Forget "Weird." Let's Talk "Dangerous." (Part 2)
Forget "Weird." Let's Talk "Dangerous." (Part 2)
Tim Walz got traction by calling Republicans "weird." But leaving it at "weird" lets Donald Trump off the hook. He’s much worse than weird.
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Election Day is fast approaching, and the potential danger of another Trump term is looming over us.
As I’ve previously stated, the word “weird” is insufficient to describe what lurks beneath the surface of a second term presidency of Donald Trump. A good portion of the danger of another term of Trump is the fact that the Republican Party as we once knew it no longer exists. It is now the party of Trump. The few Republicans who have tiptoed around the edges of speaking out against Trump and his irrational and dangerous approach to governance have done so in the meekest of ways.
That timidity is informed in part by a complete lack of courage on the part of Republicans. But it’s also influenced by the very real threats from Trump’s most devoted and violent cultists. Many of those Congressional Republicans who won’t stick their heads out of the foxhole to save our democracy are the same people who have seen first hand the consequences of Trump’s ire. They’ve hid under desks or locked themselves in closets or fled through the halls of Congress to escape the rioting hordes on January 6, 2021.
Many of those same Republicans who, in the immediate aftermath of the January 6th insurrection, berated Trump for inciting the violence are now claiming that it was a peaceful and orderly “tourist visit.”
All that is to say that, as we go forward, we cannot rely on anyone in the Republican party to be able to restrain Trump from his worst impulses. The phrase “go along to get along” seems to have been coined specifically to be applied to the current Republican Party. We’ve waited patiently for the fever to break, but the temperature keeps rising.
All members of the Senate and the House of Representatives take an oath of office that begins:
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic …”
Within the Preamble of the Constitution, there is an obligation to “insure domestic tranquility.” Since Trump incited the insurrection (or, at the very least, did nothing to stop it), the argument could be made that any Congressperson who is still supporting Trump is in violation of their oath of office.
In the previous “Dangerous” post, I highlighted some of the dangers related to Reproductive Freedom, LGBTQ rights, and the Supreme Court. Here are a few more categories of danger:
Military
We’ve already seen how Trump perceives his role as Commander-in-Chief of our armed forces, a military force for which he has demonstrated no respect or understanding.
He has referred to the nation’s top ranking military personnel as “my generals.” Whether he has intended to or not, he has revealed exactly how he views these generals. He believes they should do his bidding without question. Those generals who in the past have explained the constitutional limits of the military have been publicly excoriated.
He has vowed to fire any of the generals who did not do whatever he wanted, whether what he was asking was legal or not.
Most significantly, he has promised to use the military against U.S. citizens. He already attempted that when he was in office. Since he has promised to replace the generals who didn’t kowtow to his wishes, it’s inevitable that he will replace them with generals who would have no problem doing exactly that. (If you think such people do not exist, Exhibit A is Trump’s former Security Advisor, Michael Flynn.)
Diplomacy & Statecraft
Donald Trump either doesn’t understand or doesn’t value our allies. He has denigrated NATO, the longest and largest alliance that the U.S. participates in. One premise of NATO is that a military attack on any member is an attack on the alliance itself; the allied nations agree to respond to any such attack. The United States is the sole beneficiary of such military action, with the post-9/11 war in Iraq.
At the sole debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, Trump refused to state that Ukraine should win in its war with Russia. He has also stated that the way he would end the war is to make sure that Ukraine give Russia exactly what it wants. He either fails to take into account or is complicit with the idea that Russia will not stop at Ukraine. Such capitulation would put Poland and other NATO allies at grave risk.
The most obvious trait that Trump has displayed that disqualifies him from holding the office he is seeking is his fascination — some would say “obsession” — with dictators and authoritarians. He has cozied up to the worst dictators in the world and has expressed admiration for the likes of Vladimir Putin, Victor Orban, Kim Jung Un, Xi Jinping, Recep Erdoğan, and Mohammed bin Salman. Trump has questionable financial dealings with several of those leaders — dealings which have the potential of severely damaging the nation’s security.
Gun Safety
Donald Trump has been endorsed by the NRA. That makes sense because corrupt people tend to associate with each other. Both the NRA and Donald Trump have no regard for human life. He’s proud of his association with the NRA. Or, perhaps, he knows he needs the support of NRA members (and NRA dollars). After all, they gave his 2016 campaign more than $30 million and millions more in 2020.
Trump has boasted that he did nothing to restrict guns while he was in the White House. After mass shootings in 2019 in El Paso, TX and Dayton, OH, he publicly stated that he was going to take some kind of action. Like most things Trump promises, exactly what action he was going to take was completely vague. But Wayne LaPierre, the disgraced and disgraceful CEO of the NRA, did a little arm-twisting and Trump backed away even from that vague promise.
Trump spoke at the 2023 NRA convention, pledging to remain a “loyal friend” to the organization. It’s chilling what the prospect of potential campaign contributions will do to this man.
Trump has said that we just have to learn to live with school shootings. In January of this year, less than 36 hours after a school shooting in Iowa, he told supporters we “have to get over it.” (Do you think that willingness to brush aside the loss of human life might have had something to do with wanting to change the subject away from gun violence, with the Iowa caucuses just days away?)
There’s no way, prior to Election Day, to describe all the dangers that await us in a second Trump term. Fortunately, the Trump campaign and Trump have inadvertently warned us of much of the danger via Project 2025 (which Trump claims to have nothing to do with) and Agenda 47 (which the Trump campaign claims aligns very well with Project 25). I dare you to make sense of that.
You can turn to literally any page in either of those documents and the threats to our democracy jump off the page.
The last thing Trump and his cronies want is an informed electorate. But, in these last days of the presidential campaign, it’s worth doing your homework.