Walter Shaub thinks Trump’s strong-arming of New York is not getting nearly enough attention.
Or (or and) it could be that in the firehose of bad shit that Trump sends out every day it becomes very difficult to spot the top maximum utmost worst things.
Comments
3 responses to “Do they think he’s kidding?”
“My theory, and it’s not limited to the media, is that people are afraid of seeming alarmist.”
I think we are way past the point where people without rose-colored glasses are worried about being alarmist. The Senate majority just dissolved the rule of law in this country and Trump is trying out his new unlimited powers.
Personally, I think many are somewhere between ‘holy fuck!’ and dusting off this bit of prose –
“That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
Trump has jeopardised the safety of an allied nation in exchange for gaining personal power, so yeah, he ain’t kidding.
The lesson I draw is that a huge chunk of Americans simply don’t care about the rule of law, or limits on power, or principles generally.
They hear about this story, or the extortion of Ukraine, and shrug and say “yeah, what do you expect? That’s what I’d do in his place, too — use my power to punish my enemies and firm up my grip on power.” Some of them rationalize that “they all do it,” as if somehow Fox News was conspiring to cover up all the times Obama extorted foreign leaders for personal benefit, or they think “they’re suckers if they don’t.”
It’s a phenomenon I’m familiar with from fandoms of certain prestige television shows. There’s a certain type of fan who thinks that Tony Soprano and Walter White and Tywin Lannister are awesome role models. Not just in an escapist, sometimes-it’s-fun-to-cheer-for-the-bad-guy way, but in the sense that “those guys have it figured out, and everybody who isn’t amoral and ruthless is a sucker.”
I’m not suggesting that this segment of pop culture created our current shitty electorate. Among other reasons, this interpretation is contrary to the clearly intended message of those shows’ creators — these “bad fans” were clearly responding from some pre-existing worldview or emotional need rather than being persuaded by anything they saw. (Without getting into spoilers, let’s just say that no emotionally well-adjusted person should want to be any of those men. It’s also no coincidence that those characters are all men, but that’s a topic for another day.)