I am in my early 60's and have lived in Canada all my life. I recall even from childhood being told how the American people could be depended on to know the truth when they see it, and how their common sense would inevitably smell a lie. I learned that it was precisely those expectations that led your founders to trust this common sense whether coming from a jury or the election box.
Now, even as an outsider looking in, I feel cheated and lied to. The American people have shown that they can't be trusted. When their 'common sense' was most needed, they displayed nothing of the sort and let down their country and all it stands for.
201
You do realize that a majority of us didn’t vote for him, and that a good number of us are fighting him tooth and nail, right?
9
@Karl Gauss
If, as an outsider, you feel cheated and lied to, what do you think the insiders are going through?
8
Democracy dies in darkness, laziness and fear. We're about to become a coprocracy.
22
Damning conclusions about our vulgar bully (a coward in disguise) in-chief, demeaning of all politics (the art of the possible, and requiring due compromise) to it's lowest common denominator: he is convinced that facts and fiction must be used interchangeably, depending on the circumstances, Trump calling the press 'fake news' when the reporting is not of his liking. Trump has proven to us, beyond any doubt, that he is a dedicated liar, unable himself to separate truth from fiction anymore. Plus, he is a crook; and as you know, a thief is convinced that all others are of his same condition, crooks. You call him infectious, and he may be; but he is more than that, he is a poisonous snake paralysing any chance of survival of the truth. Too bad he cannot be stopped right now, as he counts with the complicity of a duplicitous republican party. He is corrosive alright, with his carefully crafted rein of 'fear, hate and division'. Corrupt too? Of course, a product of Trump's incompetence...beyond his dedicated self-enrichment since childhood, well documented for all to see. The worst damage of the current klepto-plutocracy is the lasting destruction of the trust in our democratic institutions. And the rise of cynicism and indecency.
31
Thank you, Mr. Cohen. We are in great danger. You write,
“Corrupting is the man. Corrupting is a presidency dedicated to the blurring of the line between truth and falsehood.”
And from Madeleine Albright’s best-selling book: Fascism: A Warning:
“I shall give a propagandist reason for starting the war, no matter whether it is plausible or not. The victor will not be asked afterward whether he told the truth.” -
Adolf Hitler. August 22, 1939.
On September 1, Hitler’s army invaded a virtually defenseless Poland.
Last week I saw Michael Moore’s new film, Fahrenheit 11/9. It explains the Administration’s gaslighting of the American people in historical and current context. Please, readers, see this important film!
Think of the power Trump has to declare a national emergency. Now he has his “Presidential Alert” texting system to millions of mobile phones. The presidential text is not an option! You must receive it. How quickly and easily can this monster mobilize his base. Think I’m paranoid? You bet I am.
38
VOTE November 6.
59
Free societies do NOT die overnight. It has taken Reagan Republicans over fifty years to kill this one.
120
Lawlessness, anti-humanism, irrationality were identified by Franz Neumann as the key elements of national socialism in "Behemoth," his 1944 study of Nazi Germany. We're not there yet, but Trumpism incorporates all three.
45
It will be the Kavanaugh Court now , wholly captured by right wing zealots who can’t wait to run roughshod over women, nonwhite citizens, the LGBT community, and those who disagree with them. The current “victim”: a corrupted FBI.
We might all do well to remember Reinhold Niebuhr’s lament from the Nazi era. Stand up for those who oppose the destruction of our three-equal-parts of government, or soon there will be nobody to stand up for us.
34
Insidious. Poisonous. Corrupting. Corrosive. This is the recipe for evil. This is trump.
76
Mr Cohen
The most sickening part of the confirmation process of Kavanaugh involved senators' evocations of the 'American Dream' or repeated allusions to American exceptionalism. Right ! so exceptional to the point of disrespecting an organ of international law, the International Criminal Court. This speaks volumes for the utter moral hypocrisy at the root of the American political system where justice is a sham and only available to the richest bidder ! Only the congenitally wealthy and connected can realise the 'American Dream' today. The rest of the overwhelming majority are mere slobs who are either 'lazy' or 'stupid', that's all.
29
First Roe then Brown next Engle.
4
This column is a true story, but for one instance which made itself visible yesterday. Trump boarded AF1 with a piece of toilet paper (or some such) stuck on his shoe. Since there is no toilet in his limo, that means there were multiple people who saw him, spoke to him, dealt with him, and not one of them bothered to tell him. That is his legacy: a person so reviled by even those who are nearest to him that they snicker behind their hands and let him look like Vernon Dursley in the Potter books with a piece of egg dangling from his moustache, asking “Do I look stupid to you?” Yes, trump, you do. And corrupt. And vile. And you’re gone soon, one way or the other. We can recall Kavanaugh. We will. This whole “incident” in America will leave a scar, but what are scars but a reminder to be far more careful in the future? We will do that, too.
78
This whole presidency can be summed up by Trump’s philosophy caught on-camera and revealed before the 2016 election:
“When you’re a star, you can do anything you want. Grab ‘em ...”
That’s Kavanaugh for you. The same “so what. It was x years ago”
Sacrifice American values for short term gain.
Guess what, no company reached greatnesses with quarterly blockbuster earnings.
This is the beginning of the decline... corrosion of American institutions and complete absence of checks and balances envisaged by our founders.
The only time GOP remembers the constitution is when the remember the first amendment to protect hate speech and the second amendment after another mass shooting...
33
Trump and the current crop of radicalized Republicans are a cancer eating away at the U.S. and Kavanaugh is just another symptom.
We go forward with an ethos of inclusiveness and mutual support, backward with Trump's exclusiveness and selfishness.
46
Blue tsunami coming at them.... they have no idea.
13
Bravo, Mr. Cohen.
32
Trump channels the American mind and low level of morality. So much spent of education here with so little resulting critical thinking. So many churches and so much hatred, greed and depravity. Don the Con is the pied piper of loutish, rube America. Bigly sad.
21
Insidious are the people who put the man in office. Contagion must be quarantined.
25
Vote while you still can. November 6, 2018. No excuses.
29
I feel much better now. NOT
2
Salman Rushdie as quoted in an interview published today, October 6, in Dagens Nyheter, "Kultur BOKLÖRDAG" p. 8 Headline:
"USA is one step away from fascism"
Interviewed in New York by Björn af Kleen
Perhaps a note on this later today at
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US Se
16
The most insidious contagion coming from the President is the way commentators have exuberantly embraced the idea of “both sides”. Remember that it wasn’t until Trump used this term to explain how some neo-nazis were good people that this phrase became so rampant.
I suppose there were two sides in WWII, but to be perfectly clear, only one side were Nazis.
21
Trump's entire life has been devoted to establishing himself, his family, and all those at his beck and call, as not subject to law. His unrelenting trashing of the Rule of Law is his modus operandi. Indeed it's precisely what he means by "making America great again." A great nation, in his treasonous playbook, has no room for law-abiding losers.
16
The politburo has once again caved and voted. You get what you pay for.
6
Judge Kavanaugh’s rant exposed him as a partisan hack, a man with a political agenda in a robe, and that is why the Republicans really want him on the bench.
I do not know where the bottom will be for our nation, but I am convinced that we may just still be in the first few innings of a horrible downward trajectory. And as inconceivably bad as Trump is and as corrupt and feckless his party has also become, it will not only get worse, but what comes after Trump could be the nightmare of all nightmares?
17
Too bad your photograph doesnt have the strand of toilet paper trailing off Trump's shoe like the recent viral video of just that as he boarded Air Force One, oblivious as usual. Because that may as well be our Constitution if the talk show president thinks the Supreme Court is supposed to be his personal rubber stamp and micro-managing FBI investigations into his own nominee is considered OK by the GOP Senate committee.
Having someone like Collins lecture Americans on the legitimacy of a process that most people can see in real time is a complete sham by a partisan committee is why there is nearly 3 million in a fund to replace her. People are sick of their LYING.
43
The Republican Party is only spineless from the point of view of those of us who are unsympathetic.
From their point of view, I am sure they are courageously pushing through their agenda; Courageously willing to lie and deceive in order to fulfill their promises, uphold Christian values and the vision of the country they believe in -- get another right-wing judge on the Supreme Court who's going to stand up for all those poor unborn babies.
What is that? Something other than spinelessness, but just as deplorable.
11
The struggle to remain reasonable in the face of Republican corruption and absurdity — not to be redundant but the mention of the ever deepening corruption and absurdity being acted out all around us.
Here in Oregon we have the republican candidate for gov. Knute adverting pro positions on issues he is on record of having voted against. Just another poster boy of Republican corruption!
The Republican party is simply the state mental hospital day room of those too far gone to expect a cogent response from.
9
This is what Collins signed up for—knowingly. This is what Kennedy enabled—also knowingly. This is what all the people who couldn’t be bothered to vote should have known. This country is done in because of people who wouldn’t lift a finger to save it.
Most of what Collins said in her statement was demonstrably false. Kavanaugh’s importance is that he’s the last necessary piece of the puzzle. Unless Roberts undergoes some kind of conversion, we’re all set for a regime where the Constitution is no longer a barrier to autocratic rule.
No one will escape the consequences.
49
I wonder if any of these writers have ever been in the clutches of our crimes against humanity "justice" system? There is NO rule of law only the rule of money and our entire bogus system is set up that way. It's been getting worse for decades but the media is too busy cop worshiping to notice their destructive ways
6
I'm really tired of hearing commentators refer to Trump's lies as "false and misleading" statements. Call them what they are. They are lies, pure and simple. Say LIES.
44
Time to make Mary Shelley required reading along with her husband.
4
Something I have always held dear:
"We the people, in order to form a more perfect union"
I remember learning that in grammar school. Now at 68 with less in front of me than behind I am very concerned for my country.
My Dad believed the Republicans were the ones that kept to that. I have watched and I became a Democrat. But now I do not see either of these parties even trying to honor that opening line.
It's a disgrace what is happening this country seemed to be a beacon of light that all of us are important. Not this cult(?) Of what appears to be tribal behavior. It's just a fact of life that no matter how hard a government tries some folk are left behind. But there are mechanisms in place to account for this they don't seem to be in use.
So just what has happened to
"We the people, in order to form a more perfect union"?
6
Well put. As soon as I can, I’m getting out of here.
18
This is exactly what you get when you elevate a profound, probably malignant, Narcissist (a mental health condition described in the literature of Mental Health and Illness as a Personality Disorder) to the highest office of the country. Read the characteristics of a narcissist online and the stories of those folks who have had to live with or work with or worship under the domination of a person who thinks and acts as if they are the only one who is important and has a hole as big as all outdoors where their emotional ego and heart are supposed to be. The characteristics describe Trump to a T.
One of the most often used words in the description of effects of a narcissist in charge of anything is Chaos writ large. They thrive on chaos and know exactly how to promote it. Never explain, never apologize, always blame someone else, push or ignore all the rules or create their own, change the topic when it gets hot, distract, deny, dissemble and destroy those who criticize. Find the weak spot in their colleagues or family and exploit it. Etc etc. And they are smart about getting their way. We are in for a continuing bumpy or dangerous ride if citizens and legislative leaders don't figure out what the 'treatment' is .
13
Mr. Cohen there is someone who saw the poison coming sooner than others.
Recently Reverend William Barber, NC received the MacArther Genius Grand Award.
Reverend Barber had recognized the impact of gerrymandering in NC; and he did the right thing, he helped organize and educate people, he knew what was happening years ago.
Someone at the MacArthur Foundation found this man and recognized his work.
I'm grateful to you Mr. Cohen for expressing the damage so far, and that which is yet to come. More than half the country sees it too.
Reverend Barber's voice is one that continues to face and fight the poison. You will too Mr. Cohen, as will more than half the country.
15
I despair of the damage that Donald J. Trump has done to truth, and justice, and the American way. Yes, a cliche, but perhaps one that will touch deep inside each of us the same sense of civic duty that propelled Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, and others, to come forward with information. The Republican Party sold their soul some time ago most obviously, in my view, when Mitch McConnell openly stated that his only purpose as Senate majority leader was to opposed anything President Obama did. Including Merrick Garland. That is when we ought to have been in the streets protesting to protect our liberties and the rule of law. I am awakened to a new, visceral love of this country and democracy in response to the authoritarian and anti-democratic (read: fascist) actions of the president and his party and the followers who celebrate their ignorance and barbarity. I hope my fellow citizens feel the same; given The Republican Congress’ total abdication of their constitutional role of check on the executive branch, and now their abdication of advise and consent on SCOTUS nominations, citizens must awaken and exercise that check at the ballot box. Election Day cannot come soon enough.
12
We look back at history and ask ourselves how the ordinary citizens of Italy and Germany, of Chile and Argentina, could simply go about their day-to-day business, as fascists slowly and deliberately infiltrated their institutions? I mean, it wasn't exactly happening in the dark, behind closed doors. We feel a comfortable sense of moral superiority as we point to those moral fables of civic obliviousness. Fast forward 70 years, and I suspect it will be us that people are shaking their heads over, asking "What were they thinking? Couldn't they see what was happening right under their noses?" Assuming, of course, that the history of the early 21st century hasn't been thoroughly rewritten...
18
The diminishment of respect for democratic norms so manifest in the Trump administration did not start with Trump. Mitch McConnell, in the words of Christopher Browning, a respected historian, contributed significantly to this "cancer": "He (McConnell) stoked the hyperpolarization of American politics to make the Obama presidency as dysfunctional and paralyzed as he possibly could." https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/10/25/suffocation-of-democracy/.
McConnell, and before him Newt Gingrich, helped make Trump possible. There will be no healing in American politics until Trump and McConnell and their apparatchiks are long gone. Just hope my grandchildren and future generations can survive the mess they have made.
21
American democracy is under attack. Minority party rules, and a coup is taking place. If Kavenaugh is seated, the SCOTUS will, at least in Trump's perception, become another arm of the White House. We already know that Trump thinks the FBI is his imperial guard, the federal agencies are run by his sychophants who are either inept because they are not qualified, and/or are determined to undermine or destroy them completely.
Congress is like a termite infestation. While all the attention is focused on the shiny new paintjob, our house is being decimated from the inside out.
It is a coup...sure, no blood or tanks in the streets. But despite all the polls that indicate Americans are not on board with our current status, the minority still rules.
GET OUT TO VOTE. Vote early, it's easier and less time spent in lines. Volunteer to help get other out to vote. It is time that the citizens of our country show the patriotism of the Revolutionaries when they took up arms against the British. WE don't need weapons. We have elections. Pay attention. Become informed, and vote for the candidates that have YOUR interests at the forefront of their motives...not those who say "Party First". The label isn't important. The result is.
13
I agree. I could spend all day commenting on the many articles in NYT, WAPO and other sources lamenting the state of our democracy. Since Eisenhower, the first president I remember, the pendulum has swung back and forth between administrations of various ideologies, talents, priorities and flaws. Progress is made in some areas (civil rights, women’s reproductive rights, ACA, ADA, LBGT rights) and we fall behind in others (Citizens United, WMD fraud, education funding, gerrymandering, voter suppression) but, until now, everything that divided us seemed to be worrisome, but not terrifying.
I am terrified. It is not “Trump derangement syndrome.” It is the understanding of the historical signs of stress on democracies which historically preceded their demise. With the right guardrails we can weather any President. But Trump, rather than being capable of formulating coherent policies, spends his time seeking out and smashing all the guardrails that protect us from authoritarianism.
I am exhausted, deflated and repulsed not only by him and his crew of liars and ideologues, but by the gleeful faces and ribald laughter of the citizens in red hats sitting behind him at rallies, laughing as he mocks a sexual abuse victim whom he had described as very credible only days before and mocks Franken, who left the Senate when accused of being disrespectful and harrassing women. In that crowd of sneering people was a little boy with red hair hearing that women lie to hurt men.
13
“Free societies do not die overnight. The growth of a climate of intellectual fear is one sign of their weakening. So are the development of a personality cult, the stripping of meaning from language and the spread of disorientation.”
The spread of disorientation is exactly what I feel. I and mine will figure out a way to work around the bullies and cheats, but in my many years I’ve not felt this afraid for our national life together. With Trump, angry men are emboldened (see Kavanaugh, children caged, women demeaned, white supremacists) and take license to bully and ugly their way into our lives.
Most people are impressionable followers. We like the shiny thing. As Jon Meachum said “that’s why there’s only one volume of “Profiles in Courage.” Trump probably had a mean mother, and we know a corrupt father. He’s trying to create a whole country in his black -hearted image. That’s his legacy.
But I won’t give up!
16
Hello Roger guess why all presidents appoint judges whom they think are of the right party. Why do they do this? Well Its to execute over time the party line, duh
Not insidious from their view but strategic. This is just another example stretching back to the almost court packer President Roosevelt.
Not really sure what your intent is to tell us things we already know, understand and expect.
3
Thanks for this eloquent and moving statement about the infection among the body politic. If anyone imagines the choir boy Kavanaugh being led innocently to his tutoring in the White House by McGahn and probabl Miller to be turned into the demagogue and hysteric and very unjudicious Kavanaugh, well your innocence astounds. This spectacle as Cohen puts it is the behavior and actions from the White House for those from the rallies to the senate, house and elsewhere who have crumbled or swallowed the Kool-Aid and believe all is well in spite of the fact the Emperor/king/president wears no clothes. Including dear little Senator Collins who fancied herself up for her big moment. VOTE.
9
Mr. Cohen is so right about how precarious the political situation is in this country.
I have one question:
You voters who did not vote in 2016 because you wanted to send a message or you voted for Jill Stein (she should be ashamed), are you happy about the consequences of your choice?
Maybe this November and in 2020 those voters may see things a little different.
21
Thank you Roger Cohen. All, right on point and sadly true. Supporters of trump have no idea what they are doing...They have lowered the standing of the US around the world to all but the most base totalitarian countries. The cult followers who stand behind trump at his hate rallies laughing like demented children of the corn are another sad symptom of a national psychosis. The darkest hour is just before the dawn and this is the darkest. Lets hope the coming elections turn on the light.
22
Mr. Cohen is spot on and clarifying for me. The former leaders of the Republican party at first rejected Trump for political as well as ethical reasons. Now they embrace the man who claims, "You know what else they say about my people? The polls, they say I have the most loyal people. Did you ever see that? Where I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay? It’s like incredible," Trump said. The man who says, "'You know why I do it (attack the press)? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all so that when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you.' Trump showed a way of winning with an agenda represents the 1%. The press is doing its job. Now it is time for voters to vote blue no matter who.
18
We are witnessing a dangerous turn of world events. We are witnessing the downfall of the Enlightenment and the failure of liberal capitalism. The "system" has for too long only thought of itself and less of the well-being of all the rest, allowing economic stagnation where many have said "the market will take care of itself". Of course it will, by destroying its weaker members, but not taking into consideration a common well-being which goes beyond economics and becomes sociology. We are witnessing a downfall, a very tragic and sad downfall. The rise of populism is the natural reaction to the greed of too many and the irresponsibility of those who took advantage: we have taught pride for our nation in our schools, the love of God in our churches, but we have forgotten to teach the ethics of living in an open society. We have pretended to be open, when we were selfish. We have become self-righteous. Our common well-being is far more important than any dogma, policy or religion. I hope we can regain the strength to recognize our common values and find valid people to create our policies.
11
Excellent and depressingly accurate essay. But, again, as we all now know, Trump is but the weed that sprouted in long-polluted soil. Just look at the "rallies", read the many comments in even such a source of journalistic integrity as NYT by those who not only support Trump, but delight in his vile diatribes, cheer his every debasement of our nation's institutions of justice. I strongly recommend reading professor Christopher Browning's "The Suffocation of Democracy" in the current NYRB. The similarities to Nazi Germany are far too numerous, far too ominous to ignore. Democracy does not die from invasion, at least not armed invasion. It dies little by little, one despicable act at a time, while the people go about their daily lives, until those lives change - forever.
251
Here is one of the scariest words Kavanaugh used before the senate: "outside." He said, "millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups" had been spent to oppose him. Outside of what? Of his tight inner circle? The voice of the people is somehow illegitimate in this process? We are not entitled to weigh in when we see the authoritiarian threat that packing the court with true believers and supporters of out-sized executive power poses? How will he rule against "outsiders" opposing the powers that be? It also implies, of course, that the only money spent in this process was against him, which, as we all know, is false. Another one of his failures to be candid that should have been disqualifying. My television was innundated with pro-Kavanaugh ads.
46
Democracy is like a tree: it dies standing up. The vital sap is drained, civility, fairness, justice, the beautiful leaves that adorn it turn yellow and then fall. The branches of government wither and only the simulacrum of a tree is standing. No longer able to breath and give shelter to those who live by it. The slow, inevitable process lulls us into acceptance and endurance, We become inured and helpless.
31
Our hopes hinge on a fair vote at the polls. One without interference. I have seen comments on Facebook that ICE will be at polling stations. I have seen no corroboration of that and do not believe Trump would make that move. But, what if he does. I had a short conversation with an old Republican friend. He is well educated and very intelligent. He does not see that this would suppress fair voting, so that gives me some idea of what his base would believe. What would ICE do there? Randomly demand that Hispanic citizens prove their citizenship? I can see many just leaving. I can't see Trump doing this but what if he does? What if other suppression happens?
Especially after watching the Kavenagh hearings I have even less trust of the government process. I fear most where this could lead. With the heightened emotions I can see a possibility of turmoil which I believe would create a worse environment. For one it would give Trump an excuse for declaring Martial Law, which would last long enough for additional long term damage. I certainly hope I am wrong but I have seen so much damage already to our democracy that it is getting harder to stay positive.
My hopes as seen on other postings hinge on Mueller. I can not see an outcome where he does not find indictable offenses. If Sessions or Rosenstein go, Mueller is finished. His records will be removed and classified and Mueller and his team prevented from commenting. The most we would hear would be cherry picked information.
18
"Kavanaugh’s confirmation would be the capstone to a shift in that direction."
Not a capstone. It could get worse with another appointment, and worse yet again with yet another. This is a step, one step, on a path.
In fact, it probably will. The remaining Justices are quite old.
14
Comey was fired after been given many chances to let people know that the President was not under investigation that he privately told him (as he testified to Congress) but was not saying it publicly. This created a unnecessary cloud which was hindering the presidency and policies being pursued domestic and international. If Loyalty meant to stop investigating General Flynn, Trump would have put more pressure on him with follow ups which he did not. Even Obama said in a 60 minute interview that HRC will be found innocent before the FBI gave her a pass. Was that obstruction?
6
@Kris
it befuddles me (and that's an understatement) to watch people....educated people.....scrambling to give Trump a pass on every egregious action he presses (i.e. 'loyalty' from the FBI chief? that 'loyalty' belongs not to the POTUS, but to the country, another instance of Trump having no clue at all about how our government works)
12
All i can say is "right on,Mr Cohen"! Unfortunately I wonder who is listening. Trump now says innocent until guilty--whatever happened to "lock her up" when Hilary was guilty of nothing than being a woman and opposing him. But let's get real about the Supreme Court. In the 2000 election when the court involved itself in the contest 2 members had family members working for the Bush team--Scalia and Thomas.
18
The U.S. has been losing the support of its citizens for sometime. In our last presidential election nearly 43 percent of all eligible voters did not vote. Where does this part of our society stand on our current political climate? Will they vote this November or will more people stay away? I believe that we will continue to see a loss of participation in elections as our government continues to be less then what President Lincoln imagined when he said, "Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth."
11
I have never been so pessimistic about the future of my country as I am this morning after reading the comments to the various NYT editorials concerning the Kavanaugh process. The level of vitriol, outright hatred, and obviously deep-seated rage on the part of many commenters, especially as I know that NYT editors work to maintain a level of civility and reason in the comments above and beyond that found in other news sources, has me despondent. I fear violent confrontation is coming. The last time the nation was this polarized we fought the bloodiest war in the nation's history. Have we not risen above that? Surely we have, but I now fear we have not. This is unbelievable. What must the world think of us?
17
One side will be on the wrong side of history - sadly they are unaware of the forces they are marching over the cliff for. I am stunned at what is happening.
21
Excellent read. The lack of comprehensive history in the schools and the power of the electoral college has contributed to our lackadaisical attitude we now see in our fragile democracy. The states require nonstop standardized tests in reading and math, push out the logic and critical thinking skills students require. My children went to a public school that has an excellent statewide reputation but even in fifth and sixth grade, it was science OR history every other day. By the time they got to high school it was block scheduling. Every subject for half a year. There’s no way to delve into the topics relevant to understand how democracies flourish or fail. It’s easier to listen to a demagogue try to solve the complicated issues we face as a nation. It’s easier to blame the immigrants, other nations, our political enemies on the opposing side for the loss of our middle class. It’s easier, until it’s too late. Oh, and don’t forget Citizens United, of course, that’s a factor for another article.
16
"Trump believes that judges should be agents of those who appoint them." And that is what we now have.
25
Trump has proven beyond a shadow of doubt that we need a clear separation between the executive and judicial branches of government. We should elect an Attorney General separate from the President and give that office clear control over the courts and justice department.
Trump has shown us that one man can't be trusted to be in charge of both.
18
@Ronny
It is way too late, the Republican Party have total control of the three branches of Government. Trump also has established his fiefdom, we will all kneel before the king.
3
Altough how do we elect a nonpartisan, competent Attorney General? Perhaps we should go to a parliamentary system? Where we don't have a powerful nincompoop as president, and if we have a nincompoop prime minister, they are fairly easily gotten rid of.
3
Given the huge divide in our country today, as well as the passions and anger of those opposed to change, the question arises: how will this end? The answer, I fear, is there will be blood. Once a mob gets going, it is not open to reason. All too often, the only thing that quells the passions of a mob is some event – to which it is a party – that is so horrific that people are shocked back into reality.
I personally saw this play out when I was living in Panama and going to school in the Canal Zone in 1964. To keep peace with Panama, President Kennedy agreed in 1963 to fly the Panamanian flag wherever the US flag was flown in the Canal Zone. After his death that November, the Canal Zone governor decided to mollify Zonian anger over the Panamanian flags by limiting where US flags were flown. That further angered the Zonians: demonstrations by Americans in the Zone broke out, passions rose, some Panamanian students appeared wanting to symbolically raise their flag, a scuffle broke out, and the end result was 4 days of rioting, millions in property damage and at least 28 dead. After those riots Zonians acted as if they never wanted to acknowledge what had happened, and minimal resistance was put up to the Panamanian flags flying with American flags throughout the Zone.
When people succumb to the passions of an unreasoning mob, only a harsh dose of reality is likely to bring them to their senses.
12
Senators representing less than half the country are about to confirm a justice opposed by the majority of people in the country.
There in lies the problem.
We are entering an era where government is no longer representative of the people governed.
It won't end well.
70
Trump is like a cancer that takes over and spreads to different parts of our democracy. It is in Stage 2 and is enabled by the unscrupulous Republican party. Trump and his parasites have tried to destroy health care, immigration reform, women and gay rights, as well as minority rights and the judicial system. And now Trump and the Republicans are deconstructing and manipulating the most sacred symbol of our democracy, the Supreme Court, with their partisan and unethical nominee, Kavanaugh. The cancer is not terminal. It can and will be defeated. We can accomplish this by reducing Trump's maniacal power by winning the House, and maybe the Senate. If we do Trump will find it difficult to enforce his draconian pIans. Once he falls then there will be a domino effect. Kavanaugh lies will cause him to be impeached. Others will be arrested and tried. Mueller will take down Trump. He can celebrate now but come November he will be castrated as will the Republicans. They lost the women's vote by ramming through Kavanaugh, a Trump sycophant.
14
Ignorant is the man. During the Cold War the Soviet Union failed to achieve the destruction of democracy. Since its fall and the rise of Putin's oligarchy, Russia is fulfilling Lenin's prophecy “The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them.” Trump's ignorance of history means Putin can con him with ease.
27
"Trump wants loyalty from Kavanaugh, too, and the angry, emotional testimony that the judge provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee carried this subliminal message: “I am one of yours.” It was right out of the Trump playbook." Thank you, Mr. Cohen, for finally stating the obvious. Kavanaugh's performance after Dr. Ford's testimony could have been scripted directly from one of the current occupant's "rallies."
35
Well said and on point. We are Americans. We are part and parcel of the whole, from sea to shining shore. However, that wholeness and that togetherness is undermined when we infect our justice system with “loyalty” oaths, with blind allegiance to our fearsome leader the President, and what, in effect, is installing judges who owe their first loyalty to a president who himself, by his hundreds of daily untruths, fabrications, and stretches of the truth, distorts, divides, and incites factions.
Among us Americans is and has been for over 200 years a certain fabric, a fabric of truthfulness, honesty, and decency. Call it “doing the right thing.” Ask, for example, Gary Cooper who played Will Kane in the 1952 western movie High Noon. For the past two years that fabric has been torn, shredded, and stamped on by a president who knows no decency, no dignity, and no bounds beyond the almighty dollar and the advancement of his family’s own advantage. Daily we see the rending of that “fabric.”
Who among us has the integrity to stand and say “Mr. President, enough. You speak with a ‘forked tongue.’ Cease your pollution of our fields, our schools, and our institutions of the free press, our legislative bodies, and our children. Where is a Senator from a “red” state who has that integrity. Query, I ask, was the last man with that moral fiber interred with the death of Senator John McClain? I hope not.
12
Darth Insdious?
"Always there are two."
I’m in the midst of reading ”Fascism” by former Secretary of State Madeline Albright. It isn’t, as you might expect, a partisan screed aimed at Trump. Instead, it is a detailed accounting of how democracies are infected and then destroyed from within, like a cancer, by individuals who have a smoldering grievance about something or some other — Judaism, poverty, immigrants, the wealthy, the poor, whatever — and are driven by that grievance to reshape the world around them in order to assuage their anger. Most often, these wretches, Hitler, Mussolini, Erdogan, Peron, Orban, Putin, come to power by popular election. They then turn their wrath on the very structures of government that bind a nation, along with a frontal assault on the news media.
In Albright’s context, Trump is a pea right out of the authoritarian pod. He hasn’t been in office even two years and already, democratic institutions are in jeopardy — law enforcement, the judiciary, regulatory agencies. Even the very act of voting and elections are now in doubt.
Without saying so explicitly, Albright has a grim warning of danger ahead for Europe, Africa, Latin America and the United States. Democracy exists as a fragile high wire act that constantly needs strengthening.
Is this our moment?
55
@PaulB67
The moment was almost two years ago.
5
We’ve seen this film before. It always starts with appointing judges. Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua. Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey. And we’ve seen what results. This is a truly pivotal and dangerous time in the U.S.
58
Another predictable jeremiad. At least yours conform to the traditional style. You see corruption all around you but never at your feet. Losing a battle should counsel reflection about your own shortcomings not complaints about the faults of the victor's strengths.
7
@Frunobulax: maybe the real betrayers are the phony liberal pundits.
It's interesting to watch the vocabulary of the Times’ authors. Indsidious. Disgraceful. Clownish. Are these really describing Trump, or are they a projection of the writers’ own helplessness at something they can't beat and don't really understand?
7
@Mike Livingston
I guess you haven't seen any of his " performances ". I guess you have not followed any of his policy pronouncements. If so, you would know that every one of those words describe our President. None of us feel helpless because of our ability to vote. The results this midterm will give us a very good measure of how successful the " snake oil salesman " has been at selling his " snake oil ".
9
@Mike Livingston
Oh, I think we understand it all too well.
5
@Mike Livingston Another word you might consider: editorial. This was not “the Time’s authors.” This was an Opinion piece by Roger Cohen. Ironic that you would distort that fact, eh?
11
The problem in this country is that both political parties are completely controlled by big money, the 1% control are in control. Both parties are completely corrupted. The change has to come from outside the two parties
Isn’t it suspicious to anyone else that there were points in Kavanaugh’s hearings where the Democrats could have hammered him on his answers or his temperament but then let him off the hook? This happens over and over. The Democrats don’t seem to be able to fight their way out of a wet paper bag, they just don’t have the “killer instinct”. It’s either they are all wimps or it’s planned out. The Democrats need a Lyndon Johnson. Someone who is willing and able to go toe to toe with the Republicans.
10
As a hardcore Liberal Progressive who hate Trump I can only offer: What utter nonsense! Trump is a symptom of what happens when lousy-corrupt Neoliberals offer up to Democrats weak tea liberalism for 25 years.
1. The solidarity of The Left disintegrates as Democrat pols become tools of the same corporate donors as the GOP, 2. it's voters fade away out of disgust & disinterest and 3. after rigging the 2016 primary for an anointed Neolib the base rejects the party and we get whatever loudmouth makes a mockery of the clearly worthless American election system in this case one DJ Trump.
Democrat reaction to their own failure? Blame an outside force ie Russia. Democrat reaction to that lie being debunked 24/7 by endless sources? Double down with fake news outlets leading the anti-Russia distraction campaign until they believe their own lies. The stupidest wool I have ever seen pulled over workers eyes is the Democrat canard that we are supposed to trust the intelligence community! (You know, the guys who gave us Vietnam and spied on John Lennon.)
There's power in corporate donation, and as Bernie showed there is power in the mass of the public via small donations. The Democrats has that grassroots movement and Clinton wrecked it because Wall St owns her, instead they made their bed with corporate America, they have no standing to complain now.
12
Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton didn’t stand a chance. Both should disappear from public view.
The only mob excitement that I saw over the past two weeks came from the left and polls showI that is the way most Americans see it.
8
@Abbott Hall
Obviously, you didn't watch the rallies.
Barnum and bailey and the hilly billy crowd
5
Most contemptible about Washington's Republicans is that they are just as insidious as their insidious president.
For these are the Republicans who, in a Consensus Endorsement today, raised up a serial liar and alleged assaulter as their Model of Supreme Court justice.
As far as I've ever heard, persons who lie on their resumes are subject to immediate rejection -- some even to prosecution under the law.
Not these Republicans and their Party Puppet judge. Lie all you want, Big Guy. We've got your back!
11
I read article after article decrying the undermining of our Democratic institutions and heralding the rise of autocratic control of our beloved nation. So many writers and readers voice their fears of losing the American Dream, seemingly resigned to the inevitability of the evil forces you so eloquently describe. I am frightened for our future, and the question that swells in me is “What can we do?” @Annie P says our vote is all we have, and I hope to God that is not true. That the losing side had 3 million more votes in 2016 than the winning side makes me despair that my vote is meaningless, that the system IS rigged to suppress and dilute our voices. I vote. I work to support our local Democratic party. I take part in demonstrations. But I sense that is not enough. When the reckonings come, large or small, all these articles dissecting the myriad ways our freedoms are being stripped away will be just so many bytes in the Cloud, intellectual observations of the coming collapse of our grand experiment. We need more. We need someone to tell us how to fight this insidious decay. Take all your analyses to the next step and recommend action. What can we do? Tell us!
15
The founding fathers agonized over creating a government for the people and by the people. Clearly none of this is true today.
9
I think it is a mistake to focus on Trump as the rotten core of the current political miasma. He was duly anointed by the Republican Party, he was elected by Republican voters, and he has adroitly implemented a long-held Republican agenda. Republican power brokers have recognized in Trump a brash bulldozer they can use to push through their radical plans to transform America into a protectorate for the rich and privileged, where corporate welfare takes precedence over basic help for the needy, for victims of discrimination. Enough has been said and written about Trump's deviances. Let's see more critical analyses of Republican leaders and their plot for perpetual political power.
33
@William
Trump was elected by a few thousand votes in the Electoral College. His opponent had a record plurality of 3,000,000 votes. I agree with you re your last sentence.
9
Donald has found a way to get the ultimate revenge on all of those snooty "elitists" who kept him at arm's length and ridiculed him over the years. The one bright spot this past week was the Times excellent reporting which further exposed him as the colossal fraud he actually is and always has been.
The vacuous buffoon cheapens everything and everyone he comes in contact with including now, the Supreme Court. Perhaps instead of referring to this as "The Roberts Court", we can go ahead and call it "The Trump Court" with all the legitimacy the name entails and consider it the same way we now view Trump University.
23
All is not lost folks though we have just lost yet another battle. Let us not forget that the Mueller investigation grinds on and the truths he has gathered will outlive and survive his likely firing after the midterms, even if his position as special prosecutor is eliminated. Trump will fire Sessions first and appoint Giuliani or Graham to the AG position, and either will then fire Rosenstein. However, either would require confirmation by the Senate and a recess appointment can be stymied by the Dems having pro forma sessions. Mueller has also parceled out some parts of the investigation to other jurisdictions and, while Trump will likely dispose of the district AGs leading those inquiries, he can't fire the state AGs who can take over large parts of Mueller's work. By the time any of these maneuvers can take place, the Dems will very likely have taken over the House and the subpoenas will start flooding out on January 1, 2019.
Another hopeful factor is that Chief Justice Roberts does not want his legacy to be that he presided over the destruction of the rule of law. He has been forced into a centrist position and has far greater regard for stare decisis than Kavanaugh, Alito, Thomas or Gorsuch.
10
I agree but I have additional concerns. Trump will continue to use the Kavenaugh hearings to incite his base. I think based on his previous acts that will be a given. That will increase the number of Republican voters going out to vote. The Democrats must do the same.
4
Let us hope you are right! Fingers and toes crossed!
2
A deserving judge is 1 who is confident, with a balanced mind and imposing.1 when admonishing both Lawyers,prosecutors or an accused makes them voluntarily obey his instructions, with a slightly bending heads.But Judge BK seem still Frat boyish.In a typical Coll. town frat boys r the life of the respective town as long as they stayed clear of unwise excesses, but in a US's Supreme C. ( a Court that sets the gold standard of fairness to humanity as a whole ) having at the bench a seasoned intellectual type who universally commands respect as a law scholar,especially among his or her peers, is a must.Judge BK is pretty much a pariah in the domain of Legal Scholars.Also, the US has to lead in punishing exponents of gross injustice in a way that discourages future offenders.The ICC as much as it can it brings to justice major perpetrators of atrocities from around the World:Recently it sentenced to life imprisonment a former provincial administrator of a Northern province here (Gojam ), 1 of his crime being dragging 75 political prisoners and have them executed and burry them in a mass grave in the prison compound (A sister of 1 of the victims spotted him in the US where he lived for decades and got extradited).Pres DT's Admin tried to delegitimatize ICC from unfounded fear : US soldiers r, by en large, true Pros they don't knowingly cause mass civilian causalities,meaning if they happen to b accused of War crimes guilty verdict is unlikely.There is some Spencer Tracy why JBK?.
2
This shows why it was so wrongheaded to think that one election cycle could stop Trump and America would return to what it was before. Democratic institutions have been compromised by Republicans for decades, and Trump by stoking hate has decimated them in less than two years. Trump's huge racist hate-filled mob is here to stay, as are the Republicans, who are little different from him.
This is possible because Trump's assault on democracy has been decades in the making. In the 1980's Newt Gingrich preached that politics was just "a war for power." At Reagan's behest he politicized the judiciary, nationalized congressional elections, escalated Nixon's and Reagan’s white identity politics playbook, and exploited misogyny. Gingrich realized that facts were enemies of Republicans so he attacked facts and forbid the use of objective analysis. When George W. Bush became president House Republicans effectively destroyed the legislative branch, transforming it into an arm of the executive branch. Now Republicans have transformed an already compromised judiciary into an arm of the Executive too. We have a one branch government, and one party rule. It's authoritarianism, not democracy.
Finally, Trump publicly said the F.B.I. "should interview anybody that they want within reason." It was a lie. Trump understood that the FBI actually looked into Kavanaugh "would be disastrous," so he refused to authorize the FBI to do it. They were only allowed to curiously interview four witnesses.
18
@Robert B -- "stop Trump and America would return to what it was before"
There's the problem. Many of us don't want to return to what it was before. That's why what it was before lost even to Trump.
Offer something better. Don't just do it again with a different sold out Republican Lite.
7
It is clear that there will be no one to rescue us from this national nightmare. The Democrats are too weak legislatively to effectively oppose McConnel and his goon squad. The #MeToo movement has been completely hijacked by Conservatives and now turned against women to subdue their aspirations. Mueller will be a day late and a dollar short on any charges against Trump now that the Supreme Court is firmly in the hands of the Trumpists. Even if the Democrats manage to turn the Congress at the midterms, Trump has already stated his intention to be President for life, any probably won’t leave when we tell him to.
Power has been consolidated and the rest of us appear powerless to stop it. So much for the consent of the governed.
17
I really am getting sick of all this winning. Will nothing stop Trump?
6
@New Haven CT
Um-- the ballot box?
4
This is coming from a centrist. Both sides are crazy, but at this time the left is far worse. In fact, the left has lost its mind. The behavior of the left makes Trump look like a stable and reasonable man. As does this column.
6
@rpe123
Disagree. The right has been far more crazy and far more ruthless for far longer and you know it. A parrot-like repeating of a lie agreed upon by fellow travelers of the right wing doesn't make any less a falsehood.
9
@rpe123
Intersting observation.
Ive considered myself a centrist my whole voting life. I voted for HW. And Dick Lugar, as well as other republicans of various stripe as well as centrist dems, like Ed Rendell, and the Bayhs.
But I have a hard time inderstanding your logic here - indeed, you didnt explain it.
I see trump as a corrupt, incompetent autocrat wanna be. Who fans division, undercuts the rule of law, engages in nepotism, villifies the media (due to cact based reporting showing his incompetence and stupidity) and hurts America’s allies around the world. And the gop lead senate has surrendered its oversight responsibiltiy, enthrall to the cult of personality and trumps lies and smears.
Everything Ive referenced above are facts and verifiable.
Nothing youve said contains facts. And that is where the divide lies, dear centrist. Democrats live in the world of facts. Trumpists do not.
6
@rpe123: I thought the left was insane over Trump....but the reactions the last 2 weeks over Kavanaugh are simply not the reactions of sane people.
He's ONE Justice out of NINE. He's not the Chief Justice.
If he is corrupt, the other Justices will know it -- report it -- and he can be impeached if he is really a drunken gang rapist gambling addict.
The left has devolved to McCarthy-like "trials" and demands for "forced confessions" to be "politically correct"....
The accompanying photograph is the story, is art
5
Yes. The moment has arrived to invoke the hallowed name of Chicken Little.
Yes. One hates to contemplate that our nation's current situation is so dire that perhaps the only possible way to grasp the solemnity of the moment is to revisit the ancient tale of the little yellow fellow.
Yes. Someone is needed to see through the fog of current events and yell at the top of his lungs, "The Sky is Falling, The Sky Is Falling."
Mr. Cohen has done me the favor of bringing the Chicken Little tale to mind. A tiny acorn fell from a tree and landed on the little chick's head. From the experience he concludes that the end of the world was imminent. It's appears that many American's, like Cohen, share this fear.
Mr. Cohen's Chicken Little pessimism about life after Judge Kavanaugh's appointment to the Supreme Court seems a bit hysterical to me. I don't foresee the rule of law in any real jeopardy. If I did, I'd probably join a survivor group, buy some guns, and live in fortified bunker.
The Kavanaugh affair has had a powerful effect on me personally, however. I now consider myself to be a Collins Republican. Her speech on the floor of the Senate yesterday inspired me switch parties. If there is a long term threat to the rule of law it will come from the likes of our current crop of Democrat Senators who have shown great contempt for basic notions of fairness.
8
@F. Mellish
Of course, I completely understand. After all, the Senate was so receptive and kind to Judge Garland.
7
@F. Mellish Do you think it was fair for Mitch McConnell to refuse to consider President Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland for a seat on the Supreme Court?
10
So damned true. So well written. So damned sad.
16
I'll be waiting for some lawyer in a case at the Supreme Court asks that Kavanaugh recuse himself due to his partisan outburst. What will the court do then?? What would the justices do if someone had an outburst like Kavanaugh in their court. Probably jail.
28
These are ugly ugly times - and it is yet to get worse before (or if) it gets better. Sad.
3
My only quibble with Mr Cohen is this: Mr Trump is a hired contractor of the conservative movement. He is a brilliant marketer to half the population. He did not take over the Republican party. The Republican party took over him. He perfectly reflects every feature of conservative thinking, and they love him for it. The only question is whether the non-conservative half of the population can successfully fight back. History is not kind since destruction is always easier than construction.
7
Kavanaugh disqualified himself with that partisan rant, complete with conspiracy and threats of retribution. Please, now can we stop with this charade of the Court Above Politics. Call them Republicans and Democrats.
The FBI's reputation really lies in tatters. Corrupting the 2016 election with their 11th hour bombshell (irony noted), which turned out to be nothing, was bad enough. Now they're playing the obedient lickspittle's for the WH and Republican Senate. Say what you want about J Edgar, but he would not have put up with this (unless of course it fit into his own agenda, which brings up Rosenstein and his buddy/bro Kavenaugh. Discuss).
On a brighter note, we can finally dispense with the notion that Susan Collins as the thoughtful moderate who will save us all in moments of national fracture. Please, NYT, no more of that nonsense. Also, Jeff Flake as anguished holdout shaking hands across the aisle? Please, he sandbagged Coons -- or more accurately put him in a corner. Well played, I guess. Lisa Murkowski had Joe Manchin to cover for her, so big deal. They have been meeting all week. The only one to show true integrity is Heidi Heitkamp, but then her political position is untenable. It was bad before Blasey Ford, impossible after. Still, she made the call.
13
Well written piece that fully describes this country's slide into despotism.
Trump, as described in other pieces this week, is a proven liar, charlatan and has a demonstrated flouting of the law.
The question is will Kavanaugh be non-partisan in his actions on the court should the Senate confirm him or be beholden to the person who visited him upon this country?
Lastly, I need to correct Mr. Cohen on one word-Trump has defiled the presidency and the People's House, therefore, the once revered Oval office should now be referred to the "Offal Office".
20
Cancerous is the man. Metastasizing throughout the body politic and the nation where the body's natural defenses are unable (or unwilling) to stop the spread.
8
Roger Cohen stops short of the truth. Donald Trump thinks that everyone he appoints should be his personal servant, bowing and scraping to do his will--illegal or not. This is the Imperial Presidency at its most corrupt and disgusting. Loyalty is all. And for Trump, loyalty means protecting him from any punishment for his criminal misdeeds--and it appears that there are many.
Of course Kavanaugh is supposed to protect him from any legal action, investigation or anything else that makes him uncomfortable or limits his power.
He will not stop until the electorate curtails him in 2018 and tosses him out with the garbage--along with his enablers in the Republican party in 2020.
18
All I can say is DITTO. It's so sad I must agree with you.
2
"Meanness is how this man gets his kicks." So spot on.
48
This essay is a gross overreaction. When Trump attacked Dr. Ford's one--beer claim, it was an act. Trump was not capable of twisting the words of Ms. Ford to get maximum sarcastic impact. He was obviously reciting what had been written for him by someone much more skilled than him.
Trump was clearly stretching the truth and using mean-spirited . sarcasm. He was playing a game of insults known as signifying. And most of his audience knew the game.
The goal of signifying is to get the upper hand. The truth is negotiable. And if you think this is disgusting you're an outsider. Signifying is well recognized by academics as a sophisticated verbal exercise. It is a blue collar verbal art form -- the more skilled you are, the more status you achieve.
Signifying is most popular among young blacks , but is also popular among blue collar whites. And when upscale white Democrats get outraged it marks them as effete outsiders.
Any academic familiar with the practice knows that if you overreact, you lose.
4
@michjas
What this country needs is a president capable of behaving like one -- Not some act.
5
The good news is though that’ll he’ll win by a landslide in 2020
4
@Gabrielk
Surely.
Because he lost last time by 3 million votes.
But because the trump lead nsa nd fbi wont do anything to curb russian election interference, whoever vlad wants, vlad gets.
6
People. Wake up. There are many more of us than there are of them. Just vote!
28
What bothers me most about the Trump presidency is that he won in the Electoral College by a few thousand votes and way to too many "experts" ignore that fact, including Trump. How can our democracy survive when his opponent "Crooked Hillary" had a record plurality of 3,000,000 votes but wasn't elected president???
11
The supposed reality based press published rumors and recalled memories as facts, inferred deep dark meanings from a high school yearbook and was dead wrong about it, and treated seriously allegations that a respected man who had undergone six FBI background checks had once been a serial gang rapist. The opposing party decided that because a nominee might vote differently than they would like, they could portray him as a man of unrelenting evil and embrace all this nonsense. The one credible claim had no corroboration and had evidence contrary to it yet the press and the left acted as if one was a barbarian if one suggested that it was not proven. And you blame Trump.
5
@Alan
You do realize the F.B.I. works at the will of the White House when conducting its investigations, don't you?
Another thing.
The list of recommendations supplied by Kavanaugh for the background check would only contain only the names of those who would have a favorable opinion.
And yes, I blame Trump.
3
The press didn’t portray him as evil or unhinged; Brett Kavanaugh himself did! And how do we know it was actually uncorroborated? Did you read the fast and skinny FBI report?
6
@Alan
No, I blame the American people for being poorly educated and naive. They elected this toddler in a man's body.
7
Are there leaders or leaders-in-waiting who will persist in the patriotic effort to restore the national health from the insidious infection of Trump and Trumpism?
Or will the nation and concerned leaders, distracted by hubbub of the passing show turn to other affairs, as in that poem of Robert Frost about a boy and the buzz saw?
Talk, Twitters, our Comments are cheap and easy patent medicine tonics, and it's easy come, easy go most of the time.
Just as in my youth The People so vigorously portrayed by the dear departed Frank Capra and his noble writers made a difference,, just as we took on Joe McCarthy and his Roy Cohn,
so the time has come again for The People, the millions of John and Jane Does, to do the work of rescuing the nation from what must finally and truthfully be called "evil," because that's what it is.
Doug Giebel, Big Sandy, Montana
17
@Doug Giebel Thanks Doug, we’re willing and able here in the PNW to fight long and hard against the “evil” that is our governing majority. Sadly, it does not reflect the true majority of Americans lives or opinions. Our Congress proved that yesterday when they, with the exception of 1 senator from each side voted party over truth and what is right for the country. Best way forward? My guess is education and get out the vote.
6
Mr. Cohen, shame on you.
How would you feel if the career that you had painstakingly built over decades could be destroyed in a manner of seconds; based on unsubstantiated allegations?
How would you feel if you could no longer have a peaceful restaurant meal or if you were repeatedly "serenaded" early in the morning by political opponents?
The "new Left" that you appear to be encouraging is (in my considered opinion) Fascist in its outlook. In simple English, I am always right, you are always wrong, now go play in traffic. Silencing others is what is going on today.
Irrespective of what you may think of POTUS Trump, HE DID NOT CREATE the discord extant today. The new Leftist needs to look at themselves in the mirror and then decide if conservatives (like me) have any humanity.
If, as expected, people who do not hew to their demarcation line are considered non-human, then there is little left of this once great experiment in Democracy.
4
Today I'm ashamed to be an American.
6
Too mild an assessment of the Trump American death spiral we are caught in.
12
The most mendacious aspect of the Trump presidency is that the 3 D's of deflection, distortion,and demonization, have replaced empirical facts and evidence as the basis for policy.This plague has spread to the Republican party.Facts are mortal enemy of the rampant demagoguery ,misogyny,racism, and religiously based bigotry, that afflict large elements of the formerly Grand Old Party.
5
The Republicans aren't spineless, they have spines of iron. They've held true and steady, relentlessly destroying our society and its basis, while urgently miming that they are somehow completely different than what they do, say, or support. Amoral opportunists of the highest resolve, greedy for the very sake of greed.
6
The confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court today -- if it occurs -- will signal the nadir of president Trump's diseased and corrupt presidency. Only by rooting out the infection of bigotry, bullying, mocking the weak, white supremacy -- only by voting out Trump root and branch -- will America have a chance to avoid the death of democracy, the downfall of our free society.
What if a "blue tsunami" of voting against Trump in all gerrymandered states, doesn't happen in one month in the Mid-Terms? Is a tidal wave of Democratic voting against the Republican Party the only thing that stands between American democracy and her present Animal Farm dictator-in chief? If so, we all had better run for the hills with our NRA-blessed weapons and hope to bring down bigger game than possums and squirrels for our pots. If not guns -- then pitchforks, which Les Miserables used to bring down the Bourbon elite of 1789 at the Bastille and Versailles, will avail us.
8
With one predictable exception the conservative parrots who post here seem to have shied away from Mr Cohen's tour de force column today. Could it be they have finally been shamed into silence? Or is it more likely they couldn't understand the big words and the bigger ideas?
6
The existence and testimony of Dr. Blasy Ford is an iconvenient refutation to the GOP. Their only counter -argument has been to question her sincerity or accuse her of some sort of chicanery. Or to question the timing and the long time ago this happened. That just wont fly with the 50% of the population, mostly women, that oppose Kavanaugh’s nomination.
Instead of a thorough investigation that might clear this man—he will be forever under a cloud of suspicion, his reputation destroyed because getting the job was more important to him than his good name and the peace his family members and friends will never endure for the rest of their lives. Alfred Dreyfuss was eventually exonerated—Kavanaugh never will be, thanks to the GOP and his own hubris. He’s more likely to join the grotesquely bitter Clarence Thomas on the bench in a perpetual state of resentment and bitterness.
As for the rest of us—we are stuck in our own perpetual state —paralysis, since its always possible for the trolls, the demagogues, the hackers, hucksters, and conspiracy fetishists to turn 50% of us into the opposition.
All the conditions for Fascism are in place.
4
Oh Mueller!
We need you!
We need you to be decisive!
We need you to not hold back!
We need you to dig deep!
We need you to be relentless!
We need you to be brave.
14
It is called the Constitution. Try reading it. Trump is picking pro life anti gay marriage Judges, just as he promised. Democrats only hope of getting their leftist agenda adopted is by having unelected jurists in robes adopt it. Those days are over. Elections have consequences. I believe Justice Kavanaugh and apparently most of America did also.
6
Sexual allegations aside, Kavanaugh smeared himself by lying and continuing to lie despite his own words on a calendar and within a letter he penned. (I wonder why he has these relics of drunkenness and debauchery hanging around 36 years, but maybe some of this was documentation used by his friend, Judge in his own book recapping those days.)
Despite all the lying the old GOP fossils in power in this all male Judiciary Committee were going to carry Kavanaugh to the bench if they had to.
Their time in our Congress passed by decades ago and yet they are still there spouting old misogynist news and racist views from their mindsets written in concrete 40 years ago. I think we may have to carry them out as well just to get rid of them. Congress seems to be a lifetime appointment now too.
I think Judge is going to prove to be a 'Judas' to Kavanaugh and sell him out to the almighty dollar. It will be interesting to see a process of removal from the Supreme Court.
4
Roger blames Trump, but Trump is just a front man for the billionaires running the GOP. Trump enjoys rallies and preening and flashbulbs. He hasn’t an interest in government, and can’t even speak a whole paragraph on one subject - he simply appoints who his wealthy coterie suggests.
These billionaires now run the Supreme Court as well as Trump and the GOP. Unfortunately they are not benign Oligarchs, but narrow minded so-called “Christians”. And greedy to boot.
49
Well said Roger. We have seen this before. It is the path to the fourth Reich. We are well under way. And even if stopped now, there is irreparable damage to the statue of the US in the world. And to the global order itself. This may never be repaired. And while this plays out, he is having a ball with his republican lackeys. Not realising the Titanic is sinking. And all that will come to the rescue are sharks.
16
It is mirror time in America. Not to use it as self-love, but to understand who is responsible. The enemy is us. Collectively,we have abdicated our responsibilities to one another. Americans aren't fighters,we are submissives: to corporate blackmail, to bigotry, to whatever we are not. We are full of resentment for others. We are stupid, or ignorant, lazy. If we treated our children like we do our civic duties, most of our kids would be playing in traffic,or running with scissors. Well, all good things must end. It is history.
24
This is such a blatant and rapid trampling of the rights of the minority on so many fronts that it demands citizen actions against the aye voters to an extent that has not been seen in this country.
The female aye senators have betrayed their gender and their voters need to petition for their removal from office for voting for coat-hanger Brett.
The aye male senators need to be petitioned for removal from office for supporting a catholic who brings is theocratic rulings to the bench. A religion that is replete with pedophiles under cover that is negligent to admit to or remove from the clergy.
Coat-hanger Brett is unqualified for many reasons, not just misogyny. If those citizens who will be harmed by the decisions of this white male theocrat do not speak up forcefully over the entire term of his time on the bench we have lost our way as a representative republic and will deserve the disdain the world will hold us in.
Now is the time for all good men and women to stand up against the autocracy of the GOP and vote against every white republican male or traitorous GOP female this November.
2
You want civility? Civility is ACLU paying airfare for women to fly down from Anchorage and shout at senators in elevators? Civility is threatening Kavanaugh's family with anonymous hate mail? The "see you and raise you" attitude has infected both sides and there is ample blame to spread around.
7
@JPE
I could not disagree more.
13
@JPE
You're right. But wasn't it Kavanaugh who said that what goes around comes around?
2
Ridiculous claims with no evidence.
3
Kavanaugh spoke "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me TRUMP!
3
@BSR- I'm sensing sarcasm here. an I correct?
History will mark 10/6/2018 as a dark day in US history for two reasons:
1. If citizens can't look to an impartial justice system for redress, then our Constitution is meaningless; and the Republicanazi Party is stocking the justice system - at all levels - with partisan judges.
2. This day will mark the beginning of a Civil War, between overt (unwealthy) and covert (wealthy) white supremacists and everyone else in this country. The Republicanazi Party has truly become full-frontal the party of Trump, and nothing less than its complete obliteration can preserve what's left of our Democracy.
On November 6th, vote like America's future depends on YOU.
It DOES..........
9
Take heart! Trump's BFF's have a way of falling out with him.
Oh, yes, and MAGA: Mueller Ain't Going Away.
Please vote in November.
Meanwhile, brighten your corner. Persuade your friends and
neighbors to vote, offer rides to polling places.
America is a work in progress, we can make it better.
Yes we can!
8
Republicans are not spineless, they're winning.
3
We must remember that you folks do this for a living. Easier to be pragmatic when this is not my occupation. Thanks.
"There is no escape from the current poison, other than to vote Trump out." This is a charming but utterly pathetic notion. Trump intends to be president for life, and it's going to take buckets of blood in the streets to stop him.
Trump is a thief and a traitor, and he will be led away in handcuffs the moment a new president is sworn in. He won't let that happen. If Republicans maintain control of the house, Trump will only be emboldened to carry out his scheme. What if Democrats retake the House? Trump has already hinted that he will shut down the government in early December.
Other than a full scale military coup, it's hard to figure out what Trump's endgame might be. Perhaps he thinks he can live out his last days in freedom by bringing an endless stream of lawsuits that will keep him out of prison. Or maybe he simply plans on committing suicide when the law closes in.
He could flee to Moscow, but he could never be sure his pal Putin wouldn't turn him in to American authorities if the deal were right.
And he can't count on the uber ambitious Pence to ruin his own political career with a pardon.
One thing should be clear by now. Trump is not going to jail. It's him or us. It's discouraging how slow freedom loving Americans have been on the uptake.
14
We have a noxious president possessing a personality driven by chaos, conflict, and self-serving greed. He is corrupt.
Trump's love of Russia is not ideological. He loves her flagrant corruption. Trump wants to copy the corrupt Russian government, to infect America with an entrenched corruption. He is trying to duplicate their network of corrupt leeching oligarchs that surround and feed Putin - he wants to be mini Putin.
As his first success in 2017 he installed corrupt unskilled layperson "Yes men" to head every major federal agency. These individuals have been extending a culture of "no accountability" throughout each agency. This environment is allowing corruption to pervade our government. Behind the scenes, hidden from view these corrupt lackeys have been busy making our American government corrupt.
It is happening now. It is hidden from us.
We have evidence that Trump's payola administration is already one of the most corrupt in recorded history. Evidence comes almost regularly of another official caught bilking the federal coffers, filing fake expense reports, or siphoning federal contracts to their families' shell companies. These caught officials are not removed - they are left in power, to continue.
This hidden pervasive network of parasites will remain for years after the head parasite is removed. It will take decades to eradicate the corruption that Trump is installing.
He is succeeding, in ways we will find out only decades later.
We should be concerned!!
7
Thank the Democratic Party. The Democrats have a large portion of the blame for the mess we are in. It is their ineptitude that has helped to get us to where we today.
They lack a strategy. They are unable to articulate a coherent vision of America. They cannot mobilize voters. They are complacent. They are led by a gerontocracy.
They lack the ruthless focus of their opponents. Until they change, the Democrats — and the majority of the country they probably represent— will find themselves shut out of power.
2
Trump is now totally in control. It is sad that the truth of where we stand as a country has been exposed. No matter what you feel about the Obama presidency it was an inspiration that this country would elect a bi-racial (people seem to forget that he is half white!) president. To follow up with Trump is a slap in the face with the reality as to where we are as a country.
3
I just want him out. He is an affront to humanity
4
Thank you, sir. I hope that thoughtful Americans will read and re-read this splendid paean to the demise of the American experiment. It is not upon us; it has overtaken us. We are not the three shark hunters aboard the boat; we are in the water with it, without protection. We know that a lot sooner than later, it will eat us.
If one can forgive my metaphor from a B-novel-cum-film, one might come to agree that we saw the awful danger early on but did nothing. We feared the monster; we saw its insatiable hunger. We leaned in closer for a better look.
We have a presidency so befouled and vomit-inducing that it obliterates any sensational scandal that ever bedeviled a Representative or a Senator. They make laws and they, their makers, may be replaced, almost at will. Laws stay on the books long after a crook or an adulterer has been sent home for conduct unbecoming.
Presidents are—or were—different.
Donald Trump set a torch to the dignity and high purpose of the office of which he is manifestly unworthy. But far worse, for a nation of laws, he now has suborned the Supreme Court. For the first time in its history, one of its members will now owe—in perpetuity— its raison detre to the executive who appointed him. Long after No. 45 is no more, Justice Brett Kavanaugh will be Donald Trump on the Court. He will pass judgment—not justice—upon the American experience by whim and caprice and anger of the moment.
The corruption of Donald Trump is now the Supreme Court’s—forevermore.
6
Ok, the FBI investigation ... Dr Ford identified three or four corroborating witnesses. How long does it take to interview them? End result ... no corroboration. Game over.
3
Another fear stoking article! "the lives of our children and grandchildren may hinge" on his nomination...Scary!!!...Certainly this author, like Trump, loves to stoke fear in his readers.
You say Contagious is the view that Presidents hope the Justices they appoint will vote the predicted in their vetting. How is that contagious. Fun using words like that, but not appropriate here.
Courts were made to be great levelers? No, we are not in England. The Supreme Court interprets the constitution. It should not level anything...A nice tonic of hypocrisy too. Given that undeniably, if Clinton had won, she would have surely appointed the most liberal judge she could get approved...Indubitably, the author would have cheered her on, without silly talk of leveling.
Using a random law school professor to allege Kavanaugh is unqualified is laughable. As if a single law professor should be able to convince anyone of anything is ridiculous.
I'm a lawyer. Most law professors are liberal, and very few actually practice law...
Poisonous is the man who gets his kicks belittling others and spreading fear to his flock for his own gain. The author certainly does a good job of that in this piece. Trump=Evil.
I will give the article credit in this regard. The conclusion does match the opening on referencing this strange notion that a judge is going to be an agent of anyone. But the author did not attempt to prove this in his story..It's raw meat fear stoking, done badly
C-
5
It is the end of the rule of law. Trump's cult is loving it.
7
@justthefactsma'am
And so is Vlad.
5
Trump is not President of The United States. He has deliberately and shamefully divided the nation. He has sown hatred and fanned fanaticism. There is no question where this is headed.
33
Oh yes we do! And it is nowhere good! He just wants power and money for himself, cronies, and family. Why was there a revolution in 1776?
5
This could have been a powerful essay. Instead, it made me chuckle as Mr. Cohen sounds like he is channeling Yoda of Star Wars. Ineffective, the writing.
4
@Jamakaya- Luckily, I was unaware of any Star Wars influence.
The United States of America of Donald Trump and Brett Kavanaugh.
One a lout throughout his youth, the other a lout throughout his life.
One already hands down the most disreputable and loathsome President in the nation's history.
The other, already the most famous Supreme Court Justice in the nation's history by virtue of his virtuoso angry man performance before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Don't cry for me Argentina.
Cry for the United States of America.
6
... already the most infamous Supreme Court Justice ....
2
Clearly written brief powerful charges against...More descriptive than explanatory. Much legitimate concern about what is and what may yet BE. For people. Basic systems of governance in a democracy, Norms, ethics and values which underpin a healthy democracy; which is more than the right to vote given an array of regulations. Civility.Mutual trust.Mutual respect.Mutual caring. Mutual help, if and when needed, do not change in their essence when "Democratized," "Republicanized," "Independentized." Menschlichkeit is a traditional measure. Ummenschlichkeit is not a recent American ailment.WE-THEY is not only Trump's creation. WE the People, diverse in so many ways, similar in so many others, have been UNITED in word only. From way back then. To now.Tomorrow? Discrimination. Exclusion. Dehumanization. Stigmatization. Marginalization. Complacency about harms to the created "other," and ranges, types and qualities of active to passive complicity are as American as apple pie. In all regions of the land. What Trump and his minions are doing may be unique. In documentable ways. Because for many of US , interacting in our self-identities, external identities "imposed" upon us by external sources, and textured by our visible and hidden behaviors, and ranges of roles, they were unthinkable.And therefore, not doable. Unthinkable, undoable, done-deed(s), and personal accountability began in the Garden of Eden. Where is the needed caveat to remind each of US what all of us enable?
@s einstein lo
Just what are you saying?
I remember my father was a Republican he felt the Republicans were the saviors and keepers of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. I kept that in mind as I watched the Republicans trash every thing I hold dear in our founding documents.
From the above I found myself becoming a Democrat but as I keep watching I am alarmed by the behavior of the Democrats as they also seem to be trashing what I hold dear.
At 68 years old I have seen a lot of mess in Washington D.C. but this stuff has gone off the rails into what seems to be a bottomless pit. I do not remember anything quite this poisonous at any other time in my life.
What has happened to "We the people in order to form a more perfect union". That's what most seem to have abandoned or at the least forgotten.
1
The veil will be completely lifted by Monday. There will no longer be any pretense about the Republican agenda and it will be full steam ahead to November. The agenda: jail blacks, beat women down, and rob everyone who isn’t white enough or rich enough to fight back. 50% of the American public whole heartedly supports that agenda. I don’t think there can be any blue, pink or black wave in November when half of our country has lost its moral compass.
8
Excellent is the writer. Thank you Mr. Cohen.
13
So perfectly stated Gail. He, whose name I no longer utter and whose voice I now refuse to hear, personifies toxic waste. His name has already been added to the list of other crazy “capo di tutti capi” heads of state throughout history.
He is an example of how despots can worm their way into any society that denies its possibility.
Vote.
5
“If, as now seems likely, Kavanaugh is confirmed, Trump will be confirmed ...”
Yes, and so will Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Lindsay Graham, Orrin Hatch, Mike Pence, and plenty of other conservative white guys be rewarded and confirmed.
11
“Free societies do not die overnight. The growth of a climate of intellectual fear is one sign of their weakening.”
Roger, I would argue that “intellectual fear” is a non sequitor—and that’s a key insight into how we got to this ugly state of Religion of Division. Once you let fear take over your soul, there is no intellect. The GOP has sought for many decades to control the masses through institutionalized fear-mongering: Nixon’s “Southern Strategy,” Reagan’s “Welfare Queen,” the NRA’s toxic Guns-R-Us mantra, which in its essence aims to arm white guys against the insidious fear of marauding blacks escaping their plantation owners. Ad nauseum.
It’s amazing to me that more people don’t see the obvious contradiction of “Evangelical Christians” and their fear-based politics. Whatever happened to, “Yeah, tho I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I shall fear no evil, for Thou art with me?” Deep truths are lost along with the intellect that comes through peaceful, centered mindfulness (think of Jesus meditating and praying in the Garden of Gethsemane) when we succumb to fear. This is the basis of Trump’s “religion.” How sad.
7
Our teachers in high school level told us about the grand accomplishment of a democracy from sea to sea, a constitutional democracy covering a multitude of people unlike any the world had known. Those of of us who bothered to study our national history and political system in college were in the slim minority, most others happy to have escaped the tiring stories of old times in favor of the rock n'roll, vibrating present.
As so we slept...
while our democracy got old and very worn around the edges. They mentioned gerrymandered House districts in our classes, but no one shouted that it was wrong, that they represented the theft of votes, using one party's votes to cancel out or dominate the other party, regardless of majority will. We were taught these were accepted practices. Don't worry.
Did anyone ever cry out that putting people in the Supreme Court for life was wrong? Did anyone ever tell us that this would enable a mean, determined, hostile political party and president to dominate decision making for generations?
And how about how presidents are "elected". If anyone was paying attention, more would have seen that the very purpose of the Electoral College was to reserve the ability to override the voters and give power to states.
Like almost everything, democracy must be updated. We need to have more citizen power, not less and we need to ensure that the will of the majority, not a well funded, propaganda supported minority, prevails. Is that asking too much?
15
" Courts were meant to be America’s great levelers, not their great dividers and inciters."
And yet the most divisive issue in American politics was created when they removed abortion law from democratic control because they knew the majority of voters would oppose their decision. What were they thinking would happen?
2
There was nothing "subliminal" about the love letter Kavanaugh sent to Trump with his conspiratorial Trumpian rant and his self-indulgent, self-pitying, self-righteous petulance in response to someone having the temerity to challenge the immense and unique privileges that he knows are so rightfully his. Kavanaugh demonstrated more than "I am one of yours." He showed that "I am you." With Kavanaugh, nasty angry fact-averse Trump himself, disdainful of women's problems, appalling to workers' rights, unsympathetic to the underrepresented and unlucky by birth, and exquisitely attuned to the hardships and injustices suffered by our very wealthiest, most privileged citizens, will be represented on the Supreme Court for a generation. All the rest of us are the victims. We are the Sea World employee, killed by the killer whale, against whom Kavanaugh stridently dissented because she took the job, didn't she? We are the teenage girl who Kavanaugh wanted to keep sequestered long past her 20th week of pregnancy but don't worry Susan Collins, Roe v Wade is established law. We are Dr. Blasey Ford, political hit really just avenging the Clintons. We are the 99%, for whom there will always be a reason to be found somewhere in the constitution to deny rights and resources in favor of the 1% or the 0.1% or the 0.00001%. Trump himself is now the judge, and he has ruled: We are his chumps, his undeserving eternal losers.
428
When one person’s strong feelings - for our country’s dependence upon truth, facts and decency - are also the same as another’s, and yet another’s, it is isolating unless articulated for all. Thank you.
4
From the very beginning of Donald Trump's candidacy, this is what I feared the most; what he would do to the Supreme Court, if elected.
After years of witnessing his behavior in the headlines and tabloids here, he was no stranger to those of us here in New York City -- which is basically why we didn't vote for him, and why he hates coming back, because we can see through his veneer.
Mr. Trump has always seen himself as a larger-than-life force that is beholding to no one and no laws, and as such the U.S. Constitution is no match for him.
And as it has been with his entire administration, the selection and confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh was built on an oath of personal allegiance to him, and a done deal from the very beginning.
The hearings, his tears and belligerence, the accusations against Democrats and the Clintons, was all part of a carefully planned script, with the farcical and fallacious F.B.I. investigation as the proverbial 'cherry on top'.
As he is wont to do, Mr. Trump may claim himself to be the winner -- but the reality is, it's our country that has lost.
11
It will not matter who votes in 30 days. But who counts the votes.
283
@Howard Clark How right you are. This is the next step in their plan.
1
@Howard Clark
I mean come on - you dont know that voters determine who counts the votes? Really??
Mr. Cohen's analysis is totally convincing, well stated, except for one point: he has cause and effect reversed. The contagion was not caused by Donald Trump, the contagion emanated from the Republican party which caused Donald Trump.
478
@eclectico
The Republican Party could have stopped Trump from running as a Republican, but they didn't. Trump is the Republican Party; the Republican Party is Trump. Free at last, free at last (with many apologies to MLK).
2
@eclectico
Not just from the Republican Party.
We live in an oligarchy but there is still that small vestige of democratic form left: we still elect our leaders. We made Donald Trump president. He reflects the will and ethos of a very significant portion of the American electorate.
Donald Trump are us.
@eclectico
The contagion was always there. It was waiting for a spokesman. America was bulit on slave labor, exploited immigrants and stolen Native land.
1
RBG is certainly partisan and even announced her bias during the 2016 campaign. Yet there are no calls for her to recuse herself in cases involving the federal government or its chief executive, whom she soundly disparaged during her campaign.
36
@Grunt
Have you ever, ever seen anybody behave in the fashion that Kavanaugh did during the hearings and felt that here was somebody worthy of a seat on the SCOTUS? Unless of course you've watched Trump speak and behave the way he does any day of the week and concluded that he is what we need in a president...
6
@Grunt
''whataboutism''....not a valid argument.
rbg didn't embarrass herself ranting rudely at the senators who were questioning her.
4
I am so tired of this heaviness, this weight that's with me all day everyday as my nation becomes further and further diminished.
Anything less than a Democratic sweep on Nov 6 is unacceptable.
15
Remember when far too many on the left said “there is no difference” in candidates for President in ‘16? Or, that some on the left “just couldn’t” vote for Hillary? I do.
25
@MO Girl
Remember when too many on the left voted for Ralph nadar giving us w the Iraq war and the Great Recession
2
Bottom line: if the Democrats would have ran Bernie, one of the most popular politicians in America instead if one of the least popular...I guess we’ll never know now.
1
Welcome back to the 19th century! The robber barons missed us.
15
The weakening of a free society, says Roger, is marked by “the development of a personality cult, the stripping of meaning from language and the spread of disorientation.”
Noted years ago by Hannah Arendt in her observations of the rise of fascism before WWII.
The brainwashing machine behind the GOP is unparalleled, however. As is the cesspool of Social Media of which Trump’s Tweets are only a small indication.
Whether the USA pulls out of this nose dive will be decided very soon.
17
"Now the F.B.I. — given a week to investigate what happened 36 years ago between Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford " --Roger Cohen
Well actually, no Mr. Cohen. The FBI was given a week to investigate what had NOT happened 36 years ago between Brett Kavanaugh and Christin Blasey Ford. And this cuts to the heart of the situation. Because indeed nothing happened. There is no evidence because nothing happened. And the shrill insistence of so may people to continue justifying the sordid, witch hunt as if something did happen is a disgrace.
4
@JJ Gross lack of evidence poses no problem to the court of Twitter........
3
Thank You Roger Cohen. I hope two books, Tyrant & On Tyranny, will be read by you and written about. What's going on in America has happened before and is happening right now. History spells out in spades what Trump is doing to our country and it ain't pretty.
5
Thank you for writing this article.
14
Didn't Roger Cohen write this column about a week ago because the headline looks very familiar. Roger has a real affinity for the word "insidious."
Believe it or not Donald Trump is on a roll. Unemployment is at an all time low. Brett Kavanaugh is getting ready to be sworn in as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court next week. The Democrats are still bitterly divided and can't come up with a coherent platform to run on in 2020. Donald Trump is cruising to an easy re-election win and he'll be president until 2025. Trump can easily pick more Supreme Court Justices (pre-approved by Mitch McConnell of course) to turn the Court further right for another generation. Merrick Garland joins Hillary Clinton and Al Gore as just another moderate/liberal train wreck.
The Democrats had better learn to embrace failure.
7
Spineless too is lamenting division as Grassley, Hatch, Graham, Sasse, Collins, Cornyn and others did in the hearings but who just STAND THERE while a vile man rabble rouses at his ex-clusive , partisan and creepy rallies- in their names. Trump attacks the people in the press box as enemies. He encourages hate. Rejection of that is necessary.
Senators: say something besides that your own behaviors and beliefs are someone else’s fault. Stop offering prayers and be an example of decency so you can have an ounce of integrity.
Courage will have to come from somewhere else- from Americans who want the truth and who love this country’s values and institutions to stand.
20
As this shameful episode comes to its conclusion I read all of the Times pundits, and I agree, and think that it feels good at least to know that I'm on the right side.
And then I think again. I'm not on the side of any of this. I'm not buying this anymore. Because the line between Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, or between Barack Obama and George Bush is, in the end, non-existent.
All come to more or less the same conclusions. Clinton kills welfare, Obama kills innocent children, and we make fun of Trump for being a corrupt fool. All of these people work for the same masters. The oil companies, the military, and the faceless, nameless multinationals who run the real world.
There was a time when we had the guts to fight, but somehow, we're too busy "saving" money on Amazon, or wasting time on Facebook to notice that we've all sold our should for comfort and convenience and security.
Yes, Kavanaugh will bring us a step closer to an American Taliban. We can shake our heads and pretend that we're better than them, and if only we had our way, etc. but it's hard to shake one's head when its buried in the sand.
10
The sculpted features of our democracy are melting away under the acid rain of Trumpism. Soon the face of America will look like a stump.
Not even two years into his devastating administration, Trump's White House is disfiguring the United States by the day.
The rushed charade to confirm Judge Kavanaugh no matter the cost, will make ordinary American people even more disposable.
The so-called press briefings at the White House are repugnant food fights of lies and evasions, insults and disinformation.
The turnover of Trump's staff is staggering. So is the rampant criminality among them.
No longer do we mention the lone and terrified small children now detained in military camps. We ripped them away from their parents with no forethought as to their reunification.
We made of them instant orphans, the collateral damage of a demented "deterrence" anti-immigration policy from the likes of Stephen Miller and Kirstjen Nielsen, goons who lied about it until caught.
Who does this?
Paraphrasing Antonio Gramsci, it is when our old order is dying and the new one cannot yet be, that monsters are born.
oz.
5
The only crime Trump has committed is governing from the right and keeping the promises he made to those who voted for him. The Trump as dictator routine who is trampling on our civil rights is absurd and a total fantasy. When Obama made his two liberal appointments to the Supreme Court was he not as was his right as President promoting his own political philosophy Elections have consequences and the left lost on 2016. The inability of the looney left to accept the
consequences of their defeat and resorting time and time again to the lies and distortion in this article are the real danger to our country not Dinald Trump
4
Oh my. So sorry Roger!! Way too much on my mind. (But we love Gail too.)
2
What really irks me is that Dr. Ford named Brett Kavanaugh as her attacker in 2012, six years before we ever dreamt that Trump, alas, is President or Kavanaugh is nominated. Dr. Ford also passed a lie detector test, which Kavanaugh never did.
And yet Susan Collins and her ilk says that there is no corroborating evidence. What a pathetic excuse we have for the once revered FBI, who refused to interview these witnesses.
20
There is something dreadfully wrong with our democracy when the worst president in the history of our nation gets to choose supreme court justices. Sen. Grassley calls those demonstrating against Kavanaugh's confirmation as "mob rule," but the mob is actually a majority of Americans, and majority rule is democracy. Would he prefer autocracy -- where Trump seems to be headed -- or an oligarchy of old white men who dismiss sexual assaults on women as unbelievable?
25
@Christy
"There is something dreadfully wrong with our democracy when the worst president in the history of our nation gets to choose supreme court justices."
Blame it on the Constitution, which gives the President power to choose the justices. And by failing to set terms to the justice's tenure, it assured that vacancies would come up as random, possibly during the worst possible Presidencies.
2
Well written! Please do not stop writing in search of truth and honesty. We need you more than ever as other Republicans fall into this Trump like behavior.
7
I sat by the rivers of Québec and I wept when I remembered America.
466
Trump is not the problem. Yes, he has made our situation worse with his appointments and fiats; but there's a vast army of lobbyists for big oil & gas, big pharma, big telecom, and the military/industrial complex who have been unleashed to do even more damage.
Trump would have us believe that the sole business of America is business, that we are battling the rest of the world in a zero sum game. That couldn't be more wrong. The rest of the world wants what we want--peace, enough to eat and drink of clean food and water, and a safe future for their children. Big business couldn't care less.
Let's face it; impeaching Trump would let in Pence who is dedicated to the same philosophy and men like McConnell and Kavanaugh who do the bidding of business before people.
No, we must work to take back congress in order to speak truth to business power with people power.
8
Thank you Roger Cohen for clarifying the murkiness accompanying the endless laments of the loss of bipartisanship and civility.
After decades of languishing in luxurious living with our technological toys we are awakening to the fact that pure evil has taken control of our government.
The evil is the bombast that poses as the Republican party. Here is the difference between parties now:
Democrats want to include everyone - all should be invited to the party. Republicans want to restrict "the others" from enjoying the same benefits they enjoy.
Democrats want you to have a choice about reproductive rights while respecting your personal choice. Republicans want to legislate our choices.
The irony for those of us who have embraced a variety of political philosophies over the years is that the GOP has completely flipped itself. It used to say that it was the party of budget conciousness, family values, a strong supporter of the international order (complete commitment to our allies) and a big tent.
Now the GOP represents government emedded with industry hacks, embraces liars and philanderers, abandons our friends on the world stage, and demonizes the "different".
In my heart, I would love to see both sides begin to work together. But one side now represents a totalitarian evil where women are chattel and blustery bullying is loved. It is a perversion.
Vote this evil out of office. Shame it. Bring us back to the 21st Century.
4
By far, the contents of this article are the best synopsis ever of the Trump presidency and the collapse and capitulation of the Republican Party into the party of anger, fear and the distortion of facts used by Trump in his efforts to shape policy to his corrupt world vision.
Any dictator or authoritarian must have willing participants to assist in weakening democratic institutions and Trump now has the entire Republican Party who are terrified of him and his minority, cult like minions. Once in place they can feed on the "us versus them" movement which will always require opposition, real or imagined. When the domestic opposition is silenced, in order for the movement to survive another country becomes the "them" in the us versus them requirement for a dictatorial movement to continue. Consider Germany, Russia, China, and even as far back in history as the Ottoman Empire and before.
This is how they all begin. The rejection of diplomacy, a free press, propaganda and eventually the end of voting and democracy in any form. The only thing standing in the way of history repeating itself is November 06, 2018 and beyond. We live in a lazy nation not in touch with how our government works and not concerned with the greater good. That condition was the perfect storm in 2016 and paved the way for a Trumpian movement that now threatens democracy as we know it.
It's almost over folks. Stay home in November and recent events will seem like a day at the beach.
5
"Indecent reality show", is what this whole 'so-called presidential administration has become. Above the partisan divide, above the country's interest as a whole, even above women's rights, is the call to a basic moral code. "Righteousness exalteth a nation, sin is a reproach to any peoples", but in Trump it has become the reverse. This is what made the greatest impression on me with Kavanaugh, not his ideology, nor his partisanship, not even his Trump like defense, but his belligerent attitude towards senators asking him questions, as if to say "How dare you question me?" Don't you know i'm entitled to this position, because I've worked hard? He exhibited no humility of a public servant nor what is needed in a Supreme Court Judge to discuss civilly the law with other judges and how it affects each case. He failed the temperament test for Supreme Court judge, as did our 'so-called' president before him for the leader of the free world. For those fans of either or both men, these men in leadership positions lead to the downfall of our democracy, much like Mitch McConnell's priority of attempting to make President Obama, a one term president, at all costs. When you allow this kind of means to a desired end, there is no end to this kind of mean. Thomas Hobbs centuries ago said, "Life is nasty, brutish and short". This is what life is becoming in America, which once was 'the land of the free and the home of the brave'.
3
We can vote Trump and his lackeys out in November and begin the process of healing, rebuilding bridges, etc.
2
Democracy is just so difficult. Not really convenient at all. Let's just do what the people on Fox News say. That would be so much easier. Who cares if they're working for the Russian government or whatever. At least we won't have all that endless dithering and paralysis like with Obama. Trump may not be smart, but he is decisive. And he does the things that they say on Fox.
So much easier.
2
Ironic that I read such well written essays on this current state of America in a paper that is not read by the raucous, insensitive base of Trump supporters. Half of American cheers on Kavanaugh's ascension to the Court as if their team has scored a touchdown on a long pass from quarterback Mitch McConnell. They cheer not even knowing or caring that this newest associate justice holds views contrary to their own. We won. That's all that matters. This is how totalitarian societies form and flourish, when the masses hand over their brains to a self-serving leader who knows what to say and when to say it to gain their favor. Like Lonesome Rhodes in A Face the Crowd Trump extracts the reptilian instincts of the people who don't read the Times, don't seek truth, don't care that democracy is buried in lies and con games. No they don't read the Times. A trip over to my wife's family's house shows me who they listen to. The TV in the kitchen is stuck on Fox News, Lonesome Rhodes Trumps favorite station. Can this latest women's movement drown him out. I shudder when I think back about how all the tumult and immense protest about the Vietnam War and Civil Rights brought us Nixon and then 12 years of Reagan/Bush. Sigh.
3
To fight against the tribalism of the right is to fight for the principle of constitutional democracy and the rule of law. To fight against oligopoly is to fight for the ethos of democratic socialism. To fight against homophobia, sexism, misogyny, racism and child abuse is to fight for the equal value of each human being.
In World War II we fought against ethno-nationalism and fascism because we believe in a credo of equality, not in global domination and the deification of a single human being as a supreme leader.
It is hardly tribalism to resist the tide of authoritarianism and the rise of a personality cult which usurps democratic values and norms. It is patriotism.
7
The boil of reaction that has been festering since the Civil Rights Act, Brown v Board and Roe v Wade is in the process of rupturing. The wisdom of the SCOTUS in helping society over the hump in the two latter examples can not be denied in the face of what surely would have been violent turmoil otherwise. Sadly, irredentists have never moved on. The infection spreads.
2
Good news Roger.
The Judicial Branch is independent from the Executive Branch.
The rest of us already knew that, BTW.
3
@Objectivist
Bad news Objectivist - the "supreme" court is no longer supreme. It was independent. It is not anymore. The partisan rantings of a misguided, entitled drunk, and his cohorts and trumpets have turned that court into the Supreme Republican Court.
8
@Objectivist
How blind: K was chosen b/c he thinks r presidents are above the law. He was holed up in the white house with Shine from Fox and grabber-in-chief for a week during this process.
Can't you see the obvious? There is no independence at all between the 3 branches of gov. none.
6
@Armo
Hmm. A little bitter are we, now that the progressive left cabal on the court will be nullified for decades ?
Works for me. Breyer, Souter, Ginsburg, Stevens, Kennedy -were all responsible for Kelo vs City of New London - a travesty by all measures except those justifying communism.
Ensuring that any of them that remain on the court are forced to sit their and watch their leftist agenda being dismantled in front of their eyes, is a high priority for me.
1
Indeed. Raised in a strong Republican family, I am horrified by the current downfall of truth, understanding, forgiveness, modesty, generosity, and dignity. Ignorance is now in vogue, and selfishness has replaced virtue. Donald Trump is responsible for our sorry state of affairs, and Brett Kavanaugh is his disciple. At least sanity has a chance to vote for a return to true Americanism - that one described in our Constitution.
6
Sadly, what percentage of the population is likely to vote in the mid-terms?
Few regular people, some outraged Dems/liberals & (it seems projected) plenty of religious conservatives & obsessive Trump/Kavanuagh supporters.
I fear little to nothing will change for the better.
2
This IS the end of the rule of law.
The upcoming SCOTUS docket Gamble vs US no 17-646 will allow the justices to give the president the ability to pardon criminals for state as well as federal convictions. Trump will be able to issue pardons for any of his cronies. It's carte blanche for all sorts of crimes.
This is the 11th hour, folks. We had better vote these felons out of office NOW — while we still have the ability to vote.
8
Last night in Kingston NY there was a rally for Angelo Delgado who is running for Congress in NY19. The rally was held at a brewery where I had an excellent pint of dark ale and got to cheer Delgado on with a hundred or so other supporters. This is a very close race with 538 having it as a tossup. The incumbent Faso is a slithering amphibian of the worst sort, mealy mouthed and Ayn Randian hiding out in the exoskeleton discarded by some Rockefeller Republican in the early 1980’s. I will be driving folks to the polls and burning tana leaves on election day in hopes of bringing the mummified corpse of a once great nation back to life.
4
Everything you say about Trump is correct. Your mistake is in conflating Kavanaugh as another Trump, or beholden to Trump, or even associated with Trump. If you read Kavanaugh’s D.C. Circuit opinions, you will see that he has been consistent in trying to exclude politics from legal analysis. That’s a reason the ABA found him to be well qualified. You are on the Democrat bandwagon rather than assessing Kavanaugh independently. Go after Trump as he is a menace, but your guilt by association is unpersuaive and unsupportable.
1
Brett Kavanaugh clearly and openly dispensed with the myth that partisan political socioeconomic educational gender color aka race ethnic sectarian gender historic bias is not the essential root of all Supreme Court of the United States nominations. Pretending otherwise is cynical and hypocritical.
Into the abyss. The ramrodding of a Pat Buchanan With Baggage onto the highest court is a naked power move of the unholy alliance of religionist authoritarians and laissez-faire gangster capitalists. As they take down the temple, we go down, down into a medieval, neofeudal theocracy of moneychangers. It is the end of the American Experiment. But, hey, my quarterly statements are out and the market's doing great, eh?!
3
Trump didn’t create anything, he tapped into America’s anger. He is the expert in branding, not creating. He branded racism, misogyny, greed, bullying, and selfishness as patriotism. His brand makes his followers feel righteous giving in to their weakness. The return to the time when the races were separated, women had no rights, when a college education was reserved of the rich, when the white, Christian male was all powerful or in Trump’s mind a time when America was great justifies questionable behavior of the wide variety Trump supporters. Humans are able to rationalize any irrational act.
4
Trump and his corrupt team are dismantling much, including the Rule of Law. As others point out, we have our own oligarchs like the Koch Bros, the entire DoVos family, the Mercers, and many more who are bent on severely compromising and even destroying our democracy. At this point these GOP donors have largely succeeded by gaining control over our government.
We don't have much time to recover so let's hope the D's can hold it together through the mid terms.
3
I agree that Trump is an awful president who is unlikely to ever make American political life better. He is gasoline on fire and that is why I, a Democrat male, voted for Hillary. However, when it comes to Kavanaugh, many people like me believe the Democrats were also playing politics, especially Feinstein. We quickly got to the point where people were judging a man by his high school yearbook. Can’t the “left” see that it too was playing games in the process? It is perplexing to those of us in the middle that both the right and left lost it during the judge’s nomination process and played hardball politics, and yet each blames only the other side and believes its own side is innocent. This inability to be objective is part of the problem for the left as it is for the right. Now that the left lost, it will have two very angry men on the court with which to content. Is it going to add a third when Trump nominates Judge Amy Barrett to fill Justice Ginsburg’s seat? Trump may be a personal mess, but he is eating the Democrats’ political lunch on a regular basis. By the time he runs for office again, many people who were wary of him the first time will hold their noses and vote for him as the only thing stopping the looney left of Kamala Harris and company. I am not sure how long the Democratic Party can last alienating White men. Its special-interest-politics model has a short shelf life as more minorities move up economically and off the Democrats’ plantation.
3
Divide and Conquer has been the Republican mantra for decades in order to achieve an agenda that chips the rights of citizens away and gifts corporations, wealthy with increasing power and financial portfolios.
Trump has no interest, lacks intelligence and the desire to perform his duties as President. Cronies have run wild and give him talking points for rallies and tweets in order for him to promote their agendas. He is great at propaganda for ill informed people.
The fear is real that America has reached a point of no return. Blatant evil and manipulation has reigned and they relish in the power they wield.
2
"It has become axiomatic to regret the tribal division of the United States — the inability to build bridges or even hold conversations across ideological divides, the sharpening national fracture into algorithm-consolidated political silos . . . "
Even the estimable Roger Cohen inadvertently falls for the phony false equivalence of tribalism and ideological gap.
I’m sick to death of the constant references to tribalism, asking that we stipulate to the idea of equivalence. Those who cling to democratic ideals and speak truth to power are not equivalent to the willfully ignorant people at Trump rallies. The New York Times and Washington Post are not just the mirror image of Fox News and Breitbart. We have surrendered too much by trying to be reasonable.
The way to deal with bullies is to stand ground not give it.
6
The Kavanaugh hearings have all been smoke and mirrors. Given what's at stake for the GOP, I wouldn't be surprised if they instigated the public airing of Ford's allegations. After all, the GOP views sexual assault as a lesser offense and likely not a disqualifying one (Thomas managed it!). They know a look at who recently paid off Kavanaugh's debts will reveal who owns him. The mere fact that they were miraculously paid off tells us that he IS owned. That alone should be enough to disqualify him.
From the London Review of Books: "As a matter of public interest, Kavanaugh’s drunken adolescent assault has now eclipsed his extremely murky personal finances, including a lifestyle far beyond his salary and up to $200,000 of debts that recently suddenly vanished; his possible addiction to sports gambling; his unequivocal opposition to reproductive rights and unions; his belief that a president is exempt from criminal indictment; the list of sexually graphic questions he prepared for Kenneth Starr to ask Bill Clinton during the Clinton impeachment proceedings; and the hundreds of thousands of pages of documents relating to his work in the Bush administration which the Republicans are refusing to release – covering, among other things, his role in formulating torture policy, the theft of Democratic Party papers and authorising warrantless wiretapping."
https://www.lrb.co.uk/v40/n20/eliot-weinberger/ten-typical-days-in-trump...
7
“Meaness is how this man gets his kicks. Always was, always will be.”
Contagious indeed. Seeing the impressionable kids brought to the Trump “hate fests” aka rallies, by their parents and grandparents, I despair. These kids may understand zip about Dr. Blasey Ford or Hilary Clinton, or “the evil people” of the press etc. etc., but they recognize adults having fun by shouting mean things, and if the president does it and Grammy and Gramps as well, it must be okay.
Donald Trump has been spreading “meaness” around this country like a plague since well before the election and watching adults knowingly expose their children to the contagion is heartbreaking.
8
GOP Senators do not care about the assault on Dr. Ford's person, but their assault on the truth today will last until tomorrow. And tomorrow will last a very long time.
2
When the Neo-Cons discussed achieving a "permanent Republican majority", did you think they were talking about a democracy?
5
A beautiful and terrifying column. If you love America and value the truth, vote on November 6.
6
Roger, Roger. But the “Federalist Society” at Law schools has proselytised “judge-agent” roles since 1982. With Scalia at their helm of example, they never really stopped being part judges, part advocating lawyers.
1
When I was growing up in the 60’s and 70’s, how to behave in American society was pretty straightforward. You could believe and follow simple values such as “Truth, Justice and the American Way.” OK yes, maybe naïve but I always believed you should be honest, follow factual guidance, respect others, work hard, the good guy always wins. But that was yesterday.
Today we seem to have “Lies, Injustice and the American Way.” Being dishonest is not only OK, our political leaders practice and encourage dishonesty. Justice most of the time if you are male, rich and white; injustice if you are female, a minority and poor. Facts are debatable. Disrespect for others is common and again encouraged. Work hard still seems to be in the mix but the probability of getting ahead has given way in many instances to maybe, maybe not. And the bad guy wins more often than not.
Sadly, America has lost its way and the outside world shakes its collective head in sorrow (well, not everybody: China, Russia and a host of others are thrilled).
It appears that John Adams was right: “Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”
RIP USA.
7
The FBI could have found Kavanaugh as clean as the proverbial hound's tooth & it wouldn't make one iota's difference to the Democrats. Almost every single party member was prepared to vote against him no matter what. This was a forgone conclusion the day his name was announced. An unsubstantiated accusation that can't be verified for memory, witnesses, hearsay & the rest would be a gross miscarriage of justice to assume its authenticity because of the seriousness & presentation of the complaint. It would be a terrible precedent to have unsubstantiated allegations simply accepted as true & act upon them. After watching the hearings, I view that the worst thing can happen would be allow this circus (where politically motivated, unsupported accusations can be used to derail congressional activity) to become a precedent. We can't have a functioning government where every congressional activity can be derailed by last minute charges. This cuts both ways. We will regret how we let this spiral out of control. One day the shoe is going to be on the other foot. Count on it. It will be a Democrat nominee for SCOTUS or even President. A 40 year old sexual allegation will resurface at the 11th hour that will be hard to prove either way. Then what? There will be tremendous blow back that we can't begin to ascertain. The GOP base is angry & will turn out in huge numbers. Red wave coming, pretty much guaranteed after this mess. The left is going to regret how they over played their hand.
6
@Bill Brown
Well do facts matter to you?
The shoe has already been "on the other foot" with McConnell's completely arbitrary and year long denial of regular order in the Garland nomination. Did that matter disturb you? Why not?
Did the arbitrary several week window to vet Kavanaugh disturb when basic materials would not be available for several month from the National Archives so they forfeited that material? Why not?
There are plenty of reasons why reasonable people found the Senate committee's objections to facts and truth objectionable. That is not right or left, it is American.
8
@Bill Brown: Evidently, you (and many men) still don’t “get it”, which, I guess, should not be surprising, given that you are seeing this through the lens of a male eye. You can’t see the forest for the trees, can you? Yes, this is about what happened between Ms. Blasey-Ford and Mr. Kavanaugh - but not exclusively so. You weren’t there, and neither was I, so I don’t know how you can so positively state that “nothing happened”. You don’t KNOW. You have an opinion, is all.
The other part of this equation is Mr. Kavanaugh’s terrible unfitness regarding his elevation to the Supreme Court. This was all on vivid display during his testimony a week and a half ago, after his accuser spoke. He ranted and raved, cried alligator tears, lied copiously (anyone can Google “boofing” or “devils triangle”) and generally put on a display for the ages. This man is not fit to write a traffic ticket, much less be a Supreme Court justice. Maybe that is his usefulness - he will be there to follow orders from his handlers, nothing more.
Obviously you have never been the victim of any kind of assault, let alone sexual assault, given the tone of your comment. Maybe try talking to your wife, mom, sister, or girlfriend. I bet at least one of them has. I wonder if that would change your superior attitude.
3
This column is pure poetry and sad beyond tears. A democracy is a terrible thing to lose.
11
I'm a 54 year old Canadian. When I was young, I thought the United States stood for something. Something great. Then, on a road trip to Florida when I was about ten, we listened to Americans in Georgia on our CB radio. I heard the vilest racial insults being hurled around, and I started to understand. Now, when I hear Joe Henry sing about "This frightful and this angry land", I find it hard to muster much more than pity.
You will install an openly partisan judge to your Supreme Court. Creationism will be increasingly taught as science in your schools, where horrifying shootings will continue to take place. Borrowed money will continue to fund tax cuts for your wealthiest citizens, while social programs are cut to remedy the ensuing deficits. Fox News will continue to draw massive ratings. And your clown bully president will continue to pulverize any remaining respect in the international community.
I wonder how long it will take for the story Americans tell themselves about their exceptionalism to begin to ring hollow?
4
Unfortunately, 62 million Americans either do not understand a word you have written, or are totally oblivious to the consequences of the Trump Presidency that they so faithfully support. In a way, they are identical to the North Koreans of this country worshipping their Glorious Leader. There is one difference though, the poor North Koreans have little or no choice but to worship Kim Jumg Un, the American "North Koreans" do have choices other than worshipping Donald Trump. Democracy can not function nor survive in ignorance, particularly our Democracy which really is not a Democracy.
4
This was a brilliant essay Mr.Cohen. You captured Trump and his followers in a nutshell.
23
Right Roger is.
And I am afraid that even if a mighty flood tide surges to the polls next month it may not start to stem the tide, because, as we all know, it's not the people who vote who decide, it's the people, or electronic systems, that count the vote that decide. And there's plenty of evidence, beyond run of the mill gerrymandering and voter suppression (never thought I'd refer to those as run of the mill) that various agents are working hard to make sure the vote comes out a certain way, no matter who votes in November. There are simply too many contested regions in which there is no paper trail, no independent auditing, no safeguards to even slow down unscrupulous hackers.
I have to admit I'm not optimistic. And I wonder if some years down the road this ends in Civil War II, though I don't think the dividing lines will necessarily be state borders--there are a lot of blue dots in seas of red and vice versa.
Perhaps to avoid a conflict from which no one (other than the war profiteers) will benefit, enlightened minds should be starting to come up with plans for the peaceful dissolution of this nation into several or more independent ones. The American experiment had a good run, but tribalism, as usual, seems to be winning the day.
Perhaps Canada would be a nice place to retire. (Though I hear Ontario is having its own left-right conflicts these days.)
370
Don't discourage people from voting with your fear of what maybe might happen ifs. The main problem is not enough people choosing to vote, not all the stuff you are scared of.
@Glenn Ribotsky
But, as Lewis Black so astutely noted, Canada is where all the cold air comes from.
@Glenn Ribotsky Maybe a wall on the north border of Oklahoma then northeast up to include Indiana and the part of Alabama that lies between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia...
1
I truly believe that Trump, with the help of all the enabling Republicans, poses an existential threat to our democracy, as well as a threat to our national security. While many, mostly women, in my community are actively involved in fighting back, it feels like an uphill battle. I've never felt so angry, frustrated, and worried about the direction of our country. Some say not to worry, our institutions will hold. I'm just no so sure. Historically speaking, democracies tend to have a shelf life. It seems that societies have a more natural inclination to bend toward illiberalism and authoritarianism. If we don't get a better balance of power and remove Trump from office asap, I fear we won't be able to pull back from the precipice.
22
Very discouraging, but very true. Two rays of hope are the Senators from two corners of the country: Senator Collins of Maine and Senator Murkowski of Alaska. I'm proud of these two role models for men and women: articulate, intelligent, sincere, civil, reasonable and honest women with the courage of their convictions, taking their votes in the issue of their lifetimes.
The president of the Senate and the president of our country have brought shame on themselves and our government that will never be erased.
@josie8I listened to Sen Collins and was impressed UNTIL she began preparing a defense of her decision with questionable 'FACTS". This nomination could have been defeated had these few Senators been willing to brave Trump's wrath. Scary. But a lifelong appointment is terrifying!
1
The world suffers with Trump. We Americans are responsible. Only we can undo what we have done.
It needs to start next month.
16
Successful is the man.
Say what you want about his irresponsible tweets and speeches, he has thus far been a fairly successful president.
Tax reform, dialing back of Obamacare’s insidious mandate, strong economic growth, lowest unemployment rate in 49 years, renegotiating NAFTA, winning a trade war with China, lowering tensions with North Korea, warming relations with Russia (yes its a good thing), good relations with moderate Arab countries, finally officially recognizing that Jerusalem is the capitol of Israel, now two Supreme Court appointments, etc. - and all in two years!
Not bad.
4
It's devastating. I keep suggesting this--The blue states need to declare their independence from the red states! Red states gleefully take our tax dollars and impose their conservative social values on the blue states. Enough. Let the red states have Trump, the G.O.P., and the Supreme Court. Who's in? Who can and will lead the independence movement? Let's not look back in a decade and wonder why we didn't care enough about the future of our children and grandchildren to seek a fresh start. The time is now.
Vote blue on November 6. (And please volunteer or donate to Democrats before then!)
6
Its not just trump although he has brought out the worst in people. Look at McConnell, leader of the Senate. He does nothing to bring America together as all he wants is to win at any cost. Look at Graham, the partisan hate just bubbles out of him. We all need to get out and VOTE and bring in new people. America deserves a change at all levels.
21
Powerful. In a very scary way.
8
In their blatant activism, how are judges appointed by the so-called progressive left any less "agents" of their installers?
3
Thank you, Roger Cohen, for describing so aptly the abject depths of our loss.
18
Roger Cohen has got his groove back. His last few columns have been worth reading and re-reading. This one is outstanding. Thank you, Roger. You capture on the page what so many of us wish we could express with a fraction of the coherency, intellect, and compassion that you do. Thank you so very much.
9
Vote. Vote like your life depends on it- because it does along with the environment, gay rights, women's rights, workers' safety, equal opportunities, government ethics! Vote. Out The GOP.
17
>
The end of the rule of law in this country happened in Nov 2016, when an old Socialist thought the American people would send him to the WH. All this insanity can be traced to this fact. Bernie gave Trump the small crack into which Trump could wiggle through.
It's called, cause and effect. Elections have consequences (i.e., effects).
Bill Maher has the best analogy I've heard:
Our parents always told us never get into a car with stranger. Well willingly or unwillingly we climbed into that car on Nov 2016; we're in the car. Our mauled bodies will be found in some time and place in the future.
Lord Dacre, a British historian who died in 2003, summed up Hobbes' Leviathan curtly: “The axiom, fear; the method, logic; the conclusion, despotism.”
4
I remember when Trump began his campaign. Most people wrote him off as having no political experience. Very few people supported him. Then he decimated the field. I remember his misogynistic comments, his stalking of Hillary on the debate stage, his ridiculing John McCain for being captured in war, when Trump never served. Then he won. I remember his lies about the crowd at his inauguration. The clamor dissipated. I remember talk of impeachment. That disappeared. I remember discussions about invoking the 25th Amendment. That too went away. I remember Trump ripping up NAFTA, the TPP, the Iran deal, and the Paris Accord. There were outcries. The Trump beat went on. I remember Scaramucci. I remember Charlottesville. I remember Trump befriending dictators worldwide, including Putin in Russia and Kim in North Korea. Trump continues virtually unscathed. Mueller indicts some of those closest to Trump. Trump marches on. I remember chaos with the Kavanaugh, yet he will now be confirmed. Trump celebrates his Supreme Court picks, the roaring stock market, the glowing economy, and historically low unemployment. He rides high.
When Democrats regain power, whenever that may be, they need to be as merciless as Trump. They need to be as ruthless as Trump. They need to take no prisoners with Trump and his GOP.
If they cannot handle our new political playbook, as exercised for the past two years by our president, then they are hopelessly lost. And so are we.
5
Trump also destroys the lives of anyone he touches, his so-called friends. One can only hope this process hasn’t destroyed Kavanaugh’s marriage. It certainly damaged the court. Hopefully Roberts will prevent divisive decisions that an extreme out of the mainstream Kavanaugh is ashamed to show he supports. Love this column. Very heart felt.
2
This fascinating piece of hyperbole is clearly meant to fan flames of outrage and divide us. The Judge has a superb record of upholding the law, and is seen by colleagues as fair and balanced - not political.
Let’s move on.
3
@Joe Yoh
How would you know this? The Republicans hid his written opinions. What were they afraid of? We actually know very little about him .
2
"the whole county down to his level" That is the truth. I no longer have any interest in "going high, when they go low". I want to knock them down, by any means necessary, so hard they never get up. My country's survival depends on it.
18
I would think the other Justices would like to comment. Do they get a vote in this; after all they have to work with this man?
4
I'm no expert on the American political system, but how can a minority wreak so much damage so quickly on a country of 330 million people? The events of this week alone have left me reeling. I know it didn't start with Trump, that he is a symptom not the disease, but are there no means to stop this train wreck? Everyone is saying "vote in November," but as I've said elsewhere, feeling like a Cassandra, any kind of normal November election is looking increasingly unlikely. Every day that passes is a day Trump, McConnell et al. have to put in place the means to stop the vote, corrupt the vote, etc. on Nov 6. It is clear they will not heed majority opinion, the rule of law, or codes of decency. The whole world was watching this week and they did it anyway, or will do so in a couple of hours: push through a sitting federal judge accused of multiple sexual assaults which were not thoroughly investigated, and who LIED to the Senate on camera while making brazenly partisan unfounded accusations, and give him 1 of 9 seats on the Supreme Court with the power to control the bodies of 150 million+ women. Unprecedented. Catastrophic. America, you are in deep, deep trouble.
17
interesting, from Chicago, the juxtaposition of the Kavanaugh hearings and the Laquan McDonald case. Kavanaugh's out-of-control behavior as a young man is forgiven, and his social network sustains him all the way to the Supreme Court. Laquan McDonald's out-of-control behavior as a young men gets him shot down in the street.
4
Too many of the comments here blame America and the fundamental makeup of Americans. I disagree.
Happenstance led to Trump's victory in 2016. The stars lined up and he was elected President. The GOP fought it for months, but alas, for naught.
So being smart and greedy, they decided to make what they can of the con-man and garner the benefits for themselves while he's in office leading the mobs. "It's temporary" they told themselves.
Only it's not. Not if we vote them out in November and again in 2020. Americans know it's not too late. No need to leave the country. No need to despair. Nothing is irreversible.
What I don't understand is what motivates Trump? Is he a "bad person" - someone who wants to destroy our democracy? someone whose soul is evil? someone who is corrupt by training or nature? someone who was never stopped or punished? someone with napoleonic goals?
Why would anyone want to do this to a country that has been generous to him and his parents and his family?
"Make America Great Again" is not his objective, that much we know.
16
The majority of Americans are now alienated from all 3 branches of government. There is no one to trust. Indeed, if you happen to be Catholic, we can’t even trust the church. What will this bring us? It does not forebode well. But I do believe that we must still stand up with moral courage for what is right. I have long wondered what would have happened if we had let the south go it’s merry way before the civil war broke out. Perhaps we should revisit that scenario.
5
Most American Presidents appointed judges that followed their party
For a graphic representation of appointments of American Presidents and how they lined up with the President's party
see this graph
https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/640-width/image...
Inspection of this links shows
1. Two judges nominated by Republican Presidents, John Paul Stevens, William Brennan, turned out to be liberals.
2. None of the judges appointed by Democratic Presidents turned out to be conservative.
3. The most extreme ideological deviation was judge William
D, Douglas, appointed by Franklin Roosevelt.
4. Franklin so believed that judges should follow his policies that - when the Court disagreed with him on laws passed during the New Deal - he attempted to pack the Court with his followers by increasing the number of judges up to 15
See
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/roosevelt-announces-court-pa...
The plan ultimately failed, but compared to FDR, Trump is a novice
2
With Trump, the mask was finally ripped off the GOP. They are a totalitarian party. With the Supreme Court debased, they now will exercise totalitarian rule.
Our reality TV culture blinded conservative voters, so they cheered and voted for Trumpism.
Our reality TV culture blinded progressive voters, so they raised their voices, but failed to vote.
14
It is Trump's country, Trump's three branches of government, Trump's GOP the same way he thinks he was elected king.
Only articles like the one in the NYT exposing Trump family's tax fraud will make FBI act. Only voting and taking the GOP out of Congress will make possible to oust Trump of the WH and make a journey to decency.
A president who thinks that his foundation's money and his campaign funds are his personal cash and, that stated on national TV that he does not pay taxes because he is a smart man (Maybe a "wise" one?) deserves his day in court but does not deserve to be in the WH or my respect.
4
"I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot someone and I wouldn't lose any voters" President of the United States, Donald John Trump. He and the Republican candidates in the upcoming midterm elections will certainly not have my vote - then again, they never did. Enough of this hand-wringing; we have four weeks to go! Let's get out and vote!
4
Hard hitting and totally on target. How could we fall so precipitously from 2016 to 2018.
5
We're losing our democracy. Republicans try to prevent people from voting. Votes are discounted through gerrymandering. The Senate is completely unrepresentative. And the Electoral College lets the loser take office. Dark money favors corporate interests, not that of average citizens.
If those of us who care about living in a democracy idly sit by, our democracy will disappear.
Take action. Volunteer. https://www.mobilizeamerica.io/
5
Ok, but don’t fall for the discouragement trap or loss of hope which seems this men’s club’s intention as the political effect. These guys are only as effective at lasting fear as the most obviously factory-made Halloween costumes.
2
Trump’s politicization of the Supreme Court culminates decades of Republican presidents violating the fundamental tenet of it as the court of last resort. From the nomination of Clarence Thomas, a pawn of the far right who wasn’t even permitted to write his own opening statement, through the pill-popper Rehnquist court’s decision that money is a form of speech and later that some pigs are more equal than others in the amount of speech they can spend until those that spend more speech don’t have to disclose how much they’re speaking or who they are — all these for decades have led to a Trumpist view of SCOTUS as a tool of the ruling class and the destroyer of democracy in America. It’s called the tyranny of the minority which sadly Tocqueville didn’t account for as a danger to the American experiment. In the name of religious freedom we now know religious persecution and thanks to Alito and Roberts corporations and institutions have nothing to fear from pesky individual plaintiffs or even class action litigation. Thanks to Kavanaugh the Republican minority has secured its power to protect enormous wealth from legal accountability for its influence. Ours is a Jeffersonian moment in which so far the so-called conservative conscience of the likes of Collins and Flake for instance have proved part of the sham of thoughtful deliberation. The Kavanaugh we saw read a written statement full of rage and cynicism and implicit threat, not a sudden outburst. Quo vadis, brethren?
3
I have a theory as to why the FBI finished their investigation early. If they had taken the whole week it would have lent more credibility to the results. Prehaps they were trying to signal that they were so constrained by the President and the Republicans they could finish what they were allowed to do in such a short time, that this investigation was and is a sham.
2
Yes! You capture it beautifully.
The autocrat occupying the White House is the final touch on the Right’s lust for complete power. The carnage is the US “Democracy” in that lust for power at all costs.
There has been so much damage done-the foundations of the rules of law and truth eroded-dare I say- to the point of no return?
The constant attacks on the media as “The Enemy of the People”, the abuses of power, the disregard of precedent, the declaration the “the president has the ultimate authority”, the abuses of the GOP in stealing a SCOTUS seat, the GOP’s misuse of power and ultimately all of the Republicans failing their duty to uphold and protect the constitution. They betray the constitution and the people.
I see clearly the repealing of the law by Reagan of “equal air time” by media organizations as the genesis of the failure of democracy thus creating the likes of Fox News and of Limbaugh and other destructive mouthpieces. Then add the Internet and the proliferation of conspiracy websites and alternative facts, and you further erode “truth”. Add the “brain washing” propaganda creating themes of the “left leaning” press and “they are not to be trusted”. And you get the nightmare we are living now.
Add Citizens United and you are ripe for the likes of the Orwellian Trump and current GOP.
Even if the Dems win the House and Senate I’m afraid they will get little done to correct the problems. I am not hopeful for the US and the future of its democracy.
4
I would suggest one enhancement of Mr. Cohen's excellent column: Trump has not merely "blurred" the distinction between lies and truth; he has built a wall. Those of us who take him at his word are on one side, and those of us who recognize his persistent and frequent falsehoods are on the other. I and Mr. Cohen are on the American side. I don't know what you might call the other side.
6
I am afraid that when the Mueller report comes out, detailing Trump’s cooperation with the Russians, the GOP will treat the report just like Dr. Blasey’s testimony. They’ll ignore it.
15
As students, we were all taught that the Federal government was designed to offer a system of checks and balances that would prevent any one branch from consolidating power. This theory will now be seriously tested in the coming years with Republicans control of the Executive Branch, House, and Senate. The latest appointment of yet another Conservative justice to the Supreme Court now jeopardizes the lase defense against what could become a threat to our democracy. No one is guarding the chicken coop and the foxes are circling all around.
5
The truth told in this column has broken my heart. I am beyond rage and anger. I am beyond disbelief and horror. I have arrived t a true sadness since I see little that I can do to stop this. I am active in the political process but even then feel powerless to stop the destruction that this president and his minions have wrought on our beloved country. Even taking back the House will not do enough to repair the unbelievable damage that has been done to the Presidency, the Congress and not the Court, but at least it is a start. The Republican Party, once the proud party of Lincoln is unrecognizable and probably beyond repair. I have no idea how we are ever going to recover what we have lost because of the greed and power hungry Republicans and Donald Trump.
40
@Texas Democrat Honestly, stop with this Lincoln nonsense. He's been dead since 1865 and today's Republican party has nothing to do with him. The current Republican party was born in 1968 with Nixon, it has no connection with people living 150 years ago. The Republican Party is the confederacy and people should keep that in mind when commenting.
5
@Texas Democrat Thank you! my sentiments exactly - when the man mocked Dr. Ford, my outrage solidified into fury.
4
The statement issued by the National Council of 100,000 Christian Churches this week, calling for the withdrawal of the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, is the most accurate I've seen:
"We believe he has disqualified himself from this lifetime appointment and must step aside immediately.
We note several reasons. During his appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Judge Kavanaugh exhibited extreme partisan bias and disrespect towards certain members of the committee and thereby demonstrated that he possesses neither the temperament nor the character essential for a member of the highest court in our nation. We are deeply disturbed by the multiple allegations of sexual assault and call for a full and unhindered investigation of these accusations.
In addition, his testimony before the Judiciary Committee included several misstatements and some outright falsehoods, some in relation to accusations of sexual misconduct. All citizens must be expected to speak truthfully when under oath, however, this is especially true for anyone who seeks a seat on the Supreme Court.
Moreover, Judge Kavanaugh’s extensive judicial and political record is troubling with regard to issues of voting rights, racial and gender justice, health care, the rights of people with disabilities, and environmental protections. This leads us to believe that he cannot be an impartial justice in cases that are sure to come before him at the Court."
40
I saw the title of Cohen's column and assumed it was the argument that Trump's behavior had rubbed off on the democrats like a contagious disease and that they too had gone outside what Roger feels is the American norm. No, instead it is another distorted reality piece that essentially makes the argument that the Democrats smeared Kavanaugh fair and square, and that not letting them prevail was some sort of anti-democratic event.
Federal judges have been representative of the party in power for decades - Obama was notorious for appointing left-wing judges who have done liberal bidding from the bench. That Kavanaugh comes from the conservative side of the judiciary IS THE NORM.
4
Is it the norm to confirm judges who blatantly lie to the Senate?
6
Two thoughts: the Supreme Court now has to pick up the slack from Congress which has been abdicating its oversight role of the Executive branch required by the constitution. With addition of Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court will further embody many of the qualities Mr. Cohen complains about in this essay.
Also, I very much wonder what Mrs. Kavanaugh thinks. She must know a thing or two about the nature of the man we're about to elevate to the highest court. She was picture perfect Nancy Reagan at the Senate hearings, silently looking on with unblinking eyes. The one chance she was offered to speak, on Sixty Minutes was taken over by her husband who responded on her behalf. I wonder why I never saw her smile during her time on camera.
7
Watching Trump call Blasey Ford credible and then mocking her mercilessly just a short time later, shows that not only is he someone who will lie to get his way -- he will say anything to appeal to the audience at hand, even if it means blatantly contradicting himself.
Because of Trump we are living in a topsy-turvy, Alice in Wonderland, 1984 world in which fewer and fewer of us even see a need to make sense anymore. We need to stop the madness We need to vote it and all that enables it out of office.
44
President Trump delegitimizes democratic values, norms, institutions, and a Free Press revealing an anti-democratic movement.
Having lived long enough to have experienced two different forms of “democracy” in this country, essentially exclusive and then inclusive, forces moving backward to the former are easily recognized. Exclusive democracy, though, is not really democratic. This is the type of government created by the Founders, which elevated the land-owning aristocracy while writing democratic-sounding words on paper, one that could not be sustained. Either the words written in the Constitution mean something - a government of, by, and for the people where all are created equal - or the words only applied to powerful, wealthy white men. During my lifetime, I have witnessed a government further transitioning to one taking responsibility for and having responsibility to the governed and owning up to democratic ideas written in the Constitution of equality, justice, fairness, rights, freedoms for all Americans. I am now witnessing efforts at reversal.
The first proud moment I experienced in my young life regarding my government was passage of the Civil Rights Act. The second was passage of the Voting Rights Act. There have been many more instances of doing the right thing. I can only wonder if those supporting this Trumpian anti-democratic movement would be proud of reversals or vengeful. I suspect the latter.
24
This is certainly one of the most clear-headed and unblinkingly courageous explications of Trump and his presidency that I've read. We stand on the decks of a ship that is breaking up and sliding towards a whirlpool of thuggish and authoritarian chaos. Thank you, Mr. Cohen for holding out a spar of integrity for us to
grasp onto as the nation founders and begins to go down.
59
The only choice for patriots today is to seek and speak the truth as loudly as they can. The contagion won't be eradicated by a mid-term election or even by the next presidential election. If Americans don't unite in favor truth and justice for all, the republic expires and with it the dreams and aspirations of a universe of humanitarians and those they've inspired to believe in a better world.
43
The GOP strategy has been divide and conquer since at least Nixon and his Southern Strategy.
They grasped better than the the Democrats that voting hinged on emotions more than principle, facts, or logic.
That if they nurtured and captured the people psychological predisposed to authoritarianism, religious orthodoxy, and/or militarism that they had an almost unbeatable (reasons below) and certainly hyper-loyal voting block.
That the weight we Constitutionally give to predisposed regions mostly compliments of the slavery issue (they didn't call it "Southern Strategy" for nothing) and manifest destiny philosophies favored them regardless that overall on issues they poll mostly in the MINORITY.
That they could tailor a message to appeal to that block that ensured they'd capture at least 21% of us and that that 21% would be rock solid voters.
That with a good propaganda machine (boy do they have one) they can easily capture about 10% more voters with shiny objects, honed truthiness, fear, and a little charisma.
That we 58% - those that would reject their poison if they were facilitated/forced to vote - have LOW EVTO. That their base block of votes (minority as it is) can win if EVTO is below 62%.
Too many in that 58% will not realize the existential battle elections are now - not really about issues, methods, means but about SOUL.
Elections are now sadly about the nature of our Nation. Certainly not about shiny objects and per peeves. VOTE AND VOTE APPROPRIATELY!
28
Our nation's government is controlled by aged life-long politicians who are beholden to billionaires corporate monies.
We as a people are no longer considered as the basis for our government's actions.
The solutions are simple in concept and challenging in implementation since these solutions will require those in power to recognize and accept their own limits. If we as a nation are to regain control of our government, the following are first steps:
1) Invalidate Citizens United ruling that allows unfettered corporate funding to elections.
2) Implement across the board 12-year term limits on national-level Congressional and Judicial roles.
3) Implement redrawing of Congressional districts based on geography, not partisan politics.
4) Increase voter registration efforts and promote voting as not just a "right", but as a "requirement" for US citizens.
Our nations founders would not recognize our current government that has been all to willing to abdicate its responsibilities to the nation. And if we do not act, I fear our nation will lose its way, if it hasn't already.
111
@GTM --- totally agree with your four points re urgent updates to governance/elections in USA. And thanks to Roger Cohen for providing such a cogent background as to why they're needed.
But main reason for this comment is to say thanks also to Tom Brenner for the extraordinary photo that goes with this op-ed. One pic says it all.
17
@GTM
Excellent ideas for left brain solutions. Now to focus on right brain solutions of consciousness-raising and spiritual (not religious) awareness to get us to implementation.
Take a listen to Alexandria Octavio-Cortez and Beto O’Rourke to be inspired.
1
Often times I read in the Times comments about the alledgedly undemocratic nature of the European Union. While it may at no means be perfect there are provisions against minority rule as I see it happening these days in the US. In the EU we have some areas where there needs to be unanimous consent to become law, but there are areas where a qualified majority is required, meaning that there must be a majority vote in the European council, representing at least 60% of the European population. Compare that to the votes in the US Senate.
71
@os
Yes. The rights of the minority have been trampled.
1
Never before now has a opinion piece brought me to tears without laughter. The truth that Mr. Cohen is expressing so poignant and heartbreaking that I am momentarily depressed because it gave my anger such wording that it vanished. I hope when it returns I will be inspired to a better way of expressing it and energizing my political will.
112
I too cried when reading this article-
3
Mr. Cohen, we must also discuss the corruption withing the Democratic party which allowed one of the least liked politicians in modern America to be nominated. The closed door maneuverings on behalf of Hillary are the other side of the coin to the closed door decisions about Kavanaugh.
18
@Richard Mclaughlin
To be assessed, this comment needs more, viz:
at least some indication of how "[t]he closed door maneuverings on behalf of...[Secy Clinton as there may have been]...the other side of the coin to the closed door decisions about Kavanaugh."
A good deal more. Otherwise, sorry, just another unsupported assertion.
22
@Richard Mclaughlin-
She got the most votes. More people like her (some even respect her as well) than dislike her. Nothing in the 2016 nomination process was any different than it ever has been. To liken the nomination process to anything about Kavanaugh is ridiculous and belittles the parts of politics that haven’t become a national reality show. The majority of Democrats voted for Mrs Clinton in the primaries and that is why she was nominated. You Bernie people really need to get over it and work for the common good.
44
@Richard Mclaughlin But don't forget that Mitch McConnell refused to allow a sitting president ( for over a year) to nominate a Supreme Court Justice (Merritt Garland), which was the cap on the power that McConnell grabbed for himself and the Republican Party. Yes, there were shenanigans to put Clinton on top within the Democratic Party, but look at the Republican party removing sanctions against Russia from their party's platform. Yes, there maybe issues on both sides, but flawed Clinton's party nomination doesn't compare to the damage to our institutions and rule of law that the Trump and The Republican Party have done to this country. I fear for my children.
30
With Sen. Elizabeth Warren explaining from the Senate floor that there is ample evidence in the new FBI report of lies that Kavanaugh told under oath to the Judiciary Committee:
https://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Sen-Elizabeth-Warren-s-new-tantal...
the rush to confirm the nominee by the slimmest such vote in all American history is further highlighted.
Little djt's divide and conquer strategy underpins the graft and corruption of the House passing yet another $3.1 Trillion$ tax cut for the donor class last week:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/09/13/new-estimate-gops-sec...
Let the GOP'er stealing and lying continue apace :(
55
Many of us share Mr. Cohen's disgust. It's hard to govern and show the kind of leadership that brings people together in a spirit of compromise and shared purpose. Trump has shown us how easy it is to just pour gasoline on stuff and light a match. That's not genius. It's reckless, irresponsible power, and history suggests that democracies can go pretty quickly.
As the author notes, the highjacking of democracy didn't start with Trump. He is more of a by-product of an ongoing process--hate to say it, but Jimmy Carter had it right with his crisis of confidence speech that no one wanted to hear. Ironically, the Supreme Court has played an important role in democratic decay, especially with Citizens United.
And if the republicans can't clean their own house, can't return to some sort of grounding in reality, we will be living in a much different country by the time the truth is so rotten and fetid their propaganda machine can no longer mask the stench.
27
Agree fully with your editorial. It is instructive for Americans to realize, that both in private and public life, toxic narcissists are indeed contagious. They create a fog that blinds everyone, corrodes institutions, workplaces and families, and pushes normally dignified people to behave in ways that seem slightly unhinged. But that said, I believe that we have to go high when Trump goes low. We have to be strong, calm and strategic. Extreme rhetoric plays right into his hands.
52
Exhausting is the man. No matter how low he goes his followers are immovable. If they can still consider him Presidential material after two years of golf outings, Comedy gigs, I mean rallies, "Executive Time" that brings the workday to three hours tops, his boorish and, just plain, bad behavior, the damage he is doing to our profile overseas and our reputation as an honest broker, His profound ignorance, his narcissism and his disrespect for the people and institutions he swore an oath to protect. When I see women laughing and applauding Trump's mockery of Dr. Blasey Ford I don't know what to think? I keep reading about the anger about being left behind and the fear that the future is uncertain but, if that were true, Trump would address these issues at his rallies. Instead, he just keeps pushing the hate button over and over again and I'm beginning to think that his job is to force feed them hate and they feed his ego. That's not how you make America great again, that's how you make pate'.
189
@Rick Gage
You refer to "...the damage he is doing to our profile overseas and our reputation as an honest broker,..."
Sorry, Rick, but no one outside the U.S. ever considered the U.S. to be an 'honest broker'. Your nation's unilateral application of its unique laws abroad, its blackmailing of allies to force them to turn against America's perceived enemies, your invasion of Iraq for crimes committed by Saudi Arabia, your practising and outsourcing of torture, your mind-boggling indifference to the plight of the Palestinians, your relentless proliferation of WMD across the globe, your destruction of the climate, etc.,. etc.,. .... all of these categorise you as a dishonest broker whose sole principle is 'Might is Right'.
Some Americans need to take a hard look in the mirror before labelling other nations as 'outlaws' and 'rogue states'. Honest, you are not.
2
"Trump believes that judges should be agents of those who appoint them. That would be the end of the rule of law."
That is exactly it! Finally, in this hellish state we've been in since watching Kavanaugh explode on Trump's command, Mr Cohen has explained exactly what's wrong: it's not just his demeanor, it's not just his partisanship or conspiracy theories, it's not just the sexual assault allegations, it's not just his lies. The unholy Trump-Kavanaugh partnership signals the end of the rule of law - and that's everything.
44
Mr. Cohen, you have perfectly summed up the frightening characteristics of your president, none of them good, all of them working to his benefit.
What has me reeling is the speed of this folding, this surrender to
the party of Trump by the politicians who are now happily providing him cover. How can they watch as their country sinks to his level, where is their integrity, their souls? Rather than hang their heads, they have chosen to ride the Trump train. They are hitching their political futures to his every “win” no matter who he has to destroy to get it. They have figured out what Trump brings to the table and have decided to sit back and enjoy the ride.
I think of all of the people in your country as they helplessly watch their country slip away, and it saddens me.
27
We learned just this evening that the White House lawyers did in fact limit the FBI investigation of Kavanaugh. Their argument to Trump? Kavanaugh likely would not be nominated were there to be a proper investigation. That says it all. According to a vital tradition of our democracy, the FBI is nonpartisan. Trump and his Republicans couldn't care less about the vital traditions of our democracy.
61
Roger, I feel your anger and pain, which you express most eloquently. But the focus on Trump and Kavanaugh misses the point, which is that what goes around comes around. The U.S.A. 's strength -- free market enterprise -- is also its weakness. The enormous concentration of wealth in the hands of a few allows those few to game the political system to such an extent that, in practice, there appears to be little difference between U.S.-style democracy and many dictatorships. The end effect is the same: Concentration of power, obscene wealth gaps, oligarchy versus proletariat.
This started long before Kavanaugh. Did not the Supreme Court rule in 2010 that corporations are people and thus protected under the First Amendment?
Following the invasion of Iraq, did not the Supreme Court refuse to hear torture appeals despite the clear illegality of torture under the Eighth Amendment?
So what is the Supreme Court? Nothing but a bunch of glorified political hacks, dictators for life, camouflaged in judicial robes and pretending to show concern for human rights and democracy. 'Corporations' are 'people'?!? Orwell could not have portrayed the inner rotting of extreme Capitalism any better.
269
@Hamid Varzi Just to be clear, it was the most right wing Republican appointees who voted for Citizens United: Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the majority joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts and Justices Antonin G. Scalia, Samuel A. Alito, and Clarence Thomas. Justice John Paul Stevens dissented, joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, and Sonia Sotamayor.
Adding Kavanaugh will cement this kind obsequiousness to the rich and powerful.
5
@Hamid Varzi
Yes, that ruling was in a league with Plessy, for abject idiocy.
3
Another way of periodizing our current predicament in relation to the Supreme Court would be to look back at a different justice, Lewis Powell, author of the infamous memorandum "Attack on the American Free Enterprise System." This document, from 1971, has been characterized (by, e.g., David Harvey) as having provided the template for the neoconservative movement whose wake is destroying this country today. Among the goals Powell promoted were an increased use of the media to spread pro-business propaganda. Once on the court, Powell pursued this aim when he wrote the majority opinion in First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, which held that corporations have free speech interests and, in the process, established an important foundation for Citizens United.
Granted, both Trump and Kavanaugh are a disgrace, astoundingly unrepentant liars. But there is a risk in too much myth-making around either, a risk especially in deploying metaphors of contagion and poison. That's precisely the sort of language historically used by anti-Communists to generate fear and foreclose careful analysis. What Powell himself focused on, instead, was how to build institutions that would achieve his pro-business goals--how to "weaponize" the Chamber of Commerce, as it were.
50 years down the road, we're at what one can only hope is the nadir. But fear won't suffice. At issue is whether we have the patience and commitment it is going to take to build institutions capable of fighting back.
20
Insidious and contagious, indeed.
It feels sometimes as if I'm living through a bad mad scientist movie where something escaped from the petri dish and infected the brains of millions of Americans. No amount of observable reality or counter-factual evidence can extricate a member from the cult of Trump, and Mitch McConnell and his cynical clan gleefully exploit the derangement.
The existential question is: Can this condition be arrested and reversed? America's future hinges on the answer.
27
What a massively depressing day. Your words cut through the whiplash and ghastliness of each day. Your unvarnished insights were, sadly, spot-on. How can the Republican Congress be so blind to the very core values they were each raised on by their parents?
48
The GOP had "cover" in that a former SCOTUS judge found Kav to be unacceptable as did a large number of members of various bars. It would've been relatively easy for the Senators to hide behind all those judges' robes & say he was unqualified. I'm glad I've had no offspring & won't be around a whole lot longer to see the destruction of the country I've loved.
14
Trump is following the autocrat's playbook to a T: attack the press, use propaganda outlets to spread lies and confusion, subvert the judiciary and ramp up hostilities with foreign adversaries -- nothing like a war to provide an excuse to suppress criticism and curtail civil liberties. I'm more fearful tonight than at any time since Trump's election.
41
Contagious. Poisonous. Corrupting. Good words all. Very fitting. Sadly societies both today and historically have shown low resistance paired with high vulnerability when encountering disease carriers like Donald Trump. Once the infection takes hold, recovery is a long, difficult road. I had hoped the United States would be different. Stronger. I was wrong.
96
Tyranny, lorded over by a minority of voters, always ends in violence. It's not an if, it's a when. The conservative billionaires who funded the hijacking of our democracy have overreached. Greed is blinding - after all, how much is enough? Too much is not enough. This will not end well for any of us.
45
Sitting at my desk I noticed my copy of Senator Robert Byrd's book "Losing America: Confronting A Reckless And Arrogant Presidency" from 2004. Seems he may have been a bit premature with that publication. Or at least wasted the title on a less deserving subject.
Our politics have certainly eroded since then, but I remind myself that after a disastrous Bush presidency came one of the brightest, most capable, respectable, and well intentioned Presidents this country has seen in a long time. He pulled us out of a financial crisis, restored our credibility on the world stage and inspired millions.
There is no reason why that can't happen again. This country can survive Donald Trump. Even two terms of his arrogance and recklessness and divisiveness will not be enough to wash all the decency out of us. Someone currently off the national radar will emerge with the same inspiring message and grace as President Obama. A true unifier that can start to put us back together again after the McConnells and Ryans have moved on.
44
@Michael Moon I doubt it this time. It has only been two years, the toxic has spread beyond clean up, all the way to county level, with deregulation of environmental concerns, educational concerns, health care concerns... The list is on and on... Unless we are the citizens of this great land wake up and get to the polls to vote all of bad actors out now. I am afraid it’s too late, base on the fact how quick the republican representatives and senators line up behind DJT!
7
@Michael Moon
I vote for Beto O’Rourke. Someone said Friday that if he doesn’t win in Texas, he’ll be showing up in Iowa.
2
Roger, I hope your colleague Bret Stephens reads this piece. His last op ed on being grateful for Trump was beyond lamentable.
All politicians should be heeding the message from Lisa Murkowski on the floor of the Senate this evening. She at least can sleep with a clear conscience.
69
Insidious. Contagious. Poisonous. Corrupting. Corrosive. Infectious.
No doubt the list could go on. Trump, McConnell, Ryan, Grassley, and now Kavanaugh are all of the above and more.
The most significant missing adjective is Hypocritical. For these and other Republicans who have decried “judicial activism,” they have just checkmated the rights and privileges of American citizenship.
They have, and will continue to, methodically strip the nation of protection for women, labor, immigrants, and anyone not fortunate or corrupt enough to be in the top 1%.
As a baby boomer who was raised on post WWII principles of hard work, meritocracy, fairness, anti-fascism, and eventually civil and equal rights, I could never have imagined that my children would be facing an America that not only disrespects, but actively disregards, those principles in favor of self-serving greed, willful ignorance and incompetence, and hatred for those not fortunate enough to be healthy, safe, female, rich, or white.
The “greatest generation” surely did not sacrifice their all for this.
85
Nostradamus predicted the end of the world in 2000. While the world did not end that was the first time that Republicans stole the presidency and the deterioration of the US began. Citizens United, the destruction of the planet, rampant corruption, wars that were started under false pretense, Russian interference in our elections - I could go on but you get what I am saying. Our country is dying and Conservatives are at the heart of the death of democracy. The Kavanaugh nomination and Trump's election are all corrosive forces that continue to erode the society I was raised in. Whether the 2018 elections are rigged or not, and there is every reason to believe they are, just Vote. It is all we have.
33
BravoYour words echo our feelings to a T.
This sham of a businessman, cruel and mendacious person is devaluing this country
that we love. Yesterday I said many of us suffer from PTTD. Post traumatic Trump disorder.
Thank you for your column and wise words.
31
Even if Trump had committed no other political or legal transgressions, his constant stream of provocative, lie and hate filled dialogue makes him unfit for his office. The same can be said of Kavanaugh's belligerent, partisan rants which make him unfit to sit on the Supreme Court. The damage from the constant ugly revision of what is normal cannot be over estimated.
40
@Diane B
You forgot to mention Mitch McConnell, who refused to even consider the Obama nomination of Merrick Garland and, in my opinion, started this part of a particularly ugly episode of American life. It was Mr. McConnell that originally politicized a Supreme Court nomination, even though now he accuses Democrats of the same.
Oh, and then there is Joe Manchin....
5
Societies sometimes do fall apart overnight. Donald Trump brings out the worst in people and he does it continually. He habitually excites crowds with truly viciously nasty words, denigrating people and expressing hateful statements. He repeats untruths just to play on people emotions. The members of Congress are terrified of criticizing him because his supporters love him either because of or despite his vitriol. He’s managed to drag the entire county into one stupid crisis caused by him after another. It’s like the death by a thousand cuts, the death of our liberal democracy.
31
From the moment the self-promoting young man-about-town in New York, already a millionaire from the largesse of his tax-cheat father, moved from Queens to Manhattan, he found gullible and fawning reporters to spread his phony story of the self-made business genius.
He found that power was delicious. Even more than living high, he enjoyed taking advantage of people and hurting them.
He soon learned that a braggart could tell the most outrageous lies and get away with it because reasoned rebuttals are no match for bombast. All he needed was a handful of loyal people around him to handle the boring detail work.
It was inevitable that politics provided the siren song which attracted this spoiled rich kid. After all, he had learned from his father that you could buy the vote of most politicians, so how hard could it be? The lure of a bigger and brighter spotlight was irresistible.
And so, the completely unprincipled and relentlessly ambitious Donald Trump was inflicted upon our nation.
Trump considers the support of high-ranking legislators and judges as a temporary thing. He wants to own them.
Until Donald Trump is thrown out of office, the idea of America will seem like a vague memory of decency.
162
@sdw
Sounds like a reasonable encapsulation of the rise of Trump.
2
Well said!
2
This is not a simple wake-up call, nor quite a call-to-arms,
but it is another striking example of Constitutional obsolescence,
a condition now clearly being weaponized by wealth,
in opposition to the American majority.
The world of our founding fathers, now nearly 250 years ago,
was almost another planet, another universe
another dimension.
A pure male-dominated society, clear voting restrictions
white, male, property owners...
Slavery considered and counted while living next door
to powerful native tribes, bribed by foreign interests
in an environment of emptiness prime for planting
but only semi-secured by your musket, sword or tomahawk.
Enlightened by an oil lamp of critical political concepts
while surrounded by almost absolute darkness...
They did well but nothing can exist over time without change.
Let the Republicans, the Corporate Kochs et al
call up their Constitutional convention.
Then we will truly test ourselves.
One way or another, things will be brought to that point.
Who, or what is a citizen? Your or a corporate illusion?
Why is it a legal political strategy to buy votes
in an atmosphere polluted by corporate wealth?
Why is Congressional representation so distorted by a Senate
that can not reflect true majority participation?
Why is it impossible for a clear American majority
to make the changes they want to their own government?
Jefferson fearfully awoke to "a firebell in the night"
but now it an explosion of alarm and warning.
13
75 years ago, in the era of dictators, without U.S. involvement, the Dark Ages would have returned. Now the U.S. is voluntarily sliding into the Dark Ages, but there is no free country remaining that is strong enough to turn the tide.
41
Everyone wants to blame the electoral college for this national disaster. It is the capping of the total number of members in the house of representatives that allows for the disproportionate representation in the electoral college . Having a fixed number of members in the house of representatives causes the unequal power of the vote between states with large populations and states with small populations. This is not constitutionally mandated and can be fixed without a constitutional crises. Why does no one address this?
55
Mr. Cohen writes "A spineless Republican Party folds into the Trump Party.", but this is not true. It is because the GOP had already become the home of strident, uncompromising partisanship that it endorsed Trump as its candidate for the Presidency. Trump, however vile and sullied he may be, is a symptom of something much more profound.
What is happening is that the demos, the people, have forgotten that THEY are the ones who have the power, and the responsibility that comes with this power, to govern. Their Representatives are mere tools. That these have succumbed to the lure of donor money and now execute their dnors' requests, is a failure of the people to act and to hold the Representatives accountable.
Democracy is an inherently flawed system, as it equates numerical strentgth with value, but it can be made to work. However, getting it to deliver the most benefit to the most for the longest period of time requires commitment and reflection and a willingness to forego narrow and/or short term gains for more later.
This part of the system has ceased functioning a very long time ago. The wind has been sown, and the storm is rising.
47
@Rudy Flameng As Winston Churchhill said: "Democracy is the worst form of government -- except for all the other ones." He also said; "The Americans always do the right thing -- after they have exhausted all the other possibilities."
1
Obama issued repeated calls for civility and civilized disagreements from the highest office in the land, and they had little effect. Trump is a symptom of a problem that predates him.
Democrats were willing to respond to his calls, and did. Republicans were on principle unwilling to respond to his calls, and did so (when they did) only with fakery, pretending to respect these values in order to gain support from those foolish enough to still believe in them.
Trump instituted a hostile takeover of the Republican Party, but the takeover succeeded only because the party already accepted and practiced his way of operating, and did not realize that it did not need to hide itself to succeed.
81
So much so that it was hard to make much distinction between Trump and Ted Cruz. They both stunk like last week’s fish kill. And it didn’t get any better looking down the GOP list of candidates. Lindsey Graham looked good in that crowd!
1
"Free societies do not die overnight. The growth of a climate of intellectual fear is one sign of their weakening. So are the development of a personality cult, the stripping of meaning from language and the spread of disorientation."
All happening now. Thank you Roger Cohen for such insightful analysis.
Trump plucked a two-bit judge whose main claim to fame were his outrageous readings of the Constitution in terms of executive power and accountability.
He made Kavanaugh into one of his "mini-me's" with coaching, strateguzing, the whole nine yards.
Not even sexual assault, judicial intemperance, and weeping kept him from victory in the Grassley-McConnell race to get him seated.
Has any other SCOTUS nominee been so protected? So symbiotic with the Executive branch.
You better believe Donald Trump will go after the press and other freedoms--the court has caught Trump fever; judicial independence is officially dead.
The "affair Kavanaugh" will stand as the historical marker of how fast we've fallen.
The midterms are only a month away. Approach them with the same zeal McGhan applied to push Kavanaugh over the top.
Protests don't stop the decline of nations--voting does.
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@ChristineMcM
That last sentence alone is sufficient to convey the message you bring. The powers that be could care less about “protests,” which have become ritualistic, feel-good activities for the self-righteous. What the powers that be fear are organizations that have a secretary, treasurer, and president—they fear organization, groups of people who get together for a common cause utilizing tried and true democratic means. The powers that be are well versed in the means for manipulating and de-fusing protest. The dominance of news cycles refers to just one example of that power to manipulate. Voting out the powers that be is an example of how authority operates in a democracy. We, the people, workers all, need to get to work.
14
As an expatriate American for the last fifteen years I have joined with the enormous world wide group of cultural refugees that have run for their lives.
Poverty and violence are not the only reasons citizens abandon their native countries. Another reason is to save your own soul before it is stolen by the disintegration of your country's mob rule.
Mob rule is not just rioting in the streets. It is also the unraveling of the institutions of government including the legislatures, courts, and executive leadership.
What we have seen the last few weeks in the Kavanaugh debacle is clear evidence of a country coming apart at the seams.
The relative stability of my adoptive country has allowed me to save my sanity and my soul.
Vive la France!
365
@michael kittle
I just wanted to say, as expat American in Germany, I agree and empathise 100%. I have other expat friends in the UK, Ireland, and Czech Republic who are equally dismayed with what I see as the accelerating decline symbolized and facilitated by Mr Trump. I offer as much moral support to my liberal friends in America as I can, have one measly absentee ballot, and can only hope for the best. Developments in Germany (and in the rest of Europe) are unsettling for me, but to return to the US is unthinkable for me. Maybe once the climate changes. Deutschland Deutschland !
14
@michael kittle - Yes, thanks to a promise made to my Swedish grandmother when I was just a child, a promise shown in a drawing that I made while sitting in her living room in Rumford RI and still have, I retired to Sweden in 1996. I have just filed a comment at another article quoting Salman Rushdie from today's Dagens Nyheter, an interview of him in New York this past week. "The USA is just one step away from fascism." And, if you have visited the USA recently you have lived a paradox, enjoyed your stay in certain respects, but found a falling-apart infrastructure with not even a decent bus to get you from A to B.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
@michael kittle,
When you and "the enormous world wide group of cultural refugees" ran - most, presumably, still American citizens and legally able to vote - is that all you did? Run, but never vote? Did you bother? Or did you all run, leaving the rest of us holding the bag?
I don't know. Maybe some of you DID vote, by absentee ballot. But most, I suspect, did not bother. And for those ex-pats who bemoan the pending disintegration of our American democracy who did NOT vote, know that you, too, are to blame.
2
Why not simply ignore the High Court under a Democratic president? It has never become completely clear to me how and why the High Court gets to have the last say on so many political decisions in the US. Does every law have to me OKed by them, or just the laws that the opposition party objects to?
7
@Elisabeth The courts (supposedly) run independently of the executive. But an appeal can be made by the parties in a lawsuit that may carry it to the ultimate court. That's what all the fuss is about. In the end, likely Trump's crime revelations will be adjudicated by the Supreme Court, and with Kavanaugh, it will be about how the president is too important to face trial for crimes. Kavanaugh is the only legal authority I've ever heard of who thinks Nixon should not have been vulnerable to courts because the president is "too important" and needs to focus on his job. Exactly what Trump wants.
87
I agree with another commenter. Enough lamenting about the way things are. Write about how to fix them so we can get behind a few good fixes and go to work. Just casting one vote every two years is not enough. Fundamental, structural change is needed.
60
@abigail49- It does seem like voting once every 2 years isn't enough to face down this meanness. Voting is slow and our pace is so fast now. Surely a computer program is possible to supply interim viewpoints from constituents to representatives, in other words, a structural change.
6
@abigail49 - Yes, and Bernie Sanders at least proposed structural change - a favorite of mine was his knowledge of renewable energy and campaign in Vermont to get people to use heat pumps instead of fossil fuel - but as Salman Rushdie says in an interview published today in my Swedish newspaper, DN, the USA is now one step away from fascism. The last thing a Donald Trump as fascist leader would do is carry out beneficial structural change.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
9
@Mary And why should only the wealthy be allowed to run for office? It takes a small fortune to campaign for political office today; most of us are not willing to risk that even if we had it.
Quite Shakespearean, our American tragedy. We contain the seeds of our own destruction when we get above ourselves.
That promise of dominion in Genesis has been taken to some really nasty places over the lifetime of humanity. This is one of them.
Evil - the real thing - is abroad in the land, encouraging vileness and violence and victim-blaming.
This article is some great writing. I just had to record this futile reaction to these polluted days. Too many people, like the frogs who wanted a king, are giving up their responsibility to be human and moral to an authoritarian who embodies almost all the seven deadly sins, with pride to the fore. Encouraging people to reach for the worst in themselves is having consequences on the street.
Hate crimes are on the rise, and our Republican Senators have plumbed the depths of the harm they've been given the power to execute.
There is a cloud over us, and the world is moving on without us, having hoped with Obama and despaired with Trump. This feels like hell on earth is well on the way. We're not rubble yet, like Syria, but by denying the common humanity of our fellows, we seek self-destruction.
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@Susan Anderson Beautifully written Susan. I don't really believe in evil as a "real" thing but I do believe in fear. The two are often confused. I believe those who voted for K are so afraid of what they see in the future (a loss of power, non-white majorities, women's equal role as leaders, the U.S. losing its place as a world leader, the demise of patriarchy, the end of parasitic capitalism) that they are willing to do anything to preserve their present sense of safety. Certainly one can't paint with too broad a brush, but you are right and well spoken. This morning I weep. Yet, tomorrow IS another day.
1
I believe it was Oscar Wilde who said, ”There is no evil. There is only stupidity.” Take a look at right wing voters in this country for proof of that statement.
4
A politicized Supreme court could swamp the executive branch if there was a serious presidential crisis going forward. The House and Senate deferring to the Supreme court, while ignoring the executive branch? Would not be surprised to see voters deciding that in some serious showdown with the executive branch during a crisis baiting exercise, where the public realizes they are themselves fed up in majority.
1
Roger is usually a BIT more balanced. It’s a shame that a respected pundit should so surrender to ideological beserkerdom that such ideologically intense cud-chewing ruminations are suffered to be aired so publicly.
He asserts that Trump “believes that judges should be agents of those who appoint them”, yet offers no evidence that such an extreme view indeed is the case. Berserkerdom should be defended by better reasoning, instead of caving to the temptation to become successful by offering talking-points to the hyper-liberal enbubbled so desirous of perches for their unreasoning hatred of anything that and anyone who disagrees with their own convictions.
The FBI could have had months to investigate Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations, and would have come up with precisely what they did in less than one week – the SEVENTH investigation of Brett Kavanaugh for high public office – which would have been that the charges were based on partial memories of an event claimed to have happened 36 years in the past also claimed to be witnessed by people with hazy, conflicting memories, and on hearsay, and which corroborated nothing. They would have had months if Dianne Feinstein had even shared Blasey Ford’s letter with Chuck Grassley and such a confidential investigation could be mounted. Who knows, if such a leisurely investigation had taken place, the fishing expedition could have unearthed hard evidence of PROVABLE crimes, such as excessive jaywalking.
…
12
…
Of course, that would have been counter-productive to Dianne Feinstein’s real intent, which was to compel a hideously divisive and emotional public spectacle at the twelfth hour to distract from the hours of testimony, public and private, that Kavanaugh endured to question him not on a 12-year jurist’s career but on the entirety of his 28-year legal career – testimony that was not found wanting by those who count in the majority, buttressed by reams of documentation that were more voluminous than that requested for any other nominee to this court. She invited the whirlwind to win a fight she had already lost on the merits and by the numbers. She created this unnecessary, emotional and dreadfully divisive civil war among our people for POLITICAL purposes.
On Saturday, a jurist with jurisprudential and even personal convictions that Roger despises likely will be confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Welcome to America. I guess, in the end, that the system worked, despite deadly serious attempts by Democrats to traduce it.
7
@Luettgen Attorney General Jeff Sessions. There's your evidence that Trump expects personal loyalty from people he appoints, or in the case of Kavanaugh, nominates. Every time Trump lambasts Sessions for recusing himself, he broadcasts to the American people that Justice is not blind but partial to Trump's whims.
Reiterating right wing talking points doesn't make them valid. It only lends credence to Cohen's theory about Trump's cult of personality.
164
@luettgen
Ah, more whataboutery.
The go-to Republican method of escaping responsibility through psychological projection.
Dianne Feinstein's timing is *NO* excuse for the Republicans defaulting on their responsibility to address Dr. Blasey Ford's allegations thoroughly and thoughtfully, which even the Republicans had to admit were credible.
Their inability to govern in a democracy was once again painfully laid bare. *They* are the party in power, not the Democrats. *They* have irretrievably politicized the Supreme Court confirmation process since before Merrick Garland was nominated, and their feeble attempts to blame Democrats for doing so are pitiful in their hypocrisy and cowardice.
Mr. Cohen is correct. Judge Kavanaugh and the Republicans, Lindsay Graham, and company, lowered themselves to Trump's gutter politics, sliming themselves, the Senate, and now, the Supreme Court, in the process.
Whatever the legitimate criticisms of how the Democrats handled themselves, and there are many, the Republicans can't weasel out of responsibility for their own actions, up to and including putting a judge on the Supreme Court who disqualified himself thoroughly and obviously by his own testimony.
That the American people, including those who support them, are daily betrayed by Donald Trump and the Republican Party, has never been more evident.
I haven’t been right since Trump won
This Illiterate oaf wise men shun,
Gets his way in the House,
Most Senators espouse,
A destructive blabbermouthed Hun.
Each day dominates the Press
Triggers a Beelzebubic mess,
Hapless head, hostile heart,
Of reason, no part,
A harbinger of deep distress.
145
@Larry Eisenberg
I learned many years ago when cutting my forensic teeth by debating Brits that you never admit a weakness.
As it happens, while my record of predictions was pretty good prior to 8 November 2016, it's been almost perfect since.
See? Even a beloved retired SF writer in his nineties can learn something valuable from a kid in his sixties.
3
@Richard Luettgen
No. Your vain (in both senses) and twisted interpretations are of no value to our treasure the wordspinner, whose efforts are always entertaining and sometimes inspired.
Even a stuck clock is right twice a day. And being correct about election results is not a virtue any more than it is a vice.
37
@Larry Eisenberg Yes, raw evil is causing a lot of distress. We are all suffering from low-level PTSD from the neverending stream of dangerous actions and appointments.
We are like battered spouses, stuck with our abuser.
85
What I admire most about the US is the Constitution has from time to time been amended to make its democracy stabler and stronger. (This is rare, I think; usually a newly established constitution is doomed to erode.) In view of this presidency the US seems to be experiencing a setback; certainly not the first one but a rather severe one such that there seems to be no common ground left between the two parties. If Kavanaugh loves the US he should decline the post for keeping room for negotiation.
38
We were asleep.
Our teachers in high school level told us about the grand accomplishment of a democracy from sea to sea, a constitutional democracy covering a multitude of people unlike any the world had known. Those of of us who bothered to study our national history and political system in college were in the slim minority, most others happy to have escaped the tiring stories of old times in favor of the rock n'roll, vibrating present.
As so we slept while our democracy got old and very worn around the edges. They mentioned gerrymandered House districts in our classes, but no one shouted that they were wrong, that they represented the theft of votes, using one party's votes to cancel out or dominate the other party, regardless of majority will. We were taught these were accepted practices. Don't worry.
Did anyone ever cry out that putting people in the Supreme Court for life was wrong? Did anyone ever tell us that this would enable a mean, determined, hostile political party and president to dominate decision making for generations?
And how about how presidents are "elected". If anyone was paying attention, more would have seen that the very purpose of the Electoral College was to reserve the ability to override the voters and to allow states, as entities, to have more power than flesh and blood citizens
Trump is a genuine, bone fide disaster, but the system we live under allowed this to happen. We can and must do better and we must change it so it never happens again
535
@Doug Terry
It's not the system, it's us. We let it fall into the hands of the corrupt and the self-serving, because, for whatever reason, we didn't demand better. We didn't do the work of citizenship to ensure that the system works as it should.
But that can be remedied. If we care enough about our democracy, about our freedom and our responsibility, we, the people, can save it.
4
@Doug Terry Or, if it does happen, it must be the choice of more than 46% of the voters.
@Teg Laer
The system: The Electoral College between us and the decision means that the votes of rural states count much more than heavily populated ones.
The system: The EC discourages people with different views from turning out, Republicans in California, for example, Democrats in Texas, Wyoming, etc. If the total popular vote mattered, the incentive to vote in opposing party states would be greatly increased.
The EC discourages the formation of a third or fourth party, which could have a moderating effect on the traditional two party system.
Gerrymandering of House districts represents direct vote stealing. People who support party A are herded into one district, diluting the impact of their votes. That encourages extremism because a candidate has to appeal to a smaller base (ideologically) and only worry about be "primaried" by someone more extreme.
Lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court made the mess of the Kavanaugh nomination because they incentivize packing the Court ideologically. If each president were limited in the number to be nominated, the pressure to nominate someone sympathetic might increase, but the reward would be much smaller
Unlimited money to outside, third party groups encourages wild attacks on office holders. Lobbying money to support candidates means members of Congress are paid "consultants" to corporate/wealth power.
The Democrats consistently get more votes, overall, than Republicans but Republicans have gamed the system to hold power.
You're right, Mr. Cohen. The whole Kavanaugh process has been ultimately a way of putting this country's commitment to the truth to the test. And we failed that test spectacularly.
215
@jdp. Nope. The test ain’t over yet. A resigned attitude is not a healthy attitude.
1
Reflecting on events in the US, I found it most comforting and revealing that here in Australia trust in our pre-eminent Court, our High Court, is 88% - it is ranked as our most trusted national institution. For the US, trust in your Supreme Court is 37%.
160
@Cass Phoenix
Dutton, Abbott et al would lead us lower in trust and comfort if given the chance. Hopefully, we are not looking at Australia's future
2
We must vote out the Republicans and take back the majorities in both US chambers.
And the first thing the new D majority should pass is election reforms to guarantee every voter a paper ballot and to require risk-limiting-audits of the vote count every time.
346
@Election Inspector. Yes, and they had better hope that the right wing S.C. doesn’t decide that such a law is unConstitutional.
2
@Election Inspector Next, let's mandate publicly funded elections. And limit the amount of money any one candidate can spend. Maybe that wold put an end to the odious and vicious television ads that flood the airwaves these days. No more monied interests pulling the strings of candidates and office holders.
1
Spot on Cohen!
Now, in the most crucial and urgent way, America needs to move from its long developing political dysfunction and despair to a genuine political reformation.
Real solutions please. Enough of lamenting over our bad choices and democratic delinquency.
91
Two years. That's all, just two years. Now do you people out there who think we are just having a phase beginning to realize how serious this Trump sickness is? Now are you beginning to realize how the Third Reich gained power over one of the most highly cultured and technologically advanced nations in Europe? Now do you realize how fragile a democratic republic is?
The damage Trump is doing to our nation may take decades to correct. We may never fully recover. He is destroying the very institutions that allow our republic operate. With the complete acquiescence of the Republican party, he is demolishing the separation of powers provided by our three branches of government. There is only one branch now, Trump.
And the mobs cheer! Notice the choice of words. Mobs. Not crowds, not citizens, not supporters. Mobs.
We are teetering on mob rule. Trump has harnessed the power of the mob to control the Republican party. He has skillfully used their rage, to subjugate the GOP. Their rage is based upon ignorance, white power, ultra nationalism, fear and racism. All fed a steady diet of lies from Fox News.
Mobs cannot be reasoned with. Compromise is not an option. They have to be taken out of power and that means vote them out. In this environment, support for any Republican is support for the demagog Trump.
What are our choices?
Vote like crazy to regain power.
Don't vote and lose your freedoms.
This ends up in the streets.
Suggest voting.
966
@Bruce Rozenblit Campaign-finance reform is the answer. Politicians beholden to undisclosed ("dark"), multimillion-dollar campaign contributions become team players for their donors, not the public.
23
@Bruce Rozenblit
I completely agree with you. I've said since he became the GOP candidate, this man is far more dangerous than we are treating him. His followers, too, present a real threat even to themselves, mindlessly throwing themselves over cliffs whenever DT says "jump" - this year's election is the one that will decide our future...and if we even get an election in 2020.
6
@Bruce Rozenblit - Why do you think they work day and night to desenfranchise voters? Be very afraid.
3
Un-American. It seems as if that hyphenated word is a pretty good way to describe the actions that have been initiated and implemented by those holding the highest offices in the land. To some, the consequences of this behavior are dire and guaranteed to negatively impact all of us for generations to come. To others, this radical change was long overdue and a cause for celebration. It also seems that there's no longer a middle ground between those two divergent opinions and therein lies the problem since neither side is willing to cede its points of view.
What's needed now for this country is true leadership that's based upon all Americans moving forward together instead of the current divide and conquer strategy designed to pull us further apart.
Vote.
32
@Guido Malsh
wouldn't you say that the 'un american' label is used so often about so many things that it's more likely to just be 'american'?
2
We all grew up wondering how societies could lean toward and support mean, dictatorial leaders. So I think now we know, even while we do not understand why people will suspend their loathing of depravity while they nurse what they think is 'strength'.
My guess is that the reptilian components of our neural systems take it in as some sort of nutrient that must be missing, something that Reason and Affection supply. I hope smarter people figure this out.
Meanwhile, Mr. Cohen has hit the nail squarely in describing both Trump and his new acolyte. If there has been any good and useful in this over the last two weeks, it is the unambiguous uncovering of the Clarence Thomas in Brett Kavanaugh.
167
@Feldman:
Yes, smarter people have figured it out. The problem is our emotional impulses to avoid fear. Trump makes people afraid. He makes his "base" afraid of the truth and reality - their inner hidden fear that they are the "losers", the downtrodden who will never rise. He makes the rest afraid of him.
Trump is a narcissist. It has little to do with narcissistic self-love, and everything to do with lack of empathy and lack of emotional honesty. Trump is pathological. He is severely mentally ill. The type that infects serial killers - they appear "normal" on the outside but inside they hate others.
The other part of this toxic equation is, the republican GOP does not care - they are using this ill Trump to entrench themselves as the only party to forever rule (not governs) America. Both sides - Trump and the GOP - want to be in power forever.
It is a problem driven by mental illness. Smarter people have figured it out. Many psychologists from elite academic research institutions (Harvard, et al) had in 2016 published articles and letters to editors about this threat... before "the election".
Most voters in 2016 ignored their dire warnings.
Please voters:
Don't ignore this again.
VOTE BLUE on NOV 6, 2018.
Our democracy rests upon your vote!
7
@Feldman
Smarter people HAVE figured this out. But implementing a fix is the issue.. Social media is part of the problem and contributes to the whipping up of tribalism.
One of the things those of us who are awake can do is raise our consciousness. As Jung said, you don’t become enlightened by focusing on the light. You become enlightened by making your darkness conscious.
I believe this is where we are. I think there’s going to be a Blue tidal wave in November.
4
As the current minority-elected “President” is known for relying on his intuition (ie. whim), one can wonder if the recent test of the presidential alert system triggered a new idea in him.
Perhaps now that chaos - the fall of faith in our democratic institutions and our democracy itself which they uphold and protect (a chaos of his instigation and avid nurturing) threatens, it may be time for him to declare a national state of emergency and call for additional presidential authority. If he does it on a Friday, as you note, people won’t remember and will gladly accept it as it slips into Marshall law on Monday - as we will need a powerful leader to defeat the dangers of (his) chaos. On November 9, 2016 I was betting it would take him only a year, but killing democracy seems to be taking him a bit longer.
35
Presidential alert system will allow Trump to instantly mobilize his base.
4
Mr. Cohen is right to worry and he's right to say what matters about the Kavanaugh hearings is not any particular guilt or innocence, it's the corruption of Kavanaugh's testimony and attitude. One correction, though. The Republican party is not spineless. It's getting through Trump what it's been working towards for decades: the gift of our economy, wealth, and government to a small coterie of billionaires and near-billionaires and their hangers-on.
620
@Thomas Zaslavsky
Sad to say this rings true. Unlike last century there is no easy geographical/economic way to "carve up the pie". It is too bad that bi-partisan (well mostly Democratic) efforts solved the last financial crisis (thank-you again President Obama). I had hoped the Republicans would have had to bear their own responsibilities. They would be gone and rightly dismissed.
Unless people wise up (Senator Collins' vote says unlikely) there is total mayhem ahead. I am going to adjust my portfolio accordingly
75
@Fr. Bill. And so am I!
Well expressed Mr. Cohen. I appreciate the perspective of an acute observer who has spent much of his life in other countries.
This is how it goes in economic transitions, the popular reaction to change is exploited by powerful forces with malevolent purpose.
A Canadian recommended a non-fiction book aptly titled "In the Garden of Beasts", by Erik Larson. It describes the experience of US Ambassador to Germany, William E Dodd, in the early years of the Nazi rise to power. He saw the Nazi government all too clearly, but couldn't break through the isolationist US State Dept.
Powerful interests are now on the brink of a huge victory in the SCOTUS, cheered on wildly by a part of America, some of whom will prosper and others who will further suffer.
But if the seeds of destruction are borne of success, then the reluctance of the SCOTUS to tackle gerrymandering may be the key to the destruction of the GOP in 2020.
But only if we vote, starting in November, 2018.
363
@Look Ahead. I just hope you are right about November. I am feeling pretty darn discouraged at this point.
169
@Look Ahead
William Shirer's Berlin Diary also documented the rise of Hitler and Nazism. He tried to communicate his fears to the editors at the NY Times; they rejected his reports. There were intelligent observers at the time; Churchill was one of the best of them, and he failed to rouse Parliament until Hitler had taken the Continent, and the Luftwaffe was bombing London and Coventry. FDR did not ignore it; he and Churchill communicated with each other; he created Lend Lease to keep England alive. However, FDR could not declare war on the Axis until we were attacked by Japan. What will it take to recognize that Trump's close friendship with an adversary, Putin, is a matter of money owed to Russian financiers? Will Mueller be given enough time to gather evidence, seat a Grand Jury and get a FISA warrant to examine the records of Deutsche Bank. The money trail was documented by a New York Magazine reporter over one year ago. It exists. And how much do Trump's business interests in Saudi Arabia dictate his eagerness to destroy Obama's 10 yr. Agreement with Iran regarding weapons grade plutonium? This is serious; corruption in the Roman Senate brought Rome down before the Visigoths entered the City. Corruption in our Congress can bring us down to a banana republic level. Plutocrats already have more power in the WH than we have. Trump's rallies are the opening act to mob rule dictated by a demagogue.
7