Lying Criminal Felon Trump Made America A Shithole, Biden Saved It

Trump�s America Becomes One of Those �Shithole Countries�

Republicans made their bargain with the president and the cost is coming
due.

By John F. Harris

The capital was consumed by talk of �insurrection,� a tense standoff with
police guns drawn at the doors of the national legislature, a fatality, a
curfew enforced by soldiers in the streets. What country are we talking
about?

This one, of course, and if it had happened elsewhere it might well have
merited citation from President Donald Trump himself the next time he
updates his notorious almanac of �shithole countries.�

But it didn�t happen elsewhere. It happened in the world�s oldest
democracy, and in that sense was powerfully illuminating of what happens
when one takes Trump Era politics to its logical destination.

The evacuation of the Senate chamber when the Capitol�s security was
breached was hectic, but not so much that Sen. Mitt Romney didn�t have time
for commentary for his fellow Republicans who had joined Trump in
challenging his loss to President-elect Joe Biden with bogus assertions of
pervasive fraud: �This is what you�ve gotten guys,� Romney scolded. Later,
he told The New York Times, �This is what the president caused today, this
insurrection.�

The day, just two weeks before the transfer of power on Jan. 20, was
historic in multiple ways. But one milestone was especially noteworthy: It
turns out even Trump can find himself rudely splattered by the muck of
Trumpism.

Even he can be burned by the essential bargain of the Republican Party in
the Trump Era: Just play along with the spectacle, and enjoy the material
and psychic rewards of power.

�This was a fraudulent election, but we can�t play into the hands of these
people,� Trump pleaded in a video released as the Capitol was under siege
by Trump-backing insurrectionists trying to halt the attempted
certification of the presidential election. �So go home. We love you.
You�re very special.�

It was as if Trump himself was taken aback by the revelation that at least
some his backers don�t realize his presidency is the political equivalent
of pro wrestling � lots of puffing and bluster and body slams designed as
entertainment. It�s like those guys took him seriously a few hours earlier
at a �Stop the Steal� rally to repeat his claims that �our election
victory� was �stolen by emboldened radical-left Democrats� and the news
media, and taunting everyone in his own party from his vice president on
down who does not agree with him.

It came on the day when Republicans, who lost the House in 2018 in large
part because of Trump�s polarizing presidency, also lost the Senate when
two Republicans were evicted from their seats in Georgia, in a special
election shadowed by Trump�s spurious claims of election fraud. In
combination with the mayhem at the Capitol, it underlined the
transactionalism at the heart of the Trump years. Lots of people have made
bargains, and the light is better than ever to assess how these have paid
off.

At the individual level this bargain � I don�t much like what Trump does or
says, but I�ve got good reasons for setting misgivings aside � was what a
long parade of people did in going to work as one of his chiefs of staff or
national security advisers or cabinet secretaries. It is hard to name any
who emerged from the bargain unscathed, with neither public reputation nor
personal dignity undiminished.

At the national level, that is what the Republican Party did once most of
its members accurately perceived the question of the age is �What side are
you on?� and concluded that the only safe place for someone with ambition
is, �On the side of Trump.�

Trump famously boasted that his supporters would still back him if he shot
someone on Fifth Avenue. What happened Wednesday was something different �
a damaging wound to him or those sympathetic to his cause delivered in the
name of supporting him.

In that sense, it highlighted the broader predicament of the Republican
Party. The GOP is a coalition of people who like Trump, people who don�t
like Trump but pretend to for expedient reasons, with a small sliver of
people who don�t like him and don�t pretend to and whom are left to wonder
about their own future in the party.

Even before the violence, it was a day when Republican leaders faced
recriminations about how the strategy of Trump accommodation paid off. In
his reelection bid, Trump proved himself to be the greatest mobilizer of
Republican turnout ever, winning the second-highest number of votes in
American history. He also turned out to be greatest mobilizer of Democratic
turnout ever, helping President-elect Joe Biden win the first-highest
number of votes in American history.

Until this week, one could have made the case that Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell was a nearly singular figure: Someone who came out ahead in
the bargain to work with Trump and muzzle any negative sentiments he might
have harbored about the president�s behavior. After all, McConnell got what
he wanted most: four years of conservative judges. After the November
elections, it looked like McConnell might keep his power as majority leader
and even could lay down terms to a Democratic president whom he�s known
longer and probably likes more than Trump.

McConnell is soon to be minority leader. His speech deploring the attempt
at challenging the certification of Biden�s victory � �Our democracy would
enter a death spiral� if the attempt was successful � might have been the
day�s big news were it not for the confrontation.

How does McConnell view his bargain now?

Or how about Vice President Mike Pence? Four years in which he surrendered
independent identity to show obsequiousness to Trump in public, and
evidently also in private, were repaid with a Trump tweet on Wednesday
saying, �Mike Pence didn�t have the courage to do what should have been
done to protect our Country and our Constitution� by trying to block
certification of Biden�s election. Is Pence still supposing that he will be
the natural inheritor of the Trump movement in 2024?

How about Sens. Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, also likely 2024 aspirants. Are
they feeling as good about their decision to contest the election
certification after the Capitol insurrection as they were before?

Rep. Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican, was quoted calling the day�s
events �banana republic crap� and said they highlighted �the cost� of
efforts to try to deny election certification.

That sounded clear enough. But Gallagher himself has been navigating
Trump�s claims gingerly. Earlier this week, he joined a statement with
other Republicans saying they wouldn�t attempt to block certification of
Biden�s victory but also asserting that they are �outraged at the
significant abuses in our election system resulting from the reckless
adoption of mail-in ballots and the lack of safeguards maintained to
guarantee that only legitimate votes are cast and counted.�

It seemed like an attempt at artful difference-splitting, aimed at
separating themselves from Trump�s maneuvers without alienating his
supporters. But these are not congenial times for difference-splitters.

Which side are you on is indeed the question of the age, but the sides
aren�t Republicans and Democrats. The choice is democracy and rule of law
on one side, and a brand of politics unhinged from principle or self-
restraint on the other.

On 7/11/2024 1:25 PM, Red Barrington wrote:
> Lying Criminal Felon Trump Made America A Shithole, Biden Saved It

You will pay dearly for your treason.

>You will pay dearly for your treason.

Putin loving cuck.

Rightists are going to prison daily for Trump's Jan 6 act of treason but you
were afraid to go.

You know what they're going to do to you.

On Thu, 11 Jul 2024 13:36:22 -0600, C_V <c_v@invalid.net> wrote:

>On 7/11/2024 1:25 PM, Red Barrington wrote:
>> Lying Criminal Felon Trump Made America A Shithole, Biden Saved It
>
>You will pay dearly for your treason.

An Axis is developing based on Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. Trump has aligned
himself with this Axis.

In news from Europe:

The EU will not touch Russian principle in western banks but all earned interest will be
deposited to Ukraine accounts to help finance the war.

Why is so much Russian money in the west?
Dictators like putting their money in western banks. The west has the rule of law and
their money is safe there.

Evidence of the new Axis of North Korea-Russia-China-Iran-Donald Trump

"Elite North Korea military trainees visit Russia amid deepening ties"
<https://www.reuters.com/world/elite-north-korea-military-trainees-visit-russia-amid-deepening-ties-2024-07-09/>

China and Belarus start joint military drills near Polish border.
https://x.com/RealJakeBroe/status/1811275294336270601

"‘Dictator playdate’: Donald Trump and Hungary PM Viktor Orban set to meet again in
Mar-A-Lago"
<https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/watch/-dictator-playdate-donald-trump-and-hungary-pm-viktor-orban-set-to-meet-again-in-mar-a-lago-214683717589>

Swill
NP: Full Cast - The Tide Is Turning (The Wall Live in Berlin 1990)