There’s this idea of country over party. That if the party in power is bloats and oversteps its position, its members would band together for the good of the nation and oppose the rising tide. It’s this idea that democracy and balance of power still means the same thing today that it meant in 1776.
I wish that was happening now, but it’s just not. We’re in the midst of a war of culture between the GOP and the post-Obama era Democrats. The GOP has won comeback victories as the Democrats struggle to find a successor to Obama, failing to realize that that’s not the right battle plan.
In the face of Trump’s administration doing their absolute best to rewind time simply for the sake of erasing all mentions of the Democratic party from the past eight years, Republicans in Congress seem content to let it happen. Even as the DCCC ramps up what promises to be a massive effort to take control of Congress, the GOP at large seem totally unconcerned.
Many are refusing to hold town halls in the face of their local constituents protesting Obamacare repeal talks and having a general distaste for the trajectory of the country. I mean, they aren’t even pretending to care about the people they represent. Those that do hold the meetings get embarrassed by the people they left behind in favor of following Trump and Paul Ryan around with a metal case of shoe shine and cotton balls.
Trump wants to hold national security meetings on North Korea in the middle of Mar-a-Lago, letting members take pictures on their phones? All good. Nothing wrong with that.
Trump wants to raise the membership fee of the same club immediately after he begins his presidency? Fine. Just a coincidence.
Trump supports a one-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict? Not a problem, illegally acquiring Palestinian land is legal now, I guess.
Trump wants to fabricate terror incidents in Sweden and then take credit for a riot several days after his lie? Well, he called it, didn’t he?
Here’s the thing, Trump is doing exactly what he said he would. He said so himself during his speech at CPAC. I’ll give him that; he’s an honest bigot. But for so many Republicans to fall in line and stand up straight at the mere thought of being able to outdo Obama, that’s a disgrace. That’s not proper governance.
Trump’s implementing travel bans in countries around the ones where you could argue that one would need to be in place. He’s talking about America’s military as if it’s depleted and underfunded, when we spend 1.7 trillion dollars on it every year. It’s not underfunded, that’s a misuse of funds.
Why are they not fighting this? Don’t they claim to oppose government that oversteps its position and mishandles money and national security situations? Why are they not pointing out that banning media outlets from a gaggle to make room for more Trump friendly news media is something that authoritarian regimes do? That’s ripped straight out of the textbook and they don’t seem to mind.
They’re so concerned with legacy that they don’t care about what happens in the middle. They think that the end justifies the means. For them, it’s party over country. That’s why I’m worried. Trump may be mad, but if nobody is willing to stand in his way then we’ve got nothing left to do but watch as Trump blindly takes a pair of scissors to the tapestry of American history.
