Capitol Hill Blue Forums Thread Like Summary - The Lawlessness is the Point

In his Atlantic essay, "The Cruelty is the Point", Adam Serwer described the joyful participants in 20th century lynchings, "Their names have mostly been lost to time. But these grinning men were someone’s brother, son, husband, father. They were human beings, people who took immense pleasure in the utter cruelty of torturing others to death—and were so proud of doing so that they posed for photographs with their handiwork, jostling to ensure they caught the eye of the lens, so that the world would know they’d been there. Their cruelty made them feel good, it made them feel proud, it made them feel happy." So it is with the current ultra-revanchist majority on the Supreme Court.

Or as Robert Reich notes in the Guardian The US supreme court is now cruel, partisan – and squandering its moral authority. They have given up any pretense of evenhandedness or reverence for the law or the Constitution, pushing instead for exerting raw judicial hubris: "we're in charge now, so you'll comply." Consistency is immaterial to them, as they have exhibited frequently in recent weeks: assertion of utter control is what's important. They are the resurgent Taliban, needing to broadcast their usurpation of the legal world. Justice Breyerrecently lamented the upsurge in "shadow docket" activism, but these zealots are so eager to assert control they can't tolerate the normal process of judicial restraint and procedure. They want to forcefully demonstrate their ascendancy. The lawlessness is the point.

I fail to comprehend how anyone can take 1/6 lightly. 147 Republicans out of 264 elected Republicans voted to overturn an election. That's more than half of the elected Republicans. Turning away from the obvious, sticking one's head in the sand, marginalizing the impact, or minimizing the importance of an attempted coup is precisely how democracies are lost.

These people have to be taken seriously because they are steadily working on destroying the foundations of Democracy. These are not a rabble of liberal anarchists from the 60's. These are well funded fascists.

and when they come for you ... will you finally take them seriously?

It will be interesting to see if they get tired of all the dying, and run DeathSantis out of the state on a rail.

So why would someone whose only opinions are what the polls say not look it up?

Pres Obama avg 35/yr, while Mr Trump avg 55/yr. In fact Pres Obama's second term he did fewer EO's than the first term. More importantly it should be remembered EO's only apply to the Executive Branch of government. You may call it governing but in reality it is tweaking, not governing.

I believe there is a higher probability of him running than not running. Revenge is a powerful motivator. Imagine all the anti-Trumpers he can frak. Who would stop him from running? The Base is all in for Trump. 70% believe election was stolen and the other 30% can be easily persuaded it was stolen. The stage is set for a large scale insurrection, why would Trump waste the opportunity to ensconce himself as the one and only savior of America, voice of the delusional, face of Mt Rushmore, .... Master of the Universe.

As most commentators, you have sold the Master Manipulator short. The ordinary rules of engagement do not apply. We live in an n dimensional-space where demagoguery can sway even the independents to become irrational. We'll have 3 more years to deal with Trump before the anti-democratic weasels of the Republican Party march in the goosestep parade to fascism.

Let me fix that for you.

What [rational] people want more than anything is a functioning government.

The Republican base wants to bring it all down. Elected Republicans have said it. They did not get elected to play nice on a team. Bannon says it best ... deconstruct it. The radical extremist Republicans don't like anything about democracy. They remind me of Bakuninists.