We have a tough election season coming up ahead of us, one that we know will be crucial for our country, with much hanging in the balance.. Trump is doing all sorts of things to signal authority, rule-breaking, and suppressing votes and maintaining power.
And now Trump has said he wants to delay the election. I could not agree more with what Josh Marshall says in the Editor’s Blog (EB) of Talking Points Memo. I don’t want to get in trouble around fair use, and the EB is behind a paywall. I’m going excerpt what I hope is a sufficiently small amount and the most important key points.
I do get frustrated at the hand-wringing that goes on when Trump, yet again, is abrogating some law or norm and is doing yet another horrible thing, with the active or passive aid of his enablers Barr and McConnell. We shouldn’t be surprised by anything. And we shouldn’t cower either. Everything is about deflection and distraction and trying to avoid responsibility.
As we were discussing how to evaluate Il Douchebag’s presidency, I was told in a conversation with a Trumper the other day that bringing up the pandemic and Trump’s failure around it was “changing the subject.” Don’t let them change the subject. Trump is a pathetic failure. Yes, we have a fight on our hands. Hell, even Fox has a commentator saying that talk of cancelling the election by Trump is telegraphing weakness. Let us not cower:
“But the truth is that the values and reflexes that make liberals and Democrats support things that will make society more just and humane lead them to react to moments like these with outrage and trembling more than mockery and power.
I can only suggest people not fall back into themselves.
All of this comes from Trump’s weakness rather than strength. A sinking ship. The answer in any trial of strength or right is to maintain the initiative rather than cower. Every reporter working a beat today should be asking Republican elected officials … asking isn’t even the right work – giving Republican elected officials their one chance to denounce and disassociate themselves from the President’s words. They have one chance. Tomorrow won’t cut it. If they want to go down with the President’s sinking ship, get their answer and lock them in. Democrats should be prepping ads about how Joni Ernst refused to back holding the election in November. She was ready to sign on. I hope her opponent is prepping that ad right now.
This is a hard moment. Not because of this morning’s nonsense but because of all the threats we face through this election. We cannot control everything that happens to us, either individually or in our civic existence. But we can avoid losing battles in our own heads before they even start. Let’s not do that. Don’t cower.”
