Yes, the Reichstag IS on fire, but the American people have water to put it out | Will Bunch
Part of a life well-lived, I’ve come to realize, is hanging on to an old quote from a mentor or family member that over time has taken on much deeper meaning than when it was uttered to you as a clueless 16-year-old. For me, it’s the oxymoron that my high school football coach,
My thoughts on President Trump’s open contempt for the American Experiment -- that he can’t commit to “a peaceful transfer of power,” in an election he falsely claims is chalk full of fraud before even the first vote has been counted -- is that we should take him both literally and seriously. It’s what I’ve been saying consistently since the ominous winter of 2015-16, when I wrote that voters who thought Americans could never install a dangerous demagogue in the
With the election that will decide everything little more than five weeks away, what scares me isn’t so much the seeming bluster of Trump’s threat to claim fraud and ignore the results, but the growing awareness that he’s been building the infrastructure to actually carry it out.
That starts with a thoroughly politicized and corrupted
But it also includes a shockingly compliant
“It’s important not to talk about this as just an election. It’s an election surrounded by the authoritarian language of a coup d’etat. The opposition has to win the election and it has to win the aftermath of the election.” See #OnTyranny #Reichstag https://t.co/gcjKeaC7SO
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Don’t listen to me -- an alarmist about Trump’s American authoritarianism since practically the day he came down the
“America, this is not a drill,” wrote Milbank, noting that he and most mainstream commentators have spent five years trying to avoid Nazi comparisons but that Trump’s recent statements and actions have made it unavoidable. He quoted the Yale historian
Don’t listen to me but listen to
Yes, this is the moment ... America’s Reichstag fire. But what now? Frankly, my first reactions to last week’s dictatorial comments by Trump -- as well as the speedy SCOTUS pick of right-wing judge
The method behind the madness of Trump’s comments seems two-fold. On one hand, there’s little doubt now that the president will do everything in his vast power to declare ballots for his rival
Trump’s surreal, shameful
Have a plan for voting, and execute it. Make sure that you find out or confirm that you’re registered to vote -- here in my home state of
(*I’ve warned in recent columns that voting through the
Stop doom-scrolling. Get out and do something. Sitting on your couch and watching or reading Trump’s latest outrageous pronouncement is a recipe for learned helplessness. There are plenty of ways to get involved over the next five weeks. The coronavirus has, at least for most
Also, have a plan for the days after
A coalition of activist groups (not all of them liberal ... although many are, like the Trump resistance group Indivisible) isn’t passively waiting for Trump to declare victory on
Even though it’s naïve not to see Trump’s stance for what it is -- the gravest threat to America since the Civil War -- it’s also good to remember that a lot of things would have to happen for an actual coup to occur (including, probably, the backing of the
And the only thing we have to fear is ... fear itself.
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