Freak Out Friday – April 10, 2020

The GOP has traditionally stood for Grand Old Party.  

I think in the age of Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell, the initials should be changed.  The alteration should be made to reflect what the party has become.  Because the modern state of the Republicans would not be recognized by Ronald Reagan, although Richard Nixon would doubtless be envious of it.

GOP should henceforth be changed to Guardians of Power.

Thanks to everything from gerrymandering to voter suppression, the majority of representation in the government belongs to the minority of voters.  Hillary Clinton’s three million vote triumph, which to this day Trump absolutely refuses to acknowledge as legitimate, is just the tip of the iceberg.  There are states such as Wisconsin where Democrats vote in the majority but the Republicans rule thanks to disproportionate representation.

Indeed, let us focus briefly on Wisconsin.  The state where voters were forced to make a choice between fulfilling their civic responsibility and risking their lives.  Voting places in heavily Democratic areas disappeared, resulting in lines that were reportedly three miles long.  While the Democratic governor attempted to push back election day, the GOP united in overturning that ruling and pushing the matter all the way to the SCOTUS, where Trump’s majority insanely supported the notion that voters who had not yet received their absentee ballots had to have them postmarked by election day.  How nice that they were able to rush through that ruling in time to screw over tens of thousands of mostly Democratic voters while delaying the cases about Trump’s tax returns.

Meanwhile the GOP as a whole and Trump in particular continue to exploit the Coronavirus for all it’s worth.  While Republican governors outlaw abortion, dismissing an extremely time sensitive procedure as not being a medical necessity, Trump is busy declaring that mail in voting should not be allowed because—and for once he admitted the truth—you’ll never see a Republican win an election.  Yet again he said aloud the part that you’re only supposed to think.  For once, he was truthful, although not for the reason he supposed.  My assumption is that he believes that voting by mail will ensure cheating, even though there is no proof on record of mail-in voting being used fraudulently. It’s right up there with his ludicrous assertions that people would vote, then go out to their car, change clothing and walk back in to vote again.

Yes, the GOP aggressively does everything it can to block voting, particularly for the poor, students, Hispanics and people of color, since those groups all tend to vote Democratic.  Because they are no longer interested in governing; they’re interested in retaining power and will do everything they can to hold onto it.

Donald Trump is both a product of this mindset and also its leader.  In the past several weeks, he fired Michael Atkinson, the inspector general who did his job by bringing the whistle blower complaint to congress, and Glenn Fine, the inspector general who was tasked with overseeing the $2 trillion slush fund that Trump is undoubtedly going to steer toward people he likes and quite probably himself.  

So let’s see where we are in our democracy.

The GOP continues to rule the Senate with an iron fist, ignoring their oaths and letting Trump off in the impeachment trial while doing everything they can to stymie voters from removing either Trump or them from office.  Meanwhile the Supreme Court does whatever Trump wants, the four member minority helpless to convince their associates to attend to, or even remember, the rule of law.  The founders created our government to be three co-equal branches.  That is no longer the case.  The legislative and judicial branches are now completely subservient to the desires and whims of Donald Trump, a man who openly and aggressively courts and admires and envies dictators.

Let’s check the definition of a dictator, shall we

Dictator:  1) A ruler with total power over a country, typically one who has taken control by force.  2). A person who behaves in an autocratic way.

Autocrat:  Someone who insists on complete obedience from others; an imperious or domineering person.

That pretty much settles it, folks.  With his systematic dismissing of people from office whose job was to provide oversite and control, and with his party doing everything they can to steal the next election just as they stole the one in Wisconsin, Trump is no longer on his way to becoming a dictator.  By every demonstrable measure, he IS a dictator.

Welcome to North Korea.  Welcome to Russia. Welcome to Nazi Germany.

PAD