At this moment, yeah, thta’s pretty much the binary. But one day (soon🙏) Trump will be gone. And if democracy is to survive, people will still have to stand with it. And the law needs to apply to not just Trump, but his enablers and any Trumps-in-Waiting that might be thinking this looks liek a pretty good gig if you can get it.
The Nuremberging of America isn’t the destination, it’s the launch pad.
We face a dilemma. If Democrats take Congress and the White House, they have about 18 months to make big changes. And there are two giant tasks facing them: 1) Reverse the rightward lurch of the Trump years. Enshrine rules and protections in law that can no longer be undone by executive fiat, and; 2) Reclaim the power of Congress. Put sharp boundaries around Presidential power, and have the new President sign them into law.
It will be very hard to do both, and the two essential goals work somewhat at cross-purposes. We need a detailed strategy mapped out in advance.
The folks who voted for Trump cannot be excused in my opinion. They knew what he was after his first term a self serving ***H*l*
Why would they still vote for him even if Biden was bad or Harris was bad they would never have allowed this war to happen and they would most importantly be decent people with some humility towards others.
Actually, I do hate the damage Trump, and his minions in the White Man House, the eviscerated Congress, and Extreme Court have caused to domestic tranquility, immigration, education, environment, public health, public lands, civil rights, economy, national defense (if I have missed anything else, my apologies) thanks to the 77 million who put the jackal in office. I hate what they've done, what they persist in doing; so, I'm left with no other feeling but that toward them. Hate, like love, is a legitimate reaction to the way one is treated.
I agree with everything you said. Too much damage has been done to forego accountability. I, too, think there are those who are as bad or worse than Trump for different reasons. Trump is an ego maniac who wants power, wealth, control & blind obedience. I do not think he totally understands the idealology of Project 2025 or the beliefs of Yarvin & people like him. Trump even said he agrees with some of Project 2025, but not all of it. I think that Vance, Miller, Thiel & other authors of that document pose a real threat to our democracy as well as Trump. It will be difficult to rebuild our country & return to Democracy. There are so many things to fix, contemplate & reform. It needs to be done thoughtfully & quickly or else it will appear that the people are being failed again: Restore, rebuild, revamp government agencies, get Americans back to work, reform healthcare, restore Medicaid/Medicare, make a plan to get inflation & affordability under control, create a true immigration plan that protects our borders while treating immigrants humanely, revisit, amend, revise the Constitution, restructure the Supreme Court, balance the power between the 3 branches of government including enforceable measures, restore qualified leaders in our military, redo the total budget, make a plan for restoring our history to museums & exhibits, design a path to remove rogue leaders who violate laws & judiciary orders, are incompetent or are acting unconstitutionally including use of the military, rethink & revise the pardon power, eliminate the ruling that places the President above the law, restructure the DOJ by moving it from the Executive and ensure it will be independent, create oversight to remove from office anyone appointed or elected who violates their oath of office, promptly prosecute/publicly renounce & enter into record those who violated the law in the current administration, create election reform that will remove bribes & favoritism from politics, write laws to prevent grift & private earnings gained from administrative positions, repair our relationships with NATO & our allies and finally apologize sincerely to the whole world. I am sure there is more and I hope some smart patriotic people are currently working on a plan for a new & improved America. Cleaning up this mess will be a big challenge.
I smashed the like button on this one for a single reason: We can’t fall into that same trap that got us here. I’ve seen too many pundits — even ones on the same side as me — talk about”getting back to normal” or “getting back to where we were”. FUCK NO! Where we WERE is how we got to where we ARE, so why the hell would we go back there and do this AGAIN?
The other thing wrong with that argument is that where we WERE was great… if you were a straight white male or his straight white wife. For everybody else, this is just a slightly worse Friday afternoon. So yearning for a return to that fondly remembered time is more about privilege than greatness. If we really want to be great, really great, the kind of great we like to think we WERE, a lot of shit is going to have to burn. Like an off-frame overhaul. A ground up, studs out restoration. And all those linguistic and legalese contortions we’ve put our bedrock laws through to make rich people comfortable at the expense of everyone else need to get code reviewed and cleaned up so that if there are exceptions to the rules, they’re narrow, explicit, and not malleable enough to make them meaningless.
And before ewe hire people to represent us in government, we need to know they can at least pass a naturalization test. We require that of immigrants before they can vote, we should expect at least that much of the people they’re voting FOR.
You can be empathetic and hold people accountable at the same time. If you do not choose accountability you end up with someone like trump. It's not an either/or situation, it's a both/and.
The absolute deluge of lawbreaking, immorality, betrayal and treasonous acts of our present administration and congress demands the harshest accountability possible. Nothing should be off the table.
"lack of accountability....." It's been a few months since I went trolling on You Tube looking for interviews with Trump supporters. But last fall, people still believed that he was the greatest and that he really cared about working class people.
This type of mindset won't go away overnight, especially with so many working class and/or rural people getting their TV news solely from Fox. Or, if tuning in by radio, it will be stations owned by Sinclair Broadcasting or Salem Broadcasting. The Dems don't have equivalents.
Totally agree Mike. Accountability is about growth, if no-one is held accountable, how will they ever know what the expectations for the society we participate in is? AKA your Nixon reference.
Also now from outside, Canada, if there is no real accountability, and conscious corrections of the systems that allowed the kind of abuses on the world and humanitarian stage, why would we come back?
I am one person, one of 40 million. I have made approximately $50,000 in spending decisions specifically against or away from the USA since last January. From product to vacation. If the only lettuce in the store is from US (sorry California), I buy kale.
The effects of this American dalliance into insanity has hurt more than the sensibilities of neighbours, it hits at the very heart of trust in the countries ability to prevent this from happening again. For example, the country is seriously now leading to a Republican /Nazi leader for the next election cycle(s) ???
The world is now making moves that are set to be permanently disadvantageous to the US, it could be generations of discredit to your country. Sad, because the world needs (needed) a strong USA.
My observation: you can not wait. Fix this now, by whatever means possible. Get creative. Then get more creative. Once the power shifts, immediately restore the world food aid programs, and get Russia the hell out of Ukraine. Those would be 2 good steps in the right direction. But it will not wait 3 more years, accountability must start sooner, combined with clear provisions for future systematic preventions of the kinds of chronic failures that has been shown this last year.
On accountability I totally agree. At the same time I think the wholesale deconstruction of the government, social, and political norms is the primary plan. If Project 2025 fails to fulfill its broad swath of “reform”? Please fail. The amount of effort in reversing the changes, enforcement of established laws on the known and observable fraudsters and grifters, and crafting new more resilient guardrails on the other side will be significant. I know our representatives say they can do everything, and I admire those that seem to juggle multiple issues without loss of focus, but many do not perform.
We have seen how easy it is to take things apart without a plan for replacement or improvement. Firing the experts who could guide policy making. Ideological Dunning Kruger specimens in charge. Trump has proven over and over to be the arsonist, starting the fire, watching it burn, adding fuel, then showing up with a garden hose to help the professional fire fighters put out the fire; later claiming he, alone, put out the fire. As a legal fight over blame persists, “we” are left without a home or plan forward!
So many fires, so many houses to rebuild, what time remains for accountability? Is our slow moving legal system ready? I hope it is. I am not totally sure what the answer is, because I remember the debate about Ford pardoning Nixon. People were tired. Ready to move on. Thanks for being a voice that wants accountability. We are all going to be engaged with our elected officials at multiple levels of government and responsibility to force accountability and be able to find positive paths forward.
We are at a moment in history that everyone needs to be stand up and be counted on which way you stand. Whether with democracy or with Trump.
At this moment, yeah, thta’s pretty much the binary. But one day (soon🙏) Trump will be gone. And if democracy is to survive, people will still have to stand with it. And the law needs to apply to not just Trump, but his enablers and any Trumps-in-Waiting that might be thinking this looks liek a pretty good gig if you can get it.
The Nuremberging of America isn’t the destination, it’s the launch pad.
We face a dilemma. If Democrats take Congress and the White House, they have about 18 months to make big changes. And there are two giant tasks facing them: 1) Reverse the rightward lurch of the Trump years. Enshrine rules and protections in law that can no longer be undone by executive fiat, and; 2) Reclaim the power of Congress. Put sharp boundaries around Presidential power, and have the new President sign them into law.
It will be very hard to do both, and the two essential goals work somewhat at cross-purposes. We need a detailed strategy mapped out in advance.
This is SUCH a GREAT piece Mike! THANK YOU for putting this up so that others know.
KUDOS Mike!! This was awesome. More of these comparisons please! This was So good. : )
The folks who voted for Trump cannot be excused in my opinion. They knew what he was after his first term a self serving ***H*l*
Why would they still vote for him even if Biden was bad or Harris was bad they would never have allowed this war to happen and they would most importantly be decent people with some humility towards others.
Actually, I do hate the damage Trump, and his minions in the White Man House, the eviscerated Congress, and Extreme Court have caused to domestic tranquility, immigration, education, environment, public health, public lands, civil rights, economy, national defense (if I have missed anything else, my apologies) thanks to the 77 million who put the jackal in office. I hate what they've done, what they persist in doing; so, I'm left with no other feeling but that toward them. Hate, like love, is a legitimate reaction to the way one is treated.
We'll love our neighbors -- after we throw the crooks in the slammer and lose the key.
Or a volcano. Volcano works for me.
Excellent article!
I agree with everything you said. Too much damage has been done to forego accountability. I, too, think there are those who are as bad or worse than Trump for different reasons. Trump is an ego maniac who wants power, wealth, control & blind obedience. I do not think he totally understands the idealology of Project 2025 or the beliefs of Yarvin & people like him. Trump even said he agrees with some of Project 2025, but not all of it. I think that Vance, Miller, Thiel & other authors of that document pose a real threat to our democracy as well as Trump. It will be difficult to rebuild our country & return to Democracy. There are so many things to fix, contemplate & reform. It needs to be done thoughtfully & quickly or else it will appear that the people are being failed again: Restore, rebuild, revamp government agencies, get Americans back to work, reform healthcare, restore Medicaid/Medicare, make a plan to get inflation & affordability under control, create a true immigration plan that protects our borders while treating immigrants humanely, revisit, amend, revise the Constitution, restructure the Supreme Court, balance the power between the 3 branches of government including enforceable measures, restore qualified leaders in our military, redo the total budget, make a plan for restoring our history to museums & exhibits, design a path to remove rogue leaders who violate laws & judiciary orders, are incompetent or are acting unconstitutionally including use of the military, rethink & revise the pardon power, eliminate the ruling that places the President above the law, restructure the DOJ by moving it from the Executive and ensure it will be independent, create oversight to remove from office anyone appointed or elected who violates their oath of office, promptly prosecute/publicly renounce & enter into record those who violated the law in the current administration, create election reform that will remove bribes & favoritism from politics, write laws to prevent grift & private earnings gained from administrative positions, repair our relationships with NATO & our allies and finally apologize sincerely to the whole world. I am sure there is more and I hope some smart patriotic people are currently working on a plan for a new & improved America. Cleaning up this mess will be a big challenge.
I smashed the like button on this one for a single reason: We can’t fall into that same trap that got us here. I’ve seen too many pundits — even ones on the same side as me — talk about”getting back to normal” or “getting back to where we were”. FUCK NO! Where we WERE is how we got to where we ARE, so why the hell would we go back there and do this AGAIN?
The other thing wrong with that argument is that where we WERE was great… if you were a straight white male or his straight white wife. For everybody else, this is just a slightly worse Friday afternoon. So yearning for a return to that fondly remembered time is more about privilege than greatness. If we really want to be great, really great, the kind of great we like to think we WERE, a lot of shit is going to have to burn. Like an off-frame overhaul. A ground up, studs out restoration. And all those linguistic and legalese contortions we’ve put our bedrock laws through to make rich people comfortable at the expense of everyone else need to get code reviewed and cleaned up so that if there are exceptions to the rules, they’re narrow, explicit, and not malleable enough to make them meaningless.
And before ewe hire people to represent us in government, we need to know they can at least pass a naturalization test. We require that of immigrants before they can vote, we should expect at least that much of the people they’re voting FOR.
You can be empathetic and hold people accountable at the same time. If you do not choose accountability you end up with someone like trump. It's not an either/or situation, it's a both/and.
The absolute deluge of lawbreaking, immorality, betrayal and treasonous acts of our present administration and congress demands the harshest accountability possible. Nothing should be off the table.
In psychology, sometimes apathy is described as the extreme of anger. People are angry, then rageful, and eventually don't give a F#%$!
It might not be burnout as much as it is moral injury.
Thanks for your work.
"lack of accountability....." It's been a few months since I went trolling on You Tube looking for interviews with Trump supporters. But last fall, people still believed that he was the greatest and that he really cared about working class people.
This type of mindset won't go away overnight, especially with so many working class and/or rural people getting their TV news solely from Fox. Or, if tuning in by radio, it will be stations owned by Sinclair Broadcasting or Salem Broadcasting. The Dems don't have equivalents.
Good point.
Democracy 💯%!!!!
Nuremburg trials. Expanded Supreme Court. End gerrymandering. Statehood for D.C. and Puerto Rico.
Totally agree Mike. Accountability is about growth, if no-one is held accountable, how will they ever know what the expectations for the society we participate in is? AKA your Nixon reference.
Also now from outside, Canada, if there is no real accountability, and conscious corrections of the systems that allowed the kind of abuses on the world and humanitarian stage, why would we come back?
I am one person, one of 40 million. I have made approximately $50,000 in spending decisions specifically against or away from the USA since last January. From product to vacation. If the only lettuce in the store is from US (sorry California), I buy kale.
The effects of this American dalliance into insanity has hurt more than the sensibilities of neighbours, it hits at the very heart of trust in the countries ability to prevent this from happening again. For example, the country is seriously now leading to a Republican /Nazi leader for the next election cycle(s) ???
The world is now making moves that are set to be permanently disadvantageous to the US, it could be generations of discredit to your country. Sad, because the world needs (needed) a strong USA.
My observation: you can not wait. Fix this now, by whatever means possible. Get creative. Then get more creative. Once the power shifts, immediately restore the world food aid programs, and get Russia the hell out of Ukraine. Those would be 2 good steps in the right direction. But it will not wait 3 more years, accountability must start sooner, combined with clear provisions for future systematic preventions of the kinds of chronic failures that has been shown this last year.
On accountability I totally agree. At the same time I think the wholesale deconstruction of the government, social, and political norms is the primary plan. If Project 2025 fails to fulfill its broad swath of “reform”? Please fail. The amount of effort in reversing the changes, enforcement of established laws on the known and observable fraudsters and grifters, and crafting new more resilient guardrails on the other side will be significant. I know our representatives say they can do everything, and I admire those that seem to juggle multiple issues without loss of focus, but many do not perform.
We have seen how easy it is to take things apart without a plan for replacement or improvement. Firing the experts who could guide policy making. Ideological Dunning Kruger specimens in charge. Trump has proven over and over to be the arsonist, starting the fire, watching it burn, adding fuel, then showing up with a garden hose to help the professional fire fighters put out the fire; later claiming he, alone, put out the fire. As a legal fight over blame persists, “we” are left without a home or plan forward!
So many fires, so many houses to rebuild, what time remains for accountability? Is our slow moving legal system ready? I hope it is. I am not totally sure what the answer is, because I remember the debate about Ford pardoning Nixon. People were tired. Ready to move on. Thanks for being a voice that wants accountability. We are all going to be engaged with our elected officials at multiple levels of government and responsibility to force accountability and be able to find positive paths forward.