Say it now and keep saying it: Republicans are incompetent and corrupt and selfish
(For the flaggers, no this is not a call to actual violence, it is an allegorical use of the term indicating that we must fight them with words and rhetoric, not violence, okay?)
I am watching with great fear the incredible amount of capitulation to King Donald, before he is even crowned.
I see even too much in the Dems: Joe with the invite to the WH, for a smile and make nice with the man who tried to destroy our nation. We have Bernie openly announcing he is perfectly willing to work with Trump on some issues.
Way to normalize him guys. Its like we don’t believe our own rhetoric, that Trump is an existential threat to our democracy. It seems almost everyone is just willing to turn the page and pretend this is a normal period with a normal president.
John Stoehr has a great article at Raw Story ( It’s time to decimate the Republicans’ standing with the public — and the press , paywall). Here are some key bits:
Whenever the Democrats are in power, the Republicans manufacture a make believe crisis – for instance, “open borders.” They do this for the purpose of pushing the Democrats out. Once they are back, the Republicans trigger a real crisis – for instance, the covid pandemic. At that point, the Democrats say to voters, “look at this mess!” They vow to clean it up. Once the Democrats are in power again, the Republicans begin scheming for ways to manufacture another make believe crisis.
Instead of leading public opinion, the Democrats outsource that risk and responsibility to an amoral Washington press corps that they can only hope will communicate,accurately and in good faith, all the harms done by the Republicans. Then and only then do the Democrats offer solutions to the public. They never say “ I told you so” when they have every right to say it. And because they don’t say it, the Democrats expose themselves to the idea that the crisis wasn’t caused by bad people making bad choices for bad reasons.
And finally, the plan (and hope I am okay with fair use. If not for the paywall I would have copied less).
The Democrats, starting with the ones in the Senate, have a chance to break this cycle. Instead of following public opinion, they can lead it by voting unanimously against every one of Trump’s cabinet picks after declaring, in one form or another during confirmation hearings, that:
- the Trump administration will be the worst of our lifetimes;
- it will trigger another harmful, lasting crisis, as it did last time;
- all Trump’s campaign promises are going to be exposed as lies;
- and this is what happens when democracy empowers grifters who care about themselves more than the American people.
- In doing this, the Democrats can create power where they currently have little. Make the allegations now – repeatedly, aggressively and, if need be, with righteous fury. Dismiss questions about whether this is bad behavior. The press corps never asks the Republicans why they blame the Democrats for everything. Have faith that something bad is going to happen, because something bad has always happened whenever the Republicans have power. When the bad thing does indeed happen, point to it as proof of the allegations that have been made the entire time, elevating the Democrats over the Republicans. Then, when the time is right, declare loudly and proudly that the Republicans were wrong. They’re incompetent and corrupt and selfish. They don’t care about the people. We know because look at this mess!
- In other words, I told you so.
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