President Trump: The Coming Impeachment- Page 2

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 11/16/16 at 12:41am

You titled a thread with the ambition of a "Republican apocalypse," and now Republicans control the White House, both chambers of Congress, the majority of governorships, and soon, the Supreme Court. That would be categorically delusional and wrong.

I say "counterproductive" because you elect to continue brewing and boiling partisanship rather than taking meaningful action. If there's a specific piece of policy to which you believe Republican control poses a serious threat, why not start a thread or launch a petition to achieve your goal? Do something. Targeting Republicans and denouncing the President-elect gets nobody anywhere and just fuels bitter partisanship.

Updated On: 11/16/16 at 12:41 AM

[Petralicious]

Posted: 11/16/16 at 9:09am

BroadwayConcierge said: "You titled a thread with the ambition of a "Republican apocalypse," and now Republicans control the White House, both chambers of Congress, the majority of governorships, and soon, the Supreme Court. That would be categorically delusional and wrong.

I say "counterproductive" because you elect to continue brewing and boiling partisanship rather than taking meaningful action. If there's a specific piece of policy to which you believe Republican control poses a serious threat, why not start a thread or launch a petition to achieve your goal? Do something. Targeting Republicans and denouncing the President-elect gets nobody anywhere and just fuels bitter partisanship.

 

"Yes. It is sad what he has become. The sign of class and grace is to accept defeat, honour your opponent, brush yourself off, look at your faults and try and become better.  Not to have temper tantrum and refuse to eat your beets. 

 

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/16/16 at 10:05am

Stop whining about temper tantrums, you silly willies. The GOP spent eight years doing everything they could to obstruct President Obama. Now you must taste your own medicine. It's a bitter pill to swallow, but you SH*T it out the other end.

Meanwhile, a wise friend summed up Trump's first week thusly:

 

===

So, if I have it right: Trump didn't really put a transition team in place because he was superstitious and thought it would jinx his chances and because neither he nor his people got the fact that they would have to replace the entire White House staff. The figurehead transition guy, Chris Christie, was busy anyway, fighting a legal battle over the fact that he and his now convicted staff closed a bridge in NJ risking millions of lives in order to pay back his political enemies. Christie and his allies are now out because he put Trump's son-in-law's father-- who sent a male prostitute to his brother in law, filmed them having sex, and sent the tape anonymously to his sister--to prison for various sleezy stuff. Ivanka Trump, who attempted to use the 60 Minites interview to sell her bracelets, is now on the National Security team with her equally inexperienced brothers and they may all be given access to top secrets which may allow them to help the family business which has 522 international companies. The President elect who says he will spend several nights a week in NYC and the weekends in Palm Beach refuses to take steps to avoid conflicts of interests and seems determined to continue running his business despite being also the leader of, give or take Angela Merkel, the leader of the free a world, a job he says he can barely contemplate the enormity of. The chief candidate for Secretary of State who has spent months foaming at the mouth over Hillary Clinton's relationships with other nations has business relationships with Quatar and other nations and his potential conflicts of interests make Clinton's "look like a trifle" according to Politico. The other leading SOS candidate is a joke in the foreign policy community whom he terrifies with his desire to bomb just about everyone but is being pushed for the job by the wealthy donors to the President elect who has hired a Jew-hating white supremacist  with an apparent propensity for self-inflicted facial injury and no relevant experience to run his office which he has apparently not been doing because places like the Pentagon have not heard bupkis from said office about putting transition plans in place. The Vice President-elect, who is now supposed to head the transition team which no longer exists, at least not completely, has retreated to Indiana where he is engaged in a battle centered on his unwillingness to surrender a possibly damaging, yeah, you guessed it, email. Ben Carson who ran for President has turned down the opportunity to work in the White House because, though he was willing to assume the title of Chief Executive, he feels he lacks the necessary government experience. Oh yeah, we may lose Medicaid but don't worry because the people who are repealing Obamacare even though it originated in one of their own organizations are replacing it with something that looks a lot like, well, Obamacare. Kellyanne Conway is speaking very, very rapidly and just about every lobbyist in town is getting involved in the new administration. Oh: the President-Elect's opponent, the recipient of the second biggest vote count in American history, is now leading the President-Elect by two million votes but is being torn down by every commentator in Christendom for how badly she lost the election. The President- Elect's biggest supporter seems to be the man who he is replacing who he called the worst president in the history of the country. Andrea Mitchell seems constantly on the verge of tears. Joe and Mika are buoyant as are the Russians whose hacking of American computers in order to influence the outcome of our election seems to bother basically no one. Oh, and Sarah Palin seems to be heading for a cabinet position. There go the parks. But Conservatives who voted for Trump are also waking to disconcerting news. The GOP-backed infrastructure program and tax cuts, mainly for the rich, are expected to increase the deficit by $5.3 trillion. 

One week down.
 

Updated On: 11/16/16 at 10:05 AM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/16/16 at 10:15am

 

Note to Trumpian apologists Broadway Concierge and Suestorm: There is no surrender. The struggle is only born anew. 

The "partisanship" you complain of was not created last week. It was not created 8 years ago. It was created by the Founding Fathers, who argued bitterly among themselves to create this great country--not by stifling each other but by listening to each other. That "partisanship" you complain of is what we Americans proudly call FREE SPEECH.

Therefore, I will thank you not to to request our silence and complicity in the face of what we consider corruption and abuse of power.

Enforced silence is what we Americans call FASCISM. And we will fight fascism, as our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents.

And, as they defeated it, we will defeat it too.

 

 

Updated On: 11/16/16 at 10:15 AM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/16/16 at 11:08am

 

A Yale professor came up with these 20 things we all can to fight fascism in America:

 

===

 

From Tim Snyder, Professor of History at a Yale. 

"Americans are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience. Now is a good time to do so. Here are twenty lessons from the twentieth century, adapted to the circumstances of today"
.
1. Do not obey in advance. Much of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then start to do it without being asked. You've already done this, haven't you? Stop. Anticipatory obedience teaches authorities what is possible and accelerates unfreedom. 

2. Defend an institution. Follow the courts or the media, or a court or a newspaper. Do not speak of "our institutions" unless you are making them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions don't protect themselves. They go down like dominoes unless each is defended from the beginning. 

3. Recall professional ethics. When the leaders of state set a negative example, professional commitments to just practice become much more important. It is hard to break a rule-of-law state without lawyers, and it is hard to have show trials without judges. 

4. When listening to politicians, distinguish certain words. Look out for the expansive use of "terrorism" and "extremism." Be alive to the fatal notions of "exception" and "emergency." Be angry about the treacherous use of patriotic vocabulary. 

5. Be calm when the unthinkable arrives. When the terrorist attack comes, remember that all authoritarians at all times either await or plan such events in order to consolidate power. Think of the Reichstag fire. The sudden disaster that requires the end of the balance of power, the end of opposition parties, and so on, is the oldest trick in the Hitlerian book. Don't fall for it.

6. Be kind to our language. Avoid pronouncing the phrases everyone else does. Think up your own way of speaking, even if only to convey that thing you think everyone is saying. (Don't use the internet before bed. Charge your gadgets away from your bedroom, and read.) What to read? Perhaps "The Power of the Powerless" by Václav Havel, 1984 by George Orwell, The Captive Mind by Czes?aw Milosz, The Rebel by Albert Camus, The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt, or Nothing is True and Everything is Possible by Peter Pomerantsev. 

7. Stand out. Someone has to. It is easy, in words and deeds, to follow along. It can feel strange to do or say something different. But without that unease, there is no freedom. And the moment you set an example, the spell of the status quo is broken, and others will follow. 

8. Believe in truth. To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights.

9. Investigate. Figure things out for yourself. Spend more time with long articles. Subsidize investigative journalism by subscribing to print media. Realize that some of what is on your screen is there to harm you. Bookmark PropOrNot or other sites that investigate foreign propaganda pushes.

10. Practice corporeal politics. Power wants your body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen. Get outside. Put your body in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people. Make new friends and march with them. 

11. Make eye contact and small talk. This is not just polite. It is a way to stay in touch with your surroundings, break down unnecessary social barriers, and come to understand whom you should and should not trust. If we enter a culture of denunciation, you will want to know the psychological landscape of your daily life.

12. Take responsibility for the face of the world. Notice the swastikas and the other signs of hate. Do not look away and do not get used to them. Remove them yourself and set an example for others to do so. 

13. Hinder the one-party state. The parties that took over states were once something else. They exploited a historical moment to make political life impossible for their rivals. Vote in local and state elections while you can. 

14. Give regularly to good causes, if you can. Pick a charity and set up autopay. Then you will know that you have made a free choice that is supporting civil society helping others doing something good. 

15. Establish a private life. Nastier rulers will use what they know about you to push you around. Scrub your computer of malware. Remember that email is skywriting. Consider using alternative forms of the internet, or simply using it less. Have personal exchanges in person. For the same reason, resolve any legal trouble. Authoritarianism works as a blackmail state, looking for the hook on which to hang you. Try not to have too many hooks.

16. Learn from others in other countries. Keep up your friendships abroad, or make new friends abroad. The present difficulties here are an element of a general trend. And no country is going to find a solution by itself. Make sure you and your family have passports. 

17. Watch out for the paramilitaries. When the men with guns who have always claimed to be against the system start wearing uniforms and marching around with torches and pictures of a Leader, the end is nigh. When the pro-Leader paramilitary and the official police and military intermingle, the game is over.

18. Be reflective if you must be armed. If you carry a weapon in public service, God bless you and keep you. But know that evils of the past involved policemen and soldiers finding themselves, one day, doing irregular things. Be ready to say no. (If you do not know what this means, contact the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and ask about training in professional ethics.) 

19. Be as courageous as you can. If none of us is prepared to die for freedom, then all of us will die in unfreedom.

20. Be a patriot. The incoming president is not. Set a good example of what America means for the generations to come. They will need it."

Timothy Snyder
Housum Professor of History
Yale University
Author: "Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning"

[Petralicious]

Posted: 11/16/16 at 11:17am

Huh?  No one is saying you cant disagree or be silent. I think we need to, To remind you, I have made my support of Hilary, despite knowing she flawed,  known many times here. But youre living in fantasy world to claim the Republicans are in Apocolypse is just not only dead wrong.

Your prediction of the end of the party isnt so bad. You were not the only one.  The Media predicted that too.  But now its time to mea culpa. They own President, Senate, House, Supreme Court, Governors, State Legistatives. But To keep living in denial, you sound like those people who deny Evolution, or Climate Change.   

 

 

Updated On: 11/16/16 at 11:17 AM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/16/16 at 11:25am

 

But now its time to mea culpa.

 

Right, Suestorm. That's exactly the cowardly attitude you Ukrainians displayed during World War Two, and we all know how those mea culpas worked out for the Ukrainians. (And how they took their frustrations out on the Ukrainian Jews.)

No thanks, Suestorm. Your advice is worthless in America. We like to fight fascism--you like to kowtow to it.

 

 

 

[Kristie-K2]

Posted: 11/16/16 at 11:35am

I love your Passion, Pal Joey

[Petralicious]

Posted: 11/16/16 at 11:42am

PalJoey, your lies, name calling and hatefulness is as pathetic as your predictions

Updated On: 11/16/16 at 11:42 AM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/16/16 at 11:51am

 

Love you too, Kristie!

 

[Petralicious]

Posted: 11/16/16 at 11:58am

Pal Joey if you went out of your way to type all that out for my benefit I'm going to ask you to please stop wasting your time because I'm not going to bother to read it. (credit: CarlosAlberto)

Updated On: 11/16/16 at 11:58 AM

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 11/16/16 at 12:34pm

...right. Have fun with all that, PJ. 

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 11/16/16 at 6:41pm

Early Warnings: How American Journalists Reported the Rise of Hitler

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/03/early-warnings-how-american-journalists-reported-the-rise-of-hitler/254146/

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/16/16 at 11:46pm

 

Posted by another one of my smart friends:

 

If anyone tells you this year was a landslide win for Republicans or that they have some kind of popular mandate, kindly remind them that Democrats gained 2 Senate seats, 5 House seats, and over 1,000,000 more votes for President than the Republican.

 

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 11/16/16 at 11:59pm

One silver lining of this is that I am certain we are going to turn out in droves for midterms in 2018. My generation, especially, is paying a lot more attention than they have in the past. I have never seen such a massive uptick in engagement with politics and activism on a practical level as I have in the past week. It's not a rejection of the reality, just a rejection that this can or should ever be normal for our country. 

[madbrian]

Posted: 11/17/16 at 8:58am

Scarywarhol said: "One silver lining of this is that I am certain we are going to turn out in droves for midterms in 2018. My generation, especially, is paying a lot more attention than they have in the past. I have never seen such a massive uptick in engagement with politics and activism on a practical level as I have in the past week. It's not a rejection of the reality, just a rejection that this can or should ever be normal for our country."

I hope so, but that would be contrary to past performance.

[Petralicious]

Posted: 11/17/16 at 9:02am

Updated On: 11/17/16 at 09:02 AM

[Petralicious]

Posted: 11/17/16 at 9:11am

PalJoey said: " If anyone tells you this year was a landslide win for Republicans or that they have some kind of popular mandate, kindly remind them that Democrats gained 2 Senate seats, 5 House seats, and over 1,000,000 more votes for President than the Republican.

 "As usual Pal Joey lives in place only reserved for Climate Change and Evolution deniers. 



Thank you a lot Obama!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/12/these-3-maps-show-just-how-dominant-republicans-are-in-america-after-tuesday/

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/17/16 at 1:19pm

 

It may be a long time comin', but I KNOW a change is gonna come.

 

Oh, yes, it WILL.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/17/16 at 1:20pm

 

And Cheyenne Jackson agrees with Al Green.

 

[kdogg36]

Posted: 11/17/16 at 1:30pm

madbrian said: "I hope so, but that would be contrary to past performance."

Well, it would be in line with 2006, the last midterm election with a Republican president. 2018 will be harder for Democrats due to increased gerrymandering and a lot of Senate seats to defend, but I'd be surprised if they didn't make some gains.

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 11/17/16 at 3:27pm

A 12-Step Program for Responding to President-Elect Trump

Traumatized by the election results, many Americans are asking: What now? Here are steps that any of us can take that can make a difference at the margins. Onward!

1. I WILL accept that my side lost, but I won’t acquiesce in injustice and I will gird for battle on issues I care about. I will call or write my member of Congress and express my opposition to mass deportation, to cutting 22 million people off health insurance, to nominations of people who are unqualified or bigoted, to reduced access to contraception and cancer screenings. Better yet, I’ll attend my representative’s town meeting and put him or her on the spot.

2. I WILL try to do small things in my own life, recognizing that they are inadequate but at least a start: I will sign up on the Council on American-Islamic Relations website, volunteering to fight Islamophobia. I’ll call a local mosque to offer support, or join an interfaith event. I will sign up for an “accompany my neighbor” list if one exists for my area, to be an escort for anyone who is now in fear.

3. I WILL avoid demonizing people who don’t agree with me about this election, recognizing that it’s as wrong to stereotype Trump supporters as anybody else. I will avoid Hitler metaphors, recognizing that they stop conversations and rarely persuade. I’ll remind myself that no side has a monopoly on truth and that many Trump supporters are good people who want the best for the country. The left already has gotten into trouble for condescending to working-class people, and insulting all Trump supporters as racists simply magnifies that problem.

4. I’LL DO my part to support the society I’d like to see. I’ll eat Chobaniyogurt because its owner has been subjected to racist attacks for his willingness to hire and promote refugees. Likewise, I will give blood and register for organ donation — for at least they’ll make me feel better. As will a tub of Chobani.

5. I WILL support groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center that fight hate groups, and back the center’s petition calling on Donald Trump to disavow bigotry. Depending on my interests, I’ll support an immigration rights group, the A.C.L.U. or Planned Parenthood. And I’ll subscribe to a newspaper as one way of resisting efforts to squelch the news media or preside over a post-fact landscape — and also to encourage journalists to be watchdogs, not lap dogs.

6. I WILL support refugees, one of the most demonized groups in the world. The International Rescue Committee’s work for refugees can for the first time be supported through donations to The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund. In many cities in America and abroad, volunteer can help refugees through this I.R.C. portal. More refugee resettlement agencies are here.

7. I WON’T let it slide if a friend makes degrading comments about a minority or women. Even if it’s over Thanksgiving dinner, I’ll push back and say something like: “Come on! You really think that?!” Similarly, I may not be able to prevent a sexual predator from reaching the White House, but at events I attend, I may be able to prevent a sexual predator from assaulting a drunken partygoer.

8. I WILL resist dwelling in an echo chamber. I will follow smart people on Twitter or Facebook with whom I disagree. I will also try to enlarge my social circle to include people with different views, recognizing that diversity is a wonderful thing — and that if I know only Clinton supporters, then I don’t have a clue about America.

9. I WILL do what I can in my own life to make sure that the needy aren’t forgotten in the next four years amid paroxysms of tax cuts for the wealthy. I can support Reach Out and Read, an outstanding program that helps at-risk kids learn to read: A $20 donation covers one child for a year, or one can serve as a reader. Or I can be a Big Brother or Big Sister or help through iMentor.

10. I WILL understand that progress may unfold at the state or local level, and I will engage there. It’s encouraging that voters in four states passed minimum wage measures, and in three states approved gun safety measures, while other states and localities are wrestling with climate change. And, of course, a starting point is to get my friends to vote.

11. I WILL take on sexism and misogyny, which in forms like domestic violence, sexual assault and sex trafficking affect women and girls across the country. Even today, Republicans and Democrats should be able to work together to get funding for women’s shelters or to prosecute pimps.

12. I WILL not lose hope. I will keep reminding myself that politics zigs and zags, and that I can do more than shout in the wind. I can fight for my values even between elections, and even at the micro level I can mitigate the damage to my neighbors and attempt to heal a social fabric that has been rent.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/17/opinion/a-12-step-program-for-responding-to-president-elect-trump.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=0

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 11/17/16 at 3:51pm

3. I WILL avoid demonizing people who don’t agree with me about this election, recognizing that it’s as wrong to stereotype Trump supporters as anybody else. I will avoid Hitler metaphors, recognizing that they stop conversations and rarely persuade. I’ll remind myself that no side has a monopoly on truth and that many Trump supporters are good people who want the best for the country. The left already has gotten into trouble for condescending to working-class people, and insulting all Trump supporters as racists simply magnifies that problem.

 

Yeah, good luck with getting that point across with the drama queens on this board. Emphasis on drama, emphasis on queens.... 

:: DROPS MIC ::
Updated On: 11/17/16 at 03:51 PM

[Broadwayboy2631]

Posted: 11/17/16 at 4:47pm

I like how republicans have appropriated "mic drop" to mean, "I don't have facts to go on further with this coversation. So, I'm just going to say something bigoted, and no longer engage in this conversation.". 

[sabrelady]

Posted: 11/17/16 at 6:03pm

From NOW Magazine in Toronto

 

Yes, it will get weirder and, yes, it will get worse.

BY JONATHAN GOLDSBIE

 

Dear Americans,

Hello from Toronto. We promise not to be smarmy or condescending.

It's just that we have some experience electing a uniquely unqualified bigoted demagogue whose stunted emotional maturity and tenuous grasp of reality caused people to fear for things they held dear. But while we can't pretend that our late former mayor was ever nearly as terrifying as your president-elect, there are sufficient similarities that it may be worth comparing notes.

There's a whole subgenre of Toronto punditry devoted to examining Donald Trump in light of Rob Ford, and you can easily Google it, but what echoes right now is the sense of post-election destabilization — the shockwave radiating from a political system deliberately smashed to bits by an electorate that seems to prefer the whims of a narcissistic thug.

 

Please do not mistake the following for wisdom — being aware of these perils in advance will not make a sliver of difference. But they may help you be less surprised by some of the phenomena coming your way, so you can put that much more mental and emotional energy toward thwarting the looming ethnic cleanse. (We, uh, didn't have to deal with that part here.)

So here are 10 things we learned the hard way:

1) It will get weirder and it will get worse. Everything you have seen, heard, and learned up until now really was just the beginning. In addition to all of the foreseeable ways that Trump's taking office will be destructive, the saga of his presidency will dart down brain-melting paths of which you could not possibly have conceived. Your institutions of democracy will be confronted with, and overwhelmed by, circumstances they were not set up to handle. And you will discover gaps in the law that you never before noticed, because some principles of governance had been deemed too obvious to require spelling out. 

2) A marginal victory will be mistaken for a crushing mandate. By merely outperforming expectations, Trump will be treated as though he possesses unrestricted moral authority to reshape systems of government in his image, despite failing to obtain a popular plurality, let alone a majority. And while it remains substantial and not to be underestimated, the extent of his support will still be exaggerated.

3) You will be abandoned by your elite class. Regardless of how little you expected from them in the first place, you will still be disappointed by how much of the business and media establishment — even, perhaps especially, those institutions previously skeptical of Trump — will come to kowtow to him and his supporters. They will make their best efforts to curry favour by treating him as a conventional office-holder, even when all evidence points to the contrary.

4) Yes, it will be like Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows. Trump will, for as long as possible, attempt to govern via fear, and that will resonate through every branch of society that even indirectly interacts with government. Many places from which you would hope to hear bold statements of defiance will censor themselves, cowering under instincts of self-preservation.

5) You will run out of pop-cultural metaphors. You will spend years straining yourself to draw new parallels with familiar narratives, until you realize that nothing can be adequate because reality has displaced fiction.

6) You will never so thoroughly hate your country and be more proud of it at the same time.You will encounter ugliness, anger, and self-destructive impulses on such a scale that it will fundamentally reshape your understanding of the nation. But you will also be moved and astounded by people's capacity to organize and resist. You will learn to articulate values that you'd previously taken for granted — of dignity, of compassion, of the greater societal project — and why it is they're worth fighting for.

7) Forces of intolerance will become even less abstract. Every bigot emboldened by Trump's victory will grow more self-assured as his twisted rhetoric becomes further normalized. At the same time, movements like Pride and Black Lives Matter that had flirted with the mainstream will once again be recognized as radical acts of protest. Visibility and solidarity will resume prominence as the binding fabric of persecuted communities.

The political centre will shift. The new administration's extreme positions — regardless of whether they bear any resemblance to actual conservatism — will be accepted as the new standard for the right. And people who fancy themselves moderates will weigh those nonsensical propositions with undue seriousness, plopping themselves on the middle ground between policy and insanity, as though that is the most reasonable and open-minded thing to do. This group may include an alarming number of elected Democrats.

9) Things will eventually get calmer, but they will not get much better. Dullness will become a political selling point in and of itself, and following Trump, any middling presidential candidate who can offer anything less than absolute chaos will be welcomed with open arms. After four years of Trump, the standard for competence will be permanently lowered, and the public will be too exhausted to care. He will not be replaced by a figure from the left but by the avatar of a political establishment that has sensed an opening. The 2020 Democratic challenger will not offer an antidote to Trumpism but rather a more artful appeal to many of the same instincts.

10) There will not be a saviour. Trump will not be brought down by any one individual (except possibly himself). His defeat will be slow and incremental, and will not take place in the courts. It will require the collective and concerted work of every segment of society that cannot stand for his ****, spending years on gradually chipping away at his authority.

You have our condolences. We hope we can find a way to be of greater assistance.

Sincerely,

A city that devoted several years to scrutinizing the psychology of a deeply troubled leader and those who adored him