There have been a couple of books that tried to relate past history to the present and let people know as bad as this disastrous (and most corrupt) presidency is, we’ll survive. Jon Meacham’s “The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels” is one I have purchased but right now is just in my reading line. But there are others that cover this, too.
But this video says it quite well. That is not a surprise. But what’s nice here is he says we need both Republicans and Democrats to make the country work. That certainly isn’t happening now thanks to the partisan wall put up by Trump. There are probably people on the other side of the aisle who’ll refuse to take in what the video says. That’s a shame.
America usually gets it right eventually. The nation has made mistakes before and corrected them. Granted, this one is kind of a doozy - but, there have been those in our history as well. We’ll get through this one as well.
The problem with the Trump administration isn’t that we’re plunging into an abyss right now. It’s the long term damage to the institutions that will linger for decades.
Take Ronan Farrow’s book about State. He paints a very believable picture of diminished Department of State authority in deference to the Pentagon, starting with the Bush administration and going through Obama. Trump didn’t do anything different in this regard, but because he’s leaving so many deputy level staff positions vacant, there’s just a dearth of talent that will show up when we need someone to negotiate 10 years from now and no one has that experience.
Constant attacks on the FBI can’t be doing much for morale there. I have no special information or anything but I’d have to think that’s a pretty polarized organization at this point, between Trumplandia and the people Trump attacks repeatedly.
Then you have much longer term trends like rolling back environmental regulations. Someone has to clean all of this up, but it’s going to be decades from now before we even return to a 2016 baseline, only we will have fewer tools to do it because deficits apparently don’t matter anymore.
Of course none of this even touches on Trump’s assault on the democratic process, libel laws, an independent criminal justice system, etc. America will obviously physically survive the next two years. But the complicity of the GOP in all of the above listed shows that they are literally willing to burn down institutions they supported 2 years ago to never let go of power. We might not have crossed the Rubicon, but the Gracchi have definitely been murdered.
It may seem that way, but I think a lot of our reaction has been to what’s been happening in Washington. Trump has really broken the bounds of what any of us (meaning both you and me) expected a president to be like and act like. If he was a decent human being, that wouldn’t be cause for alarm. But being the person he is, it is.
And props to you for engaging in this discussion. We need more of this. A lot more.
No i disagree with your conclusion.
I think we have evidence for a very long time that Presidents are not all that Presidential. Just depends on what you call being presidential.
Is it Presidential to cheat on your wife with an Intern in the Oval Office and Lie about it?
Trump just shined the light on that most people view presidential as acting all nice and speak well while shafting the Interns and the people.
I think it’s hilarious and shows how foolish, scared and low info folks are that believe it’s the end of the world once a president comes into office. When President Bush was in office and 9/11 happened people thought we were going to be in WW3. WRONG! We still here.
When President Obama was in office crazy ass folks and it was A LOT OF THEM who are still on this board(don’t think we forgot about you all, we still see YOU) thought America was going to become a communist, Marxists, socialists, fascists, Islamic state all at the same damn time while its citizens are paying for $7 gas. WRONG! We still the United States, not one brown shirt to be found.
Now as incompetent, immoral and racists our current president is, this too shall pass. I think about what Dave Chappelle said in his Netflix comedy skit. LOL! I know for black folks, as bad as 45 is and will continue to be, historically we are built for his ■■■■■■■■ and his ■■■■■■■■ policies. Either in 2020 or 2024 someone else is going to come along with the political Ctrl-alt-del on trumpism and guess what…him and all of his supporters will go back under the rocks they came from and hopefully disappear for good. MAGA deez…
She’s already great, it’s the partisans, talk show pundits, their 2nd string wannabees, the ass holes on capital hill and the fool in the White House who are making her look like a fool.
Heard an interesting take on the trumper base this morning. Guy (forget who) compared them to parents that love their children no matter how rotten they are. Sure Johnny can’t read, does drugs, and skips school most of the time but we have to love him - he’s our son.
