Your best, once again, Ms. Dowd! Thank you!
23
Ms. Dowd,
A column on puppet-master Mitch McConnell would be most appreciated.
Thank you.
54
Dowd, Friedman, Bruni are all basically writing the same column these days—it starts out as a rebuke to Trump and then inexplicably ends up blaming liberal Dems. Maybe try something slightly different in the coming weeks, especially when all these warnings come with no evidence whatsoever.
56
Don’t you know that Lincoln’s Second Inaugural was Fake News?
11
Your finest column ever. Thank you.
10
Thank you Maurine Down and the and the New York Times. You have said it all. Lincoln, of course, wasn't a perfect human being, but he grew in office and his soul was deeply troubled by the war and the division in the country. What a contrast to our current White House occupant.
16
Everyone has a story or theory or opinion on Trump. The truth is that he is a mental case who is declining very quickly. He has severe mental illness and is a sociopath beyond help. He's extremely childish and only getting worse. We gave him the key's and the codes. Time we evict him. He is not going to get any better. This is real.
58
"I believe that what this president has done to our culture, to our civic discourse ... you cannot unring these bells and you cannot unsay what he has said, and you cannot change that he has now in a very short time made it seem normal for schoolboy taunts and obvious lies to be spun out in a constant stream. I think this will do more lasting damage than Richard Nixon's surreptitious burglaries did." (George Will, 12July2019) And that was before Mr. Trump's obvious lie about trying to stop the "Send Her Back" chant.
30
it is rare to see the usage of 'discombobulating' in this context. The Lyin' Trump's base is not rattled about any of his innuendos. in the end, it depends on the silent majority and a strong/evolving democrat to stand up to the lyin' Trump. He is a disgrace to the presidency and hate to refer him as president.
26
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton took the most prosperous nation in Africa, Libya, and turned it into a failed state. The democrats are really no better than Trump.
10
JFK - anyone?
He's kind of absent from the lists of past Presidents offered up here.
4
"soiling his life". His life was fetid and soiled long before he started soiling the rest of us. And how lefty and "hyper liberal" was FDR when he and the Democrats rescued US from the slime, crookedness and incompetence of Harding, Coolidge and Hoover. Maybe we have to marinate a few more years in the sewer, with many more hundred degree days every summer. Maybe we need a few race riots like we had in the sixties. Maybe we need to realize that we are not "more equal" on Earth's "Animal Farm". And maybe, just maybe, after Trump has finished alienating everyone except the Saudis and the North Koreans and the Russians, we'll need the "kindness of strangers" to rescue us, including even the woeful Trump Republicans. And a Democrat Lincoln who can finally emancipate US.
21
Where were all you pundits when this horror show of a man was running for president? Cable show hosts ignored his cruelty and his crudeness. The press ignored his name calling. Many laughed thinking he'd never get in office and ignored what they saw happening right in front of them. Now we're all reaping the misery that you all helped to create.
62
A large majority of Americans now know what we are dealing with: Trump is a bigot, a liar, a crook -- he is a con man.
The 2020 election will come down to a choice between an economy that is humming along pretty well and a president who has a sociopathic character disorder.
America is going to have to choose. And considering what has been happening at Trump rallies, I am worried.
36
This is the umpteenth column about how Trump is a race-baiting dumpster fire of a president. We all get it. (Or at least the ones that are capable of getting it.) It's journalistic laziness at this point.
However, the question continues to be: How did we get here? My theory is that Trump used "The Apprentice" as a vehicle to destroy the brains of about 40% of the country, largely in the US South. This is proven because they apparently believe that:
1. Fighting a civil war to continue slavery was a right and just cause and God was on their side (even though they lost),
2. White skin somehow imbues them with uncommon intelligence and makes them God's favorite, even though he created all creatures on Earth and not just them, and
3. Every single thing that Trump or right-wing mouth breathers on Fox says must be true, and every single thing a Democrat says must be false.
Once accepting these statements as given, let's move on and focus on what the rest of us need to do to elect someone from the rest of our nation who:
A. Thinks Lincoln was pretty much right on that Civil War stuff,
B. Believes there are such things called "facts", "ethics" and "right and wrong", and
C. Does not have more guns than books in their house.
More columns on this "new leadership needed" topic would be appreciated. No more are necessary on the Very Stable (and Very Racist) Genius.
37
With all that hate and cheeseburger in his heart, it’s a wonder he has the strength to form mostly complete sentences.
12
Nation Splitter Versus Hope Lifter! Yes, we miss "the audacity of hope" and "change you can believe in." Instead, we have the arrogance of a dope" and "crimes you can deceive with."
12
To those who still worship at the altar of the confederacy I would like to say this: The south engaged in treason against the Nation; they did so to further the system of slavery, of the ownership of other human beings; and they lost.
Robert E Lee should have been hanged as soon as he surrendered. Same with Davis and every one of the traitors.
But they weren't and the mythology of the 'Northern war of aggression' continues to this day. And so does the Civil War.
The republican party has not believed in, or acted for, democracy for a long, long time. It is time for We the People to show them the ash heap of history and get on with the business of governing into the future.
29
Well, they killed the hero; this one they'll probably give the Nobel Peace Prize.
(Sigh) -- Snoopy quote
5
This needs to be read by or to his base.
6
All these comments make me so mad. You've all ruined my hope for an enjoyable trip to Washington. One that I had planned for this September with my Niece and Nephew. But now I don't even no who was good and who was bad anymore. You all seem so smart to me. I'm such a fool.
Have no fear though, I won't bother to vote anymore. I'm not worthy.
1
It isn’t rocket science. Democrats need to denounce his racism with short, sharp rebukes and then pivot immediately to the issues that won the midterms - better jobs and better healthcare. If all we do is talk about how vile he is then he’s going to win again.
26
What is it going to take for that totally scary rally filled with Trump's radicalized base to come to their senses and realize that Trump is NOT their savior, he is just a blowhard who is awfully good at getting angry masses to chant. What HAS he accomplished in terms of lowering their taxes, making health care cheaper, making college affordable, keeping their local environments free of cancer causing chemicals or bringing jobs to their communities?
If ANY of them truly believed in God, the Bible and Jesus as they say they do, they would see that the lying, adulterous, cruel man who IS Trump has nothing to offer them at all.
25
Most thinking people knew that Trump was going to be horrible. It was always a question of just how horrible, and he's showing us every day. However, the complicity and hypocrisy of the Republican Party has been something I never could have imagined.
36
"While it is awful to contemplate, this trade-off of our national ideals for strong stock returns and more millions for billionaires could be working."
C'mon, Mo, this is THE American way.
9
Can we get off this merry-go-round of talking about how awful Trump is and get onto learning more about people who might change the spirit of the country for the better?
15
Although she is under attack from all sides, Speaker Pelosi continues to do her job. She has not impeded any investigation into Trump’s misdeeds, in fact she had encouraged them. When the facts are clear, the Dems will press for impeachment. She also pushes back on the fringes of her party ie, the Squad.
If the Senate Majority Leader did either one of those things, the narcissist in Chief would be a goner. Republicans have ceded all claim to being moral or being conservative. They seek totalitarian rule by one of the most damaging and damaged people on the planet. No BOTH SIDES about it.
14
Maybe Trump needs to be reminded what happened to the last civil war president. At the very least he deserves a trip to the woodshed for a good whupping.
8
The ultra-left is now enjoying the blowback from its own identity politics, its insistence that only membership in the right group, belief in the correct moral principles counts.
The practitioners of identity politics are now shocked! shocked! that those they have labelled as corrupt, old, bigoted, obsolete have fought back. Having been herded into reviled groups, they have sensed, correctly, that the goal of the progressives is not justice, but revenge. Given the history of class warfare in the past century, they may be forgiven for sensing that progressives pose an existential threat, at the least to their reviled "way of life."
Any wonder that Trump is seen, despite his myriad personal failings, as the last firebreak against the woke future?
14
Lincoln wasn't the saint he's made out to be when it is said he wanted to bring the races together. "My first impulse," he said in 1854, "would be to free all the slaves, and send them to Liberia."
Send them back, indeed.
Although he did go on to say that the idea of sending them back to Africa failed to be practical as a matter of logistics, do it never turned into policy.
I'm all for pointing out the intolerable racism of Mr. Trump. He surely is a national disgrace, but let's not built up myths about those who are not Mr. Trump. Mr. Lincoln was no integrationist, and he didn't really want to bring the races together. But he certainly was no Mr. Trump.
7
What is on display here in these comments is the death spiral of any chance we have to undo the catastrophe that befell the nation in November 2016, a hope wedded to gritty determination some of us have sustained since the morning after.
With shrill certitude those who advocate maximalist leftist positions with defiant disregard for political consequence dismiss voices of reason and experience as fatally compromised "talking points" from "the pundit class".
These self-indulgent maximalists are mesmerized by solipsistic certitude that loud insistence on what in modern America are still fringe positions will somehow bring victory in a national election. They aspire to do in Democratic primaries what the lunatic right has always done in Republican primaries: nominate a polarizing candidate in favor of one who has a prayer of appealing to a national electorate.
They glibly gloss over this inconvenient reality: that when a national electorate has to choose between a polarizing Democrat and a polarizing Republican, the latter inevitably prevails. That is what it means to be a center-right country, which the US still is in the 21st Century (if anything, with an accelerating rightward bias).
To compound their destructiveness, the Screaming Furies of the maximalist left abandon the fight against the radical right the moment it becomes clear the emergent candidate is not among those they favored, and drop out, thereby sealing the defeat of our side.
Ignorance too springs eternal.
4
Mueller will only be testifying for a few hours, so it is crucial that the available time not be squandered by grandstanding members of the Committee asking boring and inane questions.
Here are the essential questions that Mueller must be pressed to answer regardless of his probable reluctance to do so:
What did his investigators uncover about Trump’s tax cheating?
Was it trivial or flagrant?
What happened in the Moscow hotel room?
What is the story about his hair and orange color?
The bone spurs? Were they fake or real?
His relationship with the Deutsche Bank. Why were there no limits to his borrowing or his failure to repay them?
His visits to the dressing rooms of teenage beauty contestants.
What did Mueller’s people find out about it?
Violations of the Mann Act. When and where did they occur?
What is it that Putin has on him that the American people would like to know?
His non-stop lying and shaky mental condition. What do secret government studies and research reveal about it?
What are his true feelings about abortion and dark-skinned people as revealed by the investigation?
How rich is he really?
There’s a lot more, but these will do until we get to the impeachment trial.
8
Politics in the U. S. is a public relations/advertising game. Period!
It defies logic that the Democratic party constantly fails to get that!
The U.S. is awash with top-notch advertising geniuses in New York and Los Angeles.
Many of them would work for free to expose the fact that the Republican's only plan is to divide/conquer and spread social and religious unrest among the voters.
The Democratic Public Relations/Advertising machine should concurrently be selling Democratic progressive policies in pithy few syllable phrases that will grab voter's attention and will help solve America's ills. Most voters vote from the gut not from the head. "Give it to us in one sentence."
Let's get the Democratic PR machine cranked-up now!
8
Hyper-liberal? For God’s sake, most other industrialized nations have socialized medicine. Even our Medicare has large holes in it to accommodate the health insurance industry. And, I would guess that most of those other countries have decent pensions for seniors, as opposed to the pittance that our Social Security doles out. Sheesh! Maureen, I used to think you were a liberal.
17
Let's not be fooled by the crime boss in the White House. There were many empty seats at his North Carolina rally. Only about 8,000 attended. Obama always got at least 20,000 at his rallies. Another four years of this con man is not inevitable, as Ms. Dowd seems to imply. He does not have the nation's support and will be beaten in 2020. Democrats just have to support, rally and vote for their candidates as they did in 2018.
10
Will we ever reconcile the sins of the Virginia Company?
2
Kamala has his number. He is President Distraction. While he has us discussing this and that, watch what he is doing. Foxes are guarding the hen house...EPA, Agriculture et al. 14 Cabinet members have been dismissed one way or the other. Many agencies are run by Acting...rather than Senate confirmed persons making it easier than ever to control them. Children in cages deflects from all the lawsuits he is named in and his association with Epstein...good grief, he appointed Acosta to head up Labor which has responsibilities for child trafficking. Start following the money instead of the tweets. Ask what he is hiding and go find out what it is and let the law work for us once again.
9
Trump will not be elected to a second term. His first term has saddled him with a bad record of promises made and then broken, and he has single-handedly made the world a much more dangerous place.
Whoever the eventual Democratic candidate is should be able to learn a lot about what not to do by studying Hillary's poorly conceived and run campaign of 2006. And that candidate will be able to launch attack after attack after attack on both Trump's broken promises and his actual record.
3
The President is clearly an easy target which is used by the people who support him as cover for their own narrow minded response to life.
They are frightened by life which, as their ancestors knew, is a struggle heightened by segregation which was then appliued to whoever was made to appear as the enemy.
Not much has changed. Men still use force to rule whether on the streets or in the halls of Congress.
It isn't coincidence the chants of "lock her up" and "send them back" refer to only women.
Mr Trump is a true American icon.
9
Abe Lincoln also suspended habius corpus, had journalists who criticized him arrested, and failed to avert catastrophe with diplomacy, which is what a true statesman would have achieved. Lincoln was a fraud.
5
@CJ
Desperate times call for desperate measures, Lincoln did all those things, but you seem to have forgotten just one "little" item: Lincoln ended the scourge of slavery and saved the Republic. He was the greatest of all Americans. It is Lincoln who judges you, not the other way around.
28
I think we need to realize that a large portion of his base, not the wealthy Republicans, but the MAGA hat wearing rally attendees don't see Trump as governing. They see him as entertainment. This is a group of people who are really bereft of hope. The modern world passed them by, the look at the Main Street of their towns and see empty stores. They see factories and mills closed. Just in NY look at towns like Cairo where people pass by on their way to Windham or Hunter in the winter, or the where the paper mills were in the Adirondacks or the factories of the Mohawk Valley. These are all deeply RED by the way. I've lived in these areas for the last 40 years and the people here are angry, disaffected and mostly unable to see any future where it gets better. They look to downstate or even Albany with envy and many times pure hate. Trump is their avatar. He breaks things, he stirs things up, he infuriates the people that they hate and envy. The attraction of Trumpism isn't about governing its simply about watching the world fall apart. It's driven by people who can see any reason not to since they don't see their world getting better anyway. It seems to be a generalization of the notion that evolved where people stopped looking at Union contracts and benefits as something to strive for, but saw instead people who had things they didn't deserve. Trump supporters don't want to emulate, they want to destroy.
47
Beautifully written column, Ms. Dowd, and also telling the sad truth about the time we're living in.
If the USA survives Trump, McConnell, the Republican Party leadership, the Koch brothers and other billionaires/millionaires trying to make this a government of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich, historians will surely look back at the Trump presidency as perhaps the greatest threat (besides the Civil War itself, and near nuclear annihilation over missiles in Cuba) our country has ever faced.
But the good news is that we will have come through it so that historians do have the chance to document this terrible, terrible time. And, hopefully, the Congress and President who come after Trump will at least attempt to make sure this can't happen again. (It will probably take a Constitutional amendment. What exactly the precise nature of that would be in order to Trump-proof the presidency and McConnell-proof the Senate, I'll leave to constitutional lawyers. And as for getting the states to pass it...well, maybe I'm dreaming.)
This country has so much potential to do so much good both at home and abroad. If we are to live up to that potential, it has to start with the large majority of Americans acting on "the better angels of [their] natures."
Can we do that? Yes, we can. Will we do it? November, 2020 will tell.
16
I think all sides of this equation know that a price is about to be paid for our willingness to set aside long held idealized moral calculations, but very few dare to contemplate the true nature or value of the price.
11
The civil war is still going on. Gerrymandering and the census low count are the modern day 3/5’s rule, counting some people as less than one man one vote to maintain a minority as the majority.
Lincoln seems to say that both north and south bear guilt for the offense of slavery, but that "every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword" and that this is just. He calls for peace and non judgementalness but I think he lays the blame there squarely on the south when he says the sword pays for the lash.
And what about us nowadays? White flight and NIMBY responses to fair housing show the modern day offense is on both sides of this issue. Kennedy said it was a problem as old as the scripture. Do we need a constitutional convention and a new amendment? We could start by getting rid of the electoral college, which also skews the strength of some people’s votes. What about the bicameral legislature? The senate skews the voting power too, and was put in there to protect the slave states. Now you’re talking about real fundamental change. I don’t think we’re up to it though. Just more years of social pathology as I live out the rest of my lifetime in dismay. Somebody please, cheer me up!
17
I love nearly everything Dowd said in this column. But, I think she is buying into the Republican line when she says the squad is far left. I don't think supporting the creation of green jobs, a $15 minimum wage, fighting against the treatment of black and brown people at the border and throughout the country, and a revamping of our healthcare system to more closely approximate those found throughout Europe is so radical. Surely more liberal than many in the Democratic Party but not out of pace with what a great many in the nation think. The center of the Democratic Party has moved to the right over the years so this is more of a course correction, a return to the spirit that animated us in the decades up to Clinton when the crime bill was passed and Biden fought against busing. Liberal was a dirty word for a long time and these young women are bringing it back to where it needs to be: the forefront of a new, rejuvenated party.
41
I posted this comment earlier in the Post:
In trying to understand our fellow Americans who voted for and continue to support Trump keep in mind that Republican politicians and Republican voters support him for different reasons. The former to stay in power. The latter for the most part are not critical thinkers when it comes to politics. They possess a "Bumper Sticker" mentality. They are anti-abortion and will vote for anyone who will appoint conservative judges. They are Anglo-Saxon "christian" and churchgoers. They are "patriotic" in a superficial manner and highly motivated by fealty to the flag. They live by faith more than adherence to truth. Practically all of the people I associate with and many of my immediate family voted for Trump. They are not bad people. How do we deal with them? Make them irrelevant by refusing to discuss politics or religion with them. We need to concentrate on those people we can influence by registering them to vote and encouraging them to vote. Argument never changes minds.
23
@dbl06
Some political scientists did studies of voters in the 1950s. They found that there are, essentially, three groups: "elites," who keep up with political issues and events; "true believers," who have a strong feeling about one or two issues and don't care about anything else; and "independents," who don't keep up with politics or issues and believe that it is largely irrelevant to their lives.
I don't think we've changed much since the 1950s, in this regard.
8
Lincoln knew better than us that democracy is a rare and sometimes fragile form for human governance. We have enjoyed the fruits of American preeminence our entire lives and seem to take them for granted. The government is meant to function 'of the people, for the people and by the people' to quote number 16. Trump expects to be able to run things his way. It is the responsibility of the citizens of a democracy to be well informed and discerning, we seem to be treating it as a TV show instead of with the duty that it requires. One faction is desperate to take us back to our past and the other is pushing to move forward and define the path. It seems we are engaged in a great culture war to determine if our democracy can long endure.
10
The difference between the rail splitter and the hate spitter is that the rail splitter had love, understanding an compassion. The hate spitter is minus all of those things.
30
"It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces"
It is strange, but we overlook it to bewail the evil clown's antics.
Trump is merely the curtain hiding the billionaire and corporate wizards now more powerful than our government. The NRA controls Congress where guns are concerned. The Justice Department may have gotten $5 billion out of Facebook, but the agreement lets Facebook right on doing what it is doing. The coal and oil industry is dismantling the EPA. Big Pharma has legally murdered, for profit, 400,000 Americans via opioids over the past couple of decades. Who holds the real power here? Who is doing the wringing?
Look behind the curtain, folks. Please.
44
@The Poet McTeagle And the slavery itself is still going on today, just out of sight. The small percentage of people who profit from the stock market are profiting from slave labor in the countries that make most of our consumer products. A vast number of American workers lost well-paying jobs over the last four decades as industry migrated to the places where the workers got paid next to nothing and where there are no child labor or workplace safety laws in place.
6
I’m with you. I’ve said from the beginning Trump is a sideshow.
2
"Lincoln could have prevented the Civil War with an easy compromise"
Like just letting slavery spread. Lincoln reasoned, "A house divided cannot stand." Slavery was a stain on the nation.
14
Trumps motive-force, his gasoline, his electricity is hatred. But his destination is the bank, for himself, his family, his clients, and his class . . . follow the money-train.
24
If what Trump says and does is not wrong-well then nothing is wrong and it is a free for all.
17
Inciting violence is a disgusting, questionable strategy. Polarization is as well and by inflaming his supporters at his rallies, Trump is playing a very dangerous game.
If one of these elected representatives is harmed by an act of violence, which is a distinct possibility, what may appear to be a winning strategy now will disintegrate and purring cynics like majority leader McConnell will finally have to face the music. Be hard to rationalize that even for the party of race, hate and fear.
6
Interesting to see how many of the Trump supporters on this thread are disappointed the South didn't win the Civil War. I drew that inference long ago.
The GOP now consists of Confederate revanchists, kleptocrats and dupes. The dupes are evangelicals who believe that Trump is doing the Lord's work with his policy on abortion and Israel.
It is curious that a man as publicly proud of his corruption (recall Access Hollywood and his remarks about paying taxes), contempt for law and the Constitution, and continuous outrageous lies would be chosen by God to do his work. It is problematic that a follower of Christ would have created the child abuse on the border. But so far, realization of Trump's obvious hypocrisy has not penetrated the evangelical movement. Perhaps because many of its leaders are hypocritical worshippers of Mammon. As is Trump.
As for those commentators who attempt to draw a false equivalency between early Lincoln and contemporaneous Trump, they ignore 150 years of intervening history and well as revealing their complete absence of mortal discernment. All men are flawed; few irrepentently relish the depth of their corruption and absence of character in the manner of Donald Trump.
The GOP is now Trump; Trump is the GOP. They must take all of him, not cherrypick. Four GOP Congress members have had the courage to state the obvious racist character of his remarks in a milk toast resolution; the rest are passing by on the other side.
Jesus wept.
26
Trump's rallies have lost the buzziness of 2016 and are slipping to the level of casino cover bands and semipro pro wrestling.
21
Stop reporting Trump's tweets.
It's comic book governance.
14
No, his Tweets are dangerous...nothing close to comic book status!
3
Thanks for the tonic reminder of our number Sixteen's ineffable words, which we need more than ever to tide us over and past this divisive time, so exacerbated by the current WH occupant.
3
In all the analysis of the abhorrent reaction to Rep Omar what is lacking is that it is a reaction. The Congresswoman’s entire message and persona during her tenure appears to have been designed to incite racial and cultural discord. Right or wrong, we should not be surprised that she and “the squad” have succeeded. It is easy to heap blame on this vulgar President and his followers but the radical leftist message of hatred that Speaker Pelosi does not seem to be able to dampen is equally to blame.
6
More time with Trump will bring more suffering. Thankfully we have term limits. The mental lynching of this country is deplorable. It is going to come crashing down. One cannot live a fantasy of denial and expect not to be blasted by reality. There are many levels of reality that are growing into a powerful storm front. They will wash Trump and McConnell and their ilk away like Hurricane Katrina. The only question is will there be much in the way of life rafts for the rest of us? Trump and his cult lemmings are headed for the cliff.
10
You alone were the medium for the disrespectful comments Pelosi made about the Squad. Time for you to give Pelosi the reaming she and the other Democrats deserve. No action on subpoena scofflaws. Dithering for months after Barr's seditious recast of the Mueller report. No movement forward on any contempt of congress charges for all the stonewalling and lying that Trump rains down on the peoples' representatives. And she's sitting eating lunch with you throwing shade on the young peoples' green agenda? She is literally fiddling while Rome burns and you are her messenger.
14
Purejuice, terrific memory and clarity of thought in your comment. Thanks.
5
It's touching to read Ms. Dowd tout the humanity of Lincoln but if he were alive today there is no doubt that democrats would label him a racist. We've all heard the vile, racist words and policy proposals emoted by the "squad" and unlike Lincoln, they will never be accused of expressing them “With malice toward none; with charity for all.” They obviously harbor plenty of malice toward those who don't look like them or think like them. If you are included in that group and have the audacity to defend yourself or heaven forbid criticize their policy prescriptions you are immediately labeled a racist. There is nothing new in the tactic, Democrats have been using it against Republicans for decades. What is new is that any criticism directed at "women of color" is now racist. Not even the Democrat speaker of the House is immune from the charge.
No doubt Pelosi was more than a little taken aback at the charge. Not only is she a Democrat she is like family to the "squad". Rather than accuse president Trump of "marrying" her to them as Ms. Dowd claims, it would be more factual to say she "spawned" them. Their goals are no different than hers. What is different is that they haven't yet developed her capacity to obfuscate and deceive moderate democrats about what those goals are. It's certain that Honest Abe would not agree with them. Unlike president Trump he would have expressed his objections much more eloquently. Nevertheless he would still have been labeled a "racist"
7
Critics of Dowd's column point out that Lincoln wanted to send freed slaves to Africa and did not believe in the equality of races. They ignore the fact that Lincoln's views mirrored the views of 19th century America. Americans were not as progressive as they are in the 21st century. Lincoln would have probably opposed same sex marriage too but his stances do not diminish his greatness.
Since his days as a young lawyer in Illinois, Lincoln was passionate about freeing enslaved blacks. His supposed racist views are not consistent with his belief that human beings, regardless of race, should never be slaves - even if the slave owners were supposedly from a "superior race."
We should expect politicians to be far more progressive in the 21st century. Yet, in many ways, Trump is stuck in the 19th century.
8
Another screed to scorch the dastardly Donald. The number and variety approaches galactic proportions and counting at the speed of light.
And to this Trump gives not one inch, not a millimeter of considerations except as it may further his visibility and reputation as the unfettered spoiler of a political status quo that remains sorely incapable of offering the means or the vision to vanquish his utterly destructive and self aggrandizing intentions and actions.
Each Trump affront, each act of extreme delinquency, each extraordinary incivility, each insidious fabrication seems only to enhance his presence and his political fortunes.
Seems the opposition can not find the moral courage, or the vision, or the message, or the quality of rational and humanistic leadership needed to vanquish what is arguably the most destructive presidency in last century.
Meanwhile the media, print and otherwise, continues to serially promote, abate, and assist the berserker running disastrously amok in the White House.
9
I’m so very sick and tired of the divisive demagogue masquerading as the President. His repulsive rants against the four minority women members of the Congress are just extremely opprobrious and offensive.
The GOP leaders (led by McConnell and Graham et al) have totally abdicated their responsibilities and have reduced themselves to the roles of spineless “Court Jesters” in King Trump’s court.
The biggest tragedy is that the reprehensible racist in the White House belongs to Lincoln’s party. Lincoln gave us “Emancipation Proclamation” in 1863 and 156 years later, in 2019 Trump tweeted out MOST RACIST RANTS against minority women members of the Congress. And most of GOP members of the Congress and Senate refused to criticize Trump.
Trump just stomped all over Lincoln’s memory. He is destroying Lincoln’s legacy and the GOP is absolutely complicit in his effort. SHAMEFUL INDEED !!
9
Regrettably, but will effectively take Trump down, is a
crashing economy, where soaring debt, mismanagement,
and income inequality will summarily take its toll. Yes, Trump's
divisiveness is also effective but it's eating away at the roots
of our society and supporting an oligarchic plutocracy which
is also doomed to fail.
5
Basically, the GOP has morphed from the Uniter to the Divider.
4
There's a reason that Americans score at the bottom in basically all areas of knowledge compared to those in the other democracies, and that those in the red states score at the bottom of Americans. Not trying to be a snob...these are just facts. Culture or genes, or a combination. Who knows. And look at how even the Harvard and Yale grads have mucked-up the country through their greed and/or incompetence.
14
calling the rallygoers “incredible patriots.”........says the person who went to the doctor.....instead of going to serve his country.
20
1973 or thereabouts with Nixon as president: I am not a crook.
2019 with Trump as president: I am not a racist. I don't have a racist bone in my body.
1865 with Abe Lincoln as president and the conclusion to his second inaugural address: "With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations."
Who is the true statesman and who truly cared for a torn country?
15
The distance between Abe and trump on principal is as far as it is in time. One notable thing I've noticed about Abe was his ability to learn and grow from it. He didn't start out with some of the high ideals that got him such a large and dramatic monument. Both time and the times forced an awareness and growth in Abe that came to define him and through him our nation. What Abe gave us has stood strong to give us inspiration. trump on the other hand also didn't start with high ideals and time and the times haven't done a thing for him, he is still the ignorant fool of a con man he always was and always will be. The only inspiration we get from trump is hatred. For some, his cult, it's hatred of others and for others it's hatred of trump.
5
While I agree Trump is a vile, despicable man, his racially divisive strategy could not succeed without the support of tens of millions of American voters whose racism and xenophobia are being exploited. His rise is symptomatic of an ugly undercurrent in American society that is being allowed to come to the surface. If we elected presidents by a simple majority, we could easily defeat him. As long as we have the electoral college, the deck will be stacked in favor of Trump's natural constituency.
13
It's time to stop writing about Trump and instead concentrate on all those who enable him, from the chanting voters to the soul dead Republicans serving in Congress.
20
Countries have life spans like people. Perhaps it is the fate of The USA to live fast, die young, and leave a good looking corpse, at least on the outside.
9
"Nancy Pelosi was trying to keep the Democrats in the center-left lane, where their best chance of beating Trump lies."
LOL. Literally not a day goes by without the Times's most prominent columnists carrying water for Pelosi and centrist Dems. Despite the fact that every single time the Dems go "safe" on presidential election years they lose. Every time.
7
After awhile, 1 begins to find tiring all the flippancy, sarcasm from a writer who has led a gilded, privileged existence, never had to do a real day's work in her life, never faced the challenges that millions of AMERICANS, including we who support The Donald, confront daily,to earn enough in a labor market where wages are flat due to the flood of "indocumentados"coming across our borders willing to work for less and"off the books,"beau ideal of our chambers of commerce. At least the president is TRYING his best to keep the country together, to defend the citizenry, defeat the forces of bigotry coming from the wacko left, looking for solutions. In terms of 1's contribution to the commweal, who do you believe is more earnest?Trump called out the Squad because they project an anti Americanism, an anti Semitism which most of us find unacceptable.Ur infatuation with that gay French diplomat, I find quite amazing. What did he do in his career to merit ur admiration?Did he bring a solution to the second Algerian war between armed forces and fundamentalists allied with FIS and GAI?Did he take part in the rescue effort of French hostages held captive in Niger by Al Queda?Attack TRUMP on policy.Otherwise, what's the point of denigrating someone if u don't have alternative solutions to his policies. How would YOU solve the crises that our vox populi wrestles with daily, and HEROICALLY I might add, despite the constant attacks by the media, including the Times newspaper!
2
@Alexander Harrison
"where wages are flat due to the flood of 'indocumentados'" IS A RED HERRING. Wages are flat because large corporations have been moving production to China and India; AND have lobbied Congress to keep the minimum wage at obsolete levels, to make it more difficult for the labor force to organize unions, and, to increase LEGAL immigration and temporary work visas for technology specialist and farm workers from other countries. All the while the slice of the economic pie going to the top 1% continues to grow at the expense of the bottom 99%.
21
@Alexander Harrison
Criticism of this administration's policies is not anti-American. Criticism of the policies of Israel's current government is not anti-Semitism.
4
All presidents are attacked by the media, it's their job. If you think Trump is a man and savior of the people then you obviously haven't looked behind the mask. While he stokes the fires of racism to feed the fears of his base, he and his cronies are stealing the country blind. That's the real danger, not the phony illegal problem.
4
No malice; pure charity. But--
1. “Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other" What if it's not the same god (there are thousands created in their godstories)? That creates US/Them malice.
2. “It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces..." This hints at the deep rooted "Problem of evil"--how can it be a just god--for all? especially when some claim to be his chosen--preferred--people, discriminating against all others?
Or even worse--when the gods themselves are the problem: Mine is better than yours--convert leave or die!
3. "...let us judge not, that we be not judged.” A greatly and ominously misunderstood aphorism--underwriting philosophy's shameful nihilistic era--20th Century German based "Positivism"--permitting great scientists to work for the monstrous Nazis.
Remember when people self-righteously boasted "I don't make value judgments!" Implying their ethical superiority in the very face of logical absurdity!
The charitable point (making sense out of nonsense) is--Don't judge, lest ye be judged BY THE SAME STANDARD. Don't throw stones lest ye be willing to be stoned.
Trump--like his Positivist idols--says all that matters is I WIN.
3
"As with Charlottesville, he will never disavow his people."
Yes, yes he will. He already did that, in his brief moments of pretending he was 'not happy' with the chant. In those few hours, to save himself from obvious massive public disapproval, he said: "It wasn't me. It was them."
If the public had pushed harder, or even if only one more influential republican had slapped it down, that would have remained his claim: I tried to stop them; they just get so excited by patriotism! I even told them to be peaceful in this rally, cuz I was so concerned. My people came to me and said "Those 4 traitors in Congress have made people feel so patriotic, Mr. President, that they want those women thrown out of the country!" And I bravely said no, that's not patriot, but it was too late; they were chanting. So I left right then. Yes, yes I did. Fake news says otherwise! I didn't bask in the hate! Only traitorous Dems, especially nasty dark women dems think that, and they should be.....uh oh...."
This is kind of fun, but only because it's just that ridiculous.
1
I would like to see Trump jailed in 2021 for his various illegal business frauds over the years. But right now I wish to thank him for helping the world to see the true ugly face of half of our citizenry.
14
Maureen has written a masterpiece in a few paragraphs that frames the situation exactly.
3
The cheerleaders of the 21st century pogrom inceptions, directed at groups x, y or z and whoever they'll come for next, sit at FoxNews desks.
The Squad that fires up the Head Middle of 5th Avenue Disinformation and Hate Shooter, leading him on with a rapid endless disinfomercial fire from semi-automatic, military style weapons of mass mind and soul destruction, consists of Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Tucker Carlson, Brett Baier, Laura Ingraham, and a hundred other so-called good-looking blondes.
And let's not overlook the cynical puppet masters and complicit collaborators and facilitators like the Koch bros, the Mercers, Mark Zuckerberg, the Military Industrial Complex, the Casino Banking Cheatery Complex, the Unfathomable Profits Complex from Market and Political Power Abuse and Environmental and Climate Destruction, Loopholes, Deregulation, Corporate Welfare, and Tax Cuts, and, last but not least, Vlad Putin leading an army of hackers and bots carrying out a second disinfomercial carpet bombardment in a foreign charge rivaling the strength of the homegrown one. They all perpetually fire from a thousand screens and places. They're the paid-for Propaganda Squad reigning our world with brute FakeNews force, while the office snatching arm is stealing Presidencies and votes and Congress and court seats.
Together they Make Atrocity Glee Ascendant and birthed a lynch mob monster rallying with bloodlust to "Send her back!" as their most lovely modern fascist trophy chant sofar.
4
Excellent piece. The liar in chief will not be pleased.
1
Do people really see themselves reflected in this classless boor? It's too bad their standards are so low.
7
Come on Maureen, you helped get this horror show elected, I hope you're happy
18
Lincoln and Trump - Compare and Contrast
Lincoln:
Rail Splitter
Not Bitter
Wise Critter
No Quitter
Trump:
Hate Spitter
Loves Twitter
Below-the-Belt Hitter
Full of Litter
(Note: I cleaned up that last one as I'm sure the Times would never approve the original word used)
10
Maureen Dowd is a pretty dedicated republican; she practically worships Ronald Reagan. I appreciate her honest look at the difference between today's GOP and the one she loved. Old-school character matters to Ms. Dowd, which is why, as a liberal, I respect her.
I try to engage conservatives/trumpists in conversation about the issues in current political events, and 99% of their responses resemble "kneE jerck libtard sosialist lover!", so it's really refreshing. She is also a spiritual person; I have heard Christians ponder that they might have to take up arms to defend America against socialist liberals. Not me, of course, but just in general, they could understand. Civil war in defense of white supremacy? I asked to compare scriptures to find agreement, and they started accusing me of hating trump and God's ordained government.
Again, thank you Ms. Dowd.
1
I, for one, am torn between ripping his face off and complete ignorance of the misfit.
Through it all, there is the constant truth that he cares about absolutely nothing but Donald.
How do you deal with someone who lives in that fantasy world, a world that that is so self absorbed that nothing can penetrate it?
This is all a game to him. The only thing he cares about is whether or not he wins it. There are no rules of engagement; there are no out of bounds lines; there are no inhibitors.
So, do you return fire in kind, or do you try to convince enough people in the right corners of the country, that what they did in 2016 was a mistake, as it surely was; that the promises are still just promises; that the jobs will not return; that the jobs that are here are not enough to sustain most people; that African Americans are living under discriminatory conditions;that health care is not the best in the world and more people need it; that it can't be marketed as you would a Buick; that he is a rapist who will rape you in one way or another, etc., etc.
Or do you sit idly by and hope, that by some miracle all of his outrageous behavior will be seen for what it is and the country will awaken.
It's an exhausting choice and one that millions of us are making every day. Our Pinocchio President is the Wizard of Oz. Let's hope the curtain is torn asunder in 2020 and let's not leave it to the cowardly Lion.
VOTE ! Meanwhile, rip his face off, he deserves it.
7
In the past, Democrats preferred less subtle forms of racism: confederate flags, Gov. Wallace, segregation, KKK membership.
1
And? Come on man, the GOP pulled all of those Democrats to its side beginning in ‘68 with Nixon’s Southern Strategy. In case you haven’t bothered to notice, the Democrats do not hide from their inglorious past. They acknowledge it and make it clear it is not who they are now. The GOP, however, continues to claim it is the Party of Lincoln. Who’s kidding whom?
10
Wallace? American Independence Party. 1968
Strom Thurmond States Rights Democratic Party 1948
3
There's a reason the Ku Klux Klan loves #FakePresident. There's a reason the Daily Stormer praises him as "Our Glorious Leader." Racists know a racist when they see one.
9
How 62 million can love, worship, idolize a man who told them he "loved them" because "I love the uneducated". Who told them they were fools- is simple: Their hatred is far stronger than any invective thrown their way. The Republican party has not changed its message in decades and refuses to extend itself to others; it doesn't need to. Whilst, Democrats continue looking for a winning message. It has several- but laments that working-class and poor whites won't accept it. (The Republican party has seldom lamented its lack of outreach to Blacks, Hispanics,Asians or any minority)
I look at the state of California; it didn't become "blue" by folding its hands pining over what to do. Of 120 seats, California now has 90 Democrats and 29 Republicans in its legislature.
When The Affordable Act was became law in 2010, California received waivers to enact its own version of 2012- enrolling millions of working adults without dependents and insurance into Medi-Cal (Medicaid); most Red-State governors refused even with 90% of the cost paid by the federal government. There is a lot that still needs "fixing" in California- that neither Republican or Democratic governors and legislatures have successfully addressed (we're the biggest; the best and the worst at times).
But, I'd rather be here than any other place in the nation- at this time- under the R.T.R. (Racist Trump Regime).
5
Here’s an idea. Stop focusing on all the bad things that are Trump and focus on his accomplishments: 2 Supreme Court justices, packing the lower courts with conservative activists judges, deregulation, exiting the Paris Agreement, Exiting the Iranian Nuclear agreement, the huge tax cut, building the wall, protecting us from the sick and criminal immigrants, etc. All those accomplishments! Let’s talk about them and their real outcomes, their real impact on the people who support trump. Sometimes if you start from where people are, you might be able to reach them, at least a few of them.
1
The millennial generation likely never considered anything for a mantra other than "to change the world" but they are faced with the even greater challenge of
"saving the world" and our country with it.
They can do it but they will have to set aside for the moment their dreams and their passions and deal with the current misdirection. Otherwise they will not have a world in which to pursue their dreams.
1
@Tom Osterman
Why is it our job as millennials to save the world? And how do you suggest we do it, when boomers like Nancy Pelosi, Maureen Dowd, and virtually every other person with power and influence refuses to even *consider* loosening their iron grip on the resources? Keep doing the same old things? Doesn’t seem to be working out so well...
3
Trump tweet applied to four persons.
Far from bringing Americans together, Abraham Lincoln thought black and whites should be separated. While working on the draft of the Emancipation Proclamation, President Lincoln was also working on a plan to send freed slaves to colonies in Liberia or Central America. After explaining the advantages of colonization, Lincoln told a delegation of free back leaders who visited the White House in 1862 that, “You and we are different races. We have between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss, but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence. In a word we suffer on each side. If this is admitted, it affords a reason at least why we should be separated."
1
The only thing more dystopian than Maureen’s latest and truest column is the dystopian nightmare of the Trump presidency. And yet somehow he maintains a steady 40% popular support, 90% Republican support, and near unanimous Party support in DC. Trump seems to be a master of division and distraction.
It’s the polar opposite of Obama’s run, but no surprise given how Republicans gave him the back of their hand for 8 years. They seem to have decided, as David Frum warned, that Republicans won’t reject conservatism if they can’t win democratically, they will reject democracy. And now they have both the SCOTUS to back them up (gutting the Voting Right’s Act and sanctioning partisan gerrymandering, all underwritten by gobs of money via Citizens United), and the ex-reality showman happy to traffic in racial foghorns.
I don’t think this is really who we are, but I’m running out of hope our better angels will emerge anytime soon in the Party of Lincoln.
3
It is not that Democrat presidential candidates have gone left, it's that under Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump, the nation has gone so far right that even reasonable positions now seem to many to be "hyper-liberal." I would expect our liberal pundits to be able to figure this out, but apparently they cannot. Like a lot of progressive-leaning pundits of her generation, Ms. Dowd wants to imagine an America in which a few minor tweaks will be enough to get us back on track, but this is no longer the case. We need as Elizabeth Warren says, "big, structural change" because in fact, conservatism has been winning for a very long time. These "center-left" pundits warn again and again and again that the left will bring doom to the party, but I think it's the other way around. Keep writing columns where you dismiss the best progressive ideas without actually engaging them--that will be the party's downfall after all.
4
Maureen, your column today echoes my misgivings formed from reading Jennifer Schuessler's NYT report (7/19/2019) on the National Conservative Conference. Their ahistorical dismissal of President Reagan's ideal of America as the bright shining city on the hill disturbed me. This image originated with Jesus of Nazareth in his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5.14) and repeated centuries later by John Winthrop on board a ship off the shores of Massachusetts. John Winthrop spoke in his 1630 sermon, titled "A Model of Christian Charity", about the moral necessity of the community being in covenant together and with their God. He said, "Now the only way to avoid this shipwreck, and to provide for our posterity, is to follow the counsel of Micah, 'to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God. For this end, we must knit together in this work as one (person)." This clarion call heralded one of the foundational calls of America's understanding of itself which 45 and company do not hold or honor. To be united and to be a moral community 45 excised from the "Book of U.S. A. Government Norms" much like Thomas Jefferson took scissors to his Bible and cut out passages he did not like. The various protests to 45 from "Black Lives Matter", "The Women's March", "The Liberty Candles Vigil", and the voices of "The Squad" all are positive responses to John Winthrop. Even Abraham Lincoln's words fit in this legacy. "With malice toward none; with charity for all."
2
In the end, our current state is about manipulation that until now, was framed in ways to be subtle and deniable. All pretense is gone. We are not led by our leaders any more. We are manipulated by them. They use the press who now feed us "stories" that sell clicks and eyeballs. Social Media is used in service to power as a means to feed hate, lies and propaganda to millions. Reality TV is now the paradigm with which politics is framed and presented by the press and TV.
Until we refuse to be lied to, take our civic responsibilities seriously, and vote en masse to hold out elected officials responsible, we will continue to be manipulated instead of served by those we give the privilege to do so.
The truth has been abandoned by the R's and many Dem's. At some point, it will abandoned by both sides and the press in totality, and it will be our own fault. Fox "News" has already killed the truth to serve power as feeds poison to the masses without consequence. Our Democracy which only survives with the truth as it's oxygen, is being be suffocated on all sides. VOTE
5
Brilliant column! Maureen Dowd captured the essence of how Donald Trump has soiled the values of our democracy as so beautifully expressed by Abraham Lincoln. Her evoking of Lincoln's second inaugural address, carved on the wall of the Lincoln Memorial brought tears to my eyes. We need to get those values back into the mainstream!
3
Dems need to realize we all know Trump, and too well. He will always have his base regardless.They need to focus on what they want to do and forget about fighting Trump. We need fewer Dem candidates, they are all capable , so quit fighting with one another and stay positive about what you can do , not what others cannot. Motivate the voters to vote for you, Trump will take care of motivating them to not vote for him. Just keep letting him Tweet and have rallies. Let the media show him to the public , stay away from food fights with him.
8
Abraham Lincoln and Willa Cather the same weekend; nostalgia for a past imperfect.
Use those words to write about now: actions that ordinary people can do now:letter and postcard campaigns, joining local voter registration efforts, canvasing their neighborhoods with information, traveling to a swing state to add boots to the ground.
And, try - try really hard, Maureen - to not repeatedly trash the Democratic candidate, even it it's a stuffed gerbil. Nothing matters like the next election.
5
"Pelosi will have to work harder than ever to keep her party’s image where it needs to be with the real base, as opposed to the Twitter base."
I wouldn't be so sure of that base thing.
"After pretending fleetingly that he had been unhappy that some in the crowd at his North Carolina rally chanted “Send her back” about Representative Ilhan Omar, the president returned to his natural habitat of hate."
He always circles back, yes? Always.
5
Sooo, what are we going to do about it? Every day, I read the same outrage against Trump both in the press and from beaten down NYT commentators. Could we please just stop? And do something instead?
I’ll give you some examples of what I have done recently: 1. Spoke with a never Trumper Arizonan Republican who wrote in John McCain for the president. After listening to him, I asked him what would it take to vote for Democrats? (Hint: Joe Biden). 2. Engaged in several conversations with an anti-Trump Texas conservative who really, really, really wants less expensive health care that protects her from Pre-existing conditions but she also harbors deep resentment about how she’s been ridiculed by “liberals”. 3. Held long conversations with over-the-top “burn it all down” Leftist progressives where ultimately I ask them how they think they are going to bring about their “revolution” while they are working full time and pursuing degrees. Also, I review with them what will happen if Trump wins and secures a 7-2 Supreme Court and how that will affect their future. (I’ve learned that a lot of young voters don’t reflect much on the Supreme Court).
These conversations have required a lot of listening and finding common ground. And, yes, it can be tedious. But, maybe if we all engaged in discussions like this with people who don’t agree with us instead of constantly preaching to the NYT commentators choir, we might actually prevail over Trump and the GOP.
12
It is easy, and evidently self-gratifying, to take shots at Lincoln, the man. It is true that he was a complicated soul, shaped by his upbringing and his struggles. He grew while in office and we have his words as testament to the moral development of a flawed but willing man.
Trump has used the Oval Office to further devolve as a human being, sliding downward into the pit of bigotry, racism, xenophobia and hatred that is the worst of America. He has taken the supine Republican Party with him, though it was a short fall, to be sure.
Hate is the manifestation of evil, and the Devil's bargain is sealed in blacked out circles inside the voting booth. Resisting evil is a moral obligation, if not a civic one, and there is plenty of room in the Democratic tent for the evangelism of Lincoln's inspirational words. If a just God's wrathful eye were to turn toward Trump's America, who would suffer the carnage, Trump or AOC? It is a question worth asking and we could do worse than to look to Abe for a bit of guidance.
3
President Lincoln comparisons seem "out of joint," anachronistic. The chasm of contrasting intellects and times prove this.
As for intellect: Trump's reveals a reflection of the worst of our culture.
All for selfish promotion, he acts more like the obvious lowlife carnival barker--publicly exploiting, hyping, misrepresenting, lying--pushed by all media, advertising on the lowest forms of it in order to capture the lowest common demons-in-nation: filling too many unquestioning, uncritical, accepting adherents with contempt and hate.
The danger: not enough strong push-back from those us, regardless of party or ideology, who know better.
3
Hyper-liberal ideas? These are the ideas that can and will resonate with the working class if only more Democrats had the courage to talk about them more freely and had the voice to articulate them coherently. It doesn’t help that columnists like yourself and others in the media keep labeling these ideas as socialism and hyper-liberalism.
Maybe y’all need to sit down for a few hours with folks like Anand Giridhardas to really understand why these ideas are the right way to help the working class!
4
Democrats are the party of hurt feelings. They need a couple decades of therapy. Meanwhile, the GOP will continue to make America great again.
3
Stop this! Stop talking and filming anything trump. Do not give him any publicity. Lets get back to our lives before he showed up. He may not go away if we do not follow him, but we will feel better!
8
Yes, ignore him like the out of control toddler he has proved to be. No one can censor or even edit the lies that leap out of his mouth or the devices that are illegal for a sitting president to use. His “cabinet appointments” are oxymoronic and have set us back for decades. His judicial appointments, most recently Barr, are at the least self serving and downright backwards. His only goals are to enrich his own coffers and his criminal family. And they just sit there thumbing their noses at our congress who continues to let this roll on without checks or balances. It is a disgrace and we need to return to a reasonable government of honest men and women to stem the tide of corruption, as soon as we possibly can. We need to save those who believe what he says as truth and bring them back to the real truth and away from his cruelty to others and false claims.
Maureen: what a Closing that captures the essence of Trump. “With malice toward all; with charity for none.” In a few words it captures the deep gulf between Trump the divider and Lincoln the healer. Trump wears his racism and xenophobia on his sleeve as though it were a badge of honor. But Trump also has malice in his soul for all on an equal opportunity basis.
Trump’s words and behavior are unpatriotic. He treats authoritarians hostile to the US as heroes and proclaims “love” for dictator killers. Love for Trump is merely opportunism. It is doubtful he could really love anyone besides himself.
5
The Republican Party has become the Party of the Old Confederacy and Democrats should label them exactly so. Without it's base in the Solid South, today's Republican Party would not be a national force.
5
It's civil rights plus the head start and other programs that the Democrats and LBJ passed in the 60's that created these new age Republicans. They claim to be conservative, but it's the group that was Republican before that, who reflect the old "man-in-the-grey-flannel-suit" GOP conservative. The Newbies are a sort of no mans-war torn zone of a party. They might be the mythical third party we keep hearing about.
Putting aside policy agendas and disagreements, just the idea of electing a sociopathic narcissist, and well documented liar, for a second term, is mind boggling. It would no longer be the United States of our Better Angels, as Lincoln hoped, but raw weathervane expediency to any perceived “base” or personal/financial desire. Trump’s rallies....basically a square dance of hate, with Trump as the caller....would continue big-time because his ego must be frequently stoked. If this happens, citizens of integrity will be adrift in a whole new land. Previous foregone fealty to the US will require a new assessment and understanding. Trump, Orban, Salvini, Le Pen, Boris Johnson, etc etc....not a pretty picture....and may we never have another president who “fell in love” with the world’s most cruel dictator.
4
Maureen dear, I used to think that you were at least fair and clear-headed, but lately you seem to be nursing a grudge against the liberals ...whom you refer to as the "socialists," code word for Communist. I thought perhaps you would find some thread of justice that linked you to the new congresswomen who are up against an old out-worn Democratic congress, that had ceased to fight for certain freedoms that are so necessary for our country to survive as a democracy. But no, you have given in to that "moderate" mind-set that praises Nancy Pelosi for her deals and slight of hand in pursuing her agenda, which is nothing but warm water and baking soda, Yes, youth and its undying devotion to progress and truth, has undone your fairy tale world of moderate-conservative as the ticket to bringing our nation out of the dark ages of corporate and Wall Street control and into the light of new social programs for those of us who have lost our standing with the politicians. Yes, you Maureen have failed to look around your country to its dilapidated infrastructure, its schools being co-opted by charter schools, its streets littered with the homeless, its citizens working three and four jobs just to scrape by. and what once used to be a vibrant America descending into a third world country. Yes, both parties should be ashamed, but they are not....hard to reconcile?
2
Trump's rallies are pure showbiz. He doesn't discuss any policies for improving the lives of Americans; that's what real presidents do. Trump is an entertainer who titillates his base with the same old schtick. He has no plans for improving the nation. He has plans only for getting reelected so he can avoid possible residency at Rikers.
There's a chance that his supporters might grow tired of his schtick. They've heard it before, and, yes, they get a kick out of his trashing Democrats and liberals. But eventually they've got to realize that they need good wages, good roads, health care, an economy that's not just good on paper but good to the point where they don't need to hold down more than one job, affordable education, affordable housing, and so much more. Trump isn't addressing any of these things. The media should point this out relentlessly instead of reacting to every single vulgarity that spews from Trump's mouth or from his fingertips.
7
Enough Trump. More Lincoln.
Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.), is most Lincolnesque. He would grow on needed factions of the electorate if they only knew him. Gained some notice during the Kavanaugh hearings.
Chant: Look him up.
5
The Dems think Trump supporters are deplorables. They don't want blue collar white men, once the backbone of the Dem Party. There's plenty of malice directed at these people and they will not vote for those who despise them.
5
Those who support racists are deplorable. The North Carolina "rally", all his rallies scream "deplorable".
4
@MJG
So, instead they'll vote for politicians that hurt them, their families, and the country. They'll show us!
1
Dowd, Friedman, Stephens, Brooks, and Pelsoi are all helping Trump to demonize AOC and the Squad with their columns and disparaging comments. From their perches deep in the echo chamber of D.C. politics and gossip, they claim to have their finger on the pulse of voters. What is the difference between Dowd's "hyper-liberal" and Trump's "socialist?" To all murderers row pundits, please stop doing Trump's work for him! The Dems ran Hillary, the Uber centrist, in 2016, and she lost even though she won. Do you expect a different result with the even more compromised and out of touch Biden? Higher taxes on the wealthy, strong public schools, functional infrastructure, and even public health insurance used to be Republican policies; they aren't radical communist ideas now. The Dems and their pundits need to incorporate the best of the progressive ideas being presented by Warren and others, unify, and always remember that the only thing that matters is defeating Trump.
7
All this talk and thought about race. From the top of the Empire State Building it would be hard to distinguish what race, gender,
what anything was from up there. People can't seem to expand their thinking beyond what they ridiculously consider their differences.
3
Clearly, your one-on-one chat with Pelosi has left you starstruck. But despite Pelosi's game of 3-D chess, the vast majority of those "hyper-liberal" ideas you and Pelosi run from are supported by a plurality of the left and right: A majority of Republican voters support Medicare For All! So go ahead and keep pushing the old Hillary/DNC/Republican-lite platform of the past. A deflated and justifiably jaded Democratic base will stay home come election day.
1
No, they don’t. That Hill/Harris X poll is iffy at best.
But a strong number of Republicans DO support having the option, if you look at a reliable poll.
https://www.kff.org/slideshow/public-opinion-on-single-payer-national-health-plans-and-expanding-access-to-medicare-coverage/
Not a chance they’ll support a mandatory program that takes their private insurance and increases taxes.
I have never been able to reconcile the fact that Lincoln’s abolitionist nature overcame the fact that he knew if elected it would result in a war.
2
@Rich Murphy He did not want war but neither could he abide slavery. Lincoln firmly believed that that challenge had to be met for a nation unified with a good foundation and future. War if necessary but not necessarily war.
5
So true. I'm so sorry for family and friends who are true Republicans and have this man for an example.
3
I saw a YouTube interview recently with the late Paul Kantner and Marty Balin of Jefferson Airplane talk about how 1966-1967 San Francisco was a moment in time when they thought anything was possible, when they and the youth in their orbit were the freest, living life on their terms without any care or fear of consequences. In a word, fun. How I wish I could’ve experienced that exhilaration. I realize now in my fifties that I’ve never freed my mind enough to capture that feeling. Trump is just a another symbol of our loss of innocence. A dying away of the promise of peace and harmony. And from a Boomer, no less. With him, we’re constantly being reminded that we may never live the life we want, that life may only be a brutish struggle for survival after all.
14
Lincoln, the first Republican President, reset the foundation of United States on firmer ground at tremendous cost. Ironically, Republican President Trump threatens that hard won foundation and fervent wish that citizens would continue to build on that accommodation, "With malice toward all; with charity for none."
11
@Les Caine
"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."
2
This column made me wonder what would have happened to our country during the Civil War if Trump had been president, instead of Lincoln?
In reading biographies of some famous American presidents--Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Lincoln, TR, FDR--our "best" presidents (ranked by historians and political scientists) were attuned to the trends and public opinion of the day, sought expert advice, listened to both sides, and then acted as leaders who led the country in a constructive direction and through tough times. Also, they were very unpopular with certain destructive and damaging segments of the population.
Trump pays no attention to history (probably doesn't know or care much about it), distorts public opinion, eschews solid information and expert advice, listens to only one side, and makes truly bad history while in office, leading the country in a destructive direction and causing bad feelings and terrible times at home and abroad. He is very popular with certain destructive and damaging segments of the population.
And where would this country be if Trump, not Lincoln, had been president during the Civil War? I think it is going to take another Lincoln to pull this country out of the mess Trump and the GOP have made.
But the country didn't have Citizens United in 1860. Could Lincoln get elected in 2020?
7
We all know why Trump is becoming more and more polarizing; it’s a desperate bid to stay in power because he is well aware if the legal nightmare awaiting him once he is no longer president.
The sad thing is it may actually work if those that oppose his views drop the ball in 2020 like they did in 2016.
17
We have not accepted the significant evidence that the republic we learned about in school and our related national identity no longer exist. I feel when I read these sorts of commentaries the pain of a liberal idealist who hasn't opened their eyes to the obvious decline and decay. Internationally the USA no longer holds a respected position and nationally we are a collection of red and blue states with radically different and irreconcilable politics. Our situation parallels the climate crisis: we are past the point of stopping it and must, out of necessity, start developing strategies to survive it. I live in a solidly blue single-party state. My plan, as professor Timothy Snyder argues in On Tyranny, is to fight for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in the California Republic and my local Bay Area community, but when the "unthinkable happens" we are prepared to emigrate.
10
I live on the East coast yet I could have written your remarks...what sets me off every day is the expression "sowing division." Last I knew our country was called the United States of America. The fact that Trump revels in division instead of unity repels me. The song "This Land is your Land." haunts me. Cable news focusing on red and blue states only exacerbates the disunity, and I wish they would focus on the whole. Thank you for your comment, and thank Maureen Dowd for this column, her message needs to be heard loud and clear. By all.
6
What a great country: Mo jumps up and down on our highest elected official, the Commander-in-Chief, and, again metaphorically, sets him on fire, and people applaud her for it.
You can't do that in many countries. I applaud her, us, and our Constitution.
Should she or we be so critical of our political leader? Yes: He has not only crossed the line of fairness and decency, he lives over there and preaches from that bully pulpit.
We therefore must speak up. Thomas Paine, my hero, certainly would. And Mo is following in his footsteps here, as are many Americans.
"All that's necessary for evil to conquer is for good men and women to say or do nothing."
-- Edmund Burke, slightly altered
10
An ongoing source of amusement, in my daily survey of the astonishing landfill of Trump literature piling up, is that while writers very often decry the President's hatefulness, pettiness, and mean spirit, the articles in turn are plainly animated by the same low qualities, even when propping up Mr. Lincoln, whose language, springing from Shakespeare and the King James Bible, are the antithesis of such emotions. Well, I suppose we must conclude, with so much hatred spilling off everywhere. that you all deserve each other.
4
@Frunobulax
Thank you. First thoughtful insight I have read in the NY Times in quite a while.
Still, when I read Lincoln's speeches, eloquent and erudite; or when I read one of the homespun yarns with which he captivated audiences, then read one of Trump's tweets, I am sadly reminded that you CAN fool some of the people all of the time.
2
Before he became a social liability, Maureen had much more in common with a "cheeky" Donald Trump that she has with "the far left squad." To her timid irreverence which basically ratifies the stifling oppression of the system is about as far as she can go. And she will mock and attempt to discipline anyone who actually challenges that system with their insight, courage and passion.
16
Ms. Dowd, in recent years I have been so disappointed with you. Your constant put-downs of Barack Obama, of Bill and Hillary Clinton, your seeming need to always sneer at everything, grew tiresome. Yet, here I am, still reading your thoughts. I will say now, that all is forgiven. You have captured in this column of finely crafted prose and exquisite insight, the essential essence of the trurmp (and with it the nation's) problem at this critical time. Lincoln is turning over in his grave at the repulsive and grotesque spectacle of trump. You are right, trump "doesn’t rely on division only for elections, like his predecessors; he uses it to govern." Democrats can win if they do a better job of bringing people together than him. I believe it is as simple as that. He divides. Democrats can unite. Most people don't want to be divided. They want to be united. trump's base will still be his base. Democrats shouldn't bother trying to reach them. Democrats just need to get more people to the polls in large enough numbers to overcome the electoral college fix in favor of more rule by the oligarchs and the Russians.
17
@East End All is forgiven? Never. Maureen helped give us trump.
8
If is stunning that the fate of Western liberal democracy appears now to hinge on whether a plurality of non-college educated white voters in a few midwestern states cast their allegiance to Trump’s raw appeal to racism or not in 2020.
49
Right on. You nailed it. Kudos.
5
When growing up in Illinois, the "Land of Lincoln," the GOP was frequently referred to as the Party of Lincoln. This cogent op-ed by Maureen Dowd makes it clear why there is no connection between "Honest Abe" Lincoln and the current GOP.
The GOP, under the leadership of "Dishonest Don," has become the antithesis of Lincoln's party. The tragedy is that the Civil War was never really ended. What Ulysses S. Grant accomplished on the field of battle in enforcing Lincoln's vision did not change the hearts and minds of many Americans then or now, unfortunately. Lincoln's vision has been completely jettisoned by Trump and his apparatchiks in Congress, enablers that defend the racist speech of the current occupant of the Oval Office.
9
There is truly only one way to separate DJT from his followers, and that is to use the words of the New Testament. The Left's abandonment of the words, stories, narratives, culture and prevalence of Christianity throughout the nation will be the real reason that they lose. And I'm not a big bible-thumper.
It's the mendacity prosperity-gospel crowd who unabashedly supports from the pulpit a man who goes against all the teachings of Jesus.
All a powerful Democratic candidate would have to do is liberally toss out scripture at the beginning, middle and end of their speeches (and change very little else), and link that scripture of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (i.e. the promises and stories of Jesus' morality and how to act like Heaven on Earth) to policies they wish to enact, and you've got a winner.
The key idea is to break the monolithic structure of current mass-Christianity. The Right does not hold any monopoly on morality, but they do on mythology and religiosity. That attack is easy to do, and just requires knowledge and use of the rhetorical cadences and rhythms of ministerial speech to put wedges all throughout the radicalized rightwing.
Otherwise, you write them off, and you choose not to engage with people that you think you'll be governing.
5
@Jason Kendall I agree. Bible stories, especially in the cadences King James Version that many of us grew up with, still resonate with people. I’m not a big Bible thumper either. The story of the Good Samaratin, about putting yourself out there for someone who is considered “other” is an example. At least twice when our kids were little, we pulled off onto the shoulder of an exit ramp in MI or OH & within minutes someone would stop to see if we needed anything. I fear that would not happen today.
4
@Jason Kendall If you pay any attention to Buttigieg you know that this is what he does and yet he’s not getting traction and the far left of the Democratic Party spits on him
We are a racist country founded by racists. Get used to it. The way this government was set up, electoral college, 2 senators from each state regardless of population all to insure the power of the white Anglo Saxon. Let's not forget the white Christians. I had a 70 year old Baptist repairing the plaster in my home last week. I asked him how, as a Christian, he could support the most vile and un Christian like person I have ever witnessed as president and even as a human being. His answer was Trump was sent by God to bring this country together in the the right way. To keep us safe from the others. He is not the only of what I call crazy Christians to support this vile creature we elected. many of them feel this way. The Dems do not have a chance in 2020.
12
You can never be forgiven for the decades long hatred you foisted on Hillary Clinton. You are part of the reason we have trump today.
43
While working on the draft of the Emancipation Proclamation, President Lincoln was also working on a plan to send freed slaves to colonies in Liberia or Central America. After explaining the advantages of colonization, Lincoln told a delegation of free back leaders who visited the White House in 1862 that, “You and we are different races. We have between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss, but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence. In a word we suffer on each side. If this is admitted, it affords a reason at least why we should be separated."
The rail-splitter though blacks should be separated from whites.
5
Hard to reconcile and carry on our backs all societal evils—including racism—from history and prior presidencies. What was acceptable or “normal” then, before then and through FDR’s and LBJ’s presidencies make us cringe today. We learn from that, recognize achievements within their context and move forward. If you want to be progressive, place more energy on the future than the past.
5
I agree. You and the other libs need to tear Lincoln down from his high horse. Definitely a ticket to victory in 2020. Keep up the good work! Signed, A Trump Supporter
1
The breathless coverage of every torrent of verbal diarrhea, accompanied be endless photos of the despicably ogly, puckered little "Il Duce" anusmouth on that ridiculous, strutting little popinjay, are the media's pupu platter served-up to the American tribe to be gobbled-up with bare fingers. Nationalism, supremacism, racism -- I believe all these labels are simply individual ingredients in the Tribalist Stew. The drump objectifies fear in his "tribe", issuing relentless warnings about the "dangers" of the "other tribe" right there on the other side of that line. The appeal is to base instinct -- there's a bump-in-the-night, the drump squeals about it, and fervent drumphumpers are too intellectually challenged to analyze much broader threats to a Great America. They seemingly cannot be reasoned with.
That tribalist ship sailed, and it sank. We, the United States of America, are far too diverse and complicated and tricky -- and needy. We the people need air. Water. Food. Health. A roof over our heads. A way to be productive. A path towards ... happiness. ALL of us.
THIS should be the focus. THIS should be the agenda. THIS should be the "platform". Every single political debate should begin with the simple acknowledgement that there are about 350 million-ish of US. Ideas should begin and end with the premise that there is ALWAYS a greater good.
FORGET the contemptible little martinet! DUMP the drump!
11
A Prez like Abe might start a war causing hundreds of thousands of American deaths to make everyone nice, that would be good. Wait, no.
2
ALWAYS - ROTTEN words from a ROTTEN mouth by a ROTTEN man. New Meaning of ROTTEN - Donald J. Trump!
10
All too true. Ironic coming from the pen of someone who spent 2016 drawing and quartering Hillary, though.
17
Great article
3
Well, finally a column where you don’t manage to say something (like you USUALLY do) nasty about Hillary Clinton or some other democrat, while trying to play like you are so very concerned about our country and the horror of this president. - You helped get him elected with your constant slamming of Hillary Clinton. (How many other people would have been still standing - as she managed to do. Sure, she was not perfect. Who is? But, she would be a trillion times better than this guy.). Yes, this column is good Ms. Dowd. But, you have a big bully pulpit. Use it wisely. The “—-blank—“ in the White House does not not deserve to be there and, you are certainly correct, it is like a sin that he stood at the Lincoln Memorial. Keep the good and wise columns coming. They are needed. Bashing women - something you are good at doing — please, let it stop. The country needs your earnest, skillful help (like T Friedman’s has already delivered) to get this guy O-U-T.
17
And you Ms. Dowd, with your unrelenting attacks on the Clinton's, did much to help usher in this era.
27
That’s one way to look at it. Maybe, just maybe Maureen was pulling back the covers on a dysfunctional Democratic Party years ago that allowed itself to be taken over by HRC only too be driven over the cliff by the assumption that The Donald couldn’t win.
2
The sad fact is that Trump's vile shtick would not play if there wasn't a sizable portion of America ready for it.
The South Lincoln fought 150 years ago is alive and well in Trump's Red State base.
Would they leave the union today if progressive Blue States gave them the opportunity?
1
The nincompoop is a nincompoop. What else is there to say? He doesn't have a clue what this country is about . Let's not give him the chance to discover what it is about . Not that he could learn even if we tried to teach him.
6
You are being a little harsh Maureen. With malice toward almost all; with charity for one, that being myself and my Mini me Ivanka.
1
. . to see the toads jumping directly from the mouth of a president
Magnificent.
5
Hey Ms. Dowd, do you remember what started this kerfuffle before you posted the hypocritical Pelosi screed about not going to the media to air dirty laundry?~! Hmm?
The four women, the squad, those Furies, dared to speak out against the Blue Dog Dems, along with brave, moral, Nancy et al, for selling out children under our care and protection.
Those outspoken rebels dared to demand debate, amendments and or stipulations to monies going to monsters running child concentration camps that congress funded without a second look.
Because it was too hard.
Not worth the time. Not worth the political energy. Why try when the senate won't agree to it anyway. Gee, sorry kids. What kids?! Lets bide our time. Go along to get along says the wily veteran with her hand out for more donations. Maybe soon. Incrementally, someday, not yet, now is not a good time Nancy. The mouth piece of the Dem. Party and all its morals and decency. (or lack thereof) Such a shrewd politician. What kids?
Dowd, Nancy, most of the commentariat and our congress would rather castigate women who dared to stand up for children who are being terrorized, traumatized, molested, sickened and dying while under our care. We the People are paying For profit Corps, to do this in our name. Children in conditions we don't allow Kennels or Pounds to subject dogs too.
Thanks for not mentioning this Maureen.
Best shut those Lefty women up before they attempt to save more children. I'm I right moderate Dems?!
16
@Dobbys sock
But, they’re too young! Uppity socialists! /s
Well said. Ms. Dowd, for all of her keen historical analysis, seems to have a rather short memory when it comes to her own role in this circus.
2
He has even managed to transform the nation's iconic White House, traditionally a renowned public space for a multitude of diverse cultural and artistic events hosted by welcoming First Couples, into a joyless wasteland of neglect, vileness, and utter boorishness. Please, Ms. Dowd, refrain from mentioning one of our greatest in the same column with the absolute worst going forward.
1
Maureen cuts to the quick in this column....splinter indeed.
1
There was a late, late night...decades ago...when I gathered at the Lincoln Memorial with loved ones. The harsh beauty of the man and his message filled me with a national pride of purpose that I've not felt since, and believe now to be gone forever. Racism, like misogyny and homophobia, is at its core, stupidity.
Trump is wily and cunning, but at his core, he's stupid. My quandary now is if I'll be able to forgive his supporters, my fellow Americans, for voting for him a second time. How will we ever forgive their cruelty and relentless stupidity?
5
Wow! A poignant juxtaposition of Dishonest Don to Honest Abe. How far the Republican Party has fallen, how far the American people have strayed.
Ms. Dowd, this morning you served up a spirited takedown of the Hate Spitter and the Republicans who swarm around him like flies in an outhouse.
2
Not only a disgrace to the Office of the Presidency, this vile human being is destroying all good in his path. Frightening how many respond to his message of hate. Please democrats, get your act together and speak of the good that is possible and defeat this man.
8
“It may seem strange that any men would dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces...”.
An odd phrase, that. But have not Americans—especially white Americans—always summoned “a just God’s assistance” in cementing white America’s racial hegemony: it’s pride of place in the cavalcade of nations? A wealth and power buttressed by a physical enslavement that today, almost 160 years later—two-thirds of our national existence—is still the eternal trench that separates us?
That much of its founded wealth was torn from those “sweaty faces” by the whip and the brand and the legislator’s signature and the governor’s proclamation and the devil’s bargain with the young nation’s soul cemented by an evil that never died but, as we see under this president, has only slept fitfully through wars and the social equivalent of poverty and economic dislocation and child exploitation? And all for money?
And you, Ms. Dowd, become weepy-eyed and weak-kneed because the man whom nearly half of the country worship soiled your monuments? Can’t you see that this is what a climbing percentage of your fellow citizens—Republicans especially—want?
Under the previous president, your scorn was reserved for his “effete” ways. You attacked him for not being a Lyndon Baines Johnson who could call in IOU’s from his score of years on The Hill. Or because, on a day, he opted for a tan suit. Republicans howled.
Now they’re silent. Next time, tell us why.
6
I am currently unable to comprehend the evil Trump represents and it’s acceptance by so many people. Perhaps this analogy will be unacceptable to many, but on a day that Germany honors those who failed in their attempt to remove Hitler we continue to let our wannabe dictator run amuck. We seem to be moving backwards.
4
Ummmm........Donald Trump believes he is the new Lincoln.
3
"After pretending fleetingly that he had been unhappy that some in the crowd at his North Carolina rally chanted “Send her back” about Representative Ilhan Omar, the president returned to his natural habitat of hate."
His natural habitat of hate was also on full display in 2016 when he encouraged the chant "lock her up" about Hillary Clinton. His crowds chanting "lock her up" was shown repeatedly on TV and quoted in print media with nary a rebuttal about it from anyone.
Where was the outrage then? He was as much of a "Dishonest Don" then but not much was made of it. Instead the label C _ OO _ ED Hillary was what was heard when the truer label was Dishonest Don.
3:30 PM 7/20/19
4
Maureen. You have done it again. I still hope there are more Americans that believe as AL. Than DT
Thank u
“He doesn’t worry about inciting violence against those he slimes. When I asked him about that in 2016, he said that he thought the rabid mood and physical altercations at his rallies added a mood of excitement, and that his political journey into the heart of darkness is what got him to No. 1, so why wouldn’t he continue it?”
He told you this in 2016, and you continued to write columns criticizing Mrs. Clinton. Warning us.
Shame on you.....
7
Maureen, I know that this comment is off topic but at some point please revisit your interview with “the Stable Genius” prior to his election. I would like you to throw his non denial denial in regards to complicity in abortions in his wilder days in the faces of his Evangelical supporters. It is long over due.
8
Trump has brought the explicit use of racist tropes and stereotypes of professional wrestling into the world of politics. He attacks the Squad in much the way Hulk Hogan use to take on the Iron Shiek. But the Iron Sheik explicitly played the role of the heel. Trump is unfairly making the Squad into heels with racist carcitures and lies to demonize them for political gain. This isn’t entertainment, but mean-spirited manipulation of his white base that can have dangerous consequences.
2
"Abraham Lincoln led us through a tragedy. Donald Trump is one. With malice toward all; with charity for none". That last sentence shook me. It is so true. I wonder what your brother Kevin would say?
2
Who cares about white working class voters? They are dumb, uneducated, easily manipulated, likely racists and get their news from Fox who plays them for suckers. Trump got elected by selling fear and hate to stupid people and he'll do it again because that's what this country is.
The Ds can build a coalition of smart women, educated whites, African Americans, hispanics and other minorities and take over this country if they will fight for what they believe in and stop chasing Trumps base who aren't going to vote for a Democrat ever.
5
For the sake of the future of America PLEASE vote for whoever the democratic candidate is and to all the decent democratic contenders- focus on defeating racism and do NOT tear each other apart. We need you all-on the same team regardless of who is the final candidate. I suggest all of you become a part of the new administration in other positions-God knows we need you all!
3
So clever, Ms. Dowd. And you've accomplished . . . what?
4
Too bad this columnist wrote puff pieces about Trump during the 2016 campaign -- always trashing Hillary in the process -- while lunching with him at one of his hotels. She was one of his great enablers. Took joy in calling a strong and decent president like Obama "Barry," while helping to prop up this traitor/racist/rapist -- you name it. Journalists who turned a blind eye bear a lot of responsibility for our having this guy take a wrecking ball to our country.
12
"We're all stuck on the flypaper." Please stop, Maureen, he's not that smart, indeed he's probably demented. Nancy, please start the impeachment proceedings. Is it possible you will end up re-electing this clown, the worlds's worst orange combover, if you assert yourself? Possibly. More likely you will re-elect him by doing nothing.
6
In a way this columnist is at the catalytic center, at least, of the President's present racist rampage, "whipping up" the electorate. My god, what a pathetic image this republic is, at the moment. So it is fitting for her to work through it in public, for really no one else is closer to being that sweet little spur in the flank of thrills and spills in his cavorting trampling of our liberties, than this innocuous scribe in her quaintly caustic phrases.
5
Maureen - Terrific column
Maureen, we remember you incessantly attacking Hillary Clinton for piddling things just because you did not like her. Congratulations. You helped unleash Trump on us all.
12
It took much too long to recognize trump is a liar and a racist.
4
With all of your efforts to bring down Hillary Clinton in 2016, you took a nosedive into the flypaper back then. All your criticism of trump now is like the feeble leg quivering of a stuck fly.
11
Trump is doing everything for rich people and corporations and nothing for anyone else ... No wait! The "base" gets to be openly racist! Ain't that a hoot! He's trying to damage or take away their health care and start a war that their kids will get killed in, but hey, being openly racist and mouthy in the grocery store sure is worth it! Keep on keeping on, Dear Leader!
3
Bingo!, Maureen. Bingo!!
Yeah, yeah,yeah Maureen.
Still think Agent Orange in the White House is preferable to HRC?
How about owning the person you promoted?
11
Wait, did you just compliment Hilary? We are doomed.
Trump's presidency, the worst of our nature, so perfectly put into the context of the best of our nature. The irony is his effort to turn the US into a true “sh-thole” country (polluted air, crumbling infrastructure, widening disparities, bigotted) a typical term in his woefully limited vocabulary used to demagogue his supporters. Compare that to the Second Inaugural Address or King's Letter from the Birmingham Jail. How have we fallen so low?
1
Donald Trump is the embodiment of what the Founding Fathers tried to control in making three branches of government with checks and balances.
He is a malignant personality.
But the Electoral College and Hillary Clinton's missteps elected him, that sociopath Mitch McConnell enables him, his MAGA fans feed his ego, left-liberal Democrats give him ammunition, and the rest of us can only hope we can survive this cult of personality.
I don't think we will.
When people used to express indignation over the rise of Germany's Hitler, I used to shrug and say, Well, they elected him; it could happen here.
To more indignation and denial.
So it has.
Like Middle Eastern countries that elect religious parties, and Germany, who elected Hitler, we will, here in America, in the near future, find elections canceled.
2
Don’t ordinary working people have any sense of smell to detect the sickening stench of corruption that surrounds DJT and his henchmen? These working people are having their pockets picked. Why are Trump’s tax returns which the Trumpists are breaking the law to hide and every person who ran for president since Nixon, has made public not made public? What awful secret is he trying to hide? Why are the Democrats and the still free press not demanding their production?
Maybe, if he gets a 2nd term, which means that his tax returns remained secret until election day. there will be a new Mt. Rushmore project announced. The new heads to be carved into the rock face will be Trump, Putin, Mussolini, Hitler and the founder of the KKK.
Anyway there will be billions raised for the project. Those donating ten million dollars or more will be given a special presidential medal, allowing the donor to nominate a federal judge.
1
"Abraham Lincoln led us through a tragedy. Donald Trump is one. With malice toward all; with charity for none."
*******
I cannot see any reason to elaborate on a statement that covers everything that has happened since Trump took office.
The whole hijacking of the nation’s birthday on the 4th of July, at the sacred Lincoln Memorial, was a complete and utter farce. Especially the insane remarks about airports in the 1700 hundreds etc., and not having VIP tickets available for all, not just his gullible red base of supporters, and all on the tax-payers dime. Good thing he stuck strictly to his malfunction teleprompter, or his re-election campaign would have had to foot the entire bill. This man thinks the Treasury Dept. is his own personal piggy bank. Too bad it rained on his parade, so to speak. It couldn’t have happened better to a more worst and vile individual one, and besides having come from a reality television show background, he sure can’t read or ad-lib worth a damn. Same old boring self. At least Ronald Reagan was a decent B-actor.
Poor Mr. Lincoln. He’s still trying to rid the steps of all the stink. It may take centuries, and unfortunately, I haven’t visited yet. Better pack a mask.
I will be sure to tour the north chamber, thanks Maureen.
2
.....and we shipped the immagrants' children back to Europe and the pacific to fight world wars thus thinning the herd...
There won't be any ideas--"hyper-liberal", "moderate", "center-left" or otherwise --that won't be demonized as ultra-extreme-nation-destroying, and wrapped in a secret agenda of favoring people of color at the expense of white people by Trump. If Trump is re-elected we abandon the very idea of, well, ideas.
"Hyper-Liberal" is a great way to scare people into actually considering a government run by Trump as in any way equivalent to, say, Medicare For All under a government run by, say, Elizabeth Warren.
The biggest sin of the previous administration was a two-month screw-up of the ACA website. Obama took responsibility, told the truth and apologized. Any Democrat, from Biden to Warren can be counted on to do the same. That's the difference. That's what we are voting on--not whether there should be single-payer, vs. a public option.
Does Maureen Dowd have any interest in more than casual categorization, and blithe dismissal of Democrats ideas and character?
The house is on fire-- let's put it out, not engage in whether a fixed rate mortgage would be better than a variable rate, while the flames lick at us and our children are choking on the smoke.
3
Abraham Lincoln was a great president and it’s easy to look the other way on certain views he held. Such as “Lincoln first publicly advocated for colonization in 1852, and in 1854 said that his first instinct would be “to free all the slaves, and send them to Liberia” (the African state founded by the American Colonization Society in 1821).” Did he just say send them back? And “In their fourth debate, at Charleston, Illinois, on September 18, 1858, Lincoln made his position clear. “I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races,” he began, going on to say that he opposed blacks having the right to vote, to serve on juries, to hold office and to intermarry with whites.” A quick google and you will find these historical facts. Soooo be careful of who’s horn you honk. And if after 154 years a wound hasn’t healed I’m not sure it ever will even if you do the dems plan of reparations. After all what good is passing out money going to do? When Trump says he doesn’t care about offending people I think he simply means he’s not PC. And that’s a breath of fresh air! Trumps a lot of things but to beat him the dems need a new candidate the same old same old I’m a far Lefty blab blab blab ,is going to fail. And that dear lady will bring four more years of Trump.
78
@J Clark
While Abraham Lincoln said and wrote all that you claim, he changed his mind on those issues during the war. So insistent on making Lincoln look worse than he should, you stress his earlier ideas about compromise to avoid the war even though he came to reject those very ideas when the war showed compromise was impossible.
Contrary to what you appear to believe and what those like @ Jerry Hough below claim, we cannot know how Lincoln would have reacted to Southern-- and some Northern--intransigence after the end of the war. It is clear, however, that he would not have followed Andrew Johnson's policies. In all likelihood, if the GOP convention in 1864 been held after, rather than before, the fall of Atlanta, there would have been far less pressure on Lincoln to drop Hannibal Hamlin in favor of Andrew Johnson, a War Democrat. Even if Hamlin had been dropped from the ticket, it is unlikely he would have been replaced by Johnson. Before the fall of Atlanta, however, Lincoln and the Republicans seemed doomed. Left off the ticket, Johnson would have been left doddering in his drunken hatred with no real significance in the Senate. Perhaps, Reconstruction may well have been more forceful in its early years and, therefore, more successful. Such are the strange twists of history.
On another point, why am I not surprised that what you consider Trump anti-PC as a "breath of fresh air" is just the "same old same old" foul stench?
215
@J Clark Lincoln knew the costs of war and was simply saying if there were another way that he thought was possible he would consider it. Please take this cup away from me. Lincoln was clear and was against slavery. He organized opposition and best represented abolitionists. Republican President Lincoln stands in stark contrast to the current Republican President. Maureen Dowd has hit a nail on the head for many reasonable people.
106
While you are right that a quick google search will bring up these facts about Lincoln’s views on race, you leave out something important: his views evolved. The quotes you mention are all from before he was elected president.
You could quibble about the practical effect of the Emancipation, but keep this in mind: he, at the beginning of his second term also considered giving former slaves the vote. Something that very few national politicians would dare utter.
Another thing that should be noted is that his views on race were within the mainstream for his day. Trump’s views on race, on the other hand, would be right at home in the south of 100 years ago during the resurgence of the Klan (after Birth of a Nation was released).
Lastly I would also make this suggestion: being respectful of other people’s backgrounds is not being Politically Correct, it is just correct.
175
Trump's economy is already slowing, and will go into recession before the election.
Domestic and global corporate investment in the country is declining, not growing. This is hurting the economy he inherited.
The corporate tax cut gave a one-time boost to stock prices, but there is no multiplier effect because unlike projections, corporations neither increased wages for workers or invested.
The trade war has been an unmitigated disaster.
The tariffs he enacted predictably resulted in international retaliation, breaking up long-existing supply chains and causing the trade deficit to reach a record level of nearly $1 trillion dollars. This reduces growth.
The income inequality accelerated by his corporate and millionaire tax cut pushed wealth and income to those with lower propensities to consume, slowing the velocity of money and economic growth.
Slowing or stopping legal immigration and hurting global trade are terrible policies that stymie economic growth. Immigrants just don't take jobs, they make them.
No one is for unprotected borders, but blocking the pathway to citizenship for the undocumented and new immigrants are a headwind to economic growth.
If all citizens shared in the benefits to the economy from immigration, free trade, and domestic investment through a minimum income dividend, the pie would grow and be more equitably shared, and have wider popular support.
3
The Media constantly plays into Trump's hands. Every tweet, every statement is covered ad nauseam. They are doing the same thing they did in 2016 and this will help him get elected again.
8
@evributjon
Yup. And yup.
1
There is no antidote to Trump, not within the Democratic party, not within the media, not among Republicans. Not yet anyway. The societal landscape in this comparably barren age of emojis and real fake news has elevated the vapid. The body politic is thread bare, and devoid of interesting, credible messengers who can appeal across the divide. Trump's Presidential excesses do not justify thoughtless political neophytes feeding his delusions by demanding the abolition of ICE for example, but they do. That is a patently bad idea, especially in the current climate, because it implies their promotion of unprotected borders and eventually unintended consequences. Unimaginative whining about Trump's base is a tiresome, unhelpful chorus repeated daily across the main stream media and by his political opponents. I recognize, that there is good reason for hand wringing. But such refrains only echo vast emptiness in a vast space, where there should be coherent opposition to the President's inartful political thuggery. Biden's inability to craft an intelligent, coherent message reflects a lifetime of wobbly political choices at a time when our country craves clarity and consistency. When asked how he would respond to Trump's meanspirited attacks, he responded that he would challenge him to push ups and say, "come on man". Yet the polls prop him up as viable. In a contest of vapid vs vapid, vapid wins.
1
Come November 2020 I'm voting for the Democrats on my ballot, no matter if it is city council, county council, county commissioner, mayor, sheriff, senator or president. I hope we all do the same.
7
Trump is a divider. I will vote for any Democrat who has the means to disarm him. I am 71 years old and remember Nixon. Nixon had some good ideas but Trump is unable to do anything except mouth off. I worry about his base. I marched for civil rights in the 1960's. I am too old to march now. I thought all this hatred was gone but it has bubbled up from the surface under Trump. I fear for my beloved country. And I do not understand the Republican party any more.
9
“Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don’t mean to do harm, but the harm (that they cause) does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.”
—T. S. Eliot
Self-absorbed, vicious, malicious, mean, pathological liar...
I think we have thrown the thesaurus at him as Mr Bruni mentioned in his recent Op-ed.
Time to ignore Mr Trump.
Leave his buffoonery for his Republican support.
Dems do have a lot of work to do.
If media were to ignore him even for five straight days, Mr Trump's ego would suffer an insult worse than any poll defeat. Why haven't everyone caught onto this man's weaknesses?
Wreck havoc by silence.
Narcissist can take on anyone by their blatant denials of wrong-doing, what they can't handle is being ignored and damning silence.
7
Every negative word the media expends on Trump ups the anger one degree on his base. Every CNN panel on his racism adds a few more believers to Trump's "real man" myth. Every MSN piece about his miserable misogyny gives him a few more white male voters.
Those who despise the man -- and I do -- continue to relish hating on this guy. But it's like throwing our recycling into a huge landfill. It's accomplishing nothing, and could well hand the demagogue 2020.
WWLD? What would Lincoln do? I don't know, he had his own faults. But thank goodness 24-hr-a-day media didn't cover the run-up to the 1860 election. Television viewers might've tired of the anti-Abe/pro-Abe stuff and failed to show at the ballot box.
1
It is hard for the old in our country not to cry! We have witnessed so much, but never anything so debilitating like this.
7
To be sure, Nancy Pelosi has her work cut out for her. The current crop of presidential candidates are doing their best to cater to the "woke taliban" who are as rigid as they are extreme. Their insane demands for reparations for slavery are a huge gift for Trump. Promising everything for free, for everyone is the cherry on the cake. Hold the line, Nancy!
3
The Oppressor Class - the top 1% - has used the white, working classes as a buffer against people of color and all others that seek to weaken the Oppressor Class's hold on power and money. This is nothing new. This is simply the white hegemonic alliance.
4
If only Republicans studied Lincoln,
rather than just used his name for some kind of cover: Party of Lincoln.
Trump has no shame and the GOP have no shame. But i am ashamed
for their buried consciences.
4
Maureen you have heard of hybrid cars, you know ones that work off of both fossil fuels and electric to increase mileage. This is the way we should view our party (democrats) a hybrid mixture of centrist democrats(corporate democrats like you) and democratic socialists(like me) not just not the same old corporate democrats running the show. That didn't fare well in the last presidential election. Time to sell a new Democratic party and win.
1
It's time to look past Trump and examine all the faces in the Red Hatted swarm behind him. Nobody does anything to us unless we do it to ourselves first.
3
Many democrats aren’t hearing anything outside of their own bubble of reaction and outrage. Trump is a provocateur who thrives on chaos, corruption and confusion. His insults and dog whistle bigotry is intentional and effective. He’s uses the tactics of mob incitement and creates a Roman circus like atmosphere where he’s the ring master and everyone, & I mean everyone is his audience. As Trump has said before “its just politics and I’m winning“. So despite the level of awareness that we “all” are being played by this carnival barker the democrats keep reacting and the republicans keep playing along. This is a recipe for disaster. If all the democrats can do is react to the Donald as he plays the Twitter troll then he “wins”. Remember, all Trump cares about is “winning” not governing, not the nations welfare, just winning. So yeah Trumps a sociopath that says mean offense nonsense “for effect”. Please stop being openly effected and reactive to the jerk. Trump said ?, yeah that’s just Trump being himself, ignorant and manipulative. Ignore the jerk. Now how about affordable health care and jobs that pay a living wage........
3
While I too find great inspiration from the Lincoln Memorial, my focus has been on another building in DC, The Capital. A building which symbolizes the business of America.
Dowd is so right that our Congress is stuck. The dysfunction, acrimony and total abdication of duty to oath have made it at best a laughingstock. The entire Congress twitches to the tweet and that is it for 'doing the work of the people'. Nothing else gets accomplished because McConnell is the grave digger.
Trump is a man not one person in Congress would even snicker at this morning if he was back in his Trump Tower. A Con man TV Reality Star that only Page Six gave notice to while an entire city of over 8 million tried to ignore. Trump's plot to expand his brand and gain the ultimate TV Reality Star Spot was based upon racist Birtherism nonsense.
One could say it's not HIS fault that American media took up the Birtherism and ran with it all the way to the bank. And the main stream media has been feeding this beast ever since. Racism is the only 'idea' or 'policy' that Trump can speak to with true authenticity. And like the good Republican he became, the GOP welcomes his screed if not the method.
We have had our heads in the sand for over a century regarding racism and hate in America. We argue over the facts of history and the vision of our future.
What is of supreme imperative is that Donald Trump, the grifter malignant narcissist, not be allowed to shape, frame, direct or influence our national debate.
3
" But with his vile “go back” rant against four American Democratic congresswomen, the president — at least for now — achieved his stated aim of “marrying” the speaker to the far-left squad."
For Dems to get through this, millennials are going to have to understand what trump is doing, and why, while there is a lot of spunk on the far Left in congress, it too has to learn to work with people; and, to evoke Kamala Harris, not make a very questionable issue of busing for personal gain. It plays right to trump.
This is why Nancy Pelosi is Democrats' best friend. And there is a *lot* on her shoulders right now. She is steering the Democratic ship to the 2020 election. Unlike for trump, who jerks his party anywhere, Speaker Pelosi's is a steady hand.
And idealistic Dems who rally around the extreme Left, in the same way trump supporters gravitate to trump, need to understand Nate Cohn's penetrating analysis of the vote. Either political side can go off the deep end, but it is *reality* that determines the way things happen.
Right now, trump is an incumbent president with an exceedingly good economy. Policies of "The Squad" aren't going to defeat him. In fact, it's been impossible to achieve leadership by the Left in this nation. That reality has been clouded by Republican demagoguery that tags *all* Dems as "Left". Trent Lott's pejorative, "Them Liberals in congress."
Here's to Speaker Pelosi. Maybe she should be our president.
3
The media is responsible for free coverage Trump received that helped propel him into office. Please, be responsible, use the Scientologists playbook, shun him, in order to control and prevent Trump perpetuating lies to the public. No more hanging around in the heat for on the fly lies while the helicopter engines roar in the background, no more oval office photo ops with the background giving legitimacy to lies, those soapboxes are invaluable to him. His title is President, he is not one. Relentlessly pursue the quintet Mulvaney, Mnuchin, Miller, Kushner, Ivanka Trump they make the policies his big donors want. Don't let them defer you to the President give the reasons that isn't productive. Your job is to report facts to the American people. The President has said inaccurate statements throughout his term, the President is not consistent day to day, the President needs a Press Secretary in order for us to report to the American people, the President is preoccupied with campaigning and golf.
To the media: Do you choose to be American heroes or indirectly contribute billions to Trump's campaign? We will start Go Fund Me pages should you go rogue and be fired.
3
Advice to Speaker Nancy Pelosi regarding Trump flypaper:
Say what is true. Do what is right. There is no president in our history more deserving of impeachment—by orders of magnitude—than Donald Trump.
Stop worrying about end-games and calculations and backlashes. Don't you realize how energizing and galvanizing it is to do what is right? Yes, the cowardly Senate Republicans, but the Articles of Impeachment will be loud and clear and publicly sounded.
You may just be surprised at the energy and benefits and uniting of your caucus as we prepare for November 2020.
3
You only got stuck if you let yourself.
Plenty of American citizens are not letting themselves get stuck. However, they don't have the message amplification power that opinion writers and journalists have.
You guys, I know, are trying to be neutral. So the New York Times doesn't get labeled more of a leftist paper than it already has been. So you can keep your wide audience. So the paper can stay in business.
But as someone recently said, Pelosi it was: Trump is an existential threat to our entire country, our way of life, our democracy.
We are at war with this man.
If the soldiers on the front line, and that means you guys in part, acknowledge that in action, it improves our chance of winning.
The message in this column is mopey, bending in the face of his hot air, almost complacent, as if anticipating a loss. Elegantly written. But not fight-y enough.
Last week's column with a huge punch in the face to Trump. We need more of the columns that you write like that. (Excuse my weird syntax.)
1
We should all realize that Trump is self loathing. He redirects his self hatred outward. Giving it back to him only feeds his frenzy. We should learn to ignore him, and talk about constructive ideas. And maybe Congress could grant some money for daily therapy for a man who hates himself above all else.
2
At some point will you address the vile comments made by the Gang of Four? Will you address their inability to condemn Antifa? Let’s not make everything about race.
"Given some of the hyper-liberal ideas tossed out by the Democrats"
There is the problem. The Liberal media thinks progress is not an option. "Hyper-Liberal"? Are you being hyperbolic? I want free college and flying cars and and...I don't want to open coal mines and pollute the air and sell bombs to saudi arabia. Get my point yet? You useless Liberals accept ultra-conservative Republicans all the while skewering the Left.
Stop with your useless circular firing squad. It only lets people like Trump always win. The useless Liberal media would do well to stop condemning progressive women of color all the while repeating lies and propaganda by the Republicans. I always say it is the 4th estate who is complicit in ruining our democracy.
1
You endorsed him. why?
5
Once again, Maureen, your rapier-sharp rhetorical skills have left your target (one amoral, unstable, slimy, boorish, hateful and malicious Donald J. Trump) in shreds.
Yes, those are all your words which you chose to describe Mr. Trump. And I admire your journalistic restraint. My list would have included "racist", "criminal" and "neo-fascist".
But you also used a few words to characterize today's Democrats - including "far-left" and "hyper-liberal".
I respectfully take exception to your use of these adjectives when referring to ANY current Democratic Congressperson (including the four women known collectively as "the Squad") or ANY of the Democratic presidential candidates.
Please consider today's Democratic Party in historical perspective. For starters, please read FDR's "Second Bill of Rights" from his 1944 SOTU address:
http://www.ushistory.org/documents/economic_bill_of_rights.htm
Please also read Harry Truman's clarion call in 1945 for universal health care:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/november-19-1945-harry-truman-calls-national-health-insurance-program
Finally, please recall that LBJ finally got universal health care for Americans over 65 and the poor - over half a century ago.
FDR, Truman and LBJ were all "real Democrats". They fought to "promote the general welfare" for ALL Americans. But today no one calls them "far-left" or "hyper-liberal".
So why do you slime today's Democrats with these labels? Why are you doing Trump's dirty work for him?
3
Maureen, the man who occupies the presidency is the prince of darkness. A malevolent malcontent who unabashedly and unashamedly revels in the worst aspects of the human condition. From what I read and heard most intelligent people in Manhattan had this emotionally stunted man (if I may call him that) figured out decades ago and shut him and his family out of their lofty circles. His history of racism stretches back nearly five decades from the open discrimination he and his equally bigoted father practiced against minorities in their rental practices to the falsely accused Central Park Five to his slanderous birtherism against President Obama. My question is this: why did so many in the mainstream media obsess about Hillary Clinton's server and e-mails (egad! the fall of the Republic) instead of doing its job and seriously investigate Donald Trump?
The media failed all of us in this regard, so enchanted were they by the sparkly new object called DJT. The enthusiastic coverage of his incendiary rallies, the soft pedaling of his blatant lying, and the oh-doesn't-it-feel-good-to-stick-it to the-Clintons. Now you have editorials from coast to coast screaming that the president of the United States is a racist. Again, where have all of you been the past fifty years?
Constitutional crisis? We crossed that Rubicon on January 20, 2017 when Donald Trump placed his hand upon a Bible and lied when he promised to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. It's endgame now.
3
Oh, please, please, stop saying "far left" about people who, by European standards, are dead center. If their candidacy delivers the election to Trump, it will be because of you and the others like you trying for false equivalence between moderate socialist ideas and racist and sexist sludge.
The New York Times is a powerful force. Not only do a lot of voters read it, but so do the news writers at CNN and MSNBC. Times columnists have a specific duty to expose, not contribute to, redbaiting.
2
"When I asked him about that in 2016,"
Ah, yeah. Hate to bring this up again, but it's hard to hear you criticize Trump now when you were so hateful to the Clintons and Obama and seemed to think Trump was somehow better. What were you saying in 2016?
One could go back and score you columns, but you didn't get into the sane mode of realizing how bad Trump was until a significant time into his actual presidency, long after 2016.
I don't remember anything you wrote in 2016 that would have steered potential voters away from Trump. I mean, it took you two years into this horrible administration for you to stop adding anti-Clinton snark to every piece you wrote!
You're a talented writer with keen observation and analytical skills. Why didn't you help us out and use them in 2016? What will do you going forward?
6
While many have re-read "1984" to look for parallels with Trump's two years, the book that describes spot-on similarities is Philip Roth's "The Plot Against America." In it, anti-semite Charles Limbergh defeats FDR in the 1940 presidential election. He admires and forms alliances with Hitler and a prince - Konoye, premier of Japan. He draws attention to himself every day by flying a plane over DC. Legal immigrants and Jews are fearful for their lives because of Lindbergh's hateful rhetoric. Roth's father provides probably the best line that describes the difference between Trump's base and others opposed to him: "They live in a dream. We live in a nightmare."
3
Can someone please explain to me why people who proudly, loudly, and with a smile say and do unquestionably racist things don’t like to be called racists? I would think the resident of the WH would be happy to be called racist, and his minions would be thrilled to finally be able to embrace the term publicly. It would definitely unite that base. Why, then, are Republicans, the Senate Majority Leader, and the NYT so loathe to use the term to describe what racists are doing and saying?
2
All these because Trump is thin skinned. He can dish it but he can’t take it. What a coward.
Of course to Republicans, this cowardice is called patriotism.
Just ask Mitch McConnell, who is married to an immigrant but still defended Trump.
Just ask Ted Cruz, whose wife Trump disparaged by caller her uglier than a dog and yet manned the phones during Trump’s campaign.
Keep ‘Merica Great!
5
All very high minded, Ms. Dowd but let's not forget that all your snarky comments against Mrs. Clinton, helped get the current president elected. Everyone needs to remember this fact.
7
Trump is vulnerable to embarrassment. He's spent his entire life gilding his low-class criminal family, even to the point of commissioning a phony British family crest. He needs to be publicly and frequently described as a fool, a charlatan, a poor student and a lousy business man. Much of the country still thinks he's a great business man. That perception must be pierced.
1
So...racism works cause we're racist? Or being turned racist by Trump's brilliant thought altering abilities?
This column is a forthright condemnation of the worst president in American history.
It begs the question, "What lies ahead?" if we do not have the strength to vote this foul messenger from office.
The last thing I want is to be ashamed of my country. Trump has managed to accomplish that.
2
Stupid me. I thought humans evolved to higher planes into the future. Obviously we are treading water while almost retreating in time. Altho I suspect some of our ancestors were wiser than what we observe on the national stage. I thought an elite educational system produced the best and brightest. What happens in the privacy of the voting booth reflects our true nature in spite of education, experience and religious thought. Perhaps by nature we are not as redeemable as once thought.
Sad!
1
You can’t call Trump a racist because he hates EVERYBODY.
Ms. Dowd, I surely agree that Donald Trump is a hateful man but other hateful men have occupied the White House. He is no more hateful than so many of the Republicans who have shaped the GOP. Think McCarthy, Goldwater, Reagan, Atwater, Rove and the Bushes. They all cultivated the support of the hate-filled segment of American voters.
Throughout your lifetime the GOP has coveted the support of the most hate-filled segment of American voters. I do agree that Donald Trump will never disavow his supporters. The sad truth is that the GOP will never reject that segment of hate filled voters. Republicans love any segment of voters who will drink the GOP Kool-Aid and swear allegiance to the GOP.
Republican support is all about that Kool-Aid.
2
Lincoln didn't have to put up with snowflakes.
Wow. Great closing line.
“He’s onto something” says MCConnell. Yup Trump is onto something....the oldest trick in the book. Racial hatred works every single time. If you don’t believe me, I have a history book to prove it.
2
Comparing Trump to Lincoln. Really, Mo?
2
Are you yet sorry for the part you played in undermining Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama's presidency, while ignoring Trump's obvious predilection for chaos, divisiveness, and bigotry that helped him get elected?
Or will you pretend you had nothing to do with it?
9
Is it Maureen’s job to prop up the Democratic Party or to call it as she sees it?
Love Ya Mo!
Ms. Dowd:
Shouldn't the closing line be "With malice toward all, with charity for (the) One"?
1
What I don’t understand this isn’t Mike Bloomberg the successful businessman or Bob Mueller honest and Bronze Star winner,this is a lying,Draft Dodger,tax cheat ,why have all these tough guys like Rudy and Christie and others deferred to this BUM.This Con is the biggest in American History.
2
Aye lassie, the flypaper is the news mostly.
2
Maureen Dowd, you are not helping, by calling the congresswomen who espouse ideas like health care for everyone, living wages for people who work full time, "hyperliberal."
So very not helpful. Don't you think you "helped" enough in the last election? Your own ego is only minimally smaller than Trump's. We do not need you to insert yourself in the drama this time. Please stop.
5
I laugh out loud when I read that trump is not racist. I roll on the floor when I read trump enablers that say trump never engages in racist behavior. Why is trump the Birther King and Melania the Birther Queen? These creeps are bigots to the bone.
2
Fly feeder versus moth leader.
Eclipse of Moths by Aaron Lynn
Seekers of the light
Charred by the flare of it's aura
Swirling in nocturnal reverie
In ecstatic pursuit of thy prominence
Wings whip with fury
Circling the lambent
Executing allegiance
To the beacon of insight
Obsessed by the brilliance
Enthralled by the shimmering rite
This is an absurd column. To even imagine contrasting this grotesque man with Abraham Lincoln is like contrasting a cockroach to Mozart.
The Republican party stopped being the party of Lincoln at least sixty years ago. In fact, the two parties switched membership almost completely without switching names. The racists, slaveholders and segregationists gradually became Republicans, and the abolitionists and believers in equality, albeit an imperfect and qualified type of equality, became Democrats. Today the Republican party is a seething mass of barbaric hate filled white supremacists and a few hypocrites who provide cover for the barbarians.
Thank God we have people like Maureen to explain how bad and evil one 1/2 of the population and Republican leaders are....But thankfully we have the good and righteous Democrats trying to lead us in the "right" direction. Dowd is the true Paul Revere of her time. I can't wait for the day all the oxygen in the bubble gets used up.
Race is an artificial concept, we are all members of the human race, hominids, sort of different like breeds, and we are a conglomeration of those.
Supporters of Don the Dishonest are bigots, all the bigots have come together to become the defining branch of the GOP. And like their predecessor the National Socialist Party of the 1930s, have united to create a propaganda campaign labeling all the others as Socialist, and by implication, Communist, linking them with totalitarian regimes such as in Venezuela
1
How would you know Ms. Dowd that the far left isn't as committed to change this country as the far right. No one seemed to think that the racist-liar-in-chief would have gotten elected and just look at how the right, the far right and every other "right" or demagogue has embraced him. He seems to have unleashed what was really always here in America -- a hatred for the other. Trump is perhaps the dumbest, most vicious, pathological liar who has nothing but hatred for this country and yet, the Republicans love him, so there it is -- maybe that's a big part of who we are. But remember -- his hatred will most likely swing the far left and most of the country who really hate Trump as far left as they can go, but guess what Ms. Dowd (and please tell your Trump loving brother Kevin this), the far, far left will be a thousand times better than Trump who is destroying this country for his own ego gratification.
2
Could not agree more, then why, oh why, is the image at the top NOT of the Lincoln memorial but that of a hate filled man?
The one who has soiled our nation, like no one else has?
1
Maureen writes like 2018 didn’t happen. Trump is a minority president. He is not expanding his base. She is demoralized, and that is really the flypaper Trump would like the Democrats to get stuck on. It’s the flypaper that keeps voters from the polls. It tamps down enthusiasm and watches with deadened eyes as the hateful mob ransacks all that makes us great and good.
Go to the Lincoln Memorial. Never let the likes of Trump and his cowardly crowd of blow hard bigots keep you visiting the great one and reading his words, words a grateful nation inscribed for all to see, words from which we may pledge ourselves to renew his prayer of unity and charity devoid of malice.
America, the awesome dream, will lift you up. Too many have died, including Mr. Lincoln, for us to abandon it.
Lincoln favored the Old Testament because that’s where David’s warrior psalms could be found and because its history of the Jews wasn’t the foundation for slavery that slavers made of the New Testament. He didn’t make war to unite races however but to keep the nation a nation; he often left slavery to its inevitable demise either by God’s curse on us for embracing it or by insurrection among four million plus slaves in the south of his lifetime once weapons of war lay ubiquitous across the landscape. Trump knows nothing of Lincoln, civil war or common values but is the provocateur of late capitalist plutocracy pyre and simple. He and his ilk will rape humans and the land and the nation’s idea of itself so as to gild the toilet seats of like minded troglodytes. Lincoln loved literature and opera and Greek tragedy, making peace with his death as the price of victory. Trump fears death as surely as a child can’t conceive of it, and has made no peace with the world because he grubs the ground for worms in search of anything that might make him more than he was born to be.
1
As Trump said recently, when he backtracked on disavowing the "Send her back" chants, "The people of our country that ... speak with scorn and hate — that to me is really a dangerous thing.” I'm sure "Crooked Hillary", "Lyin' Ted", "Little Marco", "Crazy Bernie Sanders", "Pocahontas" Warren, or any of people that voted for the four women off color he has scorned would feel that Scornful Donald, "is really a dangerous" person.
Reading Dowd’s battlefield conversion on Trump is laughable and depressing at best, especially when considered in the context of what might have been if she hadn’t done to Hillary exactly what Trump is doing to the squad.
“He doesn’t worry about inciting violence against those he slimes.”
And yet,..Never one word of regret or worry from Dowd when it comes to her sliming Hillary..This column is simply the pot calling the kettle black.
2
Ms. Dowd would be more credible if, in addition to her usual collection of vehement putdowns of President Trump, she had acknowledged that it is the Democrats who play the race card at every turn every chance they get, not exactly keeping in the spirit of Abraham Lincoln that Ms. Dowd invokes.
Disgusting to mention Lincoln in the same article as Don Trump. Lincoln would no doubt be rolling over in his grave if he could somehow witness today's Republican Party and its vile leader.
1
I'm sorry, but I disagree strongly with Mr Lincoln re malice toward none.
As a white southerner (in exile), I have finally come to the conclusion that America's biggest error was the cowardice/exhaustion shown at the end of Reconstruction. The South should have remained an occupied nation for 50 years if that is what it would have taken. Plantations should have been divided and parcelled out to the slaves that worked them. Federal troops should have stayed in the South ensuring that black people had equal rights and the right to vote. Leaders of the Confederacy should have been tried and publicly hung for treason. And the Lost Cause should have been considered revisionist hate speech.
The South was treated way too gingerly. They should have been treated like the Nazis in Germany were. Traitors and criminals. The rest of the nation is still paying for the racist delusions of the South that continue to today.
The Jumbotron in front of the Lincoln Memorial says it all (see photo). Reality television gasbag in front of
a real American.
Sick again.
More and more each day, I find fault with Lincoln's magnanimity towards the South. It was like thinking that you've stopped the epidemic, but you missed a racist version of Typhoid Annie.
1
OK, let the fools have their racist president for another four years. A lot of very good people who happen to be colors other than white will have a very rough time simiply to bring the raging narcissist to a second term. In his second term, he will continue to play to type. He will be racist, mysoginst, narcissistic, a chronic liar----all the things he is now and will continue to be. He can devote himself fulltime to playing golf, whining on Fox and trying to set up the blonde wonder, Ivanka, to succeed him. But woe to those who need health care or help with prescription drugs, or affordable college or an American job that pays well. It ain't gonna happen. Maybe 8 years of Trump will be instructive.
And Lincoln's Grand Old Party has become the Gang of Pissants.
How did the Democrats destroy Trump in the 2018 mid terms? They focused on good candidates , many newcomers, Health care, and local issues. And in far left districts far left candidates ran, and in center left district the reverse. Let's face it, the House can pass great and noble bills but at this moment, with Republican control of the Senate and Trump's veto they will not pass. So, let the squad be the squad, let the moderates do their thing. There will be a fight in the Presidential primaries and whoever wins, both wings need to bury the hatchets and unite no matter what wing of the party comes out on top. This election is so vital that wherever you land on the Democratic spectrum you have to swallow your pride and support and work for the eventual candidate with the same fervor if your candidate loses. A second Trump administration will get 2 to 3 supreme court nominations. Even if a hyper progressive candidate won in 2024 the court would block each and every progressive program they could get passed. Our nation can not survive a second Trump victory. The notion that unless my wing wins I will pout and teach the party a lesson is not an option. If Bernie wins, he becomes my man. If a more moderate candidate wins, then I become a ride and die moderate for the election. There is no room for political purity or third party fantasies. Those arguments can be had after Trump is gone.
1
Maureen seems to be accepting the inevitable. Trump cannot be beaten by reason or any appeal to the decency of the Trump voters. They will vote for him no matter what he says or does, no matter how many failures result from his presidency. In the end the sad fact may be that the blacks (and the liberals) got their black guy for eight years, so now its time for payback, a whiter than white guy to save America from the non whites and turn back the clock to 1950 when all knew their place. A guy who has proven time and time again that he will deliver for his voters at the expense of everyone else. Trump will punish the Democrats/liberals on behalf of the conservatives/Republicans. And because of the electoral college Trump may win again.
The founding fathers never anticipated a president like Trump who would not represent the interests of all Americans and stay in power. They never anticipated the extent to which one party, the Republicans, would use gerrymandering to subvert democracy. So the situation we have come to under Trump is a tyranny of the minority that is working to divide America into two lesser nations. No longer one nation under god but one ruled by a demigod.
Absent a strong Democrat to convey a unifying message, only Trump can defeat Trump. Only Trump overreaching and making the big mistake can stop him from getting re-elected. And it won't be a war, as Trump is too clever to get trapped in a war with all of its potential negative consequences.
271
@USS Johnston I mostly agree except the part about delivering his promises. Day 1 he promised to fix healthcare. He promised a wall paid by Mexico. He promised to bring back coal and manufacturing jobs. None of this has been delivered.
78
"The founding fathers never anticipated a president like Trump who would not represent the interests of all Americans and stay in power."
The founding fathers did indeed anticipate the possibility of a president like Trump but not the dereliction of the Electoral College to allow him to assume office.
87
@USS Johnston Punish the democrats? Did they not deserve it after what they did to Kavanaugh? It's a blood sport and your ox is being gored.
8
This is wildly ahistorical. The massive Catholic immigration of 1835-1860 produced the Know Nothings. The Republicans were formed to unite the Whigs and Know Nothings and transform the hysterical fear of Papal Power into hysterical fear of Slave Power with baseless charges. Lincoln, who wanted to send slaves to Africa and supported the Illinois law to keep free blacks out of the state, led the fight in his debates with Douglas.
Lincoln could have prevented the Civil War with an easy compromise, but no President had been renominated since 1840. If he compromised, the equivalent of the modern gang of 4 would have denied him renomination in 1864. So he rolled the dice. What was 600,000 deaths? Lincoln was renominated
Lincoln's Second Inaugural reflected his Andrew Johnson policy. He would have been impeached too unless he reversed his policy.
As for history, Dowd's famous anti-Clinton articles in the Bush Administration almost surely were based on knowledge of Epstein and a fear of Bill being back in the White House. Let us pray she writes a long autobiography.
55
@Jerry Hough, speaking of ahistorical, your comment leaves out a lot of important history. What compromise would you have had Lincoln make? Like it or not, the Civil War did at least end slavery even though it took many years for the Civil Rights movement to give former slaves and their descendants equal rights under the law. Yes, our country has never completely lived up to its aspirations but we have tried to correct wrongdoing over and over. Trump has tried and sometimes succeeded in leading the country back to our past wrongdoings.
83
@Jerry Hough
Thank you for the history lesson. Too bad Dowd doesn’t have the same respect for historical fact, because it wouldn’t serve her pop history fictions to attack the president. On another note, it’s sad, no tragic, to think the Civil War might have been averted except for political expediency.
6
@Jerry Hough "Lincoln could have prevented the Civil War with an easy compromise,"
Describe the "easy" compromise he should have pursued.
Your assertion of the motives behind Maureen Dowd's Clinton pieces is entirely ahistorical, in that it's based on pure speculation.
42
Declaring Trump supporters and all Republicans to be racists just fans the flames. If the choice is between Trump’s irresponsible rabble-rousing and the identity/racial grievance industry, the electorate will re-elect him. To this day the Resisters (and, it would seem, this columnist) don’t understand that his tricks only work if they play to type. The swing vote for Trump isn’t against immigrants or black people; it’s against the view that you’re either with AOC or you’re a racist. The more you rail against Trump and all his racist supporters, the more you drive people to him. The silent majority is a real thing, and the race card has become a boomerang
It seems like Pelosi is the only one who gets it.
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@RobtLaip
No one is using the "racial grievance industry" more than Trump only he uses it on behalf of white people.
64
@RobtLaip - As I see it, US Representatives Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Pressley and Tlaib, are finally demanding that:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all (people) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
I suggest that if you could ever walk in the shoes of a brown-skinned person, you'd refrain from pejoratives like, "identity/racial grievance industry".
66
@RobtLaip
So what’s the solution to Trump? Let him constantly attack without doing anything? That was the strategy that Bush, Rubio, Cruz, et.al., pursued in 2016 and they got clobbered. Trump cannot be ignored and has to be rebuked, if that results in him being re-elected in 2020 so be it.
23
Ms. Dowd,
Your thoughtful reminder of the elegance and power of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address led me to read it again in full, and, as always when I read Lincoln, I ended up in despair to consider how far the integrity our political leaders has fallen since 1865. To make matters worse, I also re-read Trump's inaugural address and fell further into despair to consider his bombastic nationalistic platitudes and inelegant language. Trump said, "We must speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements honestly, but always pursue solidarity." If Lincoln had said this, he would have lived by it. I wonder how much solidarity The Squad is feeling with Trump right now.
Non-"Trump base" America is adrift in a strange fog of denial, clinging to lingering myths of exceptionalism and deference to the office of the presidency even as Trump and his base blatantly defile them.
This is not politics. Nor is it liberty. This is simply raw hatred combined with overwhelming ignorance. Reporting indicates that aides had to carefully explain to the president why his offending Tweet had created a massive backlash. Yes, Trump's awfulness has jaded us, but just let that sink in for a moment. The U.S. president - the leader of the world's most powerful country - made a public statement exhorting four elected congresswomen, all women of color, to go back to their own countries. Having done so, he failed to see in what way it crossed the line.
Please, rest of America, please let the fog dispel and accept today's reality. This corrosive man and his hate-filled mob of 50 million are an immediate existential threat to the ideals that you continue to take for granted, even as they are trampled into the mud. If you do not act, soon, the American experiment will fail - on your watch.
10
Yes, yes, yes. For the first time in our history we have a president of these United States of America who is first and foremost a cheater and also an ignoramus. He is a terrestrial embarrassment. A 24 hours a day horror show.
Today it is "race" and "go home". Tomorrow or the next day it will be something else assaultive and odious and destructive, because that's who the Trump-con is.
The PROBLEM with Speaker Pelosi just holding her nose (or lecturing like a schoolmarm) and plodding forward to 2020 elections—
Is that we are dealing with an explosively erratic, mentally deranged and malignant entity who calls himself Trump.
He's like a rogue elephant with his trunk wrapped around the main staff of the big top. Who knows what he will twist and turn, or wrest and rip.
Because of the clear and present danger—now, right now, not November 2020—the House of Representatives must do something besides subpoena and file lawsuits.
The Constitutional remedy for here and now—the house is on fire, do something!—is articles of impeachment, even if the malignant blight is not excised by a cowardly Senate.
And yes, we proceed full steam with preparations for November 2020 at the same time.
2
Unfortunately, the Republican party has morphed into the RepubliKlan party. It has been that for some time, made only more apparent by Trump.
5
When Trump stood in front of Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial on July 4th, I could barely stand it. When at the end of his speech, the Army choir sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic with Trump standing there, I lost it. To co-opt that glorious song about the struggle to cast out slavery and heal America -- it was perversion. Evil. Sin.
7
"...with the real base, as opposed to the Twitter base."
Could you be any more condescending?
I don't use Twitter. But thanks for excluding me from the Democratic party's "real base" just because I am a liberal progressive. What party should I go to?
By the way, Republicans win by embracing their beliefs loudly (and cheating), not by pretending to be Democrat-lites.
1
From its inception, America has been in a war with itself over whether it is a white supremacist nation. The language and demographics of its original documents and population said no; its leaders said yes.
Lincoln, himself, was in turmoil, oscillating between wanting to liberate blacks and sending them all to Africa.
Simply put, Donald Trump is the reincarnation of the proposition that America is a nation of white people, made by white people, for white people.
2
Ilhan Omar and Saikat Chakrabarti are an absolute godsend to Trump. They will likely deliver him the 2020 election. If Trump takes Minnesota...... we can all go scream our hearts out.
2
"We have met the enemy and he is us." --Pogo
2
If anyone criticizes Trump, he says they hate America. Even usually rational Republicans claim Omar should have said:”America is great and I, a Somali refugee feel grateful...nonetheless...I think it would be better if...”
Resentments are broad; racism is deep.
No one suggested the relentless rude attackers of President Obama should be denounced as hating America. O’Reilly, Hannity, McConnell, the jerk who yelled You lie! during a state of the union address nor the Birthers were hostile & contemptuous.
Meanwhile, Obama had lifted us out of a recession and restored international respect for US policies. Alliances, coalitions, treaties flowered.
Trump, in a tantrum, smashed it all up. He demands adoration or accused critics of betraying their country. The pot is calling the kettle black...so to speak.
6
Where's President Obama during this mess? Trump has crossed way too many lines for Obama to stand on ceremony. He is the only Democrat with the gravitas to cut through each side's news bubbles and take the fight directly to Trump. But a $40million book deal, $400,000 speeches and fancy dinner parties are more fun. Get off the bench and into the fight!
3
What about simply ignore the blob. He feeds upon his opponents' outrage. Stop feeding the beast, that would probably make him even angrier, and crazier, but weaponless. He loves the fight? good, let's take away the fight. He loves to insult because he enjoys the reactions? excellent, stop reacting. Take him away from news and threads and posts and everything. Just some brief recap of his actions for the government, pay no attention whatsoever to his tweets. Turn your head away when he trots toward the chopper craving for attention, don't question him at all. Just ignore the show. See the guy going out of his head in 5-4-3-2-1...
5
Since Ms. Dowd apparently thinks that investment banker and most hated [former] Chicago mayor on record, Rahm Emanuel, is the go-to-guy for Democrats to "up their game", it's hard to who know who provokes the most despair -- Dowd or Trump.
3
In reply to JRD, it’s not hard at all. That you should think it is , makes you an outsider .
I know it's been said before: Trump is a symptom. As Maureen rightly points out, appealing to racism is a GOP tradition but Trump has taken it out of the closet and lit it up on full display.
Trump is betting, and Nate Cohn agrees, that there are enough racists in America just waiting for a chance to express themselves to give Trump a clear victory in 2020.
Trump and his cabal, at every turn, are using the bully pulpit to make full-throated racism ok. Trump is basing his campaign on racist liberation. No longer do the KKK, Aryan Brotherhood and garden variety haters need to slink around in the shadows. They are "fine people" in Trumpland.
So maybe, in a democracy like ours, people who believe in equal justice under law, who judge people by the content of their character and not the color of their skin and who still agree with Emma Lazarus that we are the great melting pot are the minority that is oppressing the national will.
And if the non-racist minority truly endorses our democratic system of government, what do we do when the majority votes for white nationalism and hate of the other?
Trump "loves" his base with a narcissistic love, which is not real love at all. Trump cares only about Trump; his only goal is 'Trump wins.' Sadly, all those cheering people in MAGA hats (or now incredibly KAG) are badly deluded, if they really think that the big orange guy actually cares one jot about people like them. He does not.
5
Message to Democrats: the election in 2020 is about one thing - removal of Donald Trump. All else follows the original sin: electing the least qualified, most destructive president in history. instead of making a careful, reasoned judgement - especially in the rust belt states.
(Fictitious) John Smith from Ohio thought, in his down-home, aw-shucks kind of way, "Maybe we need to shake up Washington, get a businessman in there, to fix Washington." That was the level of their thinking: THAT'S THE PROBLEM: Poor reasoning, thoughtlessness, carelessness, recklessness.
The "tag-along" centrists, corporatists, and establishment types wanted POWER. The independents were swayed by the Clinton smear machine. They also sawthe WH as their possession, to be owned by them solely. They wanted SCOTUS picks. They wanted tax cuts. They wanted political correctness to get burned. They wanted a know-nothing as it would support their great dean, Ronald Reagan, when he said "government isn't the solution, it's the problem."
When you give a chaos-based, narcisistic, feckless/lazy, pandering, win-at-any-cost candidate all the levers of power this is what you get...Donald Trump...He's treacherous.
3
So right.
More distorted definitions of our political spectrum.
The 'far-left' squad? That just dismisses them with no explanation. What's left, what's far left?
Same with 'some of the hyper-liberal ideas tossed out by the Democrats' .... 'Pelosi will have to work harder than ever to keep her party’s image where it needs to be ...' Oh, Poor Pelosi!
Is hyper lib the same as left or far left? Whatever. No wonder Americans are so manipulated.
Easy phrases, that propagandize and mislead. A NYT op ed columnist could be more precise and responsible --- and write a more interesting column---if she has any interest in our political ideas at all, instead of just the personalities of a Reality TV political drama.
No wonder so many US voters are confused . No wonder the cautious Democrats like Pelosi, just watch the 'public opinion winds'. But who and what is shaping those winds of public opinion?
1
Beautiful piece and spot on. Getting a democrat in the highest office is a full time job for us all that many of us have taken on. As is getting Mitch and the rest of these racist GOP out of office.
Lincoln turned over in his grave on July 4 and the rain was his tears crying for the country. The racism that dripped out of his bigoted mouth will not be forgotten or gone unanswered.
Everyone read the Mueller report and get mad
It is time for Trump to step down and save the country from embarrassment. The same can be said for journalists who like to be cute without understanding the consequences of their writings.
1
"Racial polarization" has been the key to Republican success since Richard Nixon's "southern strategy." With Donald Trump it has reached a new dangerous, in fact, terrifying, level. For Trump doesn't use it just to get elected as Nixon, Reagan and Bush pere et fils did, but actually to govern. What that means is that the cruel racism that led to the death of a young white women, Heather Heyer, in Charlottesville; the massacre of 11 Jewish worshipers in their Pittsburgh synagogue by a fanatic Trump follower angered that they might be aiding immigrants; and the over dozen deaths of these immigrants, mostly children, locked in inhuman conditions will become the "ethnic cleansing" program of a Trump second term. This level of overt racism will take America back to its darkest days of the post-Civil War with its "de jure" segregation upheld by the Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson, Jim Crow, and the thousands of lynchings of newly emancipated African-Americans throughout the South. And it is the South where "the vintage of the grapes of wrath" are still stored and spewing forth their toxic race-hating chants orchestrated by Demagogue Don. This is the truly dark shadow that Trump is casting over the legacy of Lincoln and America as he seeks to impose an autocratic white male supremacy that our forefathers fought our bloodiest war, the Civil War, to prevent.
4
@Paul Wortman
Agree with much here, but we have to remember that Donald Trump is New York City's own, and audiences for his race-baiting are not limited to the South.
You mean the city- and state - that trounced him in the election? get a clue, brother. that creep does not represent NYC
1
What is with the constant put down of progressives in the Democratic Party? What would FDR surmise from everything written this week? The "Squad" are FDR Democrats.They would have been considered moderates years ago.They do not have corporations or big money behind them.
This 62 year old white woman Independent is behind them 100 percent.I'm more than sick of the economic inequality and bigotry rearing it's ugly head in MY country.
trump and his sycophants, and screaming, bigoted rallies are a stain on our country. Time to take our country back, for the majority of our people, for our children and grandchildren.
8
"Democrats need to up their game to avoid the traps Trump is constantly setting for them."
You yourself must be the change you want. Om
We lost the first battle with Trumpism, but I choose to view the past few weeks as evidence we're winning the war.
MIndless blather about "liberals" apparently no longer works, so now their on to "socialists".
The campaign targeting Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters in 2018 was such a complete failure they're now on to new targets in Omar and AOC.
What they used to call radical ideas of the left are now anti-American.
The Republican racial dog-whistles of the past are being abandoned for a more direct form of racism.
Yes, the 40-45% appear beyond redemption, but with 55% completely opposed to Trump already, I have to believe there are very few additional voters Republicans can gain with such shallow tactics.
A brilliant piece, Ms. Dowd. All that's missing is to note that, were he to be unleashed for a second term, President Flypaper could easily become President Black Plague to the rule of law.
His M.O. is simple: "Stop me if you can."
Lincoln's name and Trump's should never be uttered in the same sentence because Trump's name cheapens and denigrates Lincoln's.
A President whose only interest is packing an auditorium with as many hate-filled, racist white people as can fit isn't the President of the rest of us, which is why a true majority of Americans don't accept him as their President.
3
Please forget the nonsense about"far-left" policies or anything similar. The USA population has been inundated with corporatist, extreme right-wing propaganda and public policy since the election of Reagan in 1980. That was the watershed, when the extreme right of USA politics came to national power. The impact of the persistence of the extreme right in power, among other phenomena, is the existence of billionairedom, a social sickness, rather than the deified existence that the media, egged on by the extreme right itself, make it out to be.
Regarding Mr. Trump, no worse an exemplar of human behavior exists. The less attention, none ideally, paid to this disgusting, less-than-useless narcissist/criminal/sexual predator, the better. He exists to draw attention to himself. HIs so-called "rallies" are white supremacist tent meetings.
2
I sense an increasing fear among you and your democratic friends Ms Dowd,after two plus years
of you and your colleagues in the media bashing Trump you aren’t succeeding.You complain about
the hatred Trump is causing but the vitriolic hate you and your colleagues readers express in the
comments they write about your articles are just as hateful as anything the right has done.
Rhetoric is now way to hateful by all sides with no where to go and no Lincoln stepping forward
on either side.
Trump could easily get re-elected no matter who his opponent. Halq Of our fellow citizens have been given the permission to be RACIST!
1
I believe that Trump has already lost the 2020 election and is secretly relieved, but since elections are about money we are going to relive this kind of stupidity for another 15 months. I don’t believe the big money is behind Trump, he is to dangerous to hot temper and no one likes a blow heart. The Republicans wanted the corporate tax cut and they wanted a Supreme Court seat, and they got it. Real Republicans don’t like Trumps and will either stay home or not vote for him, they will bid their time to defeat the Democratic President after that person upseats Trump.
Name a modern state that hasn't been built on blood and conquest, doesn't sustain itself on exclusion.
America enjoys the unique privilege of being able frequently and convincingly to pretend otherwise.
Bismarck: "God has a special providence for drunks, madmen, and the United State of America."
How rich is it that djt called the women communists when he sits beside, meets alone with, compliments and jokes with the #1 communist, Putin. He also doesn't care that Russians demonstrably meddled with our election. Who is the real supporter of communism?
1
It would indeed be a sad swan song for frightened whites to elect Trump for a second term and forever set in motion the ruination of this country. In the past, a largely white nation voted in such great presidents as Lincoln, both Roosevelts, and Kennedy. These were men who ushered in big projects and ideas that burnished America’s reputation as a great nation. Now we have a good many white people buying the lies of the most despicable man ever to wear the mantle of the presidency. A man who conspired with a hostile foreign power to steal the election, who befouled our system of justice and turned it into his own personal mob-friendly law firm. A man who disrespects democracy and resembles Mussolini in facial expressions and in his soul. If this is the kind of man white people want to return to office I say, “welcome, New America”—one no longer reflective of a white majority. It’s time these frightened whites handed the torch to a more diverse populace...if Trump is the kind of president you want.
Here is a link to a TED talk about alpha males. If you have time to watch it all, it's worth it. The most relevant portion starts at 10:35. Warning...don't have any liquid refreshment in your mouth during this portion.
Any sane person would have bet on trump's self immolation long ago. I expect it will arrive eventually, I only hope he hasn't burned the entire country down first.
1
And excellent analysis, Maureen. But it’s not much different than I read every day from many other columnists in the NYT and Wapo. It is not new, and it is not news.
The searing analysis I seek from you would be a retrospective, one that weighs any regret you may have from your rather consistent knifing of Hillary during the 2016 election.
Simply and honestly, do you have any regret? Have you written this and I somehow missed it?
4
Nancy Pelosi is trying to keep the Democrats in the left of center lane? If you drive left of the center you’re going to get crushed by oncoming traffic. The only safe place to be is right of center.
1
Maureen,
Maybe your best column in two years. Great leaders look to the future and aren’t afraid to ask Americans to sacrifice. (Roosevelt/Kennedy)
Racism as your message is so pathetic and represents a people that cling to the past. 2020 requires an exorcism and not just in the White House.
We must right the ship and fast before our democracy is bought and sold by our Deplorable in Chief. I’m ready to be asked to sacrifice before it’s too late. Here’s to Warren, Harris, Klobuchar, Bennet to save us from this cruelty and insanity occupying 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
I am hoping that Trump is the last desperate sordid drunken ugly frenzied bachelor party before the country finally ties the knot and settles into a life of marital bliss, responsibility, and loyalty to the family.
A woman running the household sounds good about now.
I am in total agreement with you, Maureen.
This groundhog may have to go back to bed for another four years of political winter since there is a good chance the Dems are going to fail to learn their mistakes.
The Republicans have given up the last ounce of decency and there is no moral leadership left. They have no shame anymore.
But hey, back to the Dems, you know the saying, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. We have lost counted how many times now... When would they ever learn?
At least it's all out in the open now. Well....the Republicans continue to try and gaslight us 'He's not a racist, not a racist bone in his body". Uh-huh. The gaslighting on top of the wretched racism that this party has engaged in now for many years is despicable. Just tell the truth! We're all so sick of being lied to.
He's a racist and he says racist things and he incites violence. He has already been implicated by madmen who have killed. How much evidence do we need? Do we need Omar killed before anything is done? How can anyone allow this to continue?
So we will know at his next rally if he and his cult fans are going to continue with this hatefulness. I'd bet big money there's no stopping them now.
The 2020 race will be about this Great Divide in our country. I hope the Democrats are ready for ugliness we have not seen in a long time and were hoping to never see again.
Every Republican who does nothing is now complicit. I hope they understand this.
3
The Trump paradoxon:
While Mr. Trumps is serving the crowd of his for 2 or 3 hours and is tweeting or stating 10 minutes about the commie squad, bad liberals, evil socialists and all this,
the Democrates are focussed te be outraged about his tweets and statements for 2 or 3 days while efforts to serve their own crowd or badly required swing voters have not become known in this period.
Conclusion: Mr. Trump is a better strategist and a better salesman also.
From his former life he has learned: "You can´t sell your own condos to your clients when you are out spending all of your time by running down the condos of your competitors only."
1
Thanks Maureen, I feel even worse now.
1
Hyper liberal? What nonsense! But the Dems definitely need to up their game. Currently their appeal is on the level of a wet blanket.
2
This is the saddest and truest, most depressing piece I've ever read in the NYTimes. How in the world can we "up our game" when dealing with this grotesque monster?
1
The racists in the Trump vs Squad dispute are the members of the squad. House members should work for the benefit of the The USA not for the benefit of the Palestinians, Somalis or at the expense of other ethnic and religious groups.
Trump attacked them for being anti American, their being minority and woman was a coincidence
"I do not care about offending people" Obviously !
But, let someone offend him and they are suddenly the enemy of the people and hate America. And this from a draft dodger/tax dodger who is doing his best to rule as a dictator.
Yes, he's the great pretender.
pretending that he's not a clown
He's not to bright, and he stirs up the right.
I'll be so glad when he's not around
and our leader is someone that's sound.
One of the best from Maureen in a while - this one is from the heart.
Let's hope that the Democratic candidates can brand (with such truth) the "brander" in chief!!
This column is a good start...
After this week of Trump's flip-flop-flip on our Congresswomen,
it's obvious that Our Bi-Polar President, as Ms Dowd points out, is the Anti-Lincoln!!
Reading an editorial with Trump and Lincoln on the same page sickens me.
Lincoln is spinning around in his grave.
Aw, c’mon, Mo. Enough with the weeping, hand-wringing, over-worrying, etc. Fact: Trump at 73 is closer to death than life. Once he’s off the scene, his sickly orange-yellow show will extinguish, his rabids will quiet, wither and die-off all the quicker in their stew of resentment, and “his party” will be so awash and unsupported it’ll never resurrect, may even be replaced by an entrepreneurs party that’ll be fine with capitalist dems, small “d.” It’s a bright future, Kid! Here, have some Kool-Aid.
I am confident of two things. First is that we have what it takes to oust Trump in 2020. The second is that we will blow it.
1
Can the press just stop with their false characterization of the Democrats platform. There is nothing radical or extream about improving education, health care, and opportunity for Americans.
1
Mr. Lincoln was a complex person, and not a statue. In the reality of history, Mr Lincoln's motivation for war was not primarily to abolish slavery, as he pointed out, but to counter secession, to "preserve the Union".
He held conventional racialist views, based on what minimally he "knew" of the then behavior and capacities of blacks in Africa.
It was only a major "victory," paid for by slaughter of his army, over a desperate enemy, equally slaughtered, and the effects of which were dissipated by incompetent lack of pursuit and follow up, which lengthened that war, that made the idea of emancipation of some slaves, which had first animated his party, possible, as a demoralizing tactic. Did it work without Sherman's war on civilians? Probably not.
Mr. Trump is not primarily a racist, did not, and does not favor American Nazis, and the true purpose of the Democratic Party is not collectivism or faux "Democratic" Socialism. The American people chose him for a reason. Mrs. Clinton's candidacy was hijacked by the egregious Mr. Sanders, and Mr. Obama paid minimal interest in Party infrastructure.
Current attacks on Mr. Trump from whatever limited standpoint, whether from the facts of femaleness, skin color, or youth, will not, unfortunately, succeed. The Democratic Party must not continue to displace its leadership, but must return to what it does best, consideration of the true needs of the American people, to which the Republican Party has become insensate.
130
@Arthur Taub MD PhD
This is wrong. Most recent scholarship has shown that ending slavery was always a goal for Lincoln.
There were several avenues for achieving the outcome. As the war progressed and he saw the intransigence of the south, he realized that longer term strategies such as limiting slavery in new territories and letting the institution die out in existing states would not work.
BTW the intransigence he encountered is every bit alive in the bigoted attitudes of much of Trump's base!
55
@Arthur Taub MD PhD
" Mr Lincoln's motivation for war was not primarily to abolish slavery"
Yes it was/ If you read Sandburg's 'Abraham Lincoln' one sees that Lincoln felt slavery abhorrent in the 1840's. This was his moral, driving force. Then it was his desire for union.
48
@Arthur Taub MD PhD
" Mr Lincoln's motivation for war was not primarily to abolish slavery"
Yes it was/ If you read Sandburg's 'Abraham Lincoln' one sees that Lincoln felt slavery abhorrent in the 1840's. This was his moral, driving force. Then it was his desire for union.
The Democratic party has drifted from it's roots as representative of the working and middle classes and have become pretty much Republican light. It wasn't hijacked from it's purpose by the 'collectivist' Sanders as you try to inject the 'commie' label. Sanders is in the mold of FDR. a democrat who invigorated our nation with great, long lasting public works in the New Deal.
27
HI Maureen,
When you call our alleged president "Dishonest Don," you are playing his game. He's better at his game than anyone. Let's not play. Going forward if media were to refer to orange haired dictator, the stain on America, that resides in the White House as "The Alleged President" we'd see his name less often and some believers might become curious about his legitimacy.
Raise doubt, then hope.
Thanks.
292
@paplo--Hear! Hear! Well said. I have never referred to him as the "president," because he is not the president. Why we allow this proven criminal to stay in the White House, I have no idea. I can't believe what weenies most of our Congress members are.
48
This is one of the most dangerous of all the liberal visions, that somehow Trump is not legitimate. He is the duly elected president of the United States and represents the Republican Party that at last count owns most of the entire government of the US-city, state and local. Trump is just the most visible representative of a true republican wave and they are much better at achieving and consolidating political power than the Democrats. Wake up, smell the coffee and come back to reality-you have lost large swaths of the country and it’s not just Donald Trump that is winning.
7
@Greg -- duly elected? Please read the Mueller report -- duly elected is in serious doubt. His behavior tells the story -- even he knows he did not win. The American people should hear the truth -- no matter how much it frightens them and Trump is frightening -- and vicious. A duly elected president would never act this way toward his fellow Americans. After all, the American people are forgiving, but having hate spewed at them every day by Trump is hardly something to forgive or forget. And, hopefully, 2020 will prove (without question) that Trump was not duly elected and that most Americans know it and made sure he will get his dirty little hands off our country.
51
I have come to the conclusion, that Lincoln, undoubtedly the greatest soul to occupy the White House, was wrong as regards reconstruction. In retrospect, he should have had Grant arrest Lee and all the Confederate Generals for treason, and made it clear that racism was dead. The only General who recanted his complicity in the war's cause (slavery), to my knowledge was Longstreet, who spent a good part of his post war career chasing down members of Forest's KKK. Handing the south the keys to government once Grant left office, condemned us to a century and a half of racist, murderous policies which have never been completely eliminated from the American bloodstream. The fact that so many of our countrymen continue to live in this dystopian place gives one pause when considering the prospect of evolving past our violent nature. That Trump is president, speaks volumes about us, not just him. Chastising Democrats for howling at the moon about these injustices while tolerating the utterances of such fools as Limbaugh and his ilk is laughable. The left could stand to land a few haymakers themselves. If acquiescing to hate solved the problem, it would have been eradicated long ago.
279
@Peter
While working on the draft of the Emancipation Proclamation, President Lincoln was also working on a plan to send freed slaves to colonies in Liberia or Central America. After explaining the advantages of colonization, Lincoln told a delegation of free back leaders who visited the White House in 1862 that, “You and we are different races. We have between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss, but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence. In a word we suffer on each side. If this is admitted, it affords a reason at least why we should be separated."
10
@Peter In fairness, Lincoln was assassinated six weeks after his second inaugural address and five days after Lee's surrender. It was his successor, Andrew Johnson, undoubtedly one of the more malevolent souls to occupy the White House, who deserves the blame for the failure of reconstruction.
46
@Peter and no defeated nation is allowed to fly their treasonous flag. Let's copy the Germans and make flying the Confederate battle flag unlawful.
34
"I love all the luminous white marble monuments and the landmarks in my hometown, the permanent Oz within our transient capital."
Well, I don't believe the four Congresswomen of the Squad share your sentiments about the monuments, or the landmarks, or the Oz that America represents. Instead, I believe they see it all, indeed all of America, as a symbols of white, patriarchal power which has gained its power through the subjugation of millions, either of Native Americans or other peoples of color. The Squad, if it had the authority, would tear all of our monuments and statues and institutions down, including monuments to George Washington and the other Founding Fathers, and even those to Lincoln. They hate what America stands for, each and every one of them does, and they only wait for the opportunity to destroy its institutions and all that it has created since its creation.
3
@David
Your conclusions baffle me. So, four elected representatives offer alternative opinions and perspectives and they want to rear down this country? Democracy is kept alive when there is vigorous discussion and, yes, recognition that this country was built on the backs of Native Americans and people of color. We cannot undo our history but we can talk about and act on how this country moves forward by acting faithfully and consistently on the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
3
Give me a break! It’s not like these congresswomen snuck into the capital (like some gerrymandered Republicans have); they represent the people in their districts. “Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.”
Mark Twain
1
This is what Trump wants you to believe. You have accepted his invitation to fear and demonize his projected enemies. You are making a mistake.
1
Interesting there has been no discussion regarding Native Americans, who really owned this country before anyone else. They’ve just been disregarded like they never existed. Wouldn’t that have just been cozy for Europeans? And still is just cozy for many Americans.
13
It must be my Birthday, first Frank Bruni's excellent Opinion piece and now this from Ms Dowd.
Pelosi will have to work harder than ever to keep her party’s image where it needs to be with the real base, as opposed to the Twitter base.
The real base votes, the Squads 4 million Twitter fans , not so much. Trumps 56 million Twitter fans, rest assured they vote.
Speaker Pelosi recognizes this, which is why as Ms Dowd alluded to the Speaker needs to keep the Party ' slightly ' left of center .
6
So it’s agreed: Trump and the Republicans are in control of this country and there is serious doubt that will ever change. They believe that whites are the only true Americans. They will use laws to relegate the minorities to economic and social failure. They will use the courts to consolidate and keep power. They will amass wealth, extract resources, and destroy the natural world for their own short term goals.
And here we sit: helplessly hoping for a savior. The media enables them. The electoral college prefers them. Minority voters come out in droves, but the gerrymandering cancels that voting out. The Supreme Court waits to rule in favor of Republicans issues with their reliable thumb on the scales of justice.
And we blame The Squad.
40
Thank you Maureen Dowd, for “Dishonest Don”, although it’s probably a mistake for any Democrat to get into a schoolyard standoff with the occupant of the White House. For someone looking from the outside, it is sad to see how the option of a public health care system, where you never have to worry about going bankrupt from illness or dealing with the fine print of your insurance policy is somehow off the table. Don’t be afraid. The water’s fine.
8
"Nancy Pelosi was trying to keep the Democrats in the center-left lane, where their best chance of beating Trump lies."
This is just not true. The best chance lies in being in the solidly left lane, like most of the candidates running for President in the Democratic Party.
I'm a 57 year old white guy, a physician for thirty years now. I relate more to the youthful idealistic representatives rather than the stodgy elderly Pelosi from whose mouth I'm waiting the word uppity to come when referring to young women of color. (If Ms. Pelosi is not an elitist, then who is?)
It was not okay when President Clinton passed DOMA in the nineties and it was not okay when Senator Clinton voted with the Republican Chickenhawks to go to war in Iraq as a response to the Saudi-led 9/11. This so-called center-left had its time and it is past.
It is time not to ask what can you do for your country, but what has your country done for you with all those hard-earned taxes you pay. Shouldn't you expect more than more corporations paying no taxes, more than elitist billionaires like our current President paying no taxes and calling you stupid for being a good citizen? Shouldn't you expect better worker's rights, addressing climate change, protection from predatory bankers, protection for your elderly parents from phishing scams, actual equal rights for ALL Americans and protection from hateful religious groups trying to make their fascist ideas law? THIS is the soul of the Democratic Party.
20
We know much of what you say is true. However, Nancy Pelosi has earned wisdom and even though she may want some of the same solutions as the Squad, she knows a majority of voters cannot go so far to the left.
8
@Gregory Howell Excellent comment. If Democrats are so sure a center-left candidate has the best chance of beating Trump, why not recruit Hillary Clinton for a 2020 rematch?
1
@Alice Broughton
At what point will Dems lose progressive voters?
Dems play this centrist game every election and LOSE. Remember when we ran the risky, socialist, crazy liberal Obama, and he excited the "real base" and trounced his opponents? And then he turned out to be a centrist anyway? Let's do that.
2
Lincoln’s genius was to spawn a “rebirth of freedom,” essentially an American renaissance. That option still exists for any Democrat who dares to get away from a tedious debate of Medicare for all vs. fixing the ACA and keeping private insurance or any of the other squabbles that don’t amount to anything. That’s what Lincoln’s disciple, Barack Hussain Obama, did quite recently. It’s still a winner.
8
While Speaker Pelosi's initial strategy of "I'm done with him" ultimately seems to the way to go with this attention-dependant man-child President, the dilemma is how not to overact when he increases his abhorrant behavior in response. Seems "Little Donnie" needs a combination of humorous dismissal and stern admonishment when he acts-out. The trick will be in finally discovering the proper blend of each. Either that, or let's just take him out of the sandbox on election day and put him in the corner (jail) thereafter.
10
The saddest thing about Trump is not that he is defacing the Lincoln Memorial and desecrating the spirit of every word engraved in those walls. The saddest thing about Trump is that tens of millions of Americans are cheering him on. They will still be around when Trump will be long gone. Unless we find a way to change their hearts, this nation is facing a future as ugly as its present.
11
"Pelosi will have to work harder than ever to keep her party’s image where it needs to be with the real base, as opposed to the Twitter base." Half of Democratic party primary voters chose a socialist candidate in 2016. Is that the Twitter base you refer to?
2
I'm pushing 60. I live in Texas and I grew up here. Donald Trump is as American as apple pie and ice cream. I admit that Texas may have more per capita, but Trump is a 'type' that should be familiar to all of us. He's the great American fake, fraud and phony. He's the riverboat gambler, Amway salesman, Evangelical faith healer and drug pusher entrepreneur. He's the dust-bowl era 'rainmaker' who promised the yokels that for a fee, he could create a cloudburst by exploding dynamite in the air affixed to helium balloons. It's always struck me as odd that the nation that invented the pyramid scheme and Mary Kay Cosmetics is so easily suckered. You'd think that of all the people in the world, Americans could instantly spot a con-job - but no, we're the home of both the con-man and the dupe. That's the thing: the con man is as much a part of our heritage as Honest Abe.
31
From The Declaration of Independence
"All Men are created equal "
New Democratic Party slogan
" We believe in Equality "
Michelle Obama quote reminder,
'When they go low we go high "
3
From not following the tough-love, sage advice imparted in your columns Hillary lost and Obama was not a lot more effective. Hopefully Pelosi is smarter.
2
Until the GOP holds Trump accountable for his "power through hate" strategy, the nation will experience the impact of more racial tension, increased misogyny, xenophobia and divisive rhetoric that rots America...we haven't hit bottom yet, it will get far worse
3
It boils down to a simple question and equation: if you knew that you were ‘illegitimate’ by all standards of actual morality, success, popularity, civility, etc. AND you craved adoration, acceptance, love and legitimacy above all else, to what end would could one go to try to overcome that empty vial of a soul?
The answer isn’t a ‘what’, it’s a ‘who’.
5
Maureen couldnt stand Hillary. Hillary was part of establishment corruption, which we long to have back. And she could also be leaned on, if those sick of establishment corruption would organize to lean. Trump does not respond well to being leaned on.
These words matter more than any other:
“With malice toward none; with charity for all.” A guide for a better America
“With malice toward all; with charity for none.” A guide for the end of America
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US SE
5
Your best opinion piece yet. A brutal but frighteningly accurate assessment of where we are: stuck on fly paper. Democrats in DC, nail this op-ed to your office doors.
5
More Americans died during the Civil War than in all of America's other wars combined. Lincoln refused to recognize the existence of any Confederate States of America.
And in his 2nd inaugural address Lincoln noted with humane empathetic humility that God had apparently only heard and listened to and answered the prayers of the enslaved black African Americans.
My all time favorite white liberal progressive is John Brown whose attempt to ' purge this land with blood' was defeated by federal military forces including one Robert E. Lee.
2
Lincoln and Trump: Rail-splitter v. Nation-splitter.
5
How do we get the media off of their addiction to Trump?
Trump sells. I can't stop reading about his vile presidency and ignoring him doesn't seem to be an option...
3
There is so much to discuss about this column but all I can manage is to weep in a silent blend of rage and sadness.
5
Hey Maureen, how about the next column being completely about “ Honest Abe” and nothing about lying Trump? As an aside, my great grandfather was a Confederate veteran who lived until 85 with early onset of blindness. It should be noted that he received a government military pension just like any Union veteran. The pension made his life manageable. This shows Abe was totally committed to “ charity for all”. What has happened to the party of Lincoln?
7
@Ira Allen
The party of Lincoln became the party of the Koch Brothers.
2
It should be obvious to everyone by now, that Trump has an almost total ignorance of history or ethics, his only motivation is greed monetary, political whatever he thinks he needs at the moment.
5
I cant believe how lucky we were in becoming expatriates before Trump took over the country and began its downward plunge.
The damage he’s inflicting will permanently turn the country back to a white supremacy racism.
I wish a Bonne Chance to my fellow Americans.
3
To quote the Dude, that's, like, your opinion. There are plenty of people who see a President who is powering economic growth, facing down China and Russia and Iran, and all in ways that go far beyond your philosophy....
2
Mo, the referenced piece from the Times's Nate Cohn is a valuable public service for Dems, focusing on the fact that by virtue of the antiquated Electoral College, a POTUS is elected in 50 individual state elections, not by the national popular vote totals (yet).
We Dems in large blue urban areas have to remember that 'Individual-1' could lose the popular vote by 15 million in 2020, but will win the Electoral College if he keeps Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania - which would mean 4 more years of slime-tweeting, and 4 more years of Federalist Society Dream Team judicial appointments.
Do Dems want to oust this Republican President and his appointment powers, or 'vote their conscience(s)' ?
3
I admire Lincoln very much, but I also have regard for historical accuracy. For much of his career, Lincoln regarded "repatriation" as the solution to the "race problem" in America. He thought that the so-called "negro race" was self-evidently inferior to whites and that the two populations could not live together. Frederick Douglas was instrumental in changing his mind on that.
In fairness, there may have been a factual basis for what he interpreted as inferiority: grinding poverty, oppression, and cultural difference. But let's do our idols the honor of seeing them clearly for what they were, rather than being dazzled by their glamour.
2
Trump loves his base because it loves him.
At rallies you'll notice that Trump does not ever so much as stop to talk to a single person; and he'd, of course, never have any of "them" to his home --nor visit theirs.
Now or ever.
They're beneath him.
(Foolish) pawns in a broken game.
6
Maureen, you do the dirty work for Trump and the Republicans, as usual, when you paint Democratic proposals as "radical left". Get off of the divan and ignore your Beltway Village buddies and do some research. Much of what has been proposed polls well with the electorate.
6
Well, gerrymandering does that for you, a minority enormously empowered - whether it be the top 2% holding wealth in this country or it be the one whose pockets do not run deep, left behind financially, but whose vote is given to bully pulpit racism which explains and lays blame for their plight. The overwhelming majority of the GOP have removed the veil worn for years, the ugly face of bigotry now in plain view given their continued shameless support of Trump in order to advance at whatever the moral price a fraught political agenda. In yesterday's New York Times, Glenn Greenwald, an American journalist living in Rio de Janeiro, was quoted the following statement. Substitute U.S. for "Brazil" and Trump for "Bolsonaro" and you have a chillingly apt description of what we face.
"There is a huge question about what kind of country Brazil is going to be. Will it be a country with functioning democratic institutions, or is it going to become the repressive authoritarian state that Bolsonaro desire and craves?"
1
Is Donald Trump a racist? Given that racism is defined as an internal belief system, there's no way to know for sure short of the person admitting that he or she is one. What we do when we call someone a racist is use that person's behavior to draw an inference about their beliefs. In the case of Trump, that's a reasonable inference.
But there's an alternative and equally plausible inference to be drawn. I believe that Trump is the epitome of an empty suit, a master chameleon. He says and does whatever the circumstances of the moment afford him in the pursuit of his goals. He can make racist statements if he thinks it's to his advantage to do so and then contradict them if he thinks that will get him what he wants. In other words, he may be right when he protests that he's not a racist. But it doesn't matter because his opportunistic behavior is just as damaging.
3
no one has spewed more venom, particularly
Hllary Clinton, she owns the Trump mess she
helped create.
2
"Sultry"
Nice double entendre.
Unfortunately our "free" system of governance allows characters like, Trump to run for and become president while degrading our nation with his venomous exhortations.
Unfortunately, (a distasteful to many), Omar can do the same. As you say we are stuck between a rock and a hard place. We'll need a little time to shake out our Democratic Party candidates.
At least one joke:
Those aliens from planet Xigon sure pulled a fast one on us. They dropped Trump off one night, knowing all along we didn't have the technology to send him back! Now they are laughing at us from some other dimension.
2
My deepest concern is that we are returning o the era of Jim Crow.
1
Wasn't it Honest Abe who said "You can fool some of the people all of the time and you can fool all of the people some of the time but you can't fool all of the people all of the time, unless they are Trump supporters, those people are all fools." I guess not, but he did sound prescient about the future of his party when he said (And this applies to all Republican lawmakers), "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." With their silence on the matter of Trump's last rally, these powerful men have shown themselves to be cowards and failures, to their oaths of office, to the people they serve and to the country they represent. Abe Lincoln may not be turning over in his grave but I'm sure he'd like to change his voter registration.
3
Lincoln and Trump. What an incredibly obtuse comparison to contemplate. It's like the age old coin flip. On one side there is a head, symbolic of the brain.....that would obviously be Lincoln. And on the other side there is, well....trump.
1
Maureen’s column should be mandatory reading for all Americans.It should be republished throughout the mainstream media.I am convinced that there are enough Americans of good will and love of country to banish Trump from the White House in November 2020. Trump can then return to his German homeland by private jet. Keep up the good work Maureen.
1
"a mere mile away sits a Republican president known for his amoral instability in a constitutional crisis?"
Maureen,
Does your brother now see it that way, or he still firmly believe it too much winning?
1
Meanwhile, Dem candidates, Dem Congressional leaders, and our "responsible" media all follow the Trump-McConnell diversion from the greatest threat our Nation, civilization, and entire species have ever faced: suicide, by our stimulating self-continuing processes to eradicate conditions for human life on Earth, through climate change and loss of biodiversity.
ALL our "leaders" appear so dumb they think their political competitions are isolated from the scientific realities of physics, chemistry, interdependences of forms of life, and the mathematics of self-driving "positive feedbacks."
Ours is the Worst Generation -- too dumb to deserve to survive. Tragically, it will be our youngest and generations that follow who will suffer the worst of what we have done and failed to do.
3
Trump is an unindicted co-conspirator in a the Michael Cohen case, credibly accused of multiple counts of obstruction of justice, credibly accused of numerous sexual assaults, including rape. He is a pathological liar, and has unquestionably diminished our country's standing in the world.
But his supporters simply don't care. My guess is many of them don't care about Abraham Lincoln, either. They just hate Democrats, they especially hate Democrats like the squad, and Trump knows how to use that hate to his advantage. He is their red, white and blue savior, valiantly trying to protect "real" Americans from "them."
Perhaps enough voters can be convinced that he is chiseling away at the foundation of our democracy, in small but increasingly dangerous ways. Perhaps they can be made to understand that the foundation may not hold up for another four years, and what the consequences will be for all of us, regardless of race, gender and religion.
Perhaps. It is a difficult and high-minded argument to make, but the Democrats need a better approach than advocating for many of the out-of-the-mainstream policies on display at the first debate.
2
Trump's motto is “With malice toward many; with charity for hardly any except me.”
2
Thanks to Pelosi the Constitution is defunct.
1
Donald Trump on Abraham Lincoln, March 2017:
"Great president. Most people don’t even know he was a Republican."
Maureen Dowd on Donald Trump, July 2019:
"Terrible president. Most people don't know he was no Abraham Lincoln."
2
A few suggestions on how Democrats might win the White House: 1. Nominate a moderate Liberal 2. Support Women’s Right to Choose but never patronize Pro Life DEM supporters- honor their concerns. 3. Talk less about Transgendered folks and more about religion. 4. Talk about Family Values , community values and compassion for those who are struggling and need help from government. And... ——This is just a start.
3
Well said. But Trump's 'love' for his hard-core base should be called 'abuse' of that base, as he cares not one iota about them; he uses them for his own devilish-designed ego. Cruelty is his motto, and sowing fear, hate and division his mantra. Can't we see this demagogue has nothing of value to offer, and that his oft-repeated scapegoats are just a distraction for his own malevolence, and incompetence, and expert sowing of lies to feed his emotionally hungry fans...so they won't feel the need to think for themselves?
5
Says Dowd, just like other neoliberal establishment elites, the center-left is the place to be to beat Trump.
She offers nothing to back up that statement and completely ignores the fact that center-left Hillary lost...even after pandering to suburban Republicans by picking an anti-abortion, religious ConservaDem.
Does Dowd really believe that Hillary lost because of the Russians and Comey? Does she agree with Pelosi that Dems don't need to do anything different, they just need to communicate better?
Of course she does, because Pelosi told her so.
2
Hillary lost because the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.
1
Trump’s barbarianism is a reflection of us: our convenience abortions, our Hollywood and video game gun violence glorification, our apathy toward Israeli racism contra Palestinians, the denigration of the family and family values, and our Christophobic media.
Before Trump there was George W. Bush, a graduate of Yale who intentionally spoke like an ignoramus to broaden his appeal. Before him there was Bill Clinton who bombed a Somali pharmaceutical plant while Monica Lewinsky was in the headlines.
Our nation has bombed Iraqi and Afghan civilians in the thousands and many of our fellow Americans Democrat and Republican are itching to do the same to Iran, for even less justification.
The ugliness isn’t all on one side. I see avarice and selfishness across the partisan divide. The Money Power rules — through its mighty engine of usury — both Democrat and Republican.
A recent headline read, “Will girls of the future be able to play girls’ sports?” This was a reference to boys masquerading as girls and allowed to compete against them. What is the fate of women athletes under such conditions? Dare we ask?
Insanity is on the wind. Trump is a symptom. A little humility and a great deal of soul-searching is called for.
Instead we have Left-wing egos battling Right-wing egos in the kingdom of the blind, where one-eyed people are king.
2
The thing about Trump is that he never hits bottom. As bad as he has been, the coming months until the 2020 election promise to be even worse -- more craven, more corrupt, more hypocritical, more racist.
That's just what the news media is banking on, unfortunately. If reporters and editors would treat Trump as he truly is -- a scofflaw -- we wouldn't need all these fevered columns trying to describe a person of no moral, political, religious, cultural or human value.
It's not rocket science. Trump's a bum.
5
Months ago this downhill descent could have been slowed to a stop. All it needed was some Republicans to forcefully speak up to the bully in charge and renounce his disgusting rants. Therein lies the real problem. It takes all the rest to let the one continue.Will the gang ever turn away from the bully in the schoolyard?
2
A NYTimes journalist, Thomas Friedman, lamented that Trump appears to be on target for wining again despite his flaws and with help of a surging democratic left movement' I think he's right. But some other factors are in his favor as well. The economy being number one. I believe he will win again, despite his dreadful persona.
1
What does your common sense tell you, about where the hate is coming from?
If you were the father of a child and had to flee your home country because of lack of food, and saw an opulent land with a cornucopia of food and standing between that abundance and your child’s life was a well fed individual… would you hate that individual for blocking your child from getting to the food?
If you were the mother of a child in a ghetto in the U.S. and you saw that your child was getting an inadequate education and that the local streets, with its violence and its lure of drug trafficking was dooming your child to a life of despair and crime… would you be angry and full of hate?
I don’t know about you but I think I would be. IN fact because I grew up in extreme poverty and yet lived among the very rich, I know I would be filled with rage. Because as a youth that was my life.
And I heard from my parents how the system was rigged and how they were all thieves at the top.
So when I hear the ‘squad’, I believe that they are in fact filled with hate for the reasons stated above. But I believe we lack the proper English word for arriving at a moral solution.
How do we apportion our responsibility to those with less than we have, when we ourselves are struggling?
Trump is lashing back at hatred aimed at white people that may or may not be justified, but does exist. However, anger is not hate. It seems too many pundits miss these distinctions.
2
The next time you visit honest Abe at his memorial, ask him to persuade a candidate who can beat dishonest Don to run. All the whining, complaining, criticizing, and lamenting will not change the current lackluster roster of Dems.
Mike Bloomberg! Oprah! With charity toward all. With malice toward none. Now or never. Save the USA.
1
“Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other,” Lincoln said.
Lincoln correctly perceived that nested within the political and military conflict was a civil war in American religion, specifically the Christian church.
The political and military conflict was concluded. The civil war in American religion was sadly not.
We are witnessing the question of whether white conservative evangelicalism—the inheritors of the ideals of the old Confederacy—will yet win the day against mainstream Christianity.
Trumps’s election in 2016 was Bull Run. We are now somewhere around....Antietam.
We have miles to go.
4
Those who hoped that the festering wound of American racism was healed by the election of a black man to the presidency have been slapped in the face with reality. A significant portion of Americans continue to revel in racist ideals and also really, really hate uppity women. A significant number of Americans support authoritarianism and would easily toss aside democratic ideals for the right alpha male to rule over them. They have found their champion in Trump. Not only are they not turned off by his antics, but they actively love that he voices their prejudices and "tells it like it is". This is not about a strong economy as Trump supporters like to say, it is about rabid hatred of "the other".
America will show the world its true colors in 2020. If Trump wins what follows will be very ugly.
6
My appetite for writing like this is diminished to the lowest levels since November 2016. We have more than a thousand children in overcrowded camps, A government led by an amoral liar. Please. It's not about politics anymore. We have veered out of those lanes - Republican or Democrat. It's about human rights.
This country has no leaders currently in positions of power addressing something killing us.
4
Abraham Lincoln appealed to "the better angels of our nature."Our SCPOTUS appeals to the underbelly of the American character: racism and xenophobia, in order win a second term and save him from prosecution m right now this for his myriad crimes. But the crime he has committed upon this nation:the ratcheting up of hatred against fellow citizens who happen to have darker skin and different views than his own is one that will never be forgiven. Look upon him this 20th of July 2019: our worst POTUS ever.
1
The disdain of the left for Trumps's "base" is what will win him the next election. They are Americans with as much right to their opinion (and vote) as liberal writers, such as yourself, have to yours.
1
Nobody is saying these people in the “base” dont have a right to their hateful opinions and to vote that way. Its just that they express their sincerely held racist misogynist opinions by trying to enshrine into law the denial of others’ rights. To vote. To have bodily autonomy. To have a cake made for their wedding and not get reviled for it. It’s depressing that the right needs so badly to have hate and fear and authoritariansim as their guiding principles. Its an ugly and dysfunctional way to live, convinced that you are “superior” to everyone not exactly like yourself. Go ahead, feel “superior” all you want. But the rest of us not seething and stewing in hate would like to not have it become law. The right’s hate is killing us all.
1
The last paragraph is classic and, once again, Dowd nails it. It is all so sad.
Trump is emotionally hollowed out, and this is why he acts the way he does, he is severely emotionally ill. Trump has no emotional capacity like Lincoln’s for kindness, empathy, forgiveness, understanding or even the slightest bit of charity. Lincoln was a fully formed adult, and his own self awareness and capacity to love unconditionally grounded him and tempered his own anger, and feelings of retribution. Instead, Trump’s only way of filling his emotional void is to bully, hit, harm, lash out, etc. He also thrives on sycophancy and false praise by others latching again onto anything that can fill his empty psyche, if only for a moment.
I find Trump utterly terrible, but I also understand that the terribleness is because he is very sick, and so, I also feel pity for him.
2
It doesn't matter whether Trump meets the definition of a "racist," just as it doesn't matter whether a particular act of murder meets the definition of "terrorism." What matters is that in both cases we are talking about something that is despicable. Time to stop getting caught up in words and labels that matter only to headline writers and soundbitists.
2
Mo:
So, I'm wondering if you still think that Donald Trump was a much better choice than Hillary Clinton. I'm still waiting for you to square that circle. I'm waiting for you to go back and look at all of your snarky criticisms of Hillary and tell us whether you still think the country is better off with Donald Trump. Choosing for the Presidency is a binary choice so no prevaricating. Could Hillary, on her WORST day, been as bad as Trump on his BEST day? Please, I keep waiting for you to enlighten us.
6
Writers like Maureen Dowd elected President Trump and will do so again in 2020. They hate to have like minded people win elections.
1
Note to the 100million or so Americans who were eligible to vote in 2016, but chose not to: next year you have a choice. It won't be between a GOP or Dem president...it will be between apathy and the future of your country. You can have one, or the other, but not both.
And if you think that someone who never reaches 50percent popularity is no real threat to your nation--or the world--I'd advise you to Google "1933, Germany."
In 2020, a similar 'bigly' history lesson awaits...believe me. That I can tell you.
2
Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out.
1
Even though it's very nicely written I think Ms Dowd, like the paper she writes for wants it both ways. Comparing Lincoln, one of the most brilliant minds, to a man who thinks there were airplanes in 1776 & gropes young woman; Lincoln who wrote some of the most beautiful words ever to a man that can barely read, seems like a waste. I guess it's to remind us how far we have fallen. But never forget Ms Dowd helped put that travesty, the occupant in the White House. And the last two weeks, Maureen Dowd went after the squad, saying it was useless to listen to them. Now she goes after Trump for just basically following her lead. I am more with the squad than not. I want health care for all, higher min wage, something done about college tuition, a green deal, cutting the defense budget. etc. Pelosi doesn't seem to want any of these things. I don't know what middle means except keeping the status quo & slowly moving more right wing. . Yes Trump is a racist & divider. He is still coming down the escalator ranting about the same thing he did when started his run for Pres. Always been a racist, what's new. And one more thing Trump loves his base from afar, or on stage. But in reality he can't stand the working class that vote for him
2
The anti-Trump media must stop letting Trump control the conversation. Instead it should talk about Trump and Jeffrey Weinstein, a topic he wants to avoid at all costs. Global warming is another topic that he doesn't want discussed and would gain traction with millions of young Americans. The corruption of his Administration can yield thousands of columns and feature stories. And this is just a fraction of the slime this man has created.
1
Is this a formal unsaid apology for having trashed HRC and given us DJT?
3
Maureen Down...Would you please stop with the center left or moderate spot is the only place the Democrats can win. I'm sick and tired of this same old song and dance from the pundits. How is it that Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Germany, France, Switzerland, South Korea, and many, many other countries around the world have managed to function very well with some form of Democratic Socialism/ heavily moderated capitalism? If the left, which these days is so far to the right, is so dangerous why aren't these countries in despair and crashing and burning? Democrats are nowhere near far left and the ideas of the so called "Squad" are not even remotely close to Communism or Socialism. Cut the you know what with vilifying of Democrats trying to make real change for the poor, lower middle class and middle class Americans. This has to stop! If you want to call something garbage, then call the words of those who vilify Democrats as Commies or Socialists as garbage because that's what it is.
585
@Magan: Your idealism is fine. It just has to produce a political victory in 2020. If not, then you will have learned something about American politics.
America is not "Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Germany, France, Switzerland, South Korea, and many, many other countries around the world."
But to make you feel better, yes, I think that the U.S. is headed in that direction. But it takes realistic minds to get it there.
49
@Magan
While I agree that inequality is a major problem here, you might want to remember that the countries you've named as successful models of democratic socialism are far smaller, far less diverse, and because we were founded on the cusp of the industrial revolution, far less dedicated to notion of unfettered capitalism than we are. The vast majority of the money in this country is dedicated to keeping us attached to a full, free market mentality, and it is largely behind Trump. A splintered Democratic party is unlikely to beat Trump; a party too far left of center will likely continue to draw enough right end fire to keep him and his enablers in office. We need to get rid of him and them first, and I'm afraid we will fail to do that if Democrats are seen well on the left. I think we have to solve this one thing first.
46
@Magan
If you believe moderates and independents in Ohio and Pennsylvania are going to vote for someone who wants to give healthcare to illegal immigrants and reparations to the descendants of those who were slaves 160 years ago, you’re simply mistaken.
47
Mueller will soon speak the words, "It is incorrect to say we found no collusion; it is incorrect to say we found no obstruction of justice."
He also will confirm that he did not pursue, but instead referred to other government agencies and prosecutors, numerous other matters involving potential criminality and counter-intelligence issues.
Does Trump play to his racially inflamed base because they might come in handy one day?
1
I ahve lived in the EU for nearly two decades. All I can say, Ms Dowd, is that by calling the Squad members 'far left' you are buying into the Republican trope that publically financed health care and education are neither human rights nor economically viable. Both conclusions are demonstrably wrong. It is not altruism nor 'far left' ideology that makes both these things non-issues in the EU. They are sound policies producing a well-educated highly employable and thus, pension-funding, electorate in most places. Really, Ms Dowd, you need to examine your assumptions and consider just who and what you are calling 'far left'.
12
"We’re all stuck on the flypaper"
When DJT tosses out these stink bombs, we all get our knickers in a twist, sputtering and fuming with rage. Nothing could please his base more, for this is the kind of entertainment they want: to see the puppet master president yanking our strings.
But to ignore his behavior is to condone it. How do we get unstuck from this flypaper?
184
@Ladbyron Instead of everyone moaning, groaning and hand-wringing, all we have to do (and can do) is vote Democratic up and down the line, no matter who the candidates are. Especially in the Presidential and Senate categories. It's really that simple.
40
@Ladbyron
"But to ignore his behavior is to condone it."
No, to ignore his behavior is to starve him, to take his life.
There are few things more ridiculous than a red-in-the-face blow-hard screeching into the empty air.
Ignore away...conduct business, write reports, show up on television all without a nod to the baby-man in the White House.
We'll have the world on our side; they, at least know and say openly our Pres is a hideous idiot, given to spouting "dog ate my homework" stories wherever he goes and waiting around for, demanding, a big, big response.
Then he snuggles up to mic and talks softly to his people like a wise grandfather, asplainin' to them how the world works, offering his loving aid, as long you're white or, even better, rich.
The world knows what they have in Trump.
They give him parades, serve fancy food they know he does not prefer, smooch his ample derriere in the press, go off and make private plans together, excluding Trump, the US, our economy, and our military.
They make it look easy. And fun.
So, please, ignore away.
It will be nice to see this thundering bully brought low by his own soul-deep desperation to be noticed.
43
The loudest voices accusing Trump of racism come from the liberal media and the Democratic Party. Leading blacks have mostly been restrained. Oprah believes in a strategy of silence. Al Sharpton doesn't want to play into Trump's hands. Ayanna Pressley -- a principal target of Trump's -- says "don't take the bait." And Obama hasn't wasted a lot of time or effort talking racism.
At the very least, it is ironic that the blacks who you would expect to speak out against racism have chosen to ignore it when it comes from Trump. Liberal journalists and liberal Democrats have a lot to learn from black spokespeople.
Trump is trying to bait the Democrats and the press. They would be wise not to let it happen. Restraint is the best response to those who seek advantage by riling you up.
281
I disagree. He is using it to get out the vote. We should too. Let's take back our country in the spirit of honest Abe, the President who knew what was right. We should also speak to the jobs WI and MI voters need.
29
@michjas "Trump is trying to bait the Democrats and the press. They would be wise not to let it happen. Restraint is the best response to those who seek advantage by riling you up."
mmm I truly wish that Trump was just saying the awful things he says only for political advantage. I however have to disagree Trump is a true hardcore racist it is matter of public record from not renting to "colored" people in the 70s to calling out "the squad" while ignoring Bernie.
IMHO Trump and his crew are trying to bring back racism, full bore Jim Crow era racism. I really hope he loses 2020 and we never find out how evil Trump is but I am very worried.
We all have to speak out him make him show his true colors thank God for "the Squad" they get it they are drawing him out.
22
@michjas. I agree with you that restraint along with a dose of dignity is the best approach. By presenting an adult and kind alternative to the Trump mindset we will sooner and more effectively nudge people away from it. The Republican party and Trump are careening towards Fascism and hopefully at least some the Americans who follow him will begin to tire of it (e.g. Rivera) and will be attracted to a more moderate view. While they may not actually vote Democratic, perhaps they will stay home and not vote for Trump. At the same time, if Democrats and Independents come up with reasonable and just alternatives focusing on the health of our citizens and our planet, they should be able to attract enough voters for an electoral college victory. We must be just, patient and kind with our currently crazed citizens and help them unwind their frenzied hatred. I have begun to see just a tiny bit of softening among my pro-Trump acquaintances but suggesting open borders and offering free healthcare to immigrants before solving our own citizens healthcare is not the way to go. The Democrats must moderate their idealism to a more realistic time-frame. They may get very few Trump supporters but they desperately need to attract independents and moderate Republicans. Dignified restraint and moderate policy proposals may just win the day. That being said, Kamala just might eat Trump alive in debate. He seems to need to read everything these days to stay out of trouble.
14
On Friday, Trump was infuriated that he had been criticized by the four congresswomen of the squad. He declared that was unpatriotic. Yet, this same president has criticized members of Congress as weak, pathetic, liars, idiotic, sleepy, and more.Even their parents have been slandered. He has mocked people's names, their appearance and their heritage. Federal judges have been called biased or "Obama judges." Political opponents are "crooked" or guilty of treason and should be jailed. And then there is, in his mind, the lowest of the low; the "snitch."
For a person of virtually no redeeming character qualities to slander those who criticize him is the height of hubris. Yet it should not be surprising. No apologies will ever be given to those he has denigrated. That isn't hyperbole. Remember, this is man who has never asked for God's forgiveness because he doesn't believe he has ever done anything wrong. If cheering him on is being an incredible patriot, perhaps I and others should be deported.
239
Lincoln Memorial is my favorite too.
For the next month the media should totally ignore Trump. No media sprays, no interviews no coverage of his campaign events.
Instead the glare of the media must remain on McConnell where his divisive inaction remains the centerpiece of the legislative standstill for the past ten years. McConnell shuns consensus. His brand of divisive filibusters and legislative inaction is where the media’s focus should be this Presidential cycle.
No more coverage of Trump period. He is a wet suit that deserves not a minute of media exposure.
21
Dear Ms. Dowd, please note that there are only cultural identities within the one human race.
3
C Green - I love your Dylan reference. So so true. (and how does it feel?)
Whereas Lincoln called on all Americans to examine their consciences and find "the better angels of our nature" - President Pinocchio says, "I don't really care about offending people".
For all the true, blue "Incredible Patriots" - VOTE DEM 2020
7
What a great target Donald Trump makes for conjuring up and living off hate as the strategy for Democrat 2020 victory. That plus "free stuff", of course. Lincoln would surely be appalled.
6
If your name was Kevin then I’d say you were trolling your sister. Ether way Trump would be pleased by your redirect from republicans “conjuring up and living off hate as a strategy” for 2020 to democrats. Then there’s the disingenuous garbage about “free stuff”. Good on you mate, suck up to the troll some more and give Trump Florida for 2020. Just watch out for the rising sea level and all the “free stuff” you get each time a climate changed hurricane wanders by. :).
2
@Michael Dowd
The hate thing has been working well for Republicans for 50+ years, so why not?
These are sad times indeed. Trump has managed to conjure the specter of racism and have it do his bidding. He is the American practitioner of the ethno-nationalist formula being exploited Putin across the West to atomize international coalitions, undermine liberal democracies, and pulverize the higher values of humanity including the value of human dignity itself.
2
"Abraham Lincoln led us through a tragedy. Donald Trump is one. With malice toward all; with charity for none."
Spot on.
11
I surmise that the rages and hyperbully every day for years was meant to distract everyone from the sequences of the last three years that have successfully worn down Trump's critics and he successfully evaded justice with lots of shiny object like daily ravings. He is an expert at diversion and confusing the public as well as keeping everyone in awe with his expert craftsmanship as a hate and anger monger. He terrorized our nation into full submission.
5
Abraham Lincoln, the greatest and most unifying president of them all, instilled a principled soul in the Republican Party, only to have it ultimately sold to a hatefully divisive huckster -- The Ugliest American -- Donald Trump. How appalling.
More than anything else, the cancer that's eating away at our body politic is moral cowardice. Supposed leaders who have taken solemn oaths to uphold the values affirmed in our Constitution are betraying us with impunity, both blatantly, and, just as bad if not worse, through lip service or the sin of silence.
Have they no sense of decency? The answer, sadly, is no. The American ideal is under vicious and relentless assault, and with a fanatical demagogue whipping his rabid base into a bigoted frenzy, the forces of evil, banal though they may be, have not only gained the upper hand, but are doubling down on it.
Lincoln urged us to summon the better angels of our nature, but the question is whether the American spirit has enough of them left to make a difference. We now have a president who invokes the exact opposite, and he's controlling the narrative.
5
I agree with everything Maureen says except Trump uses division to govern. The fact of the matter is Trump does not govern because he could care less. He is only interested in himself, his "ratings" and what he can tout about himself on any given day.
The most severe elements of the right instruct him on what decisions to make and he follows along like a puppet. Thus the tax plan and the Supreme court picks. At the end of the day it is a tragic irony that a man who wants to project so much strength is merely an impotent fool.
11
"With malice toward all; with charity for none."
That's right, MD.
But you err in calling AOC et al. hyper-liberal. That's just playing the Republican game. As Paul Krugman has pointed out, the liberal policy proposals are based on sound economic analysis; to call them hyper-anything is a lie, right wing anti-egalitarian propaganda.
12
Good column but wrong when you say Trump exhibits "charity toward none." In fact, Trump overflows with charity.
Toward himself.
2
President Lincoln was never confronted by an invasion of indigent illegal aliens from Mexico and Central America. Ms. Dowd should speculate how that circumstance would have been received by the American public prior to or during the Civil War in a future column.
President Trump is correct to focus on the "Squad." Their policies are repugnant to most of America; including open borders. Those policies and ideas deserve to be brought to the attention of the public for the threat that is posed to the United States by the anti-Semite socialists Ilan Omar, Alexandria Cortez and Rashida Tlaib.
2
This is a kind and thoughtful piece. It gives me shudders too that the 9/11 terrorists came so close to destroying the White House and the US Capitol. The 2020 race will be extraordinarily tough. The London bookies expect the opponent to be Harris. Trump will paint her as the second coming of Ilhan Omar. The question he will pose is "do you want the cities and small towns of America to dotted in mosques and hijabs?. Now go in that booth, pull back the curtain, and answer that question?"
1
This op-ed, like Maureen Dowd's interview with Nancy Pelosi, is driven by a not-so-hidden agenda: pushing the baseless notion that "centrism" is the best approach to defeating Donald Trump. Isn't the experience of using super delegates to defeat the will of Democratic primary voters and pit Hillary Clinton against Trump enough to call the lie to this Times Op Ed Page invention? 2016 polls showed that Bernie Sanders could beat the right wing reality TV star and centrist Hillary couldn't. Despite how charmed Ms. Dowd was during her lunch with the center-right Speaker of the House, it's clear that voters still don't want the status quo the Speaker represents.
3
@moviebuff Dear Sir or Madam, polls are not elections. Poll responders are not voting, they are opinionating. The base of the Democratic party is moderate (aka centrist). This does not mean that the party is illiberal. Check out the platforms on Abortion and Roe v Wade, check out human rights platforms, check out environmental platforms. Providing affordable, accessible healthcare to all was a signature legislation that Nancy Pelosi made happen. We moderates consider the good work on the Green New Deal as a mandated aspiration...we will get there If we defeat the Republicans in the Senate races and the Presidential race. Political movements that see their aims as "all of nothing" border on and frequently slip over the line between democracy and tyranny.
6
@GH Simply because a law is called the Affordable Care Act doesn't make US health care - the most costly and least effective in the developed world - affordable. (Did the Paperwork Reduction Act result in less paperwork?) Which is why 70% of all Americans want single payer. Questioning whether polling works - as statisticians have refined it over the past 70 years - is like questioning whether environmental science works. Both, obviously, do work. And environmental scientists believe strongly that converting to renewable fuels is "all or nothing." Does that make them, or those who believe the minimum wage should be be a living wage, or that student loan debt is an unsustainable burden on college grads (and the economy as a whole) tyrants? The "tyranny" assertion, if not outright Trumpian name-calling, is, at best, centrist hysteria.
1
Betcha Trump wouldn't even talk to a member of his "base" close-up unless they had been marinated in a Purell bath for 3 days. He shares with Mitch McConnell and the other GOP luminaries one thing: utter disdain for the rubes who put them there, fueled by the notion that anyone foolish enough to elect them deserves whatever they get. And they're right.
7
Ms. Dowd, please re-read your various columns about Ms. Clinton prior to 2016, and then see if your moral high horse is not a bit too high to be able to reach the saddle. Trump: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."
4
@Michael Garwood Agree. Hillary and her millions of voters deserve and apology from Ms. Dowd, among others who scratched their Clinton itches to the detriment of our country.
2
After all that has transpired over the last few years, and more
visibly and acutely the last few weeks, this louts favorable
numbers has gone UP to 44, 45, & 48 pct in some reliable
poles. In the words of someone running for president on the
democratic side "Come On Man!", how on earth could that be.
To quote Kramer, "Oh that be".
This uptick is from white DEMOCRATS, who also fear the
coming demographic apocalypse of about 2040. They now
are beginning to feel it as acutely as the lout in chiefs base
does.
If the Dems don't focus on the bread and butter issues that
everyday Americans face, he will be re-elected.
3
Hey pollsters, ask some simple questions of the American people: Do you think the "squad" is helpful or hurtful to America? Do you like the "squad"? Do you think they are terrible or wonderful? Then add up the implied electoral votes the "squad" might garner in each state.
My bet is that just as Willie Horton ads won before, they will win again now. That's Trump's bet too, and he has already successfully made the "squad" the face of the Democratic party.
I,too, revere Lincoln. But he wouldn't stand a chance today.
So why wallow in nostalgia, Maureen? Snap out of it and deal with the real reality, just like you did last week! Remember that? You showed us what the "squad" was really made of.
1
Seems you're a 'Blues Sister' Maureen, you need some pain and suffering to produce your best work, and your points are well taken, BUT......this really isn't rocket science. Trump's support is merely an extension of what Fox News has been tapping into since its inception. Reagan knew it when he stripped away the Fairness Doctrine. They're not interested in hearing another viewpoint, because they 'Know' they're right. Now they have an actual leader unafraid to "tell it like it is", to openly disrespect anyone that they don't like, either racially, religiously, or politically. It's why they hate 'Political Correctness', namely showing mutual respect for everyone regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation in public and the workplace. They're willing to ignore the sheer lawlessness, nepotism, lying, cheating, and incompetence in order to spit in the eye of those they don't like. The resentment and fear they've harbored since the 50's for having to appear to be civil to The Other has been unleashed, and they're loving it. It's ugly to see, but it really is that simple. Logic, reason, mutual respect and fairness got nuthin' to do with it. It's Fear and Loathing in the USA.
4
"It is a travesty that Donald Trump, 154 years after Lincoln tried to bind the wounds of the nation on race to keep the dream of America viable, is pouring salt into those wounds to keep himself viable."
The travesty is using President Abraham Lincoln's name in the same sentence with that of our wanna-be dictator.
Apologies to President Abraham Lincoln.
5
Trump is an offspring of a democracy that has been sold to the highest bidder:
• Illegal workers to undermine american citizens with cheap manual labor
• Immigration at cheaper costs to undermine educated americans paying dearly for student loans
• Open borders so that restaurants, agriculture and construction no longer have to pay decent wages to americans
Why is the media and our government so unaware of this. Oh yes, our government is bought and sold by lobbyists.
5
@cece Perhaps. It's interesting though, that of the illegals I know (and I've known quite a few over the years ) they share one thing in common. They work for people who want to lowball wages, offer few if any medical benefits and who are rock ribbed conservatives and who like nothing more than to moan about the illegals--while they're exploiting them. Glass houses and all that. Best, etc.
Well, for me the whole spectacle is hilarious, and Trump is the president America deserves.
Maureen, please don't try to 'help' democrats anymore. No more 'interviews' with Pelosi or anyone else over the age of 65. Those young whippersnappers will be just fine.
2
There hasn't been a moment in Trump's wretched, grasping, self-absorbed life in which he was fit to lick Lincoln's boots.
So why have we allowed an illiterate boor to represent us on the highest level? Has our government become a joke? Well, here's one from a man who really knew his craft:
"Democracy means that anyone can grow up to be president, and anyone who doesn't grow up can be vice president."
— Johnny Carson
Now we have two VICE presidents. Congratulations, America.
4
Is it not time for democrats and Republicans work together?
4
In his tweet, President Trump asked why immigrants who “loudly and viciously” tell Americans how their country be run don’t go home and fix the broken places they came from. His remarks applied to four persons, and he did not tell anyone to go home.
But Abraham Lincoln planned to send African Americans back to Africa or to a colony in South America. While working on the draft of the Emancipation Proclamation, President Lincoln was also working on a plan to send freed slaves to colonies in Liberia or Central America. After explaining the advantages of colonization, Lincoln told a delegation of free back leaders who visited the White House in 1862 that, “You and we are different races. We have between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss, but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence. In a word we suffer on each side. If this is admitted, it affords a reason at least why we should be separated."
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/lincoln/address-on-colonization-to-a-committee-of-colored-men/8B18F5967ED438E96FD018E880C2FFDD
And yet Maureen, you contribute to the likelihood of a DT re-election through your recent 'lunch with Nancy Pelosi' column. 'The Squad' are no doubt problematic for many in the Democratic Party, including the leadership (and I do not support everything they have said), but they represent a portion of the Party's voters; your 'insider' column does the same work the Russian social media apparatus does.
3
Actually, Hump is "With malice toward all; with charity for none" - except for his family.
3
Things go in cycles. Abraham Lincoln’s successor, Andrew Johnson, expressed more openly racist views than any president (see page 550 in Ron Chernow’s 2017 “Grant”). Johnson’s presidency ended with the election of Ulysses S. Grant, who was committed to racial equality. Americans will make a choice in 2020.
3
I still can’t believe we have such a mean spirited ugly American as President of the United States. I truly, truly hope he will be ousted in 2020. It saddens me greatly that our country has been reduced to two sides, such as existed during the Civil War. Hopefully, Trump will not incite a new one.
3
This frail juxtaposition doth belie a mournful solitude. To a fault the rhetoric of the campaign has been stimulating divers responses to what is perceived as some kind of democratic process, when in reality it is the quintessential contempt of the rich for all those who live "under" them, politically-economically speaking. In other words, there are other sources for economic facts and forecasts than the government prattle about a resurging economy, the latter of which both sides would love to take credit for, and in doing so continue the retinue of lies and half-truths which people are asked to believe. It is idealistic to compare a man of action with a loud-mouth; yet there are similarities which no sane person would want to compare. Therein is the key to what will transpire. If Trump is allowed to do the plutocrat-oriented machine's bidding and start another war, probably against Iran, then the true bombastic nature of American politics will be laid bare along with the genuine ill nature of many of these true believers. If " the party of Lincoln", "the Democrats", can stop the machine's malign influence from fraudulently delivering another victory and the JCPOA is reinstated and the criminal sanctions against Iran are lifted, and war is averted, then presumably the other two so-called allies, KSA and the Zionist entity will be so alienated as to turn away from their bombastic posturing as well, and learn to live in the real world. They might think twice about invading Iran
1
Imagine if you will what historians will write about #Dishonest Don, the people around him and his administration in 10-20 years. Will there be lessons for college freshman?
I just hope Fox News is not the primary source!
We are all responsible for writing history.
1
Donald Trump's "Malice towards all and charity for none" was predictive by his prior career as a businessman/reality TV personality. We recall his unethical behavior as a businessman, his 'page 6 personal escapades, the Trump foundation, Trump University, his prominent role in the 'birther movement, and his incendiary 2015/2016 primary and general election campaign.
Any thought that he might change and 'become presidential' were quickly dashed by his 'American carnage' Gothic inaugural address and the shear incompetence of his administration. Going forward, it continues to be a race to the bottom which can only be halted by the verdict of the electorate in 2020. The democrats should win, but a sharp lurch to the left could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory
2
If Trump had his way he’d send everyone of us who does not support him -American-born or naturalized citizen, to some mythical walled-in place populated with those he calls “the Trump-haters.” The faux-patriotic slogan “America, love it or leave it” which was coined in support of “McCarthyism” in the 40s and 50s and is now being weaponized again, particularly by right wing groups, to slander dissent, was bad enough, but it now appears to have morphed into an even more sinister version -
“Trump’s America, love it or leave it.”
If the majority of decent, compassionate, tolerant Americans do not vote massively to throw out this monstrous administration in 2020, we might as well start packing.
3
Since the early 19th century the south has given all its electoral votes to the party that supported its racial agenda. From Jackson until LBJ the party of the racist white southern voters were the Democrats, who found themselves on the wrong side of slavery, prosecution of the Civil War, reconstruction, Jim Crow and segregation. Even Democratic Presidents like FDR and HST moved very slowly on civil rights, including the desegregation of the military, because they were conscious of the importance of their racist base. LBJ ended the Democrats long support of racism by passing the voting rights act in 1964. Nixon embraced the South, the south quickly became as solidly GOP as it had been Dem, and the GOP has catered to racism ever since. Though most GOP Presidents have not personally been racist, they have had to play Willy Horton games and make their policies attractive to their southern base and to northern voters who find racism appealing for one reason or another. Trump has simply finished the job, and made racism the centerpiece of GOP politics. The nation continues to pay for its original sin.
253
@Steve
I absolutely agree. We — all those opposed to Trump who want him defeated — meaning all colors of the left and center — need to stop being so shocked by the racism and just take it as a horrific given, and strategize accordingly. It's tricky. We need to work around our currently rigged, gerrymandered, unfair electoral college, and unfair 'two senators a state regardless of population' system — and get control back. We need to not let media stories controlled by the 'alleged president' keep us so rattled that we forget the end game.
We are indeed paying for the nation's original sin — but let's not just wring our hands and opine. We need to pull together and fight.
15
In 2013 I treated my son and his 14 year-old son to a week in Washington, DC. It was a first visit for both of them, and I was proud to show them the museums, the monuments, the government buildings, and everything else that makes our Capitol City wonderful and awe-inspiring.
Fast forward to 2019. I have another 14 year-old grandson. Trump, his minions, and his enablers in Congress have so sullied and slimed our Nation, our Democracy, and by extension, our Capitol that I cannot bring myself to show it to him. Perhaps in 2021...
7
This would be the perfect time to show your 14 year old grandchild Washington, if only to remind him of the spirit and promise of America. This too shall pass, after all: it can’t pass soon enough.
3
People conflate Lincoln and his ethics with a particular party, in this case the Republican. This is an error. Do not conflate the ethics of one man with a particular party. Ascribe those ethics, instead, to what we consider to be a good human being. You can still attend to, and honor, the Washington edifice of Lincoln for that which he represented. Goodness; especially in the face of dire times.
Parties flip allegiances based on what is expedient for them. As the Republicans once were so the Democrats are today, and vice-a-versa. What we need more of, all up and down the political ranks, is allegiance and adherence to all those characteristics that manifest in a good human being.
Because right now those characters go wanting in the face of the ascendancy of the angels of our worse nature. These are dire times once again. Contemplating how best to counter this ascendancy should be our society's number 1 focus.
John~
American Net'Zen
79
“Decency matters”, when someone says, “Oh, but the economy, or what about all the illegals, or oh, we have lower taxes...” You say, “Decency matters.”
7
@John thank you for reminding readers that the Republican party today is NOT the party of Lincoln, except in name only. Back in the day Republicans were the party of progressive reformers. To equate today's Republicans with those of the mid-1800s is stunningly ignorant. Seriously, can you imagine what Lincoln would say to Mitch or Donnie?
8
Where were the riots in the street, the racial assaults, and the mass destruction of property over Trump’s comments? The short answer Maureen is that many find the Squad more offensive and anti American than they’ll admit. Omar’s antisemitic comments coupled with AOC’s socialist views are offensive to many. Pelosi has marginalized them and taken them to task for their antics. Lincoln would have dismissed them as immature juveniles who would rather tear down the Republic than build upon its foundation. There is no racial divide over Trump’s comments just a recognition that the Squad is toxic. Your liberal ire is misplaced.
39
@George
I find Trump to be roughly equivalent to AOC, Tlaib and Omar and believe all should be condemned in the strongest possible terms.
I’m not sure why Pressley is lumped in with the latter three. She seems a bit more normal.
7
@George
We are Americans.
Our Constitution and our ideals tell us to fight bad ideas with reasoned debate not with childish insults, taunting, and name-calling.
Our President should model American ideals.
20
@George - So four elected congresswomen, all people of color, are told to go back to their own crime infested countries by the sitting president of the United States. Three of the four are born in America. The president in question has a decades long reputation of being abusive to both women and people of color. And you feel Trump is justified in his comments because the politicians in question have advocated policies that you happen to disagree with?
Is it actually possible that you fail to see the absurdity of your position?
62
Eloquent and timely. Today's demagogues mirror counterparts during the Civil Rights movement like George Wallace and Lester Maddox. Wallace incited large crowds in the North and South and Maddox sold axe handles meant to crack the skulls of protesting Americans.
Violence was predictable and it manifested horribly. It is time for the clergy, Democratic presidential candidates and responsible journalists to make their voices heard. The hour is late.
19
I know it isn't likely or even remotely possible, but I keep thinking that if the media stopped reacting to Trump's tweets, even the most outrageous, Trump would be in trouble. People energized by his screeds might become bored; others would finally realize that what he does protects the rich against the poor; the Republican party policies would be revealed.
9
Thanks, Maureen Dowd, for showing us how Abe Lincoln brought America together 150 years ago into e pluribus unum, as Donald Trump is driving us apart today. We're witnessing Trump dividing Americans -- white nationalists from people of color -- into enemies and towards a second civil war.
As you eloquently remind us, the City of Washington, DC, is truly a Land of Oz. The Wizard is an aged con man hiding behind the curtain of indecent behaviour against his fellow men, women and children. Our horror and fear of our 45th President knows no bounds.
12
How do you think President Lincoln’s quote, “malice towards none; charity towards all” would play in today’s political climate?
8
The contrast is heart breaking.
10
Interested in how smart, of means and "moral" people can support this guy simply because they get what they want, no matter the damage and harm. Not just the Fox yahoo's, but maybe you could entertain us with your brothers view of the last few weeks, such as this gem below on Thanksgiving 2017. We can invoke Mitch and the GOP and their tricks, but they don't work if people who should know better don't go along with them, or God forbid, do the right thing. "My Brother Kevin’s Not Tired of Winning", real cute.
7
The sacrifice of the land of Lincoln continues long after the sacrifice of Lincoln. In too many of our corrupted ways, we are both victims and accomplices, enduring great losses with the illusion of continuing plenty. The commons and the commoners are being swept under the rug, deluded that we can reach the stars while the planet is dying. Trump symbolizes our lost ways.
5
'Given some of the hyper-liberal ideas tossed out by the Democrats in the first round of debates, Pelosi will have to work harder than ever to keep her party’s image where it needs to be with the real base, as opposed to the Twitter base.'
Maureen pray tell how you and Nancy knows where "the real base" is? From your multi-million dollar penthouse is the view clearer?
The Dem base is the ont that is working to survive on a daily basis. Working to stay above water in the economy that does not pay a living wage or provide benefits.
That is where America is.
6
In John Drinkwater's historical drama Abraham Lincoln, a woman says to Lincoln: "Mr. President, have you heard the good news? In the latest battle we suffered 800 casualties and the enemy 2700. How splendid."
"Splendid," replied Lincoln, "that 3500 souls are lost?" "Oh, Mr. President," she said, "you must not look at it in that way. Only 800 of them counted." Replies Lincoln: "Madam, the world is much bigger than your heart."
Trump is encouraging and attempting - I hope hearts have not been permanently hardened - to shrink the hearts of Senators, Representatives and many in his "base." We will all suffer should his cold heart toward our diverse country be further trampled by his outrageous words and behavior.
11
The Civil War vs the "uncivil" war Trump is waging on our very ideals. McConnell, Graham, Pence, Rubio and Cruz - all guilty of racism. Interesting that these people believe they represent the "Master Race" and yet they all lack the intelligence, courage, and confidence not to be threatened by a cage full of brown-skinned toddlers? Place Kellyanne Conway beside a woman who walked hundreds of miles carrying a baby and dragging a four year old just for the promise of a better life, you will see Conway is not 1/100 the woman the asylum seeker is. And Melania is doing to the country what her husband did to our allies overseas.
9
Keep on punching, Maureen. You, like the rest of us, cannot give up. If your writing turns minds, God bless you. With the exception of sending money to Joe Biden, I feel that all that I can personally do is convince wavering friends and family. Trump and his crowd are completely unmoved by protest marches or any other loud noises from us. The only thing that will prevail is the vote. We hope!!!
3
I'm less interested in monuments - my favorite is the Jefferson -- than I am in the monumental media cry that Trump's racist hate-filled attacks on 4 congressomen has succeeded in making them the "face" of the Democratic party.
Where do these shibboleths come from?
And as Ms. Dowd, and practically every other print or broadcast mainstream media members keep repeating this, and repeating this, they risk making it true.
They'll enshrine it in stone, like a monument.
They'll re-elect Trump.
Those 4 women are no more the face of the Democrats than crazy Lindsey Graham is.
They are 4 freshmen voices among many in the party.
Instead of addressing key issues like freedom of speech, dissent as patriotic, and the market[lace of ideas, we have another column about Trump and his psychology. A statement by Nate Cohn quoted that racial polarization could increase Trump's Electoral College edge.
It's time Ms. Dowd and others addressed the history of the GOP's use of socialism and communism as a weapon to demonize Democrats. It's part of their playbook.
They use it against white politicians. Now it's being used against 4 women of color. It's a hateful expansion of tried and true hysteria about socialism and communism spawned by the Cold War.
So please address not only racism but the use of socialist and commie tropes by the GOP.
We know Trump's a racist.
We also know the 4 women in question have not taken over anything or become the face of the Democrats.
Refer to Richard Hofstadter.
9
At least it has been proven once and for all, that racism, whether the whisper quiet country club or the more open bumper sticker variety, is what has animated Republicans since the Civil rights bill was passed in the early 60's.
The same Civil Rights bill that grew backwards economies and way of life, and the forced decency to offer business and pro sports teams a veneer of respectability, is still hated.
And the disdain runs from the Supreme Court, northern suburbs, rural farm states to the deep south.
But now, no one claim it is about "small government, balanced budgets and love of God". It's simply racial animus. It was for 8 years of Obama, and the fury of electing a black man has not abated.
For anyone still supporting this man, for another reason (Judges, tax cuts, the need to pollute as much as you want), you are giving aid and comfort to racists and are racist.
14
Trump is playing Jenga with the building blocks of American democracy. There goes health care. There go allies. There go environmental safeguards. Civil and gender rights--gone. Freedom of the Press....
All this and more to keep his base chanting.
Unlike Lincoln, he doesn't believe in history or the future--his only fear that his "apprenticeship" will be cancelled again.
9
This stark contrast made his 4th of July Donaldfest at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial even more disgusting. When the complicit GOP chime that they're the "party of Lincoln" it's abhorrent.
4
"I don't really care about offending people." Yet another Trump lie. It's not that he doesn't care about offending people. He actually ENJOYS offending people.
7
Sorry Maureen. For much of his career, Honest Abe believed that colonization—or the idea that a majority of the African-American population should leave the United States and settle in Africa or Central America—was the best way to confront the problem of slavery
Dems need to 'up their game' -- to what? Spell it out. Up it to the 'center' to stay cautious? Does that protect us against Trump and future swamp creatures waiting just below the surface?
Trump is daily laying traps for our media also---columnists take the easy road, bashing our blatantly destructive, worst president. They avoid discussing the issues that swayed our politics in his direction. Easy way to make a living in journalism these days.
Our daily media, proud of its freedom, isn't doing its duty to link cause/effect, to inform voters on what really shapes politics on issues affecting their lives--big money in politics.
What's the real reason our reporters, columnists, and TV pundits avoid this? Money defines what's called left liberal, that columnists/pundits accept.
Why does the media duck how mega donors legally invest in elections for good returns, and make both parties vie for money, thus shaping norms and setting lawmaking limits?
An unusual article: NYT-- "Fewer than 400 families are responsible for almost half the money raised in the 2016 presidential campaign." They define what's acceptable for congress and candidates.
Shocking fact on wikipedia -many countries ban paid campaign ads on media, in order to protect political discussion from domination by special interests. Imagine.
These ads that swamp and manipulate our voters are our biggest election expense, needing the financing by big donors.
Our media pretends this is inevitable.
5
@Meredith Bingo! Sadly, you hit the nail on the head.
Our greed-driven media will be our undoing.
Instead of informing the public about real issues that impact our lives, e.g. the environmental regulations his minions are dismantling in real time, the mainstream media are once again giving him free air time for his horrific rallies as they continue to amplify his inane tweets and relentlessly promote a faux narrative about "wildly unrealistic" policies embraced by "far left elements" of the Democratic party.
The paid political ads this time around will be more toxic than ever, painting the Democratic candidates as extremists who hate America. And the lies they spread will go unchallenged.
1
This past week was a glaring reminder of how racist the U.S. remains. Some 40-45% of voters are perfectly willing to get behind a white nationalist, a xenophobic bigot.
But of course, that's not all: They're willing to support someone who denies science and soils the environment, who buddies up with dictators, guts education funding, alienates our allies, gives tax breaks to the rich, and lines his own pockets.
If 2020 brings four more years of Trump, a move to Canada is looking better by the day.
6
“Given some of the hyper-liberal ideas tossed out by the Democrats in the first round of debates, Pelosi will have to work harder than ever to keep her party’s image where it needs to be with the real base, as opposed to the Twitter base.”
Or maybe Pelosi should pay attention to the combined popularity of all those “hyper-liberals” whose names are not Joe Biden and the popularity of dangerous, radical ideas like taxpayer funded healthcare and higher education, that’s to say, popular with the real base, as opposed to the MSM Pundit vase.
2
We have gone from -it could happen here- to -it is happening here as slowly but surely right out of the dictators playbook Trump helped by Barr and McConnell we have a de-facto dictatorship. Trump cannot be indicted for any crime nor be impeached no matter what he says or does as long as Barr and McConnell use the GOP to control the govt with a 5 to 4 supreme court stacked with lackeys. Trump insisted on that July 4 rally with tanks and fighter jets as a message to dissidents. Tanks are the weapon of choice for dictators and Trump admires and fawns over dictators in plain view. Who is going to tell him to leave the white house if he loses and faces jail he will not leave no matter what and Barr will agree the election was a fraud. Court 5 to 4 trump prez for life who will stop him no one.
3
What bothers me is how trump’s fans hear an entirely different message than we do. He is a patriot, a winner, hated by all scuzzy lefties. He is sacrificing his golden life to save America.
We are in a civil war. It just hasn’t gotten bloody in a formally declared battle. Yet. As trump said, he has the army, the police, the guns on his side. He actually boasted that. He can say anything, can’t he?
4
When are we going to see "the Donald's" tax returns? We the People need to expose "the Donald" for the charlatan that he is. He is dirtying the name of Abraham Lincoln.
4
@David Lockmiller
He has already exposed himself in every way the word implies.
He followers like what they see.
For me most horrifying aspect of trump's NC speech, wasn't his rhetoric-- after all we've heard it all before-- but how the crowd ate it up. How does anyone sit an listen to this conman president for more than five minutes? I find it hard to sit through the daily sound bites on the news. Aside from the hatred he spews, he can barely speak coherently-- not to mention his repetitive simplistic phrases. The reality is it doesn't matter to these people what he says, it matters what he stands for-- and he stands for nationalism cloaked in patriotism-- racism and division. Lincoln must be turning in his grave.
7
DJT will probably be re-elected, and therefore many will continue being ashamed.
I can not envision the demagogue's election defeat, and our nation's
disunity will seemingly worsen.
I have the miserable fear there will be a Ferguson type of hellaciousness
within the next two years.
A "hope" is perversely the GOPish courts killing Obamacare.
Yes, an ugly prognosis indeed, because of expectation of an angry reaction to the GOP beating itself by way of trashing of Obamacare.
McConnell's favorite Senators could be defeated by the rather obvious political dynamic.
Thus I herein cynically "hope."
1
One of Maureen Dowd's best columns, for sure. As well, one of the best assessments of the current status of U.S. national politics -- unfortunately!
2
If a foul mouthed fascist like Trump can gin up racial hatred and then win reelection with the majority of Americans still voting against him, then the American experiment is over. I have long maintained that we have ceased to be a democracy. The current administration lacks any democratic legitimacy. The Senate is inherently anti-democratic, as is the electoral college. The Republican supreme court has legalized bribery (Citizens United) and authorized gerrymandering and voter suppression. The only thing that stands between domestic stability and constitutional implosion is the common sense of the American voter -- and that doesn't give me much hope. If we don't reform our constitution so that we can be a democracy, then let's call it quits.
6
It doesn't matter which side of the Trump presidency voters are on. When the results are in after the 2020 election and Trump wins, the Democrats will cry foul and will certainly bring lawsuits contesting the results. If Trump loses, he and the Republicans will say the election was fixed by the deep state. Discord will ensue and our nation will further decompose.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin will be serving champagne and Beluga caviar in the Kremlin.
2
DJT will probably be re-elected, and therefore many will continue being ashamed.
I can not envision the demagogue's election defeat, and our nation's
disunity will seemingly worsen.
I have the miserable fear there will be a Ferguson type of hellaciousness
within the next two years.
A "hope" is perversely the GOPish courts killing Obamacare.
Yes, an ugly prognosis indeed, because of expectation of an angry reaction to the GOP beating itself by way of trashing of Obamacare.
McConnell's favorite Senators could be defeated by the rather obvious political dynamic.
Thus I herein cynically "hope."
Watching Trump incite his base is like watching a WWE wrestling match , except he has no opponent in the ring while his fans throw chairs around ; in their case nasty slogans that shows the blackness in their hearts . The most appalling are the women who seem ok with his misogynistic attitude and condone his actions . It affects all women but they don't seem to mind ; they are worse than the men in their fervor.
2
Would anyone be surpised to learn that Trump was planning to replace the seated Lincoln with a stutter of himself?
1
Your article is excellent except for 1 sentence.
"I still shiver when I think that the 9/11 terrorists might have destroyed any one of them".
I guess monuments (which can be replaced and would have been rebuilt) are more important than the thousands of lives that were lost that day are are still being lost because of the effects of all the poisons that were released as a result of the destruction. There were real heroes that ran into those burning buildings to save the ones in them. They never thought about their own lives.
And there were the people that only went to work to do their jobs (or flew on airplanes) expecting to return home. They didn't.
1
Democracies only work when all citizens believe justice can be resolved in a court of law. Even if those courts seem flawed at times the hope that justice is possible is the glue that binds us all together. The angry swarms led by Trump (“Lock her up”) are direct attacks on our faith in our institutions to achieve justice through institutional means. The cynical manipulation by the Republicans to handicap the will of the people undermines the ability to compromise essential to democratic debate.
The fact that Trump dismisses the Golden Rule at the core of all great religions means that those who support him not only give up Christian values but even work to destroy them. WE have seen this before in other countries such as Germany where a populist slowly undermined the institutions with huge gatherings of cheering swarms. Eventually they agreed to the elimination of the scapegoats that surpassed even lynchings
Anyone who fails to see his fellow man as an equal is a supporter of this sort of superiority of us over them of which racism is but one of its manifestations.
12
The party of Lincoln has long been the party of LinkedIn, where getting ahead depends on whom you know.
Now it's the party of Trump, an anti-conservative who has stolen the oxygen from conservatives by endorsing their pet issues, while doing everything possible to violate conservative norms and principles.
4
Thank you Maureen Dowd for a beautiful use of words, filled with personal and visual gems. An inspiration for America.
But deep within this article are notes that helped to get us to where we are at. Labeling congresswomen and ideas as hyper-liberal and far-left is setting a tone, counter to your inspiring words. Their words are only hyper-liberal or far-left because the Republicans have brought us so far to the right. Martin Luther King would not think Ilhan Omar was far-left for sympathizing with oppressed Palestinians. Lincoln wouldn't think it was hyper-liberal to provide access to healthcare to all instead of just those with money. Lincoln wouldn't oppose humane treatment or laws for those seeking asylum in America.
Last election you promoted Trump and argued non-stop against a Hillary Clinton win. Maybe in your small way you could help the Democrats this election - because just maybe you owe them one....
14
Do you mean she should just. shut. up?
1
“Ain’t it hard when you discover that
He really wasn’t where it’s at
After he took from you everything he could steal.”
Bob Dylan
Trumps stealth insurgency must be rebuffed. Forget focus groups, back rooms and hand wringing, that tact brought Al Gore, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton. Forget debating plans for the future until the power to affect it is secured, and our constitutional democratic process is reinstated.
Next week, when Bob Mueller is testifying, watch, speak up, register your opinion! Insist the Congress people drill down. Given that, it will be clear impeach should begin. If Mitch McConnell manipulates the out come. The momentum should be overwhelming for serious open debate in choosing a presidential candidate in an open and fair process, and the insistence on a free election. Vote against anything or any body that gets in the way of that. Vote with your money, vote at the polls.
PS If you are lucky enough to be worried about your money in the market you should take it out. Here are 5 reasons. 1) Trump’s financial schemes have always ended in a bust. 2) It’s a vote for Trump and all such votes are sustaining him. 3) Long in the tooth, it is sustained by Trump Talk. 4) You will lose much of it when it finally capitulates. 5) Liquidity will be very handy as a sound modern economy develops.
12
I love some of the comments suggesting that ‘this is not who we are’ or ‘we’re better than this’. News flash, this is who we are and we’re not better than this. And if anyone has any doubts, visit the Museum of the City of New York’s exhibit on immigration. We’ve been here before only it wasn’t Central American immigrants, it was the Irish, the Italians, the Poles, the Catholics and the Jews. And the nativist population in the 19th and early 20th centuries hated them as well.
469
@Robert Mac
Excellent point. Here's another example: Greek immigrants to the US were not considered "white" by the US government until the 1920s. This from a very reliable source who unfortunately is no longer with us (a Greek-American friend who was a brilliant chronicler of his people's history in this country).
America will never get over the ugly vestiges of slavery, Reconstruction and Jim Crow. Perhaps it might have been better that Barack Obama had not been elected and served two terms as president. All the racists, white nationalists and haters of anyone other than so-called "white people" who had been seething with resentment for 8 years now have come to the fore with a vengeance.
God bless America. No, God help America. That is, of course if one believes in a god.
33
@Robert Mac True enough that "we" have always had ignorant and prejudiced attitudes toward the last group off the boat. But I don't think we've ever seen such clear and blatant support for hate toward the other from a president. Kennedy called out the National Guard to enforce de-segretation, and on national TV, Johnson declared, We shall overcome!"
21
@Robert Mac
I think you've missed the point. Yes, our record is at best spotty, but I think you might agree that is better that we continue to prod ourselves to attempt to live as 'the better angels of our nature'. Should we simply accept and sink into the least admirable parts of our past, we would still have slavery, or at best Jim Crow. Women might not have the vote. We might still be stuck in the imperialistic arc of the late nineteenth century. American workers might still be dying in places like the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. We might still be sterilizing those we consider unfit. I admit that our progress has been in fits and starts, but progress it has been nonetheless. Trump would have us return to some of those old ways. Me, I think we should fight that. You?
17
Herein lies a problem. The ‘fair’ media and commentators, such as yourself, highlights some Democratic politicians as hyper liberal. You are amongst those labeling people.
How are affordable health care and leaving college without crushing debt deemed hyper liberal. FDR promoted social security. LBJ promoted Medicare. Teddy Roosevelt took on the monopolies so as to give workers a chance at a living wage. Can you honestly think of them as hyper liberal?
None of the current crop of those vying for the nomination ask for open borders, free health care, free college. They know that each has a price tag and, some, have expressed ways of paying for it.
Indeed, Lincoln is best remembered for doing his best to bring the country together. If you consider that he should be labeled a hyper liber, then, I guess, in those terms, the current crop of Democratic contenders are hyper liberal. They want to pull the country together and work towards re-establishing our drive toward American ideals.
America has never been a perfect place...except on paper.
35
Don’t forget: Abolition was perceived as radical in the North even into the Civil War. Emancipation didn’t occur until 1862, and it excluded the slave states that had stayed in the Union. Lincoln was an idealist to be sure. But he was a practical, pragmatic politician who got things done. Now as then we need both.
4
@dearworld2:"highlights some Democratic politicians as hyper liberal. "
That's because they are.
"How are affordable health care and leaving college without crushing debt deemed hyper liberal."
When Obamacare was enacted folks who pointed out they were paying more for coverage was deemed a liars by the NYT and Krugman in particular. When these voices became more vocal the NYT's response was essentially "you deserve to pay more". That's hyper liberal.
Insofar as leaving college with crushing debt, the student loan programmed morphed into an equivalent of the NINJA mortgage program. You wouldn't give me a loan - how horrible. You gave me a loan - how horrible.
But the best example of hyper liberalism is the hand wringing the Democrats are doing over the forced busing issue. That's where liberals shine. Just ask NYC residents what they think about school desegregation in flyover country. Then take a look at the racially segregated NYC public school system. Pure liberalism in action and quit looking over your shoulder.
Now get back to hammering on the folks in flyover country.
Dear world. it is the message not the substance. Reparations. Free health care for ALL. Free college. Sounds like communism. Socialism. How about a stronger message? Return what was stolen. Stop medical bankruptcies and preexisting condition limitations. Relieve the burden of higher education expenses by creating a path for this. Many of the problems liberals are trying to fix is caused by the person who is afflicted. A socialogy major with a $90,000 debt. Smokers and French fry eaters.......
Mr. Trump does not care a whit about this country or
Its people except for what they can do for him. This extends to churches and the faithful.
Napoleon had no use for the church but thought them good for mind control of his subjects. He enriched his own power by using this mechanism.
Trump is the same. He cares not for others nor what he does to them. He only cares what they can do for him or help him to achieve.
He is certainly not the return of Lincoln, more closely a return of Napoleon except without the mental brilliance of Napoleon.
20
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. The Democratic nominee, if Democrats can agree on one, at campaign rallies next year should recite a litany of alleged offenses connected to Donald Trump and lead the crowds in chants of "Lock him up." After all, Hillary's e-mail offenses were also alleged. I love Michelle Obama, but you aren't going to defeat the GOP or Trump by playing nice. When they go low, Democrats have to go lower.
10
@baldinoc
Regrettably, I agree completely.
I hope that the turn away from trump and trumpism comes quickly but I worry that the nation is not prepared at all for the test.
5
I ask many people that I meet " Are you on twitter?" No one has ever said yes, young, mid, or old. So who are these twitter followers? My question is why shouldn't the economy remain strong under a sane democratic administration and may be even stronger for many people? If it's all about the economy, the democrats should be talking about this.
10
Perhaps, the Democrats could start looking how Trump's promises to the working class has been a disappointment. For example, who has benefited from the tariffs he imposed?I believe a lot of farmers, and small business owners are suffering from those unnecessary tariffs.
22
@e. collins
An article this morning states that some 90% of Chinese investment has ceased since Trump took office.
"Chinese Money in the U.S. Dries Up as Trade War Drags On"
1
@e. collins
They don't know they're suffering. Like Trump, they don't read.
1
@e. collins
retired federal attorney F/70
He and his followers are not about facts, folks!
WHAT'S the matter with KANSAS? written years ago shows how emotion and beliefs squash realities for the believers and poor in Red States. Those that consistently vote against self-interest. Now, with DJT, they are also given license to be unabashedly open in their hate and rage about their fears.
WHAT'S KANSAS? It is people who choose to live in a rigid and dark place. There is no place for facts and rational appeal to self-interest. None. That alone could give us four more years of Stephen Miller and AG Barr running this country while Mitch dictates what Congress will and will not do.
I'm leaving 2023 one-way to Switzerland. Nixon was an honorable man by comparison to the fascist cabal that is consolidating power as it has stolen all current and future wealth with the 2017 tax law. A law that has this country borrowing huge sums for decades to put more money into the control of our 1% and Red States.
Sound ugly? It's only just begun. Blue States Alliance leaving Mitch's malign control is the only way for our vast majority of people and 87% of GDP to maintain some semblance of democratic principles. Anything less keeps the July 19 POLITICO cartoon spot-on: KY's Rand Paul and Mitch bent over a trough labeled Blue State taxes gobbling the majority's dollars.
Always all ways follow the money.
1
Our small town hosts a 4th of July Celebration and a parade that draws nearly 10,000 people form the surrounding rural area. This year a man approached a Somali woman, asked a few questions about her religion and her culture, then sprayed pepper spray in her face. This occurred in a throng of people in broad daylight. With Trump's cheering, these attacks will only become more common and more violent. MAGA my foot.
66
Within the speeches, writings and letters of Abraham Lincoln are the solutions to most of the problems our country face today. The Democrats have to not worry about the Republicans claiming Lincoln as their own and use him to their advantage.
"House Divided", "First Inaugural", Gettysburg Address", aforementioned "Second Inaugural ", the concepts of leadership and healing are there. If the Democrats, and we, fail to heed these words,then we are doomed to, as Lincoln closed his 1862 Message to Congress ( what we know today as the State of the Union Speech ) "Meanly lose the last, best hope of earth."
12
While psychologists are having a field day analyzing Donald Trump's myriad personality disorders, Americans are taking to the field against one another, dividing the country into two clear and opposing camps.
Fanning the flames of resentment is the President of the United States who, while sworn to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution," is instead provoking, prodding and endangering Americans who pledge allegiance to it.
We are at an inflection point in our nation's history. We would do well to remember Lincoln's admonition in his Gettysburg Address, that our nation was "conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." We would be wise to consider his words, that we are "testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure."
Donald Trump, while cynically basking in the reflected glory of Lincoln's Memorial is, indeed, testing that very question. He is abjectly failing that test, while putting at risk Lincoln's very resolve that "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
23
@Quoth The Raven
Yes I agree completely.
My instincts are that we are decidedly not prepared for the future. The test of our endurance is already flagging the nation's will and moral courage.
I fear that what lies ahead will make today's worries seem mild.
6
Clearly, you ignored all the ‘bon mots’ The Sun King Obama spewed out during his two terms - the original Flame Thrower.
The NC rallygoers were not and are not "incredible patriots" because love of country--patriotism--is not love of any one person including Donald Trump.
True patriots are wedded to an ideal and not to an individual. Perhaps we are nearing the end of the American experiment and, like an incandescent light bulb which blows out in a burst of light, seeing a surge in fealty just before everything goes completely black.
And, when Mr. Trump leaves the world, what will he leave behind? No one would revere a monument with twin pillars proclaiming "Lock Her Up!" and "Send Her Back!" flanking The Donald. Or so I might hope.
Mr. Trump is right: time will tell.
28
It would help if the press upped its game too. Every day, the lead artilce should be an article about the things the unite whites and blacks, genders, North and South, etc. - instead of the things that divide us. Art, literature, humor, compassion, education, travel, curiosity, science...all the things that unite us are also the things the GOP are territble at. It would help if every day there was a joint statement by those who are different (ex. The Obamas and the Bushs) that they believe in unity too. It would help if the press at the debate understood the need to focus on what unites people too instead of looking for the Gotcha question. And the modeartes and the progressives need to get on the same page - starting with the Squad and ALL the moderates who did turned the House blue in 2018. When was the last time the press wrote about Abigail Spanberger or any other moderate? The Democratic motto needs to - Make America United Again. Make America Human Again.
51
@JoeG Totally agree. 100 likes.
@JoeG
So true, JoeG, that the press trains its spotlight on AOC (not even the Squad, really, until now) more than her other fellow first-year Dems in the House. Quite honestly, I have no clear clue who the new Dem representatives are...and I read the Times everyday.
What gives, Times?
Well written, I only hope Trump and Hillary voters read it.
We only need a total of 80k voters in Mich, Pa., and Wisc to change their votes ie for Trump voters not to vote for him and for democrats not to nominate another identity obsessed, social engineer like Hillary, who only united her big liberal constituency .
Learn from history or forever be condemned to repeat its worst mistakes.
Americans made the right moves in 1861 and 1964, will they do the same in 2020.
The template is there. The democrats listened to history in 2018 and pulled off quite a feat, taking back the House despite it being gerry pandered by running moderate progressives instead of Hillary types outside of big liberal districts.
17
Well written? Really?
Mo was a major trump enabler in 2016. She has no credibility on this subject.
It’s Bernie’s babies and bullies that are responsible for this abomination of a presidency.
2
@Brad-Thank you for your reply. I have only begun reading Ms. Dowd recently and don't know what she did in the past but she is writing what must be done now.
Bernie was addressing issues in Wisc., Pa, and Mich. that were of concern to middle America there but could not win because Hillary controlled the democratic apparatus especially with super delegates.
You are bait and switching. Yes Trump is the greatest threat to our democracy since Lincoln but the real enabler and co dependent was Hillary that you don't mention.
She a a Neo conservative on wars, wall street and trade and an identity obsessed social engineer on other and social issues.
It was exactly what the rust belt did not want or need.
1
The impending doom I feel can be compared to being diagnosed with a terminal illness. How much more suffering will be required? Will a cure be found in time? I am so tired!!
Thanks, Maureen. Spot on as usual.
53
It is Amazing that Trump would use his "Reverse" Ego so to speak as stomping ground. Lincoln from humble beginnings self educates while Trump from flamboyance self medicates with sycophant cider. America Greatness ensues when excellence is the standard not indolence--Indolence in Chief..
11
For the good of the country the Squad need to take a lower profile and fall in behind the Speaker. Given the barbarity of Trump’s attack, we need to defend them but they cannot be the face of the party.
Meanwhile, Giden must hold the center and the center must hold.
37
@Lefthalfbach
Here is the problem with your strategy: the Democratic Party has its own issues to resolve. Unfortunately, due to the party's Intransigence around confronting its own racism and elitism, and embracing the voices of those upon whose votes the party most depends, the impulse is to stifle, defeat, delay and deny.
It doesn’t work.
Theeein lies the dilemma.
Biden and his record were easy pickings for Kamala. The Dems knew this going in just as they knew Hilary really shouldn’t have taken the Wall Street money.
For many marginalized Dems justice delayed is justice denied.
They know their value and seek some modicum of a return, for once.
They have nothing else.
1
"We’re all stuck on the flypaper. Democrats need to up their game to avoid the traps Trump is constantly setting for them."
Exactly right, but it's probably, already, too late. The media shares much blame in this, too. It's not just the politicians. CNN and the NYT have done an awful job of covering this president, and the result is exactly what Trump wants: divisiveness.
33
This past week, not only did we get a reminder of Trump’s diabolical appeals to bigotry, but also of his party’s near universal spinelessness.
After last Sunday’s tweet declaring that the four Congresswomen should go back to where they came from, Republicans had barely a disapproving word to say. Mitch McConnell had no words at all. Lindsey Graham tried to have it both ways, telling Trump to aim higher (as if lower were possible), but also saying that the Congresswomen hate America. Only a few Republicans in the House joined in the censure against Trump.
By late week, Trump was privately pressured into giving his lame, patently false ‘not happy’ comment about the ‘send her back’ chants, as if that absolved other Republicans of their own responsibility to speak up against the hateful rhetoric.
And the very next day, Trump was right back to his true self, applauding those who applaud him and lying that there was antipathy to the United States from Democrats. And the vast majority of Republicans have no words to defend their colleagues in Congress, or to squash the hate from within their own party.
24
@NM
"Lindsey Graham tried to have it both ways, telling Trump to aim higher (as if lower were possible)"
Make no mistake, with Trump lower is ALWAYS possible.
26
I am very frustrated by what is happening to this country. When I compare the Republicans to the Democrats, I feel that the Democrats will never win any future elections under any conditions. Why is that? Just look at what we are up against with the determination of the Republicans to always stick together. AT ANY COST! They have not criticized the actions of their party's president almost EVER! The Democrats need to stop quibbling over nonsense and take a page from the Republican handbook. Join together, no matter the cause, Dems, or we will aid and abet in the re-election of another 4 years of the lier and chief who is currently trashing the foundations of our Constitution and the basis of the freedoms we have enjoyed for most of our lifetimes. Vote Democrats into office on Tues. November 3, 2020. Have a nice dog day of summer!
24
@dhl
Amen, dhl. Democrats need to knock off the fantasies that seem to preoccupy their thinking, and the public squabbling over the niceties of said fantasies, and concentrate on one thing, defeating Trump. No progressive policies of any sort whatsoever will see the light of day if Trump wins reelection, and the GOP retains control of the senate.
4
Maureen,
We are here because the Democrats ran Hillary Clinton against Trump.
As my brother in law, who voted for Trump, has said: "If the Dems had run any local dogcatcher in any town in the US, against Trump, that person would have won.
But, instead, they ran Hillary.
"Let's see what happens", as Trump is wont to say, if the Dems can only put a candidate up that is not a walking dead body or a corrupt vessel of the past.
8
@Michael
Sounds to me like you and your brother-in-law voted alike.
Let's be clear: Hillary won the popular vote. Trump won the Electoral College. We are here because those who lived and voted in those key swing states failed or refused to recognize the clear and present danger that Trump presented to the nation back in 2016. Anyone who feared Trump's rage-filled, backwards-propelling agenda should've voted for the candidate that opposed him. Period.
Put another way, if you lived and voted in a swing state and liked what Trump had to say, that's why we're here.
9
Since HRC would have been the most experienced, politics savvy candidate to run and a woman to boot, I'm constantly seeing these comments about what a horrible candidate she was. Politically she would have been a strong advocate for women and children. The "I don't like her crowd" beat her to death with no substance as to their hate. How could anyone think that a politically experienced woman with mountains of verifiable education could be a worse president than what we have now? HRC wasn't a horrible candidate. The opposition was the horrible one and his supporters have brought shame to our country.
5
@Michael It doesn't matter who Dems run! Trump and his ilk will demonize them the same way they did Hillary. Just stop. Your brother in law voted for Trump for the same reason my brother in law did. They thumbed their noses at the establishment, got rid of "political correctness". They ran Hillary because that's who we wanted. You aren't blameless if you didn't vote. She won the primary. Our candidate will be who wins the primary.
1
"Abraham Lincoln led us through a tragedy. Donald Trump is one. With malice toward all; with charity for none." Think about that last sentence: Trump doesn't know the meaning of the word 'charity' but boy, he sure knows 'malice' and practices it on a daily basis.
44
@tom boyd
Ah, but he is thoroughly acquainted with "charity" when it comes to his buddies in big business. Why do you think the Republicans are silent regardless of his latest outrage? He and his amoral hangers-on are making a huge profit from this administration.
1
If Americans decide NOT to turn their backs on hate, then this noble experiment will, without a shadow of a doubt, have a horrific ending..... and it will be the ending we deserve.
So let's rephrase. ..
I suggest "God, PLEASE bless America... and the World"
6
The Democrats esp. these four women with no political savvy or experience are handing over the Presidency to Trump. Wiser ones like Pelosi may not be able to undo the damage these women are creating for the party.
For these women to further their agenda the Democratic party has to hold on to its current seats and win some in the Senate as Trump will win 2020. The average American looks at the economy and does not look for any idealogy and do-gooding.
18
When Trump was elected more than half of all voters were in dibelief (he lost by 3 million votes). But we bucked up and were hopeful he would grow.
We were wrong.
We now know he is never going to change. He is paranoid, pathologically needy of approval and constant adulation, and afraid to show the slightest vulnerability or crack in his fragile façade. So he strikes out preemptively at anyone who might make him "look bad." And anyone who upstages him either positively or negatively is thrown under the bus. He lies continually to protect his fragile ego. It isn't even clear if he knows truth from falsehood. He lives in a fantasy monomaniac bubble.
This is a man who is so profoundly unfit for his office he has his own staff and advisors on tenterhooks every minute for fear the latest farrago will plunge the nation (or the Republican Party) into crisis.
Now we have awakened from our fantasy that Trump will improve. He will not. We must now save ourselves and our nation. He must be removed from office.
51
@William O. Beeman Exactly. I am almost 80 years of age and my first vote for a president was for John F. Kennedy, a man who inspired me as a young American that this country was, in fact, great.
Now, I find that the divisions in our country to be so immense, mainly that way because a racist bigot in the White House feeds on those divisions, that I am not sure this country will survive this man.
The stain of his presidency on the people of this country will remain for a long time after he is removed from office. And some stains can never be cleansed, and I fear the Trump stain is one of those.
3
@William O. Beeman
I'm sorry, but there are a great many of who never entertained any such fantasy and never expected Trump to "improve." His viciousness and stupidity were known for DECADES before he was elected president.
I'm pretty much to the point where if you EVER thought Trump had a brain in his head or an altruistic bone in his body, I can't talk to you, I can't understand how his ignorance, infantile insecurity, and malice could possibly have been invisible to anyone.
2
@DW I don't think it was invisible, but so many people were quite willing to dismiss the deep flaws in this man because as I myself heard so much "I don't like Hillary" and that was the justification. I too never expected this man to become more "presidential" but his constant presence in my life is more than I did expect - not a day goes by that he is not at the center of some stupid, and at times, dangerous controversy.
As the original poster of this thread stated, he must be removed from office.
The Democrats just keep reacting to Trump's divisive trolling and he keeps playing them like a violin. He is a master at distracting them from the unifying and broadly popular issues, mostly economic and environmental, that he is weak on and that the Democrats are strong on. It's painful to watch.
16
There’s no dealing with bullies. Bullies in schoolyards and corner stores stay bullies in business, become bullies in White House.
In my old neighborhood, which was not far from toughguy-in-chief, there was always someone with nobility and character who would shrivel the Bluto with a withering look — no need for a punch in the nose. Tolstoy became fascinated with the words, “Do not resist evil.” He, along with that fellow from Nazareth, had serious credibility when looking at errant misguided baloney. Where is that real-deal moral embodiment today?
8
We used to want our leaders to embody the best in us. Even if they didn’t it’s the vision we wanted. Trump reflects and gives voice to the worst in us. His vision of America is narrow, xenophobic and cold. And he has tapped in to millions who share that vision but up until now kept it mostly to themselves. He says what they think. And they are loyal to him the way members of a cult are loyal to their leader; either disbelieving or minimizing all the wrongs he does or say. We are in a critical time for the future of our country. And right now it’s unclear if any current Dem candidate can get us through this - to tap into our better angels. To get back to what really did make America great. A welcoming land of opportunity for all
11
YES! THIS, EXACTLY: Keep (Pelosi's) party’s image where it needs to be with the real base, as opposed to the Twitter base.
14
James Comey may be persuaded to lead democrats to victory in 2020. Has anyone tried talking him into a match against Trump? Oh, he is a Republican. So what. Comey was betrayed by his fellow republicans and it would be sweet revenge to see him take Trump down. James Comey and Pamela Harris or Elizabeth Warrren or Pete Buti-something against Trump I think is a winning ticket.
"Given some of the hyper-liberal ideas tossed out by the Democrats in the first round of debates, Pelosi will have to work harder than ever to keep her party’s image where it needs to be with the real base, as opposed to the Twitter base"
Such a load of hooey, M. Dowd. If anything, the Dems need go all in on progressive policies, evidencing the most stark differences with Trump as possible. Nibbling and moderating will do nothing to get turnout to where it needs to be - at historic highs to offset gerrymandering and dis-enfranchisement.
Your inside the beltway pragmatic status quoism will not do in 2020. This is a deadly serious election and people don't need to hear platitudes from Dem nominee. They need to know the dangers of fascism and why it so crucial to VOTE. Without an authentic progressive (hyper liberal), it may be too late to stop the carnage.
7
@JFS
I hear you JFS, but the issues and strategy boil down to this: will a progressive "hyper liberal" agenda lead to Electoral College victory? That's where 2020 will be decided.
3
“And while that is a tad embarrassing for Republicans, they know from half a century of experience that it works to stir up racial animus and label foes wild-eyed socialists and commies.”
It’s embarrassing when you do it too, Ms. Dowd. There’s little that is truly radical in the ideas of Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and her peers: universal healthcare, immigration reform (not the same thing as open borders), addressing student debt, opposing Citizens United and its legacy.
But it sure is easier to dismiss these Congresswomen when you paint them as angry, uppity, children of the revolution.
19
My exact thoughts. Yes. According to Dowd, they and us should be seen but not heard.
2
In an ironic twist of fate, the Party of Abraham Lincoln is on the verge of surrendering the United States of America to the Confederacy, minus the overt slavery.
And further rubbing salt in the wounds, the surrender will be engineered by a party that represents a minority of "Americans."
17
On a recent visit to the Lincoln Memorial, my first in decades, I was also moved in a positive way reading the words of Lincoln’s second inaugural address and at the same time disgusted by the contrast with the words and actions of our current President. President Trump embodies every negative characteristic that can be attributed to a human being. However I continue to be despondent by his rabid followers and the deplorable Republican politicians who do not stand up for integrity and the values that represent the best aspirations of our country. These are the people who really seem to hate what this country is supposed to stand for.
15
Harking back 100 years to Weber's concept of charismatic authority and Freud's analysis of the kind of group psychology that subordinates itself to a narcissistic leader really goes far in explaining Trump's activation of white ressentiment and the abandonment of their traditional values by so many Republicans. The party and the bureaucracy may serve as means to the ends of the charismatic leader, whatever his values or lack of them. Rational means serving irrational ends, in some cases, serving evil ends.
The Democrat who opposes this monstrosity needs to appeal to democratic values of inclusion and equality and be able to make that appeal emotionally compelling. A technocrat, a policy wonk, your average Joe won't suffice. S/he must have charisma too, but not Trump's kind. It must be a charisma embodying our better angels.
Do any of the Democrat contenders really have the juice?
5
That is why he should be impeached YESTERDAY as a matter of principle not politics.
In addition, as an American, I am ashamed to having such a man to be our representative to the rest of humanity.
15
@Abolghassem Abraham Sadegh yes, he should be impeached. then we will see the true cowards in the GOP, then vote them out.
How ironic that the American people think that socialism is a dirty word when the worship of capitalism has resulted in getting a man like Trump. The perception here is that as long as our economy keeps humming the man in the White House is allowed to bring down the foundations of our democracy crashing to the ground.
Trump famous with his obsession of trying to build wall to protect our country is internally blowing up the values that had made our country great,
At one time we thought people would wake up to the sins of this devious man. Instead with each new outrage his popularity inches up to 50%.
We are now all turning into little Trumps.
10
The path to defeating Trump isn’t complicated. (1) The Democratic nominee must be competent, honest, moderate. (2) The campaign against Trump shouldn’t be on policy. Rather, it should be a relentless attack on his cruelty, dishonesty, incompetence.
It Trump emerges victorious, our experiment as a noble democracy has ended. We become more like Russia, less like Canada.
8
@Gimme I would add a third necessary ingredient to a Democratic: Get out the vote. There are far more of us than there are of them.
7
Trump appeals successfully to the lowest common denominator in many people (voters). That could, sadly, put him in for another four years.
4
For someone so tactile and strategic, Speaker Pelosi messed up with the four new Reps. Instead of publicly denouncing them, she or her office should have explained to them the practicalities of the 2020 national strategy. That didn’t happen. Instead she dissed them in this column last week So for now, Rep. Omar will probably require full-time security, and the slimy fly-catching paper that is Trump has engorged one more meal.
5
@Ted
Agreed, Ted. Take a lesson from the mess we're in this side of pond because "our" Prime Minister drew her red lines and refused to compromise.
Get Pelosi and the 4 Reps in a room and work out a compromise plan to defeat Trump. Ideology can come after they're in office.
Our Labour party (in opposition) has been a disaster of inconsistency and inconstancy. We are now faced with a no-deal Brexit which threatens our very existence.
Wake up Dems. Get a plan, get a strategy and support it.
3
Again and this time with feeling. Each day that passes with this president, more insults and injuries are added. Compounding on the previous days and months effusions like interest in his sick savings account of toxic ideas.
3
I grew up in Trump country. Their attitudes towards people who aren't white and aren't from around there have not changed much. They have always been racist nativists, just a bit more polite at times. I lived my adult years around people with the politics of the Squad. As a person who stays pretty much in the center of the political world, the Squad can annoy and offend me but Trump scares me to the core of my being.
13
Why the shock? trump's behavior is so on point, its hardly newsworthy.
The real question is what will the day of reckoning look like for his enablers?
4
One of the things I learned when I ran my own business is this:
The more I would try to explain something to a customer, the angrier they would get.
The problem with so many of the promising Democratic party issues and "plans" currently being discussed is that they require too much explanation. This is further compounded by a corporate media today that will just not discuss issues, "debates" consisting of 30-second sound bites (with everyone talking over each other, to boot) and by an Internet that thrives on lies and click bait.
It's not a bug, it's a feature -- and Trump has mastered it.
“I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and wouldn’t lose any voters, OK? It’s, like, incredible.” — Donald Trump
Who can make war with the Beast?
10
Yet another loss of a "sure-thing" election looms for the Dems unless the newbie squad get a grip. They've been in DC five minutes and know it all. Don't become next year's Nader!
5
"Abraham Lincoln led us through a tragedy. Donald Trump is one. With malice toward all; with charity for none."
We need to say it loud and clear. First thing in the morning and the last thing at night.
6
We (you) need to credit the entire Republican Party when discussing the President’s outrageous behavior. Trump is the party leader. His party continues to support him. From henceforth, they should not be referred to as Trump’s tweets, slanders, or racism; they should be described as the Republicans’ beliefs. They have become one and the same. Let the public know.
8
At 69, widowed, mother of of two professionals , a grandmother of two, and retired after a 30 year legal career, I am speechless. For a fact, Donald Trump is amoral, and disturbing on every single level. I simply cannot fathom how anyone in his or her right mind can support this man other than they are so insecure they cannot think for themselves and need a daddy bully. Sad. If my party does not get down to the business of addressing pragmatic solutions to access affordable healthcare, infrastructure, and education,Trump will be with us for another term.
680
@Mary D
REally?
What does your common sense tell you, about where the hate is coming from?
If you were the father of a child and had to flee your home country because of lack of food, and saw an opulent land with a cornucopia of food and standing between that abundance and your child’s life was a well fed individual… would you hate that individual for blocking your child from getting to the food?
If you were the mother of a child in a ghetto in the U.S. and you saw that your child was getting an inadequate education and that the local streets, with its violence and its lure of drug trafficking was dooming your child to a life of despair and crime… would you be angry and full of hate?
I don’t know about you but I think I would be. IN fact because I grew up in extreme poverty and yet lived among the very rich, I know I would be filled with rage. Because as a youth that was my life. And I heard from my parents how the system was rigged and how they were all thieves at the top.
So when I hear the ‘squad’, I believe that they are in fact filled with hate for the reasons stated above. But I believe we lack the proper English word for arriving at a moral solution. How do we apportion our responsibility to those with less than we have, when we ourselves are struggling?
Trump in anger is lashing back at hatred aimed at white people that may or may not be justified, but does exist. However, anger is not hate. It seems you miss that distinction.
3
@Mary D
And climate change and gun control.
3
@Ben Ross
If you read something other than fox news, and actually see what those 4 JUNIOR powerless representatives said, you would know that they have every right to express different views. They do not threaten the US at all... they are simply being used as foils for Trump to ramp up his base and their anger.
24
We all have knowledge of the Trump's of history. Let's not kid ourselves. Trump will revel when his three years of flame throwing results in a cascade of inevitable events that will have us in the throws of chaos and upheaval. We also know all the damage he has done to America socially and legislatively. No army of Russian spies could have ever accomplished the degree of sabotage to our already great nation now in terror of itself. I don't think this nation will ever heal from this. It is not merely that Trump is bad news, but his base is here to stay, now empowered as the armies of hate and anger. It will take generations before this history fades. There is no denying that Trump is determined to spark internal conflict as an excuse for fascist rule. We've seen this movie many times before. So did he, but he learned to emulate them.
4
The symbolism and the sacrilege were not unintentional. It was as if Jefferson Davis had finally won the Civil War and was telling us as his legacy in Big Brother Trump says, "With Malice Toward All Non-white, Non-Male, Non-Christian" is good. That Lincoln has it right when he said "Send them back" to Africa. Others claim that Lincoln had actually fled, and evangelicals were ecstatic and were enthralled in the rapture descending over America. This was the declaration, after the shots and shouts of Charlottesville, that we are in the midst of a second civil war where The Constitution guaranteeing "government of the people, for the people, and by the people may [in fact] perish from the earth."
1