By Sid Schwab / Herald Columnist
About the shutdown of the government in which Republicans control both houses of Congress and the presidency (if that’s still the right word), the most accurate take came from this guy: (YouTube: tinyurl.com/2bright4u).
Now, the same guy and every Republican in Congress, including Holy Mike Johnson — who talks directly with God — are lying, blatantly, un-ninth-commandmently about what Democrats demand to end the shutdown. They’re not arguing for including undocumented immigrants in Medicaid. They do want to restore Republican-cut funds to it. For citizens (Bulwark: tinyurl.com/mendacity4u). Unable to govern, congressional Republicans turn to lying.
What Democrats should be demanding is release of every page of the Epstein files, unredacted; the end of lying about emergencies in blue-state cities; no more sending troops there; a clear statement that Trump turning the Department of Justice into a vehicle for personal vengeance is illegal and so is murdering people in Venezuelan boats whether or not they’re drug-runners of which no proof has been presented; and an admission from Republicans that they don’t care.
Yep, that’ll do it. Shutdown over.
More realistically, Democrats should announce they won’t allow funding of the most corrupt government in the history of our republic until it’s fixed. And they should enumerate examples of that corruption every day till this November and the next (Atlantic: tinyurl.com/easy4crime).
But the moment demands more. Not MAGAs, because it’ll never happen, but, looking at that raid in Chicago, every clear-eyed American must realize we’re living in an incipient police state whose head of government (“president” no longer applies) claims the right to send U.S. troops into any city he chooses, to round up anyone that displeases him. He just announced, after all, that he’ll imprison, for a year, anyone who burns the American flag, which is constitutionally protected speech. Only dictators declare their own laws. Only dictators unilaterally imprison people. And they ban books, words, history, and speech. Especially when, like MAGAs, enough subjects approve.
After training for Chicago like practicing the raid on Osama bin Laden, Trump sent a helicopter from which troops rappelled onto the roof of a five-story building; military vehicles; and agents with flashbangs who kicked down doors, trashed apartments, and rounded up all residents, including U.S. citizens, offering no proof they’re terrorists as claimed. Children were zip-tied together and hustled out, screaming and crying, some of them naked. When a bystander called on those brutal agents to think of the children, one said “F••• them kids” (Complex: tinyurl.com/2themkids). That’s what ICE has become. That’s who joins it. And that’s not all: (Guardian: tinyurl.com/itisworse).
Why those tactics? Why not secure exits and knock on doors? Because it’s about brutality for its own sake and unchecked power. It’s about testing outrage, of which there’s been only some, and only from Democrats. Trump’s fascistic suppression is met with silence from the right. Which means they’re so deep into curated hatred and fear that cruelty is satisfying. They welcome dictatorship because of who they think will be hurt by it and who they think, wrongly, won’t. Stephen Miller, evil incarnate, was caught considering sending the 82nd Airborne into Portland. Paratroopers. Into an American city. Against Americans (Mediaite: tinyurl.com/2send82). Aimed at one group, it’s terroristic. At the other, masturbatory. It’s sickening.
If the Chicago obscenity didn’t cause Republicans in Congress or members of rightwing media to speak out in revulsion, it’s likely too late. It didn’t. So it probably is. Acceptance of Trump’s lawlessness and inhumanity isn’t just cowardice, of which there’s plenty. It’s adoration. It’s what he has unmade of the United States. It’s how Kristallnacht happened. We’re almost there (Time: tinyurl.com/2Bburned).
Trump spoke to U.S. Navy sailors in San Diego last weekend: “We have to take care of this little gnat that’s on our shoulder called the Democrats. They want to give all of our money to illegal aliens.” On his Truthless Sociopathic, he referred to Democrats as “the party of hate, evil, and Satan.” And he posted this dark vision of himself: (Substack: tinyurl.com/darkness4u) Dictators thrive on hate for the “other.” But, say MAGAs, Trump loves America. Our half, anyway, and that’s all that matters. (He doesn’t. It isn’t.)
Since Trump announced his third run, his plans have been clear. After nine months, they’re undeniable: established law means nothing, nor do the courts. He wants absolute power and is taking more every day. That’s not hyperbole, it’s not hate. It’s observable fact. So voters have a defining choice: vote Republican, admit you welcome dictatorship and trust it’ll always be others in Stephen Miller’s and Russell Vought’s crosshairs; or vote for Democrats, even if you’re uncomfortable with same-sex marriage and vaccinations and love canceling 94 million pounds of food for food banks, because you think democracy is worth saving and anyway you’re not gay or sick or hungry (ProPublica: tinyurl.com/nopay4food).
We’ve come to the inevitable fork in the road. If you rationalize what’s happening in Chicago, if you keep voting Republican, you’re trading constitutional democracy for autocracy. It’s that simple. You can no longer pretend otherwise.
Am I angry? Darn right I am.
Email Sid Schwab at columnsid@gmail.com.
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