The terror
Krugman.
Start with a clear-eyed assessment of Trump's character: he basically has negative empathy — that is, enjoys seeing others hurt 2/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) October 13, 2017
Yes. That exactly describes him – not completely of course, but exactly. He loves seeing others hurt. He loves it all the more if he’s the one doing the hurting.
At this point, however, it's clear to everyone — probably even him — that he just can't do this president thing, and won't get better 4/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) October 13, 2017
So we're getting into the end game. He can't save his presidency. He can, however, still hurt a lot of people. And he surely wants to 6/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) October 13, 2017
So from now on, until he's gone, I'm going to fire up my computer every morning in a state of existential dread 7/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) October 13, 2017
Yep.
I am reminded forcefully of Hitler’s last orders to destroy Germany because it had failed his ambitions. Nothing that was “his” was supposed to survive his fall. With Trump though, even if he were “winning”, most of his ambitions are about wrecking things anyway, so it’s hard to tell – he’s worse than Hitler that way. (Bit less effective when it comes to making people dead, so far. There’s that.)
Maybe it shouldn’t but what Trump will do in his last days as president actually concerns me less than what his supporters might do if what they see as ‘the swamp’ collectively removes him from power.
It will confirm every opinion they have of Washington, validate every reason they had for voting for Trump, and generate a never-ending stream of conspiracy theories – to say we’d never hear the end of it is an understatement.
#2, What would you rather have; a few more years of Trump at the helm, or more idiots to laugh at as they yell out their paranoid theories?
I think you’ve just given us a Hobson’s choice.
Seriously, I’m not sure which will be more harmful. A lot of his followers think of themselves as “second amendment people”, and they’ve already demonstrated their willingness to kill and their utter lack of remorse, and their contempt for their victims, who “brought it on themselves” by daring to march against Trump and/or Neo-Nazis. So I’m sort of suspecting that there is no good way out of this, and there never was from the day Trump declared his candidacy.
True, and I’d be happy if they’d stick to inventing conspiracies, but even if there would be increased violence locally, that surely has to be better than what Trump seems to be leading up to. I mean, I love mushrooms, just not mushroom clouds!
True. Trump being in power can do damage globally; Trump’s followers, without nuclear codes, will not have that ability. Still…
If Trump is removed, there needs to be some sort of protection in place for the groups of people (which make up most of the country, when you think about it) that will be targeted by these ideologues. And…we need to have a Democratic take over of the Congress to prevent Mike Pence from creating a theocracy out of the ashes.
In short, I think we’re screwed at this point, no matter what we do. The leap from frying pan into fire is small comfort.
So basically your hopes are pinned on a successful mid-term election for the Democrats? In which case, the Democrats have got to start getting some strengths rather than relying on the Republicans’ weaknesses to see them through.
Actually, I think the Democrats HAVE some strengths – they just seem to be ashamed of them, or something. They go out of their way to avoid touting the strengths they have, because they’ve bought into the story that says people don’t want any of those things. So they hide behind the Republican weaknesses, and downplay the strengths they do have. (And yes, they do need to get stronger and more effective; I am not denying that. But they have to stop being afraid).
I did mean to write that they should be getting some work in on their strengths. I can only blame a brain-fart.
A few years ago I heard somebody say something along the lines of the difference between the parties being that the Republicans recognise their strengths and unashamedly use them, whilst the Democrats also recognise their strengths but then apologise for them.