to win Dems need to stop the uber PC stuff that drive many people nuts. just table it for now.
What's more important, a planet dying from climate change or what a sign reads on a bathroom door?
take back the moderates and center - take back control.
35
"Democrats are never going to win the news cycle from Trump. He’s an attention-grabbing genius."
Mr. Friedman: do you see the irony of a newspaper columnist talking about the "attention-grabbing genius" like you and your profession have not contributed to the "genius?" I'm not on Twitter. If not for the media I would not know about Trump's tweets.
I suggest that:
1) No more articles about Tweets. He gets NO press unless he stands in front of the press and answers questions.
2) You are not part of the WH press corps, but they should stop attending until Sarah answers questions.
3) Try to publish just one article about the Dems that does not talk about identity politics (Hello - Trump?), how incoherent their message is and "fractured" they are.
4) If you must televise Trump rallies, is there a reason why there is not one shot of the entire crowd? If not allowed, stop televising.
5) In this article, you could have mentioned at least one Democrat that is worthy of our vote for another reason besides "Not Trump."
Lastly, I will never forgive the press for holding onto the dossier story for months (wasn't corroborated, but come on!) while at the same time publishing Podesta's stolen emails and repeatedly failing to mention in said articles that you were publishing stolen material.
I love the NYT, but for you to talk about Trump's control of the news cycle without even acknowledging that you are the news cycle did not sit right with me.
125
To get the previously non-voters to the polls, Democrats need to talk to them and find out what they want. Those voters are mostly living hand to mouth. They don't care so much about abstract principals because many assume all politicians are crooks. But they care about their own environments, traffic, public transportation, affordable health care, access to good doctors, health insurance for their elderly parents and loved ones, and whether or not they are being cheated out of their houses and savings. Democrats must smarten up and talk to people with straight talk. Quit following the red meat issues the Republicans bait Democrats with - abortion, anti-trade, etc. Talk directly with voters and serve to meet their concerns. Then Democrats will win by large majorities. The media must not be complicit in making Trump the center of attention at all times. They must change the subject in order to change our rotten politics. Our media elected Trump by talking about nothing else! Quit falling for his fake news!
78
So blindly voting for anybody as long as they hate Trump as much as The NY Times columnist is good for the country. Now, tell me again about that "killing democracy in the dark" thing again?
15
Trump's offenses are impeachable. If you disagrees, address Paul Waldman's pro impeachment arguments.
26
Tom, I agree with every word.
29
Amen brother. Although, why didn’t you think the drain would literally have to start in Trump’s White House and the offices of his cabinet secretaries? I thought that was pretty obvious.
6
I never doubted that the Republicans I voted against for the past 38 years were at least decent people who cared for their neighbors, district, state, country, and the world. I can't say that about Trump. He is an indecent, inhumane, and selfish man who will rightly be despised by the majority of this country for those qualities. And that is before the Special Counsel has finished its investigation.
14
Here in the IL sixth district, we have a neck+neck race between the incumbent six-term Republican US congressman (Peter Roskam) who has voted in virtual lockstep with DJT's agenda challenged by Democratic newcomer Sean Casten, a scientist and entrepreneur.
The difference in vision is stark: Casten is a moderate who strongly favors science and facts to get the best answers going forward, while no one really knows what Roskam believes ... because he has hardly +ever+ done a public town hall in the past 12 years.
This story is being repeated across the country as many people simply horrified by DJT and the Republican agenda - +especially+ the Tax CutCutCutCut Bill - are finding their voices do matter, and are getting charged up to make a difference on November 6th. I think a lot of Republicans and MAGAsters are going to be completely surprised at how well organized the DNC and DCCC get out the vote efforts will succeed.
8
We should amend the Constitution to allow the public to vote in national referendums on specific matters. The Irish public just voted to allow abortion. Americans should also have direct democracy on issues such as gun control, immigration, and abortion.
47
The Republican Party of today has lost its way as a cohesive credible political force focused on financial conservatism. The Republican Party handed over the reigns of power to the ultra-right wing. Ryan and McConnell have willfully assisted in this abandonment of our democracy. They have grabbed power at the local and state level through an appeal to racial hatred and the flow of massive amounts of dark corporate money supporting the expansion of the extreme right. They have been aided and abetted by the Big Lie Fox/Breitbart/hate radio propaganda machines.
The Republican Party is now owned and controlled by billionaire far-right wing donors like the Kochs, Mercers, Adelsons and Wynns...etc. Their greed has replaced respect for our our country's Constitution and the rule of law. They brought us Trump. To support Trump, a self-perceived god-king, as president is truly an act of anti-Americanism. But Trump's blind, adoring fans - the Republican Party base of bigots and religious fundamentalists- don't care - they prefer the overtly corrupt Trump Clown Show to a functional federal government.
The real test for those Republicans who want to restore decency to their party and respect for America lies ahead. They could create a third party, but better still, they should vote Democratic and teach the corrupt GOP leadership a lesson they will never forget. This would be a true would act of patriotism.
34
Truth is, tweeting like a twit aside, Donald Trump's presidency has been pretty middle of the road. About what you would expect from someone who was a Democrat longer than he has been a Republican.
Being a populist is somehow seen as being negative these days, but Donald Trump is popular with a lot of people. Not the establishment on either side of the aisle. Not really. But he doesn't care. That's the beauty of it.
And the big question is, are we better off than we were a year and a half ago? I think so. And things seem to be getting better, not worse.
9
I submit the "worst Democrat" is, indeed, better than the "best Republican." And perhaps Conor Lamb in Pennsylvania is an example. His campaign, his policies were NOT in complete alignment with Democrat dogma but he had appeal that was a vote against Trump in defeating an incumbent Republican. And that defeated Republican, through the altering of gerrmandered districts, chose to run again in his new district---and was defeated. The point to my mind is that this nation is undergoing an almost cataclysmic shift in morality and foreign policy and social equality as a result of a Republican president and Congress. Desperate times call for desperate actions and we must get Democrats in control, whether its one or both Houses of Congress and in two years, the presidency. Else, we may become so embued with fascism, we lose our democracy.
18
You forget that there are Democrats who vote with the Republicans like the thirty or so who voted to weaken Dodd-Frank but were not condemned by Nancy Pelosi and Sen Schumer who supported the move to Jerusalem of the U.S. embassy in Israel, a move not in keeping with the best interests of the U.S. and resisted by all presidents since Truman! I don't know whom to trust, certainly not the Republicans who are giving Trump a pass, but a lot of Democrats as well, what is needed is a third way.
11
Here is the point:it is to make Pres. Trump a loser, a loser, a clear and certain loser. Despite his running around the country campaigning instead of doing his job, let the result be that his candidates go down the drain because of what they and he stand for. Then, Mr. Mueller, after the election, no more delay: issue your report, whatever it may say about the president and his closest cronies, yes, even if it exonerates him/them. This outcome in November by no means a certainty (any more than Clinton's 2016 "win" was). Voters must make it happen. Just like the pollsters underestimated the discontent with the establishment in 2016, we must make sure they underestimate the resistance to the chaos and destruction. And then, Media, don't ever, ever make the same mistake as you did in 2016. The mass media were just as selfish as the president is -- anything to make money. (Let's start with some self-assessment on the part of CNN about its wall-to-wall coverage of the Trump circus, and social media for leaving themselves vulnerable to foreign manipulation.) Political coverage used to lose money for news divisions, but at least we got information, not performance art, both on the part of the candidates and the pundits, masquerading as information. We the People made reasonable choices based on that, sometimes those my "tribe" supported, sometimes not. Those were the days, my friends. We thought they'd never end. We were wrong.
14
Could not be stated better, must be our goal as thinking Americans. Do everything we can to limit Trump's power, and if he is shown to have obstructed justice or to have so far unrevealed connections to Russia, impeach him.
7
A case to be made for Western Decadence, the following statistics are mounting against a stable, civil society. Annual gun related death are 30,000 to 35,000., school shooting average once per week since Jan, 2018, opioid related death 46,000 in 2016 and 64,000 in 2017, raising homelessness in one of the most prosperous western countries and syphilis epidemic in 2017. The age group that are affected from these statistics supposed to be the most productive group in the society. And now the country has elected Mr. Trump as the president with his daily lies and chaos. He attacked and distorted the societal norms, values and institutions. I agree with Mr. Friedman, we are in Code Red situation. Vote for your conscience in November 2018 and hopefully the current trends can be arrested or reversed.
10
Trump told us exactly who he is and what he was going to do and we voted for him anyway. That says more about us than him. We did this to ourselves and we deserve to suffer the consequences.
3
I don't understand why so many people think that impeachment is the answer. Impeachment not followed by conviction by a Republican Senate does nothing and might even strengthen Trump's hand, as it did with Clinton. And if against all odds Trump is convicted, that leaves us with Pence -- who is even worse.
15
I'm voting for issues I believe are important for the survival of our democracy. Haven't seen anything that the current Republican Party have done or are doing to support the people or our democracy. What the hell happened to the Republican Party?
9
It would be a stronger argument to couple the "against Trump" vote with a "for something" vote. Regrettably, the Dems are stuck in pre-Trump America. To win in the future, they should be showing folks from W. Virginia to Montana how they offer "real solutions" to working-class problems. To do this, they need to actually have real solutions, not tired old cliches. And, they need the authentic "every man" (and every woman) to deliver that message. I hear nothing but tired and tried platitudes coming out of the mouths of dinosaurs like Pelosi and Schumer.
The Dems have a basic choice: Do what they have always done and expect a different resul, which it appears they are doing, or change. IMHO, the Dems need to do what Republicans did in the second half of the last century - redefine themselves as the party of the working-class and eject party leaders who are inextricably identified with "coastal elites," identity politics and unsaleable ultra-left wing policy proposals on immigration, health care and regulations, among other things.
7
How about the governorships? These are arguably the most important elections in November, as control of the state capitols will affect the redistricting in 2021. It can be argued that it was the failure to vote Democrats into all the state offices possible in 2010 that led to the election of Trump.
10
Why is the standard liberal response when challenged from the right to concede the middle ground before negotiations have begun?
We do have a trade issue with China (they're doing exactly what we did to gain a competitive advantage over W. Europe); we cannot allow every immigrant (far less immigration would occur if South America weren't blown up over the last 40 years by the US military and IMF-mandated neoliberalization); people want a president who is going to grow the pie, not just redivide it (hard to imagine "growing the pie" will benefit anyone other than the very wealthy donor classes for whom the pie has never been bigger).
A "constructive" direction to me is an actual material politics where we're defining the landscape on which to construct a level economic playing field. Free, universal healthcare, expanding access to work training and education programs, a $15 minimum wage, universal paid family and medical leave, complete amnesty for immigrants, a guarantee to housing, and significantly raising taxes on millionaires MUST be the minimum standard to which Democrats are held.
If Democrats can't sell the public on those positions, they should at the very least be the starting point for negotiations with what is currently the most fanatical right wing party in power anywhere in the world.
10
In my opinion, given the terrible circumstances we are in, with a president who actively denigrates large segments of our population, we have only one choice: to elect Democrats to a majority of both the House and the Senate.
Each of us has a responsibility that goes beyond voting, though of course we must vote Democratic in races in our own states. We also have a responsibility to get out the vote for these Democrats.
In the South where I once again live, after many years in a more liberal environment, there are still those who would turn away voters of color. There are laws on the books to discourage them from registering to vote, let alone voting.
Thus, we must get people registered, we must educate them and we must get them to the polls on November 6.
We must also support Democratic candidates with money and with our time and energy. In my district, with little money and no name recognition, we saw Democrats get about 40% of the vote in 2016, despite Trump sweeping this heavily red state. Imagine now, with better advertising, name recognition and effort, how much better we can do.
If we have a chance here, we have a chance almost anywhere. Vote!
17
Would it make sense to register as a Republican in a closed primary, blue state like NY in order to be able to vote for a possible primary challenger to Trump? You'd still be able to vote Democratic in the election.
Over a thousand folks have responded to this opinion piece. I do hope that each and everyone of them spend some time in the next couple of months to help get eligible citizens registered to vote for the November elections.
8
I'm on board, though I think healthy skepticism about the FBI and FISA courts is still warranted. And I dread empowering any "new blood" among progressives, as they could do equal damage as Trump if they ever gain control of the WH and Congress.
1
I have been a true swing voter my whole life. But not this time. The problem is the leadership in our legislative branches. To change that we have to change which party is in control. We are I believe in the majority although not a super majority. But we have to get like minded people off of the couch and vote this time. Turn out operation is what is going to determine who takes control of our legislation branches. Which will determine if Trump is finally checked.
9
I don't buy in to this democracy at stake argument at all. Presidents come and go, every four or eight years. None leaves his footprint for long. Our system of government was established to accomplish just that. It's working fine
8
Not so. Major environmental pollution, unnecessary and preventable deaths in Puerto Rico, childhood brain damage from chlorpyrifos, people dying because of cuts in public health programs, people unjustly killed by police, extinction of species, infants and toddlers traumatized for life at our southern border — NOT reversible. Many of us hope to awaken from our dystopian nightmare in 2020, but for some hope is gone forever.
This former Republican will vote for the most obnoxious Democrat until the GOP recovers its ideals and its patriotic spine.
20
When almost every newspaper in the country withheld support from Donald Trump and endorsed Hillary Clinton, it was obvious that newspapers had little influence when we saw Donald Trump win the Presidency. Nothing seems to break through to people in the Trump bubble. Mr. Friedman, while we read and respect your opinion, it is sad to see how little influence you have.
Trump himself will campaign hard for a Republican Senate, where his Supreme Court nominees can get into office on a simple majority. The Republican majority can also be trusted to head off impeachment. Turnout, as usual, is everything. Vote to turn the House, the Senate, and your local government blue.
17
Interesting. This is essentially a call for a blockade of government, precisely along the lines the GOP had followed for Obama's last term. Prevent the government from achieving anything, put the country on hold for the intermediate future.
I am not saying that I don't agree with you, because of the destruction this White House is bringing upon the country, but please do remember that the Republicans also felt a similar deep emotional urgency to save the country and the world from Obama's excesses.
How often does this have to go back and forth?
Lasting change comes from proceeding in small steps. Not from tearing down in months what had been built in decades, or by changing societal norms by decree and imposing fines on people who dare to think otherwise, the way Obama did.
Obama brought us Trump. Getting rid of him will be at least as chaotic and it is doubtful that it will be less destructive.
5
This has to go "Back and Forth" until we have stuffed the MINORITY republicans (34-40% or so of the electorate) and their candidates 1% (.01%) funded "Donor Base" back in the cave they emerged from.
And they can take their fake news Propaganda Organs with them.
There has NEVER been an honestly elected "conservative" majority.
6
There was never a deep reckoning about the Iraq Invasion.
And that's big reason why Trump captured disillusioned conservative votes for the GOP primary. Many top GOP candidates did not break with their party and disavow the disastrous mistake of regime change in Iraq.
Tom Friedman advocated for invading Iraq, not using the false premise that Iraq was a threat to the US, but rather because of an immoral premise: to remake the Middle East and "give war a chance"
Given a choice between a POTUS who would escalate US involvement into another ground invasion or cause regime change that would cost hundreds of thousands of lives, and a POTUS that wouldn't, the later is actually the better option. (Yes, thanks to the bipartisan hawks in the media & in Congress, the bar has become so low, regarding who would be a better POTUS.)
6
I concur with Mr. Friedman. At least one of the levers of American governmental power must be wrestled from Donald Trump's grasp before the damage done to our republic and to its reputation is irreparable.
Mr. Friedman has pointed out that this is our first chance to vote against Mr. Trump. Given the aggressive way he has used his powers to damage our Constitution, and to bully and threaten his opponents, I am afraid that 2018 may also be the last time Americans can freely vote against Donald Trump.
11
Thomas, although I am with you on doing all we can to put a check on Trump's power, I can't help but think that the time of neo-liberal (economic conservatives) like yourself has passed by, and there are a great many of us in the Democratic Party who believe that now is the time for the party to stop being Republican-Lite, and go on the offensive for a truly progressive future for all Americans.
8
And invite an even bigger backlash than the one that brought us Trump! If you think that the majority of Americans will go along with that, you are seriously miscalculating. You will only cement Trump in power.
And that would be the real tragedy.
4
I would love to hear some examples of Republican "Fiscal Responsiblity" from Mr. Friedman. All I have noticed is cutting taxes and regulations, and doing nothing to actually cut spending. What have I missed?
8
Fiscal responsibility is the providence of Democrats. It’s just a marketing buzz word for Republicans. So, it’s time to give up that fiction.
8
Tom, will the Democrats try as hard to keep their promises as Trump is doing for his flock? I doubt it!
1
If nothing of substance has been done as yet, to make sure the midterm elections are not interfered with, maybe we should concern ourselves with that as well. Trump and most Republicans are not concerned with Russian interference in our elections, they certainly are not involved in safeguarding future elections, I wonder why?
6
I’m afraid your solution will only keep this problem alive forever. The worst/best scenario is never an answer. Vote for the BEST, give them a chance to prove they can function like an adult once the gag bit is out of their mouth, and you will pass corrective legislation that will not be obliterated in the next election. It’s been a long time since gov’t has worked that way, but we need it to happen NOW.
3
You are right.
The vote for our congressional senator and house representatives is the most important action we must undertake this year.
I always tried to vote for the “best” candidate, but I have come to realize that the best candidate tends to legislate with the party they represent, not the voter who put them in office.
As awful as it sounds, it appears that the worst democrat will be better than the best republican on the November ticket.
Because, a Democratic Congressional majority is the only blockade to an out-of-control President we voters can conceive until we vote in 2020.
13
"The worst Democrat on the ballot for the House or Senate is preferable to the best Republican." Thank you, Thomas Friedman! You are exactly right!
When the primaries in Georgia ended I had already determined that I would vote a straight Democratic ticket. That is highly unusual for me, as I usually consider each candidate's experience and fitness for office without regard to political party.
But voting in the 2018 midterms for Democratic candidates at local, state, and federal levels is essential to preserving our Democracy as well as our co-equal three-branch system of government (Executive, Congressional, and Judicial). Congress, with a majority of Republicans, has not upheld their Constitutional mandate to oversee the Executive branch of government.
Changes must be made and the only way that can happen is at the ballot box. VOTE Democratic in November 2016!
11
As a broad concept and with only minimal exceptions, the straight Democratic ticket is the only rational option for 2018. This is not my long-term, inherent, or generally advocated position, but these are times unlike any other, at least since FDR, and one must adjust.
15
Though I once liked some Northeastern liberal Republicans (Bill Weld types), after Reagan won I stopped voting for individuals and started to vote exclusively along party lines. The problem is the Republicans have so much party discipline, you can't trust any Republican not to go along with the party. Voting Republican—even for someone you might like—is highly risky because even the moderate ones will end up voting with the extremists to preserve party unity.
10
Spot on! Thank you. You painted the big picture for all of us; we can see what is at stake. We all have to sacrifice the perfect to save the essential...our democracy.
8
What about Bob Menendez? Should we vote for him, too, no matter what???
6
Speaking as a moderate Republican / Independent from a state with two Republican Senators who are critical of Trump (one dying, one retiring) I hope the Dems don't mess it up by nominating far left candidates who fire up their 'base' but are distasteful to the middle, as Tom explains. That's pretty much the only way they can f this cycle up.
I'm proud of my representative in the House, Krysten Sinema (D), who I voted for twice and who is running for Jeff Flake's Senate seat. She is the kind on non-radical centrist (relatively) candidate who should do well, if she can win the nomination.
#drainTheSwamp #replaceWithSewer
5
Tom, I think you've been infected with the Trump Derangement Syndrome virus. It's an epidemic in New York, but it's easily treated. Take some deep breaths, realize Trump has been in power for well over a year and, if anything, has actually been the first President in modern history to reduce the power of the Presidency. If he were going to become an authoritarian, he would have done so by now. The stock market is up, unemployment is down, wages are rising, and GDP is growing at a nice clip. North Korea is talking about denuclearization.
It's easy to get caught up in the emotional side of it, especially when the leader of the free world is governing via Twitter and really does seem entirely unfit for the job. But, if you step back and rate him on performance - objectively rather than subjectively - he's actually doing a better job than the last two guys did.
I didn't vote for him and I don't like him, but this isn't code red. Instead of freaking out and wondering how to get rid of a threat that doesn't really exist outside our fevered imaginations, let's focus on how we get better people to run who can objectively deliver results. The fact the orange clown is better at the job than Bush or Obama suggests we fundamentally need to change the way we get people into politics and pick our leaders, because there must be people who would be far better at it than this guy.
11
Though you mean well, and you're not alone in your fear and loathing, you are not helping by urging voters to save democracy by parking their brains and acting like programmed robots.
8
is this the best Friedman can do? Reread his screed. There is not one concrete example of how awful Trump is. Just hand-waving about "undermining" and "intimidation" and "corrupt GOP". A high school English teacher would give this a C and write on it "show don't tell." (and I didn't vote for Trump and don't care for his personally. but the left is just looney these days with this apocalyptic talk)
11
Thomas is correct... it's all about the demon-in-chief...meanwhile...
Please demand a referendum in your state to pass the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.... which is an agreement among a group of U.S. states and the District of Columbia to award all their respective electoral votes to whichever presidential candidate wins the overall popular vote in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
8
I keep on asking what is it that the Democrats actually stand for and I still don't have an answer. Is this, perhaps, why so few people actually vote? I contacted both of my senators (Feinstein and Harris) and my representative (Bass). Feinstein's office ignored me and wouldn't even give their names (although I had a list of her staff from the internet) and the other two gave me form letters completely unresponsive to my concern. Why would I vote FOR that?
8
Among other things, democrats stand for environmental sanity. No issue is more important than climate change. Republican policy towards the earth is staggeringly shortsighted and profoundly unjust and immoral.
5
Republicans favor "fiscal discipline?" Since when, Tom?
8
So, Friedman thinks democrats are against "free trade, fiscal discipline, pro-business regulations, a democracy-expanding foreign policy " and it is democrats and not republicans that play identity politics. ? This is demonstrably wrong , and easily at that. Also, democrats play constituent politics and not identity politics, as one is interest based and the latter a fiction of exploitation and cliche. Taking the statements in that paragraph writ large, the fantasy of those statements, the hyperbole, the outright tripe of it all, THAT is what has gotten so many republicans and trump elected by folks who should know better, but have had guys like you drill it home and creatively make it true. Forget your card, Friedman, here's your sign.
5
I am truly hoping that Tom Perez et al. will start, like yesterday, coming up with a new game plan. A real rocker. Some SMART attention grabbers. We need to get off Trump’s gerbil wheel. Forget him! Ignore him! Start proposing new ideas, focus on known and good ideas. Grassroots campaigns are key. Let’s get out and make ourselves visible. Let’s make ourselves irresistible because we are compared to this nasty Trump mess. The country must do this to survive and that’s not hyperbole.
7
"On many non-social, non-environmental issues, I’m not a card-carrying Democrat."
That's because you're a billionaire, married into a family of card-carrying oligarch. You are the .001%. Your readers cannot be reminded of this disturbing fact often enough.
11
Yes, thank you Thomas Friedman. I have one amendment. We do not need multiple Democratic and Independent candidates in California primaries, which have this new, dangerous rule, that the top two vote getters win, even if both are Republicans. The Democrats and Independents in California have to work together, to avoid 5, 10 or 15 candidates ensuring that the only two candidates in November are Republican. I don't know the solution, but something like a pre-primary would work.
David Lindsay Jr. is the author of "The Tay Son Rebellion, Historical Fiction of Eighteenth-century Vietnam," and blogs at TheTaySonRebellion.com and InconvenientNewsWorldwide.wordpress.com
2
If this was the 1950's we would be looking for The House Committee on Un American Activities. Senator Joe Mc Carthy had to be pulled up by Representatives in both Parties. We are watching one man surrounded by enablers who, for unanswerable reasons, say nothing as this example of an autocrat wanabe is allowed to run amuck and attack the most precious institutions of our Democracy and Country. Mr.Trump is an unabashed lier and an embarrassment to our Country on the International stage. The Democrats MUST take back the House and with some good Candidates, hopefully , take The Senate. This "leader" must be controlled and politically neutered. There are good candidates on both sides, but being an "R" lets me to believe that they will just tow the line of trumpism!! This must stop!!
5
I find it too painful to vote for the Democrat branch of the American Oligarch parties. I repudiated the Democrat party in May 2016.
6
What I wonder is how any Republican ever stands up again and criticizes any Democratic president over even 1/10th of what Trump has done. Actually, nevermind, I know exactly what they will say, its something like this "I realize now my silence was wrong, and that's why I pledge never to stay silent again we must stand up for... blah blah blah".
First, lets vote out all Republicans, or make them a tiny insignificant minority. And then lets vote out all the money in politics. Corporations are not people, and money is not freedom of speech.
6
Trump is a bad hombre. Let us all come back to our senses and elect moderate, prudent and level-headed Democrats
whose principles are far more important to American
Democracy, morality, prosperity, environmental protection and security than the Republican principles have ever been.
3
It was Salena Zito who coined the phrase "The press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally." I don't think it was the "stupidest statement" at all. In fact, I thought it was a quite clever turn of phrase that encapsulated how different people regarded Trump. Nevertheless, a pithy soundbite should not be mistaken for detailed analysis. It simply hinted at truths that we are still coming to terms with.
2
For those of us who are moderate Republicans, Trump is an abomination. I agree with the pro business policies, not the international policies. I'm perplexed by the elected Republicans who will not stand up to him and his disgusting social approach. The current Republican party is not my Republican party.
The problem I have is the thought of Nancy and Chuck and Elizabeth and Bernie undoing the positive regulatory and tax actions taken by this administration. Run amuck, overly sensitive political correctness is in the least dangerous to free speech.
Where is the balance?
I think that reasonable Republicans should have thought about what they were doing when they used various dog whistles, starting with their racist Southern Strategy. The GOP has become the monster it nourished for the past 50 years, and especially over the past 37 years.
As hard as progressive-minded Americans have fought to rectify the centuries-long U.S. history of "isms" and bring a sense of fairness and justice for everyone, it was always an uphill battle against those who wanted to retain their place of privilege and domination, their power and wealth.
The white oligarchy won several years ago, effectively dismantling our democratic republic.
Trump has only rubbed the lipstick off the pig.
4
I am here since Reagan time and find Trump the most authentic. Others were simply doing and saying things at the advise of their political consultants with no conviction. Trump has a unique personality, only he can do and say things the way he has been doing and saying. Others can't succeed imitating him. Under his leadership things are getting better and moving in the right direction both here and abroad. Just because Tom doesn't like Trump's style, rhetoric and policies, that doesn't mean it is code red. It is better to keep it going as it is than messing it up by electing Trump resistance whose only agenda is impeach Trump.
4
When I arrived in the US as student in 1979, my academic advisor told me to read the NY Times cover to cover each day. Tom's piece today is a testament, why even on vacations I have copies reserved.
6
Trump is the greatest danger to democracy this country has ever produced. At least a large chunk of the 40% who support him must realize he is a dictator wannabe.
We all must vote in November for democrats if we want to remain a democracy.
8
This is not just a vote against trump. This is a vote against 49% of Americans who voted for this divider. This means this a vote against the evangenicals and white nationalist. Unfortunately, i just don't see this happening. There are just too many one track minded people who care about nothing but their agenda. Just the NRA doesn't care about anything or anybody but guns, these people only care about bible and a white America. Until these people understand their behavior and consequence, we are stuck with trump. These people are a danger and threat to world democracy and decency. trump is just a grifter looking for a easy billion to steal.
5
A Call to Arms to Defend the Republic.
Using the weapon of an engaged citizenry active in the democratic process on all levels, who realize they have a collective responsibility to do the right thing and protect the great, civilized and tolerant country their fathers, brothers, sisters and mothers died defending in too many wars.
2
You say you're not a card carrying democrat because, "I favor free trade, fiscal discipline, pro-business regulations, a democracy-expanding foreign policy, and I have an aversion to identity politics." However in each of these areas arguably Democrats have a better record. Trump is starting a tariff war, Obama drafted TPP. The greatest fiscal disasters were Reagan and George W. Bush. Remember the very brief Clinton surplus? Democrats argue for the promotion of our beliefs and ideals abroad and if ANYONE is abusing identity politics, it's Donald Trump and the Republican Party. Republicans have used single-issue and identity politics for five decades. The result is Donald Trump. Trump may not have been the inevitable result but he certainly is the logical result. As is the cowardice of the entire Republican establishment. A review of the electoral and senate maps before the 1960's and today shows a complete reversal. The south, once dominated by Democrats is now solidly Republican. This doesn't happen by accident. I would argue on issues of identity politics, fiscal responsibility, free trade and foreign relations Democrats win hands down. And to that list I would add: environment, social issues, health and welfare, competence in governance and in general honesty.
6
Entirely agree with you, except many of those Southern Democrats were racists. They shifted to the Republican party after LBJ signed the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts.
4
I learned a long time ago, in petty officer training, in college-level management training and in supervising and running police dept.s for over two decades, the best indicator of future performance is past performance. Trump is a MERIT-LESS SCOUNDREL, always has been, always will be. The next two election cycles must be substantial democratic party victories.... literally, the greater good requires it.
7
How truly powerful this cri d’coer would be if enunciated by Republican Congressional leadership, the leadership of the Freedom Caucus in the House, the political leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention and the conservative public intellectuals who know Trump for what he is yet refuse to speak out and oppose him. For each , the sin of tolerating evil to facilitate the end of preserving their power puts the welfare of the nation at risk. However sound his argument, Mr. Friedman’s opposition to Trump in the New York Times is preaching to the church choir.
1
"I favor free trade, fiscal discipline, pro-business regulations, a democracy-expanding foreign policy, and I have an aversion to identity politics."
Ummm, gee Mr. Friedman, I'm really not sure what Republican party you're referencing with this little laundry list. You and David Brooks may still be living in some 80's fever dream where the GOP stood for these things on principle, but the party passed on this list a loooooong, long time ago.
Free trade has been dropped for a trade war.
Fiscal discipline, meet yet another stupendous tax cut for the rich. I guess I'll have to begrudgingly give you the pro-business regulatory environment, especially for big polluters and the for-profit education sector. If one is really concerned with global warming and the dumbing-down of the US body politic, I can't really see those as defendable principles to tout.
A democracy-expanding foreign policy wouldn't have the world's worst dictators and absolute monarchies as clients or collaborators. As for your stated aversion to "identity politics", read Ted Nugent's Twitter response to the cancellation of the "Roseanne" show.
This Republican party needs a time out.
6
Mr Friedman,
I have read many of your books. As a old guy I was taught that capitalism and democracy were synonymous - sadly, I find that they are not. The once and great idea that was capitalism has now become the unchecked monster that I never expected it to be. All because of its misuse by the selfish and corrupt. Yes Democrats seem to be the only hope left for us. Sadly it seems that we have come a long way from the idea of your first book "the Lexus and the Olive tree"
Thanks so much for sharing with me; what you are rather than who you are.
Bob Walker
2
The real problem with trying to oust the GOP from power is that Republicans either believe, or want to believe the flood of lies and untruths that stream out of Trump's mouth, fingers and supporters like Guliani and Barr. As we saw in '16 that percentage of Americans would "never" vote for a Democrat. The mid-terms will be settled the same way they always are........turnout. Not just by Dems/Rep but by the unaffiliated voters who see both parties dominated by people they don't identify or agreee with.
1
Mr. Friedman, the Democrats can't win by anyone believing they are saving the country. They need a simple message. And need to stick to it. For example The Democrats will not allow your social security or medicare to be taken away to pay for corporate welfare. Or Democrats will let you keep your hard earned money by voting to keep forever the middle class tax cuts. It could even be a chicken in every pot.
Remember, winners write history (and laws).
5
Thank you Tom for expressing my thoughts perfectly. Trump does distasteful things every day and today is the day that he not only didn’t condemn racist comments, but made himself the victim by blaming ABC. Can’t make this up. My wife and I are already volunteering for the November election because doing nothing is not an option if We want to look in the mirror ever again. We are also looking ahead to 2020 when we will travel to a swing state for a 1 week stay to do whatever is asked of us by Democrats there to get back those electoral votes and defeat Trump and Republicans in Congress.
5
Growing up in a military family of six, which means living on a very tight budget, the rule was: Whoever cuts up the pie gets the last piece. Everyone else chooses theirs first. I'm getting very tired of this Congress keeping the pie and serving crumbs to the country.
9
Still, the Democratic Party needs to have a midterm platform, a set of common principles for which people need to vote, starting with economic well-being and human rights of all stripes. It is not enough to vote against Trump. That ceetainly did not work in 2016. Democratic leadership, where are you? Mute, unfortunately, against the onslaught of the 24/7 White House Reality and Tweet Show.
3
The DNC, the Democrats, have shown themselves to be enemies of progress, and must be opposed. Lesser evilism is dead, and neoliberalism is the midwife of 21st century fascism. The Dems must be burned to the ground, their system cannot be reformed.
The Democrats, all but certain of their hegemonic position, took the "left" for granted, and embraced a conservative position as the new "conservative" party intending to maintain neoliberal values. Then 2016 proved the utter failure of neoliberalism as a social system.
Now, the Dems, having anchored themselves to a failed pseudo-ideology (neoliberalism) which in reality is little more than a faith-based market cult dressed in the guise of "common sense" and are fighting tooth and nail against progressives who have shown that the Democratic emperors wear no clothes.
The DNC insults the intelligence of the masses by talking a good game and abandoning it's supporters the second after the ballots are counted. They are a party who supports the war machine, wall street and big pharma. They have done everything since the election to salvage the old guard of their corrupt party including attacking true progressives and diverting time and energy on a phony "Russia collusion" ruse. Time and energy that could have been better spent fighting the Trump agenda but - alas - they have fallen in line behind much of it.
Their corny cry of a "resistance" is no more than a cry to resist real change, as they're now the real impediment to progress.
6
"The worst Democrat is better than the best Republican".
The so called resistance is just like the refusal to accept the results after Bush was elected. Do Democrats believe in free elections or just when they win. If the NYT and its conservative counterparts held sway, we'd be headed to civil war. Elect independents! If we had 3 independent senators, they would be able to control the senate. Our party politics are more divisive and partisan than American voters.
1
In November 2016 we saw the defeat of the US by Vladimir Putin by means of a cyber attack. All US citizens who remain complicit, including Vlad’s lackey Donald, are therefore cyber traitors and should be charged as such under the military code.
How was the US weakened to the point where we became vulnerable to such an attack? We need look no farther than the rise of corporate and media monopolies which gave us inequality, alternative facts and oligarchs.
3
Dear Thomas, Apparently, you are a bit worried about the damage that has been done and will be done by Trump and Friends. The Donald will have his pound of flesh (with cheese) right out of our collective hides, no matter your party affiliation. The only people that won't pay a high price for his efforts will be the very rich. Many of the 1% will look the other way, some will act on principle and others will continue to follow the money. I agree, the President needs to be contained. Putting all those worms back in the can will take a dedicated effort by every concerned citizen. We will need: the bottom 1%, the 2% thru 98% and the top 1%. It doesn't matter who they are as long as they are prepared to work together to control and then remove our current Infestation.
6
I cannot believe that your Code Red advises readers to vote for Democrats regardless. Mr. Friedman, I counted on your sense and sensibility in the past. Unfortunately, what you're proposing is "nonsense". Readers of your column are American people with intellect and ability to think and make decisions for themselves. They do not need to be told whom they should vote for and which party candidates are worthy of their votes. Pundits tried this in 2016 and pushed Hillary to the forefront. American voters did what they thought was their right choice. They voted for Donald Trump. They will do the same, i.e., voting for their choice regardless any party affiliation or your recommendation for that matter. They do not listen to you and your hack mentality.
2
Vote for a Democrat- any Democrat, we don't care who! We don't care if they have reasonable policy or not, or if they're just lining their pockets, or even if they're worse than Harvey Weinstein, we need people on OUR TEAM to win!
Therein lies your problem America, on both sides in fact. Is it any wonder why George Washington's final speech was warning of the dangers of partisanship?
4
Spot. On. Thank you, good reminder of the work we must do.
1
I've never voted for a Democrat in my life (to be clear - neither did I vote for Trump...as an IL Republican who's presidential vote doesn't matter much in an electoral college system, I wrote-in another Republican). While I respect that others, including a significant number of this newspaper's readers may have a different view, I have always believed in the core principles of a President Reagan style Republican Party vs. the core principles of a President Obama style Democratic Party.
Notwithstanding this, I cannot find a single word in Mr. Friedman's essay with which I disagree. Our current president has moved our country in an extraordinarily dangerous direction and I fear it will take an entire generation to reverse much of the damage he has done. In very simple terms, I learned in kindergarten to avoid many of the behaviors he has displayed as candidate and president.
Thus, for the first time in my life (and I'm in my seventh decade), I will be voting for Democratic candidates in this election cycle. If asked my opinion, I will be encouraging many of my like-minded friends to do so as well. The central values of our Republic are too precious to allow them to be trampled at the feet of a self-serving, misogynistic, wanna-be dictator.
10
Odd article. Tom Friedman seems to be personally offended by Donald Trump's style and thus ignore his substance. He seems to care more about the means than the ends.
I think that is wrong. Who cares if the president tweets like a twit if he is effective in getting things done? The world is a nasty place. The domestic problems we face are intractable. A nasty, intractable president seems just the ticket to deal with all that.
Being too nice hampered Barack Obama, and stopped him from getting things done. Even Steve Jobs noticed that, saying, "I’m disappointed in Obama. He’s having trouble leading because he’s reluctant to offend people or [tick] them off." [Adding, "Yes, that’s not a problem I ever had." Nor has Donald Trump.]
Jerks like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and Donald Trump may not be everyone's cup of tea, but they get things done that no normal person can. They fight. Hard. And that's too rare a quality.
Abraham Lincoln noted that. He picked Ulysses Grant to lead the United States army, but was criticized for Grant's poor manners and alcoholism. Some clamored for his replacement. "I cannot spare the man", Lincoln said. "He fights."
I will vote for Donald Trump, and those who support him. I cannot spare the man. He fights.
4
And is what he's fighting for what you want? Are you in favor of the destruction of our environment, the loss of medical care by a large proportion of the people who need it, the wreck of our foreign policy, the kowtowing to dictators and Russia by this "fighter"? If it's the means you like, alright, but what he's fighting for is far more important.
4
DocM, yes, Donald Trump is fighting for what I want. Peace and prosperity.
There are a lot of things I disagree with Donald Trump about, but I think his heart is in the right place. I'm glad to see someone not captive to his advisers or political allies but who does what he thinks is right.
Just like with George Patton in World War II, the best fighters often come with a lot of baggage. Trouble is, you can't get the good without the bad.
Barack Obama and George W. Bush were both fine men who did their best. But Obama's presidency was ineffectual and Bush's disastrous.
We are only a year and a half into Donald Trump's presidency and it is already shaping up to be a monumental one. Sure, he can still stumble, but he is a crafty man who learns from his mistakes. I'm optimistic.
While I appreciate and understand the degree of urgency and concern with which Mr. Friedman writes, and I don't disagree with him, I agree with Ma's position even more. She is representing the approach to voting of the "thinking" American. Not just offering blind loyalty to a party for the sake of party. If all Americans had used this approach to the 2016 Presidential election, Mr. Friedman would not have had any reason to write his opinion as he did, and we would not be fretting about the incompetent and corrupt choice we collectively made.
This is a very realistic article, composed by a master journalist.
Well said, precesice, and down to the point. I couldn't agree more with his opinion. !!. may he continue to carry on with more of such brilliant articles. Hats off to a real American.
3
Friedman's comments about what he does not like about Democrats -- such as identity politics -- ring true, but his conclusion is right on. Impeachment won't work; plus, it's unwise, even in this case. This is a voter issue, and no third-party candidate (even a David Brooks-selected Whig) will succeed. If a majority of Americans want Trump thwarted and then ousted, the majority will have to vote in a cohesive pattern. And the Democrats will have to nominate high-quality candidates. Trump legitimately won the 2016 election, but he did so after receiving less than a majority of popular votes. He won largely because Hillary Clinton was a flawed candidate and a lousy campaigner. If the Democrats want to win back the nation, they will have to do better politically -- at every level of government.
4
I disagree that only Democrats should receive the votes. On the local level, some Republicans are fine, mostly because they live and work near the people they represent. One must also consider the candidates reputation and previous decisions and actions to make a good, informed choice.
Once you get to the state level , decisions become more difficult. If Republicans control the state offices and the governorship, then control should be regained, and voters should look at how some states are attempting to curtail minority voting or restrict women's health care. Vote out those who support such vicious acts.
On the federal level, it becomes simpler again. Vote out every Republican who has voted to eliminate Obamacare and limit women's health choices. Vote out every Republican who voted for the tax "cut" that was only for rich people and corporation. Vote out every Republican who has spoken out against the Russia investigation or who has requested the FBI be investigated. (Doesn't leave many, actually...)
When voting, think about what is best for the PEOPLE, not for the political party.
Most importantly, get out there and VOTE!!
4
Thomas is spot on. A check on Trump is the only issue on the ballot this November. Hopefully, all of those who did not vote, wasted their vote on a third party with no chance to win, or foolishly said "what do we have to lose" will make it up to the country.
4
I do not for a moment believe that "can I get away with it?" is a question Trump frequently asks himself.
1
As long as Democrats continue to see tRump as the problem and not a symptom we will continue down this road. A large number of people voted for tRump not because they believed in him but because they don't believe in anything anymore. They've realised that their government doesn't care their jobs are gone and their standard of living is in decline. At the same time they realise that the more affluent among us are not willing to pay the taxes needed to pay for the social programs that would maintain their standard of living. These American's realise for them the American dream is over, they will have no future under globilization and neither the Republicans nor the Democrats care one bit. They voted for tRump because he wasn't really a Republican just as many others voted for Bernie Sanders because he wasn't really a Democrat. Sanders could have won if he had been allowed too. Until some party realises that a growing number of Americans no longer have faith in this country or in the institutions that made this country work we will continue to see tRump style politics.
7
I agree, but can my party please make it a bit easier by nominating less extreme candidates.
5
Sadly, there are few Republicans who have stood up for American values. Those that have will receive their share of votes. But those who failed to stand up for their country against foreign interference, to support their constituents rather than only the richest, to conduct hearings and other needed oversight, and to stand up for our justice system and to protect it have earned their exit.
3
Thank you, Mr. Friedman. This is the best column I've read about the importance of the upcoming election. Thank you sincerely for making the issue so plain.
13
Regarding the 2020 presidential race, and for that matter the mid-terms, it might be worth remembering that Bernie Sanders is the most popular politician in the country.
And that if the polls are any guide (a 10- to 15-point lead over the 12 months till the primaries), he would have beaten Trump by a country mile had he run against him in 2016.
1
Tom Friedman has it all down right today. Any true patriot will vote to punish the complicit GOP this November. It means that such patriots will "make it emphatic by voting straight Democratic" this year.
It's the only way to reform the Republican Party and bring it back to its roots as a small government, fiscally conservative party that respects the basic institutions and political norms that brought America to a place of world leadership before Trump.
5
This is definitely a Code Red. The Democrats have to take the House. If not, then the attacks on our institutions--the DOJ, the FBI, and the free press--will continue and perhaps get worse. If the Republicans and Trump don't pay a price any of this, they will become emboldened and move further to erode these important institutions that protect our democracy. Thank you Mr Friedman for a great column.
9
Politicians are always saying "This is the most important election of our lifetime," but this time it's really true.
9
It is time for the Democratic Party (my party) to accept the hard truth that the next Speaker of the House is likely to become president of the United States. It is a big responsibility, but one the party is capable of carrying out.
4
This op-ed should be reprinted, emailed or posted on as many social media platforms as possible. It is complete, cogent, compelling and powerful to get out the vote.
15
No, this election is in fact about electing representative government that will vote for sound policy and law in a way that closely reflects the wishes of the districts that elect them. This is not an election about Trump-is-terrible and "that’s the only choice on the ballot." We need functional government. We stand at many crossroads, A.I. is one of many important issues that all the running around in circles and shrieking by the "Resistance" is distracting attention away from. We can't afford the approach Mr. Friedman is advocating one more day. We need as many smart, competent, and above all, community-minded people as we can get elected.
5
I wonder if the emphasis in "He’s an attention-grabbing genius" should be changed to "he has a genius at grabbing attention". It just seems wrong to credit him as a 'genius' at anything.
15
You can also claim that a petulant toddler is an "attention grabbing genius." :-)
2
But wait, I thought he was a "stable genius"?
2
Yes, by all means it is imperative to oust as many of the GOP politicians as possible! The thing that is often not mentioned is Congress'/GOP refusal to do anything to protect our voting system! That in itself tells us all about how "patriotic" they are and how far they are willing to go to hang onto their power, by hook or by crook!
7
Why does the citizenry continue to accept a choice between Flotsam and Jetsam?
The lesser of two evils is still---EVIL!
3
Trump may well call off the '18 elections.
Why wouldn't he?
His own base wants it called off.
He would do it based on his powers under a 'national emergency' declaration.
11/8/16 was a monumental error.
We as a nation will not escape unscathed.
There are no good ways out of this huge blunder.
5
If we let the "Republican" party hold majorities in both the house and senate, we will deserve what we get, and the United States we knew would be dead.
5
Like Friedman says about himself, I too "... do not come by this easily." But Friedman is right this time around.
This ex Republican, then uncommitted but now far more Democrat in terms of both social issues and what was once Republican in terms of fiscal and foreign policy issues, has never, ever considered a straight down the ballot partisan vote. I have always tried to weigh the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate on their merits and vote accordingly....UNTIL NOW.
As Friedman says, this election is about who we are and what we stand for as a nation going forward. It is about Dignity. It is about Respect for both our fellow men and women and, just as important, our Constitution, institutions and the Rule of Law.
Trump, as leader of a hijacked party, is now leading in a deadly divisive, racicstly tinged, fear mongering style. He is as much a danger in his own way to our future as Hitler once was to Germany and the rest of the world.
Yet his own party remains passive, willingly blind because he says what they want to hear about being Great Again, waving the flag, honoring our troops and returning this country to a place that exists only in a fantasy past.
This ex Republican, now Democrat, Vietnam Vet and, most important a grandfather of kids who must be given a future based on dignity and respect, will be voting against the Republican Party to weaken the man in the White House with every choice I make.
To me, it is that important...for our grandkids future
8
Thank you Mr. Friedman for a cogent article that is spot-on. The barbarians have breached the gates and constantly endanger the future of our democratic Republic. Is someone as wanna-be authoritarian as Trump our nation's best offer to lead the free world. Most decidedly not. And yes, the Republican enablers have abrogated absolutely any shred of reasonable resistance to a man who shreds intelligent conservative ideas along with any modicum of actual rational thinking that doesn't proceed from 'the gut'. Spare us. Send probiotics to the White House and to Congress.
2
Thomas Friedman has provided here a thorough summary of the Republican Party leadership's utter failure to deal with the Trump catastrophe. At age 87, however, I have seen nothing but greed and misogyny from the GOP during my lifetime and feel strongly that it no longer has any reason to exist.
18
Join the Resistance - Vote Democratic? Unfortunately, it is not that simple!
Constraining Trump’s power and influence may be helpful and needed but it is not the “root cause” of our country’s problems. Trump received tens of millions of votes because so many in our country are fed up with Washington, Politicians, their parties, operatives, and special interest donors putting their self-interests ahead of ours. Politicians were elected to do the right thing for US not themselves, their party and their special interest donors.
Fool US once shame on you. Fool US every election cycle shame on US! The U.S. keeps doing the same thing over-and-over again and expects a different outcome?
We must find a way to hold self-interested and self-enriching Politicians and their staffers, from both parties, personally liable, responsible and accountable for the lies they have told US, their gross mismanagement of our county, our $21T and growing national debt (106% of GDP), and approximately 80T in future, unfunded liabilities jeopardizing our economic and national security, while benefiting themselves, their party, and special interest donors.
http://www.usdebtforum.com
5
You should read the book "Tailspin" which covers this very topic.
I fear for our nation many citizens of which are blinded by economic numbers that paint our country as in tip top condition. On the one hand we have a stock market and the elite making bundles. On the other we have 45 percent of our people who must decide between paying the rent and eating or getting medical care.
Trump and his GOP enablers point to the former as proof that they are doing a good job and that is what their voters emphasize as they cast a vote for these con men. But the great mass of people continue to suffer from stagnant wages and an economy stacked against them. Will a sufficient number of our voters finally wake up in time to save themselves and their country from the party that gave us the com man and deceiver in chief, Donald Trump? Vote Democratic to prove your vote counts.
7
Although not perfect, I agree that we need to get Democrats into the majority ASAP. The corruption and lack of integrity in the Republican party is an egregious affront to our Constitution and is a cancer at the very heart of our Republic. The inability to see this any other way is either willful ignorance or worse, an intentional acceptance of their acts. I cannot stand for a country that has leaders who willfully corrupt our processes that will lead to our loss of liberty. Once we turn this around by having the Dems in the majority, we are far from done. The leadership in that party needs to be held accountable for ANY lack of leadership that provides any room for compromise in regards to corruption and moneyed interests having an imbalanced level of representation. The healing needs to include a plan for equitable representation and if they do not provide it by getting big money out of our politics, they need to be voted out ASAP. Enough is enough.
3
It is truly amazing that we read things like this in the paper. How is it that America is so not what I thought it was?
1
Donald Trump has a liberal of Thomas Friedman. I'm looking out on Lake Michigan and seeing little red guys with tails happily ice skating on the rapidly freezing surface.
BRAVO Tom Friedman! No one has said, or could say it better. Trump is a festering cancer on our democracy, and simply must be curbed for the next two years before he destroys our country altogether. Thank you for this important column, Mr. Friedman. And please don't stop making these urgent points. We are in the gravest trouble I have seen in my 82 years of life, and I have never been more frightened and ashamed for my country.
8
Hear, hear!
4
This is the first statement I've read or heard, in the several reputable news sources I check daily, that goes beyond impeach or not impeach. That statement is, to paraphrase, if impeachment is unlikely, do something else to curtail Trump's power. This makes the point that impeachment is a means to an end; it is not the goal. the goal is to check presidential power.
So I don't understand the DNC's official stand against impeachment as a final statement. In saying we don't have the evidence, only Mueller knows, suggests the DNC has taken a sip of Trump's kool aid: who knows anything, fake news could be real, who knows. The DNC is falling prey to Trump's craziness.
I propose the DNC directly counters Trump's very effective mantras of "witch hunt", "hoax", "fake news", "enemy of the people," "spygate. " Ridiculous as this name calling is, it's working to discredit Mueller, the press, even the truth. How about a counter mantra: "This is not normal!" If the DNC has forbidden impeachment, fight back in other ways to curtail his abuse of power. Much as I worked for universal health care and against economic inequality, I now see these goals as futile as remodeling your house when Godzilla is stomping out your neighborhood with his big, ugly feet.
3
Impeachment will only exacerbate the chaos we see now. Handcuff the guy this year and throw him out in 2020.
2
OMG...Thank you, Mr. Friedman. You summed up our national situation. Excruciatingly true and desperately sad.
3
Friedman's hysteria graphs the principal reason Trump was elected. (No doubt his mock survey question is written as honestly as today's media could manage.)
There are many Americans in the middle who are quite happy to say, "If the investigations find anything on Trump-Russia (or) anything on the FBI and CIA spying without just cause, punish the offenders."
The real scandal is that today's media cannot even meet objective, centrist people like Jonathan Turley halfway in the middle and second the above sentiment.
The American people are summarily exhausted with being lectured by overpaid hysterics about the moral duty to Resist from a media that can't observe the most minimal nostrums of fairness or honesty.
Why is it never a proper subject of a NYT editorial why the media's approval rating has fallen to 25-30% (that's Congress territory)?
Instead we hear endlessly from self-styled Vichy Resisters who can't even report the emerging facts concerning Mr. Halper, what he was paid, or the auspices under which he was hired.
Yet we are to be brainwashed, Stasi-style, into assuming, a priori, that Trump conspired with Putin -- even though the public evidence visible of the latter act is the square root of the evidence visible of the former.
Journalism in America has collapsed. If you seek a reason that a man of Trump's character was ever admitted to the White House, look in the mirror: He won the highest office because the sensible left abandoned the center.
4
Now, top NYT newsroom editors, schedule this column to run again on Page 1 this Sunday, with an introduction in small-ish headline type (you may crib my intro below, if you like), but definitely above the fold:
"This is the most important column our editors and our newsroom have seen in recent times for our Democracy, and maybe for the entire world. Because of this, we are reprinting Mr. Friedman's piece of exceptional clear thinking, with its specific, reasoned call to action, on our front page."
NYT editors, get behind you columnist. Make the stand for all time; that is, all of us today and all generations of Americans to come. Because a Page 1 reprinting of this column, with your full support in such placement and with your intro, would be headlines in every newspaper and newscast across the country, and later, for the historians. A bold move from you, like this would be, is needed now that the times call for it.
16
Tom: it is not often that agree with anything you say but I support your suggestion here fully. We have arrived in a situation in this country where 40% of the voters approve of a con man who also happens to be a certified idiot (certified by many of his better appointees), abetted by a Republican Congress and Party which lost its legitimacy long ago, and even another calamity in form of a majority of a Supreme Court. A confederacy of dunces of this magnitude has not been since the third Reich. Yes, vote for a democrat, any democrat is right! I would add Vote for Bernie in 2020, it is still not too late to get a decent man to run this country.
8
You are telling readers to vote for Democrats in 2016, regardless of the person, their policies, or their past experience and actions? And you believe this is democracy; will lead to the 'best' outcomes?! I didn't vote for Trump, or Hillary. But, I did vote. I don't vote for a person because of their party affiliation. I would remind you that Trump was a member of a third party in the early 2000s and ran as their candidate. I would remind you that Trump WAS a democrat for years, and contributed to the Democratic party. I would remind you that Trump is a self-absorbed narcissist - neither Rep or Dem or third party person. To use Trump to paint any party is a joke; you are obviously one that sees Trump as an opportunity. Shame on you! I'll likely vote for some Dems and some Reps based on who is running in MY local election, but will never vote party line - that's the disaster that is this country today.
52
Refreshingly rare and right on point; thank you. The answer isn't voting for "the other guy", it's to vote for the best qualified person.
7
I would remind you that Donald Trump went nowhere politically as a third-party candidate or as a Democrat but was able to grab the brass ring on his very first try as a Republican.
That tells us nothing about the GOP? Really?
115
The best GOP candidate will be unable, despite his/her best intentions, to affect the systemic damage being inflicted by Trump. Electing the worst Democratic candidate will undermine the wall of silence about the damage, and hopefully help heal our government and the country. Normally I vote for the best qualified candidate regardless of party affiliation but now is not normal.
93
Wholeheartedly agree. That is why it is so discouraging to see Dems in CA jeopardize the election by packing the primary. Too many self important , self righteous wannabees are missing the forest for the trees squabbling amongst themselves (remember those who thought Gore wasn't green enough and got Bush). A team approach is necessary to ensure success in November.
4
Interesting...the 2010, 2012 and 2014 elections were also a referendum (check) on President Obama's powers, with Republicans taking substantial majorities in federal and state elections, but you didn't read it here.
1
False equivalence. You equate a flawed public servant with the cancer who took his place.
2
Slow clap. Thank you
3
It's not out of the realm of possibility to see the Grand Potentate Trump suspend the fall elections. It's also, possible that he well nuke North Korea. He's unbalanced enough to do, well, just about anything his warped mind can come up with. Code Red indeed. It can't happen here, right?
So, how are those plans shaping up for the big parade?
2
And for me, your vote in the primaries, which are going on now, should not just be for a Democrat, but for a female or minority Democrat wherever possible. We are supposed to have a representative government and I don't see how that's possible when at all levels of government is a sea of old white men unilaterally deciding policy for all of us. Identity politics? You betchya!
3
So a minority female can not properly represent "old white men"? That seems to be your argument. If this assertion is true then each and every special interest group should have a representative regardless of proportion.
AMEN.
2
Well put!
The core question of your election is simple, and entirely without nuance - will you enable Donald Trump to continue to destroy more than 200 years of American democratic traditions and values, and reduce your country's stature to that of an international pariah and embarrassment?
Democracy is about the will of the majority. A majority of Americans oppose, even despise, what Trump is doing to America. Vote and he can be contained.
5
Free trade, fiscal discipline, pro-business regulations, a democracy-expanding foreign policy are only talking points/ The conviction to achieve these things have been cast aside in favor of partisan ambitions like destroying healthcare, angering our trading partners, destroying internet pleasures and helping the 1% conquer America. This didn't just start this week, Mr. Friedman, the republicans have been torching our way of life since Ronald Reagan. Re-examine your party affiliation, the GOP is dead to most of this now after this performance.
10
I believe that once Trump hasd to deal with a Democratic Congress, he will realize that it benefits him to consider the Democrats as his "base". He will change his thinking and what he does regarding the problems the Nation faces. We will thin hear the Republicans realize what a liar he is and has always been.
Let's all vote for Democrats and enjoy the ride.
Most of all we will benefit from Judicial choices that care about Justice.
2
This is a thoughtful, wonderful and motivating column. I hope Tom Perez and his entire team read it and modify their strategies and tactics accordingly. Our civilized and democratic society is at stake, and we must save ourselves from this despicable man and his cadre of sychophants.
1
I agree with Mr Friedman. This is high alert, our country is in danger. We can't squabble over details, time for that later. The Republicans in power have abandoned the nation in favor of .......what? Do they really not care about America? What is all their crying over kneeling during the anthem all about, THEY are no patriots. We must remove them from power. I am not speaking as a Democrat or any party affiliation, merely as a very concerned citizen.
3
I and my family will all vote a straight Democratic ticket in the midterms. I don't care how splendid a Republican candidate is. Trump is a clear and present danger to America.
8
"I figured Trump would try to destroy Obamacare; I just didn’t think he’d literally do it without having a better alternative — any alternative — in place."
This is an odd sentence. On what basis would you think otherwise? Congressional Republicans have continually been trying to destroy Obamacare with no plan in place. Why would Trump be any different?
5
I agree with Tom on every point but one: impeachment. This president is dangerous, and ultimately, can cause a war. He's not a threat to democracy, he's literally a threat to all life. And that's not hyperbole!
I am confident that the evidence will show that he conspired with the Russians to steal the election, obstructed justice and committed money laundering and other RICO acts. If that's the case he must be impeached.
2
As usual, Tom Friedman has written a needed, insightful and heart felt piece.
Our vote is the great equalizer in our society.
For those who cannot be bothered to vote and allowed the GOP to take over all levers of power, I hope you have finally learned your lesson. Every election is very important and you must vote regardless of inconvenience.
If you don't vote- don't complain since you are a big part of the problem.
3
Well, Tom Friedman, you usually have my ear but with your comment (pasting in here):
I don’t write this easily. On many non-social, non-environmental issues, I’m not a card-carrying Democrat. I favor free trade, fiscal discipline, pro-business regulations, a democracy-expanding foreign policy, and I have an aversion to identity politics.
Fiscal discipline? Is that what you call the Republican tax overhaul that just went down? On the contrary, sir: The Democrats now are and have long been the fiscally responsible party. Good luck in repeating the lie.
Tom Claire, Newtown, Conn.
5
Thank you for your generosity of wisdom and advice. However, by your own admission, aren’t you preaching to the choir? The people who put Trump in office are going to keep him and his cohorts comfortably seated, while continually turning a blind eye to the hate, chaos and utter recklessness this administration creates hourly.
2
I suggest Mr. Friedman get in a car, leave his Manhattan penthouse or long Island mansion long enough to cross the George Washington bridge and head to points west, like Iowa for instance or maybe Indiana, does he have the guts to sit down in a diner and hear what the people of this country really think about Trump, or more importantly, what they think about the democratic party. Be prepared to lose your illusions and your appetite. You will not be sipping gin and tonics on the upper west side with views overlooking central park, you will be in the heartland where the views are quite a bit different and where people see Trump as a force of nature who is restoring American pride and stopping the flood of illegal immigrants, that the Obama administration seemed to think was its life's work, Trump stopped all that, and Trump is not going to let anybody take away Americas right to own guns, not now, not ever. The democrats are on the wrong side of every emotional issue that resonates with the people in the great middle, those State you fly over on your way from here to there, well the middle has their President, a man ironically from the same city as you, though his view of Central park looks west while your looks east. the Views may be the same but its a whole different world. Sound your code red Mr. Friedman, believe me, for you and the dems, its a real emergency.
2
Flyover peoples' views are more than necessary; sadly, the man whom they chose to further them is a threat to the very democracy that makes their voices heard.
1
To understand why the elected GOP officials do not take on Trump, recognize that a very high proportion of the GOP base - somewhere near 90% - approves of Trump. If they don't support him, they don't get re-elected. That doesn't explain why most not running for re-election are taking a stand. Perhaps they are cowed by their colleagues. Sad
2
Oh Thank You! This is what we needed to hear! And I think I find myself more in line with the author's thoughts on what needs to be done than I realized. I was a bit hesitant to call myself a democrat while understanding that indeed, hard as it seems, we do have to limits on some immigration and all the other things that need doing mentioned in the essay.
Thanks again and maybe this is one that gets printed and hung on the refrigerator, just for the constant reminder.
2
I agree that the midterms will be our only opportunity to stop Trump. I’ve also read, though do not know, that the Democratic part is in complete disarray. But, it’s members do have an opportunity to seize, at least, some control in our government.
Trump would not be president had the Dems offered us more than Hilary Clinton.
2
Overturning the Red Wave involved far more work than venting about Trump and Republicans in the NYT. It's a level of effort most of us will not accept for whatever reason, many of them, I presume, the result of Trump fatigue. The most tangible thing we can do is engage someone who still possesses some intelligence, but who voted for Trump, and work to convince them to vote for a Democratic candidate in the 2018 elections. It will take compassion, understanding, and empathy as well as possessing facts that appeal to the Trump supporter's emotions more than his or her logic. That most Trump supporters lack an understanding of facts is a given. I have a Catholic relative whose wife and he voted for him simply because he claimed he was pro-life (one of his many hypocrisies). He is rigid and will not vote for any candidate who is pro-choice, period. So, trying to swing his mind is useless. However, this tactic works for some who were anti-Hillary but who have seen no benefits from Trump's chaotic, tyrannical behavior. I know someone who "turned" an avid Trump supporter recently, but it was very taxing for the "Converter." We can't be the Culture of Complaint and expect others to do our work for us. Get out there and convert some of the Red Hats.
3
Now that Roseanne is off the air, I guess I and all of the other Trump voters will just stay hope, in November. And I was looking forward to gaining seats in the House and Senate. Maybe have the economy grow even more. Make America even greater than before. But, Roseanne was cancelled. Totally and completely bummed.
1
Like you, I am socially and environmentally a liberal, but more of a conservative when it comes to all those other things - especially being a fiscal conservative.
But you are wrong to suggest the GOP is the party of fiscal restraint. They only pretend on that issue - one only has to look at charts of the deficit under GOP or DEM presidents over the last 30 years (the deficits of 2009 and 2010 clearly belong to Bush, not Obama).
I just wonder how many people fall into our category, and have to choose between 2 parties, each of which supports only half of their agenda. Of course, with tRUMP, the choice is easy.
3
I am a liberal who has never been big on Democrats. While I agree with many of the stances they take in their campaigns, I feel like they more-often-than-not fail to follow through. While I recognize this is sometimes more due to the reality that you usually can't get much without compromise, there have been times when either compromise was inappropriate or they just suddenly seemed to lack will after the votes had all been counted and they were secure for another 2, 4 or 6 years. More often than not, I have voted for 3rd party candidates for national office. I lived in a solidly blue state, so the impact was negligible.
Well, since Trump was elected, his supporters have convinced me to do two things - first, I moved to a red state this year and I'm looking into moving to an even redder state later this year - and if you are a liberal living in a very blue state, I urge you to also consider this if you are able to. The second thing is this - no more third party candidates for me, at least while Trump and his posse hold sway in DC. I'm voting straight Democrat right down the ballot.
Ideally, I want to rid the country of two-party control, but now the priority is to first remove the one-party control.
9
Well said. That is what this election is about - dismantling Trumpism. The best way to start is to vote Democratic in November, across the board. Hopefully, Democrats will be able to take back one congressional house. After that, we have got to find a Democratic candidate who is strong enough to defeat him in 2020. So far, unfortunately, I haven't seen anyone tough enough to go up against his bullying tactics.
3
Keep your eyes open for the likely new crop of Dem governors as possible national winners.
1
As I read news items and readers comments, I see very high motivations to vote- coming from both sides of the aisles- it may very well be an election of historic numbers. An involvement of the majority of the population in the political process is encouraging, I just hope the sanest side wins... this time...
8
I fully agree with your thoughts - and position - on this. One more step I think should be taken is a full public outcry to see the tax returns.
8
On the mark with the thrust of your comments, Mr Friedman. Most of all your "aversion to identity politics". So it was surprising to read your support for right wing identity politics when you say: "people want to be comfortable expressing patriotism and love of country in an age where globalization can wash out those identities." Patriotism and love of country is the romantic identify/passion that drives authoritarian/populist regimes. This is what got us Trump, Erdogan, and the Populist movements in Europe.
6
Tom Friedman is always spot on, but unlike him, I want Trump impeached.
7
What I am having a hard time processing is the mind-set of the Republicans who are supporting Trump. Do they not see the crumbling of our democracy? Surely no corporate campaign contribution can be worth losing this. I'm an Independent like Friedman but there is only one way to vote in the upcoming elections and that is for a Democrat.
11
The knowledge that Donald Trump is currently legally empowered to systematically destroy much of the social legislative fabric enacted since the New Deal and has set about doing just that, with the support of his Republican enablers-- --that he is empowered daily to pollute the air we breathe, literally and figuratively, in his actions and his words -- that he sits like a cancer in the collective psyche of the nation -- for these reasons, I strongly concur with Thomas Friedman's Code-Red call to action.
We must band together, whatever our political differences, to excise this cancer and allow national healing to begin. Thank you, Mr. Friedman, for your exhortation.
15
That is the most alarming column ever read in my lifetime.
I remember the days When Lehman went south and our economy was in free fall, No even that time nobody wrote an alarming column close to this one.
Trump administration and its policies are reflecting the worst side of American society , believe me every nation has that worst side , evil side.
Like Friedman , if Trump reign un checked by congress, the damage inflicted upon our democracy and America may be irreversible ( 90% chnace irreversible). Than USa finf itself among those what we call BRIC nations. We will be eternally excluded from developed west.
7
You "favor free trade, fiscal discipline, pro-business regulations, a democracy-expanding foreign policy, and have an aversion to identity politics." Are you sure you're not a Democrat, because none of that except pro-business regulations are today's Republicans. The paradigm has shifted. The Republicans have decimated our state department and world standing and bloated our deficits. Why would you or anyone give them credit any longer for fiscal restraint or global leadership or patriotism, for that matter? We've seen the real GOP under Trump -- and it isn't pretty and it isn't what we've been lead to believe. Their gods are the Koch brothers, the Mercer family etc.; they do not care that Russians interfered with our election and have a hook in the oval office. Please! Don't tell me you're a Republican, because today's Republicans should hang their heads in shame.
14
Democrats know that honest business people rely on regulation to avoid being driven out of business by corner-cutting charlatans and providers who don't deliver.
4
Yes, and with its undercurrents of White Nationalism, Trumpism has embraced identity politics with a fervor even the left fringe hasn't ever dreamed of.
4
Amen! I agree with you completely. Taking back some control in November is priority #1. Then move on to the goal of reinstating civil dialogue in this country. It's the only we'll ever come together as a functional country again.
6
The more people like Mr. Friedman write pieces like the this the better I feel about Republicans chances in the mid terms. You guys still don't get what happened in 2016. It was a total repudiation of the establishment and Mr. Friedman epitomizes the establishment.
3
No, DS, we get it, and if you don't, I think you're either very rich or very unaware. Please remember that a minority - true fact: minority - of the popular vote put Trump into office, aided by an electoral college that refused to be faithful Americans by refusing to be "faithless electors." Wake up and smell the fire; it's our country's values burning, and Trump and his enablers are pouring on the gasoline and enhancing their own wealth thanks to the oil companies that supply it.
8
Well said.
3
Bottom line:
A majority of Americans care more about the country than the elected GOP representatives in Congress. The false equivlances to the Democrats are just that: false. And I am registered Independent.
7
My hope is that those (including some in my family) that voted for Trump thinking he would be no worse than Hillary have enough evidence to contrary now to cast their vote accordingly. Removing Republicans and eventually Trump is a crucial first step but by no means the end goal.
If we truly want to retain our freedoms and create a more just and fair democratic nation we'll have to then re-build and strengthen legislation to prevent wealthy elites from continuing to hijack our democratic institutions. A good place to start would be to dismantle the SCOTUS Citizen's United ruling. If we don't find ways to reduce money's undue influence in US politics we are doomed.
9
Do election work! Canvas, raise funds, be part of a text bank or phone bank, and if you live in a safe Democratic district go next door and help turn red to blue. Or if you prefer help Beto in Texas even if you live far away in another state. Do it now, do it next week,do it all Fall.
8
"this election is about is your first chance since 2016 to vote against Donald Trump."
or ... a chance to make up for voting for Clinton.
1
From your mouth to all American voting ears. You said it perfectly and concisely. May it come to pass. Thank you.
9
"a man whose first thought every morning is, ‘What’s good for me, and can I get away with it?’" I disagree; his first thought every morning is "Who can I hurt today? What person or group can I disparage and rile up the base?"
"I favor free trade, fiscal discipline, pro-business regulations, a democracy-expanding foreign policy, and I have an aversion to identity politics."
So do I and I am a card carrying democrat.
But I do agree that We the People must take this burden and we must act to save our Nation. It is not up to the Democratic Party to provide US perfect candidates; it is up to US vote for democrats so we can protect our Constitution and our values and our democracy.
Republican have NOT believed in democracy for quite some time; witness their intentions to destroy both Bill Clinton's and Barack Obama's presidencies.
If Jeff Flake wanted to do something real patriotic he would switch parties for the next 6 months and get one other fellow republican to do the same. But that is not going to happen.
Vote Democratic; they can be trained.
8
"If Jeff Flake wanted to do something real patriotic he would switch parties for the next 6 months and get one other fellow republican to do the same. But that is not going to happen."
You are correct; your comment explodes the myth of the "moderate Republican."
3
Republicans don’t stand with Trump because of his policies. They stand with Trump to keep and hold power. As long as they can please lobbyists and donors, they aren’t interested in the people they serve. Instead of being representatives and legislators, they sink to the level of snitches, bullies, and petty tyrants. Yes, vote Democratic. Do what you can to stop the destruction and madness. But don’t think this started with Trump, and be very careful that the next batch of those elected don’t develop the same traits of intransigence, partisanship, and greed that infect Washington now.
10
Bravo, Mr. Friedman. Thank you.
5
"Sounding Code Red" is a dog whistle. The communists are being called to action.
It's sad to watch the left eat itself. Wait, did I say 'sad'? I meant superb.
Amen. Save our dignity as Americans. Anything but Trump and his "pay for play" cabinet who are tearing our society apart by idiocy and recklessness, denouncing science and integrity. Is this what you want to leave as your legacy for your children and grandchildren?
8
I am happy that you finally see the threat that Trump is not only for this country but for democracy all ober the world.
There is one thing that you clearly still under estimate; patriotism, false patriotism.
False and exteme patriotism is the most dangerous tool that dictators have and have used in all dictatorships, from Alexander the Great, to Napoleon, the Crusades, the British and other Empire builders, Stalin Mao, Hitler, Musolini, Franco, Hirohito, several South American dictators, Putin, Assad, present day Egyptian regime, etc and then ther is Trump.
They all use patriotism as a tool to get control of the unsatified, quite often uninformed masses.
Patriotism has lead to endless wars and will keep leading to many more unless media and governments will come to their senses.
Even you write that we might have to come to understand the ‘false’ patriotism of Trump, his cabinet, his followers. Mr Frieman we do understand and have seen the dangers it caused for centuries.
Patriotism is too easy to attractive for dictators and needs no skills. It divides all countries and leads to destruction of democracy as nobody dares to say that yes it is ok to love your country, but not ok to make people believe that they are better than everyone else. Americans start to believe they are the best and that only they have the right to rule the world.
4
Great to hear this voice of reason. This will require Democrats get an emergency spine implant. They also need lessons in slogan writing. And must cease with their 12 point plans, each with six subsections.
And perhaps the NYT will call Trump lies what they are, Lies. Run a front page running tally of his lies. Put (Lie) in all his quotes when he utters them. Do the job the 4th Estate has to do and why they get the protection and privilege they have.
5
I want to believe the American people will come to their senses. I want to believe they will ALL perceive what Trump and his Alt-Right minority are trying to do in hijacking democracy. I want to believe the racism and xenophobia will stop. I want to believe there are real Constitutional safeguards in place to stop a fascist takeover. I want to believe the cowardly lions in the G.O.P. will find the courage to put country ahead of politics. I want to believe...BUT!
9
Thank you Mr. Friedman for confirming my thoughts. If a real donkey were to run for any office on the ballot this November against a Republican, either at the state or federal level, he or she will get my vote.
7
You had me here, TF, until you said, "we cannot accept every immigrant, because so many people today want to escape the world of disorder into our world of order." Our world of order? Have you been paying attention to the reporting about mass shootings in this country? Do you read the alarm bells of your NYT colleague Eduardo Porter about poverty levels in the US and the other social costs -- to everyone -- of inequality and of the high numbers of uninsured and those dying of overdoses daily? Get real and don't flatter yourself that every immigrant is seeking "our world of order." That may be true of asylum seekers from bloodthirsty dictatorships like the Democratic Republic of Congo, or more recently Syria -- and we should be granting asylum to many more individuals fleeing those levels of chaos. The end of American hospitality could be potentially far more damaging to the country than the repairable mistake of electing Donald J. Trump.
That said, I entirely agree that November is "code red" time and Job #1 is containing / curtailing Trump's power through peaceful means at the ballot box.
8
I certainly hope that the Democratic Party gets its act together and checks Trump--something it spectacularly failed to do in 2016.
That said, I cannot resist pointing out that, since the 1990s and the presidency of Bill Clinton, the main argument for voting Democratic is that the Democrats protect us from the Republican Party, which has obviously gone off the rails. I wish that the Democratic Party stood for something, instead of merely standing against the GOP.
5
The democrats need to get more aggressive in calling out Trump's lies. Same with CNN and MSNBC. They say "falsehoods" or "mis truths" or "he streches the truth", etc. They need to say "he lied". Plain and simple. Perhaps even for the extreme lies call them "Bald face lies". And like Trump says "witch hunt" over and over again, call him a lier over and over again when he does. It will start to stick.
6
MR. Friedman, the Democrats are the party of fiscal discipline, good trade policy and broadening democracy, they are also very good for business as they did rescue the whole economy back in 2009 and they are also not for war forever , unlike you, thanks but you state the obvious in your column
5
"to birth a new G.O.P. that promotes the best instincts of conservatives". Sadly, I see no evidence that today's conservatives have better instincts.
4
Tom's absolutely correct; however, at this critical juncture in our history, America is consumed with the cancellation of 'Roseanne' as Trump's lynch-mob loyalists howl for revenge. Yada, yada, yada, and please pass the sugar.
3
Impeachment is necessary to remove from office all involved in the treasonous subversion of the 2016 election. The power to pardon needs to be taken away from trump and his co-conspirators. All republicans involved need to pay for their criminal activity. Let trump's base scream. Time to play hardball with these criminals.
5
No, we don't need to convince conservatives there is a constructive alternative to Trumpism. The sad truth is democrats failed to offer a viable candidate for progressives to vote for. The party's end game was to have us vote for a carpetbagging female for the sake of electing the first female president. Hopefully, democrats have learned their lesson. Otherwise, voters will continue to stay home and carry on with their lives as best they can.
When I talk with someone about the single most important issue for the upcoming election, I focus on Republicans having just given massive tax cuts to the extremely wealthy. (This is the only significant legislation they have managed to pass since Trump became president.) You will not see any appreciable tax cut or long-term improvement with your job security or job availability. The tax cut only benefits the very rich. The GOP plans to compensate for the associated loss in government revenue by eviscerating the social safety net, that is, health care, Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security. Doing so will harm and kill many people. Consider that the GOP has funded wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, allowing the deficit and national debt to explode, without ever coming up with a viable plan to offset the spending. They are hypocrites and don't care about these things. But they will hurt you, by cutting spending to social programs, simply in an attempt to make themselves look good. Are these the people you want making decisions for you?
9
Their other move of long-lasting importance is to give Trump long lists of conservative judges to appoint to federal benches. It will be difficult to return to progressive government with hard-liners passing judgment.
6
"In the end, I don’t want to see Trump impeached, unless there is overwhelming evidence. "
I do, there is, and Mueller will get it started, the mid-terms will bring it further down the field and Congress 2019 will put an end to our national embarrassment.
7
The problem is- people who constitute core vote bank for Trump do not read NY Times or probably any sensible newspaper, and, do not watch anything other than Fox and sex & violent soap operas on TV. Few who does are personally benefited by Trump policies.
3
Hysteria, Mr. Friedman, hysteria. I would point you to the Democrats using tribalism, suppression of speech, rabid intolerance and wealth redistribution as electoral tools and greater threats than Trump. While I'm no fan, the other side is at least as scary and has been at it for much longer.
4
My late father always said, the worst democrat is better than the best republican.
7
Exactly. What Mr Friedman doesn't mention is all the people on the left who want perfection from their candidates or they are going to pick up their marbles and go home. All the people old enough to vote who want to be inspired by their candidates before they will make the effort. All the people who want someone to vote for instead of voting against. All the people who somehow don't realize that if you don't vote for Mr or Ms less than perfect, you get a crook/con in the White House and his supporters in Congress.
Yeah, it's time to wake up and smell the coffee. The country is being destroyed by Trump and his enablers in Congress. So...if you still need inspiration, how does saving the country sound? Is that inspirational enough for you?!? It clearly wasn't the case in 2016. Hillary wasn't good enough. Democrats couldn't deliver a land of milk and honey. Democrats were just as bad as republicans because neither was perfect. If you still believe that...then Trump is YOUR president. Enjoy the chaos...you asked for it...you voted for it.
5
Unless there is a stealth campaign to relocate millions of Hillary voters to relocation districts, I'm not sure the Blue wave will really happen. But, you can still hope.
We seem to think alike on so many things Tom, that my tribal impulse is to agree with you. But what if we elect extremists who will turn polarization into war? Surely we need to select potential statesmen if we can. Some things are getting done in Congress. I realize that our intellectual memories are shorter than our tribal memories and we will probably go through this again. The artificial veneer we call civilization will continue to evolve. But we need not overreact. This too shall pass.
Mr. Friedman says what I have been saying since long before the 2016 election. It is now more imperative than ever for every voter to vote for every Democrat in every election, from the most local on up. This is not about being a loyal Democrat but rather about being a loyal American who is tired of seeing his country demeaned and degraded by the worst thug I have seen in office since Joseph McCarthy.
A special message to those who whose agenda is more progressive: we cannot let the perfect and the ideal be the enemy of the good. We cannot make the changes we want until we have a base of power from which to make them. That base is a Democratic majority in every place we can establish one, local to national.
A final note: unlike Mr. Friedman, I do not believe that the Republican party can rebuild itself. A new moderate-conservative party must be formed and the current Republicans marginalized and "pushed off a far-right cliff" so that a saner alternative can be created. Only then can meaningful dialogue replace name calling and progress return for everyone.
9
Mr. Friedman demonstrates the challenge Democrats face when he himself employs the Republican terms for framing the issues and treats the perceptions of Democrats which Republicans have cultivated as facts.
Friedman knows quite well that Democrats do not campaign on a platform of open borders with no constraints on immigration, and have not proposed legislation demanding it.
Nor are they the ones demanding excessive political correctness on campus. In fact, perhaps that movement is the backlash against the coarsening of dialog that came with the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Fox and Friends.
As for the trope about needing to grow the pie and not simply divide it, Mr. Friedman should know that what Republicans mean by that phrase is reducing regulations and safeguards as well as the safety net, in order to make us more "competetive". Does Mr. Friedman think regulating Wall Street and preventing reckless speculation is a bad thing? What legislation does Mr. Friedman see exactly as "anti-growth"? And what anti-patriotic measures does Mr. Friedman think Democrats embrace?
Democrats should not need to be on the defensive. Republicans are hypocrites when it comes to immigration, are not interested in healthcare reform, refuse to acknowledge that taxes need to go up, and want to make us competitive by making us more like a third world country where great wealth and great poverty coexist. They have no solutions for the working class and Friedman should know this.
7
Thanks, Tom. Fair enough. But please also be aware that there are millions of Americans who DO hope for impeachment, and we see plenty of grounds for it.
4
Thank you.
1
Mr. Friedman. I commend this A - Z analysis.
What is alarming and of great concern, is watching how the republican party representatives in Congress are behaving. What we all see in Mr. Trump, is nothing new. What we have seen in him, goes back to the time of the election campaign. We did not see the party doing anything to either correct or challenge their presidential nominee.
Those responsible to preserve our democratic institutions, are ideally the Congress. It starts with the responsibility of Congress in their Check and Balance function. To this day, we do not see that happening. Congress is behaving as if there is nothing to be concerned about. As you rightly pointed out, the only members who are saying anything to question or challenge the president are those who are retiring or resigning from Office. We see what is happening today. You have already elaborated them here. The republican party members are responsible, and must hold themselves accountable.
Whether the Democratic Party, the one and only opposition party, is prepared and ready to bring about the changes, as you strongly suggest here, will be another challenge we have all to see.
4
Good luck with that, Mr Friedman.
The Dems can be easily distracted if not seduced. Bruce Carter, the Black Men for Bernie guy is a poster child. He went from Bernie to Trump with a little help from Breitbart.
And a certain famous movie star has insisted Trump is less dangerous the Clinton even after the election. Would a madam president install a Pruitt to the EPA post? The curious wanted to know.
5
"They still have to connect with some centrist and conservative voters — and that means understanding that some things are true even if Trump believes them: We do have a trade issue with China that needs addressing; we cannot accept every immigrant, because so many people today want to escape the world of disorder into our world of order; people want a president who is going to grow the pie, not just redivide it; political correctness on some college campuses is out of control; people want to be comfortable expressing patriotism and love of country in an age where globalization can wash out those identities."
Worth restating. Liberals need constant reminder to come back to the center...it's the only hope of taking down Trump in 2020.
2
Sadly, it appears that a majority of Democrats cannot separate disdain for Trump from the merits of some of his ideas, in much the same way as many Republicans could not separate their objection to a Black President from Obama's ideas and accomplishments. As Friedman says, that may hinder connection with voters. Making Trump the single issue in the Mid Terms also requires Democratic leadership which so far has not materialized.
1
There! It's finally out! This time, it didn't take whisky, truth serum or waterboarding. This is what we Conservatives have always known--when asserting the mainstream media is in the tank for Democrats--and not just certain Democrats--any Democrat. It took the election of an effective Conservative to break the spell, to pull off the veil of denial.
This breathless, hyperbolic, hysterical and unthinking call to elect "any Democrat", is what we always expected of the press--except that they would never blatantly admit it. They have always coyly, although not convincingly, denied it. Now the cat is out of the bag.
No longer are the media to be seen as impartial callers of balls and strikes in our republic--but as partisans and advocates for a certain philosophy. They have been revealed as cheerleaders for progressive issues, advocates for liberal ideals--and shills for the Democrat party.
All this...despite the fact...
--No crimes have been proven committed by this president--only collusion against him.
--The economy is steadily improving.
--Countries now respect us again. North Korea has been forced to the negotiating table. Iran next.
--We have entered no wars. None are on the horizon.
--We are now addressing the inequity of trade deals--which even Democrats have long decried.
--Business and consumer confidence are at all time highs, unemployment is at all-time lows.
It's time we start treating the media for what it is--the enemy within.
6
You haven't learned much, have you Friedman? Your idiotic democratic party tried this pathetic ruse in 2016--Vote for a woman for president--any woman! And Americans saw this for the stupidity it was and sent Clinton packing, thank God. Why don't you put some thought into these columns, they are embarrassingly infantile--though I understand the the NYT only requires that its columnists get in one jibe about Trump. You are the reason the last election went off the rails. Vote for NOTHING instead of for something is what the Democratic party (RIP) told the US electorate in the last election. I am glad American voters exposed them for the fraud they, and the Clintons, are.
3
Mr. Friedman, your column is a haunting reminder that we must never forget Sinclair Lewis's cautionary tale,"It Could Happen Here," and take steps to stop the destructive juggernaut, Trumpism, that is rampaging through our country.
We can do that as you suggest through the ballot box and vote Democratic. But we can also do it in our everyday lives by not ignoring racism and prejudice in our everyday lives. There is some hidden racism and bigotry in all of us, recognizing it and exorcising those ingrained beliefs in ourselves is the first step.
8
Electing Democrats for the sake of resisting Trump is a losing proposition. They need a governing agenda. Democrats have to come up with solid, common sense solutions to people's problems. That's what they did before cozying up to Wall Street and Hollywood.
Imagine what it would do to Trump if they came up, say, with solutions to coal miners' problems. Let Trump tell them he wants to send them in dark tunnels to get sick and die young in a dying industry.
1
Every decent, intelligent American has been assaulted, robbed and mocked since Jan.20, 2017 by the most corrupt conmen in American political history.
Mr. Friedman is right. There's only one issue-stop Trump and push McConnell and Ryan into legislative hell.
6
A President should be intelligent, briefed by the smartest people in the Nation. Those folks fight to be the adviser...and in the past, no matter the R or D, those people were smart...accomplished...and had real credentials.
#45 is/was totally unqualified for the job....he didn't have anyone set up for major offices...the usual turnover of confidential positions didn't occur.
Advisors are chosen based upon sycophancy. There is no other method. Suck up to #45, flatter him, and unless you have a job that requires consistency, like Secretary of State, you can survive.
This race is the Dems to lose...and sadly, they are capable. There is no messaging of any import. Yes, DT is a master persuader (read Douglas Adam's book for insight on this) but the Dems don't even try.
We need to flip at least one House to save Democracy...there are enough elements in the GOP that would turn us into Turkey (religious Taliban) or the Philippines ( rule of law ? nope) if they can, and they will use #45 for this.
Muller will need the cover of at least one House to do a fair investigation.
4
Yep Friedman, did you just really state to vote for a idiot over a qualified candidate? And that is supposedly good for the country?
3
This is your idea? No matter how stupid the candidates one has to choose between vote for the Democratic. How very Stalinist of you - this is how Venezuela got its great leadership. I think you are idiotic in your statements and can't really believe what I'm hearing. You need to think more about the implications of what you are saying if you want to retain your bully pulpit which quite frankly I don't think you deserve. Sincerely Mike
5
Friedman is precisely right. Democrats must focus on curbing Trump in the midterms. To fail is to doom us to two more years of hell.
6
Agreed. Except for the inference that the Republican Party and or Conservative Wing are still somehow the party of fiscal discipline. Any assessment of how the economy has performed and how the national debt has grown or shrunk makes it obvious that Democrats have been the party of fiscal discipline for the past 30 years.
6
Essentially, all GOP-types needs to be sent straight to hell, I surmise. Unredeemed, unheralded and unworthy. Evil. Needy. -- slovenly\racist. Can we simply send them (GOP) to Elba, or possibly, North Dakota, with a double-down packed sleeping bag, and a book of matches and an AR15 with ammo.
1
So Tom Friedman officially joins the long list of NYT op-eders declaring the End of the World due to Trump. The problem with the "we hate you and want you gone" platform is that there will be an equal and opposite reaction from the other side. This substance-free strategy plays right into DJT's hands. And there is a tremendous opportunity cost for democrats here as well. Never has there been a POTUS more willing to advance the democratic agenda then DJT. All you have to is to be nice to him.
Or...continue to try your way I guess.
Naive white privileged supremacist nonsense.
Voting against Donald Trump was how Hillary Clinton stumbled on the way to her coronation. Because 'we' are not all equally and fervently part of the 'Trump Resistance'.
Hillary won the votes ot 95% of black voters including 92% of black men and 98% of black women, Donald won 58% of the white vote including 62% of white men and 54 % of white women.
African Americans clearly feared and saw the dire socioeconomic and political existential threat posed by Trump. While a majority of white European Americans heard and saw their great champion.
Black folks are woke. White folks are asleep.
2
Here, here....agree, agree.....this must be passed on to all who care about our country, our democracy and our children's future. Please oh please vote for a Democratic..........
1
Nothing will change if we keep consuming problematic pop culture without demanding anything better. So, we dumped Hillary and elected someone other than an Obama clone. Wake up, Tom!
Vote for ANY Democrat.......I do not vote for anyone I do not
approve of.
Hillary Clinton ...in my view ...was not a good choice...and why
she is married to Bill Clinton...that's why.
Donald Trump is an abysmal choice.
I wrote in Bill Weld...now just go figure that...Tom Friedman.
A candidate who would have no moral issues...who was twice
Governor of Massachusetts....and had a very progressive mind.
How about this Tom...How about you....proposing a 2020
Candidate who is NOT controlled by Super Pac Funds under
the egregious unconstitutional law...known as Citizens United.
It is this personhood of corporate funding which has ruined
our election process...and the promise of our Constitutional
right to have our ONE vote per PERSON count....
so...how about an argument on the REAL reason we have lost
our moral purpose....Think Again. Tom..
2
I'll be voting, contributing to, and stumping for Donald Trump. Nothing in my 62 years has been so vivid as the destruction to our body politic caused by leftist policy.
Donald Trump is waging war, in his unconventional way, on this destruction. Electing Democrats is the surest path back to the malaise of the last 3 generations.
2
Tom Friedman's suggestion for voting in the mid-term elections.
I would make a simple edit: 'are you in favor of electing ...etc.)
Friedman's edit is not 'and/or' meaning election any Democrat
in either US House of Representatives /or in the US Senate..
My edit is ...simple take out 'and/or' and just make it simple
aka Willard Strunk ...just say...US House of Representatives and The US Senate....This is NOT an either or posit...Tom...this
includes both The House and The Senate...(hope you do not
mind....my being so punctual)
This may be the most important column Mr Friedman has ever written.
In a recent column about Putin (https://www.weeklystandard.com/the-truth-about-putin/article/2011882), Gary Kasparov wrote:
"Never take your liberty for granted, and be careful whom you vote for because it may be the last election you’ll ever have."
American voters are in a similar perilous predicament, but at least have a chance to avoid a potential catastrophe. They should exercise their vote and not take it for granted.
They should not assume we cannot become Russia. Trump aspires to become Putin.
5
If voters don't end Republican control of Congress we're stuck with a congenital liar in the Oval Office and a bunch of cowards in a rubber-stamp Duma. Putin and Xi will be laughing all the way to the bank while the MAGA lemmings wonder why they're not tired of winning yet.
3
In times of political chaos, read Donald Trump, it is naive to simply think that voting for the "opposite" is a solution to anything. That mentality is what elected Donald Trump and now Mr. Friedman is tempting fate by advocating the same.
My one hope is that enough educated, respectable, middle-class Republican voters who voted for a primary candidate besides Trump will simply say, "Enough of his chaos, corruption, ignorance and crudity!" They will be ashamed to be associated with the Trump rally "base" and secretly pull the lever for a Democrat or two. My other hope is that Democrats will get some fire in their bellies and fight back with simple, strong messages in language the working class uses to describe their own experience, needs and dreams. May I suggest, "Honest, hard-working people built this country, fought and died for this country, and the greedy, draft-dodging fat cats can't have it all!"?
2
voting for any dem put us in our current position. vote for progressives. business as usual dems are the enemy of the people.
One of your best columns . Well written and to the point. Lets stop the madness, but keep the MAD KING in place, so that the world can see his layers of corruption pealed back like a rotting onion. BTW , if you think he is lazy now, what till he does not have his toys anymore.
2
The question that will guide Americans is not yours Thomas, it will be as follows: 'Do you want to relinquish the House, the Senate or the White House to a party which insists upon ignoring the only proven Russian collusion, their own, in the 2016 election; a party that has managed to seditiously usurp the agenciy powers of governance and weaponize them; a party which asks every moment of every day ‘What can we do to further undermine the Constitution so as to replace it with a social justice constitution modeled after South Africa's , and can we get away with it?’
When "progressive" operatives within the CIA and FBI have become extensions of the "progressive" front it is no wonder there is concern Americans might lose faith in those agencies. after all...one cannot run an effective security apparatus like the KGB or Stasi if the citizens refuse to cooperate.
“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family?...they (the American people)....had understood they had nothing left to lose...the cursed machine would have ground to a halt!...We didn't love freedom enough....We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago
There are many out in flyover country beginning to ask the right questions. Jefferson survives!
Was this in the least bit objective or all about one person's [I] take on the events unfolding?
"If your answer is the former, then it can only happen by voting for the Democrat in your local House or Senate race."
__
ANYONE, IMO, on either side of the aisle, who votes a straight party-line ticket isn't interested in political issues just political identity.
If anyone remembers the Richard Pryor movie 'Brewster's Millions', Monty Brewster's (Pryor) campaign slogan was "None of the above." In the hyperpolarization world in which we live, have we reached that voting option?
1
Mr. Friedman, please run for office and tell me where I can send my donation.
2
Sorry Tom I disagree, elections are and should be about policies, specific proposals and integrity.
1
Get power. Curb Trump. But will they? You make a compelling argument, an obvious one. But. Having watched Democrats sell out time and time again, move right....
You want “overwhelming” evidence before even considering impeachment. Read, heard something yesterday about circumstantial evidence. Sometimes it’s enough- like ‘trout in the milk’.
Impeachment in the House is akin to, is, a trial. Evidence for, against, public facts. Nothing wrong with that- a fair hearing.
Vote for the worst Democrat, you say. What cost to sell your soul? Your ideals, beliefs. To gain- compromise, again. I rather think this is a “red alert” for the Democratic Party. And they, you, are not taking it seriously.
Agree -100%. Time to vote. Anything else is useless.
4
I for one thought of all the Republican presidential candidates, Donald Trump was the least harmful, except maybe John Kasich. But now I think, Trump is worse than the rest, except maybe Ted Cruz & Bobby Jindal.
Voting Democratic is all the more necessary at this juncture.
I hope more & more would do so. And the turnout this time will be high.
2
I may be in a minority, but I have great difficulty in voting for anyone on the basis of what he or she is against. Tell me what you are for, and I will listen and decide. Tell me what you are against, and I tend to shut down my critical thinking, because you have given me nothing to think about.
Mr. Friedman's column is a distillation of the negative campaigning that has been, in my opinion, one of the biggest reasons for the low voter interest and turnout of recent years. If you want my vote, tell me why you are a good candidate, not why your opponent is a bad one.
1
Every Democrat running for re-election to the House or Senate voted against the tax cut; against $2,000 more a year for median income fami!ies; against a doubling of the child care tax credit; against a doubling of the standard deduction. Am I supposed to ignore that and vote for them because someone does not like Trump?
2
Code Red indeed! But given the highest priority - blocking Trump and Trumpism - wouldn't impeachment proceedings be a terrific tactic, since it would effectively hog-tie him politically, whether or not he is removed from office?
1
This column is precisely what is needed. Tom Friedman has a megaphone and he has turned up its volume to protest the man who defiles the Oval Office.
Tom is exactly correct: the leadership of the two houses of Congress needs to be changed from Republican control to Democratic control in order to contain the most unfit POTUS this country has ever seen. There is only one way to do that: forgo whatever your normal way of viewing candidates and elections and vote for the Democratic candidate in every election in which you participate.
Tom, thank you for using your megaphone. Keep up the good work.
3
Well said, Mr. Friedman. But we need to go further and start talking about how to prevent a recurrence. The Trump administration won't last forever no matter what, but we may see something even more draconian -- Trump's basic incompetence is a major check on his power; I fear a demagogue who actually knows what he's doing. We might get a truly despotic president protected by a Congress dominated by one party whose members' only concern is remaining in office and who do so by responding only to a narrow segment of voters selected and manipulated for them. We should ask candidates now how they would like to change the system. Saying "get money out of politics" isn't enough. That won't happen. It would be like getting water out of fishing: They're inseparable, always have been, always will be. We need to get politics out of government -- at least extreme winner-take-all partisan politics. How? Term limits? Replacing gerrymanderable districts with all at-large voting? Ranked-choice voting? Easier ballot access for independents and minor parties (a highly underappreciated issue especially at the state level)? Limiting or eliminating pay for elected office so it's public service, not a career? Obviously, we must get rid of the Electoral College so that the only office nominally representing the whole country is actually filled by a majority -- or at least plurality -- of the voters. Trump is a symptom. Let's not let have a relapse.
1
Yes, it is indeed Code Red for American democracy.
I only disagree with one sentence in Mr. Friedman's excellent synopsis of the state of our union, namely that "people want to be comfortable expressing their patriotism and love for country in an age where globalism can wash out those identities".
These so-called patriots call themselves "real Americans" and if anyone being a naturalized citizen, such as I, dares to criticize anything about their adopted country, e.g. the gun culture; the lack of healthcare; the sub-par education K-1; the lack of a strong safety net for the less fortunate among us, the fact that one of the parties in power has been marching in goose step so far right that they already arrived at the abyss of fascism; the outsized influence of the Evangelicals dead set to turn this country back to the church rule pre-Enlightenment era, etc., - these patriots tell those not born here to go back to where you came from if you don't like it here.
The vast majority of Trumpian patriots hate free speech like the pest should it not shower praise on their country and call it the greatest country in the world.
4
I'm not sure that the Democrats won't be co-opted in the same way the Republicans were. Trump is nothing if not ideologically flexible. He will find some common ground with them, and they will tolerate his governance if he throws them a legislative bone or two. Don't assume that Trump has less in common with the Democrats than he does with the Republicans. He'll change ideology in a minute if the Democrats attain power, because Trump's only ideology is to serve the interests of Trump.
3
Yes, if you have a conscience, and you love your diverse country, then get 'er done. VOTE! And Keep voting, in every future election. (Again , Democrats should make election day a national holiday, if they get the chance.) The more people who vote, the better the quality of government, and the more accountable the government.
1
Protect Our Democracy.
This Year Only - Vote for the Worst Democrat over the Best Republican.
1
Let’s hope we begin to hear the DNC and its candidates articulate the choice so clearly.
As a former moderate Republican subsequently cast as a Democratic in order to carry a relevant vote, I struggle to contain my contempt for Republicans leaders and voters alike whose support for this man is based on the ends justifying the means. Can there be a higher hypocrisy of the ‘family values’ and ‘moral living’ party rallying behind lying, cheating and demeaning others as modus operandi?
Our institutions and our civility must be rescued.
5
Democracy has proven itself to be a failed system, still the only solution is to cast a vote? Here are a few topics, discuss among yourselves:
- democracy is just a popularity contest, like in high school
- popularity means superficial looks, self-promotion, empty promises & catchy slogans, pitches to elfish interests like tax cuts, restrict immigrants, ...
- no proven administrative and real governing experience required to run for office; too many lawyers, all talks
- tax cuts starve & break infrastructures and public systems
- democracy is not about voting for a better party platform or proposition
- all about 'vote the bums out' to vent anger and grievance
- voter apathy & low voter turnout, esp younger voters
- gerrymandering entrenches party position, ensure partisan polarization
- party in power suppress voters by passing voting laws
- buggy voting HW & SW systems
- big money controls the game, lobbyists own politicians
- easy to attack bogeyman "big government" & let business interests rip off tax payer
- cronyism, corruption
- negative ads win, civility is dead
- fake news & shenanigans, plus ignorant & gullible voters
- politicians consumed by perpetual re-election cycles, chase after rich donors, neglect real duty to voters
- competing ideology and endless debates paralyze government effort to implement strategic long term plans
- voting give people false sense of ownership in government and transient satisfaction about civic duty ... (running out of space..)
1
Democracy if not a failed system in other advanced countries with a parliamentarian system.
The crux with our democracy is the antiquated Electoral College, used at time when Tom, Dick and Harriet had no knowledge about what was going on in the far away government, and thus a small group of supposedly better informed Electors voted for them.
The Electoral College is as useless as the 2nd Amendment at a time when the US has the mightiest standing armed forces in the world.
2
It’s true we need Democrats running, and we need them to win. But, we have to be careful what we wish for. In some places, the Democratic base has become so energized that too many candidates are fighting each other for a slot on the ballot; California being the prime example. This may be the time for ego to take a back seat, and less viable, though noble, candidates to coalesce behind the more likely winner. Unfortunately at this moment the Democrats cannot afford the luxury of idealism and neither can the country. Pragmatism is the operative word for today.
3
Good goal, bad tactics. The candidates should run on the issues rather than try to defy a cult of personality by making the contest about the personality. Friedman writes about the politicians: "These Republicans have made the craven choice to stand with Trump as long as he delivers the policies they like on tax cuts, gun control, fossil fuels, abortion and immigration, even though many privately detest him." On at least the first 3 of these issues, the _voters_ do not stand with Trump. That's not to mention health care, which has been the most potent issue prying voters away from the GOP. Conor Lamb, who won the special election in southwest PA, stuck to the issues.
2
I couldn't agree more but is there a single republican reading this who will sit back and reflect for a moment and conclude that you are correct? Perhaps there are enough independent voters who could swing this election this time around. At a minimum I am hopeful that there is a record turnout for democrats voting in this mid-term election and a blue wave in the next presidential election but we will also need republican voters to admit their reckless mistake and vote democrat to ensure success.
3
Brilliant commentary. The question is how to make this accessible to every American. The DNC needs to sound the alarm at every opportunity and it needs to do so with passion and clarity. Our democracy is under assault every day; it's not the Russians who can bring us down, it's the Republicans who play footsie with them. Trump and his grifting family members provide daily ammunition to fire back. Where are the generals to lead the counterrevolution?
7
I agree with Mr. Friedman's thesis - that something needs to drastically change in Washington D. C. to re-develop and re-constitute the shambled state it has become. But why Democrats? I shudder every time I listen to Nancy Pelosi at the podium. I have little confidence that Chuck Schumer has the intellectual strength to create a salable agenda that will be 'of, for, and by' the people than just a Democratic party agenda. Democrats are like goats - difficult to herd. Beyond Trump, where are the nuggets of coalescence they need? I fear they will be arguing about that well after the midterm elections are past and they will wake up one morning and wonder just what the hell happened.
2
Sorry Tom, Team Blue committed an unforgivable sin. They thought it was OK to screw thousands of coal miners out of their jobs. Well guess what, it isn’t OK. America is done with this viscous mayhem. Get over it!
It’s unfortunate that technology moves some ahead and others behind. The previous administration was charged with the responsibility to protect the entire nation, every one who breathes, drinks water, dwells in an earthquake, tornado, or hurricane zone - including you. They used the best available science to make these decisions. They also tried to provide health insurance for all of us, while the GOP tried to stop their efforts- and continues, despite the overwhelming evidence of its success. You embody the resentment that propelled the present abomination into office, and which will ultimately destroy this nation. Try thinking beyond this single issue. The lives of all of us are at stake.
1
Democracy was threatened by the illegal and unscrupulous actions of the Obama administration. Its not clear yet that the threat has been fully repelled. Obvious serious misdeeds by the FBI and probably the CIA have yet to be legally punished and safeguarded against.
Vote for an abortion advocate —any abortion advocate will do!
Friedman’s bankrupt refrain translated into what the consequences will be for unborn human beings whose dehumanization is a virtual pre-requisite for Democrat Party candidates.
The silence attending this horrorshow is deafening.
If only the GOP cared as much about the born as they do about the unborn...
2
Friedman, dumb as ever. Apart from Bush 41, none of the Republicans since Reagan has had any fiscal discipline. It has been the Dems that have balanced the books again & again.
3
"I knew we needed to “drain the swamp” of Washington; I just didn’t think the drain would literally have to start in Trump’s White House and the offices of his cabinet secretaries."
I think any kid with a little common sense and the ability to think inductively would have known for the last thirty years that had Trump become president, he would have become the swamp. With regard to growth: Where are we going to put the people? The places where people want to live in America--not the Sonora Desert, fit only for rattlesnakes and Gila monsters, but say the Big Island underneath a volcano or Key West--according to my last reading, seemed to be filled. More growth, more CO2. So here's my suggestion: ENCOURAGE people to have no more that two kids, so maybe we will have room for asylum seekers. And maybe the American people won't be so mean and nasty to foreigners and won't heartlessly tear the kids away from their parents. One final remark: America under Trump is allowing me to understand the German people under Hitler. It is verily a teaching moment.
Just don't forget -- there was also Resistance among the German people under Hitler.
VOTE! RESIST.
From an outsider I do hope that the Americans realise how destructive their present government is. Not just to the rule of law within your country but also to the other countries in this world.
We are trying to move on with our lives without the presence of the US even though we feel sad about it. Hopefully, you the US voters can make a difference and stop your country from becoming an irrelevant laughing stock led by this idiot in the WH and his enablers in your seats of government.
11
There is no redeeming value to the Republican Party. It is simply a sociopathic cesspool of psychopathy inhabited by truly awful people who are universally doped with dark money and projecting all the worst of themselves on everyone else in the world. No other political party in the world works like the Republican Party to undermine the central government.
3
Thomas, DJT didn't create the current republican party. He is the result of the current republican party.
5
There will never be a new GOP. That is strictly your fantasy wish, Mr. Friedman.
4
Maybe the great Bob Melendez should be the flag bearer for the party. After all he got a hung jury after an indictment, so he is a paragon of virtue we can all look up to. Please vote for the best person and not a party. The Democrats are as corrupt as the Republicans, to say vote for a party is idiotic .
2
I think Trump's election, and subsequent polling clearly indicate at least 40% of Americans want a fascist right wing government. The Republicans in Congress have used that to give their kleptocratic masters all the legislation they want. What makes Freidman think America isn't happy with a race baiting fascist government that passes laws only favoring the well off? White America in particular seems delighted with a corrupt thug in the White House.
3
There are 2 types of Americans these days. Those who get it; and those who do not. Thomas Friedman has now given you exactly why you had BETTER get it. Nothing much here at stake except the survival of democracy in your ONCE proud nation. I (like the overwhelming majority of citizens around the entire world) have watched in disgust and horror at the rise of the now frightening TRUMPOCRACY from the beginning. The comparison between that and the Brown Shirts in Germany in the 1930`s is getting clearer every day. The racism and xenophobia in the U.S. is becoming more common place daily; while the cowards in the G.O.P. remain deafeningly silent. The media need to STOP giving the conspiracy lunatics the platform they need to keep spinning their lies . when their is a moral equivalency between between lies and truth; you know that society is in huge trouble. It is time to stop the madness. Friedman has told the truth; now it is time for America`s citizens to restore democracy...before it is truly too late.The world is watching!
6
I've always admired Thomas Friedman and expected a rational case for restraining Trump. But far from that, his emotional rambling here merely echoes the usual visceral revulsion to the President. His line "I have an aversion to identity politics" is exhibit A in his contradictory reasoning. The Democrats offer little but divisive identity politics- on race and gender-- which is one key reason Republicans are in charge of the levers of power. Just resisting Trump because he's an obnoxious bully is a weak and losing proposition. Prefer any polite Democrat race-baiter, Mr Friedman?
This is an accurate reading in that while Trump has some policies I like....I am a dyed in the wool Independent....I cannot in good conscience support ANY of them because of his character issues. I cannot support any of his enablers, as the entire Republican Congress have turned out to be (with the exception of those who are retiring or dying, that is). Friedman is correct that you must simply vote against Trump if you have any morality or humanity at all. What are tax cuts when compared to his general degeneracy? To support or continue to support Trump simply to save 2% on your federal taxes is to be the equivalent of a "good" German under Hitler. Doing nothing is an appalling and depraved choice. He must be boxed in at the very least, or ideally stopped completely.
3
They are, and shall henceforth be remembered as, The Vichy Republicans.
6
A lifelong partisan Democrat pleads for people to vote Democrat in the upcoming midterm elections...
“Cause this time it’s different!”?
Man, what a searing and brilliant editorial!! Did Tom get a paid for this,
2
Yes Tom yes. You are speaking my languish. Forget civil rights, gun control, abortion or anything else. Getting rid of Donald Trump is the most important thing Americans can do. Win both houses and impeach this miserable clown and everything else becomes easier. Robert Mueller cannot do it alone. He needs Americans to stand up for America so he can put this miserable cretin where he belongs. It is everybody’s duty to impeach Donald Trump, anything less would be an American.
3
I'm puzzled.
You say you get itchy when it comes to "identity politics", that it's not your thing (my words, not yours) but from where I sit, for every "identity" on the left (the side of 'hoping to change the law') there is an equal and opposite one on the right (demanding that everything remain the way it was.... back in 1888.)
Constitutional equality for women VS pregnant and barefoot
Black lives matter VS Nazis are "good people"
Godless atheists VS Christless Christians
Fair trade VS FREE trade
European gun standards VS "Second Amendment Solutions"
No, I don't understand what you mean by "identity politics".
In case you have never noticed - it's ALL identity politics, ALL the time, always has been, always will be.
But, I'll tell you, Tom: After all of your years of 'gentle' sneers at the left and the Dems, I just shake my head in mild disgust that you are now calling out that we are the last and greatest Hope for this land.
And, by the way: The Republicans have so dishonored and besmirched this nation for the last 40 years that it is doubtful that there will EVER be "two decent choices" again in this country.
I think you are out of touch again, Tom.
Sorry about that.
6
Trump is a wretched excuse for a human.
He is not well emotionally.
We as thinking people must do everything possible to rid our country of this criminal.
3
Keep going, Mr. Friedman. You're halfway there.
2
Oh yes! Thank you, Thomas Friedman!!
1
Not surprising at all, but another example of the nonsense spread by the left. How many times have you told us that Mueller, Flake, McCain, Graham, Corker, Romney etc. are all Republicans when they attack this president. Wasn't it McCain who killed the repeal of Obamacare? Who appointed the special counsel? How many times have you and Dems said that the special counsel's investigation must go forward because it is run by a Republican (even though the vast majority of prosecutors are die-hard Dems)?
It is Dems who stick together? Where was the recusal of Holder? Obama's wingman? Loretta Lynch's recusal was when? Obama's public proclamations of Clinton's bad judgment, but no illegal actions were not reported as Obstructing Justice, were they?
The reason so much of America hates you and people like you is not because you are different, smarter or richer, but because you are a snake. You literally justify anything and everything the left does. A recent example is Ms. Wolfe vs. Roseanne Barr. Both said offensive and horrible things. You defended Ms. Wolfe and applauded the disparate treatment of Barr. That's hypocrisy. Lefty's are the first ones to create alternative truths and changing the meaning of words. Remember changing the definition of marriage?
1
Tom, you are spot on.
November is an easy election. Go the ballot box put a cross for the democrats , no matter who it is. No body can be worse than Republicans who are supporting a racist, demogauge, lawless street bully.
3
Tommy baby yer tellin us to vote for a power vacuum! No can do! I want universal health care and fewer guns;union jobs rebuilding the infrastructure. And, man oh man, healthy soil means clean water and carbon sequestration! We literally have to save the planet. Diversity at every level will help. So for the sake of all of us lift your vision beyond the dingus in the White House. Time is a-wasting.
3
To Trump, Pence, Giuliani, Cohen, Ryan, McConnell, Flynn, Nunes, Manafort, Gates, Papadopoulos, van der Zwaan, Pinedo, Barr, Weinstein, Cosby, and too many other demented politicians and celebrities to list here who have been sullying America's reputation (and their own) via Lies, Self-Serving Propaganda, Racial Epithets, Sexual Assault, and other abhorrent deviances, let it be known that we who time and again have suffered your narcissistic hogwash -- we who have been, and will continue to be, in full-frontal moral war against you -- have just added another banner to our good cause, a banner that proudly joins MeToo and Black Lives Matter, and all the other current and future causes against you. That banner is this: ZERO TOLERANCE.
3
The historian Yuval Hariri, in his book Sapiens, points out how quickly history can change in unexpected ways. Hitler was viewed as a harmless kook when he was elected but he somehow normalized his racist, fanatical views in Germany and the rest is history.
I do not necessarily think that Trump is a Hitler, but I also see the risks of letting course, racist, populist, nationalistic trends become normalized in the US by a continuation of Trumpism. We have the ability to stop a potential decent into a very dark political place for the US in the 2018 and 2020 elections and I feel it is imperative to get American politics back to some semblance of rational discourse.
I don't like to identify with any party but tend to vote Democrat, yet I would be happy for Romney as POTUS in 2020 at this point. Anybody but Trump. Well, maybe not Pence either.
3
Evangelicals have backed this man as a means to an end.
Be careful when you dance with the devil.
6
The simple, painful truth. This should be a Times Pick.
Or the first line of a separate opinion piece.
I am sharing this.
1
What is shameful that you must write an article about voting out Republicans to explain to voters the consequences of letting them, and Trump, continue in power!
It has all been clearly presented in our daily real news!
This certainly proves that 40% of Americans are totally clueless, of low intelligence, or perhaps fascist, because they cannot fathom the danger to our Democracy.
In the first year of Trump's reign, are 4000+ lies permissible from our elected President?
Critics say that Trump should not be compared to Adolph Hitler's takeover of the German government in the 1930's, but Trump has definitely followed in the path of Hitler's early actions!
6
I am sorry, but I had difficulty reading all the way through Friedman's hyperventilating panic stricken rant. This article is very un-characteristic of Tom......I think we need to have an intervention with him. Deep Breaths. Listen to what I have to say, dont agree with it....just listen. No president is a good president. None of them have ever done anything positive. NONE. All the good things that happen in the USA, and there are a lot of good things that happen.....All of the good things happen because Americans simply refuse to panic and the American CITIZEN makes the good happen. NOt the politician. NOT the Democrats. NOT the republicans. the Americans. We survived Bush,Sr's nonsense....We survived Clinton's nonsense, We survived Junior's nonsense....we Survived the duplicity of the Harry Reed run Senate....we are surviving the duplicity of the Mitch McConnell run Senate....Anybody paying attention noted the obvious.....America ran better when the US Govt actually DID shut down........fact!! Check it out. Marka
Baby! H3!! Yeah! And THAT is why , Mr. Friedman, you need to take a chill pill....and stop being a shill for narrow minded self-destructive selfish vengeful political agendas.
Empty blather from the hate Trump all the time Friedman. Trump won. Get over it.
1
Tom Friedman has really bad timing. He should have written this column the last week in October just before the mid-terms.
Did the author vote for Trump?
Hear, hear Mr Friedman!
heck, I might even vote for the repugnant Bob Menendez, holding my nose and calling it an anti-Trump vote.
1
The only people worse than trump are the shapeless-blob democrats that he crushed in 2016. How pathetic to pin your hopes on them, or the foolish notion that you're going to have a fair election in 2018 when the one in 2016 was already rigged.
But even MORE pathetic is that this is your future, america. trump is president for life, and he knows you can't do a thing about it. Go knit a hat or have a march, then be obedient.
Or #calexit.
These resist folks crack me up, resist what? a great economy? Lowest African American unemployment in history? illegal immigration down by 70%? Lowest jobless claims in decades? Better trade deals for America? A much better relationship with Israel? A much better relationship with Saudi? It seems like leftists were so much happier with a community organizer with no experience that hated America.
2
You people ignored us at your own peril.
We won the last election even with the most flawed candidate in American history.
Keep going.
The way you ideologues denigrate, dismiss, and marginalize makes our blood boil.
We want Trump to set DC on fire and leave it in ashes.
Thank god you dont have candidates like Bill Clinton anymore who would put aside hatred and reach middle ground to make deals.
If you did have such candidates you'd sweep all the elections.
Keep hating.
Molon labe.
Peace out.
Finally taking a stand? Well your writing is partly is responsible for the demise.
Thomas Friedman, from your pen to god's ears.
2
Mr. Friedman has finally lost his mind. He has lost track of local issues and is demanding that the local citizens abandon all self-interests and support a narrow-minded, short sighted destructive goal that serves NO good purpose. He seems to be advocating defense of the Status Quo at all costs. Destroy all challengers to the current course of the Ship of State....we must continue as if its still 1968! New Deal! Civil Rights! Sacred Cows!!......no no no.....No Rain! No Rain! No Rain!
It is a sad reality that in order to Build for the future....we must tear down some structures from the past......this is what Trump represents.....everyone gets it....Trump is a loud, arrogant, buffoon that is likely to break things......thats what we WANT....we need to break some orthodoxies. BTW....this is america....Trump cannot tear down the barriers single handedly......the only democrats that are winning are the ones carefully, subtly inching over into the Trump corner......not away from it.......all the repubs are LOSING precisely because refuse to move into the Trump corner.........
Mr. Friedman is absolutely correct. The upcoming election is the only chance we have to moderate the President's outrageous behavior before our country goes on the rocks. By 2020, it will be too late. It is worth remembering that Hitler and Mussolini took power legitimately and led their civilized countries to disgrace and destruction. Like them, Mr.. Trump is a dangerous sociopath and a highly accomplished liar. He is a disciple of the despicable Roy Cohn who was his mentor for 20 years. He will take us all down with him.
Every thinking and moral American must vote for the Democrats on the ballot, not for policy but to save this nation from the corrupt, racist, destructive administration currently in charge.
5
All I noticed is that Mr. Friedman contradicted himself somewhat fifteen times.
Thomas L. Friedman for President!!!
3
Spot on, as usual, Mr. Friedman.
2
If Tom is right, which he is, then the best (or only) way to do it is this:
It will be much more effective, strategically, and apply “maximum pressure” to ‘tag’ Trump as “America’s Emperor”
If faux-Emperor Trump is able to employ the vacuous, meaningless, divisive, and deceitful messaging terms, “Spygate” and “Deep State” effectively against ‘we the American people’ then he will win, and anything, including a sequel of Hitler’s Nazi Empire “Night of the Long Knives”, militarist action in the Middle East, or broader “aggressive wars” (as the Nuremberg tribunal defined the ultimate ‘war crime’), could well occur.
If, on the other hand, this provable; “Empire-builder” and “Empire-thinking” faux-Emperor Trump is recognized, diagnosed, understood, and bravely confronted as such by a brave and free citizenry of Americans with an accurate and effective “Competitive Strategy”, and the related ‘strategic narrative’ that in America we must “DUMP EMPEROR TRUMP” because “We can’t be an EMPIRE” — then our greatest crisis since the “Revolution Against Empire” in 1776 [Justin du Rivage] and our Civil War against an ‘economy of slavery’, will, likewise, have been resolved peacefully — and ‘we on both sides’ of the political divide, will win (by avoiding being ‘divided’ by an Emperor or Empire).
[Note, I tried to post this advice to the "Times" a few times yesterday, re. Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Maggie Haberman's New Analysis on "Spygate", but it somehow didn't post]
2
Are you in favor of electing a Congress that will likely increase your taxes, increase regulations, Impeach Trump and throw the country into economic turmoil?
Then you must elect Democrats.
3
You forgot a few important things; first of all Trump should go to jail, second of all his entire administration should be impeached and many of them should also go to jail too. And thirdly the Republican Party should be completely disbanded would be treasonous to America and our values
2
So that some day we can "Birth a new G.O.P. that promotes the best instincts of conservatives, not the worst"...Too late. I will never trust another Republican as long as I live. You can not vote for Hitler and then come out of the voting booth and claim "Don't get me wrong, I'm a nice Nazi." No you're not, you are a Nazi and I will never forget that when the choice was clear you chose to side with the Nazis. You don't get to resurrect yourself by throwing up some Hitler lite to hide, once again, your horrible instincts, prejudice and stupidity. Don't like the Nazi imagery, suck it up buttercup. The Republican Party has been demonizing the left for so long, their followers have come to hate (really hate) liberals. To the point where Evangelicals will vote against their religion, where veterans will vote for someone who degrades POWs and Gold Star families, where women would vote against their gender, immigrants would vote against the tempest tossed, where Congressmen and Senators would give up their mandates and oaths to the constitution and business people would give up stability for a quick buck. I've investigated leaving this country, I loved, but that isn't possible, so if I'm gonna stay here I'm going to make sure I never get fooled again. Republicans will be under suspicion until I can trust them with the truth again and I don't see that happening in my lifetime.
2
Well, Thomas has described well the “only” choice of voters in the upcoming midterm. And he has pointed out that “conversion” of those voters under Trump’s sway will require facing of facts by the Dems. Just which facts need facing doesn’t seem to have fully penetrated Thomas’ thinking. The role of convincing candidates with real solutions to the problems facing the country has received scant attention.
The recoil against the mantra of the “me-me-only me” corporate control of Congress is a major issue. No more “float all yachts” and an end to the chant of “lower taxes, less regulation, and fewer benefits”.
2
The Republicans in this administration and in both houses of Congress are complicit and compromised -- from self-serving McConnell and Ryan to everyone of them who votes against the people they represent. And, they are doing this daily (roll back bank regulation like it's 2008!). The level of corruption is evident in the silence of Congress on upholding their Constitutional duties. Vote in November and remember our country as we know it is at stake. Vote in November. We need a landslide to clear these Augean stables, no matter what.
3
This is a superb editorial, and fully supports my biases, that we need to vote for electable democrats and/or independents who will hold Trump accountable for his actions. I'm not in favor of an impeachment thrust, because it becomes political too quickly, and has never resulted in a conviction. I basically want him hog tied so he can't do anything destructive, as he has shown he will do during the first part of this term.
4
Yes. Talk about impeachment, and even impeachment were it to ever happen, would only embolden Trump's base base (and he, of course, would fan any flames that arise).
Better would be to do things the way they should be done in a democracy (the US is still hanging on to its democracy, right?!): by a thorough drubbing in the polls. (Of course, even then Trump would rant about how the election was rigged [facts be damned, as usual], and his followers would be chanting right there behind him.)
VOTE!
2
I totally agree with Friedman, both here and on the several TV appearances he had made. However, to bring our nation back onto a productive national track, the Dems cannot be drawn into just a never-Trump campaign message, but rather point out the negative results he has produced and then offer the alternatives. I have read many articles on what the Dem message should be...most of them choosing THE most important issue. Why is it that it is assumed we can't chew gum and walk at the same time? Why is it assumed there is only ONE issue that we can run on? Dems need to be true to what our party represents...the people. And then put forth REAL solutions, not just carefully crafted rhetoric. And hit the ground in all 50 states. There are Americans in each and every one of them. Offer an alternative path to the future.
2
This column is brilliant! It should be required reading by all registered voters especially Independents and Republicans not part of the Trump base.
3
Thomas Friedman for head of the DNC!
1
I fear that the election of trump was a neon sign of a much bigger problem, this problem is the failure of the American experiment as a Democracy. We are quickly following in the footsteps of Greece, Rome and Europe and probably nothing will change this trajectory.
It probably started with Reagan and burned quickly through Bush to Clinton and Gingrich. Gingrich gave us the divided parties, no compromise, and no taxes. Bush W was the last candle on the cake, we had WMD and endless, unfunded wars.
We took a brief holiday with Obama, but this led to the final election of an egotistical. racist, bully and con man, trump. There might have been a lot of levers in play here from Russian interference and pay to play. There was also huge amounts of monies available to buy trump, his family, cronies, and friends. His megaphone was enhanced for sound from both Fox and Sinclair.
The circus is collapsing under its own bellicose. The American experiment is over and we are left with the ashes.
4
Don’t blame the Republicans they are always stupid that’s why Trump ran as a Republican.
Blame Good old Bernie. Boy!
Prosecutors allege that the Russian Internet Research Agency and others spread messages on social media to promote Trump's candidacy and to criticize his political rival Hillary Clinton. They also alleged that some of the Russian operatives organized rallies supporting Trump and traveled to the United States to gather information.
The operatives were clear about their motives. In one internal memo, prosecutors said, the Internet Research Agency told its employees to "use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest (except Sanders and Trump - we support them)."
1
Meh, so Friedman finally came out and admitted what he is, a political hack pretending to be a centrist. Our country is not in crisis. Trump has a 45% approval rating and that is rising. Not all 63 million who voted for him are "deplorable". Many who voted Hillary are happy with how the country is going. The resistance is failing because people are finally feeling good about the economy and feel as if Trump, as flawed as he is, gets it. Obama spent 8 years playing identity politics. Hope and Change became Divide and Conquer. He forgot the reason why he was elected and failed many who voted for him. If Trump finishes the job of blowing up DC, good. Democrats have not learned. People like Friedman have not learned. This mid-term will go down just like the 2016 election.
2
As with virtually any criticism of Obama's presidency, yours can easily be deflected right back at the GOP, whose explicit obstructionist policy -- and of course the GOP's rampant white-is-right identity politics -- forced Obama to govern largely through executive order in order to get anything at all done.
Divide and conquer? That is rich coming from someone who seems to support the Divider-in-Chief.
1
This needs repeating: a terrible disease afflicts US. If not cured it will kill US. Trump is a symptom; the disease is the Republican Party.
There are fine republicans who wish US well, but they're at odds with the party and have no influence on it.
6
Don't expect the Bernie or busters to get it. The didn't understand that if there was only one reason to vote for HRC, it was to preserve the supreme court from ultraconservative madness. Trump may well get a second term, for the same reason, sadly. Let's just hope the people in power don't mess with the constitution.
3
There’s a lot of Bernie people didn’t get. It was so obvious that Republicans were working for Bernie. Even the Russians other infiltrators working for Bernie. Bernie was told by staff that he had infiltrators that no one knew who they were. He said nothing because it helped him. Bernie people were much like the uninformed deplorable‘s. They aided Trump and his victory.
They helped the right wing who could never defeat Hillary, defeat Hillary.
2
You made my point and why it is very important to never vote for a Democrat, any Democrat.
Mr. Friedman, I'm writing to ask for your help. You are a journalist writing and opining on the platform of the world's most significant news publication. In order for me to reengage with your thinking, I need you to explain your support for the Iraq war, month after month. I am a humble person from New Jersey, yet, from a simple reading of the weapons inspectors' remarks about the absence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, including a history of their destruction during the Gulf war, I knew that there were no weapons of mass destruction and that we were being lied and tricked into a war that has cost trillions of dollars, millions of lives, and continues to this day. You kept, again and again, saying that it would be resolved in the next few months, only once mentioning that we may have unleashed a hideous civil war. Listen: for me to engage with your thinking, I would really need you to explain what you were thinking, and what you still think, regarding this hideous and ongoing policy error on the part of the United States. I disagree with your more conservative politics; I agree with your call to Democrats to delimit the damage caused by the current mendacious and destructive president; I can't rely on you for any political barometers without a sense of what caused you to cheer for the most disastrous military error since the evils of Vietnam. Your help would be appreciated.
4
I have to laugh at Thomas Friedman saying that there are areas in which he doesn't agree with Democrats, like "fiscal discipline".
The Republicans just indebted this nation to the tune of $1,500 BILLION dollars by giving that money largely to the rich and corporations. The last President of the United States with a balanced budget was Democrat Bill Clinton, The President who launch us into an unwinnable Iraq Qar with no budgetary initiative to pay for it was Republican George Bush.
It seems that Friedman absorbs the same Kool-aid as Trump and his party pitch.
7
This. Exactly. Thank you, Mr. Friedman
1
The Whigs lost in history
So will the GOP
It is now a party of white identity political entities litmus testing each other to see how far off the charts they can go
As if the entire country was pied piper following them Ha
Their bubble will burst with disgust this November
The GOP has already become the party of the disgusting and detestable Alex Jones & shown their absolute incompetency in running govt
So if this is “efficient ” govt bring me Socialism
And the GOP will continue to fade with its’ components dying off
By 2024 the GOP will RIP
it will be a no brainer in the voting booth:
Democrats vs the Fox Party
Who do you think is going to win that vote?
In a landslide: America as it votes Democratic
1
Frankly, if only Trump were the only madman needing immediate removal from office. His cabinet of kleptocrats (the kindest of descriptions) has been picked, not by Trump, but by the darkest forces within his administration. Each and every one is beholden to the industries they are chosen to regulate, all to (a) plump up their investment portfolios, and (b) to guarantee themselves jobs with those industries when they are fired.
But here is the thing: Both "Harper's" and "The Atlantic" have run extensive expository articles on Veep Mike Pence, the man rescued from the trash heap of Indiana's failed politicians. He wasn't qualified as a footnote until he grabbed Trump's campaign coattails.
As was written about Pence, should he become the heir-apparent to the Oval Office through Trump's ousting, he would not be the first very-Christian man to hold the office. Indeed, his belief in God would bring more evangelicals to the voting booths.
But, as reported, the problem with Pence as POTUS is not that he believes in God. Most former presidents did. The danger for America and the world is, Pence is convinced God believes in him.
One only needs to look at the theocracies of the world to understand just how dangerous it will be if a Leader of the Free World defaults to his/her interpretations of devine intervention.
Buckminster Fuller was asked about his worst fears for Earth. He responded: "Nuclear holocaust and organized religion."
5
Thomas, No doubt you firmly believe what you write... There exists, however, an outside chance, be it ever so small, that you are wrong. Not only about your thesis but especially about the implementation.
Even some of the "Space Shots", with incredible attention to detail and risk management, failed.
Social Engineering, which this represents, has always been much more daunting than technical engineering. Yet, the "R&D" and risk management, to vet the proposed "solution" whether it's healthcare, taxation or electioneering... never gets addressed. Instead we craft "solutions" and implement them, hoping that it will work. Sometimes it does.
1
I think Tom Friedman’s columns are always good. He has encyclopedic knowledge of the Mideast, and he applies level-headed reason to suggest solutions to a variety of issues.
While it’s impossible to disagree with the thrust of today’s column, I don’t think that just urging people to vote Democrat to secure the House or Senate will do the job. Everyone knows that Trump is a showman and a liar, but his ownership of the media’s output has given him a megaphone that drowns out most other voices. What the Democrats need, and have not had for many years, is a clear, visible direction for the party. Running against Trumpism has been a loser since he entered the scene.
If the Democrats don’t have a platform that the voters can understand, there’s no hope of winning either house. I can’t tell you what the Dems think is important other than beating Trump. That’s not enough.
3
I feel like the Dems are in hibernation. Wake up!
1
Russian journalist and vocal Putin critic Arkady Babchenko was shot dead in Ukraine, where he had fled into exile following threats to his life. On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rejected Ukraine’s allegation that Moscow was behind the murder.
Trump is responsible for this murder. By putting Putin on a pedestal, voiding the Iran treaty causing oil prices to rise, put over $500 million per day into Putin’s coffers, this KGB operatives confidence is flying high. And his office and causing havoc in the European Union our closest allies. Trump is a treasonous snake.
3
Friedman says he's not a car-carrying Democrat. Well, let me assure you, he's not an independent, and we certainly don't see him as one of our fellow Republicans. Perhaps Tom's a Socialist or perhaps a Communist.
Tom, like many other (sort of) Democrats, has a problem with Trump's "lying". Even though as Tom notes, Trump has done the things he said he was going to do, much to Tom's chagrin. Contrast that with Obama's lying and not doing what he said he was going to do. Obama's famous you can keep your doctor and plan and you'll save $2500 a family. Obama ignored precedent and governed famously with his "pen and a phone". Of course as we told him back then, the next president could and did undo all of that thus making Obama a president without any legacy but a few lies remembered.
So, good luck to Tom and others trying to gin up the Democrat base to vote this November and gain control of the House. Just not going to happen.
Conservatives Ben Wittes and Jonathan Rauch of the Brookings, of all people, wrote this in March:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/03/boycott-the-gop/550...
They and Tom Friedman are exactly right. We must boycott the GOP and vote for any and every Democrat in the upcoming election. It is our only hope of correcting this horrendous mistake and righting our country's course.
3
Thank you Tom. We will get the center back.
“...people want to be comfortable expressing patriotism and love of country in an age where globalization can wash out those identities.” Really? Do people have a right to be “comfortable” expressing these things? I don’t think so. People have a right to express these things, certainly, but no one has a right to be “comfortable” in any opinion - the whole point of being a good citizen is to question one’s assumptions and to be open to new ideas. It’s not up to us to make Trump voters “comfortable.” If they believe something, they need to express it clearly, then fight for it in the marketplace of ideas, just like the rest of us.
2
Trump voters are like smokers - very few can quit.
When the cancerous toxicity of the Trump ideology (all haul to the chief and his clan) was first noted and proven the Trump addicts just denied it. Nahhh. It's not deadly.
Eventually, when facts become known and undeniable and the most graphic and abhorrent examples of the toxicity are publicly displayed, like any smoker, the Trumpist says the heck with facts and that it will kill me, I like this too much.
1
If Mr. Friedman can tell leftists to vote for Democrats in the upcoming election, I suppose I can urge rightists to vote for Republicans. Never mind about checking candidates' qualifications or positions on issues, just vote straight Republican. It's easy, you don't even have to use your brain, you'll be out of the polling station in five minutes. I don't know how often in the past couple of years I've seen we rightists abused in the NYT as 'ignoramuses', well, now's our chance to show the left the power of aroused ignorance!
Ridiculous suggestion. No thinking involved just hate Trump. Not a very mature suggestion.
1
The horrified folks in the Weimar Republic had the same thought. Dems need to be focused and practical (like their Repub counterparts)
1
Amen to all you wrote.
1
Who Protects the American people?
Mr. Friedman's article is as alarming as Code Red....or as real as Fire in our own home. Seriously any rational American who recognizes that Trump is destroying our Presidency, our upright standing in the world. And it appears he enlisted help from the Russians to win the election. This is Treason. This is the worst thing a public servant could do. Folks we need to turn the fire hose on this President and VP. We need to protect our system of government from Trumps self dealing, self interest and lining their own pockets. See Jared and Ivanka's recent loans and China copyrights. Who in America has ever worked for the public good at the same time steering personal business into his own pocketbook.
Yes, we need a fair defense to make sure that Trump doesn't take USA off the rails because we have stopped him from dumping each persons rights if he doesn't like how it affects Donald Trump. Tom Friedman couldn't be more on the point. The Republicans have not reigned in Trump excesses and wild lies and bringing us close to nuclear war, because he wants to show how good he is at negotiating. Voting for any, all Democrats is just an insurance policy that protects every man woman and child in this country from Trump excesses.
Please read Friedman's article again. Pass it around. He has never sent out an alarm such as this RED CODE before. This is both real, chilling and a huge wake up call. Please don't play stupid. Again, don't play stupid.
1
Just a quick thought, Mr Friedman. With respect, I read your columns often and consider you a source of insight into world affairs, buuuut (you knew it was coming...) this "electing the Trump resistance " effort reminds me of Chamberlain pre-WWII. Read your column again. Your call to arms ends with your desperate desire for a soft landing. Nobody gets hurt. You may be dreaming. People are getting hurt right now.
3
Worst democrat better than best republican? Ever heard of John McCain?
Translation: "Victory for the Liberal Cause lies, not in offering rational policies that appeal to rational, thinking voters, but to their irrational impulses of resentment and fear."
Friedman and Roseanne Barr are on the same page.
1
We are beyond Code Red. We are in Defcon-1. The next two years will go farther than 'more of the same' to 'much, much worse', as Trump is now taking over the Justice system.
But, that being said, though Trump is at the helm, Trumpism runs deeper. A party vote-out in 2018 is necessary, to be sure. But it is not sufficient. For one thing, the same plutocrats who bankroll Trump and the GOP also bankroll the Democrats. For another, 'centrist' (=right wing) Democrats, though tempting to us in our present desperation, are nonetheless weak and make a pale contrast to their Republican opponents. Which could blow up in our faces. Also, centrists are far less of a challenge to Trumpism. So, even if they get in, we wouldn't see much of a change. Which leaves the door open to Trump-II. Then, though the nitwit buffoon would be gone, a successor could be waiting in the wings, this one with competence and charisma (remember Hitler?). Then where would we be?
So, pushing for real political and economic reform -- a Bernie Sanders revolution -- must be part of the 2018 anti-Trump makeover, if that is to succeed. And if it is to save the country.
1
ok so if Hillary won:
still high unemployment with blacks leading
low stock market,,401 K's dwindling for working people
low consumer confidence
high taxes
job still flowing out of the USA
stifling government regulations
wide open borders
North Korea building nuks,,,no pushback
Iran controlling Middle East
Who wants that???
3
The day the ill informed have died out we all shall breath a sigh of relief. Can't wait...
1
Agreed.
Sort of as we DON'T want them to die,, just get experienced.
Give the other side a listen and read.
Keep a mind open for an opposing view.
Then make a decision.
“I favor free trade, fiscal discipline, pro-business regulations, a democracy-expanding foreign policy,..” That makes you a Democrat.
5
Mr. Friedman,
Your article is more cop out than Code Red. There IS overwhelming evidence that Trump obstructed justice and that his campaign intentionally cultivated deep ties to a Russian government that hacked our election. That evidence appears regularly in your own paper, as well as every other responsible media outlet.
We need to elect Democrats in order to do what's right: impeach Trump. It's foolish to think a Democratic Congress can "curb Trump's worst impulses". Trump will continue to be Trump, no matter who controls the House or Senate.
Further, impeaching Trump will demonstrate to Republicans that they can't win with a corrupt, racist platform. They will have to return to selling free-trade, small government, fiscal responsibility and social conservatism - and let the voters, unimpeded by hostile interference from Russia, decide. Wouldn't that be refreshing?
You admit you were wrong about Trump before the election. However, your admission does not absolve you now. Trump and his enablers in Congress (aided by their enablers in the media) are undermining the institutions that undergird our democracy. We need to get Trump and the Republican Congress out of office as soon as possible.
This is a Code Red moment. It requires an honest Code Red response.
4
I only give it 50-50 that Trump and the Republicans will even respect the outcome of the elections if it favors the Democrats. You can vote fascists in, but you can't vote them out. That is the experience of other countries. We'll see whether we are "exceptional" in this respect.
2
I am a liberal Democrat. I live in the 5th Congressional District of Virginia. I believe that the Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives is a closet anti-Semite, a dilettante, a knee jerk angry phony liberal - but yet I will most reluctantly vote for her. I will vote for her because I believe that she is somewhat less of a menace to our nation than the presidency of Donald Trump who maintains his stranglehold on our democracy through the cowardice of the Republican Congressional majority. What a sad state we have come to when we seek to elect unqualified phonies to replace unqualified phonies.
2
With deepest Thanks to Tom Friedman. We have been Swimming in Swill.
Amazing that we, the People, have lived under the continued Domination
of a bonafide, Diagnosable Sociopathic Personality Disorder. Meanwhile, we have been Left...totally Bereft... Of Leadership. We have a "President"
who is Bordered, North, South, East, and West....by HIMSELF.
5
From your lips to God's (Goddessess) ears!!
3
One thing that Trump can never change: he's lazy and illiterate. We need to not be lazy and be informed. We need to stop having debates with "Trump Country" and simply vote them out of power. We need to get a little mean and punch this con man in the face. It's the only thing a sad, insecure bully respects.
5
Not sure the Democrats are ready to GOVERN rather tahn seek Retribution and impeachment which would be worse than Trump
You just answered your own question.
Retribution isn't what's at stake here...our country is.
2
Putting a check on Trump's Power is absolutely essential
4
It's a sad thought, but I couldn't agree more. Frightened by the potential alienation of a whopping 20-30% of the voting public, Republicans almost without exception have stood by this self-serving, arrogant, dishonest, crude, and inept President by not standing against him.
4
Trump is the disaster that I expected but I did not anticipate the total roll over that the Republicans in Congress have done. Taking away Republican control of Congress would help check Trump's worst behavior and show the world that the US is not as ignorant as it now appears to be. I don't believe that he should be impeached but that he should be constrained and then ejected from office in 2020. I truly believe that if nothing is done, democracy as we have known it is over in the US.
1
It is simple Mr. Friedman.
This November when it comes down to it
GOP/NRA of the USA
VOTE THEM OUT!!!
3
Great article!!! Your couldn't have said it better - the problem isn't Trump, it is the near majority of Americans who support his racist, sexist, homophobic, environmental and religious (phony) platform.
2
Trump is not the problem, he's a symptom. Unfortunately, the credulity and gullibility of the MAGA tribe, the indifference to falsehood, the insularity and, frankly, the abject fear of change which is deeply rooted in Trump's base -- that's the problem. And it's not going away even if he does.
1
Trump is profoundly unqualified and emotionally unwell.
4
First time the republican elected lawmakers have sold their souls, abandon their morals and ethics and have followed and obeyed a chronic liar and a crook enmass. They have fooled us. The only way to vote from now on in any election at any level is to vote democrat across the line. At the state level the republicans will do the gerrymandering, at the town level they will shorten the tax payer, and the national level..... we all know what these republicans are capable of. So the people of America your vote matters, every election matters and those who did not vote, can see the head of the fish rooting.
1
Birth a new GOP--hahaha, not happening. This is the GOP and has been for years, previously with a veneer of civility. I fear we are in 1936 Germany. The most bigoted and fearful among us are also the most armed.
1
What does it say about your judgement in not taking Trump literally? Like many people you were anti- woman. The sour, hulking, and profane man that became president was elected by the media that promoted his vile talk. Take ownership!
1
Please continue to yell this as loud as you can!
3
If Democrats take control of one on the wings of Congress, the rats will start deserting the sinking ship once they see they light of day coming their way. Do you think Pruitt will stick around for endless rounds of committee investigations?, Mnuchin?, Zinke?, Devos? No these multi-millionaires have far more better things to do than take the heat.
2
If the Democrats don't take control of either the House or the Senate, hopefully both, then we will be condemned for at least two more years of MAGA - Make America Gag Again
2
Democrats- please listen. Tom is on the money especially since you do not have a compelling message for the mid-terms. You can play retail politics but also have an overarching message.
Do you really think that you're accomplishing anything?
You and people like you forced helpless, honest people who lead real lives to seek someone like Donald Trump.
Look at yourself.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Friedman, you're the world famous columnist and I'm not, but this opinion piece doesn't help your reputation. Except among blue voters, of course, but they'll believe anything.
Donald Trump didn't get my vote, and I still find him a narcissistic blowhard. But somehow he's been right -- as in "correct" -- on most issues. Go figure.
You are certainly wrong on this one. I just wish you weren't so darn persuasive expressing it.
2
Elect the Trump Resistance????
Not if they are represented by the resisters on this board. Many of them are untruthful, vicious and treasonous.
As long as people see Pelosi as the Democrats alternative to Trump, they're going to have a problem voting Democrat.
2
Just like the current administration and Congressional majority?
3
@azflyboy
You might want to take a closer look at the map and realize how many Democrats are running, winning, and shying away from Nancy Pelosi.
No, Friedman is not a card-carrying Democrat. That's why he can engage in the politics of "pick the least worst alternative". Friedman truly damns the Democratic Party with faint praise to assert that the most compelling reason to vote for "a Democrat, any Democrat" is to curtail the power of Donald Trump. It implies that, absent Trump, there would be no compelling reason to vote for a Democrat.
I hope that the Democratic Party sits up and takes notice of just how worthless the party has become.
Of course, Tom Friedman is flat wrong. There -are- Democrats worth voting for on their own merits; as a Massachusetts resident, I've voted for several.
So which is Friedman trying to criticize here: Trump, the Democratic Party, or both?
Mr. Friedman is, yet again, late to realize the obvious and then claim that realization as insight.
1
It is all about the US Democracy and the institutions that make this country what it is. It has become quite obvious that:
1. The Republican Congress cannot get anything done, even their pet projects
2. The Congress does not know how to govern because it is entangled in a senseless aim to undo President Obama's constructive work rather than governing the country
3. Donald Trump will knock down any institution to gain personal benefits. The institutions are in danger
4. Democrats can actually show their accomplishments although the Republicans have been chiseling away at them
So, here's the slogan for the upcoming elections "It's the democracy stupid!"
6
@silver vibes,
Ok so 40% voted for and still think the self proclaimed sexual predator is great. This includes the deplorables who are in the senate and congress. They won’t change their mind, in fact they hold their deplorable noses and stand with this administration.
This means 2 things.
60% does NOT support this administration, we know that Clinton got 3 million more votes, and 2 million more went to other candidates.
We need to get people registered to vote and help them to get to the polls, despite the GOP gerrymandering, voter suppression, threats and long lines.
This is our only hope. Get those who sat out the election because both choices were bad, can now see what a BAD choice really does to our country.
Vote out the racist, misogynistic, liar and self proclaimed sexual predator, his congress and Senate and the financial strangle hold the NRA has on them.
3
It is fairly clear that Trump's base base is very passionate about their beseiged hero. Each and every one of them will go to the rallies, label real news as fake, chant their bumper-sticker slogans, and most importantly, get out and vote with enthusiasm.
To the remainder, their revulsion towards Trump and all he stands for is not necessarily going to inspire them to go to the polls to the same degree.
I would encourage them to do so. Every voter who does not vote Dem up and down the ballot is tacitly voting for Trump and his chaotic freak show.
I believe -- I hope! -- that many of the 50% of Americans who did not vote in 2016 are sickened by Trump and will get off their couches this November to vote. The stakes could hardly be higher in a midterm election.
YOUR VOTE CAN ONLY COUNT IF YOU VOTE! MAKE IT COUNT!
8
Way back in 2016,,,I foolishly thought there was a final hour ray of sunshine, a promise of hope for the future of the USA......that John Kasich and Elizabeth Warren would break ranks and form their own ticket.............everyone finished laughing at me yet? Thanks. I still maintain it would have worked. We will never know....both Kasich and Warren broke under political pressure and did career destroying efforts to kiss the backends of the PowerMad Party Hacks.
That left me with only one obvious choice....to vote for two highly successful, positive, and productive politicians.......Gary Johnson and William Weld.
I'm GLAD Donald Trump is YOUR president....YOU deserve him..........
Yes. Ds need to control the House in 2019 and following, the Senate ASAP, and the Presidency starting in early 2021.
Party discipline is a factor in this. In CA, with its top-two primaries, too many Ds are running, legitimately sensing vulnerability among R candidates. But that risks them being shut of of the general elections entirely. That would be a stunningly stupid happening. There are up to seven House seats to be had in CA--don't be a pious fool!
Thomas, I agree with everything you have written...I want YOU to run for President!
3
In Europe, the liberal parties always have to struggle a bit more in order to get their voter's behinds go vote as opposed to more far right and right onservative parties. On the other hand, more conservative political parties tend to have a more disciplined electoral body. Same in the U.S. between dems and the conservatives.
Still, as the author so well pointed out, it is the first chance to try to save the vital levers of justice so openly assaulted by the very man who is sworn to protect them.
1
Check your thinking, Tom. If you favor fiscal discipline, you favor Democrats.
1
Sorry Tom no dice. Team Blue committed an unforgivable sin. They thought it was OK to regulate thousands of coal miners out of their jobs. Well guess what, that is not OK. America is done with your viscous mayhem. #MAGA
1
Seriously, vote for the candidate just because they are a democrat? The dems here in Texas have selected a candidate for governor simply because she is female, latina and gay, identity politics run rampant. I predict that she will lose by a greater margin than Wendy Davis. How about HRC and her entitled attitude, how did that work out? My whole point here is...of the tens of thousands of democrat women, these two are the best you can come up with?
3
I agree that Lupe Valdez will not do well, ensuring another term for Governor Abbott who by now has sunk beneath the bar set by former Governor Perry. I didn't think that could be possible.
On the other hand, if current polling holds up, Beto O'Rourke has a reasonable chance of defeating Ted Cruz. And in my Congressional district, Lizzie Fletcher may well knock off John Culberson.
Mr. Friedman, your "choice on the ballot" language should run as a full page ad in every newspaper in the nation.
Wow. A NY Times columnist has come out strongly against president Trump. We Republicans must now seriously consider abandoning our positions and agenda.
2
I really dont care who is president....I think most of you self-proclaimed "democrats" and "republicans" actually have no influence in who runs for election .....you actually are NOT party members.....and you give blind loyalty to a Political Corporation(DNC or RNC)that cares nothing about you, sees you only as raw material to mine for more POWER,,,, then you delude youself into believing you made a choice that was good for you. Ralph Nader warned you...and the DNC and RNC instructed you to mock him.......
"They all laugh at you".
Trump is a threat to the duopoly of Corporate Politics. The RNC...perverted and corrupted by Bush Family Values actively subverts the Rule of Law.....the DNC hopped the rails many years ago, hopelessly corrupt, power mad....harnesses the bureaucracy, and that journalists fifth estate,towards a single minded goal....destroy the President....and then tells you to mock the very thought of a Deep State.....they laugh at you.
1
I almost got through an entire Friedman column with 100% agreement. And for the main message of the column - Code Red, vote for the Democratic candidate, any Democrat is better than a Republican in terms of literally saving our country from Trump - I am indeed in 100% agreement. Took me back to the days when I used to read Friedman columns and books with admiration for Friedman.
Then Friedman reminded me why it is generally hard to take him seriously anymore:
Friedman sees himself as supporting "a democracy-expanding foreign policy, and I (Friedman) have an aversion to identity politics."
Support for and cheerleading the Iraq War (when the Friedman magic ended for me) was part of Friedman's "democracy-expanding foreign policy." A complete, unmitigated disaster - with no mea culpa from Friedman.
In terms of "aversion to identity politics," is being Jewish and a Zionist affect Friedman's view of Isreal and the Middle East? Doesn't Friedman practice identity politics himself?
Isn't Trump's white America the greatest form of identity politics? Isn't white supremacy and privilege the ultimate form of identity politics? Or is it only identity politics when brown people and LGTBQ simply press for equal protection under the law - 14th Amendment. Is that the identity politics Friedman has an aversion for?
But yes, vote in 2018, vote in 2020, vote in every primary and every election - vote against Trump, vote for sanity, vote to save our country, vote Democratic.
1
"...until our next presidential election gives us a chance to end this cancer and to birth a new G.O.P. "
No, the GOP must die. It has shown it is not worthy of ever again holding any lever of power in this country.
The GOP must die.
2
Impeachment is too good for Trump.
3
Vote, Americans. Vote. Your country needs you.
3
Thomas. Seriously? Any Democrat is better than any Republican? Have you not been paying attention for your adult life? Both Democrats and Republicans have sold out America for decades. NAFTA? A Democrat (Bill Clinton) with a Republican Congress. Repeal of the Glass Steagall Act? A Democrat (Bill Clinton) and a Republican Congress. The onset of "outsourcing", which is completely destroying high skill labor? Originally Ronald Reagan, now, everyone wants in on collecting money from Indian companies. Seriously? You have to wake up to write truth. Democrats sell America out at the same rate as Republicans.
1
Well said, Mr. Friedman.
1
Wait wait wait-- Mr. Friedman's aversion to identity politics makes not a card carrying Democrat? Wow.
I will hold my nose while voting for Senator Bob Menendez due to his being the lesser evil.
2
Precisely. I'd take Bob over, say Roy......and that's the choice....
1
Thank you Mr. Friedman for the realization that the problem of Trump is wrapped up in the problem of the Republican Party. It's not just that Trump is an abomination upon the American body politic - it's that the Republican Party is fully complicit in all of his actions.
If Trump were to suddenly vanish from the Earth, the Republican Party would still try to follow his example - his agenda is what they've been pushing for years in any case.
Racism, xenophobia, religious bigotry, outrageous falsehoods, the politics of destruction - this is what the GOP has peddled for years; Trump just turned up the volume.
They need to be rejected at every level.
There's no need to call for the Democrats to move to the 'center' either - they're already there. They've been there all along. Traditional Democratic policies still are favored by a majority of Americans - just as a majority voted for Hillary Clinton.
Protecting Social Security and Medicare, expanding healthcare, protecting the environment, creating good jobs, supporting real education, real national security – these are all things Democrats support, and Republicans are trying to roll back.
Donald Trump and the Republican Party are truly dangerous because they've succeeded in distracting us from these key differences. It was no coincidence that the GOP has embraced a con man and liar. They were already there.
1
you care about "who we are" while you "have an aversion to identity politics'? is it that your own identity matters while others' identity deosn't? truly surreal.
1
No offense. But you're missing the point.
You first have to understand that unlike South Korea, this is a country of many identities -- and all of them matter.
1
This article does not go far enough in describing what we are facing in this election. This “us vs. them” mode of American politics is inadequate to represent the diverse views of its citizens. In an age where the majority of these citizens have accepted the role of the United States of America armed forces as the police force of the world (and not subject to control of the United Nations) the scope of power of their political choices extends far beyond the boundaries of our country’s borders.
Maybe in the future we can repair this system but we must now live within the present system. So our only viable option is to repudiate the “so-called” Republican Party’s hold on political power. I say so-called because it no longer follows the Republican Party’s founding values and hasn’t since Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” was used to appeal to Dixiecrats and other white voters opposed to the civil rights movement and the federal government’s enforcement of desegregation. Is this what it means to make America great again: to create a party with the same values as a confederate party?
To the traditional Republican voter I say the following: don’t make the same mistake that Rep. Pete McCloskey made and devote yourself to the lost cause of reclaiming the soul of the Republican Party. Trump has clearly established that a Republican vote is a vote for him. To think the media’s consensual view will interpret it otherwise is delusional.
3
I fully agree with the author's assessment of Trump but I don't think the GOP is all that different from their past history other than those who are Tea Party enthusiasts. Voting records reveal more than news reports or campaign rhetoric.
Republicans have never supported the working class. They have made every effort to abolish Unions, the only real voice for working Americans. They despise Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. It was not until 2009 that the Children"s Health Insurance Plan was enacted with little or no Republican votes. The Federal Minimum Wage hasn't been increased in over ten years and can't even get a vote in todays Congress. On the State level, funding for Workman's Compensation is a constant fight, as is state funded health care for the working poor.
Now with Trumps Interior Secretary opening up more of the public lands for oil and gas drilling under the guise of energy independence, the GOP has decided to export domestic oil to the world market while still importing Middle Eastern crude. All of this and the motoring public gets a gasoline price increase of thirty percent over the price of one year ago.
Working class and middle class Americans have many reasons to vote out the Republicans in the midterms, Trump is one of them.
2
One reason Democrats lost the last election is because progressives identify with too many "causes" so the party's entire platform was rejected. We are currently overpopulated for available resources, according to scientists. It's time to be practical if we want to maintain stability. How many immigrants per year can we afford to absorb into our culture? This number is not infinite. We cannot afford free college tuition for everyone, an appealing but impossible idea. Our debt is enormous and growing every day. We do need a more comprehensive health care program, and ACA is a good beginning, but it could be improved. We need to stop thinking of socialism as a dirty word. When the population is as large and diverse as ours, it requires a strong government with laws and plans for the future. Otherwise, there will be chaos. We need intelligent, creative representatives, not more political hacks who pander to the largest donors. Where are they?
1
Agree with the column wholeheartedly, but Tom, in explaining that he is not in lock-step with Democrats, said he abhors identity politics. He can add that to another reason not to support the GOP, as they are playing identity politics at a much higher level than the Dems. Unless he thinks tRump's base does not' identify' with being white, evangelical, and anti-immigrant.
3
Being in New York City and an overwhelmingly Blue state, this advice is not only easy to follow but easy to do, because in the 17 months that Donald Trump has been in office America has had the chance to realize what we have known about him all along.
Things won't get any better.
The course he has set for this country revolves solely around himself and suiting his every whim.
Congress is no longer part of the 'checks and balances' system that once defended our democracy, but rather a tool comprised of acolytes more interested in their own self-preservation.
It is now up to We, the People to make a difference.
So for all those who stayed at home during the last election as some kind of protest, or didn't 'like' the candidate, or were simply to lazy to go out and vote this is your chance to make a difference.
This doesn't mean that Democrats are the magic answer to all the problems facing us -- but it is a step toward restoring the balance in a government currently controlled by one party, and one person.
Now is the time to come to the aid of our country.
Please do not fail us.
2
People power really only translates to important change at the ballot box. You must get out and register. You must get out and vote. You must get your friends and family to do the same. Remember in November.
Get rid of the terms Democrat and Republican, please. Vote for the most qualified person.
Which invariably means it won't be a Republican! ...
1
The Code Red is not because Trump is damaging "who we are, how we talk....., how we respect institutions...".
No, the Code Red is because Trump is putting our very democracy at risk, destroying our water and breathable air, and increasing the likelihood of WW3.
We don't vote to save the nation's character, we vote to save the nation.
2
While the battle is against Donald Trump, Democrats have yet to grasp that they are holding the losing hand.
Democrats are waving the banner for sclerosis, corruption and incompetence in government.
If Trump succeeds in bringing peace to Korea, continues to make progress with China, with the economy humming, he will tough to beat.
The outright corruption the Democrat spying conspiracy represents is completely underestimated by the Democrats.
The people know the Russian Collusion nonsense was completely fabricated and fake and represents a form of government endorsed and practiced corruption by Democrats that is un-American and unacceptable.
When Clapper, Brennan, Comey, McCabe, and crew are indicted for their criminal conspiracy, as they will be, people will not want to vote for a bunch of crooked cheaters.
Rosenstein can’t stall long enough, luckily.
1
Excuse me, Tom. I like you. I really do. But I have to ask you in all seriousness:
Are you casting a vote in Virginia's 5th Congressional District?
Because if the answer is no, then this election is about what I say it's about. And in Virginia's 5th District, just like all over the country, it's about taking back control of the politics from the national party apparatus, and control of the narrative back from the national media. We are not data points or plots on a graph. We are real, flesh and blood human beings deciding who will best represent our interests in Washington, with a mind to our responsibility to be part of the national dialogue, not destroyers of it.
Thanks for your input, Tom. But we've got this. Local control and local issues have garnered Democrats the majority of the special elections and helped us claw back 41 of the nearly 2000 seats lost under the disastrous stewardship of the DNC, DLCC and DCCC over the last eight years. It's no coincidence that this happened as DNC funds hit rock bottom. So instead of booming at us like the voice of all-knowing God, how about you simply tip your hat, say thank you, and acknowledge that we know what we're doing and will decide for ourselves what the issues are?
Don't mess with success, Tom.
Recommended cure is worse than the disease. Fric and frac are thoroughly corrupted by pay-to-play. Go ahead, pour ethanol on the fire.
1
Vote for any Democrat? Sure, Tom, vote for open borders, abortion unrestricted at 20 weeks, anti-business regs to choke employment and growth, etc., etc. How about we vote for moderates of any political persuasion and strive to vanquish the extremes on either side of the continuum? I personally would love to send the far-left loonies and the radical righties to a deserted island. The center of this country doesn't deserve any of these rabid partisans-They are precisely why we are on such a fix during these Trumpian days.
Dear Thomas,
You're as big a fear-monger as the conservative talking heads in 2010 and 2012 that said Obama was a disaster for America. Stop with the "vote AGAINST (fill in your hated politician here)" nonsense and start articulating why people should vote FOR a particular candidate or party. At this point most people know where each party stands on any particular issue. You're not going to change their minds because you think you know better than they do about what's good for themselves and the country. Most people can figure it out for themselves without your column, thank you very much.
This constant bashing between Democrats and Republicans have a lot of us wishing both sides would just grow up and do what's best for the country instead of themselves and their sycophants. And, if you didn't notice, third party candidates got a bigger share of the vote in 2016 than in 2012 - what would you tell their voters this time around?
Thomas, vote for whomever your little heart desires and quit telling everyone else what's best for us.
1
Peddle your false equivalency elsewhere, hm. Obama was an honorable, smart and decent man. tRump is nothing of the sort. Friedman is giving us his opinion because he writes an OPINION column. Don't like it? Don't read it.
3
@William Park: "Peddle your false equivalency elsewhere, hm."
It's not false equivalency when both parties cry that the earth is falling because the other side's in charge and somehow destroying the country.
"Obama was an honorable, smart and decent man."
I never stated nor implied he wasn't. I just didn't like his politics.
" tRump is nothing of the sort."
I'll agree with you there.
"Friedman is giving us his opinion because he writes an OPINION column. Don't like it? Don't read it."
And the comments section is for those who have opinions for those who write opinions; in this case, Mr. Friedman. As I write this there are 1398 comments (opinions) to what Thomas wrote. Don't like mine? Don't read it.
Trump has gotten Americans WORKING again.
If given the chance Pelosi & Schumer will come down hard against businesses big and small, banks, energy industry, Israel, and ultimately our jobs boom.
They mustn’t be given another chance.
Vote Republican.
1
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing." I agree with Friedman. Positions on issues do not matter--vote Democratic-- period. If we do not regain control of either the House or the Senate--- kiss our democracy goodbye. We will be like the Poles and the Hungarians...under the boot of a thug with no recourse. My deceased father, who voted straight Republican until he died in his 90's, would vote this time around for ANY Democrat in any race. Now is the time for all decent people to rally to save the Republic. If we do not take action, what shall we tell our grandchildren?
1
Great piece! Well said!
3
I am a centrist moderate who when younger toyed with interest in party politics finally deciding that neither political tribe (either then or now) fully represents me. I am not so much a floating voter as, I hope, a principled one, which means I have leaned on both directions over the years. However, for the moment that is over. Some months ago I concluded that by casting a vote for a Republican, even one I might respect, merely encourages the increasingly Trumpian bias of the GOP. My expectation of a political leader was set in childhood when men like Winston Churchill and Dwight D. Eisenhower strode the world stage -- neither one of them without his faults, but each with a stature that diminishes their shortcomings. Today we have a man who is a cheat and a liar, an exploiter of people, a narcissist who is doing untold damage to the fabric of our society. How many of my friends and neighbors can support him, I do not understand. My hope is that the Democrats will recruit men and women of honesty, intelligence, grace, and stature as candidates -- like Amy McGrath in Kentucky, or the return of Phil Bredesen here in Tennessee.
8
I agree, our country is unraveling with the pathological liar Trump in the Oval Office. America’s children are going to be living in a authoritarian third world country unless we vote republicans out. People in New York knew Trump was entangled with the Russian mob but voters in the heartland had no clue just how corrupt and immoral he was. Americans supporting Trump, you would think, would be alarmed at Trump reversing America’s policy on the Chinese company ZTE. This company puts our national security at risk. Yes, it’s code red ... vote Democrat.
3
Amen and amen. Things are serious. Hogwash about how all politicians are crooks and it doesn’t matter, and useless votes for irrelevant third party candidates won’t work.
The party in power is hurting our country and needs to be voted out. Now.
2
How are we supposed to sleep tonight after reading this? If Thomas Friedman is sounding the alarm, the end of the United States must be nigh. (We'll deal with 'I told you so' later.) What can we do this minute and not wait until the midterms? Talking to Trump supporters just doesn't work. We see that every day here in the comment sections.
Donald Trump is a sociopath. Sociopaths are very good at manipulation. A good sociopath can convince a perfectly normal woman that the reason she's been beaten is her fault for making him do it. A good sociopath can develop a cult following around his absurd proclamations and visions and convince its members to drink poison Kool-Aid because they're being persecuted and it's in their best interest to do so.
If the FBI wasn't investigating this sociopath, they should have been - him and his 'conservative' cult members. Tim McVeigh was the gateway drug for this crew of government blamers. Don’t fix it, blow it up is their motto.
I, for one, am going to sleep under the bed tonight.
Thomas Friedman needs to book himself a media blitz on Fox News, Monday through Sunday. For as long as it takes.
6
History (if we survive) will judge the Republicans more harshly than Trump because they did nothing!!
2
If I may add a voice from far away ... do you remember when you had a President, and Presidential candidates, who were looked up to and admired by people from every corner of the globe - both friends and adversaries?
I do, it was not so long ago! I believe it can happen again!
RIP Bobby, Jack, Ronald ...
Give us a third party! Any third party! Greens, Labour, Socialist, Independent! Then we'll actually be happy to vote, instead of only voting for the lesser evil!
So Tom Friedman, the prominent writer and columnist, didn't think Trump would be as bad as he's been, that the swamp "drain would literally have to start in Trump’s White House." Really? Did you spend five minutes looking at Trump's history, or who he associates with? The man whose companies were cited for violating federal and state laws? The guy who brought us the scam called Trump University? You're surprised that guy didn't clean up the corruption in Washington? And now you're sounding the call to resistance. Please.
1
Thomas, if ever there is an existential threat to our great country, it is now. So yes, your article, "Sounding Code Red : Electing the Trump Resistance" is right on the money.
We all know that before Trump stole the last election right in front of our own eyes with the help of the Russians, we thought our democracy was on solid footing.
We wrongly thought that there was no need to sound alarm or flashing "Code Red" unless our president was Richard Nixon who in 1973 caused the famous "Saturday Night Massacre" all by himself just to destroy the democratic ideals that our country grew up with.
But with Trump's arrival in the political scene the entire democratic process of our country has fallen to the lowest level like never seen before.
Trump with his horrendous hyperbole decimating a percentage of Americans with crude and dangerous pronouncements saying in a criminal tone"Mexicans are bringing drugs...." and promising to his racist supporters that he'd stop all the Mexicans coming to America with "a beautiful Wall which Mexico will pay for it."
Now when he figured out that if Mexico built the wall, there was no money to be made for his Trump Inc.,he's asking for a whopping $18 billion from the Congress.
But thanks to our leftist members of Congress who've flashed Code Red the day he was selected by much fewer American citizens compared to Hillary 3+ million more, Trump is at his worst twitter behavior blasting every Americans except his 40+ million racist supporters.
Amen! Vote, get your family to vote, get your friends to vote, your acquaintances, your co-workers, your church and temple members, and everyone else you know, to vote.
Basing your vote on who you are against, not who you are for?
Funny, that is what got Trump elected in the first place.
1
I think you American people can affect strongly to the world than we Japanese. Your president is doing many things to reverse world worse. My vote is less affect to the world than your vote. You can make us worse or better by your vote. You must recognize the power of your vote.
"I’m not a card-carrying Democrat. I favor free trade, fiscal discipline, pro-business regulations, a democracy-expanding foreign policy, and I have an aversion to identity politics."
Tom, it's not 1988 anymore (it's uncanny how many Times columnists' stereotypes of the parties are stuck in the 80s).
The Democrats are the party of free trade and fiscal discipline. And with Schumer and Pelosi leading the party, the Democrats are much closer to your neocon foreign policy than Trump and his party.
Time to update your stereotypes, they're long overdue.
Here's what much of the new left-of-the-spectrum generation cares about regarding Trump: How he increasingly demonizes and dehumanizes immigrants every chance he gets (this is clearly his midterm election strategy). For a Jew who is well aware of how a state's scapegoating of a dangerous minority can lead to heinous consequences, I'm a bit surprised you left this out.
We're also concerned about how he left thousands of Americans fend for themselves in Puerto Rico; an island which has reverted to third-world status in the wake of Trump's non-response to hurricane Mary. And how he's done nothing about the opioid crisis, though he falsely claims otherwise. And about the coming gargantuan insurance premium hike, due to his sabotaging on Obamacare.
In short, we care about how he's impacting regular people. You folks in the media always focus on norms and whatnot - just another sign of how out of touch you are.
2
a simple message that needs to be endlessly repeated
The central premise of this article is that we should stoop to elect Democrats because Trump is bad, and so are a couple of his enablers. Friedmann's assumption here is "who knew that he could be so bad? Just elect some Democrats this time because we need to punish the bad man." You sound a lot like Trump, Tom - "who knew that health care could be so complicated?" LOL.
Like any battered, dysfunctional relationship, the truth is more complicated. The problem lies, for the most part, with a Republican Party which is little more than an authoritarian cult: Jonestown, but with nuclear weapons.
It is a cult based, at its root, on lies so it is not surprising that Trump is allowed to lie without suffering for it. Don't like identity politics; then quit lying about race. The Republicans are racist; have been for half a century.
Government is not inherently bad, Tom no matter what Saint Reagan professed forty years ago, nor is redistribution a pernicious, socialist grab of your wallet; it is about equality of opportunity.
The Republicans have been lying about all of this. Limited government; balanced budgets; stay out of wars? Ascribe those features to Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
You want Democrats to "redistribute" their impending power in the 2018 election to restructuring a bankrupt Republican Party? Sure, but first: enough with the lies. The Democrats have always been about a hand up; not a hand out, Tom.
Admit it; come clean - cold turkey - the first step to recovery.
You write that you "favor [...] fiscal discipline." Hasn't that demonstrably been a key Democratic cause for several decades?
2
I agree with everything you’ve written here, Mr Friedman, except this: “In the end, I don’t want to see Trump impeached...”
If you truly see—as most Americans do—a Code Red threat to our democracy stemming from the occupant of the Oval Office, how can you possibly believe leaving that threat there is safe or moral?
By all means let's take Friedman's advice, but we must be prepared for the fight of our lives the day after the midterms. This fight is not a political one for Benedict Donald, the traitor, crook, liar and racist. No, for him it's existential. He knows he's going to jail for the rest of his life if Mueller is allowed to complete his investigation. And he knows a House intelligence committee controlled by Democrats will air all his dirty laundry. Even if he doesn't get impeached, the statute of limitations won't run out on his many crimes and he'll face criminal prosecution once he's out of office.
For a long time now Trump has been ranting about "voter fraud." Recently he predicted that Mueller was going to "meddle" in the 2018 midterm elections. Why? Because--and don't sneer--he plans to invalidate the election results if a "blue wave" washes over Congress. Impossible!, you say. Well now, how many divisions do Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi command?
A Ukrainian journalist who publicly opposed Putin was just shot in the back and killed as he returned from the grocery store. It will be a shocking sign of just how low we've sunk if we wake up one morning to read that Robert Mueller has been gunned down in the street. It's going to get ugly, folks. You ain't seen nothing yet.
1
OMG! CNN just reported that the Ukrainian journalist's murder was greatly exaggerated. He's alive and apparently unharmed. My bad.
Completely agreed except that there will be no new sane GOP.
There aren't enough truly decent and thoughtful conservatives left to birth a better national party. "Conservative," even before the poster boy was elected, was and is a diversionary label for various combinations of racist, narcissistic, brutal, misogynist, unpatriotic, and ignoramus tendencies in the same way that "Christian" is a diversionary label for the evangelicals and Catholics who think Trump is part of "God's Plan."
There must be some counter to the looniest tendencies of the left. But it won't be the GOP.
1
My hope is that given another year this populists fever will finally break. I come into contact with too many people where the fever is still so hot that their entire mind and body is speaking in delirious Trump speak. No logical/factual based treatment works on these very sick individuals---they view this snake oil real estate salesman as their messiah -- the worse he gets, the better they feel.
1
The lesson I take from all of this is never to give the bully pulpit to a proudly ignorant bully. We shall soon see if the American voting public has taken a similar lesson. We shall soon see who we really are as a country.
Now, if only the Democratic Party would give us some sort, any sort, of national vision to vote for.
2
Until Republicans quit their unbridled allegiance to Personality Cult politics they cannot be seriously considered as committed to liberal democracy. Trump is a civilian version of James Matoon Scott (the chief conspirator in Seven Days In May).
1
You are SPOT ON. Any third party votes are wasted when the entire enchilada is about getting and exerting OVERSIGHT on this executive run amok and his criminal enterprise being conducted out of the WH. He is a danger to our nation & democracy...but worse. I fully believe the Mueller investigation will show the deep seated, interconnected level of corruption his entire admin has been up to and their conspiracy with Russia, the Saudis, Qatar, and now the Chinese. He is an illegitimate 45.
1
“Run for the House or the Senate as a Democrat.”
Fine. You help me do it and I’ll do it.
Fellow Americans.
Please. Come. Out. To. Vote. On. Election. Day.
No. Excuses.
Pretty pretty please. Millennials, students, urbans, blacks (please take care of your registrations and show up), others.
And if you don't, please don't show up the next day to protest after all is lost, and the country is irretrievably on path to total gutting and destruction.
Friedman's globalist pals must be getting antsy because they're not as free to ship millions of American jobs abroad under Trump as they were under the Democrats.
A lot of the pols in the Democratic Establishment are not fit to be elected dog catchers, much less to have a hand running the most powerful economy in the world.
Here's a suggestion: Why not run Hillary? Third time might be the charm. And even if not, it would be great for laughs.
1
You are absolutely correct. Sadly, the problem isn't so much the president himself, but the members of Congress who go along with this hijacking of the republic. And yes, only those retiring or dying seem to be the ones in his party who oppose this lunacy.
1
Trump is what happens when, among other things, single-issue voters vote. He couldn't care less about abortion, but he'll pander to the single-issue pro-lifers and, ipso facto, they'll vote for him. He'll repeat his mantra about a border wall, and the Know-Nothings and racists will jump on board, regardless; he and his daughter and sons do private business in China and elsewhere, but he'll rail against China and sundry foreigners and pretend he's bringing jobs "back to America" - and they'll love it in Youngstown. He pretends to pray! "Good enough for me", says the evangelical! Are you a coal miner? He'll pretend that he sees a future for you, and you'll vote for him, between pills and beers. Hate "elites"? He's one, but never mind, he scorns them, and you'll vote for him even as he laughs all the way to the bank. On and on. How do we get an educated electorate by November? How do we get the educated portion of the (Republican) electorate to care about their country instead of (only) about their taxes?
1
A typical round of noise by a corporatist, meant to obscure public recognition of the new progressivism.
So if everything is in peril why do you not want him impeached?
1
Precisely, Mr. Friedman. This is an election like no other. Should we fail to restrain our madman/gangster President, America may never again be America.
5
More like sounding Code BLUE. Thank you, Mr. Friedman.
1
As a Democrat since Jimmy Carter and now a resident of Pelosi country I’ve NEVER voted for Republican in my entire life. However, given the current political strife I’m just about ready to throw in the towel. Giving the resistance movement, impeachment mantra, and the bias news found here daily I’ve become cynical and distrustful of CNN, PBS, and the NYT. Objectively is no longer even being sugar coated but shoved down my gullet daily. It’s now time to resist the resistance?
This is a very powerful article. There is one and only one choice in this election and that's to take a stance against ignorance, lies and alternative facts. Get out and vote, we need to cut the wings of this mad bird that erratically bangs his head into the glass.
2
Another lie by Trump which hasn't been counted in all the lists I've seen but WHICH I personally heard him say on television: "I love God." That one takes the cake!
2
Trump is just a symptom of the anti-intellectualism, pride in ignorance, and resentment toward modern progress that started with Sarah Palin getting national stage. So what if the Democrats take back the House. There are still millions of Americans with terminal moral apathy who support a lying charlatan without a scintilla of moral compass. That should worry Friedman more. The President has term limits; Trump's Americans don't.
1
"Vote for a Democrat — any Democrat!"
No way! Never! That's why lifelong Democrats didn't hesitate voting, not for Trump, but AGAINST Clinton!
With slogans like this, this is no longer politics, but religion. Sanctity being attributed independently of twisted personality, like a blessing from above? Never. No way. Personality first, ideology second. We each have our active thinking brain. We are not indoctrinated ants.
1
I can understand Mr. Friedman's animus toward President Trump and his policies. I share much of his disgust.
Anyone reading his column, however, might say "Why would anyone EVER vote for a Republican or for Mr. Trump?
Easy.
They would say Donald Trump is the most pro-life president we have ever had.
The Democrats will always be viewed as callous toward the unborn child unless they moderate their views.
And I think the majority of voters feel that way too.
So the Democrats might be in for a rude awakening in November.
Nixon Reagan Bush Trump
i wouldn't vote for a republican for night soil collector
2
"Because what we’ve learned since 2016 is that the worst Democrat on the ballot for the House or Senate is preferable to the best Republican, because the best Republicans have consistently refused to take a moral stand against Trump’s undermining of our law enforcement and intelligence agencies, the State Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Civil Service, the basic norms of our public life and the integrity of our elections."
Wow! What a divisive, shrill, hate filled statement. It's what I've come to expect from my monthly subscription to the paper hates my stinking guts.
4
Bravo Mr Friedman. Hope to see more journalists writing like this.
1
“In the end, I don’t want to see Trump impeached, unless there is overwhelming evidence. ”
Tom, you properly characterize our POTUS as a real bad actor. Why not call for impeachment?
One point, political correctness is not out of control. Only those looking for a pass to be offensive or inappropriate bemoan "political correctness".
Were ABC's actions regarding the Roseanne show an act of Friedman's political correctness...or just and correct?
1
Yes, this election there is no choice!
2
I am independent and what that means is I don't pay attention to Tom Friedman telling me who I should vote for or anyone else. Voting for Trump resistance just because Tom Dick or Harry says so will be absurd. I will do my own due diligence and see which candidate will be better for the nation and for world peace. Resistance simply to grab power and not knowing what to do with it for a positive change will not serve democracy. There is an article in the NY Times about a woman in Virginia is running for congress who wrote an antisemitic book and she happens to be a democrat. Divisive candidates, or abusive candidates and useless candidates should have no place in Congress no matter which party. Americans are smarter than a biased frustrated Opinion columnist and should vote for who they think will represent them with the best of their abilities and with integrity.
4
Huh. I always considered you a serious man, Mr. Friedman. I'm curious what serious evidence it would take for you to want to see Donald Trump impeached? Would he say, need to be caught carrying gold bars away from the Treasury? Would he need to shoot someone in the middle of fifth avenue? What would he need to do?
On the flip side, I'm not sure I'm ready for a Mike Pence Presidency either.
What a mess.
Anyone who wants to come here is off their rocker...
The number one reason we must elect Democrats this Fall is the Federal Court System. Unless we want more decisions, or non-decisions, like the Arkansas Abortion Ruling this week, we must make certain that we do not allow the Republican packing of the courts with right wing fanatics to continue. We are 1 Justice Away from losing women's rights for a generation, so even if you are all for the changes being made to your taxes, if you care about women, VOTE DEMOCRATIC!
2
Code Red? We are already under attack in a borderline totalitarian regime and you are right: we have to vote and take people to vote and, support all anti-Trump candidates.
We should make this a dress rehearsal for 2020 or we will suffer 4 additional years of abomination.
1
100% agree but key for Dems is coming up with vibrant leaders who grab the public's attention . Biden and Bernie knew how to do that and Hillary did not. Pelosi has been an astute leader in the House but she does not attract new and younger voters to the party. her time is past. Trump has been eating the Dems lunch because he knows how to keep his face on the nightly news and stir up controversy. Remeber Nixon got reelected by a huge plurality in 1972 despite all his negatives and same for George Bush in 2004.
Bot Tom is right that the key issue is Dems regaining some control over the three branches of the federal government or we will continue to have
a fascist regime that is out of control
1
David Brooks - a fellow pundit of yours blames the educated boomers for Donald Trump, He claims that the educated elite, like him, are victims of the “uncultured” lower classes. I am one of those - educated in Canada - both my parents were members of the armed forces in WWII - no college education but highly intelligent - I ama scientist no mean feat as a woman in the 60’s. Many of my friends and colleagues had a similar background. While David Brook’s elite friends banned the likes of RBG from the workforce - we the “lower classes” rose to the top. It is time for David Brooks to go - he is an affront to our generation with his smug superiority. He embodies the elites that resulted in Trump’s popularity.
3
May this piece be equal to the first shot heard round the world.
2
“When you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging.” ....Will Rogers
“It’s easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled.” ....Mark Twain
Trump supporters (especially lower middle class blue collar types) dug a “populist hole” and many still refuse to believe they’ve been conned. Trump’s tax cuts overwhelmingly benefit corporations and the rich, but the deficits they produce will have conservatives demanding cuts to Social Security and Medicare, on which these same Trumpers will/now depend. As reported by Newsweek, “...an analysis of all Fortune 500 companies found only 4.3 percent of workers will receive a one-time bonus or wage increase tied to the business tax cuts, while businesses received nine times more in cuts than what they passed on to their workers, according to Americans for Tax Fairness, a political advocacy group devoted to tax reform. The analysis also found that companies spent 37 times as much on stock buybacks than they did on bonuses and increased wages for workers.” All Trump cares about is Trump....his image, his brand, his wealth, his power, his adulation (especially at carefully arranged rallies). There are truly great Americans, with the intelligence and honor appropriate to the Pesidency and its administration, who could turn the ship of state back in the right direction, but we need a national awakening to that dire need. Vote!
3
Trump has become an embarrassment to our country. His overt dismissal of all things Obama is but one example, and it is to the detriment of the majority of Americans. Please take back the honorable country we were.
3
Here's the rub: Midterm elections usually generate lower voter turnout than presidential elections. The scary fact is that the majority of eligible American's don't vote. Over the past 60 years, only about 40 percent of those eligible to vote actually go to the polls in midterm elections. New Democrat voter turnout will be a crucial factor in 2018.
1
Unfortunately Mr Freidman, the people you are appealing to probably don't read this paper. Hopefully this piece will encourage other writers to submit articles with similar themes in other media where your message will be more widely read and heard.
My second concern is that Trump has this very broad following that got him elected. His appeal to them is as a modern gunslinger. They love the idea that he is a lieing, bigoted, woman groping, insulting, bullying, womanizing, cheating, trigger happy good ole boy. They are just
This group can't see past this to the people that are using him for their agenda. Even if it was found that he owes Putin $500,000,000 not enough people eIt is just government as usual but more entertaining. Congress has been dysfunctional for longer than two years, the swamp has been there for more than two years. Decorum, respect for the constitution, and dignity are not an appealing enough battle cry.
For this reason I do not see control changing either in the House or in the Senate. I may be wrong, but I intend to keep my seat belt buckled while this crazy ride continues - - and continue reading your column.
Great words from Tom Friedman. Unfortunately, I believe most of his readers are in the choir. But he did recommend involvement. Join your local Democratic club and support good candidates.
1
I would be more inclined to take Mr. Friedman's opinions seriously if he didn't start his article with an egregiously incorrect assumption; that being Republican automatically assumes fiscal discipline. A quick review of history demonstrates that Republican administrations, especially since Reagan, driven the nation into debt with their massive overspending, leaving Democratic administrations with the responsibility of cleaning up the mess.
1
The most important lever of power for the Dems to get their hands on is the Senate because Trump and the Republicans are populating the federal judiciary with right wing fanatics from the Supreme Court down to the district level all over the country. Unless that comes to a halt before there are more Supreme Court openings the rest won't matter much.
3
And let's also seek to resurrect Decency. Trump has none, however that's not good enough for him. He demands that all Americans have no Decency either. It doesn't serve his interests to let Decency exist when Dealmaking, Falsehoods, Corruption, and Overarching Ego can all serve to enrich him personally and politically.
Republicans don't even get policies they really want. This country is enamored with "conservative" as a label, while it basically pines for Democrat policies. Most people are fairly centrist, but an awful lot label themselves to the right, even far right. They can't bring themselves to support anyone who might be liberal, because that's a stain on their identity.
Trump insults their intelligence, which suits Republicans fine. Do most people really care about abortion, giving tax cuts to corporations, gutting environmental regs? No. They may thrill at the very nastiness of these positions, at sexually active women suffering botched abortions, at the rich getting richer. But what they really care about is keeping neighborhoods segregated. It's all about walls.
Big wads of conspiracy theory pollutes both sides. Idiocy about government waste, while corporations cut corners and wages. Smart people get outraged at the wrong things. Meanwhile, we had a coup d'etat in 2016. That's what you call it when a foreign enemy turns an election. Post-coup, the worst thing is an opposition that fragments.
The Democrats aren't the resistance. They're the opposition. Resistance is an attitude, a pose. Opposition is action. End what needs to end. Build what needs to be built. To do it, compromise with those who have different interests.
How did we get ourselves here? A majority of people are opposed to Trump and his policy. Still he sullies our nation and its ideals. He has no shame and yet otherwise good people rally around him. What is happening? I think it is necessary to engage our fellow citizens in a realistic dialogue about politics. Or are we the deluded ones? is the world a better place with racism, strong man leadership of the oligarchs, walls around our enclave, school boy taunts et al? No, Trump is an incompetent. He is hurting our country. Why don't our fellows realize it? What could we say to convince them that they are wrong yet they have legitimate grievances? We are throwing bricks too and we should stop. They should be shown that attacking the FBI for instance is attacking them, it is a Conservative organization for Law and Order. It has been run by Republicans who have been apolitical, not Democrats. Attacking the FBI is like attacking the Military. Tell them.
1
Mid-terms Are Coming... and the resistance sees an opportunity. Not so fast! As the abhorrent becomes the norm, it is either too late or too early for the resistance to materialize. The pendulum would need to swing further to fascism for the sleepy resistance, if any, to wake up. Based on the global wave toward fascism and ultra nationalism, I would say we would be there either during Trump's third term (I know, more terms for our dear leader) in office or Pence's second term. The GOP is, and has been for a while, an ultra nationalist party in a conservative's clothing. America will move to the dark side before resistance sees an existential trouble, and then, it is either too late or where we would naturally be!
If the Dems scream loudly about gun confiscation and impeachment ahead of the midterms it’ll just serve to help drive Trump voters to the polls. The end result will be catastrophic electoral malpractice - a dramatic underperformance of the party out of power...and an emboldened Trump and Republican Party. I can see Trump’s tweet now the morning after the midterms: “Big failure! In ‘94 the Reos gained 44 seats. Yesterday, the Dems got less than half! America doesn’t want Pelosi or gun control. Sad!”.
1
The vote needs to be so overwhelming that even Trump can't try to obscure what it means
5
Until we can shut down Russia's cyberwar and neuter their propaganda machine we cannot afford to elect another Republican to public office. Russia has been at war with Western Democracy since its inception in 1917 and the GOP has shown them nothing but support. Our infrastructure was hacked and so were our states' balloting system and still the Congressional Republicans have done nothing but support the guy who thinks Putin is honest and our intelligence agencies and the FBI are not. Trump has yet to do anything to stop the most successful espionage campaign in the history of spies and spying. Instead, he has taken to using Fox News and Rush Limbaugh the way Imperial Japan used Tokyo Rose and they have convinced 40% of those polled that Democrats are enemy combatants and not the Russian government . . . to Trump facts are fake new. He has violated his oath of office and should be prosecuted for working against America's interests. He has committed these crimes knowing that we have never put a president in jail. I think he's earned the right and the privilege to be the first president to do time for crimes committed while serving in the White House. If not him who . . . Hillary Clinton? Really?
If I had the honor, brains and opportunity to write an editorial for the NYT this is exactly what I would write. I would not change one word and pray enough people read it, share it, talk about it, weep over it and act before it is too late.
5
“to birth a new G.O.P. that promotes the best instincts of conservatives, not the worst, so Americans can again have two decent choices.”
If Tom Friedman had read Jennifer Rubin, the columnist writing The Right Turn for the Washington Post, he would know the GOP is dead. Ms. Rubin is a dyed-in-the-wool conservative who knows there is no place in the Republican Party for an American like herself. The GOP is infected with a nativest virus that is so inimical to the American values enumerated in the Constitution of The United States of America that the only available option is to quarantine and bury it.
Nothing short of a full-blooded revolution will change the status quo. So very tiresome and disingenuous, indeed cowardly, to go back to the political coda that the worn-out, corrupt two-party system represents. Both parties need to go along with the human baggage they encompass, not just one.
2
American democracy would be dead if the Democratic party apparatchiks had succeeded in overriding the desires of their base and installing a corrupt candidate in the oval ofgice. American democracy is dead when marijuana is illegal, despite a majority favoring its legaluzation. American democracy is dead when police and other government agencies fund themselves by confiscating property from Americans against their will.
Trump may be bad, but the status quo alternatives are much worse. Let's destroy the corrupt institutions and see what blooms in their absence. That's what trump can do for us all.
1
Getting out the Democratic vote is, of course, the primary undertaking and while that is going on, it would be wonderful to find a few Republicans that care enough for America to own up to the horrible presidency Trump represents. I know they're out there. McConnell and Ryan have turned their backs on their fellow Americans and they too need to be gone as do the bulk of the Republican blind followers.
This coming election is a crucial turning point for America and I hope we are up for it. I know I am!
1
No, how about we smash the two-party system once and for all and elect women. Blue, red, green, purple, whatever. If your choice on the ballot is someone who has a name that could conceivably be female, vote for her. Women are our best hope to possess the wisdom and compassion to get rid of mega dollars in politics, to put healthcare at the top of our priorities, military and domestic violence industrial complexes at the bottom. Women have always been society's fixers, and we need that now.
‘If I were writing the choice on a ballot, it would read: “Are you in favor of electing a majority of Democrats in the House and/or Senate to put a check on Trump’s power — when his own party demonstrably will not? Or are you in favor of shaking the dice for another two years of unfettered control of the House, the Senate and the White House by a man who wants to ignore Russia’s interference in our election; a man whose first thought every morning is, ‘What’s good for me, and can I get away with it?’; a man who shows no compunction about smearing any person or government institution that stands in his way; and a man who is backed by a party where the only members who’ll call him out are those retiring or dying?”’
Tom, That’s an awfully long ballot question. Put a question mark after “check on Trump’s power”. Dump the rest.
1
At this existential moment elect any Dem!
Ralph Nader was my hero for many years but he then gave us Bush, and 20 years later he still changes the subject.
Trump is exponentially worse than Bush was.
3
Dems have been screaming apocolypse for a few years now. Strangely the sun rises in the morning, the economy seems fine, politicians are still posturing and preening about things that seem mostly ridiculous.
The media does seem to like to take pictures from the Obama administration (dead Syrian children, locked up Hispanic children) and blame them on Trump until challenged on the date.
Methinks the volume of dismay and handwringing are vastly out of proportion with real life muddling along with a generous helping of cans being kicked down the road as they always have.
3
If you don't think the degrading of our discourse, the wink-and-a-nod affirmation of our worst instincts (read: racism, sexism, xenophobia, etc.), the erosion of our institutions and norms, the weakening of our alliances, and the very real risk of a great amount of harm to a great many people both here and abroad isn't something to worry about, then I am truly not sure what to tell you at this point.
The man is a threat to this country, and cares not a whit about you or anyone else. We have been warning you about this since he became a viable candidate, and rather than admit you were conned and do something about it, you are doubling down. Which would be bad enough if you were the only people being hurt.
History is gonna judge you appropriately. For now, you can join us or not, but understand - if you stick with Trump, you're helping him destroy this country. That may sound hyperbolic, but it is a fact, and the sooner you and your fellow Trump supporters realize it, the sooner we can actually start making it great again.
1
How’s that $1,50 a week tax cut working for you?
1
It's not enough to vote this primary and general election season. Every one of us must get others to the polls who are reluctant or lazy voters. I personally helped register two ex felons in NY who mistakenly believed they could not vote. In NY you can vote if you are not under parole or in jail. It says right on the voter registration form!
Help other people vote!
Mr. Friedman implies that the Republican party is the party of fiscal discipline. What a joke! Look at the fiscal mess they've created, not only nationally but on various state levels as well! By a very wide margin, Democrats are the party of fiscal discipline. If you want massively growing deficits for as far as the eye can see, vote Republican. Also, as far as free trade goes, it was not the Democratic party that recently called for starting trade wars. No, it was Republican-party leader, Don Trump, who is enabled by the spineless Republicans in congress. So no, folks like Mr. Friedman do not have to sacrifice their political beliefs to vote Democrat. The Republican party is bankrupt when it comes to ideas beyond tax cuts for the rich.
1
The real issue Mr Friedman is even more critical: the Founding Fathers set up a system of checks and balances, and even when one party has held power in the Executive Branch and both Legislative (Senate/House) the system was designed to function not as a rubber stamp on any one part of the tripartate system, but as a hedge against a grab for power by any part of the system. If we include the judicial branch which has been tarnished by a stacking worthy of FDR, yet no less insidious, then the discussion includes all 3 branches.
What is going on is straight forward enough:
Congress has FAILED TO DO THE JOB IT WAS ELECTED TO DO:act as a brake on the Executive Branch These spineless money power grabbers have fallen down flat on their faces -failing miserably. Each and every Republican in both houses running for office should be voted out, nay, kicked out, by the seat of their pants.
Any Republican that has has worked for this nasty agenda is forever tainted.
The Democrats are smart and appear to be running local races with local content. That posits them against a Republican that wishes to impose the will of Washington kleptocrats on their districts. Straight forward enough to run against-by running for your constituents, and not for your donors.(Chris Collins of Buffalo anyone?)
This will be big. And the money power grabbing GOP has no idea how big- they are afraid.
I say: Be VERY afraid.Nov 6th the day of reckoning is drawing nigh.
2
And, don’t forget Trump’s willful ignorance about Russian interference in our elections.
He gets away with that daily.
Mr.Friedman,Donald is due to the undemocratic presidential elections,in any other country including Russian Federation,the winner of the popular vote wins,only USA coming in second wins.Guess its another example of American Exceptualism.Donald being president makes the world safer,he will reduce american standing in the world resulting in less american interventions.Guess Donald does deserve the Nobel Peace prize or maybe President Putin for assisting Donald.Does not America involve itself in other counties elecions even sponsering coups?Guess Putin is following American policies.
Tom is right. Giuliani says the American people are the jury. The Republicans are either guilty or not guilty of failing to act as a check on an incompetent and corrupt president. This is not a time to say a pox on both parties or resort to the lame argument that there is no difference between the parties. The Republicans are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt as charged. How many more billions will we watch Trump and his family collect from the Chinese and Arabs before we act? How many thousands of lies must we listen to? This country can survive bad policies. It cannot survive an unscrupulous president whose party controls the Congress and that party refuses to keep its oath to uphold the Constitution. Tom's proposal is extreme but we are in a Code Red and so it is the only choice we have.
Mr Friedman
regarding your comment: "I’m not a card-carrying Democrat. I favor free trade, fiscal discipline"
What other major party advocates for fiscal discipline, for the past 30 years?
Seriously. I am glad you are advocating for Democratic candidates until a competent GOP re-emerges (if it ever does), but you are 20 years late to the game. GHW Bush the 1st was the last Republican who was fiscally competent. The rest have blown holes in the fiscal health of our country, and Trump is the worst. Oh, he is coasting on Obama's accomplishments now, that will not last forever.
If you had been paying attention, you would have seen that the Democrats have been the party of fiscal discipline and have made all of the tough choices for our country that have made us stronger. Tax cuts? Like giving chocolate cake to a diabetic.
Glad you are on our side, sorry it took so long to figure this out.
4
As usual, a writer for the Times spend a whole article calling trump names when we all know what he is, out to skin the people and make the rich richer. This is not prescription to defeat him and reactionary Republican in the coming elections. He should be criticized, yes, but for god's sake give us, give the people the real lowdown on what's needed to win, not mere diatribe, but facts on what's really needed : a minimum wage of 15$, universal health-care, control of the crooked banks that led us into '08, and
free college tuition in state colleges.
2
It is vitally important Democrats regain control of the House and Senate in 2018. The bluster, excess and chaos that is Trump in the White House must be counterbalanced by a Democratic majority in both Houses of Congress. That is what democracy is all about. We don't want another two years of Republican control. That would be the beginning of one party rule in the United States like Russia, China or NK. No wonder Trump admires Putin and wants to meet with Kim. Trump wants advice on how to run a dictatorship from experts. "Getting things done" in Trumpworld means racist rants, stifling dissent and sacrificing democracy we have for a dubious set of short term gains and an uncertain
future. Trump is running a scam for his own benefit not America's. Trump is selling out our values for flashy baubles that excite the eye but cost us our soul as a nation. Vote Democratic in 2018. Return control of America to the voters not to Trump.
"No, what this election is about is your first chance since 2016 to vote against Donald Trump."
Great. Wasn't voting against someone (Hillary) or something (a continuation of Obama policies) what gave us Trump in the first place? Why can't the Democrats be for something other than Trump hatred?
2
"These Republicans have made the craven choice to stand with Trump as long as he delivers the policies they like on tax cuts, gun control, fossil fuels, abortion and immigration, even though many privately detest him."
Agree, and it reminds me of the Democrats of 1998-99. I seriously doubt that Mr. Friedman, whom I admire, would be pushing the reelection of GOPs while they held HRC's feet to the fire regarding a number of issues. If you don't think on day one that she wouldn't have had her hacks infiltrate the bureaucracies in order to expunge any dirt from her account, your deluded. I can hear all the But,But's right now--just like I hear from the GOP.
1
A putatively reasonable column by the columnist who is generally the bloviator in chief among pundits. Or: A "centrist" trolling among us.
"Democrats can’t count on winning by just showing up. They still have to connect with some centrist and conservative voters."
I think not. Democrats need to lean how to beat them, soundly. Rather than fake news we have a fake president. How many Democrats are willing to say that?
1
This is such a grave tactical error so as to be, perhaps, a generational failure not just for Democrats but for our Republic.
IF we continue to run centrist-Democrats, those like Joe Manchin (go watch his 'dead aim' AR-15 political ad.), or Booker, or Harris we will find the blue wave is a mirage with nay a drop of water to drink.
I know it's difficult to self-reflect, to look inward toward our own house, but a large reason for the 2016 loss (in addition to Russia) was trying to embrace a candidate who represents, like it or not, the status quo. Folks, the status quo, increasingly only represents the richest and corporations and people know this; they intuitively sense the inherent distrust that builds, layer upon layer, for those who embrace a system that is gutting the poor and middle-class and is deepening already vast inequality. The facts do not lie.
If you can justify voting for a centrist-Democrat because 'it's the lesser of two evils' or 'anything is better than Donald Trump'...guess what, you're going to get more extremists, ,more racists, more Fascists, and more authoritarians just like Trump.
Why?
Because people are hurting, the status quo is robbing them of oxygen & they know the weight of the status quo seems never-ending.
A genuinely progressive movement is the only chance to save this country from what is on our doorstep and it is dark and foreboding. And 'any Democrat' will not suffice to save us no matter how convenient it is to believe it's that simple
1
How right you are Mr.Friedman! I wish more Democrats sounded this alarm prior to the 2016 election.
But at least let’s hope they’ve learned their lesson.
"I love...fiscal discipline."
Um, except for a brief spurt under Bush I, the Republicans haven't shown any of that since Ford.
2
I am a Republican who lost her party as it moved steadily to the right - first, as a result of religious fundamentalist turnout in low turnout primaries and primary run-offs (how Ted Cruz got elected), and then with the Tea Party in 2010 electing fiscal conservatives who could only say no instead of doing their job for constituents and the interest of the country. Now, we have a huckster for President who is unqualified and a Republican Congress inert since all are worried about primary opponents from Trump land. The same leaders who feared deficit spending under President Obama have completely forgotten their mantra. They disgust me.
For the first time in my life I plan to vote a straight Democrat ticket in the November elections.
2
I am almost 63 and have voted in every election I was eligible to vote in. I have NEVER voted for a republican. They were as vile in 1973 as they are now.
Code Crimson, Code Scarlet, Code on the ring from the cereal box. Subject to crypto-analysis they all reveal the same message:
The vast majority of voting-age Americans will not vote in 2018.
VAST.
A passionate message and plea. Amen.
But one contradiction Tom. You say you "don't want to see Trump impeached, unless there is overwhelming evidence." In the next paragraph you acknowledge the evidence.
"American democracy is truly threatened today — by the man sitting in the Oval Office and the lawmakers giving him a free pass."
Threatening our democracy is threatening our nation, threatening our future to carry on the experiment our Founding Fathers fought for and crafted. To me, that is absolutely reason to impeach Trump.
Every single Republican in Congress, like Trump, has no shame. Whoever raised these Machiavellians, they failed to instill moral and ethical values. Every single Republican in Congress is a parasite and blight on our democratic republic.
Republicans in Congress hope to retain power forever and to write their version of history, but truth will prevail, they will be ousted and their disservice to our nation will not be forgotten; it will be remembered always as America's Dark Days - when to a person, a political party broke the oath of office, attempted to circumvent the Constitution and impose a tyrant over America.
"So that’s why I have only one thought for this election: Get power. Get a lever of power that can curb Trump. Run for the House or the Senate as a Democrat; register to vote as a Democrat; help someone else register to vote as a Democrat; send money to a Democrat; canvass for a Democrat; drive someone to the polls to vote for a Democrat."
Tom Friedman nails it in today's opinion piece. We must resist Trump with the most powerful tool we have. Our vote. And use it to vote for Democrats everywhere on the ballot. From U.S. Senator to dog catcher. Republicans have demonstrated their complete disdain for our democracy and the rule of law in aiding and abetting this monster. And they no longer deserve to represent the American people. Vote them out.
It boils down to the age old question: why do people vote against their own best interests?
The only answer I can understand is: bigotry.
Most voters have very little understanding of a candidate's platform. They are very aware of the wedge issues like guns, abortion and other social issues. They are also very susceptible to lies and false promises they want to hear.
Conclusion: politics is a sordid game. Most people are unable to make intelligent, unbiased choices in elections. Democracy is a utopian idea that has many warts, and is failing because of its very format of all people's inclusiveness in elections.
Truly a dilemma.
2
Show up! Vote Democratic! Not your preferred candidate? Leave your protest vote at home. If anything, we've learned in the past two years, politics is not an abstract game without real life consequences. Protest is a meager meal and poor strategy in this all important election.
2
Please remember we are not a democracy. We are a Presidential Republic. Please look up the difference, no matter what political party you affiliate with.
1
It's high time for an end to one-party rule. Just look how quickly it has degraded our political discourse, dishonored our word and shaken our sacred institutions.
THROW THE RASCALS OUT!!
2
Young People, for your future, please run for office.
You have our confidence.
Trump's not thinking "can I get away with it," but "how can I get away with it."
1
Mr Friedman, it seems to me you may have a good idea. However, from my perspective ( retired engineer, male, Moslem, Seattle resident), the Democratic candidates need to be viable, i.e. no do-or-die stances vis-à-vis social issues such as Women’s Lib , homo sexual , sex change , right to free housing, Maoist doctrines,.. etc . I'm sick and tired of hearing about these issues, and will not cast a vote for any candidate espousing these issues, notwithstanding my revulsion of the status quo, as you’ve ably described. The Democrats need to reign-in their extremists, and take a rational middle ground, or, in my view, we will suffer more of the same.
George K
A couple of points -
1) #45 is often doing what the Mercers and Kochs tell him to do - and their intent is to reduce the government to nothing; Robert Mercer has said that he wants a government that would fit on the head of a pin. And the current sleeper-cell congress is doing their part.
2) If he/they get another Supreme, it will be over. Over.
Mr. Friedman is a gracious, thoughtful, well informed and judicious man who would neither pillory nor despise anyone even though he might be a thug whose self serving autocratic mode endangers liberty here and around the world. So be it, I cherish restraint, common sense and shrewd decision making. I do not wish to be a 'hater' nor a bigot but I am also a patriot as is Mr. Friedman. Our democracy is in peril as is our Nation and the world. What Mr Friedman will not say is that we are on the brink of catastrophe. Trump is more than anything self focused, in it to win it for him and really no one else. But...can we brave a more stout and well grounded comment? Is not Trump a traitor willing to sell our democracy down the river for his own gain without a quiver of conscious regret? To call him a protofascist like Mussolini is accurate but that may seem too polarizing. Yet, Trump is the gravest threat to democracy posed by any president in our history. If our young men and women have willingly placed themselves in harms way and have often sacrificed their lives for liberty, freedom and justice for all, can we not also be brave and say with one voice to President Trump, "You are NOT our president and we will remove you from office and strip you of your opportunity to serve yourself and not us, all of us. Resign now and save us the struggle to impeach."
5
A case in point is Joe Scarborough. I find Joe's loudmouthed, testosterone-driven style pretty distasteful (and an interesting bookend to Trump's), but as a moderate Republican he made the right choice to become Independent and has been bashing Trump on air pretty much daily and calling on other so-far-cowardly Republicans to get a grip on whatever moral center they might have remaining in their souls, at the very least for the upcoming midterm election. Trump and his cronies and enablers must be stopped, period.
2
Joe and the rest of the Morning Woke crew are utter jokes. No one in the media - no one - gave Trump a bigger platform to communicate his message than these folks in the lead-up to the presidential election.
1
Yes, the Democrats must take control of either or preferably both Houses of Congress. But, Tom, as the current Congress has demonstrated, it is the Democrats who have become the fiscally responsible party-so let's put the myth to bed that they are not. They are also the Party interested in saving the environment, international relations, economic justice, voting rights, immigration reform, gun control both as a public health issue and as a regulatory issue. But, Tom, the Republican Party with a conscience began to die when Johnson signed the CIvil Rights Act and really started to croak under Nixon, with his Southern Strategy, and with Reagan. The Republicans have been cynical for years and have nurtured hate, racism, sexism, classism for over 50 years. The Republican Party of Rockefeller and even Bush Sr. is long gone. It will never return until the Christian Right lossens its grip and people wake up and begin to understand what the real agenda of the RP is: maintaining control of wealth in the hands of few white men.
3
Yes indeed it is class war getting the have nots to troll & fight with the wanna b’s
If the Dems pursue the message cut and pasted from the article below, then I expect the Dems to lose again. Politics is about politics and therefore you have to have an actual coherent political platform. Not just a “don’t vote for them because things are bad” rhetoric.
“It is not a choice between the particular basket of policies offered by the candidates for House or Senate in your district or state — policies like gun control, right to choose, free trade or fiscal discipline. No, what this election is about is your first chance since 2016 to vote against Donald Trump.”
1
WOW! What a powerful column! Tom, I don't always agree with you. but for the sake of our country, we don't have a choice. In my more naïve days, I used to think that voting for the candidate, not the party, was a sensible way of making a proper decision. Not anymore. I'm 88 years old, and I never remember our country being as divided as it is right now. We have a whacko president and the Congress and Judicial branch are doing nothing to restrain him. Our system of "checks and balances" no longer exists. Throw those Republican bums out! We couldn't do worse.
1
After recent polls in India showed that Prime Minister Modi’s reelection in 2019 might not be a sure thing, my brother texted me suggesting that the Indian people cannot be that stupid to deny Modi a second term. To which I replied, “Never underestimate the stupidity of the people… we elected Trump!”
Mr. Friedman’s Code Red II column reminded me that we did not really “elect” Trump, as the term is generally understood throughout the rest of the democratic world. It’s a quirk in our election system, i.e., the Electoral College that can deny a winner of the popular vote (even by a 3 million vote margin) the most powerful office in the world. Long story short… people, at least a majority of them, are not stupid.
Mr. Friedman writes, “we cannot accept every immigrant, because so many people today want to escape the world of disorder into our world of order…” Unfortunately, “our world of order” is also deteriorating into a “world of chaos” under this egomaniacal president, who has to make everything about him. His Memorial Day tweet was an abomination, especially because he chose not to serve his country during the Vietnam War.
So Mr. Friedman is right, we need to elect a Democratic Congress to keep a check on a president, who was never elected by a wide majority of the people in the first place, and who has been ruling like a king of the minority that voted for him. It’s the only way we can save our democracy and restore at least some of our standing in the global order.