This is gaining momentum, and it’s going to get very, very dangerous for you and me.
The President is considering resurrecting the just dismantled Covid-19 Task Force. The reason? “I had no idea how popular the Task Force was.” He thought that the outcry regarding the destruction of the force was an indication that the public really enjoyed his daily public meltdowns, that they missed him, when in fact the pushback was really highlighting the need for a legitimate version of this task force to factually confront the challenge of the pandemic, and rather than cleanse it from the campaign rhetoric that had no place in these presentations, the President just closed them down. But this changed everything. For Trump it was like Sally Field suddenly realizing her peers thought she was ok. “You like me! You really like me!” This misunderstanding is having consequences.
He is re-energized, his super-sized ego growing even larger. After surviving a gaff that may never be equaled (several contenders, but injecting disinfectant won) and with the perception that the public was solidly behind him, he has begun to take the “Open America First” campaign into overdrive.
The Adminstration rolled out a detailed plan almost a month ago now for how to restart our business in a safe and orderly way. 3 Phases of increasing lattitude in movement and interconnection had been crafted carefully by health professionals. By the next day it was on the ash heap, the President mocking it by encouraging states to ignore it. It was essentially ignored from then on.
The CDC did much the same thing, coming up with a comprehensive strategy of how to open the country back up in a safe and responsible way. They presented their findings to the White House. Today the Administration rejected the study, sent it back to the CDC for revisions, telling them the restrictions were too invasive. Tone it down.
What is the CDC to do now? They put together a document that represented their best strategy of how to move forward. They were not looking for a grade. They were not turning in a mid-term with fingers crossed. They were giving the best scientific advice they are capable of providing. It is understandable that the Administration would find their recommendations inconvenient, but this is not the kind of thing that gets negotiated, that you work out a great deal on. So the Administration squashed it. It was supposed to be published Friday. You will not be seeing it. The President is brazenly confident that you will accept this now.
Another exciting news item today was the Dept. of Justice dropping their case against Michael Flynn, the admitted felon who was fired from his job by the President for lying to the VP. The Administration has consistently defended the former National Security Advisor (just typing that feels absurd) ever since, declaring him a patriot, a hero, and so on. It seems more than coincidental that this declaration by Justice comes right after the President realized he had been the Star of another hit reality show that he had self-cancelled. The public loved him! He could do anything now. Hey Bill….!
There is no guarantee that the judge hearing the Flynn case will go along. The court has some leeway at this late stage of the game. After all, they were all the way to sentencing. Innocence or guilt had already been determined. The premise of the Justice Department’s declaration was that his guilt or innocence was not relevant to the overriding investigation made by Mueller from which it had stemmed. It’s flimsy, but it is a test of how far their coup is along. Had they made it this far yet? A.G. Barr was asked in an interview how he thought history would remember his Justice Department, and he replied “History is written by the winners. We’ll see.” He was grinning broadly while answering.
We’ll see.
They have certainly made it far enough to try it. They are far enough along this hostile takeover of America that even if they can’t reverse the Flynn case, if they fail to spring the Lt. General of his crimes, it won’t hurt them. They will not be found accountable for even poor judgement. They never are.
That truth is very damaging to us all. Because nothing happens literally no matter what they do, there is no reason not to try again, to push the envelope of how far the country will allow them to destroy it for their own ends. It’s alarming how complacent the country is. Perhaps it’s knowing that there is an imminent election and this will be sorted out then that makes any kind of immediate pushback seem senseless.
Perhaps it is, but it feels irresponisble. It just seems like with so much open graft of the system, so much lying, stupidity, secrecy, cruelty, and on and on that we should be doing something, anything. Six months is a long time, and then even if he is ousted we have to survive two more months. The risk of all of that seems immense to me.
There are three ways the timeline could be shortened. The 25th Amendment allows for the removal of a President if they are unable to perform their duties by the judgement of the Cabinet and the Vice President.
One down. They will never turn on him. This collection of thieves would never have risen to the heights they have on their own merits. Impossible. Reduced to pals and sychophants all, they will go down with the ship. They are so devoted they will never notice the water around their ankles.
The second option is a second impeachment. Unprecedented, it would immediately be characterized as proof that it was a partisan witch hunt. The only hope of this actually happening is if behind the scenes there is large GOP support, unspoken but lurking and finally deciding to strike. There is a miniscule possibility of this, that he becomes such a liability at home that the Senators abandon their wet dream made flesh. But realistically the time for this is probably far too short. It would have to be an overwhelming movement that crashed onto the scene, suddenly overturning 3+ years of precedent. What are the odds?
Let’s move on.
The third possiblity is us. What if millions of us were on the concourse? At the Capitol, surrounding the White House, stopping motion around the levers of government. So many of us, all in masks, carefully spaced, but unmoved, unmovable. Day after day after day. The people, speaking loudly, united. Too big a number to be dispersed or ignored. We the people, rising once again on our own hind legs against a tyranny we refuse to accept, the step too far being crossed long ago, and we are more than mad as hell.
Strike three.