Trumpism is a debased political ideology, a corrupt style of governance, a race-based political movement, and has developed a set of voter suppression mechanisms that were designed to acquire and maintain Trump's power as President in concert with a tame Republican-dominated Congress and Supreme Court.
Trump lost his bid for re-election, yet he garnered 70,000,000+ votes in the losing effort. Although he will no longer be president, Trumpism, his political ideology, remains and is a force that must be defeated. However, our country remains bitterly divided, politically, culturally, and so disparate and tribal that each has decided upon which reality it chooses to believe. Sadly, the alt-reality as propagated by Trump, Fox News, the right-wing blogosphere, and social media companies such as Facebook, still holds almost half the American electorate in its thrall.
Although defeating Trump has been an encouraging beginning, how best to defeat Trumpism is a question that requires an answer. Frankly, I am distressed by what I am hearing from many of the political pundits who represent the left because they assume that Trump, no longer President, will still be a potent force and kingmaker for the Republican right. I tend to agree with them provided that we do not act aggressively to alter this future reality. I have given this much thought and I am convinced that to accomplish this we must dramatically expose Trump as the criminally corrupt and truly evil individual he truly is. And this must be done as soon as possible soon after he loses his presidential immunity which now protects him. To accomplish this, it is vitally important that he is charged and indicted for the many crimes he committed as a private citizen prior to his election as President. Furthermore, these charges must not be brought by our nation's new Attorney General. The charges and indictments must be brought by those state-based prosecutors whose jurisdictions said crimes he committed as a private citizen. Similar to the O.J. Simpson very public and televised murder trial, the long history of Trump's crimes and scams (money laundering, tax evasion, bank fraud, Trump University scam, Trump Foundation improprieties, and assorted other financial shenanigans) must be laid bare in all their excruciating details. I long for the moment when I and my fellow citizens get to watch Trump, as he is finally cross-examined under oath and forced to answer all the questions his money and power has protected him from answering for so many years.
Sadly, although this will not heal many of the centuries-long scars that continue to divide our nation, it will be necessary to begin the healing.
The problem I see is that Trump still garners plenty of media attention whenever he opens his mouth. Even if most of the media try to ignore him, he has millions of followers on Twitter. Even if Trump does leave the White House, he won't be leaving the public view. He'll still be sowing doubt, spreading conspiracy theories and lies, and encouraging hate and violence.
Yes, Angry, it's the primary reason I wrote this article. He must be publically exposed as was OJ. The man is a fool and a life-long criminal who will be destroyed during a trial or a # of trials that highlight all his misdeeds and uncover all his vile secrets. We must demand that he be treated no better nor worse than the common criminal he has been for much of his adult life. Short of a publicly televised trial Trump will be free to continue to do tremendous damage to America.
True. I wouldn't be surprised if he ran again in 2024 either.
Adam, I'm more afraid of the damage he will do from the sidelines, especially considering the # of loyal followers he has. He must be exposed as the malignant narcissist that he evidently is. How many more American lives are we willing to put at risk?
Yes, i suppose you are right. He's never going away. And even catching Covid himself hasn't gotten him to change his tune.
Trump isn't going anywhere. He's raised some legitimate concern about inaccurate counts and the election is close enough that they deserve a fair hearing and investigation. Right or wrong, it's unlikely Trump will step aside during that lengthy process. And should anyone try to force him out, there are plenty of armed militias willing to step in and make sure that doesn't happen.
Tex, Pennsylvania gave Biden 273 electoral college votes, which put him over the top. Any normal president would have conceded by now, but not Trump. Even many of his GOP backers and former enablers were chilled by his continued and baseless rants about voter fraud. Stick a fork in him, he's done. Courts and wishful thinking won't alter the will of the electorate. We still live in a democracy, which I feared for under another 4-years of Trump.
Trump says there's a lot of evidence of voter fraud. Don't we have an obligation to hear him out? If it were reversed, wouldn't you insist on it?
Trump has a habit of making charges without evidence. In fact, beyond his word, for what that is worth, there is virtually zero evidence of voter fraud. However, there was ample evidence of voter suppression practiced by the GOP. For example, Greg Abbot who only allowed 1 dropbox for Harris County in TX, an area that covers over 2,000 square miles of territory and a large voter population. If you paid any attention at all, Tex, you'd be well aware of all the instances of transparent voter suppression the GOP practiced during this, and other past, elections, which has been documented. It would be nice if Republicans accept the outcome of this election without accusing the winner of fraud. Frankly, I surprised at how close this contest was considering how badly and incompetently Trump handles covid-19 and how many American lives were lost as a result. If you cannot admit at least that then there is little hope for us.
I've been very turned off by the GOP. Their behavior this election cycle has been deplorable. And while they had a right to confirm Amy Coney Barrett, they were such hypocrites when they took the opposite view in 2016 and swore that if the situation were reversed, they'd wait till the next election. Then they gleefully went back on their word.
Jason, it would be wonderful if making ACB a SCOTUS Justice, was the worst thing this tame Republican-dominated GOP senators allowed to happen. They completely ignored the mountain of evidence gathered against Trump during his impeachment trial. Had they done their job, far fewer Americans would be dead today as a result of Trump's mismanagement of covid-19. Now when people and businesses are suffering as a result of the virus, McConnell, the grim reaper, is allowing the CARES act passed by the lower house in May to languish and die. As a result, how many businesses will be permanently closed, and Americans will be forced out of their homes and become homeless?
Why are they going along with Trump's insane insistence of not accepting the results of the election he clearly lost? Why are they allowing him to delay the transition of power, which will further harm our country?