Today, The New Republic published a brilliant summary of where we are at this moment in American history. Go there and read it, link to it, circulate it on social media.
In just 1,341 words, David Rothkopf and Bernard Schwartz have given us a masterclass in what we need to remember as we fight to keep our democracy.
“That a president with this record is in a horse race with a candidate who is a menace to the country, who led an insurrection, who is a pathological liar whom courts have found to be a fraud and a rapist, and who has no real ideas, no credible policy proposals, no record of actually ever achieving anything for the American people is chilling.”
But most of all, use what they wrote as a cheat sheet for your GOTV activities.
The points they make include:
- For 250 years, Americans have always rose to defeat a grave threat to what we “valued most about this country.”
- The gravest threat to our country comes from within, as it did 160 years ago at the time of the Civil War: Donald Trump
- Trump is now “most dangerous presidential candidate in U.S. history”
- Are we ready to defeat this threat? We “may not meet the challenge” this time.
- It should “mortify us” that the race between Biden and Trump is “too close to call” and “that many in our society are blind to reality” because “not yet done our job communicating to one another, to our friends, family, and communities what must be done to defend our country and our system.”
- “Joe Biden . . . has been one of the most successful presidents in modern U.S. history. major legislative initiatives benefiting the American people than any president in 60 years, created of more than 14 million jobs. . .brought down inflation and reduced the prices of vital medicines . . . restored American leadership worldwide, expanded our vital alliances like NATO, and stood up to our enemies. . . Biden’s record is formidable.”
The list of what should have buried Trump forever, but unbelievably has not, includes:
- The insurrection
- The access Hollywood tape
- Two dozen women accusing him of abuse
- Federal judge Lew Kaplan writing, “The fact that Mr. Trump sexually abused—indeed, raped—Ms. Carroll has been conclusively established and is binding in this case.”
- Trump reaching out to our Russian adversaries for aid during the 2016 campaign and the conclusive evidence of our intelligence agencies that Russian tried to aid Trump’s campaign
- Muller’s find 10 instances of possible obstruction of justice.
- Trump genuflecting to Vladimir Putin
- Trump illegally withholding aid to Ukraine in order to manufacture dirt on Biden and his impeachment for that
- A second impeachment for January 6th
- The big lie about our elections being fraudulent
- Trump’s support for the January 6th rioters and his promise to pardon them
- The 91 indictments
- The increased national debt under Trump
- His tax cut for the rich
- His brag that he “is the man behind stripping away the rights of women to control their own bodies, to get an abortion if they need one.”
- His promises to be a dictator from day one.
- His desire to trash the Constitution and fire anyone who is not loyal to him, to throw his opponents and media critics in jail, to round up undocumented immigrants into concentration camps.
He acts like our enemies. Not like any one of them but like all of those we have ever faced combined into a single threat even more insidious than the others.
So, ask yourself, is that enough to make you do more than you have done? Is that enough to commit for the next 10 months to do more than you have ever done during an election year? To give more? To canvas more? To spread the word more? To help get voters to the polls? To ensure every member of your family, your friends, your co-workers do the same? The stakes are too high to do less than everything you can. The stakes are too high to allow this man to continue to play any role in American public life.
So there you have it: 23 points to keep at the ready for discussions as we try to save our democracy in the next ten months.
Are you as frightened as I am? Do you feel like I do that a Trump win represents the last chance we will have to avert climate disaster before it is out of control? Do you feel like I do that human civilization is at risk? And do you also feel like I do that the patriarchy must be put down like a rabid dog?
E. Jean Carroll has just dealt the patriarchy a mighty blow. Has anyone ever been awarded over $83 million for a rape and its continuing damage?