You are absolutely correct, although an alternative theory might be that he simply rides the horse of 300 million guns which would quickly subdue those in the national guard and military.
He's a sore loser.
8
The mention of violence and martial law is so not funny.
6
If you got everything you wanted, you still wouldn’t be satisfied.
2
In a flippant moment I think that there is a lesson for many to re-watch "Love Actually" and see the British PM (Hugh Grant of all people) stand up to the US President (Billy-Bob T).
Trump is a bully and a coward, ankle spurs and all, and when courage resurfaces as a leader virtue, probably from below, than the course may change. For a nation that professes to be Christian the fruit of the spirit are not evident.
9
And lest we forget that Trump, lover of dictators and power grabs through fake states of emergency, only had kind words and praise for Erdogan at the NATO summit:
"One is that emergency session where they asked the Georgian and Ukrainian presidents to leave in the middle of their presentation. Apparently Trump said, 'OK, we're done with you now,'" Bremmer said.
"Trump was very frustrated; he wasn't getting commitments from other leaders to spend more. Many of them said, 'Well, we have to ask our parliaments. We have a process; we can't just tell you we're going to spend more, we have a legal process.' Trump turns around to the Turkish president, Recep Erdogan, and says, 'Except for Erdogan over here. He does things the right way,' and then actually fist-bumps the Turkish president."
So, undoubtedly, Trump's heart and sick mind would be keen on martial law to protect his power: would General Mattis finally assert his authority with the American people?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-fist-bumped-turkish-leader-erdogan-sa...
14
People studying why people follow Trump should go read Peter Drucker's "The End of Economic Man: The Origins of Totalitarianism, " the best contemporary study of Hitler's rise. A sample: "Nor should it be forgotten that the astonishing feats were witnessed by a hostile press, a hostile radio, a hostile cinema, a hostile church, and a hostile government which untiringly pointed out Nazi lies, the Nazi inconsistency, the unattainability of their promises, and the dangers and folly of their course. Clearly, nobody would have been a Nazi if rational belief in the Nazi promises had been a prerequisite."
43
OMG! Martial law? DON'T GIVE HIM IDEAS! He's got too many already...and they're all, every single one of them, bad.
12
Makes me wish for the commie screen writers of the fifties. Some of those stories although ridiculous, like "Seven Days in May", had some sense of reality. Not like the stuff you see today on the networks. What do you base Trump having a military coup? I assume the two go hand and hand. Most importantly who will follow him? In the name of what?
This self aggrandizing victimhood by the losers of the last election has got to stop. No one is going to come after you. It's 2018 not 1933. Even if the guy makes you feel yucky its not.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2024 because face it 2020 belongs to Trump if you don't start addressing the issues. Now if you can get eleven to seventeen year old girls the vote you might be able to win by wide yuck margine. Oh, yeah and she's only twenty eight.
1
I can see this happening: the Dems have a spectacular turnout and many wins in the midterms. Trump and his parroting republicans cry: Russian or Chinese or N. Korean manipulation of the votes and suspend the outcomes of the election. Trump's evil and devious mind always finds a way to flip the script to his advantage, no matter how insane it is. They've probably already written the script for this play.
26
Let him try.
3
Very few things in life can be known beyond a shadow of a doubt, but here is one: The White House is occupied by an enemy of American democracy.
86
First stop calling him President. He is an insult to the office and has violated his oath to protect and defend. Call him by his name but stop using President in reference to Donald Trump. Yes, he is done. He can do more damage, but he has shown himself to be the casino bankrupt con that he is. He had a good gig going but his ego got the best of him and now history will record Donald Trump as a loser. We have other horror movies on TV, this is one of them. Call it what it is.
29
I won’t sleep tonight.
2
I was involved in the Impeach Nixon movement introducing
I.F. (Izzy) Stone at an Impeach Nixon Rally behind the White House the week after Nixon fired Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox.
I remember Maryland Republican Rep. Larry Hogan as being the first significant Republican to join the Impeach Nixon cause. In my opinion, Hogan, more than any other Republican member of Congress, was instrumental in getting the ball rolling on Impeachment and ultimate resignation.
Hogan's father is now Governor of Maryland.
www.wednesdayswars.com
8
I'm glad Mr. Cohen has brought up the subject of Trump's ( heavily ) armed supporters. Let's connect a dot here, i.e. , Trump's pardon of the Oregon arsonists. This was a clear signal to the heavily armed fascist base that he has their backs. These are the " brownshirts " he is counting on to instill terror in the case that he might be removed from office. Many will ( and I don't blame them because it seems so unreal ) think this is far-fetched. It isn't, and to think otherwise is naive. Why else did he pardon those felons ? Think about it. Think what a truly evil man would resort to in rallying his base to stave off a humiliating loss of power. Thank you Mr. Cohen for beginning this conversation on these pages.
40
Shame on anyone who does not vote these Republicans out of office. And shame on anyone who does not bother to vote. History tells us there is a time when the march toward Fascism can be stopped but too many failed to act and we got WWII and the holocaust. Wake up America now is the time to act to save this country from this creeping scourge. No amount of tax breaks can possibly be worth the end of this democracy.
18
Paul Revere's second ride
Listen America you need to hear of the second ride of Paul Revere
It was July 16 of 2018, when the deceitful attacked occured
In a Helsinki press conference America’s fate was sealed
“Grab your votes and go to the Green” the cry went out
“We must meet the foe and vote them out”
The mad king and his Russian allies had dropped all pretense
America and all its riches would finally be theirs
The king and his tory loyalist would finally rule the land
“Grab your votes and go to the Green” the cry went out
“We must meet the foe and vote them out”
“Taxation without representation”
“Votes stolen with Russian collusion”
“The Mad king must go” came the cry
“Grab your votes and go to the Green” the cry went out
“We must meet the foe and vote them out”
Go to the streets, knock on every door
Arouse your neighbor
We must act now or never more
“Grab your votes and go to the Green” the cry went out
“We must meet the foe and vote them out”
In 1775 we grabbed our muskets and created a nation
In 2018 we must do it again to save our nation
But instead of muskets we will use our ballots
“Grab your votes and go to the Green” the cry went out
“We must meet the foe and vote them out”
10
Thank you for this article. It chronicles some of the Trump deficiencies in a truthfully satisfying way. Hopefully a majority of electorally significant voters, American or otherwise, express their agreement when it counts and vote the Republican party back to the stone age.
4
Trump has created:
a FASCI - NATION with
a FASCIST - NATION.
This, I believe, is his game. And yes, Roger Cohen, it is still working and the media loves it. What could be more exciting?
But, we must hope that there is a "light at the end of the tunnel.
The United States is not yet, the United States of Trump.
And we might yet see a Democratic House of Impeachment...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2
Mitch McConnell lies at the heart of TREASON - his behavior in America with cohort Mike Pence in undermining America thru Putin for gain in the Supreme Court and judiciary...TREASONOUS.
12
He has shown us who he is ever since he entered politics and well before that for anyone who has followed his business career. His recent actions from the G7 through NATO and insulting the Brits, culminating in his public sucking up to Putin prove beyond doubt he should not be in his position. However, the real problem is his deplorable unshakeable supporters and a cowardly republican congress quaking in fear of this misanthropic creature. We sorely need some profiles in courage.
11
Prior to Trump's election I read an article in the Columbus Ohio Dispatch that local law enforcement had purchased sonar "tanks" that would disperse crowds through tortuous sound waves. I found it a very frightening omen. I wondered why would a small Midwestern city needed these unless our government was taken over by heartless fascist authoritarians. I've continually thought of that article as this nightmare has unfolded. I don't mean to sound paranoid but truly it seems like all bets are off. I don't trust trump, I don't trust Putin, and I don't trust Mr. Kim. I am afraid of their very bizarre manage a trois and our Republican Congress who seems to do the bidding of a small select group of ultra wealthy. What's next?
7
Trump could declare martial law and the Republicans would still not speak up and would do nothing. They'd get their payback being part of Trump's oligarchy, just as Putin has his rich supporters.
7
Democrats need to vote. Period.
They need to grow up. No more apathy. No more voting with your hubby (believe me, I know plenty who do), no more excuse of youth or not being swept off your feet by a candidate. No more that couldn’t happen here. No more too hard. No more too far. No more line Is too long. Part of you freedom requires voting to protect it.
And start getting our own sugar daddies. Outspend the GOP.
8
Entirely possible. Unless Americans - all but Republicans - ie the majority - get together and fight this man tooth and nail. Yes - unless we do so martial law is not impossible. This is the fight of our lives for the country we love and for a way of life so many gave their lives for.
9
I have thought for awhile that martial law is on the way. Black and brown people are already feeling this. My theory is that if we re-elect republican majority in November, Trump will feel more powerful. If he wins in 2020, there will no longer be pretense. He will feel free to put journalists and democrats into those “camps” he is building for immigrants now. “Dissidents” will be next.
I know this sounds crazy. But I feel in my bones that this will happen if Trump feels legitimized by winning or not being held accountable. Since we have little confidence that our elections are fair anymore, It is likely he will “win” in 2018 and 2020.
14
Mr. Cohen is spot-on with this editorial, except for one thing: it isn't just the Republicans who are enablers. The Democrats are just as complicit. Nancy Pelosi famously took "impeachment off the table" for a President and Vice President who, we often forget only 10 years on, was even worse than Donald Trump. And ultimately, it was this failure to hold the President accountable that cost Hillary Clinton the Presidency and brought us Donald Trump.
Is anybody talking, or thinking, about the American people who have tolerated and accepted gerrymandering; a GOP that even when it has lost has acted as if it’s in charge and blocked even legislation it supports because the ‘wrong’ person is in the oval office; lawmakers who have enriched the richest and diminished or impoverished most others; who have tolerated increasingly crude displays of racism and police violence against minorities, especially blacks as the advances of the civil rights era have been eroded; have watched as their popular culture made heroes out of extremists who died at waco and other confrontations; tolerated a media that lost its way by accepting the silly, dangerous notion that all views and arguments, no matter how vile, illogical, untuthful or silly have equal merit and must get equal attention; and academics who have forgotten even the most basic tenets underlying free societies and democracies in favor of verbal diarrhea that says profs should avoid subjects lest it upsets somebody unable to handle hard realities?
Yes, Trump is dangerous; yes the gop is spineless and ready to betray american principles as trump is. But really. . . .where would these people be without millions of ordinary Americans enabling them? And those not enabling them are busy defending the decades long hypocrisy and almost equal narcissism of the Clintons.
8
"Sadistic treatment of immigrant children" - let's not forget those children! More than 2000 children are still separated from their families and I've read that some are being mistreated in prison settings. Others have been "disappeared" to the far corners of the country while their parents are deported. So what chance to a lot of these children have for being reunited with their families? And what will become of them? This is a crime against humanity and all trump's doing, no matter how he tries to deny that. Don't be distracted lest we forget the children.
8
You just pulled a big red rabbit out of a hat. Martial law? So 300 million US citizens will be policed by the US military? That only works if Trump has the respect and loyalty of the military, such as exists in Egypt with General el-Sisi as the president. How does that work in the US where there is no indication that the Department of Defense and those who serve in the US military have the requisite degree of respect for Trump?
3
There will be a time when Trump will declare Marshal Law, most likely just before 2020 election
3
Unfortunately, our beloved Constitution, itself, caused this horrible predicament. By privileging slave states over free, to get those criminal territories on board, it created a permanent political bias in favor of ignorance, racism and autocracy.
The bloody slavers tried their damnedest to overthrow the government in the Civil War, and learned by losing that the way to destroy democracy is with the Constitution, rather than cannons. Slowly, methodically, they created a movement of racists and evangelicals to pervert the proper functioning of government and keep their populations hostile to education in civics and history.
So should it come as any surprise now that the South should rise again, by taking advantage of the founding document's tragic flaws? Two of the last five presidents lost the popular vote. That's the shape of things to come.
We'd be a lot better off today if we had created a parliamentary system with a merely ceremonial president, instead of this malformed monster that ultimately insures either gridlock or tyranny.
O, Canada!
17
It is in NYT that I recently read: "The global world order is unbalanced and inequitable. And unless something is done to correct it soon, it will collapse, with or without the president’s tweets [or other idiosyncrasies, however stupid]." (insert mine). But many are ready to overlook any and all problems in favor of focusing on Trump, just Trump, and only Trum. Isn't this too much attention on him?
1
One other nightmare scenario, not necessarily mutually exclusive:
Trump gets us into a war for the ultimate distraction and the ultimate justification for anything he wants to do. While all this is going on, he's still cranking up rhetoric on Iran. All they need to do is do one thing to give Trump an excuse, and it's on.
Every moment Trump remains in power the US is in jeopardy.
11
Thank-you M. Cohen.
A few months into the current Trump term, I was waiting for a "Reichstag moment." Are Americans so dense that it doesn't occur to them how dictators seize power? I feel sorry for the basicly know-nothings if there is no voter bloodbath of the evil GOP in November.
It may be too late though because our voting system had been overtaken by private corporations. In addition, Trump has a "well-regulated militia" of his deplrables at his beck-and-call. Duh, what else will it take for you citizens to wake up?
10
First of all, until McCain actually does something instead of issuing useless statements of concern, he has not "broken with Trump."
Second, we (including the MSM) need to stop using this paltry excuse that Republicans aren't acting to remove Trump because they fear their base, unless that base includes the Kremlin. With renewed threats of cyber attacks (which Trump ignored BTW, eliminating the WH cyber security position, possibly on Putin's orders), some of us are waking up to the fact that it's not the base and not even personal kompromat that's holding the GOP hostage; it's Putin's ability to cripple the US by taking out the power and telephonics grids. (Plus of course the GOP can ride this gravy train until the wheels come off, a nice bonus unless you picture what the wheels coming off really looks like.)
Why is no one asking the truly tough questions here? With the freedom of an opinion piece comes the opportunity to tell it like it is. Is everyone going to wait until Russian tanks are rolling down Pennsylvania Avenue? What is our contingency plan for the worst case scenario? Where does the US military stand on all of this? For heaven's sake, people, ask the bloody questions!
8
This country is finished. Face it.
5
Trump wouldn't know what to do with martial law, and a heavily armed population might not take it sitting down. This is terrible, but it's who we are right now. If Clinton had won, it wouldn't be any better, and maybe worse: Trump, Congress, Fox News, and talk radio - all the current villains, would be actively promoting an overthrow of the government, and they could do so with zero accountability. At least now their incompetence has embarassing consequences. This is what we have devolved into as a nation, and something has to break the fever, even if it is letting a buffoon and his enablers run amok for a few years while saner heads try to keep the whole thing together.
3
July 18, 2018
The body politic has lost its mind, so martial law is going to be a relief for the country to have its chief that has proper abilities for the job and indeed for our welfare as a people.
History is the arbitrator and their is nothing knew to the process to live effectively and by all means with the least damage to our better nature, history and angels.
1
If Cohen's prediction is correct about Trump eventually declaring martial law, I predict that there will be a bloody military coup by some of the true American patriots in our Armed Services.
10
I don't support Trump but I think its irresponsible of the New York Times to indulge in hysteria about the sitting president and entertain dark prognostications about bloodshed in the streets and martial law being imposed. Let the investigations lead where they will. Let our elections and our constitutional mechanisms correct whatever excesses your opinion writers think are threatening our Democracy. Our system is fairly robust and the president, no matter who he is, is not granted the powers of a dictator. The America I live in feels pretty much the same as the one I lived in under Obama and Bush. The difference is we've become unhinged by a provocative rude unfiltered businessman who became president.
2
Martial law could easily include the suspension of parts of the constitution.... think habeas corpus... but also the 22nd amendment.. and pretty much the whole bill of rights, with the certain exception of the 2nd!
Oh, wait! Kavanaugh has the spine to stop all this. Dream on.
3
I’ve been saying this for months...Mr. Cohen has done a good job of articulating a scenario under which martial law could be imposed in the US.
Trump is clearly panicked and desperate, as well as unstable and unbalanced...what will happen when the inevitable indictments come down?
Will the balance of the government go quietly?
Will the majority of the population (who, if we are to believe polling, do not support this malevolent fool of a president) simply bow down to a criminal that somehow came to power?
4
The mid term election cycle will cure Republicans of their abdication of their oath's of office.
Trump is very much not finished because the tens of millions of American voters (by a wide margin not all of them being rabid racists) are still among the rest of us. Trump may be a sinister clown but beyond him this is the texture of our nation. These are the true enablers of Trump, not the sorry GOP faces in Congress. And these true enablers are legions, they work, they pay taxes, they raise families, and they are not going anywhere.
Be afraid, be very afraid!
5
“Republicans in Congress know that, other than on immigration and trade, Trump has no policy views. Their attitude is, ‘anything we can pass, he’ll sign, we can manipulate him, get the judges we want.’ But they’re trapped in a culture that’s almost cultlike and know that if they challenge Trump, the base will turn on them”.
That is the problem. Congress considers their jobs more important than our Nation.
2
And yet, part of the reason Trump beat Hillary Clinton is that in the year leading up to the election, France was genuinely under martial law, due to a threat that amazingly did not give Hillary pause before proposing or endorsing immigration policies that many, if not most Americans wanted.
In the big picture, Trump was beatable in an election and still is. Doing so however will require a genuine re-working of the DNC platform into something both coherent and palatable.
1
Not just that that. it will require Trump not declaring the elections "rigged" and refusing to leave the office.
2
The division of our parties, and the growing frustration from Americans being expressed today has me wondering if we will soon become an angry mob if Republicans stay in control. Where and when will this end?
2
The concluding scenario in which "Trump fires Mueller, pardons himself and everyone else, sends his followers into the street, and, after the inevitable bloodshed, declares martial law" is chilling and even plausible.
However, a notoriously incompetent president who tried to establish a reign of martial law under such self-serving and incriminating circumstances would surely face a revolt of the armed forces. Order would be restored, but the president would not remain in control. America would have its first coup d'état in some form.
That might prove to be the start of a national recovery from the current attack on democracy. However, the constitutional trauma suffered in the process would give new meaning to the observation that, for America's ill-wishers, Trump is a "gift that keeps on giving".
This might be the culmination of a "long game" approach that began, well, a long-ish while ago.
I'm thinking of the media machine described in works like the film, "The Brainwashing of my Father", and of the persistent lawfare campaign on gun rights described (I think) in the Times.
It may thus require a similar approach to counteract, but hopefully that wouldn't take as long since we've now seen it done once.
One caution is to not lump in unwitting patsies with the perps. For example, the firearms industry may be as cynical as any other, but the citizens embracing gun rights in fear of the federal government may have a good point.
1
As the dystopian American society that Trump described at his inauguration speech becomes a reality, the rest of the world drifts away forming new alliances , several of which are / will be based on values and mores that America once espoused. Is this then the future of America? President Obama looks at the young and sees the light of hope. I hope he is right.
3
As I have said before, it has to start with control of the House. Even then, the House cannot move on to (or even attempt) impeachment, because that, too, would bring the followers to the streets. Not just to the wildlife refuges of the vacant west, but to the streets. For them, impeachment is proof of the existence of The Deep State. They have been forewarned by the Media Machine almost incessantly, to be vigilant, to be ready for the stirrings of this imaginary beast.
And as I have also said before, the followers may be less than 40% of the population, but they own far more than 40% of the weapons and ammunition in this country. The 2nd Amendment is Scripture and every person is a Militia. These self-elected conscripts also have enough motor vehicles to pull off countless Charlottesville stunts.
Small steps. One step at a time. The first step is the midterm election.
Indictments, impeachment, imprisonment: possibly. After the midterms. Maybe we can even hold steady with a Democratic House and a hamstrung executive (we certainly witnessed a similar scenario for 8 years of the previous Presidency) until 2020, avoid the impeachment, and then vigorously pursue the indictments and imprisonment.
In your entire lifetime, your vote has never been as important as it will be this November.
17
What the founding fathers failed to foresee is that members of Congress from the same party as the president would see themselves as members of the same team as the president, thus eliminating their role as a check on the president. This would not be an issue if the president's party did not have an outright majority in Congress. However, because of the political duopoly, there is always a party that has a majority, so it's just a question whether that majority party is the president's or not.
The reason for the duopoly is the voting system. For instance, how many voters are socially conservative and pro-labor? Under plurality voting, that is irrelevant because anyone voting for such a party would forfeit their right to express a preference between the Republicans and Democrats. Thus, such voters would have to decide which of their two issues is more important and vote for the party that matches that and against the other issue.
However, with a pairwise-rated voting system, in which all voters rate all candidates, a socially conservative pro-labor voter would be rate a matching party highest AND cast ratings for the Republican and Democrat that expresses a choice between the two. This will lead to genuine third-parties getting to Congress resulting in no party having a majority. With no party having a majority, no party could unilaterally undermine Congress' oversight role.
4
As a President Trump has been going beyond lines after lines spiraling downward. The ground seems to fall further and further away. You think , he has really crossed a solid line at the Russian Press Conference? Well think again! Trump will surely find something else to dig himself deeper. Must give it to the guy. He can find greater and greater depths into darkness.
3
I reread "It Can't Happen Here" Sinclair Lewis, it was pretty frightening and the term Not yet. Not Yet is a scary reminder
9
If Trump declared martial law he might trigger the first military coup in American history.
Ultimately the Armed Forces are sworn to defend the Constitution rather than a particular President or political party.
A military coup would set an appalling historical precedent. Nevertheless, Trump just might make such an action the least bad option.
10
@scott ochiltree
The likelihood of Trump declaring martial law is about equivalent to it turning out that he is actually a robot who tricked the electorate into believing he was human.
A greater danger is that Democrats will react violently when the Mueller report exonerates Trump. but civilian law enforcement is adequate to control mobs, although it will be ugly to see how much Democrats dislike the rule of law.
2
I agree. U.S. military (whose cooperation would be necessary) are not the police and will not allow themselves to become Donald Trump's domestic paramilitary against its own citizens.
2
Mr. Cohen, before throwing out the concept of Trump imposing martial law in America, consider the following:
"In United States law, martial law is limited by several court decisions that were handed down between the American Civil War and World War II. In 1878, Congress passed the Posse Comitatus Act, which forbids military involvement in domestic law enforcement without congressional approval." So Congress would have to approve the imposition of martial law; it can't be done by the US president alone.
7
Mr. Cohen is very correct to bring up the concept of martial law in connection with an overreaching President. You may have noticed that Presidents do not follow rules (Constitutional or no) when they choose not to and when they have extraordinary circumstances like terrorist attacks to provide cover.
5
In October I'm visiting NY City with my family, showing my kids (11 and 14 years old) the worlds capital of thinking, Big Apple the city in the world that matters most when speaking of art and immigration.
It may be like a visit to Berlin in 1931. Then, Berlin was the world's capital of many things - and already doomed.
It surely isn't a visit like Berlin in 1989 when I've experienced as a TV cameraman an unforgettable touch to history filming the Berlin Wall's break down, knowing that all of this will lead to a new level of freedom.
I'm very much interested to get a feeling of the US under Trump's rule. I must say, I expect nothing unusual. But nobody does in the calm of a perfect storm.
8
One thing all columnists and commentators keep ignoring is the responsibility of "The American Voters" in all of this. They are the ones who saw this abomination through; gave the Presidency to this abhorrent man and the Congress and Senate to a spineless and corrupt political party. So much for checks and balances. We are living through this nightmare because approximately 77,000 of us in MI, PA and WI decided that Hillary was worse than Trump, Jill Stein or Gary Johnson. We decided on this hell ourselves and we have to live through this.
And we have to keep discussing the fact that "The American Voters" are generally uninformed, lazy, ignorant, racist, misogynist, tribal, partisan, or all of the above. And if given the opportunity, they will re-elect Trump.
20
The press must also be included as enablers of Donald Trump - and not just that of the fanatical Right. Why does the Times (and other major news sources) regularly allow Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan and Mike Pence to simply make pat statements through their offices or deliver a canned remark in the halls of Congress in response to Trump’s various horrors - and then walk away without follow-ups, without aggressive questioning and probing? The system that allows this kind of bottom-feeding, cozy, toothless relationship between politician and news source is useless and corrupt. You mostly treat them as though they’re partial victims of Trump and not co-creators of his criminal policies.
16
Spot on. No, the GOP of "Hugh Scott, John Rhodes, Howard Baker, Barry Goldwater, William Cohen and other leading Republicans who broke with Nixon" is gone. Now we have a party of Ryan and Jordan, Gowdy and Gohmert, and McConnell, Hatch and Pence.
And the principal reason the GOP sticks with Trump is its cravenness to the short-term money. Frankly, the pay is too good for these pols. "It is difficult for a man to understand something when his salary (and campaign contributions) depends on his not understanding it." - Upton Sinclair
Compounding the problem is the bookending moribund "Democratic" Party. It's the party where an incumbent president keeps his successful grassroots organization to himself and gets thumped in the 2010 mid-terms, much to the country's detriment. A DNC that pre-anoints a gender-biased "our turn" and dynastic movement that fails miserably.
The current D "leadership" is reminiscent of a Politburo lineup at a Kremlin funeral. And examining the touted candidates for 2020 shows pretty much a lackluster bunch that inspires no one. There's been no bench.
But an instructive exercise is to look at the formal name of Amy Klobuchar's homestate political party in Minnesota: the Democratic Farm Labor Party. If that notion were taken to heart again by the current schizophrenic neoliberal and identity-besotted DNC, it would go a long way toward healing and reasonably uniting this country so it may move forward. Or is the money too good for the D's, too?
4
The United States of America is now experiencing the beginnings of a pariah state analogous to what happened to the Soviet Union after its illegal invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. After Trump's undisguised hostility and contempt towards America's steadfast friends and partners, it would be preferable for the latter to start a boycott of US goods and services as well as all cultural and sports events. Moscow had to contend with a painful boycott of its Olympic Games in 1980 -- why should the European Union and Canada continue to be complacent and delude themselves with old, redundant habits and ways ?
12
@AE
Don't count on it.
At least the USSR was trying to prop up a progressive government in Afghanistan, while the US was brokering the reactionaries who became the Taliban and worse.
The US suffered not a whit from it allies for its illegal aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq. If it doesn't affect trade, the democracies of Europe turn a blind eye.
2
One point that I believe is critical to understand (and I do not believe it is base don many comments here) is that Republicans are not just complicit in this, they are the actual perpetrators (perpetraitors perhaps??) in the attacks on and destruction of America. I don't want to climb on the soap box but McConnel, Ryan, Thune, Scalise, Nunes, Pence, Issa, Wilson, George W, Cheney, and all the rest are not just elated at Trump's attempt at authoritarian rule, they are behind it.
Let's stop acting like they don't know any better or are simply turning the other cheek. To do so implies that a "different kind of Republican" (as if there were such a thing) would be much better. Republicans and Conservatives are all the same--they want to own America and destroy it.
Sound crazy? What if I told you two years ago that what is happening now would happen? That was crazy too. If we do not stop this train wreck, I have no doubt that Marshall law will come. Research mid-20th century German history to see how this all ends.
14
The most common excuse for the response of congressional Republicans to Trump--ranging from empty grumbling, to meek groveling, to aggressive defense of him--is that they'll get good, "conservative" judges.
We need to ask Ben Sasse, Jeff Flake, Paul Ryan, Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins, and the rest: how do you like the judges in Russia?
It is now clear, as Mr. Cohen says, that Trump's trajectory is towards a hollowing out of the constitutional order, to be filled in with authoritarian rule. If Trump pulls through, Brett Kavanaugh won't be a "conservative justice" in any meaningful sense. He and his fellow SCOTUS justices will be a constitutional fig leaf on an authoritarian oligarchy.
We're about find out. Are any congressional Republicans actually committed to constitutional democracy? Or are we finding out that "conservatism" has actually meant authoritarian oligarchy all along?
13
Martial law ?…
Maybe…
But not as fast as Roger Cohen jumps to conclusions in this article.
Evidence, if any, is scant and not really valid …
This idea that Trump will make a coup South American fashion is nothing but a fantasy…
Then again, yes, Trump is certainly NOT done. And, yes, there is more to Mueller investigation and Russian meddling that we know of.
Trump has also followers, yes … And some will remain so for a long time just as Reagan and GW Bush still have some despite all we know about them and their policies.
But from this it doesn't follow that all Trump's voters will remain "followers" for ever : democracy is a system based on shifts in opinions, political attitudes and votes and sometimes this change can be quite swift.
As for the coup, this remains a fantasy based on fear that an hypothesis.
4
@vincent7520
The entire GOP is complicit with Trump in encouraging that coup.
All three branches of government are controlled by authoritarians.
"It can't happen here" may become famous last words.
3
I've always wondered about the significance of having a "well armed militia" as stated in the 2nd Amendment of the US Constitution. A lot of gun rights advocates support our right to bear arms as a means of additional defense against a governmental takeover or a foreign invader. In today's world there is a more plausible outcome. Trump declares martial law when Mueller exposes he and his family's crimes. Mass confusion in the government, a form of governmental gridlock in terms of who, how and whether his decree should be enforced ensues. Who will come to his rescue? If I venture out to my front yard or onto the public domain who will be there to force me back into my house, or worse. The answer is obvious. Armed Trump supporters who have assumed the role of our "well armed militia" will be there to perform their patriotic duty.
11
Shouldn't we think whether it is worth to take down all of the US and all of the planet together with Trump? Some of the comments here indicate that no price is too high. Be it nuclear war with Russia or whatever else. It's like many want to just crush everything around us because of this one man. Too much power is attributed to him! While many MANY serious problems are overlooked. I can't help but think this is a strategy to distract people from the world collapsing around us.
Why, if this guy is found by Mr. Mueller to be an invalid choice, a Manchurian President, if you will, why are all judges anointed on his watch not equally invalid?
If I rob a bank and buy a Porshe, I do not think, once apprehended, I am allowed to keep it.
11
Absolutely! Trump only a symptom; the disease that afflicts US is the Republican Party.
15
We are losing our country.
12
Roger Cohen rarely disappoints. One of the truly great journalists.
7
I do not agree that Nixon was abandoned by the GOP
because of his misdeeds but because of his opening up to
Communist China. Let us hope that the Putin scandal leads to the same result
1
@asell1 Nixon also closed out the immensely profitable Vietnam War. That did not make the money masters happy at all.
1
Suggested reading, It Can't Happen Here. by Sinclair Lewis. Written in1935 as satire now seen by some as prophetic. Populist corrupt president who dissolves the SCOTUS, establishes internment prisons for political enemies both real and perceived, attacking the press and formed an SA like police force given to beating the public with impunity.
5
@charlie kendall
You are describing the actions of FDR, the Democrat god.
1
Don't give the phony Maverick John McCain a positive nod.
6
Over 500 comments, all reiterations of the evil of Trump and Republicans. This is a blind refusal to accept the reality that Trump is President, not because of love of him, but as much hatred of the Democratic party and candidate. The members of the Democratic party, as reflected in comments, seems willing to accept a new civil war, rather than abandon their party as happened before:
"Many Northern Democrats who opposed slavery joined a new party, the Republican Party which was forming around the cause for abolition. The Whigs also split along regional lines."
Trump will never declare "martial law" as there is no such statute. He knows well the aphorism of the frog remaining in the pot as long as the temperature is raised slowly enough, eventual the frog of liberal democracy dies without a sound.
The solution is, paradoxically, easing off the contempt for those Republicans who are not able to overtly resist this slow motion coup. Senator Rubio looked like he was in pain when the criticized Trump's Helsinki collusion of fostering an alliance with a despot. Rubio's body language was a plea that he be welcomed into a political aggregation that would support him in his sharp break with, not only Trump, but those who, like himself, can't jump into the abyss.
If there is to be a break among the Republican Senators, and it only takes a few, the Democratic party must accommodate and welcome them. The choice for liberals may well be loyalty to party or to country.
3
@Call Me Al
The Democrats already have too many DINOs in their ranks. They don't need card-carrying Republicans as well.
Republicans cannot ever be trusted to accommodate themselves to liberal values. They already control the entire government. They aren't owed anything but destruction.
Biggest fear wasn’t Trump. It was Trump and a GOP Congress. If the calculus doesn’t change in November, there may be riots next year or 2020
8
@Mark Solomon
Bingo, the threat to democracy comes from the Democrats who are in denial about the undesirability of their policies, the reason why Democrats are in the minority in the country. Since they lost, they are working on unseating the legitimately elected president.
Had Trump lost the election, he would have demanded recounts in states with close vote counts and complained.
His supporters would not have threatened electoral college electors if they voted for Hillary. His supporters would not have violently attempted to prevent people from attending Hillary's inauguration. They would not have organized resistance rallies for the day after his inauguration. Republican Senators would not have dragged out the confirmation of Hillary cabinet members so that it took two months for 13 confirmations. The Koch brothers would not have devoted $25 million to an effort to raise popular support to impeach Hillary. A Democrat Congress would not have allowed an inquiry into Hillary/Obama's collusion with the Russians, for which there is far more evidence than that Trump colluded.
The left takes it as an affront that Trump criticizes the media. Try thinking back to when the Clintons were in the White House. Bill was having sex with an intern in the Oval Office. Hillary, well aware of her husband's predatory womanizing, coined a new phrase. She asserted that the false allegations about her husband's behavior were the result of a vast right wing conspiracy.
1
Don't forget the other right wing propaganda machine creation, The Wicked Witch of The East, Hillary!
1
@Marc Here's hoping for a rematch between Trump and Hillary in 2020.
1
Brave Republicans who take strong leadership against this treasonous pretender will be rewarded by a grateful nation. The majority of Americans are independent voters, centrists. They will happily back a strong, moderate, honest Republican for President. At the very least, history will remember you as a hero of this sad and disgraceful saga. Any takers?
5
@greenmatters
The majority of Americans are not centrists. They espouse liberal values, many without knowing it.
If they elect another GOP president, they will once again be lopping off their own feet.
2
Republicans won't challenge Trump as long as he's bringing home the bacon -- shoving through items from the Party's agenda. The Republicans in Congress -- and outside -- are sufficiently craven that, as long as he keeps successfully pushing the agenda of the Party and its big-business paymasters, he could walk down Fifth Avenue in the nude, shooting people, and they would do nothing to stop him.
5
Someone please ask President Trump how he was able to guarantee that his one-on-one meeting with Putin was not recorded by Russia. One possible answer is that it was also recorded by the U.S. And, probably Executive Privilege would not be allowed in court for such a recording.
2
Mr Cohen
At this stage in the game, it is not too early for conscientious American patriots with fear for the future to IMMEDIATELY create a National Salvation Front in the likeness of Romania's in 1989 when it was necessary to deal with the insanity of a similarly demented autocrat. When I read commentators here drone on that Trump was a 'democratically' elected president, I cannot resist seeing Hitler's face flash in my mind after his own electoral victory. Stop Trump while you can, for the sake of future generations !
3
“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”
“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever.” . . . AND FOR SUPPORTERS OF donald trump AND SUPPORTERS OF TODAY'S republican party --
"...The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me.”
All quotes from Orwell's 1984
3
I hope the martial court comes before the martial law!
1
Interesting that you used the words "cult like"... before Trump was even elected, the vast majority of his base seemed to be an entranced cult following.
His rallies reminded me of a combination "televised wrestling" and Hitler-style rallies.
Whenever his followers have been interviewed, they are able to justify anything and everything he does; no matter how crazy, ridiculous or insane.. He has sold them a bill of goods and placed himself as the "true" source of fact.
Then I read-up on WW2 history to remind myself how and when Hitler lost his cult; starting with the German losses at the invasion of Russia, Stalingrad, etc. and leading-up to Allies surrounding a broken, defeated, destroyed Germany the cult began to fade. Keep in mind that was over 12 years...
So my question is this... how broken must the US get before the cult breaks? God help us if change doesn't happen soon...
8
I have seen photos of a sign reading. "Liberals! If you impeach Trump, better get your guns."
But truth be told. I don't see Mr. Mr. Donald J. Trump
(1) declaring martial law;
(2) plunging the United States into civil war.
He has not the nerve. "Iacta est alea!" cried Caesar. "The die is cast." It led to civil war in ancient Rome.
I don't see Mr. Trump crossing any fateful Rubicons. Casting the dice. Taking up arms.
Not he!
I could be wrong.
(1) As citizens, what else CAN we do but stand firm. Stand fast. Blister the phone lines as we call our senators and representatives. March. Demonstrate. Write angry letters. Fire off scorching e-mails. And oh yes!
. . . .vote for a Democrat. ANY Democrat.
That's what I'm doing.
(2) Can we not find some forum--some venue--some WAY of communicating to the nation, to our fellow citizens. . .
. . .not JUST our opposition to a tax bill. . .
. .or our fury at the dismantling of "Obama care". . .
. . .or even our horror and disgust at Mr. Trump's abject kowtowing to Mr. Putin. PLUS--our pitiful Congress, bowing and scraping before Mr. Trump.. . .
. . BUT EVERYTHING. . . .
. .wrapped up in one big package?
Must we stand scowling and scolding on the sidelines?
Or can we put our case to the nation . . .. .
. . .in one massive, crushing INDICTMENT?
That's what I'm LONGING to see.
But I'm not seeing it.
Not yet.
@Susan Fitzwater
Nor do I see anyone on the right taking up guns if Trump is impeached.
The US military would crush them. And deservedly so.
1
In 1954 the United States outlawed the Communist Party (CPUSA) because it was a subversive organization in thrall to the Kremlin, and a direct threat to our democracy.
Perhaps it is time to consider outlawing the Republican Party, a subversive organization and a direct threat to our democracy, that is, by all evidence, also in thrall to . . . the Kremlin.
That is, after The Reckoning - commissions, investigations, indictments, arrests, trials and FULL MEASURE OF THE LAW, up to and including the death penalty Republicans so fondly advocate for others, for Trump, his treasonous cronies and family, his fellow Republican Traitors: McConnell (who when Obama TOLD him about Trump's treason, threatened to claim Obama was trying to tip the election for Hillary - because he knew all about Trump's treason), Ryan, Nunes, all the way down the line to dog catcher, all of whom got Russian money laundered through their terrorist arm, the NRA. No more forgive and forget, no more bipartisan nonsense. The time for civility is OVER. It is war. Traitors must be punished:
18 U.S. Code § 2381 - Treason US Code Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.
4
The goo dthing in all of this is that Trumps is showing that there are no boundaries in his actions. However boundaries are always reached, one way or the other.
I appreciate your stance on both the failures of this President and the double-standards of Netanyahu, after years of steering right of the Democratic Party.
As an Independent, I'd hope you would hold the Democratic Party responsible for how we got here, too. The idea the CIC can do anything he damn well pleases may have lurched forward with Ford's pardon of Nixon, but it became woefully obvious when JFK's numerous adulterous affairs became public knowledge. It didn't help when the Democratic base picked up the refrain for Clinton-Lewinski. Inbetween were terrible abuses of political office - Bay of Pigs, Vietnam lies, Nixon, Iran-Contra, etc.
Every single U.S. Citizen must be held accountable to the rule of law - _especially_ the president. Once we begin to support "our side" for personal gain, the whole nation loses. How can anyone be surprised we have a President now who cares about no rules of all - of morality, of decency, of simple adult behavior? Both Democrats and Republicans have supported illegal acts by leaders in their parties for almost 100 years. And we've all known.
1
If you want to know Trump's playbook, just read Oliver Stone's bizarre interview with Putin. Everything Trump is currently doing is what Putin wants. He wants NATO ended. He wants Eastern Europe back administered jointly by the US and Russia.
This is like Israel being administered by Nazi Germany and the US.
Putin's plans are right there in Stone's book. Next it will be said by Trump that Eastern Europe is threatening Russia.
This whole thing is sickeningly obvious--that Trump is a traitor-pure and simple.
9
Martial law?
Are you kidding? What has this grab-bag of recycled complaints about Trump got to do with martial law?
I don't like Trump's playing footsie with Putin either. But that is no excuse for the hysteria that is daily fare at the New York Times. The same Times that was muttering darkly about plots and impeachment even before Trump was inaugurated. Get a grip on yourselves.
Cohen has signed on to what Hillary Clinton called the "Vast Right Wing Conspiracy." That comprises "Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity ... and the rest."
The rest, like who??? Our media is overwhelmingly hostile to Trump. And it has been lured by its hatred for Trump into all sorts of wild goose chases and far-fetched conspiracy theories.
For the health of the Republic, for goodness sake get a grip and calm down!
5
@Ian Maitland
If the media is overwhelmingly hostile to Trump, why do 40% of Americans still support him?
He has nullified the media in their eyes.
Trump has the whole of the GOP behind him, as well as control of the military and the support of the SCOTUS.
All those forces on the right have common goals. That's the practical equivalent of a conspiracy.
3
I agree. I keep telling everyone I can that there will be blood in the streets because of that Idiot. Whether from the bottom up or the top down. I fear thee results of the mid-terms. If Trumpistan comes out the winner - it's going to bad. very bad.
7
Not “if”, but already. Charlottesville.
1
Everything the far left had ever hoped for. Chaos. Anarchy. Destruction.
1
@Jay
You blame the disgusting policies and actions of Trump and the GOP on an imaginary "far left"?
The left (however far it goes) had hopes that are just the opposite of what seems to be "chaos" — which is not that at all, but a concerted effort by the right to destroy the values that make ordinary people tolerant and prosperous.
3
Trump's white power christian evangelical base is a potent one. They see themselves as the anointed ones, entitled, the rightful heirs of US citizenship dominant over other religions, people of color, gays, liberals, progressives and "those not born here". The good thing about trump's brash rhetoric is that it has dragged these trump trolls out into the light of day. Thery now openly refuse to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, stage white power rallies, support economic policies that work against their own self interest just to cling to the notion that they are somehow superior to the rest of us snowflakes.
The rest of us need to push back and push back hard and yes there may as yet be blood in the streets. The inscription on the Statue of Liberty represents the values of America not these bible clutching racists.
14
Riots? We had major riots in 1968 nationwide in the major cities, and that did not lead to martial law and cancellation of elections. If we look at the demographics of the Trumpistas, it is unlikely that we could have riots in big urban areas, where it would matter. I would bet that the Niagara of Mueller conclusions would be enough to overcome any doubts about the Trump cartel.
3
@Karim Pakravan
The danger is not from Republicans or the right wing. you are correct that if there is insurrection, it will take place in Democrat strongholds. Trumpistas, as you call them, would have to flee the urban areas to suburban areas where they would be sheltered until local and state law enforcement re-established law.
Trumpistas from the suburbs and rural areas would leave the cities to burn rather than engaging in battle with the leftists.
The most likely outcome of the Mueller investigation will be that there is no evidence of Trump involvement. Russians tried to ingratiate themselves with Trump associates, but didn't get anything of value. There is danger that leftists will react with violence, since they have been threatening a violent overthrow if they don't get their way.
1
What a frightening scenario. Could this really happen in the United States? No doubt Trump could declare war against some hapless country to distract attention from his own problems...but actually declare martial law in our country? Hard to imagine, but the way we're headed, perhaps not so impossible to foresee.
One would think a Republicans or two would be willing to stand up to him. If they lose the election as a result, so what. Most of them could find highly successful work in the corporate world anyway.
Democrats, though, need a powerful leader whose voice will register loudly and firmly with America. It's a winning argument, but it's not clear who in this party will make it.
I believe you are right. If not stopped, and I don’t believe he will be, this horror will end in martial law. Our option at that point will be to take to the streets. I still can’t figure out why we haven’t shut everything down and demanded our country back.
3
Who is going to be fighting whom in the upcoming "bloodshed?" Trump's supporters have all the guns, or most of them. Won't the military, who have all the really big guns, be on the same side as the Trump supporters? Who is going to fight this coalition? I can actually envision martial law, but I can't envision any kind of meaningful resistance once it's upon us.
2
As horrific as the thought of martial law in the U.S. might be, I think we're a long way off from that. Worst U.S. President ever? Definitely in the running for that one. Demented "me, me, me" demagogue....check. But I have to believe the levers are in place to usher him out of office immediately should be go to far. I keep hoping he gets bored with the office, drifts down to Mar Lago, Pence finishes out the term with Nicki Haley as the VP and she runs in 2020 and tries to get a little moral sanity back for the Republicans.
@Robscott Joe Pence is a huge part of the problem.
4
The greatest of all is the servant of all.
1
Every 50 years or so we have to "take to the mattresses" in order to save ourselves from ourselves.
Feels like 1968. Time to stand up for our country again.
We all know how this ends. The only question is hell or high water?
3
There is reason for the separation of church and state.
The state is founded to serve people. Religion is founded to serve whatever god is being touted.
Regardless political party affiliation, we have consistenrly allowed the incursion of church into state at every level and in every branch of our government and in so doing weakened, even rejected reality.
Our allowance of religious invention to have a voice in our governance is as unjust as it is damaging. It is unjust because every religious belief by virtue of its' existence denies the validity of all others and damaging as a result of displacing known truth.
It is no coincidence that the denial of observable climate reality is touted by the same voices which praise invented gods. This mixture of philosophical oil with the water of orderly thought has no place whatsoever in our governance.
The acceptance of religious belief in our governance to that of dictatorship is a short step.
By virtue of premises which have no foundation in observable phenomena our nation and our people are being strapped to an empty mental barrel and flogged with political fantasy.
Almost without exception our elected officials invoke the name of some god, and our currency is adorned with the same praise to an equally unknowable invention. Voices of reason raised in dissent are taken to task for questioning this promotion of belief over observable fact.
The fear of martial law has always been allayed by some mysterious god, somewhere.
2
I'm stealing myself to accept a previously unthinkable notion as Republican's witting obduracy to a Traitor to our Country
shows us they've been quietly complicit all along with Trump.
Should this conduct by Republicans continue We the People may need to (Revolt to Save this Republic) as our fore fathers did against England. Surely, it won't come to that in America, (I like to tell myself.) Tragedy is, I'm not so sure NOW it won't.
6
@Emma Jane
Perhaps if Democrats were able to select non odious candidates for office and create a plan of action other than getting rid of Trump, they could win elections and move out of the minority. Instead, you seem to be planning a violent overthrow of the government, which is not going to work.
1
As your colleague Thomas Friedman has written, the way to get past this is to vote for Democrats. Do not vote for any Republicans. Not. A. Single. One! Even the occasionally non-deranged Republican (e.g., Ben Sasse) still always VOTES to ruin the country (health care, taxes, federal judges). The GOP needs to be defeated at all elective levels: congress, governor, state legislature. Then we can start fresh after removing Trump from office and convicting him and his relatives in criminal courts. Remember that New York lawsuit about the Trump Foundation? It would be fittingly ironic for the Kushner children to be in detention while their parents are serving time.
10
@1954Stratocaster I am coming around to your thinking. Here in Maryland we have Governor Hogan (R) who is doing a pretty good job but not sure I can pull the lever for him in Nov.
4
The road to martial law could be as follows: in the depths of crisis, probably stemming from Mueller, but possibly involving Russia, a national emergency is declared where the president declares on national television that he must suspend the Constitution for a period of several months. Congress backs him up, Courts do not say no.
8
We should certainly expect and prepare for a paramilitary response from the white nationalist Trumpist base at the point that Dear Leader's power is imminently jeopardized. Forget impeachment. A simple reelection loss will be sufficient to mobilize them. They've been stocking their arsenals for this moment for a long time. In fact, many were ready to respond if Hillary Clinton had won in 2016. Be ready, as the odds of such an event are genuinely high.
5
@corvid
White nationalists consist of about 0.05% of the population. They are legends in their own minds. They have been stocking their arsenals because they fear the government. As long as you do not rattle their cages, they are harmless eccentrics.
1
And now today Trump says Russia is no longer targeting the U.S.
First, it didn't target the U.S., because Putin told him so.
Then, well, it actually did because of Trump'sl little double negative.
And here we are today, with Russia's hands supposedly wiped clean again--by Trump.
5
I agree with everything written in the article. What is omitted is also important. The Dems did nothing for the working and middle classes abandoned unions, public schools and a public health option to please their Wall Street donor class They then go on to coronate a candidate who was damaged goods in a questionable process at best. No surprise we got DJT. Now the Dems refuse to retool and acknowledge what put him there Until that happens the smart money is on Trump in 2020
9
We’ll put. Depends heavily on the economy
2
Crazy thought: Get Congress back in 2019. Then, in 2021, with a Democratic president and a Congress that will have had enough of the increasingly right wing (and, in my view, thoughtless - think Clarence Thomas) ideological positioning at the Supreme Court, increase the number of justices. FDR famously tried and failed, and for good reason, but things are different now, and it is within Congress's ability to increase the size of the court. While nine may be a mystical or divine number to some, in this age where our Democracy itself is under siege there is nothing keeping us from considering such a bold move.
13
Great idea Doug except the Dems lack the set of nerves to do it. Like him or not Mitch McConnell engineered the current court configuration. Dems can't run a lemonade stand
2
@Doug White Switching parties does nothing. Bill Clinton(Democrat), George Bush(Republican), Barack Obama(Democrat), Donald Trump(No idea...)
1
Over the years I have read Norman Ornstein and appreciate his views BUT I have one thing to say he works for an organization that is part of the problem. The AEI along with Heritage CATO Federalist society have enabled republicans to be interested in one thing only enriching the business elite. While trump plays footsie with Putin and puts down our allies, his administration is giving the big donors what they want, low taxes, repeal of regulations, next to free access to federal lands, and a court system that will be immune to any challenges to lassiez faire business practices. This country will soon be like Russia where the oligarchs own everything. The American public is being robbed.
McConnell Ryan and the rest are nothing but corrupt enablers.
And where are the democrats. Will they once again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory?
10
Trump speaks for the Trump family business, not for America. He supports Russia because Russian money helped the Trump family business in the past, and he hopes good relations with Russia will help the Trump family business in the future. What is best for United States national security doesn't enter into it. Supporting democracy at home or abroad doesn't enter into it.
If what is best for the United States is also best for the Trump family business, he will support it. If something is good for the United States but bad or neutral for the Trump family business, he will oppose it.
This is why the emoluments clause was added to the constitution. Congress should pass a law today requiring Trump to divest from the Trump family business and override Trump's veto. My prediction: Trump will resign rather than give up the Trump family business.
Trump supporters are welcome to try to pass a constitutional amendment allowing Trump to profit privately off of the US presidency, but until then the constitution stands.
12
Okay. We all know the Republican Party has sold out the country and the very idea of Democracy. This is not news.
The question now, as Cohen postulates, is where do things go from here.
At this point all is speculation. But any student of history can make an informed guess: totalitarianism. All the basic ingredients are in place. The majority of Americans are unaware and oblivious to current events. Even if martial law was declared they would think "so what, this will not affect me"
The Democrats are weak and divided. They too have co-opted to corporate America, and have a wretched history of turning on their own.
If the military and the National Guard go along with this plan, although even they may be divided, then the die is cast for dictatorship.
Already some who can are leaving the country and this may accelerate if the crisis gets worse.
Hope for the best but prepare for the worst.
11
Roger Cohen, Trump is toast, but he's not done or finished yet. Despite his colossal mistakes at the "easiest" meeting of his this week -- with Putin in Helsinki -- Trump not only dropped the ball but jammed it into Russia's court. President Trump's indecent enablers -- the Republicans, his ignorant loyalists and "people of a higher intelligence" (SIC!) -- are the same folks who enabled the Third Reich leader of Germany to descend to the sickest depths of inhumanity in the Weimar Republic in the 1930s. We look forward to seeing Trump done and finished by the laws of our land, and how!
6
Republicans have lost any "entitlement" to be called either fiscal conservatives or foreign policy "hawks." The only so-called conservatism that remains for them is their "cultural conservatism," and a whole lot of that is just plain bigotry. They do not have a leg to stand on, and yet they will do anything to maintain power, even coddle this wannabe authoritarian. It is so disgusting, that many have stopped consuming news or have cut back on it due to constant anger, disgust and even blood pressure problems.
Democrats have had a chance for some time, as alluded to by Frank Bruni in this publication and by Catherine Rampell in the WaPo to take the mantle of fiscal conservatism away from Republicans, who could care less about deficits. They like large deficits since they think it will provide the mechanism to cut social programs to the bone or eliminate them.
With the latest foreign policy "news," they show clearly that they could care less about defending this country against foreign adversaries or even fulfilling their oaths of office.
The system is rigged by absurdly unrepresentative representation due to a fundamentally flawed electoral system with red states having disproportionate power.
Democrats better wise up and take advantage of the phony conservatism of Republicans. If not now, when?
5
I was following along just fine until the utterly hysterical finale of "declares martial law" --- it is more or less impossible to declare martial law in the United States, and anybody writing in the NY Times ought to know that. What, precisely, is the mechanism by which "martial law" would be put into place here in Los Angeles where I live? The USA deliberately functions as a federal republic in order to avoid precisely this scenario. Cohen means well with this article, but he ends up just confirming the impression that opposition to Trump policies inevitably leads to dim-witted hysteria.
2
Marc. Call it what you want but you can count on the sheeple to go along. We all line up at airports for a seriously flawed process. What would happen if everyone refused to go through machines and requested a pat down. Things would change. If you think it can't happen look back at the tragedy at the Boston Marathon. Law enforcement shut the city down. No one said a word. I can see martial law happen very easy. If you can get out get out. America is done and it didn't start with Trump and I am not a fan. Listen to Brennan and Clapper rant about Trump yet they both lied about invading everyone's privacy rights all in the name security. We have no rights and are less secure every day
2
Noam Chomsky has often argued that the Republican Party is the world’s most dangerous terrorist organization. External enemies like jihadists and Russian autocrats have long understood that America would be brought down not by foreigners but by a cancer within. Republicans and the Fox propaganda apparatus are the malignant tumor that has metastasized over the last 25 years. No, it’s not over. Not yet. Nyet
24
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
- Abraham Lincoln
283
@Al True, but I would include neo-liberals in that mix and the corporate Democratic party that enabled and assisted the Republicans. We wouldn't have a Trump if Obama had done his job and the Democrats had not rigged the primary to give us Hillary Clinton. Remember 80% of the recovery wealth went to the top one percent, a historic, lopsided phenomenon never seen in past recoveries. The economic pain and frustration from a hollowed out middle class gave us Trump by giving us the lowest voter turnout in history.
2
Really, "martial law?" this sounds like more hyperbole that doesn't add anything to the conversation.
Hopefully the military would not allow that to happen. but look what happened to the generals Trump hired, they were fired or rendered useless by his incessant stupidity. There will always be enablers who are looking to grab the loot when it presents itself. There is no precedent for protecting ourselves from a president lacking a moral code.
3
We know you hate Trump, but how do you come up with martial law? And calling the treatment of illegals “sadistic” is absurd. Do you realize they’re still better off than where they were trucked in from?
I remember a time when the Manchurian Candidate was just a movie.
3
If even a respectable minority of Republicans were loyal to American democracy, Trump would not have been elected president.
If even a small minority of Republican congresspersons were neither traitors and quislings, Trump would be facing articles of impeachment.
Tragically, the entire G.O.P. is Putin's Fifth Column and almost no Republicans still support constitutional democracy in America. The U.S. government is at this moment controlled by a foreign dictator through Republican traitors and quislings.
There is no peaceful democratic path back from tyranny to democracy, so the only remaining hope for American democracy is that the U.S. military will rescue the federal government from the Russian-Republicans and be patriotic enough re-establish constitutional democratic processes.
Unfortunately, the U.S. military, like all other militaries, tends to be authoritarian-minded and will follow orders even from a dictator.
Welcome to the Fourth Reich.
3
Trump's base had their reasons to vote for him. But I'm certain they didn't vote for all the outright meanness, corruption and bile coming from this White House. I hope this realization comes to them in time for the midterms.
3
This is exactly what will happen:
"Trump fires Mueller, pardons himself and everyone else, sends his followers into the street, and, after the inevitable bloodshed, declares martial law."
What those of us who don't support Trump must do is plan for an event that has an extremely high likelihood of occurring.
Trump has millions of supporters who want him to be a dictator. And this past eighteen months have taught us that they are not going to change their views.
We now have a toadying Supreme Court that will give Trump five votes for whatever action he takes, including the institution of martial law, and suspension of elections.
Trump will order the round up of anyone he believes to be an "opponent". Hate crimes against minorities will skyrocket, as his "very fine people", the neo-Nazis and KKK start targeting us with impunity.
Trump voters don't care if Trump suspends every Constitutional right we have. As long as he continues to tell them that as white Christians, they are the favored Americans, this is all they care about. This is all they've ever cared about. And as long as they continue support this disgusting man, he will remain our leader.
Those of us who aren't white or Christian are risking our families' very safety if we stay. Most of those who tell me "stay and fight" are whites who will never be targets themselves. But before this chapter is over, there will be many more people who'll regret staying in this country, than leaving when they still could.
15
@DB Cooper I have long asserted that my fellow progressives should take advantage of their 2nd rights as they might need them. At the same time the US officer corp is highly professional and would not participate in any action as noted. The LEOs are split. The likely outcome of anything remotely like that is asymetrical conflict on the order of the Troubles that occured in Ireland. Accompanied by cyber conflict.
3
@Robert and many do! And more should.
I want to share a quote from a Trump, Hannity and Limbaugh loving friend on how things really are."Why do you think we fight so hard to keep our guns? It's to protect ourselves from the GD Liberals. If we have to we'll kill them all." Said while four others were nodding in agreement. You really think that this is 'just politics"?
10
@Bob They do make great opponents as they presume that the other side does not understand this. The old saw that a well armed populace is a a bastion of liberty is a saw that cuts both ways.
2
Mr. John Brennan, former head of the CIA, has said that Trump is treasonous. I think he is correct in his assessment. I also believe that the so-called "deplorables" are traitors for continuing to support this man. Did you vote for him? Do you still support him even after the display with Mr. Putin in Helsinki? It is truly sad that you do, but I think it is because you don't know much. You only know what you have been told, probably by some Internet server who is as phony as our president is. He listens to them, too. So, it isn't surprising. However, it is stupid. It is sad that you are a traitor to your country and you don't even know it.
2
History repeats...Comparisons of Trump to Hitler and Mussolini are neither overblown nor inappropriate.
Like Mussolini, Trump endeavors to project some obscene interpretation of masculine strength and the lost grandeur of the State to attract his supporters.
Like Hitler, Trump manipulates the levers of legitimate government to consolidate control, aided by power-hungry politicians naively thinking they can manipulate him and by deranged sycophants feeding his ego and implementing his dastardly plan. He purchases support with false promises of greatness and the small coin of pet issues that will eventually fail or be taken away. The only thing missing is the murder of his opponents (nobody said history repeats in a perfect copy). How long until he torches his version of the Bundestag?
11
He puts on Mussolini heirs all the time. I first noticed it in his acceptance speech at the GOP convention. Unfit for his position
2
Martial law? That will be the beginning of the violence that people already have in the back of their mind. Trump/Russian/Kleptocrats/GOP/White Supremacists vs. America the Beautiful.
1
Martial law? Mr. Cohen - you are either totally unhinged (which is the defining characteristic of "progressives"), or more likely. you are a paid Trump operative retained to spread such laughable stupidity, that any thinking person, by default, will vote to re-elect Trump in 2020.
4
@mdo - it was just 5 years from 1933 when Adolf Hitler reached power through election, to his launching of the aggression that became WWII. In that time, Germany went from a (troubled but) free democracy to the totalitarian state that we know all too well. False and falsely-attributed crimes were used to foment fear and to justify martial law and the takeover of society. Not many still laughing about that.
8
Such shallowness, but nothing new for the NYT Opinion Kingdom's unrelenting attack on Trump since they discovered that their sure thing 93% chance for Hillary in the White House was, in fact, Zero.
Nonetheless, Cohen's mindless Neo-Marxist attack on the GOP, i.e., "due to the corruption and debasement of the Republican Party, which has turned into the Trump party", is more evidence that the trite and hackneyed has become the hallmark for the Opinion Kingdom--daily trash Trump piñata parties. For a fact, Obama owned the DNC Politburo for eight years with his ad nauseam cultural Marxism uber alles. What Cohen's crowd is smarting from is that it disappeared overnight.
But Cohen's real enemy is the heartland that made it happen; he just doesn't have the courage to admit it. But the real war between Trump and the NYT is about how the latter can defeat Hillary's (and Cohen's) "indecents" in fly-over country--seems having the deep-swamp and our Sovietized mass-media as allies has had little effect so far.
Where's Blow when you need him, writing more tripe about Trump and those who support him?
2
@Alice's Restaurant Pretty weak. 1. Neo-Marxism is a model used to understand the impact of colonialism on the political and class evolution of the colonized country. 2. There is no such thing as cultural Marxism. It is a term made up by right wing propaganda outlets and makes little sense based on the terms used. 3. Most of your post only shows that many people on the right can parrot the propaganda without any related critical thinking.
3
@Alice's Restaurant This isn't about Hillary anymore. It's about a civil Cold War...soon to be hot due to the blind serving the treasonous.
1
Have you ever thought to yourself, “it can’t happen here”?
“My neighbor is a nice guy, a grandfather. He was mowing the lawn and they drove up and took him away, right then. I called him ‘Ramon.’ I called him ‘neighbor.’ They called him ‘alien.’”
“I always wondered about when they took kids and put them in the sealed-off neighborhoods in Germany, the ghettos. What did their teachers think when all those kids disappeared from class? What did they say? I think about snipers in Sarajevo, shooting children, who were their neighbors. How does that happen? Today I see children in the U.S. kept in cages. The courts say it has to stop, but it hasn’t stopped.”
“I’m a little miffed at my daughter’s social studies teacher. He isn’t a fair grader. Oh, he was shot. In the classroom door.”
“We have a right to assemble in the U.S. I’ve been going to protests. At one, a neo-Nazi drove a car into a crowd, killing and maiming people. But this is the U.S., so the Nazis are going to be stopped.”
Think again.
14
So what,Russia interfered or did not interfered in the last presidential election,the USA interferes in elections all over the world.The readers of the NYT know that,the journalists at NYT know that and many Americans know that.lets remember what goes around comes around,maybe the U.S. government should stop interfering in other countries political life,than the USA can be rightly upset at alleged Russian involvement in American election but until that happens USA stop complaining,please.
1
Trump's real estate business, as the New Republic in particular demonstrated at great length, became dependent on infusions of Russian oligarch money - money stolen from the Russian people upon the dissolution of their socialism - when U.S. banks no longer offered him credit after his huge casino bankruptcies Trump is a mountebank for sure and an oaf of the first order. It speaks ill of the American people that they endure him.
2
Wow.This is scary. Although I doubt the military would back this guy if push (Putin?) came to shove.
We don’t see any reason that Trump wouldn’t impose martial law.
2
Republicans and Democrats should come together and work as the checks and balancing body of he government that the Founding Fathers intended, and either impeach or enact Article 25. At the very least they should create legislation to limit presidential power and demand transparency of meetings between foreign adversaries and the US president. This is a perfect opportunity for them to create legislation to limit the power given to the president to declare war, invade other countries...provide aid and comfort to the enemy, etc. Given Trump's shameful and disgusting performance in Helsinki I think Congress has enough evidence to back up creating this legislation. If they do not act now to limit Trump's power, in a week or so his behavior will be normalized once again until the next "shock and awe" episode or until Putin and his oligarchs move into the White House and Russian tanks are driving down Connecticut Avenue.
"Trump fires Mueller, pardons himself and everyone else, sends his followers into the street, and, after the inevitable bloodshed, declares martial law." I agree totally. This nightmare is absolutely plausible. Trump will do anything to protect himself and his largely imaginary 'empire'. Expect the worst. You won't be disappointed.
4
What happens if the GOP firewall created by their secret REDMAP gerrymandering plan works? That is, what if voters reject Republicans en mass, and they retain power? Again, we will be in a civil war.
As a former rocketscientist (chemist familiar with ways to weaponize chemistry) I will be in the fight against the fascists who back Trump, even if that includes the military and police. As a guy who knows my way around firearms I also expect to strike a few blows myself.
I'm ready. Are you?
3
The idea that Trump is an aberration, something entirely unique, and that he is being used by the Republican Party to get their laws signed and judges confirmed, is backwards. The Republican Party is an aberration and it started with the Gingrich assault on Clinton and 5 years of investigation before nabbing the President for lying about a sexual escapade. It grew with the unnecessary, unjustified and illegal invasion of Iraq, which Republicans still cannot reject. And it reached its culmination with the obstruction of everything Obama proposed and lets not forget McConnell's theft of a Supreme Court nomination.
Trump may be despised by some traditional Republicans , but the Party loves what he has brought to the table. Crippling the Affordable Care Act, rejecting the Paris Agreement on climate change, withdrawing from the Iran agreement on nuclear development. corporate and financial deregulation with a capital DE, and a tax cut for the rich while raising the debt to the point that makes it possible for them to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid under the guise of fiscal responsibility.
Trump may be a useful idiot for Putin, but he is a star for the GOP. He has become a good, loyal, obedient Republican and only a landslide Democratic victory in November will change the country's direction and loosen the right wing's grip on the Party of Lincoln.
8
I recognize this rant. It mirrors the hysteria of our Sean Hannitys pretty darned well. This dystopian future may come to pass, but there are other futures we cannot see today through our rage and fear. Mr. Cohen, as a mature and rational adult, can you explain to me in a declarative sentence how throwing gasoline on our burning house is the best response to the current chaos? Those darned Republicans are evil! A quick look in the mirror might just reveal the budding of horns and the hint of a tail. Is that what we must become?
Exactly. He didn’t misspeak with regard to “‘nt” He misspoke when he said “No Collusion” but meant to say “No Conclusion”. It’s never-ending with this guy. One has to wonder if he isn’t wishing Congress would finally call his bluff.
Is there any doubt Hillary - as our legitimate POTUS - would have called out Putin on that stage?!
"Yet Trump’s not finished." Because Putin is not finished. Cowardly trump "is unwilling to call out Russian perfidy" because then Putin will call out trump perfidy, video tapes, bank records, tax filings, etc.
Trump insults his own country, America, from Helsinki in front of Putin and the world, now he continues to insult us as "stupid" again with his revised story. He already knows his base is full of fools and has the arrogance to treat everyone else who has not fallen for him as fools too.
How do you protect future elections when the colluder-in-chief is still colluding and conspiring against us? Indeed, trump already has his base of gun toting NRA (Nationalist Republican-Russian-Rifle Association) members for his militia to impose his martial law on all of us - no doubt including non-uniformed Russian troops embedded in his base to assist.
Did Putin give trump the same Russia friendship medal Tillerson got during their private time behind closed doors? This medal is "special" - it has a built in encrypted two way radio to coordinate martial law.
3
"Ornstein’s nightmare scenario: Trump fires Mueller, pardons himself and everyone else, sends his followers into the street, and, after the inevitable bloodshed, declares martial law."
There is an apocalyptic flavor to their white supremacy shtick. If they can't have what they want, they will burn it all to the ground. They want their unmerited white status and power. They are willing to break absolutely everything including our democracy. "Martial law:" I did not think that I would ever read that word in these pages. President Lincoln was quoting somebody else when he said you could fool some of the people all of the time. The present situation is unprecedented. This president has his own propaganda media conglomerate. Trump feeds the white supremacy shtick to his cult, and they adore him for it. Their rage and resentment are apocalyptic.
2
I think there's a difference this time: in Helsinki, Trump appeared to be cowering next to Putin on the international stage, actually dissing the US, and looking, well, kind of weak and pathetic. At a gut level, even for most Trump supporters, it must have been too much (i.e. what happened to America First?). Maybe it's wishful thinking, but Helsinki feels more like an "emperor has no clothes moment", at a basic common sense level. Moments like these can sometimes stick and become memorable, and define a presidency.
In all the other cases of Trump's disgusting blather, e.g. about women and immigrants, he was being aggressive and attacking others, always with a cruel macho xenophobic logic there which supporters could lap up. He'll get right back to that of course, but you can't call "fake news" on what he said live on air standing next to Putin. It probably won't be his actual downfall, but it may become a widening crack in his armor.
1
"declares martial law."... is not the end of the story. After martial law, all the hundreds of military bases in the 50 states become activated as an arm of the police state against the domestic "terrorists," and the F16s and A10s and Blackhawks and F35s etc etc all increasingly exist to keep American citizens and residents under the gun and eye. All the Jade Helm military war games on native soil and federal lands become applicable right here and Trump and the GOP get the control they have wanted since George the First and his minion Oliver North. C'mon folks, wake up. Resistance in the US will be met with unconstitutional force just like Trump's heroes: Assad, Putin, Erdogan, etc., Sounds paranoid? What do the people think all this national militarization is about? Protecting the Walmarts of America from a Chinese bombing? Hah.
4
I am not a Trump supporter, didn't vote for him. However, people continue to refer to Trump's base...perhaps it isn't his base so much as an enemy of my enemy is a friend. The Left has pushed society so far since the 1960s. The Left has done everything in its power to divide people along racial and economic lines...it is the Left themselves that are to blame...and guess what, it's what they wanted, so stop all the gnashing of teeth and false concern about "America". The Left's ideas are all illogical and they simply don't work outside of communist manifestos. They can only see the light of day due to force and fear.
3
No need to wait for Congress to do its job or for trump to declare martial law after pardoning himself and changing from dubiously elected president to dictator. It may be time for the U.S. military to intervene and stop the trainwreck! Somehow, trumps's destruction of the U.S. government institutions need to be stopped ASAP. He has been from the beginning a "clear and present danger" to this country and its people.
3
Most articles promoting the removal of Trump like this one fail to emphasize that Trump is only the figurehead of the national disease and not the primary source of America's national problem.
The monster created by the 2016 election was the large electorate that elected Trump, not just Trump himself.
After Trump is gone, this large, powerful, angry and poorly informed group of voters will still be available to elect the next Trump that comes along to manipulate their votes.
America has devolved past it's tipping point into a dangerously ignorant, racist, and violent know nothing country that has allowed it's poor educational system to undermine the reasonableness of the electorate.
When this happens to a nation it becomes nearly impossible to reverse the country's decline!
9
"What then? Ornstein’s nightmare scenario: Trump fires Mueller, pardons himself and everyone else, sends his followers into the street, and, after the inevitable bloodshed, declares martial law."
And, let's remember -- the army of Trump is well-armed and backed by the subversive NRA.
8
You seem to be forgetting one thing, Roger. No matter how eloquent or on target or righteously inflamed for good reason you and the rest of the columnists of the New York Times and other publications, what you say accomplishes nothing. Why? Because Trump's "base" does not care what you think. They do not read what you write or listen to you on TV. So far at least, they are swayed by Trump's crude showmanship no matter what.
In other words, why don't you start thinking about the limitations of so-called democracy? Whether or not Russia manipulated things, that ultimately makes no difference. Because since the rise of big-time corporate capitalism in the mid 19th century, this country has been bought and sold a hundred times over. Trump is only the most egregious of the lot. As such he represents what we might call "the end of Empire." Maybe the human race will come to its senses and something beyond the "-isms" will finally prevail.
All of these comments are touching on one item that until recently would not be thought of.
Martial law and civil violence. If this doesn't get people realizing how bad things are getting, then everyone's head is in the sand. ....or worse.
9
There is nothing ,nothing ,that Donald Trump isn't capable of when cornered.
4
And where are the Democrats? Why aren't they calling news conferences, tweeting and whatever else needs done to get the nation's attention. Have they given up? I am a lifelong Democrat and I expect our leaders to be raising hell frankly not the weenie pro forma responses I've heard so far! I can't do anything about the Republicans except vote them out next election BUT where are my Dems - hardly to be seen or heard as this maniac destroys the country I served most of my adult life! The Republicans aren't the only ones without a spine!
6
My god the histrionics are plumbing new depths of insanity.
Why does the NYT opinion page read like that weird uncle who ranted about Obama?
Its becoming ridiculous, its demeaning of this paper and its hard won established pedigree.
Publish the ranting somewhere like HuffPost or Brietbart, where partisan drivel is the norm and not America's paper of record.
2
@Mark F
Could not disagree more.
4
martial law is coming, soon! We are such suckers.
Russia is laughing their heads off.
Yours until Trumpie orders Kelly to move tanks and Blackhawks at Fort Belvioir to move up U,S.1 to park in front of federal buildings in D.C.
2
Pundits and Pros keep pontificating about kompromat via some pee tape. We have seen plainly that the GOP party is not the morally elevated party and the Trumpists are the hyporcrite's hypocrites. there is nothing low enough to make them be outraged at the shameless.
Many smart people here have been saying 'follow the $' for some time now. Trump is on the hook for laundering a large 9 figure number to international outlaws and he knows that it is prison for the rest of his life...that's the kompromat. Not some pee tape. thus, no tax filings, no collusion, blah, blah, 'whatever you want, Vlad from the bully-in-chief. Mueller gets the money laundering evidence cold and Trump goes to prison. Putin holds it over his head and ours until then...oh, but the dark money got darker so that's great too.
2
Comey in January 2017 revealed that the RNC servers and other GOPers computers were also hacked, but nothing leaked. This was revealed in testimony before a congressional committee.
It's time to revisit that revelation, and connect the timeline following said revelation.
Lot's of inexplicable behaviors would suddenly become explicable.
The whole GOP, not just Trump, may be acting in fear of Putin.
9
Mr.Trump may not be done yet but what he has done may come back to bite him and harm us.He has met one on one with Mr.Kim in North Korea and with Mr.Putin in Helsinki.He has promised these dictators some things.He has appeased Kim by cancelling military exercises.We will soon discover what he has said to appease his friend, Putin.
1
Can someone take that doggone cellphone from him or prevent him from tweeting? This is how he communicates with his minions and the press blasts every word he tweets. If we could prevent access to his communication device, we might prevent him from calling the minions to arms.
I cannot begin to express the outrage I feel at those who have the responsibility to protect this country from such a threat and who instead, sit on their hands to try and wait it out or protect their hands on the levers of power. We cannot accept this as a people and the minority must use every tool and means of leverage to force accountability. I cannot accept that we have a Congress that is complicit with our slide into dictatorship and fall from grace. In the end, I still cling on to hope and that we will turn this around and be a better nation because we have learned from this. It will take a real commitment to loosen the grip of power from those who do not choose to serve the people but their moneyed masters instead but we must if we are to survive. This is no joke and we are witnessing a crisis that has been brewing for years thanks to our Republican and more than a few Democrat friends and their rich benefactors who have bought themselves the best government a plutocrat can buy. They were not prepared for a real con man with the ability and help from friends to coop their game on steroids to rise to the office of POTUS. They have made their deal with the devil and we are the ones who are suffering for it. It is time for them to be held accountable and pay for their transgressions by being voted out and punished by all legal means necessary. VOTE and take our country back. Make our reps go ON FOX and provide trith. Call out FOX news for their propaganda every day.
2
"Trump fires Mueller, pardons himself and everyone else, sends his followers into the street, and, after the inevitable bloodshed, declares martial law."
He will never declare "martial law" as there is no such thing. He knows well the aphorism of the frog remaining in the pot as long as the temperature is raised slowly enough, eventual the frog of liberal democracy dies without a sound.
The solution is, paradoxically, easing off the contempt for those Republicans who are not able to overtly resist this slow motion coup. Senator Rubio looked like he was in pain when the criticized Trump's Helsinki collusion of fostering an alliance with a despot. Rubio's body language was a plea that he be welcomed into a political aggregation that would support him in his sharp break with, not only Trump, but those who, like himself, can't jump into the abyss.
If there is to be a break among the Republican Senators, and it only takes a few, the Democratic party must accommodate and welcome them.
In fact it is just logical to assume that Trump cannot attack Putin because he did accept his help and meddling in the process. He did call explicitly for Russian interference, asking in front of cameras for Russian hackers to intervene against his rival. But he could always say that this was just figurative speech, protected by the first amendment. What he certainly could not dismiss is a disclosure- by Putin in person supported perhaps by recordings taken during their "private" meetings - that he accepted and supported in no uncertain terms the Russian interference. So, now if he goes publicly attacking Putin, with the man on his side, for interfering with the elections, Putin would simply retaliate and expose Trump. It is not a good idea to denounce an accomplice when the accomplice can denounce you back! But now, if this is where we have arrived at, let it be the Republican responsibility to clean up the mess and repudiate the insane person that they brought to the helm of our country. Because I am sure that Republicans know that they will be eventually his collateral damage.
I'm no Trump supporter, but Russia also doesn't seem like the boogeyman that America's older generation see them as. Looking at the World Cup 2018, the 2014 Sochi Olympics, and most of the Russians I see here in America I would come to the conclusion that Russians are nice normal people. The Communist Threat doesn't seem legitimate any longer, and maybe Trump sees this and just wants to normalize relations with Russia for real.
3
The test will come in November. If the Democrats win a significant victory, will Trump and the Republicans try to invalidate the election to hold on the. power. So far, the Republican establishment has abdicated their role as a check on this incompetent and probably criminal administration.
REPUBLICANS COME BACK TO AMERICA'S DEMOCRATIC VALUES!
1
The core of the Republican Party is their elected officials. The voting "core" is a mix max of loyal,but ignorant followers of the carefully designed promises made to lure the easily lured. What this means is that the Party is really a rather flimsy compound of dreamers whose shattered dreams will mean the end to an elitist party with no public soul.
Is this finally a call to arms, Roger? What if the declaration of martial law is preceded by a Presidential Order prohibiting those likely to rebel (e.g. Democrats) from owning guns? Maybe you should give a listen to Gordon Lightfoot's "Black Day in July", about the 1967 riots in Detroit:
"In the Office of the President,
the deed is done the troops are sent.
There's really not much choice you see,
it looks to us like anarchy.
And then the tanks go rolling in,
patch things up as best they can.
There is no time to hesitate,
the speech is made - the dues can wait."
1
Trump plays to his base. But he fails to understand their limits. The very people that provided him with an Electoral College victory are also very patriotic and really do put America first. It' not just a a slogan to them..they'll support the person who really does, in fact, put America first...not just in words but actions. Some may be unemployed or under employed and have (or had) hope Trump would reopen factories, bring manufacturing home, reignite our use of coal ( even though natural gas is in abundance in the US and ready for export) increase military spending, provide them with cheap and affordable healthcare that they can chose to buy or not without penalty, and regulate immigration but their patience is being tested. Their support is really contingent on results. This isn't some abstract thing to them that can be discussed in theoretical terms around a conference table. Trump strategically and literally marketed himself to them as their knight in shining armor. And they made a bet on him...and so far they are losing. Trump, for all his bloviating, misspeaking, double negative, woulds and wouldn't is failing them in practical and measurable terms.
Eventually the Republican Party will wake up and see that Trump is their inept nemesis. Not being able to produce real domestic results that will improve their lives now is easily measured. Internationally, his playing footsy with Putin is abhorrent for the leader of the free world..and won't be easily forgotten.
1
Putin has obviously turned Trump into an agent of the Russian government. The reason is simple: he wants to create a United States - Russia mutual defence alliance in order to counter the coming Chinese juggernaut. He believes that combining the nuclear arsenals of both nation's, he will have control of a military capability too big to challenge.
It is easy to see that Putin has been massaging Trump for years. Trump is susceptible to puffery and grandiose visions in which he is the star. What more appealing pitch than "Donald, it is foolish of us to spend our wealth fighting each other, when our mutual enemies are the masses of southern Invaders and the Chinese. If we enter a defense treaty, you will be the Commander in Chief of the most unimaginable firepower in the history of the world - the ultimate."
Trump repeats this rationale for cooperation daily. He is steering the US towards this position inexorably. The coming break with NATO is part and parcel.
The GOP Congress will permit this because they received over $60M in NRA ads in 2016, which were just as targeted as Trump's. It's why they held the Senate. And they know it's money from Russia and the richest man in the world, Putin. They will do nothing to protect the ballot this year because they need to win both houses at all cost.
This is the end of the American Experiment. Billionaires buy our government at all levels, which will be dictatiorial in suppressing the peasantry.
9
For Trump, everything is about him all the time. He fits our national character because Americans see the world as all about us. So now Trump is the big bogey man. As bad as he is, he is just a tool in a global game: this is a Corporate - and Multinational Corporations are the new international powers - takeover of the USA aided and abetted by the current Republican Party, many individual Democrat politicians and so-called Libertarians who don’t see the bigger picture.
We have corrupt former CEO’s or Corporate lapdogs running our Federal Agencies and Cabinet Departments. The NRA crowd does the bidding of the arms manufacturers while screaming about a Second Amendment they have apparently never read (the adjective “regulated” is integral). One of the fastest growing private industries in America are detention centers for immigrant children and families - jails for kids whose parents have committed a misdemeanor. And a Congress that crows about having just passed one of the biggest (Corporate) tax cuts in our history.
Meanwhile, the propaganda machine known as Fox “News” is only part of a huge multinational media empire owned by an Australian, a media empire which besides helping elect Trump and a GOP Congress here also facilitated Brexit in Great Britain.
So while Trump is probably everything his critics say he is, it’s no surprise he sides with oligarch Putin over the USA. The bigger picture and real danger is looming worldwide Corporate fascism.
1
Moving the center of governmental authority from elected representatives to the wealthiest few has been a Republican goal for decades. Different phrasings of this might be to call their goal a wish for a smaller government, or the normalization of corruption, or the establishment of, ultimately, a kleptocratic dictatorship along the lines of Russia or North Korea. Trump is the latest agent of this hoped-for transformation.
His antics in Helsinki were the slip of another tooth in the ratchet of abnormal behavior. We are becoming - by design - inured to the parade of outrageous acts perpetrated by Trump, and we are a long way from the end of it. There is much worse to come, and the Republicans will do nothing to prevent it.
Republicans are using the democratic process to destroy democracy.
"Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." quoted(?) by Churchill, 1947
.
".... and sends his followers into the street..", presumably armed and ready to shoot. There is another term that comes into play: Sedition. Civil war, anyone? Will the "decent Republicans" then stand behind the armed yahoos? I think we already know the answer, i.e., that there are no decent Republicans any more. This is all about an insane obsession, shared by the yahoos and the Republicans, with power. I certainly hope it doesn't come to this sedition and resistance scenario, but it's not out of the question, and our democracy stands in the balance.
4
Chilling and true. We must stop him and his cabal before it's too late. November cannot get here quick enough.
Trump fires Mueller, pardons himself and everyone else, sends his followers into the street, and, after the inevitable bloodshed, declares martial law.---Martial Law? In the United States? Because of Trump? This is fear mongering at is most outrageous. Who are these followers that will take to the streets for Trump? I know people that voted for Trump because they are conservative, but they would not walk across the street to "support" him.
After Helsinki Trump is probably picking up speed on the road to martial law. While everybody is focused on 'would,wouldn't' not one word about what was discussed during the 2 hour secret meeting. Why is that? The administration and repub congresspeople should be cheering what was accomplished. They should be all over tv lauding the President for a job well done. They can't of course, because no one except the dictator in chief knows what road they are going down.
Why does everybody assume that we're even going to have mid-term elections in November? This past week feels like the roller coaster we have been riding up the hill for 18 months crested the top and is picking up speed very quickly to God only knows where.
3
Wow. I didn't know so many conspiracy theorists, left and right, read the New York Times! For a moment I thought I had inadvertently strayed onto another website. These comments supply more evidence for historian Richard Hofstadter's argument that American politics too often evinces a "paranoid style."
2
"Ornstein’s nightmare scenario: Trump fires Mueller, pardons himself and everyone else, sends his followers into the street, and, after the inevitable bloodshed, declares martial law."
Or, my "nightmare scenario"...
Antifa further suppresses free speech at campuses throughout the nation, and there are no diverse voices except that of progressivespeak, such as "intersectional politics." No commencement speakers or recruiters permitted except those who parrot the party line. School textbooks follow suit, such as in the American Library Associations' recent banning of "Little House on the Prairie," for containing language which does not pass today's "sensibilities test." Air Traffic Controllers stand watch over horrific air disasters which reduce air travel because controllers no longer pass competitive tests instead relying on "diversity background" as a new standard of employment in technical fields.
And social media, which pervades American life, follows suit by eliminating comments which make others (progressives) feel "uncomfortable."
And the Left embraces socialism and plots its revenge to destroy what remains of American institutions following Trump.
Or is that happening now? I'm heading over to the Red Hen for a bite to eat and figure this out.
5
The Republicans are so very close to their goal. The 50-year long Grand Conservative Project is nearly complete. With only a few months to go. Of course they won't turn on the man. Their sponsors would be furious.
9
Mr. Trump's comment about emails, “I think, in Russia, they wouldn’t be gone so easily." was troubling to me. Even putting aside the falseness of his premise that THIS is the issue that imperils U.S. democracy, the remark had a sinister overtone of unfettered authoritarianism. I heard it as a reference to Hillary Clinton herself as much as to her emails, and I sensed a faint overtone of approval for a state where the authorities can shackle opponents. I wonder if anyone else had a similar reaction.
14
There are two related effect operating in this country to enable the Trump disaster:
1) The decades long initiatives be the far right through the propaganda machines of talk radio, Fox News, and the like;
2) The inexorable process to increase the influence of money on the political process, including unlimited lobbying, campaign financing, media manipulation including the afore mentioned propaganda.
Not surprisingly, money seems to be a dominant root cause. People of good will in other democracies have limited the effects of money. In the US, not so much.
8
Why is pushback against the leftward charge that has been going on since FDR considered extreme? This country did very well, perhaps it’s best, without social programs.
2
No, he's not nearly done. Once he has the Supreme Court firmly in his pocket, expect the start of a campaign to overturn presidential term limits. After all, the people love him, the people want him, the people deserve him. And all of the rulers he admires find away to have themselves declared leader for life. Get ready, it's coming.
18
I could see Roger Cohen’s nightmare martial law scenario playing out a bit further and leading to a related conclusion. In the end, after Mr. Trump finishes destroying the institutions of our democratic system of government to try to save himself and with the acquiescence of an absent legislative branch composed in majority of Trump’s fellow travelers, the US military and security services would refuse to acquiesce in a surrender of the nation by the chief executive to their long term arch enemy the Russians. Instead, they might just remove the chief executive or impose a military junta. Either way, American democracy and the American way of life will have perished, ironically having been voted out of existence and left undefended by the other co-equal civilian branches of government. By that time concern over the extinction of government of the people, by the people and for the people will be muted and considered of lesser importance due to the violent convulsions and existential military confrontations exploding across the planet in the anarchy left by Mr. Trump’s destruction of the American made multilateral international order.
3
Trump was already suggesting in August 2016 that if Hilary Clinton were elected in a “rigged” election that maybe “ the Second Amendment people could do something...” Since being elected he has expressed unconditional support for the NRA and for “deep state” conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones and has continued to hammer home the threat that a Democrat administration would be coming to confiscate private citizens’ guns. In all this he is continuously and reliably aided and abetted by Fox News and a largely supine Congress. He has also spent his year and a half in office trying to discredit our Intelligence agencies, the Justice Department and the mainstream media.
When I watch Trump stoking the fist-pumping anger on display at his rallies and know that Trump encourages his diehard supporters to regard those who criticize him as “foes” and “enemies” I no longer find the kind of scenario Roger Cohen describes at the end of this piece as far fetched. It becomes more plausible by the day with this unhinged man in charge.
16
The center of American political power does not reside in its elected officials. There was a period, beginning in the Second World War, and fading out in the eighties, where the size of the military-industrial complex made Government more important. Central bureaucracy, on the military model, was seen as the best way to address other issues in society. Tax money made Congressmen relevant.
However, what we’re seeing now has been business as usual for most of America’s history. Small government serving as a tool for rich men, and damage to the natural environment pushed onto poor men and their families. Martial law has always been part of this, as seen in the long record of attacks on trade unionists (as in the Colorado Miners Strike) and, if we’re honest about it, in the complicity of local authorities in lynchings and other forms of oppression.
In practical terms, a large number of people in the country are already subject to martial law, which is really just the arbitrary exercise of authority without legal restraint. There is no need for the government to declare it more generally, nor, unfortunately, would it make much difference for many people if they did.
9
It's hard to fathom all that's going on in front of our eyes everyday with this administration and the Republicans who support it. It's harder still to fathom what might be going on that we have no access to. So is it possible that the president instigates chaos and declares martial law to protect himself? Is it also possible that if the president goes down, he skips town and leaves chaos behind? Well, sure it is. Nothing seems beyond him.
9
That martial law is Trump's goal has been clear in his constant, open embrace and admiration for dictators. What can we do? Everyone keeps saying vote, but if there is a vote, will the suppression be relentless, the electronic voting machines compromised. If there is a vote -- Trump doesn't want the 2020 election to happen. What did he say when the Chinese president declared himself president for life. He stated that he liked that.
When someone tells you who they are, believe them the first time. Trump has hidden NOTHING about who he is and what he intends. Saying that citizens can vote is not enough now. Congressional Republicans must decide to do their jobs -- even if it means losing their jobs -- or go down in history as the men who sold out the American experiment.
14
I've often thought we could benefit from an American Franco who could clean up the mainstream media and the universities. Most folks on the Right won't admit this, but it becomes easier once one recognizes that America isn't magically exempt from the same forces that shaped all humans throughout history.
In one of Pat Robertson's books he mentioned how happy people were under Pinochet in Chile--he saw couples walking hand-in-hand on the beach, enjoying ice cream. Most people don't have to fear living under authoritarian regimes, unless they agitate as part of the opposition. Life will go on, and even improve in many areas, for the average person.
1
No thank you.
4
@Luther Sloan - HUH??!!! Wow, just wow!!! One of the most unbelievably horrible and frightening posts I have ever read. Unless it is in jest. Yes, that must be it. I couldn't be a serious post, ... could it?
6
Wow. Thanks for checking in.
4
Trump won because of illegal immigration. He can be defeated easily. The Democratic Party just needs to defend the rule of law and stop fighting, exclusively, on behalf of illegal economic migrants.
The Democratic Party, and the left, will never moderate their positions in regards to illegal immigration. Because of that Trump will maintain power.
The left has created this problem. The left says anyone who has an issue with illegal economic migrants is an enemy. They have created an army of Trump supporters by doing so.
The choices are clear- if the Democrats gain power we will have open borders and tens of millions of illegal economic migrants will enter the country and be given citizenship. If Trump maintains power the rule of law in regards to illegal immigration will be maintained.
Tens of millions of citizens, of good will, will choose Trump because the alternative is chaos and tens of millions of illegal economic migrants.
1
This is exactly why the framers were dead set against political parties. The safeguards built into an independent Congress are ineffective when that Congress is ruled by partisan tribalism. Here are the tragic results.
9
Because of the media and Democrat party hysteria after Trump's idiotic press conference, very few are talking about two major backhand smacks Trump gave Putin last week.
Trump's instance that NATO countries increase their defense spending to 2% of GDP is actively leading these countries to increase defense spending. Who is NATO defending against? Russia of course. Smack #1.
Trump is now negotiating selling natural gas to Germany and other European countries in a direct economic attack against Russia who presently supplies large amounts of oil and gas to Europe. Smack #2.
In fact Trump has smacked down Putin more in less than 2 years than the prior two administrations did in 16 years. Examples include arming Ukraine with anti-tank and other weapons, bombing Syria twice, sending two destroyers into the Red Sea, deploying troops and weapons to Poland's eastern border, expelling Russian diplomats and expediting the supplying of missle defense systems to Romania and the Check Republic.
If you judge Trump based on actions and not his words you will understand the foolishness and ignorance of implying Trump is somehow beholden to Trump.
1
Utterly depressing and I agree with every word of this article. Ultimately, if the tin-soldier, congressional Republicans are not replaced en masse come November, then I shudder to think of what will happen to democracy in the U.S.
7
I hope those Republicans who are not so much of his base (primarily older white people and working class) but held their nose and voted for Trump because of tax cuts and dismantling of the social safety net, are now happy with their thirty pieces of silver they gain by electing a man who is in process tearing down our democracy.
He admires Russia because it’s run by rich thugs, which I believe he wants for this country.
He dislikes NATO/ European Union countries because they are liberal democracies and have strong social safety nets.
The Republican Party is America’s Judas.
23
Unfortunately we find ourselves in a pattern where trump does something reprehensible, and we react, and then nothing happens. We are unable to act. In my opinion this is because we have drifted so far from the law of the jungle [which is in most cases , a good thing]. In the natural world when trump insisted that Obama was African born and a secret Muslim, with no evidence ,there would've been consequences. He would've been castigated by society and deported. Instead we not only tolerated it but paid attention to it and trump rode this wave to the presidency. After that, it's been one debacle after another. Monday was horrible. Now we are returning to normal. The stock market is good. This is an unfortunate pattern. The question remains, what, if anything will happen? Will there actually be any consequences? We allowed a can of worms to be opened by being entertained when we should've been vigilant. Perhaps it doesn't matter.
2
Let's admit it, Right Wing Christians are aiding and abetting this behavior. It is time for these people to take a serious look at themselves and see that they have been used by this president and their own beliefs. Religion is a useful tool to advance authoritarian ideology as it divides people into different groups and you can always vilify the "other" group as justification.
12
Trump couldn't form a simple declarative sentence on any topic if you spotted him 25 words, punctuation, two Pulitzer Prize winning journalists, and a skilled and experienced editor. His brain would still interrupt the pathway between a vague idea and its articulation. The man is incapable of a well formed, coherent thought. Listening to him speak or attempting to read his tweets makes my head hurt and my eyes weep.
13
If martial law were to be imposed, what will all the NRA/2d Amendment types do when the military confiscates their guns? Or, does the military confiscated guns selectively, as in those belonging to those in the opposition? These are not rhetorical questions, which is in and of itself pretty shocking that it’s come to this. I’m sick of the gun obsession in this country, but should I learn to handle one if they come for me?!
12
Darned right you should.
1
Anyone who still believes the Vote will save them has their head in the sand. The anti-democratic Trump and his Trumpsters and the Republicans will not just hand over power to those they consider non-Americans. They'd never get it back.
The tremulous 80 year-oldster Democrat leadership has no plan at all - their future is not your future - soon they'll be asleep for good.
4
This, to my knowledge, is the best statement about the danger posed by martial law, from Justice David Davis, who wrote the U.S. Supreme Court opinion in Ex Parte Milligan, in which the Court ruled against Abraham Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus during the Civil War:
"This nation, as experience has proved, cannot always remain at peace, and has no right to expect that it will always have wise and humane rulers sincerely attached to the principles of the Constitution. Wicked men, ambitious of power, with hatred of liberty and contempt of law, may fill the place once occupied by Washington and Lincoln, and if this right is conceded, and the calamities of war again befall us, the dangers to human liberty are frightful to contemplate."
3
Not yet. Not yet. But soon. Count on it.
9
We are Trump's supporters, as opposed to the Left having been Obama and Hillary's enablers, because we connect the trade war, the corporate tax break, the attempt to limit the illegal immigration labor oversupply,, and his administration's action to expand apprenticeships to increase access to STEM education for K-12, and working to pass the new Perkins Career and Technical Education bill.
He will sign an executive order that will establish the National Council for the American Worker to develop a national strategy for training and retraining for industries in need of high-skilled workers. It seeks to accomplish a great deal more, including a national database of available jobs, their locations, their required skills, and the location of training for those very positions. It will encourage careers in the technology, manufacturing and the skilled trades.
This is a combined approach to help citizens escape poverty, and business escape a skilled labor shortage.
Incessant repetition of Trump's verbalisms, each with only the Left's interpretation--never a balanced report--certainly has convinced its adherents that this president is the worst thing to have befallen the nation since unsliced bread. Not only is this never compared with the criminal acts of Hillary and many in the Obama administration (not words, but actual illegal acts), but also it is never balanced by a summary of his goals and achievements--or even a connection-of- the- dots analysis.
Because this has an impact on the industry I am in...
Not new (Perkins) just updated, reauthorized, and strengthened - keeping up with modernity
Look to 1984 (Reagan) for the beginning
Reauthorized in 1998 (Clinton)
The reauthorized and renamed, which made it new in 2006 (Bush)
Extended through 2012 (Obama)
Strengthened in 2016 (Obama)
Updated in 2017 (Trump)
Reauthorized in 2018 (Trump)
Credit where (all) credit is due
1
Hillary was correct, they truly are DEPLORABLE.
Seriously.
21
The republicans in Congress are cowards, they won't do the right thing because they're afraid that they'll lose the next election if they do. Shame on them, not a patriot in the bunch.
6
Roger, brilliant column, just the right facts and tone. Except for your last sentence which needs a slight edit: "...and sends his ARMED followers into the street...." The blindest of the trump cult members have personal arsenals, courtesy of 30 years of loosening gun restrictions and especially the SCOTUS Heller decision. The anti-trump protestors do not have arms, or if they do, they leave them at home before going into public, or use them for hunting or target shooting. I will be there, as I would rather fight than surrender. but I will be putting myself in harms way. Dangerous times indeed.
6
As long as open borders drive down the wages of working and middle class people, as long as, plutocrats make billions out of moving jobs abroad, as long as, the corrosive divisive rhetoric of identity politics is pushed down people's throats by the Democrats, Trump and others like him will win office.
1
Illegals are doing jobs that would otherwise go unfilled; not taking from the middle class. The plutocrats you describe are Trump supporters - exhibit A being the tax cuts which allowed multinationals to bring home funds earned overseas (by exporting jobs) at super favorable tax rates. What u call identity politics I would call equal rights for all.
3
Finally, finally, finally - someone is calling a spade a spade.
We are rather rapidly headed to an era of authoritarianism (maybe martial law) in some form. People wearing all sorts of uniforms (military, police, religious garb, far right regalia, local and regional militia, and other garb of neo-patriots) are poised to plain scare the living daylights of people who are on the "bad" list, without a peep from the people on the "good" list. Video cameras are not preventing police from shooting anyone.
I do see people in vehicles with decals of green frogs, waving Dixie flags, drive by slowly, menacingly in crowded places. "Watch out, we are coming to get you."
The administration has labeled them "decent" and encouraged them. Half of America feels more kinship with Russian nationalists and Putin than they do with their neighbors. Half of America would love for a fully authoritarian regime to keep the other half in its appropriate place (gone, six feet under, or subservient).
The triumph of republicans is not just their highly effective stimulation and organization of ethnic nationalists of all stripes, but they have succeeded in turning one identifiable against others. It is brilliant; something that previous stalwarts like Nixon could not deliver.
The people on the "good" list will plain look away, and scurry off. It is not their problem. At least, not today. Even the Roman republic devolved into imperial Rome; why would we be spared?
3
As with so many other issues, Trump is more of a symptom than a cause. The enduring issue is political parties. Our Founders intended the Legislative branch to be a check on the Executive branch. I doubt the Founders would have approved of a system where the same team (aka "party") is able to control the Executive and Legislative branches of government. All of our complaints and protests and "resistance' means little if this unhealthy scenario continues to be possible.
9
@MatthewSchenker
Do you whistle the same tune when your party is in power--or even recognize that the Republicans in Congress are divided over many issues?
I've been predicting that exact thing since he took office. No one gins up the unstable, gun toting, misinformed right wingers better than trump. He speaks their language because his vocabulary is about 1000 words total, so they don't have to guess what he's saying, he says it very plainly. It's all black and white to him and them. Either with us or against us. Trump supporters are, however fundamentally cowards. Sure they'll go try to shoot up a pizza parlor to prove that Hillary was trafficking kids. They'll shoot up schools to show how tough they are against a bunch of unarmed kids. But when trump orders the military into the streets to murder everyone and anyone who disagrees with him, will they stand by as their neighbors, colleagues, and occasionally friends and family are murdered?
9
@snarkqueen
will they stand by? you ask?
Yep, very likely. Many examples throughout history. We are no different. Or rather they are no different. People, sadly, do have a large capacity for outright evil under the "right" circumstances. We are entering those circumstances.
6
@snarkqueen
Your moniker, "snarkqueen" is more than just a little appropriate. I don't happen to know a single Trump supporter who had shot up a pizza parlor--at least, not lately.
As for ordering the military to murder" everyone and anyone in the street who disagrees with him," one might question your sanity--or at least your sources of information. You need to get a grip on the alternative reality to you own.
I've wondered what on earth financier/connector Elliott Broidy is doing with paramilitary forces of his own. Is this simply another business venture? Could it be preparation for a martial law state -- a state where it might not be so certain that the American military would back Trump?
9
Trump's behavior has nothing to do with a narrow base: it's based on a very detailed, well-developed plan to keep most Americans distracted on Trump's endless rants and circus clown acts. The behind the scene cabal is getting things done: appoint right-wing judges, keep obscenely high levels of defense spending to enrich big corporations, give tax-cuts to the top 10%, slowly decimate programs that benefit the middle-class, and continue the aggressive attacks on voting rights of people who may prevent the right-wing machine from keeping Congress under their control. Many of the above already done under Trump, others will continue unabated.
13
KISS KISS BANG BANG I don't want to believe that that's where our democracy is headed. Kiss up to the dictators and bang down the gavel on those who support democracy. Mueller's departure is NOT the endgame That comes when the New York court finds Trump guilty of NY statutes, from which he CANNOT pardon himself. I'm not so ready to concede defeat. And I don't see martial law. The NY Attorney General could expedite the trial for Trump's alleged financial crimes there. That would be a good way to bring things to heel this summer! What I want to watch is the public response that members of Congress will face during their August recess. There's NOT going to be any great silent majority out there!
5
@John Jones
I think when you read an article with "martial law" in the title it's time to reflect in earnest where we are at. Cohen is not some ranting, hair-on-fire pundit. So when you imagine NYS is going to take "trump" out, it's time to think about that in this context: would "trump" even allow that to happen? Or would he have shut things down by that point?
Ultimately it will come down to physical force. It will be him or us.
3
@John Jones
I admire your forthrightness: you want Trump gone so badly that any old thing will suffice. If he goes, you know, a whole bunch of initiatives will begin to fall apart, including job growth and opportunities for women whose unemployment rate has not been this low since 1953. But never mind, Trump bragged in a private locker-room conversation about how women allowed him to grab their privates, so how can actual jobs compare with locker room banter? Then there is the rate of unemployment for blacks also the lowest since 1973. Democrats will have to keep repeating he's a racist pretty consistently to convince newly hired minorities that what he is doing to help them join the working world again or or the first time is racism. His present initiative is another example of the application of intelligence to helping our citizens prepare themselves for existing jobs that require skills they do not yet have: a national database for jobs, their location, the skills they require, where to find training for those very jobs. Look for him to sign the executive order on Monday. On Thursday, there will be a signed pledge to train, re-skill and educate our citizens. Fifteen associations and companies will sign it, committing to expand apprenticeships and to increases training while on the job. The stated goal is to have a chance for every American to move up from entry-level jobs through training and initiative.
In my view, Trump's is making Americans great again.
Is Trump the secular helpmate to Dominionism (because it will profit his personal agenda), or am I now giving in to ridiculous paranoia; that has never been a part of my (longish) life before?
2
I think martial law is completely in the picture - and may occur when people hit the streets if it turns out that the mid-term elections were tampered with. It seems inevitable at some point, given the two factions here in the country.
7
There's little doubt Trump would do anything in his power or more to keep his office. Would people actually take to the streets? No, I don't think so no matter how much Trump encourages that behavior. But Roger is correct that there are few Republicans wiling to take him on in Congress and exactly for the reason mentioned. He's a useful idiot. In fact he's a lot of people's useful idiot, including Putin. Impeach.
4
We have repeatedly seen, after every startling criminal revelation, from sexual abuse, sexual harassment, stock manipulation, racism, all forms of discrimination, and now possible treason, that the perpetrator is only a part of the problem.
Criminal activity cannot last unless the rest of the system is complicit. We have seen how many workplaces overlooked sexual harassment and gender discrimination. We have seen how many schools and churches allowed sexual abuse.
Now, we have the Republicans. They are not only covering and allowing for racist, fascist behavior, they have decided that their money and power is much more important than democracy. They have instigated voter suppression laws, practiced Gerrymandering to an extreme, ignored the Constitution in the Senate, and in many State Houses. Trump is only the result of all of those behaviors. They tolerate him as long as they can sue him.
To change that we have to vote them out, while we still can vote!
14
Trump's road to martial law. Yup, paved by Barack Obama who rescinded habeas corpus quietly on Dec. 31, 2011 tucked away in the National Defense Authorization Act. It even gives the president the power to say who is an enemy combatant and thereby be killed via a military strike. Yes, I know, quiet scary. But the left was put to sleep by the cordial and well-mannered Obama, so no objection, as with much of the horrible stuff he did like using the arcane 1918 Espionage Act to jail a record number of reporters and their sources. Only now do people seem to have awaken to what he has handed to a guy like Trump, an unstable authoritarian who now has this incredible power.
@FXQ It's not quite that simple. The recent attacks on Habeas Corpus started in the post 9-11 era, particularly in 2005 under the administration of George W Bush. In 2007. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales took the position that Habeas Corpus is not granted by the constitution. After the Supreme Court ruled the Military Commissions Act of 2006 unconstitutional because it did suspend Habeas Corpus, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007, 11-8, over the dissenting votes of every Republican except one. In 2009. President Obama issued an executive order stating that Guantanamo detainees had the right of Habeas Corpus. In Dec, 2011, the Senate voted 60-38 to not pass an NDAA amendment that would have prohibited the US Military from picking up and holding civilians, including American citizens, anywhere in the world, and subjecting them to indefinite detention with no right of trial, etc.
Basically, Habeas Corpus died somewhere along a circuitous path in the years since 2001, because of American hysteria over the 9-11 attacks and subsequent terrorist activity, because of changes in the Supreme Court membership which have effectively removed it as a check on unlimited Presidential power, and because the Congressional majority is only willing to exercise oversight if the President is not from their political party.
Nothing so corrupts good intentions as holding virtually unchecked absolute power.
1
@WR You may want to check out an article from the Intercept, Nov. 11, 2016. Explains better than I can what Obama did to pave this road and how the Democrats enabled him to do it. But Obama did sign into law the indefinite detention of Americans by the military, much to the dismay of civil rights and constitutional scholars, and was the subject of a scathing editorial by the NYT editorial board. The point being that Obama did so much, and so little as in the lack of prosecuting those that tortured and the sealing of the Senate's investigative report on torture, that he really paved this scary landscape that is now inhabited by a truly unhinged and authoritarian president.
Why are right wingers arming themselves to the teeth? They say they are afraid of martial law and are preparing to fight it, but in reality they are preparing to be the paramilitary that supports a right wing, autocratic government by terrorizing and killing opponents. It’s not just the way it worked in Latin America, it’s how we’ve done it here. Was the KKK anti or pro government? Do the anti abortion advocates shoot politicians or doctors? The guns in the hands of civilians will be turned on civilians.
And that’s why we can expect some assassinations if impeachment or investigations become a threat to Trump. He suggested that Clinton could be killed if she won. I don’t think Trump need say anything though.
11
I know Sinclair Lewis's novel, It Can't Happen Here, has been invoked many times before, but it still has lessons that could be learned. One of the most relevant points is how Windrip, the autocrat in the novel, declares Congress an advisory body, and incarcerates them. Trump does not have to even take this gigantic step, Congress has abdicated without any coercion. The only hope is a sweeping reversal of Congressional power in the midterms. Short of that, we are very close to a takeover of representative democracy. And remember, most Trump supporters are heavily armed. Volvos and gated communities are not bullet-proof. If you are not willing to organize and resist today, you had better stock up on Chardonnay and old copies of the New Yorker, and perhaps cyanide.
14
Only when Trump is defeated will he blame Russian interference.
3
It is no exaggeration that you should be prepared for this eventuality.
12
We probably shouldn't be too surprised with a simmering base that's been marinating on extremist AM radio and Fox hysteria for decades. Trump's base will continue to wag the right wing congress until they're hopefully sent home to their smoldering districts in November and then a final purge in 2020. But, should your Mueller firing scenario occur, then my sincere hope is that Mueller and Comey team up and make a run for president in 2020. As a democrat I'd vote for these two honorable republicans without hesitation. Mueller/Comey 2020!
5
While it is certainly true that Trump supporting Republicans have willfully denied the horror of what is happening and enthusiastically participated in perpetrating the lies designed to justify the direction Trump is taking the country, not enough is being said about our Democratic leaders.
Where is the Democrat ready to fall on her/his sword and risk their political career for the good of the country? I am not seeing it. What I am seeing is a conventional approach to a wholly unconventional threat. The old guard of Democrats have presided over the loss of every facet of our government, yet you have Pelosi trying to again become speaker, Feinstein (who famously said Trump could be a good president) at 85 running for a sixth term and Schumer on his fourth term. Where is the accountability on the part of Democratic leaders for their failed leadership that contributed to this calamity? And why do democratic voters keep supporting them?
6
The captivating title of this article poses a serious question we all must ask ourselves. Are we really so scared of the government that we control? We choose our own path in this country and for some reason the people have lost belief in that idea. This article is a prime example of the propaganda pushed by mainstream media, playing on people's fear to create a platform in which you permeate your own biases. If this trash talking, fear mongering rhetoric is what the NY Times has come to, consider me unsubscribed.
1
If martial law would clean out the cesspool of our so-called main-stream media, then let the process begin.
1
Robert, it seems you misspoke. Surely you meant, "the cesspool of the Trump administration."
3
Trump is the US's Caligula. Do the Republican need him to appoint a horse as Chief of Staff before they act to impeach him? Hasn't he done enough already?
6
@Vince Did you know that Either affectionately or mockingly, Germanicus' troops called the boy “Caligula,” meaning “Little Boots” or “Booties.” The nickname stuck. Trump has gained the nick name "bone spurs" also due to feet problems. Both seem to be somewhat crazy.
1
It's important for Americans to understand who supports this president's actions. Here are some quotes from a sustaining member of the white nationalist site Stormfront reacting to the Putin Trump meeting Monday:
"Most of the "issues" between America and Russia have been manufactured by the Jewish Enemy of the World. What is now happening is a nightmare scenario for the Jewish Globalists -- a potential alliance between a Nationalistic America and a Nationalistic Russia."
From another post from this Stormfront sustaining member reviewing the Putin Trump meeting: "In the above news conference, both Trump and Putin said it went very well. They discussed at some length the various issues -- Syria, Iran, Ukraine, Crimea, North Korea, the Witch Hunt. Trump said they would continue to meet -- in order to develop a good relationship, solve on-going problems, and prevent hostility between the two countries. Trump said the jews' new Cold War with Russia ended today. (He didn't say the word, "jews.") In answering a question from a Fake News "reporter," Trump said he trusted Putin as much as America's traitorous intelligence agencies. And the jews etcetera now believe they have a "gotcha" moment from Trump. But they don't understand that all of thinking America realizes the FBI, CIA, and DOJ are treasonous Deep State organizations who do nothing but lie and try to negate our presidential election. President Trump just keeps getting better and better."
2
@cycledancing Was that written by Stephen Miller?
I'm currently reading Benjamin Carter Hett's new book, "The Death of Democracy" chronicling Hitler's rise to power. In summary, many of the tactics and willful deceptions employed by Hitler and the Nazis in the 1920s/30s to come to power were deployed by Trump in 2015-16. It should be recalled that Ivana Trump testified under oath in her divorce proceedings that Trump kept a copy of Hitler's writings on his bedside table. Hitler believed most people were stupid and detached from the nuances of politics and would be swayed by his creating enemies to incite the masses. He would invoke simple catch phrases to rile his base of mostly rural, less-educated Prussians. Witness Trump's actions in targeting Mexicans, Muslims, (and dog-whistling Blacks), and repeating "Build that Wall" and "Lock her up". Just like the conservative politicians in Germany who believed they could control Hitler once in power, the current Republican Party has abdicated its constitutional responsibility in a cowardly and craven manner. Republicans are controlled by the Kochs the Mercers, by big money. There are no Bakers or Scotts anymore, just little, pathetic toadies who are morally vacant and puppets to donors and lobbyists. And we can "thank" the Supreme Court for that.
19
Trump is a putin lap dog. He has had close business ties with putin and russian oligarchs for years andobvioys hobnobbed witHe has mental problemand threw america under the bus in europe which speaks for his intelligence. Putin and trump left no doubt in helsinki that they colluded in hacking the dnc in 2016. Putin’s body language in his interview with fox news-the shifty eyes and discomfort, confirmed it.
4
Trump tries to ban an entire religion in the United States. They don't mind.
He separates small children from their parents. They don't mind.
He supports white supremacists. They don't mind.
He sides with Putin over our own government. They don't mind.
Republicans, is there anything you DO mind? We'd be interested to know what it is.
24
I have no doubt that someone in the Trump organization (if not Trump himself) has developed cursory designs for uniforms à la the SA/SS, dreaming of the day they might actually be used.
1
Our military needs to move on the White House. I can't believe I'm writing this.
8
What explicit, terrible, vulger language Mr. Cohen attributes to the President of the United States! A veritable verbatim assault on the reader's sense of propriety, possible religious beliefs, general good manners and class! I AM OFFENDED!! OH..., WAIT!!! Trump actually repeatedly, publicly stated and did such ghastly things!!! Hey, he's still doing it!! So much for the old Republican "Moral" Majority.
4
This scenario isn't as far-fetched as it might seem. Over 80 years ago, Sinclair Lewis' "It Can't Happen Here" was published at just about the time that Hitler became German Chancellor.
I read the book just before trump was inaugurated. The novel's description of the president's henchman bears an eerie similarity to a certain executive department.
Vote in November.
7
We live in very strange world.
For God’s sake, a half of the country is completely freaking out about how the President dared to call the intelligence services wrong?!
Trump tried to protect the American international prestige and integrity by claiming the Russians could not have meddled into our elections or make the US voters follow the Kremlin wishes.
The meddling in our elections would happen only if the Russian operatives counterfeited Clinton and DNC emails but they didn’t do it. They just ILLEGALY and UNDOCUMENTEDLY used somebody else email accounts.
That’s exactly what our journalists do - digging out the dirt on the political candidates. Better informing the public isn’t conspiracy but freedom of press.
By the way, we have been waging the longest wars in US history in Afghanistan and Iraq. Why? To destroy over there the radical Saudi Wahhabism and the non-existent WMD?!
Whose fault was it?
Let’s finally learn from history.
Did the intelligence agencies support their Nazi and fascist governments in Berlin and Tokyo that it would be in the best national interest of Japan and Germany to attack the USSR and the USA, two largest countries in the world for no obvious reason?
It is in the utmost national interest to recognize when the intelligence agencies are wrong!
The Framers created Congress to be a co-equal branch of government, which would check the president. But they failed to envision our two-party system and hyperpartisan politics. Rather than check the president, Republicans in Congress are bolstering his authority because, as Roger Cohen writes, he signs their tax cuts, guts regulation of business, and appoints conservatives to the Federal bench. That is to say, GOP representatives and senators are placing partisan self-interest above the national interest instead of performing their Constitutional function.
9
Bad may prevail when good people do nothing.
This assumes that there are good people. There are, but they just don't happen to be in the GOP congress and senate.
Did the Framers of the Constitution ever ask the question about what would happen if the House, the Senate and the Judiciary were all corrupted and manipulated? Or did they imagine this was so unlikely that it didn't warrant discussion nor a strategy?
We are advised in life to expect the unexpected. We are not always clear what to do when it happens. Yet we live in hope that those pledged to uphold the Constitution will actually do it. What if they don't?
6
@Todge Considerable effort was invested in debate and the Federalist papers.
"The accumulation of all powers, Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny." James Madison Federalist 46
9
@Rob D
Thank you. Yes. But what to do, if this should happen. It is one thing to define tyranny, another to have a mechanism for its undoing.
Did the Framers tell us?
Of course Trump intended to employ the subtle use of a double negative! That would fit quite well with his nuanced vocabulary, consistently employing "huge" words like big and strong!
4
This is the only editorial I am reading today because news about little don is never going to be good and there's little I can do about it other than vote. The Democratic Party should be cataloging each little piece of damage that is being done and they should be more vocal NOW. Bernie Sanders, on the other hand, is still speaking to us regularly. I am no longer interested in Trump trivia altho each bit is an attack on the sensibilities of the majority of Americans and demeans us as a nation. The person with his hand on the nuclear button is a deranged narcissist. Change this at the polls and spread the word wherever you go
8
In an article today about the Orange County, CA congressional race someone was quoted as saying she supports the R incumbent because if the D wins it means open borders and socialism.
Untrue of course but, like MAGA, it’s a succinct and powerful message. The type of thing that wins elections.
7
This Trump obsession is wandering into absurdity. While claiming Trump to be a simplistic dupe, up to his neck in emoluments, a mere rubber stamp of Republican Congressional direction & a useful figurehead commanding his populist base, he's also a tyrannical dictator with unlimited power and the unquestioned backing of all branches of the US military at his beck & call, ready to fire on any Americans daring to challenge his iron grip as president for life.
And I always thought kool-aid was a right wing beverage.
1
A good case can be made that he started as a simplistic dupe. I’ve always believed he never really wanted to win and when he did was pained by the personal intrusions and need to set an alarm in the morning that resulted. He seems though to have evolved into enjoying the pomp of the presidency while managing to avoid any of the hard work. The military guard, the planes and copters. Dictator fantasies are compatible with this latest persona.
2
The U.S. is a crucible in which it took eight years of cooking in the heat and corruption of the Dick&Bush experience to finally produce the cultural demand for a rational, decent alternative in leadership.
But much to Satan's amusement, our learning curve is quick to flatten out. So once again, the glamour of evil has fed the fires of power lust and avarice as too many better minds have withdrawn in disgust.
It is encouraging, however, to see the overload of hubris beginning to sink in the swamp of its absurdities. A growing number of We the People are
are recognizing the mounting threat of becoming We the Victims. The correction this time may not take 8 years.
2
Oh Roger, I sincerely hope your penultimate paragraph is not prescient! Among the many horrible images and statements that came from this ill-fated meeting is the unanswered question of what secrets were shared by Trump and Putin behind closed doors. I also was taken aback by the "gift" of the soccer ball. I may have read too many Cold War spy novels, but there were way too many little sparklies on that ball that could contain a hidden microphone, camera or transmitter. Even if this is just a tilt into a conspiracy theory, Putin already got his ball tossed into the works the minute Trump opened his mouth at the Press Conference following the secret tête-à-tête. When is Congress going to cut the umbilical cord that ties them to a president who is tickling the edges of treason?
9
Thank you for writing this column!
6
They are so brainwashed and vote exclusively the straight Republican ticket!
Luckily we aren’t!
That’s why we vote exclusively for the Democrats?!
Why cannot we recognize that all of us make the same mistakes and that we are brainwashed by the media outlets?
That’s why the owners pay the TV personalities the millions of dollars. You trust them unconditionally and accept everything they say and do as the truth…
Otherwise those employees would be paid $30 per hour like all the working people.
The millions of dollars are reserved only for the celebrities that you unconditionally trust and blindly follow…
The people running the country today are the people who sit in small town diners every day complaining about the politicians in Washington, something that's been going on for years. Trump's base. They're the ones who turn on Fox News when they wake up in the morning and leave it on all day, even when they go to the grocery store. They're farmers who worry that the tariffs might bankrupt them but still have faith in the president, people working two or three jobs to make ends meet, and factory workers whose earnings haven't changed, despite the tax cuts. They don't have a lot of formal education, their economic prospects are poor, and they know it.
They also know that for the first time in many years, someone (i.e., Trump) is paying attention to them. They know that, before Trump, big city elite politicians never held political rallies in their counties. They know that someone else is at fault for all the problems they have, from their dying towns to the opioid epidemic, and someone else needs to fix these problems. They know that Trump has elevated them above the indigent poor, minorities, immigrants, scientists, the press, and celebrities.
Deep down in their bones, they know they will lose all the attention and power they enjoy today if they stop their diehard support of Trump. There's no upside in turning against Trump, only a return to the second class citizenship they believe they were consigned to before.
8
As long as the forgotten folks at the diner continue to be riveted to Trump's propaganda outlets, there is little hope that the Grifter-in-Chief will lose their support. They are simply being used and abused, lied to and deceived, but will never accept that premise because belief in Trump is a matter of faith with them. Ross Perot spoke the truth about the sucking sound of our jobs leaving America way back when. The working class of fly-over America will experience decline until their standard of living matches that of the global workers who have taken their jobs. There is no turning back the clock. There is no other path. Rhetoric, lies and political slogans will not change that fact.
2
I do not believe one word, not one that #45 utters. I would like a transcript of that three hour private conversation between #45 and Putin released to the American public or if not, the American translators brought before Congress and questioned under oath on the record. The American people deserve to know what was discussed and promised. As to the inevitability of martial law, I agree, since #45 has used much less as an excuse to take certain actions allegedly in the interests of national security, tariffs on Canadian goods due to an alleged trade imbalance as just one example. I do not trust the man. And if I had a flag pole, I would lower the American flag to half staff and leave it there until he either is arrested, impeached or voted out, #inmourningforAmerica.
4
and Trump promised Putin that he would give Alaska back to Russia
Trump’s true campaign motto: “Make America...”, no scratch that ——“Make Russia Great Again!”
2
Trump’s followers in the streets?! Hahahaha! Trump’s followers are so afraid of cities and the people that live there that they wouldn’t dare come close. These people are armchair Fascists.
4
Trump has no intention of giving up power, ever. If the Democrats prevail in the mid-term elections, he will move to have the results invalidated. If he survives as president until 2020 (hopefully not) and loses, he will do the same. And his long range plan is to have Ivanka (if she's not in jail) become president in 2024. This dictator in the making is no different than Hitler or Mussolini and it will only be a popular uprising of sentiment that will have the cancer that is his presidency removed.
2
Traitors. Trump a traitor. Every Republican a traitor. Every Trump supporter a traitor. Mitch McConnell a traitor. Paul Ryan a traitor. Rand Paul a traitor. Paul Manafort a traitor. NRA traitors. What are we going to do about it, America? Allow the traitor at the top to appoint another traitor to the Supreme Court? Allow him to keep making money off the presidency, in violation of the Constitution every day? Allow him to keep making policy that benefits him and the other traitors? Accept his lies? Accept the indecency? Accept the utter ignorance and outright stupidity? Or are we going to take out Democracy back by expelling the GOP from every office in the land?
4
The Trumpster did not have the guts to accuse Putin of engaging in cyber warfare against America on an international forum.
The retribution would have begun. He appeased Putin like Chamberlain appeased Hitler.
Let us be clear that cyber warfare is a new form of warfare that can wreck destruction on America and its infrastructure and democratic institutions.
Trump is complicit and fearful. He is a coward and criminal. He is a traitor.
9
Strict constructionalists and modern interpreters rarely disagree when Madison wrote about the critical factor in the American experiment, the separation of powers.
"The accumulation of all powers, Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny. " James Madison, Federalist Paper 46
9
The American Republic has major flaws in today's context. Instead of considering our Constitution and its Amendments as scriptures, like our originalist Judges, we should take a leaf out of France's book, which is already in its fifth edition (5th Republic).
I'm afraid America is primed for semi-fascism like Turkey or Russia though: ask any European and they will remark on how strange it is for them to see flags everywhere when there's no World Cup, the adoration of our (para-)military organisations, etc.
My expectation is not so much Martial Law, but increasingly rigged elections, an activist Supreme Court, effectively resulting in a minority Republican rule, and a decreasing tolerance for dissenting voices especially in Southern States.
1
I have been thinking the same thing!
"Soon, there may be indictments from Robert Mueller, the special counsel, of high officials or members of Trump’s family. What then? Trump fires Mueller, pardons himself and everyone else, sends his followers into the street, and, after the inevitable bloodshed, declares martial law."
END OF OUR DEMOCRACY!
2
Before it is too late, residents of blue states should take advantage of the 2nd Amendment and stock up.
I have always believed that somehow this guy, and his Russian partners, would eventually impose martial law on us.
The whole immigrant thing would make a great reason to do it. National security and all. With some much appreciated military assistance from our friends the Russians.
Yikes.
6
Until Republicans prove that they love America more than they fear Trumps base, nothing will change. My fellow Americans.....
Remember in November !
13
The only martial law we currently have on the books is in the newsrooms across America.
As you know, the population and the voters are equally divided between the Republicans and the Democrats.
The chances are that without the ownership and editorial enforcement the random number of left and right leaning journalists and the columnists would be similar at the FOX News and the CNN, at the Washington Post and the Washington Times…
The fact that we have the right and left media outlets indicates that our journalists have no real freedom in their work and that they are forced to obey the editorial policy and politics, intuitively or mandatory.
In that case we have no freedom of press in this country.
Do you happen to know the objective and independent newspapers, equally trusted by the conservatives and the liberals?
Cohen imagines that "Trump fires Mueller, pardons himself and everyone else, sends his followers into the street, and, after the inevitable bloodshed, declares martial law". Cheers to Cohen from all the left wing loonies and Brennan. You can be assured that Trump is not finished and will never finish because of this kind of talks. This kind of talk is the reason why Trump is reluctant to trust American intelligence agencies. When a President takes oath of office he pledges to protect America from both foreign and domestic enemies. When the intelligence people like Brennen in collaboration with fake news plot to remove Trump, Trump probably feels that Putin is a lesser enemy than the intelligence agents.
1
I am getting the theme, after watching this guy for 3 years. Here is the order of battle in 4 steps.
1-Sow confusion. Lie, give alternative facts, make stuff up, attack figures of character, divide, divide, divide. If you make a decision, reverse yourself with in a day. Keep everyone confused about your intentions, except Russia. Listen to the base, tweet or rally to the base. Keep an eye on the liberals. Only talk to them with the noise of the helicopter swooshing. Praise dictators and our adversaries. Attack our allies over policy and trade. Never take responsibility for failures. Always take credit for successes you didn’t necessarily manufacture like the Obama economy.
2-Exploit the confused. Pit individuals and groups against one other. Keep the lie machine going. Throw more crazy events into the mix. Keep the political noise at maximum volume.
3-Overcome the person, leader, organization, treaty, any country (except Russia), s___hole countries, Muslims, and brown people. Employ use of executive order, citing national security reasons. Have a magazine of conservative judges ready to go. Threaten non-believing congress or senators in the R-party with primary tactics. Break the law at the border. Ignore emoluments provisions. Attack 1st amendment rights, suppress the press, except for the state press…Fox News. Break up the liberal world order with a new authoritarian based world order with Russia.
4-Rinse and Repeat
10
Yesterday the word ‘treason’ entered the debate and I felt relief. Maybe there is hope for the country after all.
That didn’t last long.
Today the GOP proffers an excuse about a mistake with a double negative and now a I’m reading Cohens reasonable sounding piece about Trumps resiliency and a martial law scenario.
Perhaps the civil war has already begun. Maybe it never ended. Does it matter?
I’ll be fighting for the same things I would have fought for one hundred and fifty years ago and there is no question who the enemy is... Republicans. Treasonous Republicans. Enemies of America.
14
In other words, Putin's plan is working most excellently!
9
Ornstein leaves out another post election event: The Dems win the House and impeach Trump, The cowards of the Senate do not convict him. The remaining nightmare of mayhem makes 1968 look like a cake walk.
8
I definitely think there is a reckoning coming. We can expect Fox to continue to support Trump no matter what happens. Certain hard-core Republicans will also back Trump no matter what. It's the rest of them that will play the most important role in either siding with everyone else who supports whatever facts and crimes uncovered by the Mueller investigation, or siding with their hard-core colleagues.
4
I don't see Ornstein's nightmare scenario playing out, mainly because Trump is not competent enough to make it happen. After all, look at how he keeps trying to do one thing while the rest of his government does the opposite.
However, others are observing how his disregard for basic democratic norms seem to play just fine with a large part of the population. What if someone smarter, more disciplined, decides to follow this path? That's when it's time to be afraid, very afraid.
2
I like Michael Moore’s suggestion to surround the Capital with citizens. It would have to get the attention of those now supporting the guy in the White House. Here in Cincinnati I have been holding protest signs on Fountain Square for about a month and have gotten many more supporters than detractors. If that is possible here in Cincinnati, it can happen everywhere. Stand and be counted!
9
Donald is a whale of a price for both his base and their GOP Reps/Sens on The Hill, to have to pay in order to have a minority-phobe installed in the Presidency.
1
The one thing his supporters should keep in mind if/when they take to the streets: Democrats like the Second Amendment, too.
7
Trump is hardly insane or incompetent. He is the most accomplished scam artist in history, and probably the only one to occupy the White House. The goal of this ultimate scam is to peddle influence and market Trump properties in order to weasel as much cash as possible from willing contributors— autocrats, heads of state, ceo’s, consumers, churches, and pretty much anyone who wants to pay to play. It helps to have a base of supporters whose voices are generally ignored because they are racists, bigots, xenophobes, religious extremists, or uneducated. None of this could work, of course, without the legislative and judicial branches of government completely ignoring their Constitutional responsibility to protect the country from a mutation like Trump. So here we are, waiting for Mueller to deliver the inevitable evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors, or Congress to undergo an epiphany and rid us of this disease.
9
Everyone needs to vote - Nov 6, 2018
4
What else would you wait for to kick the Stable Genius out of the White House ?
I live in the south where there are a good many people who are well-armed and completely disposed to do whatever this immoral, despotic President tells them two. The "Second Amendment Rally" in my small town this Friday is, in my view, a rehearsal. Men and some women (all white) will converge on our courthouse open-carrying with their Confederate flags flying and their insults ready, just yearning to hurt somebody. Every single one of these people are Trump supporters. For those who think another civil war is impossible, I invite you to leave your glass office tower and come down here.
23
I, too, live in the South and am very aware of--and loath--what you describe.
I'm a liberal, FDR Democrat in my 60s. I believe in all of the Bill of Rights---including the 2nd Amendment. And definitely not in support of the Deplorables or the NRA nuts who took over what long ago used to be a decent organization. (I never thought I would use the term "Deplorables," but after seeing and hearing those around me who continue to support Comrade Trump instead of this country after Monday's exhibition have left me no other word.) There may not be many like me left here, but there are indeed some.
In the words of Andrew Johnson, "Treason must be made odious."
9
Roger, in your article here you've surely and very clearly laid out the nightmare scenario where "Trump fires Mueller, pardons himself and everyone else,sends his followers into the street, and, after the inevitable bloodshed, declares martial law."
You also very wisely told us what his Republican enablers are going to do : Nothing.
Yes, those spineless and somewhat criminal minded lawmakers from the right except John McCain said almost nothing other than giving their usual lip service which they always do whenever their treasonous president does something very stupid like when he wanted to arm the teachers instead of doing any gun control after a mass murder spree in a school in Parkland,Florida.
Now his Republican enablers are saying almost nothing after he castigated his own intelligence community.
We all recall that his G.O.P. friends in the congress said almost nothing even after listening to their confirmed traitor president praising the same man who they know from the intelligence report that Putin's hackers hacked into Hillary's computers to extract her mundane emails about infighting in her campaign and distributed them through Wikileaks to make her female voters to either stay away from poling booths or voted for Trump and lesser known candidates.
These corrupted Republicans also saw and heard how Trump trashed our C.I.A., F.B.I., N.S.A. members in the same press conference and accused them of covertly conducting a "witch hunt" against him.
What a traitor !
2
After the civil war can we get health care please .....
11
When you lie down with demagogues, you wake up with fascists. Do Republicans in Congress want a fascist regime? Do some of Trump's supporters want a fascist regime? It's possible some do. But others may not realize where this is headed, if not checked and balanced. For any fascist dictator to plant his foot firmly on a country's neck requires three types, in the government, the media, and the public: Opportunistic toadies, willfully ignorant dupes, and unwitting pawns. Anyone who is still supporting Trump at this point, after all he's said and done, after all his misfeasance and malfeasance, falls into one of these camps.
13
If there is anyone or anything left to record history when we are finished with this latest round of fascist, authoritarian behavior, the GOP -- Trump's enablers, his aiders and abettors, those who are complicit in this takedown of democracy -- will be judged harshly. Hopefully, more harshly than Hitler's henchmen at Nuremberg. And for those who cry, "he's no Hitler", Hitler was also no "Hitler", until he was. The evil, the hatred, the cruelty, the level of insecurity that he tries to counter with grandiosity, the self-loathing, the self-absorption, the selfishness, the greed, the hubris, the cultish followers. They're all there. And day by day, the drip, drip, drip acclimates us to these horrors, until one day, he reveals himself to be the Hitler of the 21st century. When former military leaders, intelligence officers, diplomats, statesmen and stateswomen of both parties warn that the red lights are blinking, it's time to take notice and DO SOMETHING. And the GOP fiddles while America burns. We know how that ended for the Romans.
15
@ Oscar-Like Hitler, Trump has never had a job. I mean a job with a higher authority like a boss or a board of directors or real share holders. Like Hitler, Trump has only entered politics once and went straight to the top. Like Hitler, he abases others not like him, brown people, Jews, etc. Like Hitler he is a self aggrandizing megalomaniac. Like Hitler his speeches arouse base emotions. Like Hitler both loved architecture and women (yes Hitler had many girlfriends).
2
Why has no one considered the obvious? Some Republicans lawmakers are probably compromised, too.
If you plana heist of this magnitude, wouldn't you think through all the details? From voting machines, to the infiltration of Russians to the NRA, something is rotten in our union.....
9
If this happens, I’d like to say the national guard and armed forces would resist and side with fe American people. However, how far have they themselves been infiltrated by white nationalists that would jump at the chance to do his bidding?
5
The “Christian” right has moved so far from the words of Jesus that one could be excused for thinking its adherents worship only dictators, so long as those dictators crush gays and make women have babies. Shameful for a long, long time.
3
Horrible scenario you painted...simulating 'no doubt' a horror film or reality TV to scare the unrepentant sinners in republican minds? Could all this be real, the trampling of all our democratic values, by a runaway charlatan, clueless of what makes the world tick? Or is this the beginning of a fascist movement to encumber a tyrant in what appears to have become a pluto-kleptocracy of misfits with their hands in our pockets? Trump has shown us that being a 'fifth columnist' has no untoward repercussions (counting with the complicit approval of the G.O.P.) thus far. What worries some of us is that we knew Trump to be a liar and a crook, a self-serving arrogant bully, long before the elections...and still elected him president. What does that say about our sanity? Why are we so tolerant, tribal almost, of criminal graft, yet unable to gather the will to say 'enough already'? If we won't stop this crazy loon now, when? It almost begs the question: do we deserve him by looking the other way, complacent with this institutionalized violence?
1
There are no checks and balances. And it's not complicated. Trump and the Republican congress are completely co-dependent for their existence.
GOP Senators and Reps need Trump's endorsement for re-election. Trump needs congressional control of at least one house to avoid extermination. They will put up with anything from each other. And we've yet to see anything so bad that that dynamic will change.
As Mr. Cohen writes, we may yet. But think how much worse it will have to be than what we've already seen. It will be a reaction to a truly catastrophic action. (Or inaction.)
6
They don’t call him the “Teflon Don” for nothing. It’s the perfect storm. A dumbed down electorate for whom Fox News is their primary news source and a squad of toadying senators and reps who are happy to ride his coattails. Here in Indiana, Trump can do no wrong. Martial law may not happen, (I pray) but a Trump re-election (with Putin’s help?) is a genuine possibility.
5
First of all there is no Republican Party (only in name). It is the Trump Party. He controls the votes and in electoral politics that is everything. He certainly is a cad, but he has for the first time sort of reversed himself. Slow learner or just doing what he thinks is necessary or both I can not say. But I see a glimmer of hope. I still hope he gets impeached though and that Mueller will move on him as quickly as possible, so we can all get back to normal. I will miss the Trump show, but hay I am willing to take that if it means more responsible government.
1
The US is now firmly embarked on a possible path toward authoritarianism. This is not an inevitable outcome, but Trump and his co-conspirators are working very hard to make it a reality. If the American people reject this path in November, or in 2020, there is a significant likelihood that Trump will reject the results of the vote. Then, the key factor in determining the outcome will be the reaction of police officers and of the military. There are 800,000 sworn police officers in the country. Trump has been courting them, mimicking their values, embracing their world view, and playing on their worst fears of a society where they will lose control and be overrun by an tsunami of criminals, immigrants and liberal protestors. A large number of these police officers are already overt and eager (in some cases rabid) Trump supporters, and they may play a key role in helping Trump declare himself 'President for Life'. The same is true of the military which Trump has praised and richly rewarded with his budget proposals. If things turn nasty, the loyalty of these two groups to the people and to the Constitution will determine the outcome. Right now, it does not look very promising for democracy. Trump already has the support of enough voters, and enough support from the police and military to successfully enact a transition toward dictatorship. After Congress is closed by force, both Republicans and Democrats will quickly be sidelined and silenced. As for journalists ......
14
As more information comes to light about the influence of Putin’s operatives in this country and after Trump’s subservient behavior with him on the world stage on Monday, there is nothing hyperbolic in Mr Cohen’s column.
Another op ed here today details the brazen infiltration of Russian agents into our system with acceptance from the religious right, at the National Prayer Breakfast of all things.
We are cautioned against overreacting by Trump apologists who say it is much ado about nothing. Others actually try to convince us as they have convinced themselves that he is doing good things.
He should have been stopped long ago when we saw attacks on healthcare, voting rights and the environment, to name a few. Now that we have even more serious matters to contend with have we risked becoming numbed by the constant need for shock and outrage?
We are faced with admitting or denying what is plainly before us. A foreign nation, long known as an enemy, is exerting damaging influence on one of our major political parties with a goal of destabilizing our system of democracy. There is an urgent need to know who is being corrupted. I believe the method is financial enticement. We need to know more about Trump’s finances.
The 2018 midterm election Is one way of stopping them. There is much work to be done.
10
We are poised at the edge of a cliff with the Russian's right behind us just waiting for the opportunity to push us over it. America is already in a deepening Cold Civil War and one side in this struggle for power is actively using an "outside" hostile foreign power to help it win. Will it eventually turn into a violent bloody War is now the BIG ? Certainly, Putin would be thrilled.
3
There is a superstition that giving voice to something brings it to life. In this time of Trump, where it is laudable to superstitious, I have not acknowledged, out loud, the prospect of martial law.
Now that Mr. Cohen has, I suppose I will have to start packing my bug out bag.
2
Let's be brief: If any OECD leader claims he/she can pardon him/herself, and the majority of the legislative and judiciary agree that he/she can, then that democracy is no longer a democracy but a dictatorship.
15
The process is far along. History does repeat itself. A Fascist Putsch is both possible and ever more likely. Just a few weeks ago, the Supreme appointment might neuter the court, the legislature are already enablers and the would-be dictator breaks bread with the Russian Autocrat. Of course the next step is creating Civilian unrest using ICE as the internal police force and making FOX news as the National News Service. All this done by edict by the executive who creates an episode requiring him to declare Martial Law and suspension of the Constitution. Just who is going to stop this trajectory, last seen in 1932? The voters still can, I hope.
9
A lot of insightful and frightening comments today, as well there should be. It's my belief that Trump will flee the scene, like the coward he is, long before the heat on him becomes unbearable. Once in Russia, he and his family will be just another group of fat oligarchs, looking to add to their illicit gains by any means possible. Picture their Russian reality TV show, "Meet the American Romanov's." This, of course, is one of the happier scenarios playing out in my head today.
4
Mr Cohen, the Republicans are disgraceful in their submission to Trump, but any politician's priority is to get elected. If they bend to Trump it can only be that their electoral base wants them to, otherwise they'd be voted out. Even if they agree with Trump, they would not fight each other to appear ever more obsequious towards him if they thought it would cost them votes, and their jobs.
The Republican Party is the reflection of its electoral base, and Trump is the result of that party becoming what it is. It's impossible not to wonder if America would not have been a better country if it would have divided after the Civil War into The Handmaid's Tale 's Gilead in the South, home to racism, religious zealotry, and gun lovers, and an America shaped by 1776, liberal values, tolerance, etc, for the rest, rather than having to tolerate and legitimize the toxic beliefs of the Confederacy in order to consolidate one country.
3
A president is elected to represent all Americans, including Republicans, Democrats, Independents, socialists, whatever, not just their "base". Senators and congressmen are elected to represent the interests of all voters in their states or districts. Any reading of our Constitution makes this fact clear.
This president and this GOP Congress have strayed so far from the interests of all Americans that the continued existence of our republic is threatened. Where are the patriots who should be speaking out against this treacherous regime?
4
Yes, it *can* happen here. And the possibility that it will has gotten less distant than it used to be.
The only way to secure ourselves against it is to be aware that it can happen and to refuse to take even one more step down the road that leads to it.
Be aware, speak out, and vote "no" to all that paves its way.
It is long past time for the renewal of liberalism.
9
Whether Trump is on Putin's leash willingly or unwillingly, the Kremlin has found plenty of other useful idiots in Amerika. Did the idiots at the National Rifle Association really think their newfound Russian friends supported the right to keep and bear arms? Did the idiots at the National Prayer Breakfast really think the red-haired Russian spy was there to pray? Did the idiots at CPAC really think the Russian emissaries who suddenly started showering them with cash supported the conservative cause? And did the idiot Republicans who went to Moscow to pave the way for Trump's summit with Putin really think the Kremlin has our best interests at heart?
5
Roger Cohen stated the obvious. There are enough enablers in the USA to realize this very scenario, the Trump Reality show fast becoming the real tomorrow, if it id not already so.
2
watch out for a fire in the capitol and a lot of broken glass.
9
Who is running this show? It can not be Trump. Trump is the jester but not the one in charge. Note that when Trump is too fouled to be useful, Pence is waiting. But who runs them. Check Murdock, the Kochs, Olin, the Mercers, and others but let us know who is the puppeteer.
10
I am 70 years old and Russia has always been the enemy yet Putin is the leader of Russia's Christian Nationalist right and his political, social and religious agenda is virtually identical to the GOP.
Putin is anti-choice, anti woman, anti equality, anti-LGBT rights, anti immigrant, xenophobic, homophobic, and leads a country that is officially Russian Orthodox.
Putin is a devout "Christian" and a close friend of Russia's Orthodox Church leader.
Putin marches in lock step with the GOP and yet he is "the enemy" and the ultimate loose cannon Donald Trump is their standard bearer.
Putin's Russia is the GOP dream country. I need an explanation yet America's media provides none. I see little difference between the GOP and the butchers that chased my ancestors from the Pale of Settlement a century and a half ago. It is the same state countenancing the Cossacks, the landlords and the same religion that is willing to kill me or exile me to Israel to save my soul.
8
'' Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.''
- George Washington
If you listen closely to republicans, they might lightly chastise the President but are still going to vote to repeal the ACA for the 60th time, vote in lock step for tax theft in the Trillions, and of course confirm as many radically right Supreme Court nominees as possible.
That is of course, if they are not ''retiring'' .
If republicans cared about the republic, then they would not be retiring. They would stand up to this President (one did and got a win in her primary in Alabama) and then rebuke him with a censure (or two).
The President is not an island, and cannot wield any power at all without help from minions. He is getting it.
The Secret Service is even protecting him and his family from physically being served to appear in court.
12
It turns out that vote counts in Pennsylvania and Michigan (what a coincidence!) (and likely elsewhere) did rely on software that was vulnerable to hacking at a distance
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/mb4ezy/top-voting-machine-ven...
11
The problem for Trump with attempting to declare martial law is that members of the military swear to uphold and defend the Constitution, not the President. I have little doubt that members of the military will continue to do their duty and follow the orders of the Commander in Chief until he orders them to violate their oath.
1
Having worked in several foreign countries; almost all of them dictatorships, I can tell you that most people in the US are like the Chinese before they experienced TV. They didn't know...that they didn't know. As a result, a slow descend into dictatorship is taking place right before our eyes.
To be sure, this descent is hastened by more than a half century of authoritarianism in the Republican Party. The Republicans are now a cult-like organization. That part would be scary enough if we were left to deal only with the cancer within, which is the hard right.
Unfortunately, as we just witnessed with that debacle in Finland, we are simultaneously having to deal not only with the Republican Party's extremism - that devil within - but also with the Russians, a foreign adversary. The Russians have cyber-penetrated our country, and have compromised one political party - the Republican Party - as the latest NRA indictments indicate; akin to living with a deadly cancer.
David Halberstam wrote "The Best and the Brightest" about America grappling with Vietnam. In it, he stated that Vietnam was when America "lost its virginity". Helsinki may mark a time and date when America lost not only its democracy, but also embarked on the long road to losing its sovereignty.
Think that it can't happen here? OK, ignore it, until you visit the doctor (whoever that is), and you have six months to live.
20
A piece of this terrifying puzzle is Trump's claim during the run-up to November, 2016, that "only I can fix it." We will never really know what was said in his two-hour one-on-one with Vladimir Putin, even if the American translator is called to testify before Congress. Only they know -- Vladimir and Donald -- and we have no basis or reason for trusting what either tells the rest of the world. Trump is on the path to "fixing" things the way he sees fit, without including anyone else in his "plans." In his view, he is the one who really knows; he is the one who is the fixer. His extended tete-a-tete with Putin is just the beginning. He has been enabled and empowered by the sniveling, spineless Party of Trump. The Republicans -- who have been, as Mr. Cohen points out, bludgeoned and manipulated into acquiescence because, on the one hand, they see their agenda getting rammed through while we are distracted and looking the other way, and, on the other, live in fear of his base -- are cowering and sacrificing whatever spine, whatever principle, whatever shred of ethics and morality they once might have had a very long time ago, while the self-appointed Fixer-in-Chief wreaks havoc on coherent leadership and anything resembling decency or democracy.
9
Trump will be finished when Russia does him in. Either Russia will spill the goods on Trump or invade Europe or both. Dictators don’t change their stripes. My prediction is this book is going to have an unhappy ending, and the Republican Party can take the blame this time. Even Fox News won’t be able to blame WW3 on Hillary’s emails.
16
I fear that Roger's prediction may come too soon. I am glad that Canada has strong border control to prevent American refugees from rushing over. We may even need to set up children detention camps soon to deter them.
12
November voting is critical....CRITICAL. Supposing that doesn’t work, the next step is demostrations (and more) in the halls of Washington. I’ll be there, a white guy in his 60’s....with no hesitation...I’m not alone by any means. The future of our democracy is at stake.
15
My age and opinion are the same.
3
I watch a lot of TYT online and Cenk on there says and
is usually accurate in his predictions that Trump will be
gone by the midterms. "Tick tock, tick tock." He keeps
saying as more and more pieces fall into place. Trump's
ex Lawyer, saying his first priorities are family and country.
And this last fiasco so clearly shows Putin owns Trump,
and how Putin never denied he had anything on Trump,
with a smirk. And how progressives are starting to gain
attention with their message to serve the people's
needs not the oligarchs and big business. Oh and
universal health care and free college and a livable minimum wage. Do not look now but the grass roots, the little people
are eating up true and honest populism. The elites are
too drunk on power and money in both parties. Yes there
could be blood in the streets or Muller has such solid evidence of Trump being a traitor that only the most rabid
and deluded of his congregation will stage a ill planned
and poorly executed rebellion, easily stopped by the relieved police and military. Putin could try and dip his hand in, but
I think he is smart enough to not waste the energy.
2
Russian Troops landed to ensure free and honest elections.
At 6 am EST Fox announced a 98%victory.
Polls to open at 8AM EST
5
With enough tweets from Russian trolls we may find ourselves divided and angry enough to fight a civil war under martial law.
The Cyber-Civil War it could be called.
Donald Trump is the gift that keeps on taking. Emboldened by a base of closet racist parading as conservatives, Trump continues to inflict the American people with all manner of harm and humiliation. His so-called walking back of his Russian statements is an insult to the intelligence of us all. Claiming that changing one word in his statements is too cynical for comment. Roger Cohen is right; nothing this man does diminishes him in the eyes of so many.
See: RevolutionOfReason.com
"And a child shall lead them." The most unfit child you could imagine. The parents, (congress) looks the other way.
5
For all his moral turpitude, this president knows how to survive. His many missteps and public faux pas have not cost him any political capital. With his party, 35% of Americans who approve of his performance and Fox News, how can this man fail?
Like a cat, the president always lands on his feet and has nine lives. Now, after his Helsinki agreement with Putin, this president has an unholy pact with the devil. The devil's work is never finished, and neither is this president's. Congressional Republicans will see to that.
3
When Donald Trump tossed his shabby hat into the ring and announced his candidacy, many of us dismissed him as a joke. Some late-night comedians celebrated the prospect of a year of putdowns that would write themselves. Surely, this ill-prepared, absurdly arrogant clown could not compete seriously for the presidency.
So, we badly underestimated Trump, and the country has paid a high price for that miscalculation. It seems quite possible that we have now reversed our error and attributed to him political skills he manifestly lacks. He does exhibit a certain low cunning in exploiting the discontent among Americans who have not benefited much from the economic recovery. But his talent for committing verbal gaffes which expose the vicious personality and limited intellect that define the real Trump has forced both Trump and his keepers to engage in damage control on almost a weekly basis.
Combine the president's inability to conceal his stupidity and authoritarian instincts with policies (on trade and immigration) that anger even many of his followers, and a picture emerges of an administration bent on self-destruction. His hard-core base may remain loyal, but that voting bloc could never have won him the 2016 election.
But however incompetent Trump's performance, he will remain free to run amok over the next two years unless voters behave responsibly and return control of at least one house of congress to the Democrats.
7
I will march on Washington D.C. before it is all said and done.
2
Let us hope the nightmare scenario does not play out!
2
The Christian (?) right armed to the teeth is prepared for a crusade of violence if need be against what they consider to be offenses against God. This is similar to the bloody tactics of ISIS who feel justified in fighting the infidel. Can one do no wrong when fighting for God against the evildoer?
But who is God, and does he want his children to kill each other? Doesn't God have a feminine side forever weeping over our suffering?
Christians and Muslims revere mother Mary. Asians bow before Quan Yin goddess of Compassion.
Yes, we live in a material world and squabble over every last crumb, but anciently we have looked to religion and its commandments of "thou shall not kill" and "love thy neighbor". We cannot let these fundamental principles be lost to (scientific?) atheism or egoistic materialism or blind nationalism.
2
Correct Mr. Cohen.
Mr. Trump is not done yet and not finished yet and you and Mr. Blow and Ms. Goldberg and even Mr. Stephens and Prof. Krugman et co. will spend the rest of his (first) term repeating the same mantra.
But you finally understand he is not done. He will finish his 4 years and there is every likelihood that then, 4 more years.
How do you explain that?
You blame the Republicans.
But perhaps leave your NYC, cosmopolitan, European-tinged Weltanschauung and ask how the Democratic party is perceived?
He is not done yet because the the Democrats have nothing to offer.
See the following list:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-perspec-rank-to...
You will get 4 more Trump years.
Good luck.
3
The DJT playbook has another chapter: " Creation and Condemnation of Faux Foes". Designating the European Union a "foe" of US trade interests, the ever duplicitous Don has a new enemy to bash in the name of American Exceptionalism.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, the president is running out of gambits. His shambling repetition of warmed over talking points in Helsinki,...it's Obama's fault...it's the work of Democrat sore losers...the bad news is fake news...Hillary's e-mails...blah, blah, etc. etc. We've heard his standard repertory of grievances and gripes too often to pay much attention any more.
Mr. Cohen's gloomy scenario of blood on the streets and declarations of martial law are terrifying to imagine, but our "duly elected" chief exec's endless talent for self destruction may end this sad episode not with a bang, but a whimper.
1
Ronald Reagan declared the USSR an "evil empire." And now, thirty years later, we have a Republican president who is Putin's stooge. What on earth happened to the Republican party?
8
What a tepid article. All it is is a laundry list of the known offenses, capped off with a quick line “martial law” to link up to the title. Then a strange denial of the plains facts “not yet” pretty much like the ostrich sticks it’s head in the ground.
Well enough. This guy is playing for all the marbles. He is a sociopathic psychopath and will not be constrained as you so elaborately listed out. We actually really do need to believe what we are seeing and what we are saying about all this. It is HORRIFIC. It is DANGEROUS. And it is happening. It is quite likely martial law will happen. It is quite likely there will be bold strikes against elections. It is quite likely states controlled by republicans will shut them down rather than see themselves ousted from power. We need to start confronting this is earnest. We need clarion calls from the removal of the illegitimate “president” and his entire illegitimate cabinet and we need to claw back all the judges that have been illegitimately installed. How we accomplish this is an open question. The answer is difficult to contemplate.
7
What will the DoD say? Are they his generals or our generals ? Are they going to be cancelling that dumb parade ? Will they see treason in his words and actions against all they should stand for ? Yes we citizens should
be very concerned. When are they going to show more back bone ? They like saluting private bone spurs ? They see nothing wrong in this draft dodger leading them to another false war ?
4
Vote Democrat in 2018. Our very lives depend on it. This ain’t hyperbole any longer!
2
Roger: Your final scenario is not altogether implausible. Not to worry: There are old combat grunts like me who can handle those followers of the traitor Trump, no problem. Though we'd prefer to do it through the ballot. You would think the GOP would immediately and finally call for Impeachment of this despicable #45 in the White House, or at least have the guts to do congressional censure. No such luck with these cowards. Keep the faith. Democracy will out.
2
People, quit waiting for someone to declare a "national march"!
It is time for ALL of us to individually GO to the craft stores, purchase the foam-core poster boards and markers, and make signs that we take out to busy intersections and highway overpasses. STAND UP AND SPEAK UP!
Suggested content - or make your own:
"Trump: Lying Traitor"
"Trump: Putin's Poodle"
And so on. Obscenities are optional.
Comments at the NY Times and others are NOT enough. There need to be individuals demonstrating IN THE STREETS.
You have the right of free speech and you better use it while you still can. You WILL be joined by others. Make sure you have an American flag as well, because this is indeed the new Battle for America. This is real and it's for "all the marbles."
6
"Not yet. Not yet."
I'm bewildered (not terribly unusual in itself). But is that a plea for mercy or a challenge, a call to arms? Steady on Roger old boy, you're scaring the horses, not that they don't already have plenty to be worried about. This resembles, in many ways, a comic opera awaiting only a musical score. But it does have all the ingredients for ending badly. Putin's Hitler to Trump's Mussolini? God save us.
6
Trump says: "Putin was extremely strong and powerful [in the way he grabbed me] ...", and he shook him up in private and public, and he is shaking us all thanks to the deplorable enablers. One can think that it is almost deserving.
From the unforgivable Trump voters to the more unforgivable Republicans in Congress, they simply do not see that the genie is out of the bottle, or they are blatant cowards, or both.
I must say that somebody else told me that Trump was a huge risk on day one of his campaign, I laughed it out then. I made the same mistake with Palin, I laughed her out, but was horrified that she got 46% of the votes, once again, from the deplorables. You see, these deplorables have along pedigree.
(As horrible as the press conference was, because it first chilled me and then enraged me to see a US president debased in such way, I had a little taste of schadenfreude to see Trump so submissive, the coward that he really is.)
I still believe the values of the republic can withstand the storm. But the proverbial blinking lights are beyond blinding.
9
"When a true genius appears in this world you may know him by this sign, that the dines are all in confederacy against him." Johnathan Swift
"Martial Law is the savior of the feckless"
Riff
For those that can't think past their noses, being told what to do and how to live relieves the stress of decision making and the necessary learning that goes with it. One more quote.
"Yes Master"
Igor
4
Our founding fathers never anticipated a day when an entire political party would become traitors to our country and our constitution.
9
There's a reason the Second Amendment and the NRA play such a big part in Trump's and Russia's rise in America and Mr. Cohen has gotten it spot on: Trump would love to deputize gun-toting "true Americans" in his program to establish a totalitarian regime. We've already had banner-waving Nazi's and KKK members marching fully armed in Charlotte to the approval of the president; now we're only a short march away from enlisting them in the president's cause under martial law. Mr. Cohen might once have been accused of hyperbole here, but he's entirely accurate in his assessment of the Republican Party and what other force is there that could stop our devolution into a criminal oligarchy? We're already more than halfway there.
2
Sounds rather like that infamous definition of “is”, doesn’t it?
Fox news and the radio inciters are the biggest traitors doing Putin's bidding daily as not just the GOP's propaganda arm but also by fomenting the systems collapse Russia seeks. I only wish there was a way to attack my Comcast bundle that forces me to pay for Fox News. Money is all that talks, well in advance of national security, health or any version of real religious faith.
1
Trump and his Enablers. Partners in Deception. Partners in hiding how manifestly UNFIT is this sociopath, so enameled of himself, so enameled of Putin, so bereft of allegiance to the Constitution.
Trump did not misspeak in Helsinki. Over and over he indicated his trust in Putin, his certainty of “no collusion” and he clearly stated his preference to believe Putin over his intelligence services.
The Public Outcry all over the world was predictable. So was his White House Enablers’ pressure that he recant what he’d said so clearly in Helsinki.
Now we are supposed to believe he didn’t mean what he clearly said? Let’s unpack that. Either he can’t think on his feet and can’t clearly state allegiance to the US - over allegiance to Putin - or he chooses to violate his Oath of Office (to the Constitution, not to Putin!).
In either case, he’s UNFIT! Either mentally unfit, because he can’t think on his feet. Or Constitutionally unfit, because he chooses a foreign adversary’s statements over US intelligence conclusions - based on evidence gathered and analyzed by multiple intelligence agencies.
Trump is UNFIT to hold the Office of President.
He is fit to LIE. He is fit to DISSEMBLE. He is fit to PREVARICATE. He is fit to MANIPULATE.
But his is not fit to represent our nation. He is not fit to carry out his duties to the Constitution. To preserve and protect it. To see that the Laws are faithfully carried out.
It’s time to end this Trump Charade!
2
Great article. But like others in the Times I only hear the sound of whimpering. How about a truthful solution to this frightening government. How about stand up and be heard? How about stand up and fight instead of cowering in a corner?
2
Don't just boo, vote and get others to vote.
2
For conspiracy theories, you could do better. How about Russia planning to use Trump to take over the US? You see, after Trump finally goes one step too far and the people revolt in the streets to get him removed, Russia unleashes their 12 dimensional chess attack on American society via social media, infrastructure attacks, bioweapon attacks (e.g. highly contagious flu), political gridlock, etc.; followed by Trump disabling our nuclear defenses. This achieves a complete incapacitation of American society and the American military. This allows nuclear blackmail by Russia to achieve a bloodless coup to take over America. Russia gets Alaska, Hawaii, all our nukes and a 10% cut of our economy. Trump gets installed as dictator for life, get's his own 10% cut and renames America to The Really Unbelievable Major Policestate.
3
All within the realm of possibility.
1
"It is easier to fool someone than to convince them they have been fooled."
For more than two years I have been trying to understand why DJT has appeal to anyone, not even imagining he could actually become president. Now, with a nearly uncountable list of lies and mean-spiritred pronouncements , and after openly embracing a hostile power over our own intelligence community, he still stands generally unscathed.
My analysis of what is happening is that too many people see DJT as their "champion," righting every injustice, real or perceived, they have experienced in their life.
About 80 years ago, someone else took this path, promising to undo an "unjust armistice," economic collapse blamed on Jews, and resolution of problems only he could solve. Now, here we are again. However, this time, the "good guys" that stood up to that evil, are now infested with it. Who will be our champions to right the wrongs of a hate-monger and false prophet? Who will be the one to ask, "Have you no sense of decency, sir?"
Time to step from the shadows Barack and Michelle Obama. Your country needs you.
4
Thank you Roger for spelling it out. Too many Americans are under the illusion that the nation’s rule of law is intact and will save them - sadly that is no longer true!
Go watch a Trump rally video and you will see the ugly face of hate and mob violence. Nothing can stop this from happening. Republican politicians simply stand by and watch as Trump destroys democracy.
Trumplandia will emerge out of the ashes of America.
Goodbye America!
6
Sense, amid the babble (Babel?).
A few decades ago I really believed that the Democrats were better than the Republicans. Don’t blame me too much; I was young, hopeful and naïve…
Then I realized that the latter are just the role model for the former.
Both are for the corruption of our democracy with the hefty campaign donations, both are for the federal budget deficits and reckless tax cuts, both are piling up our national debt, both are for America subsidizing the defense of other NATO countries, both are for the endless wars across the globe, both are for the free trade and our dependence on China for the everyday needs…
After the GOP accused Obama of trying to turn America into a socialist country it was perfectly logical to expect that the Democrats would reply with something equally stupid.
The fear that Donald Trump might impose the martial law is as rational as the Obama’s socialism we live in…
If you object any aforementioned practices like Trump did, then you are designated as unstable traitor and egoistic maniac…
Trump and his whole mishpocha are corrupt to the core, enriching themselves not only on the backs of the US tax payers, but mostly on foreign money from Russia and other autocratic regimes, countries whose leaders and and connected oligarchs launder and park the ill-gotten outside their own states.
The attorney general of the Southern District of New York has subpoenaed Jared-Dearest to be interviewed, obviously about his shady business deals, to no avail.
Every time a subpoena was delivered to Jarvanka's house in DC starting in April, the secret service agents protected the man-who-never speaks from receiving the subpoena.
Nice work if you can get it...., for a Mafia-like crime family.
3
I do not think his ilk can rise above clicking keyboards over pulling triggers. Pray you're wrong and they stay indoors.
1
Or maybe a military coup?
We — meaning democrats — may not have a chance to reclaim Congress at the ballot box if we are truly in a cyberwar with Russia. If in November the polls show overwhelming support for democratic candidates, predicting a turnover to democratic control. If exit polls indicate democratic wins but vote totals throughout the country show that republicans won, what then? Are there vote audits, protests, what? I can imagine a watershed moment where anger over foreign control over our electoral system and congressional abdication of responsibility erupt into fury. Another scenario for civil war and martial law.
Americans set great store in our elections but we are ignoring the warnings from our intelligence agencies that they may tampered with. What if we cannot fix our problems at the ballot box?
6
"Soon, there may be indictments from Robert Mueller, the special counsel, of high officials or members of Trump’s family. What then? Ornstein’s nightmare scenario: Trump fires Mueller, pardons himself and everyone else, sends his followers into the street, and, after the inevitable bloodshed, declares martial law." The horrible thing is, I can picture this happening. In fact, I think this is Trump's end game. (A goal shared by the likes of Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller, and Trump's other fascist advisors.)
8
Muhammad Ali would be impressed by how well Republican representatives have adopted his “rope-a-dope” tactic. When approached by the media following one of Trump’s indefensible outbursts, they register just enough concern to relieve the immediate pressure to respond. They then follow up with no material action, knowing that our attention will be distracted by Trump’s next outrage, or the Kardashians, or the ping of our smartphone, or something else. Meanwhile the months go by, their agenda quietly proceeds, and their useful dunce signs whatever they bring him so he can notch a win.
8
Thank you for this over view of the last three years. In the chaos of the moment it is easy to forget the history of Trump atrocities. Trump needs us to forget so that his abysmal acts and atrocious language becomes our norm. Perhaps this is the greatest threat to our society, right up there with martial law and a police state.
8
Get a grip. This was a press conference with a foreign leader, one that St. Angela Merkel relies on for natural gas.
And your second OMG-the-sky-is-falling example is a set of hypotheticals around what Mueller MIGHT do, but still hasn’t after nearly 2 years, all the while being adamant that there hasn’t been any evidence found of collusion.
I’m seriously starting to worry about by fellow leftists. If you read local papers or the Wall St. Journal, or watch the local news, none of this hyperventilating is present. But it’s all one hears on MSNBC, or reads in the Times and the Washington Post.
Meanwhile, we throw out the word treason now, and the only ones protesting are the same ones who marched on the day after the inauguration. And as our protests get louder and more aggressive - targeting specific people while the eat dinner or go to a movie - they’re getting smaller.
And so is the generic party preference gap, that’s gotten disconcertingly smaller too. And now Trump’s approval rating is creeping up again.
Meanwhile, we’re being subjected to more and more stories about progressives or by progressives who feel sad about having children, or laudatory coverage about the lunatic leftist who self-immolated in Central Park, over the world’s biggest White Person Problem, climate change.
This is no longer a political movement. It’s mental instability. We need help. And if we fail to take the House in November, this is going to be why, because we sound like lunatics.
1
This time, Trump’s crossed the line! He’s done! He’s finished! He’s toast! ... Yet he's not finished ... The president is not done.
American voters and American Democracy make it so.
Ornstein’s nightmare scenario: Trump fires Mueller, pardons himself and everyone else, sends his followers into the street, and, after the inevitable bloodshed, declares martial law.
Not yet. Not yet. ??? Mr. Cohen, don't be so sure.
The only solution looks more and more like another bloody civil war. This time it is not South versus North. It will be the Two Coasts versus the Middle.
The only way to contain the monstrous stain on our history and honor : VOTE. Vote out all his Collaborators, each and every one. The only thing these inept parasites understand is the possibility of losing their cushy “ Jobs “, and all the outlandish perks they have given themselves. Put the fear of unemployment into them, most will NEVER obtain the same level and status again. Vote against all GOP candidates in every election, at every level. They will eventually get the message, or be GONE. Seriously.
7
A familiar refrain. How can Americans blindly follow Trump down a path leading to tyranny. When will America wake up to the obvious answer? When will editorial writers have the courage to speak directly and openly about the answer? Trump can take any position on trade, foreign policy, immigration, the economy, taxes, environmental concerns or any other pressing issues without fear of losing his core support as long as he maintains his racial, sexist, LGBTQ and phony religious postures. Half of America still cannot accept the fact that we had a Black President and will do anything to see that it doesn't happen again.
If Putin were Black this weeks events would never have taken place. Russia is a predominantly White nation. It is also a sexist, homophobic and pseudo-religious nation. Europe is a diverse, open, tolerant and socially and religiously mixed continent. Diversity is a profane word to nearly half of America. If basic attitudes do not change we will have more Trumps, perhaps in even more devious and intelligent forms.
3
Yep...I have been saying for some time that the next step will be to cancel elections...HIs excuse will be that the system has been compromised and the GOP will do a Happy Dance since their own private polling will be in a toilet.....
Apparently, Mr. Trump is NOT the only person who regards the oath of office as an "optional"job requirement.
Mr. McConnell: If Obama could not appoint a Supreme Court Justice during a Presidential election year, as stated by you, I need to know why we are supposed to allow you to confirm a Justice appointed by a man who has the emotional stability of a tornado circling a trailer park........The level of utter insanity here goes well beyond the decency of better Americans than your current caucus of tyrants. I believe Mr. Mueller might actually have some serious work before the court that you feel must be stymied.
We are watching and waiting for some dignity to be restored to this nation.
7
Trump is to Russia what Nixon was to China. Maybe something good will come out of it.
1
What did Trump and Putin talk about for two hours?
Maybe it is time to do "damage control" for our country.
At this point of a long, baleful string of events, we have at last been treated to a double negative from a singular fool, or tyrant, or both. Actually, he's anything but singular. He's the garish head of an entire political party that controls all the levers of American governance.
As for the declaration of "American martial law," it is educative to read, or re-read "It Can't Happen Here" by Sinclair Lewis from 1935 when fascism was casting its long, dark, lethal shadow over Europe.
The book is fiction, but brilliantly crafted by a Nobel Laureate in literature. Lewis clearly believed that fascist control could happen here. If only he had lived until the second decade of the 21st Century. He would have known how prescient he had been.
8
Trump has been careful to cultivate and pander to the people with guns, both those in official police & military forces and those not.
Do you really imagine that the military would not itself break into pieces at an order of martial law under the circumstances described by Ornstein. Don't kid yourself. It would.
Trump openly committed treason on international TV – this is not just my opinion, but that of John Brennan and Tom Friedman. We have a President whose loyalty is not to his country but to a foreign dictator. It is easy to blame the Republicans as spineless and craven. But where are the Democrats and the rest of the country? If they do not act now to impeach him, they are abdicating their patriotic responsibilities.
1
The Muller indictments are allegations, not proof of guilt. Under the U.S. system of justice the accused are considered innocent until convicted.
The U.S. Intelligence Community, itself, has admitted its conclusions might be wrong. In its report to Congress, the community said, “We assess with high confidence that Russian military intelligence (General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate or GRU) used the Guccifer 2.0 persona and DCLeaks.com to release US victim data obtained in cyber operations publicly and in exclusives to media outlets and relayed material to WikiLeaks. ”However, in Annex B (Estimative Language) of its report, the Intelligence Community report explained that “High confidence in a judgment does not imply that the assessment is a fact or a certainty, such judgements might be wrong.”
https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/ICA_2017_01.pdf
2
@William Case
So what do you want, a gold star for pointing out that the intelligence report simply stated the law--that guilt is not automatic in the USA? You seem to strongly imply that the "high confidence" was issued under doubt. It was not.
3
@Jazzmani
I did not imply anything. I quoted the Intelligence Community's explanation of high confidence" directly for its report and provided a link to the report,
If Putin’s oligarch buddy’s call in the loans they gave Trump, his whole empire will be worthless. No more Mar Lago , no hotels, nothing. He belongs to Putin, hook, line and sinker. Open the tax returns and see why.
2
“Simple declarative sentences are available.....”. Thank you for a chance to smile.
Indeed, so many sentences are available. “My fellow Americans, it is with a heavy heart that I acknowledge the desire of Russia to interfere in our elections. As we approach the midterms......” and so on. How I miss having a real American president.
1
There's no need for martial law, as long as he can bend a sufficient number of voters to his demagoguery. Identity politics is like team sports. We may excoriate our team's tactics in private, but we still wear the colors on game day. We get the autocracy we vote for.
1
I can’t help but wonder what Trump‘s approval rating would be in the absence of a 24/7 alternative news network spewing right wing propaganda and conspiracy theories. If Trump acts like he’s compromised and under Putin's control the same can be said for FoxNews. If by some miracle they turn on him he’s toast.
3
Republicans want power and money, period. They don't care a fig about decency, democracy, or the rule of law. Now that they are in power, they will do literally anything to stay there.
If you understand that, nothing they do will surprise you.
9
"Trump's Road"? Just compare the level of policing in the US to any other first world country. The differences are quite shocking. The US has been in a headlong rush to martial law since the War on Drugs (tm) was formulated in response to the civil rights movement. Trump is simply more of the same without the smooth salesmanship.
1
One of our species great skills is rationalization and it's on full display with the GOP. So long as they are able to push their agenda, they will tolerate behavior, even justify, that would outrage them, if it had come from a Democrat.
2
Actually, the right wing used Watergate to let the Democrats ditch Nixon. The right wing hated his liberal policies on the environment, they could care less, then or now, about ethical campaigning. Nixon formed the EPA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, demanded minority quotas in contractors for the federal government, Nixon gave an across the board incraase of Social Security payments by 10% and also indexed them to inflation and he pushed for and signed the Constitutional Amendment to lower the voting age to 18. Chomsky has said Nixon was "our last liberal President". For the "right's War on Nixon" pre-Watergate, from 1971, see:
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,877188,00.html
2
The arc of this scenario occurred to me soon after Trump gave his bone-chilling speech at the Republican National Convention. It's plausibility only grew after his inaugural address on the Mall. Trump is always true to his worse instincts. Going quietly will not be an option for him. God help us all...
2
If not Trump then Pence? Ryan? McConnell? The people who put this lineup of misogynists and killers into power are the voters. Yes, the Russians helped Trump, and voter suppression helped the Republican Party, but these were marginal effects. As in Bush v Gore, such people should never have gotten close enough in their races for these marginal effects to matter. So to me the real question is what changes the minds and attitudes of enough of those voters to restore honor to our country. My first answer would be to discredit Fox News and Sinclair Broadcasting, along with Limbaugh. But there must be more.
6
Don't you see? Republicans want the world to be more like Russia, authoritarian, brutally repressive toward people and groups who aren't like them (Christian, straight, white), and dominating over all other countries on earth.
Republicans and Trump have known all along exactly what their goals were. They knew exactly what Trump would do. What Trump did with Putin in Helsinki was, to Republicans, the moment when two like-minded leaders came together.
But, Trump and his Republican fellow travelers know that while they are ascendant they are in the minority. To them, if Trump committed any mistake in Helsinki it was that he was too on the nose. Like Trump's electoral college win, a majority of Americans don't support Trump or his autocratic ideology. But make no mistake, while the majority of Americans saw Helsinki as bootlicking Republicans and Trump saw it as getting ready to stomp.
(By the way, go back to the "Putin's Puppet" debate in 2016. Clinton saw this coming years ago.)
5
I admire Richard Luettgen for taking a stab at the impossible task of trying to construct a conservative apologia for Trump. What he's produced here, however, sounds like an echo of the far leftists of the past who tried the same for Stalin or Fidel Castro. "Certainly Fidel has made some mistakes, but look at his accomplishments in Building Socialism, etc.!" Of course, because of our robust Constitution and our (so far) independent judiciary, Trump hasn't managed to go much further than gutting the Clean Air Act and so on, but who knows what's next?
1
Martial Law, Treason, Impeachment? When will people learn to look at Trump's intentions and not his words. He simply wants to improve relations with Russia. That's it. He's not a diplomat or a politician. Voters didn't want one. What do you expect from a guy like this?
At this stage there is more mindless irrational hysteria on the left than there ever was on the right with Obama. The more this goes on the lower the chances for any Blue Wave in November. And if Warren is the nominee in 2020 then it will be Trump for another four years.
" “They built in safeguards, the most significant being an independent Congress, with power of the purse, oversight, confirmation, impeachment. But at every level, this Congress has failed miserably. "
The founders misjudged what the future problems might be. They thought the big conflicts would be between branches of the government, and thought they would be a check on each other. They did not anticipate political parties. Congress is "failing" because it's run by the President's party.
1
The Republicans in Congress are trapped into complicity by the Trump base (votes) and their donors (money). The Trump base truly loves this man. There is nothing that anyone can say to alter their devotion to Trump. One only has to look today at the comments sections of Fox News and Breitbart.
The donors on the other hand are rational actors. They have increased their wealth and the wealth of their children and grandchildren through the tax changes, federal court rulings and deregulation This is a very strong incentive to continue to support Trump and his congressional allies. However, maybe something can be done about shaming the donors into standing up for America. Can our free press help to identify these donors?
On the road to martial law? Will this come after an October surprise following his having declared war on Iran?
1
We've seen this kind of thing before -- Huey Long, George Wallace. What's horrifying is that, by any objective standard, Huey Long and George Wallace were far more fit to be President than Donald Trump.
5
I can appreciate where you’re coming from: that there are no lines anymore, no love of country over self in the modern GOP, and I’m afraid no bottom I can see on where America is headed.
3
Mr. Cohen ignores the possibility that the Mueller investigation will produce no charges of wrongdoing by Trump or those close to him. This appears to be what Douthat in today’s column thinks most likely. In that case, Trump has no need for martial law. He can simply destroy our democracy and trash our values piecemeal, as he has done every day since he took office. And if vindicated by Mueller’s report Trump will have eight full years to do it. In the end, there will be little left of what we thought was America. This is the real nightmare scenario, and we are living it right now.
3
Republican congressmen support the man Russia wanted to take office to undermine the US, NATO, Group of 7 and other organization formed to protect members from totalitarianism, promote democracy and the rule of law. What else needs to be considered.
Russia attacked America in secret to accomplish this. Republican representatives benefited from the attack and willingly support and further Russia's goal and exploit its success.
The exploitation of the position granted Repubs by Russia provides that Repubs, representing a minority of Americans, may rule and pass laws opposed by the majority of their fellow citizens. Quite apparent in the way Trump wishes to represent his base and not the majority of Americans with congressional Repub assistance. This is antithetical to the basis of our country and representational democracy does not give them pause.
We will likely learn that Trump defers to Russia and undermines the interests of America because of financial or political aid accepted by him from Russia. Republicans will continue to accept Russia's undermining of our democracy as long as the result aids their electoral benefit.Remarkable– No.Considering the highest goal is their self-interest we know these "patriots" will accept and defend the work of a foreign power to insure their personal position in government.
The attack and slander of decent people and organizations for political gain should incur censure by one's colleagues. Laughable in today's House.
4
So far only Donald Trump's own prediction that he could murder someone in broad daylight in Manhattan without losing a Republican vote has been prescient. Perhaps we may see a shift if his behavior somehow exceeds that felonious high bar; but until then, I truly hope that the part of the electorate that is horrified by the news is sufficiently mobilized for the upcoming elections to overcome the structural impediments (voting requirements, gerrymandering, Tuesday vote) that stand in the way of true change.
I too fear #45 declaring Martial Law after his impeachment fiasco reaches a fever and his supporters or detractors rally and run into the other group where violence ensues.
He will need to be forcefully removed. Who or what will our militia and police support?
#45 is a hero for his supporters until proven otherwise--what it will take to prove him unheroic seems unfathomable at this point.
3
I have been saying this all along. As soon as Trump's supporters are encouraged to take to the streets to protest, they will do so-
and they are armed, and are they armed ! Automatic weapons at the ready.
2
Only two Trump actions aren’t in our best interest – the reckless tax cuts and scrapping the Iran deal, but no permanent harm is done. It could be reversed later.
The tax cuts were designed to buy the time for Trump and solidify the support for him. That measure could be easily reversed later at the right moment. Just think how he used to blast the North Korean leader only to set up the direct talks later.
The scrapping of the Iran deal is neutral to America but helpful to the Iranian people because he is trying to help the locals rid of the authoritarian Ayatollahs.
No clergy should be close to the civil power. If the Ayatollahs knew anything useful, they would have been able to modernize, unite and reform the Islamic world a millennium ago. Moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem could be construed as a provocative move, but it’s in the best interest of the Muslim world.
It’s embarrassing to them but they have to be publically embarrassed to finally wake up.
The Islam had a full millennium head start compared to America. If they properly implemented the faith, they would have been world’s Mecca for all the oppressed, the refugees and the scientific pioneers. The Holy Book directed them to learn but they failed miserably. They started nicely, had the Golden Age and then discarded the faith for the sake of their local culture and became uneducated, divisive, rigid and conservative.
They shouldn’t blame the US and Israel for it because they were alone when it happened.
1
There is a huge obstacle to martial law. Most of Trump’s military advisers oppose most of what Trump does. It would by nice if Mr. Cohen considered himself to be bound by the facts. But he apparently prefers to make stuff up.
2
If trump decided to postpone elections indefinitly, he would get the support of the GOP Senators, Members of Congress and GOP appointees to the court.
2
I've considered some pretty extreme possible scenarios as this Trumpian nightmare steams onward, but a declaration of Martial Law never occurred to me. Would the Republican Party let the situation grow that extreme before finally putting an end to this horror show ? Is absolutely nothing impossible ?
Where are the Republican greybeards ?
Why aren't we hearing from Brent Scowcroft, Richard Lugar, James Baker, George Schultz, Henry Kissinger, Sandra Day O'Connor, Condolezza Rice, and so many more. Can they possibly be even remotely sanguine about the trajectory we are on ? How can this Grand Guignol spectacle not induce them to, at least try, to do something ? Anything ?
4
But this is plucking at straws. The people who elected Trump are of the same vintage as the Russians (80%) who could care less what Putin does as long as he does what he was elected to do: protect the "moral decency" of traditional/religious culture. Putin is little more than a different version of the Tea Party, the most popular politician in Europe, and very popular in America among those who are convinced that the agenda of the elite Left is a mere prelude to Anti-christ. These people see themselves in a life and death struggle against decadence, and any strongman able to rise to the occasion will likely have flaws. They take the howling of the Left as evidence that he delivers. Both Trump and Putin were elected to give Prague-coffee-house elites a thrashing, to destroy the leftist order even if means burning down the entire house. Like General Lemay said: don't talk about war and morality in the same sentence. To such people Cohen's harangue is mere moral preening. In Russia, Putin can do no wrong, because he delivers. In war the only crime is losing. The air has become so poisonous that the struggle is now existential, a struggle for the very soul of the West. The NRA would march on Washington in a heartbeat. The lines are drawn. Both sides communicate (like this article) by shouting over the barricades. Neither side can understand the other.
5
We tend to go back to our glory-filled youth in our head as we age and the president is now 72. Trump seems to want to roll back social progress to a time when white Christian men reigned, women and minorities knew their place, LGBT were terrified and unknown, etc. And when Nixon - his favorite president - was creating detente with the USSR. Perhaps Trump is trying for the biggest deal of his life in taking on Putin who will help him in Iran. Syria, Gaza, and against a resurgent China.(Nixon's triangular diplomacy reversed.) It will be a Devil's Bargain though.
3
Don’t forget happy days in military school..,,
All Trump has done is expose the soul of the Republican party. He has done the world a favor. Now we know who we truly are without any misleading niceties.
8
This is very scary, indeed. My one hope is that once Trump's ironclad 40% realize that when Putin takes over this country, either actually or metaphorically, the second amendment absolutists will understand that Vlad won't let them keep their guns. Maybe that will inspire resistance.
1
"Trump fires Mueller, pardons himself and everyone else, sends his followers into the street, and, after the inevitable bloodshed, declares martial law."
I have acknowledged the possibility of his followers turning to violence since he won the nomination. I hate to admit it but I bought my first handgun the day he won the nomination. Since then I have taken more than 60 hours of training, fired thousands of rounds at the range, acquired additional handguns, and been licensed for concealed carry in multiple states. It is hard to believe but this nightmare scenario is not beyond the pale. I, for one, will be prepared to defend our nation to whatever extent possible, should we reach that point.
3
The solution trump, the GOP and their billionaire mainstays is forcing on the country is 1789 or 1917.
1
A dark and terrifying conclusion, totally within the realm of the possible, if not the probable.
I’d bet it might happen if the Democrats take one or both houses of Congress. Trump and McConnell declare that illegal immigrants voted by the millions, invalidate the election, and then, when violence erupts, declare martial law.
2
Martial law would suit Mr. Trump just fine. In his endless obsession with Hillary Clinton's e-mails, he said, giving a gracious nod to Mr. Putin, that in Russia, those e-mails probably would not have gotten lost quite so easily.
6
If we want decency and sanity again in America then vote out the republicans. Every single last one of them. That is the central task of our time. If the focus remains fixated on the guy masquerading as president, all is lost.
Good old Ornstein, rock solid AEI stalwart for Republicans and tender of their most philanthropic think tank for many shining years, has never seen anything like the present. Who has? If nothing else, we get to witness history, through day after day of vengeance against our good fortune. Sounds Republican enough for me, Norm.
In our country a man can be sentenced to death for driving a getaway car after a crime resulted in a murder.
It’s called accessory.
We also live in a country where the President is accused of the most serious crimes imaginable. He is supported and enabled by the congress in a way far more direct, far more damaging than a getaway driver.
If the President goes down, so should the Republican party. All of it.
Whatever crime the President commits, they are all committing as well.
I see no other interpretation.
Trump's recent photos and statements shows a man in steep decline both physically and cognitively. This bodes ill for us all.
1
Democrats suffer from a very odd type of amnesia.
Until LBJ pushed through the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts in the 1960s, the 'Solid South' was a Democratic Conservative bastion, and had been since the end of the Civil War.
Almost overnight, though, those Conservative Democrats became the most conservative Republicans, vowing to seek revenge on the evil people who had forced desegregation on them, the Democrats.
Lee Atwater showed them the way. And the Civil War became the Culture War, thanks to Pat Buchanan. And they branded their cause family values.
The Evangelical Party (they are not a religion, but a political party) will ignore ANY transgression, because like the Confederacy, they despise the United States.
The Evangelical Confederates will gladly take the support of the Russians in their culture war against the Yankees and the Union.
They are still sore about Appomattox.
12
Don't think for one moment that Stephen Miller doesn't already have Trump's Ermächtigungsgesetz (Enabling Act) drafted and ready to go. Miller and Kushner's self-hatred is blazing bright. In the absence of a thoroughgoing military police, Trump's martial law in 2018 will consist of shutting down the internet and freezing all bank transactions for six weeks.
I don't disagree that Trump suffers from the George W. Bush disorder: he should never be allowed to speak extemporaneously. He has, over time trusted his gut instincts, which has worked for business decisions but always failed with public statements. That's not new.
Cohen's suggestion that this somehow will lead to martial law is just pablum intended to be consumed by brainless readers. The rest of us remember how this democracy is structured, and know better.
As for:
"Soon, there may be indictments from Robert Mueller, the special counsel, of high officials or members of Trump’s family. What then?"
Indeed. What then ?
And, there may also be a wrap-up and shutdown of the Mueller investigation with no indictments of high officials or members of Trump's family.
And what then ?
Apologies from the radical left wing media for undermining the President and lying to the readers ?
1
Just remember, many voted for Trump because they hated Hillary. Trump won by 80,000 votes. Do you think there are enough voters out there who would vote for someone else A. because Hillary won't be running and B. because they have had enough of Trump? I do. He cements his base. But a few of the bricks to his support wall have no mortar around them. Each time he behaves this way, he pushes off another of those bricks. He certainly is not adding bricks to replace the ones he is losing. The question those anti-Hillary and independents are likely asking themselves is "Can I put up with this much longer. Can I tolerate another 4 years of this?" . And to anyone who thought "He will settle down, become more presidential, and learn as he goes" , you are sadly mistaken. What you see is what you get. This is what you voted for. And for those who oppose this you need to recognize the Republicans are winning because they manipulated voting districts and voting registrations in their favor. The only answer to that is GO VOTE. PLEASE GO VOTE.
5
In leaving open the possibility that Russia might be innocent, President Trump was merely echoing the official position of the U.S Justice Department. In announcing the Mueller indictments, Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said, “In our justice system, everyone who is charged with a crime is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. It should go without saying that people who are not charged with a crime also are presumed innocent.” For now, the Russian intelligence officers named in the Mueller indictments are presumed innocent; that is the American system.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/deputy-attorney-general-rod-j-rosenst...
2
@William Case
But of course, despite all sorts of hearings and investigations, HRC is guilty and should be locked up without a trial, and former President Obama is a Kenyan Socialist fake citizen and secret Muslim, right?!
@Julie
I disagree that Hillary Clinton should be locked up without a trial, even though the evidence that she grossly mishandled classified information is much stronger than the evidence that the Trump campaign unlawfully colluded with Russia.
At the time of Hillary Clinton's original utterance of the term "deplorables" I felt it was a little harsh, if accurate, to describe the slavish followers of a defective candidate in this way. When I saw some of these same people wearing T-shirts, before the election, declaring their ownership of the term I was bemused, to say the least.
Now that the USA is openly mocked around the world, for the conduct of the deplorable-in-chief, I see where it all went so badly wrong. They have been uneducated in civics. This has been coupled with disinterest in the world around them. Now add in there rabble-rousing right wing media and echo chamber social media and we have this deeply worrying situation where an overly vocal, ignorant and bellicose minority is about to challenge the social order if they don't get their way.
It is no understatement to say that the upcoming mid-terms are probably the most consequential elections in the comparatively short history of our democracy. Vote.
1
This election is only 4 months off and we have to vote. Still the election of 2020 is over two years away, I can't imagine how far we will have fallen before then. He does want martial law. I believe the speculation that Putin has the goods on Trump but I think Trump is happy with that. He loved laundering money for them, being their front man or whatever it was he did because he really believes in running the world the way Putin does. The article by Kristen Stewart on the Christian right and the national prayer breakfast, their love of Putin is telling.
Trump's base loves the uber masculine Putin style, strict law enforcement for gay people and people of color. Beating up on women from Honduras seeking asylum with their children. White nationalism seems great...if you're white.
Many in the GOP finally got the let Reagan be Reagan moment in the form of Trump.
It will get so much worse.
Calibrate reactions with great care, a tiny bit more concern after each successive abomination, absorb the loss at least of the House in November, maybe even the Senate if need be, let victorious Democrats unseat him and so absorb the fury of the cult, and trust that news will have long cycled past your shuffling evasions.
The pacs that the Koch guys, et al surely can't think it's good to have a president who bows to Putin. If that's so, why don't they use their considerable influence to educate the trump voters via the media?
It's clear that the trolls and alt rite put trump into office, now we should be able to use them to sway deplorables to turn against him and toward themselves. Remind the gop-base that trump's policies actually hurt them.
2
My guess is that the closed door meeting between Trump and Putin wasn’t really about global issues and policies, but was primarily Putin reinforcing Trump’s belief that fascism, (euphemistically called a nationalist movement), is much more effective at keeping unwanted elements (non-whites) out of the country and ensuring the wealthy ruling class stays in power. Putin already has Trump where he wants him, either by blackmail, or simply by feeding Trump’s insatiable ego, so all Putin needs to do is offer his help and advice at staying in power, and Trump will do his bidding to undermine NATO and reduce sanctions. The real question with this scenario is not whether Trump is capable of wanting to undermine our current form of checks and balances, but whether the Republican Party and the Fox sycophants are onboard for the same reasons.
3
The United States is now living in an alternate universe. The day to day irrational behavior of our current president has thrown the country into a tailspin it may never recover from. The display of cowardice and immobility on the part of republicans in congress is further proof that The United States is in dire peril. Now more than ever it is crucial that every responsible American citizen votes this November to turn the tide and get this nation back on its feet again.
1
Mr. Cohen’s prediction of martial law is why President Trump will win. The Democrats, press and “the resistance” always over react to every utterance and event. The over the top hysterical tone after Parkland shootings, tax cuts, Paris Climate Agreement, Iran Deal, Judge Gorsuch, Judge Kavanaugh, North Korea, Jerusalem embassy and dozens of other events drown out any serious criticism or solutions. The conversation quickly degenerates into absolutely foolish behavior that belongs in The Onion. We’ve all died several times already from tax cuts, Judge Kavanaugh and the Paris Climate Agreement. At this rate they’ll be no one left alive to put under martial law.
5
While Trump's ignorance, greed and debauchery were predictable, the complete surrender of Republicans in Congress was not.
Trump is ignoring his oath of office and committing treason daily and the only slings and arrows he suffers are the occasional chiding tweet from fellow Republicans.
It has never been more important for democrats to stand united, campaign vigorously and make sure everyone we know votes. Our democracy depends on it.
If you can’t understand something, it doesn’t a priori mean that’s wrong. Maybe you are at fault.
If you don’t like Trump, there is a reason for that. That man is the true lead so he has taken you out of you comfort zone because he is trying hard to lead America.
He is starkly different from Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama Barack who were just the lap dogs, the slick and smooth spokespersons for the others in the shadows making the real decisions.
Trump is the old school. It’s insulting for him to admit that Russia meddled into our elections because it implies that we as the nation could be easily manipulated and fooled. He will never admit it. It happened under the Obama Administration so there is no personal reason for him do be defensive. The strong people always take responsibility for own actions. The Dems shouldn’t blame the Kremlin for losing the elections but own incompetence. Only if Moscow counterfeited the Clinton and DNC emails we could have said they meddled into our elections. The truth is never illegal or harmful.
All but one Trump actions are in the best US interest - trying to balance the trade and share NATO cost with the allies, trying to sign the peace treaty with North Korea, and trying to forge cordial relationship with Moscow. Somebody has to make the first step in that direction.
Only two Trump actions aren’t in our best interest – the reckless tax cuts and scrapping the Iran deal, but no permanent harm is done. It could be reversed later.
2
This is a far more plausible scenario than I thought would have been possible. But the Republican Party created this monster Trump from its evil, divisive strategies over the past 50 years, and the last 10 years in particular after the unacceptable (to them) election of a black US President. So this is not an unthinkable endgame, unfortunately.
But I also hold the Democrats and mainstream (legitimate) media responsible to some degree. For Mr. Cohen is quite right that the Republican propaganda machine has painted Democrats as evil and wanting to destroy America (though these are more apt descriptions for Republicans). So everyone should stop with the false equivalencies, since there is no way to compromise or negotiate with the other side when they take such a position. Better to seek to destroy them before we are doomed forever. If this means armed conflict, then this should be understood and planned for, however abhorrent the thought.
I don't know why anyone uses the word "Republican" to describe the party Trump now leads. America now has two major parties, the Democratic Party and the Trump Party, which is pretty much a personality cult. The only way to prevent the further descent of America into the abyss is to defeat as many Trumpican candidates as possible, at the local, state, and federal level. November 6, 2018 may be our last chance.
2
What I fear most, now that he’s admitted the Russian attack on our democracy, is that Republicans will suddenly need to prevent further attack by cancelling the election in November.
4
Unfortunately, the cowards we call Republican Congressmen have simply decided, en masse, that retaining their seats is more important than retaining democracy. They are terrified of Trump's base. In 111 days (which seems like an eternity), the compromised polling places will open for what might be the most crucial election in our history. But here's the rub that leads to martial law: the Administration is doing NOTHING about continued acts of cyber war being perpetrated by Putin. Nor is Congress. And why should they: the cyber crimes bolster each and every one of their chances to be reelected. The only, and slimes. hope is for an overwhelming turnout of UNITED Democratic voters. Anything short of that spells disaster.
2
My fear is and has been that Trump will find a way to declare martial law and suspend the election in November.
1
This seems possible, but one wonders how the US military, a highly integrated institution, would react to a white supremacist right wing nationalist martial law. You could also ask how the intelligence agencies would respond? Very risky politics.
1
So, exactly how would marshall law differ from militarized police, attacking non violent protesters, shooting of civilians, detention without cause, asset forfeiture, children in cages, cooptation of sporting events by faux patriotic jingoism, stun guns used on geriatrics, et. al? This country is a police state and has for many years before Trump been preparing for civil insurrection. The segue to marshall law will be seamless and incremental and those who object will be crushed with all the forces and methods available right now.
The WoPo reported December 9, 2016, “McConnell raised doubts about the underlying intelligence and made clear to the administration that he would consider any effort by the White House to challenge the Russians publicly an act of partisan politics.” I can only conclude that the GOP is also colluding with Russia, either by sins of omission or commission; most likely both, when you throw in Devin Nunes.
8
This is how this ends: Mueller releases the report, the Republicans sweep it aside or hide it completely. We take to the streets, both sides. Violence erupts. The National Guard steps in. People are
killed.
Martial Law. An election closely “monitored” by the Republican government.
2
The willingness to fall in line for the advancement of the patriarchy is a singular Republican characteristic. Party members do not lack a spine. To think this is a fundamental and dangerous mischaracterization, implying that all will be well once the top dog has fallen. No - party members are complicit, greedily eating the spoils of Trump's bulimic banquet.
Hold them accountable before he shows up at a glass enclosed podium in a powder blue uniform.
1
The Democrats really need to stop their own hate machine. The hate machine that:
Demonizes men and boys,
Especially demonizes white men and boys,
Demands an end to enforcement of immigration law,
Denigrates the First Amendment, saying religious believers are not entitled to the same constitutional protections as atheists and that it is OK to ban conservative and religious speech on campuses and social media and to use mobs like Antifa and the Google and Twitter Secret Committees to do so,
Denies any meaning to the Second Amendment, seeking to turn every civil infraction imaginable into a reason to seize guns in private hands, and
Empowers Federal prosecutors to use terrorism laws to incarcerate people with whom they disagree.
Like Diogenes I search in vain for constitutionalists and civil libertarians among Progressives.
2
This is entirely possible when you have a president whose mental and emotional development ended when he was in high school.
And has no real interest in being president because he can't say or do anything he wants.
And doesn't read or prepare or take anyone's advice on what he should be saying or doing.
And doesn't care about anything that can't make him money.
1
In this scenario, the big question is ,“Which way will the Army jump? “. Any guesses is out there?
Yes, but is the Democratic Party any better?
I’m a liberal, but I’m tired of the Democrat’s braying, hissing, and honking as they run around in circles stomping their feet on their high-moral ground....
2
Martial law(lessness), the murder of journalists, the jailing of opposition candidates- none of this is unimaginable now. Nor was it when candidate Trump was telling us exactly what kind of president he’d be. Frankly, the only part that has caught me by surprise is the complicity of Republican ‘leadership’, the Republican base, and the so-called ‘Christians’ of evangelical stripe. While I never placed much faith in any of these groups, there was some historical evidence to suggest that even they, when pushed far enough, would pull the plug on a roguish and incompetent leader. When Dubya displayed his total incompetence in the face of Katrina, the American people could no longer hide their shock and disgust with boy George.
But not so with the stunningly incompetent and corrupt prevaricator in chief DJT. Thus far, he has been given a free pass, waved on to home base at every juncture. Is there a ‘too much’ in this scenario? Immediately after Hellish Sinki, some pundits predicted a mass of resignations from government and a wave of defections. But considering Trump’s high crimes and misdemeanors, the response has been tepid at best. When will those who can put an end to this nightmare act? Will they indeed?
2
@Dan Bosko
Read history. For how many years did the German people and all their promoters and hangers on from England, France, the US etc refuse to face the facts of the coming Nazi horror? Three books I recommend are "In the Garden of the Beasts," "The Mitford Sisters," and "The Hare With the Amber Eyes." Different countries, different families, all involved with and at least for a while naive about the days and infamy of the Third Reich.
@Julie Carter
Thank you for this. I've read the excellent and beautifully written Amber Eyes. Will jump on the other two.
At some point this is no longer the failure of Republicans, but the failure of Americans in general.
At some point leaders have to be held accountable by citizens voting. If the depredations of president Trump are insufficient to rouse folks to simply VOTE as a check upon his behavior, then what will give them cause?
Can he fool JUST ENOUGH people all the time, knowing the rest of the people simply won't care ENOUGH to vote?
5
There are over 60 million people in this country just as uninformed and just as crazy as Trump and they possess over 300,000,000 guns.
Trump knows this and knows it represents his final fire wall, no pun intended.
He has already encouraged violence at his 'rallies' and through other media.
He will not show restraint if the perceived need arises, to exercise this option.
2
A Doomsday scenario is possible. The Constitution allows under certain circumstances the president to suspend the Writ of Habeas Corpus. A terrorist attack, whether real or not, would give our guy in the Oval Office all the excuse he needs to "protect" us. Trump is commander-in-chief of the entire U.S. military. He has no controls or checks on his power from the impotent Republicans in Congress.
Trump is facing grave legal problems from Mueller. Be forewarned America: He isn't going away silently in the night.
2
I’m watching Trump voters who work in a MO nail factory laying off workers because of the tariffs. They are telling the reporter that they still support Trump because they think he’s trying to make things better. It appears that any amount of pain this President imposes on them is fine. Contrast that with the same people who feel that a tax penalty for not having health insurance is the equivalent of living like chattel slaves in the ante-Bellum South.
As long as we have 30% of our population blindly and uncritically following their Strongman (no matter what the ideology is, although in America it’s always been a white racist authoritarian with no corresponding equivalent on the left—yet, anyway) —we will decline year after year until there’s nothing left. And we did it to ourselves.
"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings”.
9
Could it be that the herd mentality will gravitate to a more control based leadership? Das Folk may wish to have their soup and curds spooned for them.
Ignorance and apathy, a general malaise towards the non stop spectacle?
Maybe, it's time to curl up in a corner and let it roll over? Que sarah sarah whatever will be will be.....
Norman Orstein is quoted: “But at every level, this Congress has failed miserably. Republicans have done nothing but try and protect Trump, despite outrageous ineptitude, cabinet offices being manipulated to make money, children treated in criminal fashion — no oversight hearings, nothing! “
The GOP Congress is not an independent branch of government: it is a bought-and-paid-for assembly of venal vassals of a handful of wealthy wackos out to install themselves as our government, and apparently near triumph in that goal.
4
I like this column because it doesn't follow the usual line that Trump is immature, narcissistic, and bumbling. All that may be true, but don't underestimate Trump. He knows what he's doing. Dictating "truth" defines a stongman. He openly asserts a lie as a demonstration of his will and as a test of loyalty. As Trump succeeds in this with his base and the GOP's in Congress, he eventually rules as autocrat, like Putin or Erdogan. He knows the insincere and incomplete "walk-back" does not register with his base while it secures continued complicity of GOP.
The Trump Cult won’t leave him until the spell is broken. It has to be obvious, since most Trump followers aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed. What will do it? Three things:
1. A major recession caused by Trump’s trade war;
2. Congress acting in a bipartisan fashion decisively against Trump’s conspiracy with Russian’s ongoing espionage in our country; and
3. Trump’s propaganda organs Fox “News” and other far right wing sites stop peddling lies and start providing news.
This seems far fetched, but remember the mindless lockstep loyalty of the “base” to the far less harmful Bush II?
He said that Putin was “extremely strong and powerful in his denial.” Does it seem as though there is something almost sexual in the way he describes Putin? It's just too weird and unsettling.
Amen, Roger. And, I had foolishly thought no president could surpass Buss II in harming the U.S. Trump is a cult figure who speaks in sound bites that his worshipers revere. Oh what a mistake it was to give Rupert Murdoch so much control of the media and adherents minds.
2
The dissolution of the US is the best outcome for the country and the world. The US needs to go away like all empires and the world hits a big reset button.
It's breathtaking to realize we've lost our country as a result of an alliance between the confederate states of America and the soviet union.
Guess we declared victory in both the civil war and the cold war a bit prematurely.
5
Thank you, Mr. Cohen, for this. Your column is fantastic—but neither fanciful nor a litany of fantasies.
Long ago, in October, 2016, when the “grab ‘em by the [pudenda]” stiletto delivered to every American woman came alive in the filth of the Hollywood Access , I thought, “finally, this guy’s done. How would American women—regardless of political beliefs—could possibly vote for him?” A month later, Donald Trump was elected, with the aid of a clear majority of American women.
Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan and many other Republicans claimed to have been offended—but not to the extent of denouncing Trump; they didn’t even distance themselves from either him—or his remarks.
Devin Nunes ran a star chamber “proceeding” that relieved—to Capitol Hill Republicans anyway—the president of any guilt in the 2016 campaign and the nascent presidency. Speaker Ryan gave Nunes his blessings, throwing out to the public some vague statement about...nothing.
Trey Gowdy and Robert Goodlatte and Kevin McCarthy and the Freedom Caucus all play the role of velociraptors on Capitol Hill, every “policy” initiative designed to protect the president.
Congress, some with ties to Russia-support from right-wing evangelical “Christians,” along with a Supreme Court gone ideological rather than judicial, seems poised to ratify any desire of President Donald John Trump.
Fantastic? Nothing is as fantastic as the obvious in front of us. Totalitarian rule is within Trump’s hand-breadth.
Not yet? It’s here.
3
In 2012, just six short years ago, Obama was reelected. Romney could have won, but a single individual, just one person, recorded a video during a fundraising event that changed the course of that election (the 47% video). All turned out well, but it was close. Was there significant talk about the Electoral College at that time? No, Democrats were happy with the results, and the EC was just fine.
Then came 2016. Democrats put up a weak candidate. And many didn't want to see Bill back in the White House. It was a close election, so some other things came into play (like Russian interference). But if it hadn't been so close, those other things wouldn't have mattered.
So half the country voted for Trump. Are they all racist white supremacists? I don't think so at all. I think most thought Trump would straighten out after the facade of the election and become "presidential." They were wrong and pretty stupid about that, and now we are in trouble.
Should we blame Fox News and massive funding by the Kochs and Mercers et al.? Sure, but Democrats have CNN and MSNBC, and they can go for it, too. They can also nurture candidates with fire-in-the-belly oratorical skills; that's allowed. And they can come up with viable plans to get irate Trump-base voters back in the fold by producing *good jobs with good benefits.*
Read NYT columns and write comments. But if you're not also *actively working* to maximize Democratic turnout in November, *you* are part of the problem.
4
I cannot and will not disagree with anything you have said here. This is the scenario that I see playing out. Trump's rabid supporters here in southwestern Ohio are cleaning their guns and getting ready for the armageddon that they want and expect should anyone or anything try to remove their beloved leader from office or indict him for any crimes. It's coming. And those who deny it--as in some of the comments that I see below--are only fooling themselves.
5
My dad was a long-time political reporter and columnist who retired in the 90s. During the Clinton era, he began to get increasingly fearful about the fate of the country and said: "Mark my words, a criminal is going to be elected President one day; They are going to come for the press in this country; and the last, which is pertinent to this article--the Republican Party does not want to relinquish power.
He emphasized this strongly and I looked at him, like daddy, you're overreacting. But now here we are. Mr. Cohen's column now forces us to envision a scenario that is not as whacko or unlikely as it once seemed. I wish they were overreacting.
33
@janeausten
Excuse me, what press are you talking about?
The one bought by the global corporations long ago?
The one that is doing their best to divide and polarize the citizens?
When the people are split through the middle, then they neutralize mutually and all the power is in the hands of the owners.
There is no independent free press in America.
The corporate press and the free press are mutually exclusive.
The free press has no owners. The owners want to protect their private interests, not the public ones...
2
To some extent I agree with Mr. Cohen. In 2016 Trump protected himself by calling the elections unfair and rigged before a single vote was cast. Even after election, he still called the election rigged because he didn't win the majority vote.
I don't want to be around to see what would happen when he actually loses an election. He will blame the world and demand his followers to take to the streets touting the guns provided by the NRA.
How is that going to end well?
23
Here's a hint: Louis Napoleon won the Presidency of France in 1948 but could not stay in office as long as he wanted because of term limits. So he overthrew the government.
1
Another deep economic recession like 2008 would be more dangerous since the emergence of Trump exposed a large and unevenly distributed element within our population who appear to be armed and primed for civil unrest.
Anti-immigrant and anti-minority riots seem well within the realm of possibility, after years of stereotyping and scapegoating by parts of the GOP.
The ability of law enforcement to contain violence also seems uncertain.
The sudden 2008 economic collapse driven by widespread mortgage securities fraud and exposure is less likely than the slow erosion of wages and economic security that already appears to be overtaking parts of the country, the kind that might be exacerbated by protracted trade wars, for example.
16
"Soon, there may be indictments from Robert Mueller, the special counsel, of high officials or members of Trump’s family. What then? Ornstein’s nightmare scenario: Trump fires Mueller, pardons himself and everyone else, sends his followers into the street, and, after the inevitable bloodshed, declares martial law."
Then our last hope is the oath taken by every member of the military -- from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs down to the buck private -- to defend and uphold the Constitution of the United States.
9
@Joel Solonche I had the same thought...would the military stand down in the face of an order from this president? my take is that some would, some wouldn't...then what? One other hope is that rational minds would not allow Kavanaugh to join the high court, he of the opinion that the president is above the law....
Yes, all true and all very dark, but still not as dark as it could get. That moment of maximum internal discord and disruption that you and Mr. Ornstein imagine, the new American Civil War?
THAT is when Putin makes his move against us and the countries of Eastern Europe.
16
The truth that we have to face is this: Trump supporters are comfortable with authoritarianism. They will happily trade democratic norms and institutions for other values such as white nationalism. Underneath this perceived trade-off is some misplaced belief that it is a way to reclaim some economic benefit and social status. The only remedy, I'm afraid, will be a profound economic crisis that can be unmistakenly tied to the Trump administration. This may take some time and there is no guarantee that even such a crisis will work its necessary corrective effect, particularly as the more sophisticated elements of the Republican party will always have the incentive to behave opportunistically in shifting responsibility for such a crisis.
19
Neither party really cares about democratic norms at the moment. The Democrats' big fear at the moment is that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe vs Wade and allow the electorate to vote on abortion policy.
1
Given all that we already know are there citizens out in the US who are contacting their state legislators now about safeguarding the ballots in November’s Election? If your state uses electronic voting machines your vote isn’t safe from hacking, which means your election results won’t necessarily be valid. A paper trail please, and public hand counting for a reality based election.
13
Mr. Cohen,
At this moment in time, some of us no longer care whether it is the Grand Architect of The Universe, or cravenly politicians who are sitting on their thumbs, allowing the dismantling of America under the banner of this president.
We might as well be watching 'The Mouse who Roared' and take America back to 1959.
Let's keep moving. The choice is ours when it comes to giving Mr. Trump the benefit of the doubt, and there is no reason to make this presidency a form of dangerous entertainment.
3
Trump is a sign the U.S. is dangerously close to martial law?
I see little difference between any of the major or minor for that matter political/economic powers in the world. All the powers in the world, not to mention left and right wing trends, are obsessed with controlling, managing people, and these techniques are being shared and copied by all.
In virtually all cases we hear about people being treated equally (this emanates from socialists, nationalists, theocracies, etc.) but this just leads to crude division between rich and poor. In virtually all cases as advanced methods of technological, bureaucratic, psychological control are employed--and you are either with the program and paid well or among the millions managed, taken care of, provided for, protected.
And of course across the world the I.Q. level in public sphere appears barely above average, all powerful artistic/scientific trends firmly kept under control if not entirely suppressed. Power worldwide in all places appears behind the curve of population growth, resource supply and demand. It's as if a high school with barely suppressed student body and the teachers and pet students in league and attempting to equalize and control everybody and the more gifted students surreptitiously employed in devising techniques to control things, provide for everybody.
It doesn't seem possible to expect justice anymore not to mention great and noble human accomplishments. All appears on hold at best, control the word.
1
Yes, hard to imagine emergency martial law or worse, but most Americans didn't imagine the past 18 months of disruption and corruption.
It's easy to imagine, ICE, TSA, western militias, and segments of the military, and police rushing to save our country in the name of Trump.
8
Until and unless the Donors decide they have had enough, which they will never have, nothing will change.
9
All true, Mr. Cohen. And the scariest thing by far is that the one mechanism that could halt this slow-motion train wreck is an electoral process that is immune to the influences of foreign intervention (by Russia or anyone else), e-vote manipulation (EU countries don’t allow e-voting), disenfranchisement of large portions of the electorate, and, of course, our dear old friends Gerry Mander and E. Lectoral College.
It’s no coincidence that NONE of these issues are a priority for this GOP Congress (well, maybe some are if you mean more disenfranchisement and meddling). Not one.
Result: Civil War is inevitable.
38
@Terry Malouf
It seems to me that we have almost lost the chance to save our democracy. Can anyone come up with a plan? How do we start? Do we need a whiteboard and brain-storming session to get some clues on how to begin getting out of this mess?
Curious “debasement” it is when almost all of Republicans’ political objectives continue to be secured. A steady march to a more originalist and textualist federal bench, a tax policy that rewards corporations for innovation while penalizing states that impose obsessive local taxes in order to fund apparats that rival the federal government’s, a rollback of excessive regulation that has been stifling our growth for years, a fear of the Bear and the chador put in Europeans who believe they can’t have BOTH the most robust social safety nets in the world AND contribute meaningfully to their own defense (and they may be right), a long-overdue discussion on trade policies that seek geopolitical goals at the cost of penalizing U.S. commercial interests, a far more attentive posture toward border-enforcement … it goes on and on.
Curious concept of “debasement”. It could almost be the ideological whining of political losers who realize that you can jade a public readership eventually with talk of how icky Donald Trump is and must generalize the tarring to all Republicans. And it’s a great way to repurpose old jokes. Roger Cohen as Henny Youngman.
Martial law, huh? What self-respecting proponent of martial law obeys federal judicial rulings when they prevent him from acting on his policies? In what martial law regime ARE there federal judicial rulings that prevent the lider from acting on his policy decisions?
And a Republican Congress has …
3
… “failed at every level”. Why? Well, because they refuse to reverse the outcome of the 2016 election and impose Kumbaya throughout the land. Silly: everyone knows this.
Trump will continue to embarrass us for his bumptiousness, his unwillingness to be scripted, his mouth and his tweets. And will continue to move us forward in ways that Republicans support. Apparently, Americans no longer (for now) possess the ability to create leaders who can be BOTH effective on the world stage AND uphold our highest standards of gravitas. But maybe if we’re successful enough for, say, eight years, with a clown abetted by 287 (out of 535) appliers of clown-white, we can make it safe again for lesser mortals to govern.
Somehow I feel like it’s 1973, I’m in a broken-down VW Kombi van called “Pigpen” traversing Afghanistan with buddies in the back with me, consuming mushrooms and smoking some really good stuff, while the driver is gibbering manically from his contact-high.
1
This post misses the point, whether deliberately or not, it's hard to tell.
Yes, the Republican Party is securing its political objectives - debasing itself, and betraying the liberal foundations of American democracy to do so.
Fundamentalism, both secular and religious, Nationalism, love for authoritarianism, isolationism has overrun it, past the point of no return.
Trump and the Republicans won an election in 2016. But did they win the hearts and minds of the majority of the American electorate, now that we see who they really are an what they are turning America into?
We will see in 2018 and 2020.
7
@Teg Laer:
Well … maybe next year. If not, maybe two years afterwards; and if not, well, maybe …
Keep in mind that even Boston and the Cubbies came back. Just took them many decades to do it.
Humans are predators on our way to becoming beings who happily lay down our lives for one another. It is a process of millions of years and we are blessed to come into it after thousands of years of great progress. We have learned skills that have contained our predatory nature enough to cooperate in astonishing ways, but both the skills and the aspirations that drive those skills are always only one generation from extinction; they must be passed on adequately enough to outpace the inherent predatory instincts of the next generation.
Hence, the very high stakes in our current cold civil wars all over the world, but especially in our country where the Great Experiment is slogging ahead in the quicksand of contempt; an experiment in a social order—terribly imperfect, but brilliantly constructed—where the predatory instinct to compete for resources is bridled by the common aspirations of the many through an agreement to constantly strive toward leveling the field of competition, creating common rules of engagement, and building monuments to remind us of the values that tower above us; values that we aspire to aspire to because we have somehow been given intuitions toward the good and beautiful and true. High stakes, indeed.
The Old Testament prophet asks us to choose between life and death. Prophets tend to cut through fake news and speak to the bloody heart, bare of ideology. More prophets, please.
12
Martial law, cancellation of elections, "treason" despite not having a war -- that sort of talk is a frenzy, not balanced judgment.
The American people need clear balanced judgment from an alternative leadership. They don't need more of a race to the bottom.
11
@Mark Thomason
"... that sort of talk is a frenzy, not balanced judgment."
So how do you see this as ending? I, like Roger Cohen, see this as a logical ending to this "cold civil war", as he calls it. Can you imagine if Trump loses in 2020? Do you see him stepping aside, peacefully? And what if he wins? How will the other 60+% react?
This is not gonna end well for the US.
61
Trump is being who he has described himself being all along. It doesn’t matter to me whether or not there was collusion. I suspect there was not a fully organized effort to collude even though it is clear that the campaign would have accepted all the help they could get. Now the congress of the United States is not functioning properly. Elected officials are struggling to understand their constituents. I do not believe their primary concern is taking care of its people or doing the right thing. It is to keep their jobs if they can. This will not change until Trump loses his base and loses his next election. All I can do is vote. I hope others choose to vote as well. I do not believe a majority of Americans really stand for this.
48
Yes, Mr. Cohen. The only way to credibly break the American hegemony would be to pit it against itself. If there were such a project, by Russians, or whomever; the current climate of chaos and confusion would be a strong indication. Our collective mind is awash with digital informational stimuli; falsehoods and forced non-realities are bending our perceptions. Orwell and Huxley would certainly recognize these old techniques set aflame by new technologies. Be there an agency or not, we are pushed towards anger and resentment. Let’s see how we handle these invocations of our most beastly spirits. Go ahead express fears, yo, but then, embrace common goods and dignities.
13
For those that don't believe in collusion, we now have Russia telling us they are ready to move forward on agreements made with trump. No one else was in the room for these discussions. So you can believe what you like, the facts are in open display. Trump went into the meeting with nothing and walks out with Russian directives to fulfill. We all joked that Putin was trump's boss. It's no laughing matter now. Impeachment and/or curtailment of presidential powers real or imagined must be done before Putin is sitting in the Oval office. This is no joke.
110
@TrumpLiesMatter
Yes, I believe you are referring to the underreported statement made by the Russian military yesterday that "they are ready to act in Syria" based upon agreements made between Trump and Putin in Helsinki. History seems to be running out ahead of us every day now. If we, as a nation, do not catch up, our history will be determined by other forces.
2
Putin by way of proxy is indeed sitting in the Oval Office.
In their book "How Democracies Die," Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt explored the role that political parties have played in the suppression of demagoguery and authoritarianism.
In the course of our history, we've gone from having Congress select the presidential candidates to a convention system and finally to a primary system that favors the ideologically pure. While this is more democratic, it contributes to the polarization in the country today.
Levitsky and Ziblatt concluded that the tension between the filtering role of party leadership and the need to engage popular support is inherent — the balance is dynamic. What this week's debacle has made evident is that the party should never have enabled Trump to gain the nomination.
But nobody seems to have an answer to the question of how to preserve the fundamental democratic processes of representative government while preventing unqualified charismatic ideologues from gaining power.
27
A good start would be to abolish the electoral college. Then maybe the endangered majority may have a fighting chance of retaking their government.
43
Also reversal of Citizens United. Courting big donors and keeping them happy is a big reason why the GOP looks the other way when supporting with Trump. Big money over what is best for the country.
1
@Dale
Would we have to have a constitutional amendment to abolish the electoral college? That would take too long, probably years, to change the structure of our electoral processes, wouldn't it? What else can we do meantime other than vote?
Roger Cohen’s analysts is too simple; it's incomplete. The Republicans in Congress feel caught between Trump’s base and the billionaires who fund them. Neither group cares a wit about how America is seen abroad, nor about democracy, itself.
They will care, however, when Trump’s trade wars come home to roost, and the economy goes down the tubes. Then, and only then, will the Republican members of Congress feel free to rein in Trump. They will act only when they see disenchantment in his base, and get a green light from Charles Koch.
58
There will be a time when the Trump-Pence era is over, and our long national nightmare begins to recede. Then, the US Congress will need to establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to explore just how Russian agents' activities, including the contribution of dark money to the NRA and other groups' social media campaigns, contributed to the rise of Trump. The Commission also will explore the conduct of Trump enablers and Russian fellow-travelers like Mitch McConnell and Dana Rohrabacher to determine if they are guilty of treason. The Commission may recommend that all judicial appointments made by the compromised Trump-Pence administration be invalidated and all such jurists go through a re-approval process. As Martin Luther King said: "the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice." And, we the people shall overcome!
66
@OldProf
One idea for the future is to make a law that all persons who register to run for president be vetted with a background check prior to becoming a candidate. It seems not right that the president is perhaps the only person in our country working at a top level job, who is not required to have a background check prior to employment, and still has access to classified information.
@Thelma McCoy
Yes, with Trump's checkered financial history and his unwillingness to release his tax return, a background check would have been enlightening. Of course, if a solid Russian connection had been revealed in Trump's background check, Mitch McConnell would have prevented its release, as he did the FBI report of Russian involvement in the theft of DNC emails. For Mitch and his ilk, party politics is more important than national security.
Without a doubt Putin owns Trump. Trump owns the GOP meaning Putin owns both. Meaning Putin now holds more sway over American policy than the American people. All this can only mean one thing, that a reckoning of unmeasurable magnitude is in order soon. That we as a people will be choosing between democracy or authoritarianism. I can’t imagine that choosing between despotism or the rule of law should be terribly difficult for a people that have been blessed with rights and freedoms for so long now. Let’s hope I am right. If not, too bad for us and many future generations.
54
It is true enough that none of the trip wires he has torn through so far has disrupted the hypnotic effect he has had on the Republican party. If anything, it has been part of his method.
But this case seems a bit different. Remember how key it is that he never backs down, and more importantly, is never seen to back down, but just keeps coming back more combatively than before.
This time, he humiliated himself and us in a spectacularly visible way, but he evidently did not anticipate the blowback, probably because he really didn't say anything different in Helsinki than he has been saying all along. He committed the cardinal sin as producer of his own reality show in failing to see how the heightened situation would change the dramatic effect.
So now he finds himself trying to backtrack, according to yesterday's reporting, with the reliably tone-deaf assistance of Stephen Miller, which is pulling him off-character.
It is just possible that this miserable performance will break the spell. If Trump can't, or won't, defend his actions in his usual self-assured way, we may very well see Republicans heading for the exits without much notice.
28
I think that Trump shows the genius of the founders. Despite the increasing power that has devolved to the Executive Branch - which started decades before Trump - we still have a system of separation of powers that limits what the president can do. Not only that, public opinion matters or we wouldn't have seen the reversal of Trump's policy separating immigrant families and his walking back of his Helsinki statements.
So I don't see the doomsday scenario that Mr. Cohen posits. After years (ever since WWII) of having it drummed into their consciousness during training, I don't see our military leaders obeying an illegal order. A Trump impeachment (also unlikely) is a more plausible scenario.
4
@J. Waddell
Separation of powers?
If the founders, in their wisdom, considered a combination of the executive branch, the coming finalization of the hard-right SCOTUS and the cheering squad in the republican currently-dominated congress, acting as one national power, I can't see any separation discernible. And what constitutes the counter balance the that troika now?
Yes voters you may say, but with election tampering that may not be the total answer. Also SCOTUS can work effectively against the constitution since they can decide what is and isn't constitutional (a corporation with equivalent rights to an American voter?) and we can't rely on the vote, even without tampering, to do anything about what they decide!
This is a whole new ballgame!
How far will the Trump-Putin regime go to stay in power. What this country needs is patriots and with a single exception who is dying of cancer, there are no patriots in the so called Republican party, none. Yet, there are millions of patriots in this country whose eyes are wide open. There is an election coming in November and we have to be certain that we are careful not to give the Trump-Putin regime reason to declare martial law or to seize the ballots.
The best thing we can do is to retake the House and of greater importance the Senate to protect the judicial branch and really restrict this regime’s power to act. We can start by rolling back those tariffs which were a usurpation of congressional power. Then can have hearings into Trump’s abuse of power. One step at a time. Meanwhile we can watch the GOP commit suicide except in the old Confederacy and empty states with no big cities.
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@Sheldon Bunin:
The key to your comment is the second part of your last sentence: "except in the old Confederacy and empty states with no big cities".
We wouldn't be talking about empty states with no big cities if they truly had a proportional representation in Congress. The reality is that the GOP realized that they don't need to win the majority population; they only need to win the crazies in empty states and work on them to vote in large numbers. That is a small fraction of the population, but one that controls the reins of power.
When large and mostly liberal states say enough is enough, we will have a few choices - either direct elections for President, rebalance of the electoral college and congress such that it becomes truly representative of the population, or civil war.
Unfortunately, the first two options require GOP spine.
1
@BWCA
Or we elect people who have spine. I suggest we try that this November.
Nothing will change until several known Trump supporters lose their seats. Only then Republican seat holders ( they don't deserve to be called legislators) will stop in fear and start distancing themselves from Trump. And then, maybe, Trump will stop being the bull in the diplomatic and national china shop. But, more probably, he will throw the mother of all tantrums, accusing everyone he has ever known of betrayal, and will end up stammering in total loss of reason like Captain Queeg. Democrats need to work on registration and getting out the vote as if the very safety of the country is in danger...because it is.
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I am glad that journalists are at long last beginning to focus on the nightmare scenarios. These happen all the time in other countries and it is long past time that we concentrate our minds on them. It has taken a very long time for Americans to start to think about the end game for Trump and the Republicans. The fire points are the potential firing of Mueller, and the one that Cohen did not mention, which is Democratic success on Nov. 6. Don't forget about the military "parade" in (i.e., occupation of, if it comes to that) Washington, right after the election. Those people will NOT give up either the House or the Senate. To give up either means the end of their fascist revolution. I, too, hope that people in the Federal government are preparing to resist or stop a coup d'etat. Civil society also needs to be planning - perhaps a general strike? All this could be prevented by the Republican Congress simply by legislative protection for the special counsel, but they refuse to do it. The sad reality is that democracy has already failed, because we are now depending on the Secretary of Defense to be the one in the top ranks of the Federal government to uphold his oath, when all others clearly will not. The reality, shown over and over again during the 19th and 20th centuries, is that the people can never defeat the military in the streets if the soldiers will shoot. Let us hope that they are ordered not to, by a leader they respect.
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@XXX To my own comment I will add this: the white members of the armed forces are overwhelmingly pro-Trump. Thus, we really are depending on Mattis and Dunford, not on the rank-and-file. That means that as a democracy, we have now regressed to the level of democratic political maturity that Turkey was at before Erdogan - which is to say, depending on the military to uphold the democratic order. Actually, we are lower than that, because before Erdogan, the Turkish military could be relied on to uphold the democracy; we don't know yet whether ours can be relied upon. What a mess we are in.
35
What percentage of the military does not back Trump? My guess is over half of the rank and file does not.
@XXX please don't forget that most of the Trumpists have guns, lots of them.
Mr. Ornstein's predictions are only the more true given today's revelations regarding Maria Butane's ties with the religious pseudo-Christian right, whose primary champion is the Vice President.
No benign inheritor of the top position is Pence; he will be worse than Trump in effect, just a bit quieter about executing his agenda.
I am gobsmacked by the interconnections revealed by the excellent reporting by the Times and Mr. Muller's team: the might of the highly organized and fiercely determined religious right, Russian homophobia, the brutality of american billionaires (the Ulines, Kochs, et al) as they bludgeon all fairly out of the system, the Trump crowd's utter disregard for legal precedent and the rule of law in general, the right's blithe encouragement of civil war here,
the normalization of it all in a media determined to appear "fair", to whom? In my many decades, and even though Reagan's "government is the problem" blitz and Bush v. Gore presaged much of this, it is still mind-blowing reality.
This is what happens when a nation falls asleep at the wheel.
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@cat. My first major shock was the SCOTUS intervention in Bush v Gore, then 9/11 and the absolutely contrived wars of choice, next came the easily co-opted Tea Party preaching populism supported by the wealthy far right establishment... all leading to a well financed extremist takeover and the elevation of fledgling Fascist and aspiring kleptocrat, Trump the brand attached to a two ton anchor of a deformed ego.
Add to a corrupted party the push of far right jurists and a base manipulated into a witless frenzy and yes, it could happen here and without intervention very well might. Time for the still sane to get busy.
1
Roger, the best weapon that we have to proactively prevent the scenario you outline is for the Democratic Party to announce that in the aftermath of any Trump imposition of martial law, or other extraordinary act that puts civilian lives at risk, the next Democratic president would feel duty-bound to prosecute Trump, his family, and his enablers to the fullest extent of the law - even if it meant using State Attorney Generals to bring the charges, and obtain the convictions.
Should a Trump-dominated Supreme Court attempt to protect him, we should also have no hesitation in amending the Judiciary Act, and quickly returning those corrupted Justices to the minority.
Trump has roughly 40-42% of the country. I am confident that he will lose in any attempt to take us into a dictatorship. But he needs to have his cage rattled now, loudly and often - so that he comes to understand that he will NEVER BE permanently beyond the reach of the law.
His best exit strategy is, was, and forever shall be an immediate resignation, coupled to a pardon by Pence.
Trump should exit now before he has crossed the Rubicon - because once he does, everything he holds dear will be forfeit.
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@Matthew Carnicelli. ....that 40% is of registered voters not the entire population...something like 50% of the people who are able to vote in the USA do not bother or are blocked, particularly younger people who don't identify w/ the GOP...so that GOP % is actually much lower, as Democrats have a higher registered voter base, plus the Independents and Greens etc....that GOP % shrinks considerably....this minority thinks they can bully their way to power because they have weapons and are going to start shooting American citizens? Pence will never be president either as he is in this up to his neck too.
2
A few of us in the sciences and mathematics used to joke in college English courses that a double negative makes a positive - I see reasons why Russia should be involved. I don’t buy the inserted contraction delivered with great insincerity yesterday nor the idea this makes everything else President Trump did in Europe last week all better. Trump supporters need to take their blinders off. For one thing, foreign policy that is in the personal interest of the president and in the interests of a foreign adversary is not foreign policy in the interests of the United States. For another, the United States is strong enough and has historical context to fight for moral and ethical, democratic leadership at home and abroad. Democracy is a vibrant, dynamic form of government. Compared to the authoritarian form, the common acceptance of humanity, rights, freedoms, transparency, the rule of just law are required in a democracy. Authoritarians will take away Rights, Freedoms, and Liberties; corruption will replace the rule of law where wealth will flow to the very top, and, after that, they will go after your guns, America. Oppression, suppression, suffering, discrimination, unjust and forced labor, ... read a history book for crying out loud and demand Congress do their job to check the abuses of powers demonstrated by this president.
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Our stammering, incompetent President has one strength. He reads people's likes and biases very shrewdly. By so doing he has a substantial political following which feeds his narcism and love of political power. A sizable group of nationalistic Christians do not like what is happening to our life style in the West-family divorce. secularism, acceptance of LGBT. Putin,the ruler with an iron hand at home in Russia and also astute at reading people's wants and biases, speaks of traditional values--family,religion, and love of country. What Putin truly believes is another matter.
The tables have turned!! We in the West are atheists and degenerates, while Putin and Russia are the stewards of traditional values. This is appealing to many Christians and Trump plays to them.
2
What seemed impossible 2 years ago seems likely today. The time for thinking Americans to start pressure on Republicans is now.
The SCOTUS appointment is more important than ever. If another right wing extremist is appointed, they may not protect us from these Trump possibilities . The failure of McConnell to do his constitutional duty in order to put Gorsuch on the bench is a historic crime.
Are we seeing another fascist rise as in the 30's? It seems that history may be trying to repeat this evil time.
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The only 'martial law' that might occur is the physical removal of Donald Trump from office into a federal holding cell, complemented by the military and the National Guard putting down a scattering of white supremacists gun-toting rallies in Trumpistan.
Republican Congresspeople and Cabinet members know Trump is incoherent, insane, unbalanced and unfit for office; they get fresh evidence of it every day.
Even official Republicans will not stand for Trump's declaration of martial law in the United States of America.
Given that Trump insanity, the 25th Amendment would be swiftly invoked to remove Donald to a uniquely padded, mirrored federal prison cell and Pastor Pence would then assume his Christian Shariah Law duties.
Pastor Pence would calmly explain to Trumpers that Donald is unwell and is receiving the much needed psychotherapy he never received as a young boy...and that the march to White Male Christian Power continues on the road to American fascism.
While it's true that this nation is at civil war with itself, with the reincarnation of the Old Confederacy fighting against modernity, equality, justice, science, contraception and non-whites, Americans will have to fight this war at the ballot box and in the court of public opinion against the worst generation of Republican propagandists, vote-riggers, greedsters, racists and Know Nothings this nation has ever seen.
America is much better than Donald Trump and his Deplorables.
We will prove it on November 6 2018.
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This is by far your best rant--thank you for making my day!!!
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@Socrates
I always appreciate your interventions but this time I just can't share your optimism. Official Republicans will dance with glee if Trump attempts to declare martial law, just remember the look on McConnell's face when he took over the Supreme Court. It will look a lot like that, only more widespread, when the violence begins.
35
@Socrates I sincerely hope that you are right, but so far we have seen no evidence that members of the republican-controlled Congress will stand up to this man. As Mr Cohen says, they think that they can get any bill they passed signed by the corrupt Donald Trump, and so they corrupt themselves also. And what is their agenda? Taking down the safety net? Refusing to Grant a minimum wage that a person could live on? More tax cuts for the already obscenely wealthy? And will the military stand up to him if he tries to declare martial law? Perhaps that it's the one will real wild card, but who knows at this point?
1
This country was attacked on 9/11. And that attack changed the course of history. Ironically, we found out our intelligence community knew about the impending attack in advance, but because of internecine rivalries it was unable to respond appropriately. Changes were made. A Director of National Intelligence position was created to oversee and coordinate intelligence gathering and to advise the president of their findings so he could take appropriate action.
Now we have been attacked again - during the 2016 election - and the head of the DNI has warned the president about the impending threats to our national security. And the president has taken appropriate executive action to counter those threats: cut taxes.
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@Midnight Scribe
"we found out our intelligence community knew about the impending attack in advance"
Condolizza Rice had their report on her desk when 9/11 happened. She and the Bush administration ignored it. And, she was instrumental in getting us mired in Iraq.
1
Mr. Cohen, your every syllable is true, and I fear you are exceedingly prescient in your last paragraph. Nothing that has transpired to-date indicates that anything whatsoever will result when Mueller presents his evidence. In fact, there is no assurance that his findings will ever be made known to the American people, but only reported in a direct and private report to the DOJ, and to Congress. Then we will have to pin our hopes on patriots in the DOJ or, absent that, a "Deep Throat" to tell the people the truth. And if it comes to that there is a strong possibility, if not probability, that violence will erupt. The tragic fact is that nobody knows at this point where this nation is headed. So fast, so incredibly fast...
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@Michael Anyone doubt Trump supporters own most of the guns in this country?
@Michael this tragedy all began the summer of 2015 on an escalator in Trump Towers, we are just now entering the final act of the play.
1
Yes, yes, yes, Mr Friedman. This is why all center, moderate, and left-leaning Americans must forego fringe candidates in November and vote strong Democrats in to overtake the GOP stronghold in DC. Many of our fellow citizens have yet to wake up to the fact that our nation has been taken over by an arch plutocrat and his accomplices. It's a done deal for now. The authentic media, presumably in denial or in an effort to 'wait and see' or to keep the country from falling into a mass panic, has back pedalled and soft pedalled for way too long -- as have many Democrats. Consequently, many decent citizens are still sleep walking. We need to all work like the dickens to wake everybody up. We need to vote 45's enablers out, vote strong Democrats in, and ensure the November voting is free and fair. There will be other days and other elections for cause-based candidates and parties. But, today, our nation is in peril. We must all vote in unity and with vigilance as if our lives depended on it -- because they do. Our lives depend on this vote, this November. In the meantime, let's all watch, fight, and pray that we get through the next three and a half months intact.
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@Maggi The democrats are shooting themselves in the foot by moving too far to the left.
Maybe the Democrats would do well to give financial support to anti-Trump Rebublican candidates like Martha Roby. Because the only way GOP members of Congress are going to break with Trump if they see that this can get them votes. They are all worried about Trump's base voters.
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@farhorizons She's not anti-Trump. She did oppose him during the campaign, but fell in line after the election. Trump endorsed her in her recent campaign. It's all in the NYT article on her, front page.
@farhorizons
No, Roby was only briefly anti-Trump before she saw the danger in riling up his base, then she fell right in line, vocally and often, she only won the primary due to this. We are down to almost no Trump critics among Congressional Republicans, no matter what he does, and most of his Republican non-cultists are retiring, and one dying.
I really do fear street fighting may be in our future, can only hope that governors will deploy the National Guard to keep it from becoming like Germany in the 1920s, and that the armed forces will remain true to the Constitution come what may. Remember, many of Trump's cultists are heavily armed, and quite a few are trigger-happy. We'd better not underestimate their rage, and their bizarre sense of entitlement and having been wronged. And their intense racism and hatred of the educated, "liberal elites." They really could light the fuse that's been prepared by Faux News and etc.
3
@farhorizons why don't you send money to Roby's Democratic Party opponent? Support volunteers in the district? Help get out the vote there? Keep it Simple.
2
All true. Brutally true. And yet none of it matters to Trump supporters.
They love him not because of the good he has done for them, but because of who they think he is. Trump is their warrior and savior. Trump is going to stick it to the man! Trump is going to stand for the forgotten who incidentally, forgot everyone else, and rejected modernity in the name of cultural preservation (repression?). Some cultures are not worth preserving like racism, sexual discrimination, and unlimited access to high powered military grade weapons.
Love is blind. Trump supporters have absolutely no problem twisting their minds into illogical pretzels to continue their support of him. He starts a trade war that will cost hundreds of thousands of jobs, if not millions ultimately, and they say "he is getting it done". They say "Trump is on the right track". Sure. He is on the track to doom.
Do not underestimate the lure and intoxication of the white power president. His supporters are terribly threatened by the browning of America. They see the hispanic worker as a direct threat to their incomes, their future prosperity. This is such a threat to them, that they will completely justify or ignore all of the terrible things Trump is doing to our nation and the entire world. Caving to Putin doesn't matter so long as they get that wall. They will never get their wall.
These people can't be reasoned with. That's how people end up in the street. Trump will be at the rear.
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The Trump supporter is uninformed and gets their News from Fox or talk radio. As a result they are afraid of everything from immigrants, to people that look different to losing their gun. So information is how they can be changed. Don't condemn them as deplorables but invite them to discussions.
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Bruce, you are correct: Trump is seen as a Messiah, and the joy of his followers is in following him, regardless of where he leads. It is ritual, not rational, and beyond any fact, logic or common sense.
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@tom Oh please. The Trump voters I know are too uninformed to discuss anything. I am so sick and tired of being told to engage them. No, I won't.
Martial Law in this country at this time would be the worst nightmare imaginable. EVERYONE has guns and those who support the order would encounter those who don't and it won't be pretty.
Someone posted that Democratic resistance as a political platform is not the answer and will facilitate Republicans continuing to support Trump. Republicans are going to support Trump anyway so there are few options left but for a resistance movement on every level. When facts and truth become meaningless, what other options can be explored? The person that posted this makes a dismal point but provided no solution whatsoever to the problem.
Moreover criticism directed to Republican perfidy backed by facts is not a conspiracy theory. It's factual evidence that supports the truth.
The only other option is to surrender to madness. I don't think so.
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@Robert Westwind
I'm not sure we our guns are as evenly distributed as you imagine. My guess would be that the majority of gun owners are Trump supporters.
There are a lot of firearms out there -- by some estimates one or more per American -- but they are concentrated in about 1/3 of households. So it's wrong to say that everyone has guns. I don't and I'd say fewer than 1 in 10 of the people I know do. That's because I tend to associate with like-minded people, people who generally share my social and political views.
So in a Trump endorsed martial law situation, I'm going to be at a distinct disadvantage. The president will be able to call up his very own "(not so) well regulated militia."
30
@Slim Wilson If things deteriorate to the point of the possibility of martial law, then the rest of us had better consider getting a gun for the first time.
@Slim Wilson
Don't worry Slim, The resistance will do what countless other successful rebellions have done thoughout time - we'll "pry their guns from their cold, dead hands."
Thank you for speaking the obvious Roger Cohen.
Never has over-worked phrase, "for evil to prevail, all it takes is for good men to do nothing."
I would change that to, "all it takes is for men (and women) to do nothing)."
There's nothing "good" about tolerating evil, particularly in a country founded on a high-minded system of government designed to make tyranny almost impossible.
I sincerely doubt the founders could have imagined a majority Congress willing to abdicate their duty to check a rogue president in return for tax cuts and donor contributions and presidential endorsements that will keep them in power.
I've been thinking (and predicting) martial law from this runaway presidency since the violence at Charlottesville.
It's not hysterical or even unthinkable, given what we've been enduring. Every autocracy begins slowly, until suddenly an entire branch of government is co-opted.
Remember that Donald Trump is learning at his master's knee. Moreover, he has no scruples or love of this country, only love of naked power which he lusts after like he lusts after women.
Yes, Rodger, Republicans grumble but after 24 hours, come around, good enablers that they are.
Trump won't stop until he is stopped---but who will stop him?
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@ChristineMcM We will. We will stop him.
2
@ChristineMcM
who will stop him? the military or someone in his secret service detail.
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@ChristineMcM And HOW will they stop him might be another question. This administration has eliminated the agency that would have the expertise to fight a cyberwar, and if Trump is successful at invalidating the Mueller investigation by whatever means, no real facts will ever emerge that will be the springboard to Democracy's salvation. We ALL should be alarmed, but instead are protected only by a Congress whose milquetoast efforts at wrist slapping Trump on "mis-statements" are not protecting our elections that are imminent. I have never been a fearful person, but I am afraid.
2
Both democrats and republicans are washed up. After this year’s midterm election, I am for a new progressive third party. A party that gives a nod to corporations yet taxes them heavily.
A progressive party that truly works to turn the system around by increasing workers rights and fixing the neglected infrastructure abandoned in America for the last 40 years.
A strong third party would force the other two parties to work harder and perhaps increase the integrity of the whole system.
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@Diane Marie Taylor The Democratic Party, at the national level, is washed up, a safe place for the likes of Senator Feinstein, 85 years old. Would it not be simpler, more effective to get organized and challenge the national leadership through elections at the local and state level? The so-called leadership focused on Federal Electoral politics at the expense of local and state politics: we get Obama and a majority of republican governors and state legislators. If your third party can organize at the local level and build up a group of elected officials from there, then, your idea makes sense.
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@Diane Marie Taylor
Please do not entertain this idea, at least not yet. Right now the Republicans have a stranglehold on our system and the only way to fix that is to concentrate our votes on one opposing party, even if imperfect. Once we get things back to "normal", then perhaps it's worth considering. But for now, remember that this idealism gave us both the 43 and 45 administrations; but for third-party candidates, we would have had vastly different outcomes in both elections.
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@Diane Marie Taylor: A national emergency is the worst possible time to talk about third parties. Saying that 'both parties are the same' always helps the party you most dislike. I presume for you that would be the Republicans, who are trying to kill everything you say you want. Don't fall for it -- anyone who tells you this right now is your enemy.
In the future, if a resurgent Democratic Party ever becomes strong enough to sustain a split into two parties, less and more progressive, and the current GOP has faded to the permanent minority status it so richly deserves, then... sure. Go for it. Just make sure that your new third party is guaranteed to be stronger than the ragtag end of the GOP.
6
The problem is that whenever Trump stumbles, the left moves quickly from legitimate criticism to a series of increasingly bizarre conspiracy theories that amount to a simple demand: undo the election and put us back in power. So long as this dynamic continues, Republicans will continue to support Trump, and the cycle will continue. A genuine opposition is not possible as long as people use the logic of resistance, i.e., extra-constitutional struggle against a constitutionally legitimate government.
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@Mike Livingston This is a faulty analysis. No one is saying that the courts should roll back the election and name Hillary Clinton as President.
But what people are saying is that we CAN take back the House, the Senate, and more and more state houses.
We CAN use Constitutional tools, clearly spelled out by the Founders, to remove a President who has openly adhered to, and given aid and comfort to an enemy that has committed, and continues to commit acts of war against the USA.
We CAN hold a President to answer for violating his oath to protect and defend our nation and Constitution.
Or we can let him continue his coup d'etat against our Democratic Republic, following the well-worn and clear path taken by other dictators who were, also freely "elected" and used that to pare away, piece by piece at their Democracies. They attack the press, the courts, their opponents as "enemies of the people", they work to get lackies elected, appoint lackie "judges" until they are strong enough to alter their very Constitution to give themselves more and more power.
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@Mike Livingston I've never heard anyone say "put us back in power". And the only conspiracy theory I've heard is "let the investigation continue and conclude unimpeded to determine if there was collusion or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 election."
A large majority of Republicans will continue to support Trump, but it's not because of a perceived over-reaction by the left. It's because they are happy to accept this "not perfect" president in exchange for judicial appointments, tax cuts, and draconian immigration policies. They would do regardless of any type of reaction from Democrats.
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@Mike Livingston It's unfortunate that people believe theories like this that have no rational basis. It part of what makes reasoned discussion so difficult during these times.
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The writer is correct in bringing this unthinkable subject up: there is indeed a chance of a 2nd Civil War if this continues, far fetched as it sounds.
If attacked, Trump will call upon his followers to gather in Washington to come and 'save' democracy. And I am sure armed, large numbers will do exactly that. Even worse, they will likely take over local offices in various states.
I am convinced someone, somewhere in the US government is already planning what to do to prevent that if it happens.
Nonetheless the real culprits are his enablers in the Republican party, his aides and assitants who are blind and only following their deep desires for power and wealth.
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@Rushwarp The chances of another civil war are zero. In 1860, it was possible for the confederacy to put together a military comparable to the federal military because (1) weapons technology was not as advanced, (2) confederate leaders included people with the necessary expertise -- e.g. Jefferson Davis, who had been a superb Secretary of War and the principal architect of the Union Army as it existed on the eve of the Civil War. The US might disintegrate -- nothing is forever -- but the process will not be a repeat of the CIvil War of 1861-65.
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@Rushwarp The second Civil War is indeed already underway, except that we call it the Culture War.
The Confederacy has been re-branded as Evangelicals, and the Union forces are now known as Liberals.
Once again, the Union forces, Liberals, are battling to save the United States.
27
Not far-fetched. For the alternatives are putting up with whatever happens, including removal of civil rights, or quite seriously pursuing secession. Barring those it seems we will be discovering what civil war looks like in the 21st century. None of this is going to be fun. Things are going to get ugly.
2
The party that has so advertised itself as the party of principles has shown itself to be a fraud. The very foundations of integrity are tossed away at the whim of this royal highness of doublethink. During the campaign I opined that Trump’s fundamental appeal is his “attitude" which offers a pseudo sense of liberation by inviting his followers to vicariously experience strutting around with impunity. Positively exhilarating! No need to experience the humbling struggle of understanding problems and building relationships. They like me - I like them. Simplicity itself. (BTW isn’t this the very essence of movements like ISIS?) What is amazing is the degree to which so many have been seduced by this bizarre spectacle - a sort of mesmerizing fugue state where connection to reality is suspended and people are induced to “follow". They become “believers”. Most notable in this regard are the 'profoundly' principled conservatives. It reveals how all along their righteousness has been a compensation for how morally unanchored they are underneath. They need rigidity or they are lost. They in turn have been the first to be swept away by this wayward pied piper who offers them a new obeisance around which to galvanize. This is the real battle line - between a reality based ethos and a delusional one - between sanity and insanity. Which do you choose America?
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I can't help wondering if this 'mesmerizing fugue state' is not unlike that induced in millions of tv viewers of 'reality' shows. Trump's trump card
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@victor Your cogent comment illustrates why the Chritian Right is still enamored of this national embarrassment. Their connection to reality is permanently suspended and they are born followers. I found it extremely interesting to read in another article @NYT that the Putin regime is working to re-introduce Christianity to their population. Another form of control wielded by an even higher power.
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It is good to point out that we are in this fight for the long term. No quick fixes; at least until we find out the results of the mid-terms.
But as we fight the long conflict with the extremist right wingers we should also console ourselves with a few facts.
The Democrats have become the party of morality and decency.
The Democrats have become the party of strong defense of the country.
The Democrats will not use small children as hostages because of those that hate people with brown skin.
The Democrats are the party of fiscal and monetary discipline and responsibility.
The Democrats are still the only party of human rights, civil rights, and universal health care.
But most of all the Democrats are the majority party vs the ever shrinking mass of Lairs, cheaters, and thieves that make up the party of Greed Over People lead by the Jackal in Chief. That's how we will win the long fight. Resist.
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@Paul Leighty Resist, yes, but vote and encourage others to vote.
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@Paul Leighty I will gladly resist when we get money
out of politics. The corporate Democrats abandoned the working class long ago. They cannot even imagine that the majority of the workers would have to go into debt or borrow money to pay a 400.00 unexpected bill. The elite in the Democratic party think that is impossible. Yeah it is impossible if you have been made personally wealthy by your big donors. Sure these Democrats talk a good talk, but they have not been doing the walk in congress . At best right now
they can only be Republican light. They have to do their
donors' bidding first. Soros, though smeared as he is
is probably the one donor who actually cares about the disadvantaged and does try to help regular folks so of course he must be demonized. Vote for the candidates who DO NOTtake any large donations I say.
@Paul Leighty
I don't know where you're living. As much as I wish you were correct, the Democrats are the party with no message, the party with old leadership that refuses to step aside, the party with no plan.
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As Roger says: “That is, above all, due to the corruption and debasement of the Republican Party, which has turned into the Trump party, roared on by the right-wing talk machine honed over many years now through Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and the rest. “
This “talk machine” is far more than talk. It is a ubiquitous brainwashing machine that has created an alternative reality for nearly half of voters. This machine’s capacity for engineering elections through innuendo, fake news, outright lies and defamation, has made the weak-kneed supine GOP Congress a collection of venal vassals. It has made the id ascendant in political matters, submerging fact, logic, and rationality in any form among Republicans and many others.
Until this machine is dismantled calming this noise, common sense cannot prevail. The subconscious serpentine old brain reigns triumphant, swamping the minds of what has become a huge rabble of zombie followers.
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@John Brews ..✅✅
Let's not forget those Republican "operatives" who have done so much over many years to destroy honest, fact-based discourse, just debasement: the snarly, ambitious Karl Rove; wordsmith Frank Luntz; corrupt Newt Gingrich; those self-serving evangelicals ... et al. We got here after a long process of not asking the important questions of our leaders, defining the real issues. WHY have they moved us here? And more important, WHY have we let ourselves get to this point? I am in despair.
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You would think the conservative inclination---opposition to strong central governments, guarding traditions, family values, free markets, good manners, responsibility over freedom, tearing down instead of improving from within---would have served as firewalls against a man who everyday creates a mini-French revolution. By any measure, Trump is a conservative ideological nightmare---and yet, he has created a base, along now with an entire political party, that has sold its ideological self for sheer power to crush its liberal leaning enemies---or as Trump would put it enemies of the state. As we all know from our WW II experiences a man and a party unmoored from a ethical and moral worldview are extremely dangerous.
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The likes of Rush Limbaugh, who from day one of Bill Clinton's presidency have been on attach mode with the rest of "Talk Radio," coupled with Fox and other radical right wing outlets, are the precursors of Trump. Trump just came along for the ride, but has the wind behind him, developing over these many years thanks to these agenda-laden media sources.
The irony is that they're labeling "fake news" legitimate genuine sources of information while they are indeed fake and deceitful.
We know that the GOP has become Trump's number one enabler. The question is why?
The answer is simple. When one looks beyond Trump's arrogance and ignorance you see the GOP agenda writ large.
Every policy of Trump's has been supported by the GOP. Every crooked or inept cabinet member was endorsed by the Republicans.
The EPA was turned over to the fossil fuel industry. Social services are now counting government support such as Medicaid as income.
FEMMA worked for Texas and Florida but not Puerto Rico by design. Military spending has gone up with no justification.
And the big one, tax cuts have gone through with the GOP cheering as the wealthy took their windfall and invested in "emerging markets," not on Mainstreet.
While the media has been fixated on Trump, the GOP has moved steadily to the right and basically gotten a free pass.
Our education system has gotten worse, our air and water is dirtier, our criminal justice system has gone back to failed, racist 1980's policies, women are threatened at all levels.
We remove kids from families and then can't find them and the unaddressed opioid crisis has driven life expectancy down and the GOP has done nothing.
Trump isn't done yet because he's doing the bidding of the Republican party and they very artfully dodge his boorishness while supporting everything else.
We will see if these legislators will be challenged on this agenda in the midterms. But if the Democratic leaders are any example, I think not.
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@drspock:
Republicans are staying with trump because, while they fret (sort of) about Helsinki, he is giving them the most conservative Federal court system the US has ever seen and it will last for a generation or beyond!
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Here is a more likely scenario for martial law:
Trump loses the 2020 election. As he did in 2016, he softens the ground throughout the campaign by claiming voter fraud and worse. Then, after the results are in, he says, "See, I told you," and muses about contesting the results. There are huge, angry demonstrations from both sides. The inevitable bloodshed and chaos provides the pretext for declaring martial law.
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@Scott Douglas. Trump will not last until this 2020 election, he does not have the physical stamina for one thing....this will conclude sooner then you think....the American people and our allies and the global environment simply can't tolerate these destructive forces for that long. A violent minority joke party took over Germany....are we going to ignore history and follow their disaster?
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@Scott Douglas
Martial law works only if it is enforced. Should our National Guard have a desire to follow the constitution and they refuse to obey illegal orders, Mr. Trump will be finished and may very well follow the fate of the French nobility, the Czar, Hitler, Mussolini and many other past megalomaniacs and wannabe dictators.
Trump and the Republicans in Congress share one thing; the love of power and control. McConnell is not going to give that up even if Trump shot someone. Right now their focus is on stacking our courts in the event they are no longer the majority party. So the framers of our constitution never thought that we might have a dictator in chief and a totally lame Congress at the same time. Our Democratic system needs major changes and soon. We have no useful vetting system for president of the US. We have no way to control a loose cannon for a president. Partisanship has led to this and the Republicans, NRA and Russians are all making things a lot worse. Trump is only icing on the cake. Mueller may help but the timing is critical. This administration is doing damage every day to our democracy and there is no help in sight.
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@Paul Raffeld As an external observer I believe that your institutions and and rules of law are at best frayed more than just at the edges, if a wannabe dictator in the figure of Trump might bring about your downfall....Machiavelli had a prince doing all of the above in terms of tabula rasa, you have Trump?!
@Paul Raffeld a simple fix would be to do away with the Electoral College.
@Paul Raffeld - anyone who thinks that we actually have a democracy is blind, deaf and daft. We have always had a constitutional republic, and at least one half of the equation is being trashed by both parties. We have what is called a duopoly - a two-party state that functions as one party once in office. It's us sheeple who think that each party is different and is working for ourselves. But it ain't, Paul, the powerful and embedded in office of both sides are working for themselves alone. We don't count - except as useless eaters and pawns in the Great Game of politics.
Politics is all about divide and conquer - keep us sheeple distracted by wag-the-dawg political games. NRA, pro-life anti-abortionists on one side, and free-love, environmentalist LGBT supporters on the other. Keep each side at each others' throats, and the elite faithful get away with what ever they want.
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Putin was elected for another 6 year Term by silencing and jailing his opponents. Xi Jinping is China's president for as long as he wants with no more term limits. Duterte, a confessed murderer and drug user is tightly running the Philippines as an autocrat. Kim Jong-un, a cultist dictator is as close to being "Big Brother" as it gets.
These are the leaders Trump, like the child he is, admires and wants to emulate.
Thus, Marshall law and Trump pardoning himself are not so far-fetched, yet I don't for a second believe Trump to be the real problem. We should be looking at the huge money interests who are controlling Washington by instilling fear into Trump and the congress, such fear as to have turned our politicians into complaint puppies.
Who are the people who had their own lobbyists write the Tax reform bill and demand that the congress pass it? Who are the industrialists who demand NO government control of health care expenses so they can continue to earn billions while so many cannot afford to see a doctor? Who are the people who demand free reign to continue to pollute our planet while so many suffer from the illnesses which are than caused. Who are the people who so skillfully encourage racism so the populace is too distracted by hate to recognize how our country and right are being systematically stolen.
Trump might be gone in 6 years, but who will be the next Trump? Yes, it can actually get worse. We need to stand up to this now before it's too late!
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@Gaucho54 - rhetorical question - "Trump might be gone in 6 years, but who will be the next Trump?"
If this paper and the establishment, as well as the neo-con military industrial complex and business elites of wall street have their way…we'll be looking at a 74 year old Hillary Clinton as the next installed planetary menace.
@Gaucho54 I couldn't agree more! Your points should be the democrats rallying cry so we get at least one house of congress in control of the democrats and can check this president and start to get real information from the administration. Like what did he promise Putin in his 2 hour long smooze fest.
@Gaucho54 This is a very insightful, well-articulated and reasonable Comment. You have a very practical, comprehensive understanding of what's happening. The conservative think tanks and the mass media created the space for Trump; he just moved into it.
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If any member of the Republican Congress had any spine, they would put in place procedures to protect Mueller's investigation.
It is our only hope of ridding ourselves of these criminals, aka the Trump Administration.
Where are those Republicans who took an oath of office to uphold our Constitution, to protect the United States against its enemies?
Why are those Republicans protecting Trump and his Administration. They are protecting their own power by aiding and abetting Trump. And therein lies the problem.
Marital law in not unfathomable. Trump is a runaway train and no one in the Congress is even trying to stop this train wreck.
At the very least, after the Helsinki meeting, Article 25 needs to be put in motion.
As much as I cannot stand Pence and what he stands for, it is the lesser of two evils at this point in time.
But the best outcome will be that Mueller's investigation puts an end to all this madness.
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@Jean
Stacking the courts is why
@Jean
I can't help but wonder if Pence is also under Putin's sway. Granted, he's less of a madman than Trump, but that's faint praise indeed. But yes, let's get rid of the worst by invoking the 25th on Trump and hope Mueller's investigation takes care of Trump. What if Mueller finds the entire election was a sham or enough to render it invalid? Do we even have a precedent for that? And what is Putin's fail-safe if Mueller gets too close? Who will enforce Mueller's findings? He can't even subpoena witnesses. I fear for our nation.
I have been saying for some time now that however Trump is faced with leaving office, whether it's impeachment, losing the 2020 election or (gulp) facing the end of his second term, he will not go quietly. There will be the inevitable tweetstorm about "fake news", Democrats, allusions to shadow forces like the so-called "deep state", illegal immigrants voting in the millions (despite no evidence), and so on. He will insist that the impeachment/election/end of term is "rigged" and will blame anyone and everyone around him except himself. Then he will declare that for the good of the nation, he will declare martial law (the ultimate executive order) and command the military to seize the levers of government in his name. By then it won't matter what the GOP does. I'd like to think that the military would never do this, but who knows? So far his candidacy and presidency have been a series of unexpected moves; why should this be any different? As November looms, we are gearing up towards a midterm election like none other in our history. I plan to vote a straight Dem ticket for every race, from Senator to dogcatcher. We simply cannot afford not to. And *everyone* must vote. It's probably no exaggeration to say that the fate of the nation hangs in the balance
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@Michael Carpenter
Maybe the historic channels of reform — speech and writing that changes minds, political activism that eventually changes who has power — are no longer effective. Maybe America isn’t special, it’s just another republic that had its day, but is in the process of devolving into a corrupt nation ruled by strongmen. Paul Krugman Thoughts for the Horrified NYTimes https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/11/opinion/thoughts-for-the-horrified.html
To those who believe such a scenario is impossible I say this. Ask yourself the consequences had any previous president, Republican or Democrat, behaved as Trump does now? With each passing month we seem to cross a line once unimaginable. Trump's supporters, craven Republicans and the powerful propaganda machine known as Fox News continue to normalize an egomaniac previously best known for emblazoning his name on gambling casinos, beauty pageants and a fraudulent "university." It's clear he would enjoy answering to no one for the remainder of his lifetime if he could have it.
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From now on it should be "Faux News" rather than "Fox News"
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Oh, but Mr Cohen, it can't happen here! This is America, and in America we don't have dictators who impose martial law or suspend the constitution if their power is threatened.
In America we have fair, free elections, where all citizens of legal voting age are encouraged to cast their ballot, made easy by laws that guarantee and promote equal access to the ballot box. And these free, fair elections are vigorously defended by our elected leaders so as to assure that the voice of the people is clearly heard, and that their decision is undistorted.
In America we have courts of law that are impartial, free from political ideology and manipulation, courts where the average citizen can go to seek redress, so that taking to the streets in arms is unthinkable and unnecessary.
In America we have a free press, the guardian of the people's right to information and truth, a right actually and literally enshrined in our Constitution and, like the right to vote, defended and protected by our elected leaders.
In America we have a body of legislators, elected by us and charged, under oath, with the sacred duty of protecting our rights under the law and Constitution of the United States.
With all this, Mr Cohen, how can you possibly fear that one man could single-handedly destroy it all, and bring us to ruin all for the sake of his own power and glory?
How can this be? This is America.
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@Jim Brilliant comment. Trump will be sustained by those who value power and their fear of letting go of the tiger's tail. The timing of the Mueller firing will be critical to the shift to martial law.
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@Jim Your facetious letter is chilling for pointing out all the things so many people think we have, but have lost or never had in the first place.
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@Jim Weimar Germany had all of these, too. Look where that went.
Every nation has a percentage of its population who are easily manipulated. They will believe anything targeting their fears and weaknesses, the more outrageous the better. What we have in the U. S. is a surplus of those willing to take advantage of these people. Trump, carnival hawker extraordinaire, has attracted a loyal base made up of the fearful and suspicious. The Republican Party has made a deal with this devil, giving up their soul and spine in the bargain. It is one thing when issues involved are policy disagreements, but another when it involves national security. A Republican leader or key member of the administration must speak out as Joseph Welch did, stopping Joseph McCarthy. There must be a “have you no sense of decency” moment with Trump. Otherwise they will ride the wild horse they came in on wherever he takes us all, all the way to the bitter end.
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@DO5 Are you sure it’s the Trump backers who are being manipulated? From my perspective it’s the cosmopolitan hysteria over Russia—a poor, backward country with minimal influence around the world—that indicates hysteria. As long as the Republicans can keep the Democratic media masses focused on the Russian issue rather than low wages, opioid addictions, and US military interventions all over the world the Republicans have won.
@DO5:
Hitler, 1933: 43.91% of vote.
Trump, 2016: 46.4 % of vote.
And yes, Trump is not Hitler (he is, imho, more of an Al Capone figure). But the salient point is the increasing hatefulness of his base. It is very worrisome.
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@DO5-Much of this affect can be attributed to Fox News. Fresh Air nails it: "Journalist Sees 'Almost No Daylight' Between Fox News and White House Agendas: Vanity Fair's Gabriel Sherman says the president and Fox News host Sean Hannity "speak almost daily, after Hannity's show, sometimes before, and sometimes for up to an hour a day." Hannity is Trump's propaganda-enabler and now the seedy ex Fox head, Bill Shine, joins the WH staff. Fox News trolls in lies and media porn and needs to be shut down. Time to boycotts Fox News advertisers.
https://www.npr.org/2018/07/14/628808587/fresh-air-weekend-trump-and-fox......
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Does the military swear allegiance to the Constitution, or to the Commander in Chief? It is a sad question to ask, but what will they do when push comes to shove?
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@stidiver
It is a violation of the law for the military to assume domestic police powers unless Congress authorizes it. They are obligated to follow the lawful orders of the Commander in Chief. They would not follow illegal orders, nor would they be obligated to do so.
If mass insurrection occurred, which leftists are threatening, local law enforcement would be obligated to deal with it. State governors are empowered to declare statewide or localized martial law, as they do on occasion after national disasters, and they can call upon their state's military reserve which is under the exclusive command of the governor in most, if not all, states.
If things got bad enough, and local law enforcement plus state military reserves were inadequate to restore law and protect citizenry, it would be up to Congress to authorize the uses of US military and military reserves.
If leftists get out of control, things would have to go pretty far before it would be a national crisis. The problems would likely be concentrated in Democrat urban strongholds. The probability of there being a right wing revolt is close to zero. If we did not take to arms during the Obama administration, nothing is likely to invoke violence from the right. We acquire power in the voting booths, not with violence.
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@stidiver I hope it's "if" rather than "when," but I know that's just a hope.
@stidiver
Very few in the military take their oath to the Constitution seriously — if they even think of it at all.
They obey orders. No matter how illegal.
Trump is not simply an "immoral demagogue." From all the evidence so far, and as Christopher Steele concluded from his investigation, Trump is a Russian asset, a traitor corrupted by Putin's money. He implements a hostile power's agenda against the interests of America and its allies. It's not just what he says, it's what he DOES. He divides America on ethnic and racial grounds, he imposes punitive tariffs on America's allies, he threatens NATO and the G-7. There's an assumption in Cohen's analysis, which if correct, means America is already finished as a democracy: It's that the armed forces will obey a traitor in Russia's pay. Hopefully, that is not true.
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@Hari Prasad :"There's an assumption in Cohen's analysis, which if correct, means America is already finished as a democracy: It's that the armed forces will obey a traitor in Russia's pay. Hopefully, that is not true"
That is the key question. Note that when Trump ordered ICE to detain and separate asylum seeking families without a system in place to reunite them he was obeyed. Wasn't that essentially illegal acts of kidnapping and terrorism? I think it was - but Trump was obeyed.
If Trump orders the U.S. military to do something illegal will he be obeyed?
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I believe America's military will remember what it has always sought to preserve, notwithstanding Vietnam, and what so many have died for - America's freedom at home and abroad. The loyalty of our military went through and survived a Civil War. I cannot help but think that some in high Command have studied and already have had very personal discussions on this matter.
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@Hari Prasad, Ha, Hari, we were already finished as a "democracy". In case you haven't noticed, we are now, and have been, a plutocracy run by oligarchs and corporations. Both political parties and their media lapdogs have been bought wholesale Sure we have vestiges of democracy, but government has pretty much been taken over by the one percent. The fact that we even have a Trump should tell you that the system is corrupt.
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