This week’s episode of “Things Trump Did That Would Have Gotten Obama Arrested,” featured a doozy, even by our eroding standards of shock. Trump stated on live TV that guns should be preemptively confiscated from people perceived as dangerous.
For clarity, here’s what he said word for word, “A lot of times, by the time you go to court, it takes so long to go to court to get the due process procedures. Take the guns first, go through due process second.”
So, Republicans and the NRA (is there any difference anymore?) will go apeshit over this, right? Texas Senator, John Cornyn pretty much summed up the mood on the right, “I think we’ll sleep on it and see where we are tomorrow.”
Once upon a time, Obama shed tears on national TV over murdered first-graders, suggesting that maybe, perhaps, it might be a good idea to put some rules in place to prevent this sort of thing. The right exploded in rage. And not just the loony, idiotic right like Hannity and Coulter. This is what “moderate” Republican figurehead, Meghan McCain had to say about Obama’s emotional 2016 speech on gun control, “Go to your hometown of Chicago instead of talking about God-fearing Americans when ISIS is coming to their hometown.” Whatever the hell that means, it’s clearly not very supportive or patient.
Skip ahead by two years and thousands additional deaths. Now Trump threatens to summarily confiscate weapons from people who seem like they might be dangerous. The response from the right is a big fat “meh.” Why?
For starters, no one takes Trump seriously. President Drunk Uncle says stupid stuff all day. You’d lose your mind if you tried to keep up with it.
More important, though, Donald Trump has made clear his intention to be President of White People. He regularly disregards laws, democratic norms, civility, and sentence structure without consequence. As long as he remains steadfast in his commitment to restore America for white people, those white people are unconcerned about whatever else he says or does. From collusion with foreign enemies to money laundering, it’s all good if their cultural security is protected.
Republicans don’t love the idea of gun confiscation without due process, but they remain pretty confident that it wouldn’t happen to them, so who really cares? In a white nationalist utopia, laws only exist to contain everyone else’s ambitions.
Perhaps someone still imagines that Republicans might turn on Trump when his abuses cross some imaginary threshold. Hopefully this puts that naiveté to rest. Even when he threatens supposedly sacred gun rights, Republicans aren’t concerned. There is only one thing Donald Trump could say that would give Republicans second thoughts, “You know, those Black Lives Matter protesters are making a lot of sense.”
People supporting Trump don’t care about laws, crimes, rights or morality, at least not enough to let those forces mitigate their ambitions. There is no outrage that would move their conscience.
When the immigration police break up families for no reason, Republicans will “sleep on it.” When we turn away refugees because of their religious background, Republicans will sleep on it. When the President refuses to disclose his business dealings, even after his son in law is caught taking half a billion dollars in bribes, Republicans will sleep on it. When we finally see the reach of the president’s money laundering, Republicans will sleep on it.
As long as they see Trump as ally in the fight to keep white people on top, Republicans will enjoy the sound sleep of the morally vacant. They will tolerate any horror visited on a distant, unfortunate “other” that preserves the security of their cultural bubble. You will not reach them and they will not wince at any abuse visited on you.
It seems so long ago, during a conversation between 1Mime and TTor, I interjected that mime was being “gunsplained”. It seemed like a good way of saying, that pro-gun people use their knowledge of guns to prove that others are not able to join the conversation about guns. Well the word has hit the big time. (shining nails in cuff).
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/03/06/the-nra-and-its-allies-use-jargon-to-bully-gun-control-supporters/?utm_term=.858d09d2546c
Just for the record, it wasn’t Tracy, but me. First, I don’t believe myself to be “pro-gun” per se, nor have I ever intoned same. The explaination(s) I offered mime were to provide clarity to the discussion. Proper vocabulary prevents misunderstandings. My comments were intended to be to that end.
Now back off you cuff-link polishing so-and-so! 😉
Well, I still remember it as Tracy, but if you insist. Good to hear from you, Fifty.
Good to hear from you too, unarmed.
So last night the puppet tyrant mused about “president for life”. I mentioned about 10 hours ago that maybe the fascist party would actually turn on him if he tries to start a trade war that would have massive global financial ramifications.
So let’s see what they do with this. If nothing, then all hope is indeed lost for a non-violent solution.
I never imagined that Republicans might turn on Trump when his abuses cross some imaginary threshold. I do think they will turn on him if they think their political future is threatened. And obviously, a microsecond after he leaves office the line will be “he wasn’t a conservative.”
Maybe we’re hoping too much and failing to understand what is really happening. Another perspective:
“America today is fully in the grip of political tribalism, and people who think that Trump’s billionaire populism is just a con are missing something fundamental. As Yale professor Dan Kahan has found, Americans’ political positions today, both liberal and conservative, are driven much less by individual self-interest than by “loyalty to important affinity groups.” What voters often care most about is having their team—their political tribe—win. And for millions of lower-income Americans, Trump has done a remarkable job presenting himself as being on their team, creating a tribal bond between a celebrity billionaire and blue-collar voters, while excluding the “elites” in the middle.”
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/03/02/trump-mnuchin-populism-billionaires-217211
Mary,
Soon after the election, I read several persuasive articles from people who hail from countries led by despots. They were united in their opinion: Our (moderates/liberals/elites, etc.) policies aren’t the problem, WE are the problem.
After over a year of this president, I am convinced that they are right. When I talk with Republicans, we often agree on many policy issues. We vote differently because they recoil from what I represent, which I suppose is elitism.
We are continually told to give deference to the salt of the earth folks who make up “real” America. But where is the reciprocity? Why does it have to be so one-sided?
Elites are accused of being condescending. And I get that by posting what I’m posting – or, rather, even having to ask what I’m asking – could be construed as condescending.
But the accusation of condescension is an excuse. The fact is, if you are educated, well-traveled, well-read, or even open to new experiences, you will be resented by a large part of the population, and they will vote against YOU the person, regardless of your policies.
“Because they want to be you and aren’t.”
Rick Wilson is already sowing those seeds:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/03/01/we-kissed-conservatism-goodbye-when-we-let-trump-lead-the-gop/?utm_term=.b6f8295b8d31
And of course Donny2Scoops flipped on the gun control issue in less than a day.
What disgusts me more is the pass the Republican majority are giving T when they clearly “know” the consequences of his actions. It is also dangerous.
Yes, they’ll rip HRC for having a private e-mail server that could get hacked (and no one here disputes that was a very poor decision) but they’re not saying much about people like Porter and Kushner who can’t get security clearances (for good reason) having access to top secret material. They have no integrity or honor, and they are not to be trusted.
It’s going to be interesting to see what happens when Trump leaves office. I agree that conservative intellectuals are likely to say that, but their voter base may be clamouring for another thuggish strongman.
Craig, I wonder if we have reached that tipping point even while the sociopath is in office. If the puppet tyrant really plans on starting a trade war (read his comments today about tariffs on all EU cars), it will be fascinating to see if the repubs will actually allow him to do it.
The California Democratic Party 2018 platform includes support for tuition-free college for all, universal basic income and single payer healthcare:
https://www.cadem.org/our-party/standing-committees/body/CDP-Platform-2018.pdf
Well, the Dow tanked 500 points yesterday, Nikkei was down 2.5% last night, you know the Euro markets are going to get hit this morning. I am sure the members of his cult don’t care, nor even understand the ramifications of the puppet tyrant’s actions. Chances are most of his cult members don’t even grasp how a stock market works, let alone own shares.
But like I said before, I am stunned that no powerful group has not killed him yet. The guy is now messing with quite literally trillions of dollars of other people’s money, and bad things have a tendency to happen when those amounts are involved.
Oh, and David Frum is re-tweeting a pie chart that shows that China makes up less than 2% of all steel imports into the U.S. , and is in 11th place in countries that import steel into the U.S.
Canada, Brazil, South Korea are going to get kicked into the teeth on this one.
https://www.trade.gov/steel/countries/pdfs/imports-us.pdf
I can’t find anything precise on aluminum imports, but it seems that the aluminum tariff is targeting the Chinese, though I also wonder how much Canada is going to get hammered with this. This is what I could find on Canadian aluminum exports:
http://www.worldstopexports.com/canadas-top-exports/
Actually, they’ll throw *some* white people under the bus in the name of guns too.
When Black Lives Matter complained about cops, the right-wing, including plenty of moderate Republicans said “how dare you? Cops are angels, the thin blue line, yada yada, you communist traitor!”
But now that bad police action (in this case inaction at the Florida high school) is proving very inconvenient for NRA arguments that arming more people will help, the NRA and their minions are throwing cops under a bus. I actually heard one interview where a gun rights group in Ohio flat out said that [armed] teachers would be better at protecting school kids than cops (something about teachers being “momma bears” protecting their cubs. Yeah, I didn’t say it was a *good* argument…)
So when they shoot and kill unarmed black people: cops are perfect and should never be questioned. When they give lie to the fantasy that having gun instantly transforms you into John Wayne? Burn them all at the stake.
Wingers ability to basically worship cops while simultaneously worrying about government tyranny is often convenient, if not particularly coherent on its face. The only explanation that makes it coherent is us-vs-them.
Fun fact, worship of police and disdain of representative government is a standard of Totalitarianism as described by Hannah Arrendt.
The idea being, to gain power all you have to do is work for the police. The police govern as a parallel government while the offices of representative government are essentially neglected and ignored. Meanwhile you build new government offices that are all, basically, their own forms of policing. And the actual, ground level police are given carte blanche to do as they whim.
Yeah, I never got the worship of the military plus guns. When gun nuts say they need all those guns to protect against a govt takeover, they’re basically saying they need those guns to shoot govt soldiers, right? The same ones they idolize?
This isn’t theoretical. Jade Helm was a gun nut conspiracy that had the military genuinely worried that their soldiers would be shot by some “patriot” militia nut.
Right-wing authoritarians don’t care what a right-wing Strongman says so long as it’s their right-wing Strongman.
Liberals have been saying this for over 40 years. They have been attempting to warn sane, rational people about it. And have been called traitors, communists, socialists, America-haters, 5th columnists, etc., the entire time.
And the centrist BothSidesDoIt™ media have covered for the right-wingers because it has been amazing for profits.
Again. The Republican Brand name should be 100% dead and irrevocable if you’re a sane, rational conservative. The base 30% who provide the voter turnout in primary elections and general elections have grabbed the leash, and they will not, ever, let go again.
The only animal they will walk on their leash must say out loud the lunatic things they believe from their fever dreams and delusional right-wing bubble.
If you are a sane, rational conservative, your only option, besides embracing open fascism, is to Join, or Die. Run as a Democrat. Vote for the Democrat. Then break off the right wing of the Democratic party where the only sane and rational conservatives are already, and give up attempting to resurrect a thoroughly broken party. This is the only option. Full stop.
“We’re not ditching any constitutional protections simply because the last person the president talked to today doesn’t like them.”
— Senator Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska, on the surprise reversal by President Trump on gun control.
Thanks for this, Chris. I found it very interesting, even if I had hoped that this was not the case.
Speaking of crazy shit that our Drunk Uncle-in-Chief does, we might have something a little bit more serious on our hands. Reports just came in that Trump’s announcing a steep tariff on steel (25%) and aluminum (10%).
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/376276-trump-steel-aluminum-tariffs-coming-next-week
Now, of course, we’ve still a week and anything could happen between now and then. Assuming that it does though, what are we looking at here? Is this not as bad as it seems at first glance or are we on the cusp of an actual Trade War?
Ryan, they are a done deal. The countries targeted will be announced next week. It may cover everybody, or it may target specific countries. Rest assured, China is on the list. This is a huge huge deal. The blowback from them will be massive.
Further, given NAFTA works and how much Canadian steel crosses and recrosses the border in the manufacturing process, you can bet every auto manufacturer is losing their mind, every auto worker, is ready to kill the bastard.
The irony, Porter was one of the guys fighting the tyrant on this one. Porter was anti-tariff. With him gone, the insanity accelerated.
China’s had the power to make us miserable if they wanted to for a long time now, so let’s just wait and see what these tariffs look like when they’re finalized and how our Communist ‘friends’ respond. No sense in getting worked up just yet.
Yeah, angering someone who holds nearly 1 trillion in U.S. debt is never a good idea. Dow is down 500 points today, and I am guessing at least some of that can be attributed to this. BTW, I would not call China’s economic system “communist” anymore. Not exactly sure how it should be defined, but given how many billionaires have been created there with so many others still in crushing poverty their economic model is hardly communist.
I’m fearful that you have the crux of the issue here. This entire administration and the Republican party is primarily dedicated to keeping the US white.
Yet on the other hand, living in Seattle, I see recent immigrants daily. They are working hard to provide for their families, obtain an education and are assimilating into society. Granted we do not have a large population of native African-Americans. However, we have a significant population of recent immigrants from Africa, and throughout Asia. Many of the construction workers are Hispanic (probably many undocumented), many of the high-tech workers are from Asia. Due to my partner’s illness, I have been using Uber quite a bit to avoid unnecessary parking. Most of the drivers seem to be recent immigrants. the most recent driver I had, was a recent immigrant from Afghanistan. Personally, I am happy to live in a diverse society. I find they add a lot to our society, quality of life and they will assimilate given time.
That is the pattern to the Vietnamese refugees have followed. I have previously mentioned that for many years my dental hygienist was a daughter of Vietnamese boat people. She went to school, got her degree, married and started a family. What could be more truly American?
I would like to add one thing – all the recent immigrants are unfailingly optimistic and have a positive outlook on life. There is little grousing about how bad things are. True they complain about traffic, costs, etc, but that is an universal complaint. I suspect that many native Americans make a comparison to an imagined past, when things were supposedly perfect. Hence the appeal of “Make America Great Again”. America is great and is forging a better 21st Century, partly on the skills, hard work, dedication and optimism of recent immigrants.
I had business this morning in Titusville Florida. The part of it I was in almost all the people looked just like me. Old white people. Prime Trump country. Orlando where I do most things has been for decades a minority majority city. I am buffeted between two worlds living in East Orange County. Orlando is growing and thriving while Titiusville is slowly dying. Change is coming regardless of resistance. My kids and grand kids are thriving in the diverse culture of Orlando. They are fitting in and see no problem with diversity. That is the future.