Today’s Supreme Court ruling on Trump’s racist, xenophobic Muslim ban is shocking, disheartening and yet another blow to the democratic principles that built this nation.
There is now no doubt that an emboldened Trump and his racist minions including Stephen Miller, Trump’s co-conspirators in Congress and his propagandists on Fox News and throughout the media, will leverage this decision to wage further war on “the other,” whether that “other” is border crossers from Central America, African-Americans across the country, or any other group Trump deems an “enemy.”
It is abundantly clear that Republicans will do nothing to stop him, despite our lauding here of people like Steve Schmidt, Rick Wilson, the GOP pols who have folded their tents and other conservatives who denounce Trump, yet have little to no influence on Republican politics. And the Supreme Court, led by arch-conservatives, continues to cede authority to the authoritarian, further diminishing democratic principles and encouraging racism and race-based policy making (including, and perhaps most importantly, limiting minority access to the polls while allowing monied interests to influence elections).
Yes, we need to do everything we can to turn out the vote in November. But we need to do so much more. Our urban enclaves will forever be anti-Trump bastions, but they aren’t nearly enough. From the vile border and immigration affronts to the dismantling of environmental protections and the elimination of climate change as a priority, the steady decline under Trump has continued, unabated and is accelerating at a breakneck pace.
We can’t count on Robert Mueller to be our savior. I’m tired of reading “Cohen-about-to-flip” wishful thinking pieces here. Or believing the next big shoe is about drop in Trump-Russia. Maybe that will happen, and maybe it won’t. But I have zero faith that any Republicans will hold Trump and company to account for their egregious corruption and treasonous activities. The fact that Scott Pruitt still has his job is all one needs to know about the current Republican Party. The depth of their depravity has no bottom. It is an abyss.
Every day I wake up and think, “This can’t get any worse.” And then it gets worse. The hatred, the ugliness, the cheering by so many of such vile and horrific acts is disquieting and deeply, deeply disturbing. My hope lies with young people like my daughter who is working 14-hour days to elect Ann Kirkpatrick in Arizona. I am doing my part, as well, volunteering time and donating what I can to help turn the House and Senate blue.
But the deck is stacked right now and Trump and his true believers will not stop. They are moving rapidly on all fronts to drive their white nationalist agenda. Bannon may be gone from the administration, but his particularly gruesome form of xenophobic nationalism lives on. No one is pulling Trump’s strings. This is the real Trump. Creeps like Stephen Miller are just fueling Trump’s fire.
What is happening here at home is, unfortunately, not unique in the world right now. In developed democracies around the globe, Trump-style leaders are on the rise. Is this what Germany felt like during Hitler’s rise?
Dark times, dark times.
We need to get out the vote. I hope it’s enough.