APRIL 8, 2020 – Little did any of us appreciate back in January how monumental those impeachment proceedings would be. While GoebbelsNews and Republicans drank and dispensed the Kook-Aid, Democrats experienced a collective apoplectic fit over Trump’s plain-as-his-own-words “high crime and misdemeanor.” The Blue Team saw the very essence of American democracy on the line. The Red Team . . . well, “same old” for them—a “hoax,” a “witch hunt,” a “partisan attempt to overturn the people’s will.” But, as it turned out, according to the Naked Emperor and his sycophantic entourage, the Constitutional impeachment standard is not what serves democracy, but rather, what serves the accused—and his sycophants.
The full consequences of the Republicans’ sycophancy are yet to play out. But already, Trump’s disastrous leadership in the time of extreme crisis is upending the hopes and lives of millions of Americans. Yet back in January when they had the chance to call him for what he was—buck naked—Republicans handed Trump a “Get Out of Jail Free” card. That card undermined the very foundation of American representative democracy—the electoral process. And now, just a short time later, that same card is wreaking direct and incalculable damage to American lives. With that precious card in his possession, the Naked Emperor still wears his crown, still struts down the street as his enablers, apologists, and supporters still pretend to hold up his ermine-bordered robe out of the very real mud of Corvid-19.
But it gets worse. Republicans in Wisconsin took extreme measures to ensure the state primary—and most critically, election of a conservative slate of Supreme Court justices—would occur; that it would proceed in the midst of a statewide “stay-in-place” directive; that it would force people to choose between their personal safety—to hell with the health risks—and defeating a cynical Republican strategy to pack the court with conservatives.
What occurred in Wisconsin is a harbinger of what Republicans have in mind for November. November!
Our bashed and battered democracy cannot wait until November. The “Get Out of Jail Free” card must be canceled, rescinded, countermanded. By what means? That remains to be seen, but a starting point is invocation of the 25th Amendment. The salient phrase is this: “inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office.” As to whether the Naked Emperor is unable to discharge his powers and duties, don’t watch CNN or MSNBC or the network channels; don’t listen to National Public Radio, Politico or Pro Publico or other such outlets; don’t read The New York Times, The New Yorker or The Atlantic Monthly; don’t give any credence to Max Boot, George Will, George Conway, Bill Kristol, Steve Schmidt, or Michael Steele (i.e. former Republicans). No. Listen exclusively to the Naked Emperor himself.
The man with the “Get Out of Jail Free” card needs to be removed from the game altogether—before reaching November’s “GO”; before America draws the card that reads, “Game Over.”
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© 2020 by Eric Nilsson
