Is it okay to discuss here what is NOT the way forward?
I appreciate that this forum has somewhat relaxed rules to encourage serious discussion on the essential questions of how we, as Democrats, must try to grab the wheel and turn this nation back onto a sane course.
Does that include being able to speak freely about what Democrats should obviously not be doing?
I hope so, because here goes...
These past weeks, Dems across the country (and not just here on DU) have been doing all they can to amplify the message that we must form a strong, united front against the work trump and his people are doing to crush our Democracy and actually de-legitimize our Constitution.
Even before they began nabbing people of color off the streets and filling detention camps with them, some of us were trying to shed light on the statements of some elected Democrats who were sending counter-messaging that this nazi-based regime might be "worked with" in some way, that what they are doing, and what they are telling us they are planning to do, might be acceptable in some way. We responded as loudly as we could against the "yes" votes that were trickling in from Democratic Senators for the very nominees trump will entrust to bring down our governmental institutions.
With some hope, there was backlash, even the corporate media allowed aired segments to show how the will of the sane half of America was calling for resistance, opposition, and unity on the left. A handful of elected officials brought even more attention to the need for steady defiance in the face of "shock and awe" actions of this Administration.
And yet, after watching the devastation unfolding for weeks, today we wake up to this:
The vote was 79-18. More than half of Senate Democrats joined all 53 Republicans in voting for Burgum.
https://apnews.com/article/burgum-trump-interior-secretary-energy-a123dea9f2a1f03a1ed95f316593740d
We can not be normalizing trump's work.
We can not be sending the message to the public that any of his ideas, desires, or actions are acceptable.
We can not be pretending that any of this is "business as usual", because we know it isn't.
We can not become complicit in the undeniable (and undenied ) attempts to dismantle our Democracy.
...and yet that is EXACTLY what some elected Dems are doing every day this crucial week by accepting and agreeing with the people trump is putting in positions of power, authority, and control.
How deep exactly is the rot of America?
We must face hard realities right now.
Will what Democrats see in the mirror be one of the hardest to face?
Will we discover that WE are actually one of the most destructive realities, smoothing the way forward toward the end our 250 year old American Democracy?
WE CAN NOT continue to assist the current fascist regime to annihilate our Democracy.
= new reply since forum marked as read
It has to be done.
I sat in line for 2+ hours voting last November. I live in a Red area and there were plenty of folks in Trump garb, including flags on their shinny clean trucks. They were so happy to be voting for their man who was going to right all the wrongs. It seemed many of them had little to no experience voting; some were unsure if they were in the right polling place. Low engaged voters. My heart sank, I knew my state (PA) was probably going over to Trump.
I've had many arguments with my family and friends about how strongly to oppose Trump's policies and appointees. And I recognize there's a chance these folks are going to take steps to institutionalize Republican control into the future. But, Trump won the election. I don't believe in conspiracies or voter suppression. I saw the marginally engaged voters who IMHO put Trump into office with my own eyes. So be it; Trump has a right to put his people in positions of power not matter how incompetent they are (and boy, some of them sure are).
Will we suffer under Trump and his minions? It's early, the book is still being written. Personally, I believe Trump is a train wreck, dumpster fire, and whatever catastrophic analogy you want to insert. He's a royal fuck up.
But elections have consequences and we need to continue to point out Trump's utter incompetency and every time he screws up. He has to own it and we have to make sure he owns it. That means holding the M$M to it also. It sucks we're all going to have to suffer. But sometimes you just have to take it to demonstrate to folks what poor decisions they have made and hope they do better next time.
