Eric Boehlert writing at Press Run makes an observation about something that is, if anything, more infuriating than Trump in some ways. (If you haven’t subscribed to Boehlert yet, why not?)
...Indeed, the entire, centuries-old American experiment is now being threatened. The press needs to grapple with how it's going to cover one of the biggest, most dangerous stories in our history. Incredibly, not a single major newspaper has called for Trump to resign in the wake of the Russia bounty story, which has been confirmed over and over in recent days. Recall that more than 100 newspapers demanded Bill Clinton step down from office because he uttered a single false sentence under oath about his extramarital affair.
emphasis added
The Russia bounty story is just the latest atrocity in the rolling shitshow that is the Trump presidency. What will it take before the feckless press acknowledges what is happening in real time right before our eyes, and demands Trump be removed from office? Their moral cowardice has been a key element in getting us to the situation Boehlert describes so succinctly:
On the eve of the nation's 244th Independence Day celebration, it must be noted that the country is approaching a dangerous precipice rarely seen in its history. Facing an economic crisis, a run-away public health crisis, and a social justice crisis, Trump's America stands bare and vulnerable, as the president wages open warfare on the country. By categorically refusing to protect it from a pandemic, while turning a blind eye as an open adversary pays out rewards for the killing of American troops, Trump represents an internal threat unseen in U.S. history — a man whose closest allegiance is not with America, but with open foes and authoritarians.
This is an existential crisis that our Founding Fathers never could have imagined. Or more specifically, they never could have imagined a U.S. president bowing to foreign powers and the president's political party remaining virtually silent, as today's GOP does with Trump's treasonous behavior.
The elephant in the room is… the elephant in the room. Trump is committing palpable treason, and the Republican Party is fully complicit.
"Donald Trump’s actions, his behaviors, his very words, which come right out of the mouth of Vladimir Putin on many subjects—we all see this," author and former naval intelligence officer Malcolm Nance recently explained. "It’s documented. It’s everywhere. The entirety of global media has seen all these things, and, unless you don’t believe anything about the Russian operation against the United States, we all believe it. We all know it. We know there’s something there."
On this coming Fourth of July weekend Republicans will make speeches about American exceptionalism, Freedom, the Constitution, salute the flag and our military — and it will all be lies. They have no shame. Trump will desecrate Mount Rushmore with a blatant campaign rally and fireworks display despite all the warnings why it’s a bad idea. Trump continues to divide America; it’s the only thing he knows how to do — and the Republican Party marches in lock step behind him, waging culture war on the country.
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
The Republican Party has spent decades bringing us to this point. They made Trump possible, they and the dark money behind them. They are a cult of death. With 130,000 Americans now dead and more to come because of their malevolent incompetence, they will not retreat from the course they are on. The money’s too good. IOKIYAR will be the epitaph on the tombstone of the American Experiment — if this goes on*.
(*classic science fiction reference, scarily prophetic in some ways if you consider how the evangelicals stand with Trump, and the religious extremists around him, like Barr, Pence, Pompeo, etc.)
On this coming Fourth of July weekend, let us remember the words of a President who faced a country that had been torn apart, and take them to heart:
It is rather for us, the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us that, from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here, gave the last full measure of devotion that we here highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
It’s up to us. Never give up, never surrender. Remember in November. Resist. Persist.