As a moral program this is unarguable. As a political program I fear it can't be implemented other than, perhaps, at gunpoint, and I doubt many would agree that we can impose public morality--civic grace--by force.
Some share of our fellow citizens lives under the delusion that all of this is fine. No, not fine: welcome. Heroic. Whether it's because they love "Trump," the character, or because they share the white supremacists' worldview, or because they've been well trained to despise liberals, they can't be reached. That part of their identity lies too deep.
So we're stuck: we can't do away with this evil, this urgent threat, but we can't tolerate it either.
A second civil war is not impossible but difficult to conceptualize given that the split is far more urban vs. rural than between red and blue states. More likely IMO is increasing chaos and violence, Minneapolis going national, until eventually the military stages a coup to impose order, perhaps with partners from industry or state/local governments.
How we put the pieces back together after that is also difficult to picture. I could imagine a radically reorganized federal government ceding much of its powers to states or local areas--a concession to the reality that after decades of polarization, we no longer share values, but still share some material interests, and the role of a reimagined federal government is limited to protecting those interests.
Maybe this was inevitable. The duality in the American character was present since colonial times. The Constitution was always both a cage and a key to escaping the cage. Liberals (as opposed to leftists--a vital distinction that often goes willfully unmade) always believed that in the end we could harness the processes of the Constitution to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence. Reactionaries always read the Declaration with an editor's pen, scratching out "all" in their drive to render alienable the rights of those they loathe. Separation, in fact if not on a map, might be the least worst result.
The comments from these good people encourage me to again call South Dakota’s delegation: John Thune ‘people who oppose Trump suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome’, Mike Rounds “Kristi Noem has a hard job” and Dusty Johnson, who can spin the news with the best of ‘em. It’s frustrating and so concerning knowing that they MUST know the danger we are in as a country and still they show no signs of reclaiming the power of Congress to control the taxpayers money and restrain a rogue president. It is so discouraging but begin again, I will.
Rick: A few years back, I read (or maybe audiobooked) your book. Running Against the Devil. It made the argument that too many of the Dems who attract passion from the left will never win a general election. You promoted Biden in 2020 as the kind of person who could win. But a non-threatening guy like Biden then appointed an AG who didn't push hard or fast enough. So how do we elect somebody who won't scare the independents and will still have the passion to take on and destroy the MAGA/fascist movement root and branch?
This is all well and good but we need to focus on how to win the midterms with criminals running our government and planning to steal the election. Otherwise, everything in this article is moot.
I’ve been agreeing with you since I first heard you and the Lincoln Project when our national nightmare started 10+ years ago. I have no failure of imagination. I’m coming to the conclusion that fully exposing the Epstein scandal is the only thing that can stop him and the lieutenants who have been complicit in that horror. He’s a monster who revels in ALL of THIS chaos and suffering. The more innocent people suffer the better. His lieutenants are just as monstrous and terrified of being exposed for their own crimes. They WILL do anything to protect him because he’s their only hope to escape accountability. He gets off every time he escalates anything anywhere. Even Epstein knew he was bad news.
YIKES!! Not that "yikes" are anywhere enough these days. . .The fire of moral outrage is more than merely warranted and necessary, for sure. But we also need the water of compassion. Blanket condemnation of an entire political swath will only affirm Gandhi's warning that an eye-for-an-eye leaves both sides blind. Reparations, restoration of mutuality and trust, cultural renewal. Not good retribution to avenge bad retribution. Turning down the heat, for real. Which is impossible when embued with righteous indignation. So, I guess what I'm saying is "Right on!" to most of the legislative and policy suggestions about undoing Executive Orders and restoring agencies, etc., but no to wholesale prosecution and purging. But first things first, ehh?? Are we doing everything possible to protect the integrity of the mid-terms and 2028?
There’s a large and difficult concerning omission from all of this that deserves further discussion-in this country we have a sprawling ecosystem in our media and social media that would rather slow, impede, or even sabotage such a stopping and ending of this unamerican machinery for the sake of its own survival and for profit.
Our first amendment protects its existence and presents a challenge-in order to rebuild our country into one with civic grace, can it be done without silencing the no doubt howling dissent of the current far right and pro-authoritarian movement in the country when (not if God willing) they lose political power? I can’t imagine such a movement would be radiated from the body of our nation quietly or with shame but with the defiant rage we’ve seen festering for decades. Would the mouthpieces and influencers of this movement also be subject to its excise? Trump in addition to being every accurate description you’ve thoughtfully provided-is also a dark mirror of the American public that chose him three times. Education and response our traditions takes time-generations and the ending of this unamericanism needs to be as swift as possible. It’s a problem I worry about often-as Trump is the avatar, representative, and permission structure of every degenerate, white supremecist, Christian Nationalist, fascist incel, thuggish outcast, and a yield ranging from the outright deplorable to the uneducated and civilly naive, easily misled population exhausted by traditional politics and entertained by his reality TV/WWE style of rhetoric.
I worry that any attempt to stop and end this movement will simply mobilize this large minority of the country and jeopardize its success unless the rest of the country is far louder and able to drown them out.
But this was an excellent read-well done as usual, Rick.
I agree with what you have written here, but we can't pretend that this all started with Trump or will end with him. I remember the campaign against Max Cleland, a triple amputee and war hero, where he was demonized and called a coward and traitor. I knew then that these people had no patriotism, no honor, no appreciation for what the best of America stood for. Money and power and an ignorant citizenry all go together. We have a lot of clean-up and educating to do.
As a moral program this is unarguable. As a political program I fear it can't be implemented other than, perhaps, at gunpoint, and I doubt many would agree that we can impose public morality--civic grace--by force.
Some share of our fellow citizens lives under the delusion that all of this is fine. No, not fine: welcome. Heroic. Whether it's because they love "Trump," the character, or because they share the white supremacists' worldview, or because they've been well trained to despise liberals, they can't be reached. That part of their identity lies too deep.
So we're stuck: we can't do away with this evil, this urgent threat, but we can't tolerate it either.
A second civil war is not impossible but difficult to conceptualize given that the split is far more urban vs. rural than between red and blue states. More likely IMO is increasing chaos and violence, Minneapolis going national, until eventually the military stages a coup to impose order, perhaps with partners from industry or state/local governments.
How we put the pieces back together after that is also difficult to picture. I could imagine a radically reorganized federal government ceding much of its powers to states or local areas--a concession to the reality that after decades of polarization, we no longer share values, but still share some material interests, and the role of a reimagined federal government is limited to protecting those interests.
Maybe this was inevitable. The duality in the American character was present since colonial times. The Constitution was always both a cage and a key to escaping the cage. Liberals (as opposed to leftists--a vital distinction that often goes willfully unmade) always believed that in the end we could harness the processes of the Constitution to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence. Reactionaries always read the Declaration with an editor's pen, scratching out "all" in their drive to render alienable the rights of those they loathe. Separation, in fact if not on a map, might be the least worst result.
How do we combat the oligarchs who will bury us in all they buy?
The comments from these good people encourage me to again call South Dakota’s delegation: John Thune ‘people who oppose Trump suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome’, Mike Rounds “Kristi Noem has a hard job” and Dusty Johnson, who can spin the news with the best of ‘em. It’s frustrating and so concerning knowing that they MUST know the danger we are in as a country and still they show no signs of reclaiming the power of Congress to control the taxpayers money and restrain a rogue president. It is so discouraging but begin again, I will.
Dear Rick thank you for this article that has hope and solutions. WE NEED MORE SOLUTIONS AND YOU ALWAYS DELIVER. thank you
Rick: A few years back, I read (or maybe audiobooked) your book. Running Against the Devil. It made the argument that too many of the Dems who attract passion from the left will never win a general election. You promoted Biden in 2020 as the kind of person who could win. But a non-threatening guy like Biden then appointed an AG who didn't push hard or fast enough. So how do we elect somebody who won't scare the independents and will still have the passion to take on and destroy the MAGA/fascist movement root and branch?
Mar-a-Lago needs to be converted into a memorial ala the German concentration camps, with a Wall of Shame that has Trump at the top.
This is all well and good but we need to focus on how to win the midterms with criminals running our government and planning to steal the election. Otherwise, everything in this article is moot.
I’ve been agreeing with you since I first heard you and the Lincoln Project when our national nightmare started 10+ years ago. I have no failure of imagination. I’m coming to the conclusion that fully exposing the Epstein scandal is the only thing that can stop him and the lieutenants who have been complicit in that horror. He’s a monster who revels in ALL of THIS chaos and suffering. The more innocent people suffer the better. His lieutenants are just as monstrous and terrified of being exposed for their own crimes. They WILL do anything to protect him because he’s their only hope to escape accountability. He gets off every time he escalates anything anywhere. Even Epstein knew he was bad news.
"Civic Grace" 🇺🇲🗽💖🇺🇲
YIKES!! Not that "yikes" are anywhere enough these days. . .The fire of moral outrage is more than merely warranted and necessary, for sure. But we also need the water of compassion. Blanket condemnation of an entire political swath will only affirm Gandhi's warning that an eye-for-an-eye leaves both sides blind. Reparations, restoration of mutuality and trust, cultural renewal. Not good retribution to avenge bad retribution. Turning down the heat, for real. Which is impossible when embued with righteous indignation. So, I guess what I'm saying is "Right on!" to most of the legislative and policy suggestions about undoing Executive Orders and restoring agencies, etc., but no to wholesale prosecution and purging. But first things first, ehh?? Are we doing everything possible to protect the integrity of the mid-terms and 2028?
YES
I nominate Jack Smith to be the next Attorney General of the United States… we need a “Bulldog” prosecutor to represent “the people”.
And get rid of Citizens United.
Rick, every word is correct and righteous. How can we depose these criminals?
There’s a large and difficult concerning omission from all of this that deserves further discussion-in this country we have a sprawling ecosystem in our media and social media that would rather slow, impede, or even sabotage such a stopping and ending of this unamerican machinery for the sake of its own survival and for profit.
Our first amendment protects its existence and presents a challenge-in order to rebuild our country into one with civic grace, can it be done without silencing the no doubt howling dissent of the current far right and pro-authoritarian movement in the country when (not if God willing) they lose political power? I can’t imagine such a movement would be radiated from the body of our nation quietly or with shame but with the defiant rage we’ve seen festering for decades. Would the mouthpieces and influencers of this movement also be subject to its excise? Trump in addition to being every accurate description you’ve thoughtfully provided-is also a dark mirror of the American public that chose him three times. Education and response our traditions takes time-generations and the ending of this unamericanism needs to be as swift as possible. It’s a problem I worry about often-as Trump is the avatar, representative, and permission structure of every degenerate, white supremecist, Christian Nationalist, fascist incel, thuggish outcast, and a yield ranging from the outright deplorable to the uneducated and civilly naive, easily misled population exhausted by traditional politics and entertained by his reality TV/WWE style of rhetoric.
I worry that any attempt to stop and end this movement will simply mobilize this large minority of the country and jeopardize its success unless the rest of the country is far louder and able to drown them out.
But this was an excellent read-well done as usual, Rick.
I agree with what you have written here, but we can't pretend that this all started with Trump or will end with him. I remember the campaign against Max Cleland, a triple amputee and war hero, where he was demonized and called a coward and traitor. I knew then that these people had no patriotism, no honor, no appreciation for what the best of America stood for. Money and power and an ignorant citizenry all go together. We have a lot of clean-up and educating to do.