Robert Pogson

It would be hard to write a work of fiction as weird as the decline of the GOP in USA. A political party that has been important since the time of Lincoln now has no platform, no policy, no guiding principle, just an egotistical liar, Trump. Millions of people who voted for Trump and the GOP are asking themselves, “Why?”. Millions who voted for a party that freed the slaves is now home to white supremacists and nut-cases who live in alternate realities. The real world is uncomfortable so they adopt Trumpism. The GOP is now the party of childish thinkers or those who choose not to think at all. Clearly, the vast majority of citizens are thoughtful human beings who care about stuff and will not vote GOP again. A large group of important political donors will not give to GOP causes. Even members of the GOP are fleeing the party to become independents or are willing to join a new conservative party.

Consider CPAC, the conference of conservatives. There was scarcely any talk of policy and conservatism, only obeisance to Trump. They actually worshipped at a golden idol of Trump. What became of “Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.” What are the so-called “evangelicals” doing worshipping Trump? What happened to those in the GOP with “family values” relishing the idea of separating families at the border and separating children from mothers? What happened to the party of “Law and Order” that now does not respect the rulings of courts, even the Supreme Court stacked full of justices appointed by the GOP? What happened to the GOP that respected the constitution but now wants a king, unelected and unelectable? It’s gone. The GOP has been abducted by space-aliens. The GOP has been taken over by lizard-brained humanoids. The GOP is just another stolen property of Trump.

Fortunately, there is light at the end of this dark tunnel. Trump is such a bad manager he is destroying what he has created. He will be in court forever if not in jail. His followers will be swept up in courts and in jail. Unlike Hitler who survived jail to finish his takeover, Trump can’t even utter complete sentences let alone define an era of USAian politics. All he does is attack those who might otherwise be supporters. He has divided the GOP and irretrievably separated the GOP from society. He has converted a political party attracting those seeking to wield power for good into a suicidal cult going nowhere.

The future is bright. It seems there will be a decade or two where the GOP is ineffectual and likely split into factions or disbanded as a criminal enterprise. The election of 2020 showed millions the way to freedom is to vote and to vote Democratic. They aren’t going away. They will increase in numbers. The present actions of many GOPers in state and local government seeking to disenfranchise the left will be rejected. USA will have a decent minimum wage, universal medical care insurance eventually with a single payer, a real right to vote, representation by population, a real respect for the environment and true equality, not just in the constitution but in effect.

There will continue to be political friction in USA. Biden is not the answer to Trump but a better alternative. Biden still does not see his opportunity but seeks to alloy goodness with the GOP. That can’t work as the GOP is a cancer out of control. Conservatism can be good but the GOP is not conserving anything and seems intent on destroying everything. Conservatism is not lies, riot, and rule of mobs. Goodness comes from an alloy of good people trying to do good. There are very few of the good left in the GOP. Too many of the GOP have done nothing to thwart Trump. Too many of the GOP have burned too many bridges to go back to decency. Darwin’s law applies to politics too. Biden will eventually be replaced by a true Democrat unwilling to compromise for the good instead of the perfect. Trump and his criminals will be rotting in jail if US DOJ can find truly impartial juries. I think they can do that.

“According to prepared remarks, Pittman told lawmakers that Capitol Police knew two days before the insurrection that militia and White supremacist groups would be at the Capitol on January 6, and some of those people planned to be armed.
 
Pittman outlined four things that made the department ill-equipped to respond to the attack: a lack of manpower, not having the right equipment on hand or easily accessible, a lack of consistency in following the process for sealing the building and communication over radios and the public address system being hard to hear during the attack.”
 
See Democrats stunned by briefing on Capitol’s security before insurrection: ‘It was only by pure dumb luck’ more weren’t killedIt’s hard to think of an explanation for how a bumbling idiot like Trump could with endless repetition of a few silly phrases could come close to taking out the legislative branch of USA. I suppose it fits my theory of how many human disasters happen in our age of technology. Multiple layers of safety can be defeated by multiple layers of error.

It’s like a plane crash of a perfectly serviceable plane caused by information overload, wrong perception of the problem, wrong steps to correct the wrong problem, indecision and the crew fighting to defeat each other’s actions. Trump’s riot was the same.

Despite ample warning of widespread derangement, anger, and chaos, Trump going out of his way to create disorder before, during and after the election, little was done to secure the Capitol. Trump called to Washington his hordes of deplorables on January 6 for the stated purpose of disrupting the certification of the electoral college, properly appointed by the states. He gave an inspirational speech to the Trumpists on top of several heated speeches by sycophants. The Capitol Police treated the whole thing like a Sunday picnic. The police had no reason to think anything was normal that day, but they did. The police seemed not to believe their own eyes or averted their eyes to what was happening on the property. No one was authorized to use deadly force, about the only thing that would have stopped the assault. No one took personal initiative to convince rioters that their actions were disastrous. Instead the Capitol Police caved just slowly enough to allow targets of the mob to run and hide.

Just a little more initiative on the part of the police or the rioters would have been sufficient to give a better outcome or a greater disaster. What would have happened if the rioters had been able to hold a show trial and executions or a burning of the certificates of the electors? The whole nation would have been on the brink of dictatorship or uncivil war. As it is we have a nearly paralyzed legislative branch and an executive branch leading no one who wants to be lead. Ordinary citizens are not respecting the result of the election. Ordinary citizens are refusing to wear masks to save their lives and the lives of millions. The campaign of vaccination is a disaster. The epidemic is a disaster. The economy is a disaster. Yet, no one seems motivated to do the things necessary to save USA from sinking into a post apocalyptic period.

Terrorist: “a person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.”

For years now, the Republican Party, the Government of the People party, has declined to rely on the people to choose a government:

• They’ve gerrymandered to the extreme congressional districts to prevent election of members of the Democratic Party
• They’ve passed laws and rules to prevent minorities from voting including providing tiny numbers of polling places and causing huge lines to vote even in the midst of an epidemic
• They’ve chosen a demagogue as leader and replaced a serious platform with his whims which change daily
• They’ve supported violence against immigrants and refugees to prevent increase of minority populations
• They’ve refused to do their constitutional duty to advise and consent on the nomination of judges by a Democratic president
• They’ve advised armed militias to attack or threaten with violence politicians and leaders of opposing parties
• They’ve repeated outrageous lies endlessly to brainwash the public
• They’ve abused the courts with frivolous lawsuits to delay the processes of government
• They’ve threatened with physical violence anyone who speaks against the GOP or its leader

Not accepting the results of the latest election is only the latest in a long string of outrages committed by the party. Even after a failed attempted coup representatives publicly state the Democrats have not won the presidency. Trump gave a rousing speech to his fighters on their way to kill or capture the vice president and anyone else who stood in their way.

Biden should instruct his DOJ to declare the GOP a terrorist organization and start “taking names and kicking ass”. It’s the right thing to do. If not now, we may be seeing the repetition of

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Niemoller

It’s not enough just to speak out about the GOP. It’s time to take action.

OK, stock markets are full of optimistic folk spending money where they think it will make money for them. I get that. It’s a “leading indicator” of how the economy and various businesses might do in the future.

However, we are in a situation where the US stock markets are expressing extreme greed by investors while USA is

• in the midst of a pandemic and not doing well,
• in the midst of political upheaval with ~33% of the population seeking violent overthrow of government, and
• the National Guard is being mobilized to squelch an uncivil war.

I just don’t get it. How can anyone be optimistic in this situation? I saw bad things coming years ago and got out of US stock markets. I did well as a result. It seems to me US GDP will be sluggish for at least a year, maybe two and many small businesses are ruined, homelessness and hunger stalk the land, the national debt is exploding and USA still has no national health insurance. USA has regressed to a 1960s kind of economy before everything happened to modernization: women at work, automobiles being cranked out at home, clerical work was in great demand, etc. Now the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting desperate. I can see crime spiking. I can see political instability for decades to come. If millions are this angry over Trump losing an election, how angry are they going to be when Biden undoes 99% of Trump’s “accomplishments” and Trump et al rot in prison? What are GOP members of government going to do for two years after they voted to suspend the constitution and elect the loser of an election? How is the DOJ going to dispense justice in crimes in which the DOJ was complicit and 33% of jurors think criminals are unfairly treated? Whence cometh this optimism in the markets?

It seems to me this is a bubble soon to burst. The Ds and Rs are never going to agree on how to fix anything. They can’t even agree on how to get rid of Trump, let alone Trumpism. I’m glad I live in Canada where we have problems but we can fix them. Not so in USA.

“In the U.S. Senate race in Texas, incumbent Republican John Cornyn leads Democrat M.J. Hegar among likely voters, 49 – 43 percent. Seven percent are undecided. On September 24th, Cornyn had 50 percent support and Hegar had 42 percent, also with 7 percent undecided. ”

See Pennsylvania (PA) Poll – October 21, 2020 – Texas In Play: Biden And Trump | Quinnipiac University ConnecticutIt’s not certain but there is some movement at the “top” and “bottom” of the ticket in Texas and both Biden and Hegar could win. That would pretty well seal Trump’s fate and offer Biden good support from Congress.

What a different world we will live in if Biden comes to power with a Democratic Senate and House. Pray that good intentions become good deeds and that as much as possible of Trump’s damage can be undone without destroying USA altogether. We live in dangerous times. What will Trump do as a lame duck? Play golf? Declare war on someone? Roil the markets? Go after his enemies? All of the above?

See Lindsay Graham Getting a Hug at Amy Coney Barrett’s Hearing Just Put Democrats Over the EdgeSome of the leading Democrats are getting very long in the tooth. While they are well connected and great at fund-raising, they are growing out of touch with USAian society and the younger members of the party. After they win this election, they should step aside. This includes Biden who is older than I am. The time to be a mature wise leader is in the 50s, not the 80s.

In particular, Biden is all about a public/private partnership for universal health insurance. That’s nuts. Allowing insurance companies to shift the high-risk people to the government is nuts. Insurance is about sharing risk, not packaging it. The problem with USAian health insurance is its complexity. Adding another layer to that is a bad idea. Go directly to single-payer universal coverage. It’s efficient. States can administer it. The feds don’t have to foot the whole bill, it can be a cost-sharing thing. It will give healthcare providers a simpler way of earning revenue. It will give sick people assured healthcare. The time when you are least able to pay for healthcare or fill out voluminous forms is when you are sick. Do the right thing.

Also, Biden is walking on eggshells about the environment. He has the right idea but he needs bold measures instead of telling labour unions what they want to hear about fossil fuels etc. He should be all-in on The Green New Deal. He should appoint AOC as czarina in charge of getting universal healthcare and The Green New Deal on track. Both of these span departments so an overseer enthusiastic about the programmes is needed, not Biden/Harris. AOC does not need to be in a full time position. She can still function in the House as a representative. If Biden insists on conservative approaches he should ask AOC to announce consultations with experts and the public to devise a made-in-USA approach that works. Give AOC 90 days to make a plan and the legislative branch 180 days to make it into law. It will take Biden that long to untangle the messes Trump has created anyway. He has fires to put out while AOC and other young energetic Democrats can light new fires under the bureaucracy to move USA into the 21st century.

Biden should be putting his DOJ into attack-mode against Trump and Trumpism. There are crimes aplenty there. A special prosecutor is in order along with all kinds of search warrants and cooperation from State, Justice and IRS. SEC should be looking at insider trading. Justice should be looking at obstruction, criminal negligence causing death, crimes against humanity and emoluments. Likely Trump will go into hiding in Russia or Saudi Arabia so lots of international investigations should proceed. Then, Biden should put State and Defence into attack-mode on Russia. Essentially, Russia has committed undeclared war on USA for years with no response whatsoever. Biden should seek a declaration of war from Congress. He should seize all russian ships and planes outside of Russia beyond a certain date, create configurations to drive Russia out of Ukraine and Syria and set Assad, Putin, North Korea and China straight. Trade deals, global treaties and defensive alignments all have to be put right. That would likely take all of Biden’s energy for a year or two at which time he could resign knowing he’s fixed things. Harris can steer the ship Biden will have put on course.

Another thing Biden has to fix is bringing SCOTUS into line with USAian society. It is crazy to believe that folks who drafted the USAian constitution who were all right with slavery and women not being empowered are somehow infallible and their words must be interpreted as written and as meant. Surely those writers did not envision angry young men armed with AR-15s storming the MI legislature to intimidate legislators and shooting thousands of civilians annually forever when they wrote the second amendment. SCOTUS has to be revamped and the constitution with it. Biden should ask the “conservative” skunks on SCOTUS to resign and if not push for impeachment. If that doesn’t work, he should add four or five liberal justices. He should confer with SCOTUS and ask them which remedy they prefer…

I expect the Government of Pigs party to go into a long decline after 2020 so the Democrats have an opportunity to achieve many things which have only been aspirations until Trump wrecked things.