“We have a President who lies without a second thought. Big bold lies that are easily disproven. That is not normal... We have serious allegations around obstruction of justice...an FBI director fired for insisting on pursuing an investigation into the sanctify of our republic. It has never happened before in our history. That is not normal. ...We have Federal judges, our closest foreign allies, and the free press under scurrilous attack from the President and his enablers. At the same time we have despots praised. That is not normal....We have a sordid confluence of the President’s business interests and his political power. That is not normal." Dan Rather interview with Rachel Maddow, MSNBC, June 10, 2017
Trump has succeeded in turning the USA into an arena of conflict, and he thinks he is the top dog. It is trump vs. anti trump. Dog eat dog. Survival of the fittest. This is what America has become in just a few months. McConnell in the Senate and Paul Ryan in the House are in this arena to destroy the federal government as we know it.
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| Add McConnell's inhumanity, and we have the US Congress today, the most corrupt ever. |
In the other corner are the outnumbered Democratic members of Congress, Constitutional lawyers and ethicists, and the majority of the American people, some 64% according to the latest poll. Whoever has the most money and power are the winners and those with the least money and power are the losers. They get to join the "Losers Club," and the winners take all. Some of the "losers," those still in the Bully's corner, that 36% base, aren't aware of their status in this game yet.
The Comey vs Trump fight reveals the grotesque nature and parameters of the arena. We are talking about our democratic government after all. Trump has called Comey, the top cop in America as head of the FBI, a liar and a coward. It's a credibility pissing match, a game Trump himself created. Most Americans (over 90%) believe Comey. But Trump won't stop talking and tweeting himself into his corner of the arena, encouraging Americans to distrust Comey, the FBI and our intel agencies. At the same time, he rails against a free press. He tells Americans not to trust the mainstream media and has made a sport out of what he and his minions call "fake news." Trump continues to undermine the three branches of government and Rule of Law. He has alienated the judiciary and encouraged Americans to do the same. He has alienated our allies around the world, destabilizing our international relations.
Could this be called "sedition?" asked resister Linda Furman in an Anti-Trump site post. I googled it.
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| this and the image at top, yahoo public images |
Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent (or resistance) to lawful authority. Sedition may include any commotion, though not aimed at direct and open violence against the laws. Seditious words in writing are seditious libel. A seditionist is one who engages in or promotes the interests of sedition." (Wikipedia).Sure sounds like the Trump regime.
But sedition as a legal concept has a complex history, dating back to John Quincy Adams and the Alien and Sedition Act. Those opposed to the American Revolution against Great Britain got hit with this act. Its use over time has been situational (dormant or revived during wartime) and often problematic. It cuts both ways when it comes to our First Amendment freedoms. It can be dangerous. But I wonder if the concept can be resurrected in some form to address Russia's intervention in our election, the extreme conflicts of interest of almost all members of the tRump/Pence/Bannon cabinet, chosen because they oppose their agencies, and their extremist goal of dismantling the federal government. "Subversion of the Constitution" and undermining Rule of Law. Can it become part of the treason charge in a case for impeachment? "Treason (including a form of sedition), bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors"?
America has descended into a battleground, an arena of conflict. It sounds like a computer game. And in fact, I discovered in doing some research, it IS a video game! This is Our Times, good vs. evil, real v. fake, and it is surreal.
More from Dan Rather:
“We have an Administration fanning the flames of division over race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, and gender. That is not normal....We have an overhaul of our entire health care system being written in secret on a rapid time frame. That is not normal. The list could go on and on. And feel free to add your own to the comments section./What concerns me even more than any of these items is the fact that they are largely being met by a shrug or excuses from most Republican elected officials. Even many Democrats seem overwhelmed and are inclined to let some of this just ride. That may be how politics works. But this is bigger. It’s about our nation.
We are shifting the goalposts for our democracy. We are failing to be outraged by the outrageous because there is something even more outrageous that always seems to hit the news cycle. And that is dangerous.
What gives me hope is we have had waves of abnormality in our country’s history. And we’ve had times when what we would consider now to be not normal, like segregation, was considered normal. What has centered and saved our country time and again is civic engagement. I believe that most people in this nation don’t think any of this is normal."
Some sources:
http://fortune.com/2017/02/25/bannon-trump-cabinet-cpac/
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-impeachment-calls-surge-president-114002912.html?.tsrc=jtc_news_index
