Republicans started playing dirty – at least my first real memories of there being a “different standard” when they went after Clinton, about anything. The decision had been made to impeach him, and then they went looking for a reason. Since then, you’d truly have to be a complete moron to not see that the two parties play by two sets of rules.
Now, I rather enjoyed being in the adult set. I felt it important that someone maintain a standard by which the country would be ruled, or we’d never ever get back to that point, where the Senate would make bipartisan agreements where no one really WON, but both sides “got something.” The Supreme Court mostly reflected a bunch of smart people that looked at stuff in 50-100 year intervals, knowing that a ruling now would have huge ramifications much later down the road. And, presidents felt a need to be president of everyone, especially when they went overseas. They even cared whether they got elected very narrowly, or whether they had what used to be called “a mandate.” We have a president now who fking lost! He got fewer VOTES, and yet is acting like he was appointed by divine right!
Well, those days are gone, and I best accept it, or accept just being a dignified friggin loser the rest of my life. And you best also, at least according to Politico.
I tend to think they’re right. This, right here, is an example of a paragraph so good that I’m furious that I didn’t write it (though I’ve thought it, so that counts for something):
As we all know, Trump and the Republican Party that enables him eat norms for breakfast. A norm is a tacit and mutual agreement that certain exercises of power, while lawful, also are unthinkable. As a result, a willingness to think the unthinkable is itself a source of power. With that willingness, you can deny a president a hearing on a Supreme Court nominee. You can threaten to jail your political opponents and call an election rigged if you don’t win. You can demand investigations of your enemies, you can fire the FBI director investigating you, and you can quite possibly pardon yourself for federal crimes.
Ladies and gentlemen, intellectuals who read Politizoom, (Again, we DID background checks, y’all passed, so we’re good), it’s not just been that way since the Repubs decided to steal Obama’s SCOTUS nominee – one 10x better than Gorsuch, but it’s been that way since Ken Starr realized there was nothing to this Whitewater, bullshit but he was a special prosecutor and he was damn well going to prosecute something. Some hanky-panky between a president and a cute intern (Jesus Christ on a dating site, they didn’t even HAVE actual sex!) would do!
Okay, so what does that mean?
Well, what it means is, that as satisfying as it is to be morally superior (and it IS satisfying) in our following of both the rules and spirit of this nation, it no longer does any good if none of our policies ever makes it to policy.
Trump and Republicans are not interested in self-restraint. We ought to be past surprise, for example, that the “let the people decide” standard invented by Mitch McConnell to block Merrick Garland’s Supreme Court nomination no longer applies now that Trump can choose a successor for Anthony Kennedy.
No shit?
Actually, I really could have written that paragraph, because I’ve thought it so many times it practically comes out in my sleep.
Politico’s point is that Dems ought to start thinking about some norms they’re ready to break right now, and in 2020, at least if they want any role in 2020. I would be fully on board, if I could even think of a norm that hasn’t already been broken by the Republicans.
I could say something like; “Hey, we could run a clear felon for president in 2020, one that swears up a storm, hates everyone that doesn’t like him, lies at every turn, and will cheat and do whatever it takes to win, including jail his opponents.” That’s frigging crazy, ain’t it?
Done, already, Republicans circa 2016, and maybe 2000 if you count what “W” did to McCain in South Carolina.
I know one thing we’re not going to do, as proposed by noted Democrat and Sarah Palin supporter David Frum (though he’s a Trump opponent, I’ll give him that):
Democrats might “become an Eisenhower party of the broad center,” Frum said, as he called for the party to act as “a relatively conservative, unifying force in American life.” We could call it the Return to Normalcy program: Treat the Trump years as an ugly aberration and commit to rebuilding the consensus under which mutual self-restraint once again looks honorable rather than traitorous to partisans on either side.
Oh, no you don’t, David! Just because YOUR party ate monkey brains and got a prion disease back in the 80s, doesn’t mean you get to borrow OUR party for your conservative ideas (and that is clearly what he’s shootin’ for here). No no no.
If anything, we oughta’ head the other direction! Bernie! You conservative DINO, we need a real Democrat, something like that. Someone who would scare the living bejesus out of the Republicans, that’s what I’m thinking. Of course, that’s what I was thinking before all this mess started, too – so, take that into account.
One final thing that I’ll note, because it was MY idea in the first place because I wrote it in these very pages at least one week ago:
For the opposite course, we could look to a left that is already building the case for court-packing, envisioning a Democratic president and Congress exercising their legal power to add two or more new justices to the Supreme Court.
Now, unlike YOU, dear readers, we did not do background checks on Politico, so it is very possible they are simply stealing my idea here. I’m not going to be too offended because, THE Democrat to define all Democrats, FDR, proposed it before, and it’s not a bad idea, not when you’ve had one SCOTUS seat definitely stolen, and one about to be filled by a soon to be indicted felon. To me, that entitles the other party to two more judges, just to balance things out.
If anything, that’s TOO fair, let’s give ourselves three, and a clear advantage. After all, that’s what we know Republicans would do.
In all seriousness, the Politico article is worth reading and thinking about. Because, as much as I like to have a good time thinking about doing to Republicans as they’ve done to us, I still believe that someone has to be an adult, lest the entire country becomes quite used to being governed by children.
Much more in the coming weeks on this topic, especially after our pal, Donald Trump, is drop-kicked by Mueller across the river and into Virginia, right on the courthouse steps.
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