For some Americans, the indictment of Trump was enough reason to oppose him. The former governor from Arkansas has just jumped into the 2024 primary. https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2023/04/02/ex-arkansas-gov-asa-hutchinson-running-for-president-in-2024/?sh=4909aad1ba35&utm_medium=browser_notifications&utm_source=pushly&utm_campaign=2845286
Update 4/12/2023: Trump fawns over Xi and Putin, again, his inner self on public again display for the kind of government he would like to have in the US. "They are smart because they rule with an iron fist." Trump Repeats Praise Of 'Smart' Putin, Touts Xi's 'Iron Fist' Rule Of China |
Watch (msn.com) Hannity Tells Trump Putin Is ‘Evil’ After the Former President Says ‘I Got Along with Him Great’ (msn.com) and in Waco, he calls Xi and Putin smart. Trump Praises Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping at Waco Rally (mediaite.com) : Trump Repeats Praise Of 'Smart' Putin, Touts Xi's 'Iron Fist' Rule Of China | Watch (msn.com)
This indictment by the New York DA may not be the last indictment of Trump, but it is the first one. The reaction has already become a predictable, pre-written script that the GOP would call it a witchhunt, a political act to keep Trump from running in 2024, the weaponization of the system, a shameful violation of his rights, and the Democrats would respond "no one is above the law." It is far more than just about Donald Trump and suspicions about 2024. It is about what kind of democracy, if any, we will have in the future.
If he gets elected in 2024 in spite of convictions or unresolved indictments and he still can serve as president, it is no short-term impact.; it may be for as long as he lives, occupies the White House, or for future successors like him. We will kiss democracy as we have known it goodbye. If we have learned anything recently from Russia to Hungary, to Turkey, and the events in Israel that is what happens when a strong man takes over and uses his power grab to destroy the opposition. Once he consolidates power at the beginning of his reign, it becomes a forever position unless a velvet or bloody revolution unhorses him.
A violation of his rights? Where does it say in any governing document he has more rights than you and me?. Whether Trump is a president, ex-president, candidate, or citizen Trump, he has the same rights as every American. Twenty-three citizen jurors in New York voted there was probable cause to believe he committed crimes and needs to have his day in court. He is innocent until the jury finds him guilty, just like you and me. If Trump escapes all of the charges without any serious repercussions to himself, legal or political, it could inspire and establish the route and precedent for any other wannabe dictator to grab power in the future because Trump will have demonstrated how to get around any rule of law or a prosecutor that may stand in his way. If voters still support him and think he should run for president (poll: 74% of the GOP thinks he should even if indicted) and he wins in spite of the legal jeopardy and judgments facing him, they will get what they deserve: helter-skelter goes democracy to be replaced by the rule of their so-admired autocrat/dictator/strong man and the rest of us, will be fighting hard for our human rights in the face of this autocrat trampling ours. 3/29/23 - Mixed Signals On Trump: Majority Says Criminal Charges Should Disqualify '24 Run, Popularity Is Unchanged, Leads DeSantis By Double Digits, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds | Quinnipiac University Poll
Trump has made no secret of his contempt for the rule of law that threatens his power and his admiration of the Putin style of rule. CPAC and GOP FOX opinion hosts have fawned over Viktor Orban in Hungary. Trump has already demonstrated on January 6 and leading up to it his technique of how he could overturn any election he did not like. Once that happens, anyone, Trump, or a future wannabe dictator, will have the blueprint laid out for them, and impossible to unhorse through the ballot.
Take some pages from recent events to understand how former democracies lost their democracy to dictators and autocrats. In Ukraine, it was at first velvet, but now it is war. In Byelorus, velvet failed, and now Russia's nuclear weapons reside there, Putin's puppet is in control, and the opposition is either in prison or in exile. Putin, Orban, and Ergogan are already in control of all of the power centers of governance and their puppet legislatures rewrote laws to guarantee that they will stay in power for as long as they want. It could be a murderous regime like Putin's or it could be Putin-light controlled by fear of "retribution". Will our country then be like Hungary's Orban or Turkey's Erdogan where there is no independent judiciary to hold the president accountable for crimes, corruption, or extra-legal persecution of the opposition,? In time even the legislature is filled with loyalists as they got there through sham elections and fear of retaliation if they did not become loyal. Will it be like that where the rule of law that existed before the coup or election, has been replaced formally or by interpretation of the boss and selective enforcement, and protestors are made powerless by force, threats, and worse? Will we become what Israel's Netanyahu wants his country to be: Orbanized, so he can destroy the judiciary, avoiding the repercussions of the indictment hanging over his head. Netanyahu has fired any cabinet member who crossed him, and the streets are filled with protestors ranging from civilians to members of defense forces. Either Netanyahu backs down, or he faces this ongoing velvet revolution. That drama, autocracy v democracy, is unfolding before our very TV-glued eyes.
T
A footnote: The US is not Hungary or Turkey, and it will not tolerate a sustained autocratic takeover gradually or peacefully like Orban (HungaryL84% Magyar) and Erdogan of Turkey (80% Turks)did. Both govern a country over which they became the autocrat by step by step stealth and cunning. They were able to destroy any checks on their abuse of power by putting their supporters in control of their once-independent judiciary and legislatures. Most of Putin's Russia (71% ethnic Russian )also shares language and religion and Putin can appeal to their nationalism to keep in power as he is did by rallying support when his Ukraine invasion stalled out. The US has English as a common language though Spanish is now a second one in some areas, but it is far more diverse in many ways. White people are now about 57% per the US census bureau, and the prediction is that this majority will become the minority in future years if demographic trends continue. Age and generation will play a much bigger part in shaping politics than racial identification. What is coming down the pike is far more "liberal".Younger voters are poised to upend American politics (brookings.edu) The glue holding us together in our recent history is the peace of stability in governance, and liberty to pursue happiness. When it comes to supporting the kind of "liberal" democracy we have now, the future of democracy as we have known it depends on the generations now coming of age. They are far more "liberal" politically than those in power now, and democracy will be in their hands. This "liberalism" stretches across all racial and ethnic groups. The change feared by white nationalists is they will be replaced by brown and black people. What they should fear is that they will be replaced by a younger generation. In the meantime, we are in a noisy, raucous, potentially dangerous, and violent place in transition. A significant part of our country, a minority still, is looking toward autocracy.. They should be careful what they wish. Autocracy is what the founders of our country revolted against for a reason. Protecting democracy and containing autocracy (brookings.edu)
Democrats' Witch-Hunt of Trump (mailchi.mp)
https://www.cpr.org/2023/03/30/donald-trump-indictment-colorado-response/
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