handling of Covid along with the usual throw-the-bums-out anti-incumbent sentiment that just barely got rid of him. And even then we almost had to have a civil war to show him the door.
I say “barely” got rid of him because, although he lost the popular vote by 7 million, it’s only the ridiculous Electoral College that matters. If he had only won Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin, each of which was lost by the tiniest of margins, he would have retained office. Fun fact: Biden did not get 50% of the vote in any of those three states.
And Trump will have had four years of lying and bullying to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Election deniers have been promoted, emboldened and very nearly elected to state-wide office in Arizona. In Georgia, intimidation and voter-registration laws might be the difference this time. And in Wisconsin, well, the usual throw-the-bums-out anti-incumbent sentiment might just do it. They’re asking themselves right now, “Do we really want to see President Kamala Harris any time soon?” And if not Wisconsin, maybe Pennsylvania or Michigan, which could also be up for grabs.
And if the worst happens in November 2024? Trump’s obsession and over-arching policy will be to destroy the “deep state”, i.e. anyone drawing a federal paycheck who is a registered Democrat or even a Republican who has not sufficiently praised him. Or one that has perhaps implied at some point that Biden did actually win in 2020. This will be the first step toward achieving the Trumpublican dream of a one-party state beholden to its Supreme Leader.
This brings me back to the cowardly and despicable Republican House, which is already deeply in fear of the coming purge and feels compelled to show its loyally to the Truthy agenda now, so as to try to save their skins two years from now. They’ve obeyed in advance.
On Wednesday the House censured Adam Schiff for leading the first impeachment prosecution. Schiff also served on the committee investigating the January 6, 2021 insurrection, and has been in Trump’s sights for a long time, earning the epithet “Little Adam Schitt”. He had already been kicked off the Intelligence Committee earlier this year by Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Schiff is a truly honorable and courageous man, in my opinion, and this is just a disgrace. In response to the censure, Schiff said, “You honor me with your enmity”.
And on Thursday, House Republicans moved to strip security clearance from any official who signed a 2020 statement suggesting that the release of Hunter Biden’s emails had all the earmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign. This list includes more than 50 former intelligence officials, including CIA directors Mike Hayden, Leon Panetta and John Brennan. It’s really unbelievable. And just a quick reminder: the people who are deciding about this “issue” include George Santos, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Matt Gaetz, among other leading statesmen.
Twice impeached, indicted by New York State and the Federal Government, head of an organization found guilty of criminal tax fraud, personally found guilty of sexual abuse, and still ahead of his closest rival by 30% in today’s national polling.
It’s clear that we’re never going to be rid of this cancer, and it just might be the end of our current form of government. Trump actually could be president again. It CAN happen here.
Get Off My Lawn 