No Free Rides

“Trumpism is not at all about ideas; there is nothing available in that department. It’s really about boundaries and behavior.  Trump has provided a lurid example how to flaunt virtually every responsible thing about our electoral system.  The degree to which his ugly group of toadies follow his playbook will surely determine how much we should worry as November nears.“

The DR – April 24, 2018

Throughout the summer of 1917, following the February overthrow of the Romanov Dynasty, a tremendous power vacuum existed in Russia. Much was fluid as Aleksander Kerensky, a devout democrat and head of the provisional government that replaced deposed Tsar Nicholas II, sought a path forward for a nation with no experience at self-determination. It had come to his attention that elements of the military, egged on by English attaches nervous about the prospect of Russia withdrawing from the WWI alliance against Germany, were plotting a coup to topple the fledgling government in Petrograd. What to do?

Kerensky decided to try and consolidate support among other groups within the manic Russian political spectrum as a counterweight to the threat he saw developing among the militarists. As part of this effort he agreed to free a number of jailed leftist radicals, who were sworn enemies of General Lavr Kornilov, the leader of the Russian military and principle architect of the developing coup attempt. Among those released were Bolsheviks V.I. Lenin and Leon Trotsky, both of whom had as little affection for the Kerensky government as they did for Kornilov, who would have surely executed either had his drive to depose the provisional government not been foiled.

Kerensky reassured himself and advisors, who opposed freeing established troublemakers with little else to offer than seditious agitation, that democracy required free rein for political opponents, particularly if it was helpful opposing other more organized and well-armed opposition. Of course, in October the Bolsheviks, armed by Kerensky to help resist the failed Kornilov effort, launched their own revolt which succeeded with nary a casualty. The rest is history that supports this simple lesson: if somebody tells you they are treasonous, bent on destroying what you stand for, believe them… and take appropriate action, up to and including incarceration.

What’s happening in America right now is clear as a fall day in New England. A soundly defeated incumbent President is doing everything he can to incite national insurrection rather than concede a defeat that all who don’t rely on his warped perception of reality acknowledge is certain and indisputable. As the clock winds down to the inauguration of his successor, his efforts have grown increasingly frantic, his rhetoric ever more unhinged and untethered to fact.

Former allies who refuse to embrace and support his baseless claims of voter fraud have immediately been deemed enemies, subject to constant vitriol and threats of retaliation. Meanwhile, his inner circle has rapidly contracted, and is now almost solely comprised of fringe conspiracists and others whose only qualification is their limitless loyalty and willingness to tell him only what he wants to hear. Am I missing anything?

The image of Hitler in his Berlin bunker circa ‘45 really isn’t too much of a stretch. But while Hitler left a destroyed and occupied country, which forced a reckoning his following could neither ignore or remodel, Trump’s wretched core is digesting his defeat in line with exactly how he and his propagandists tell them to. And unlike Hitler, Trumpism was not provided the time to fully ruin America; there is much left to be done… and no shortage of servile successors hoping to inherit the old man’s maniacal fan base.

Few believe Trump will again be a candidate for anything other than parole, but that doesn’t mean his tweet finger can’t be a nihilist kingmaker, or insurmountable obstacle to a campaign gaining traction. Trump is only about Trump, and it’s certain dementia will enhance the megalomania. Yet and still, the GOP 2024 Presidential primary class will be divided into two camps, those running against Trump’s disdain, and those despicable enough to curry his favor. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz will do whatever it takes to belong to the latter, up to and including treason. Wednesday they’ll prove that without a care in the world as to consequences. That state of affairs can’t continue if America is to survive as a going democratic concern.

Sedition is defined as “conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch.“ Since our republic derives all of its authority through a peaceful electoral process, it’s clear-cut fabricating lies for no other purpose than to undermine faith in that process fits the concept’s meaning to the letter. While holding Trump to account in his final days as President may not make sense because of the chaos it would foist on the transition process – after all, once he vacates the premises, he can be prosecuted on multiple fronts at whatever pace is deemed most suitable – such caution shouldn’t apply to traitors intent on willfully sabotaging the peaceful transfer of power for no better reason than future political advantage. Not only is abiding such behavior patently unpatriotic, the precedent it sets is as perilous as it is unnecessary. To quote many a MAGA moron… Lock Them Up!

Few would argue the White House isn’t as powerful a platform as exists to incite, coordinate and actually execute rebellion. Trump is literally spending all of his time doing just that. Whether calling Georgia officials to threaten and cajole them into voter fraud, or rallying Proud Boys to DC for violence and mayhem, Trump is leaving nothing to the imagination. Hawley, Cruz and the other back benchers he has enlisted, not to mention two-thirds of the House Republican caucus, feel no constraint to legitimize Trump’s lies and reinforce the false narrative responsible for radicalizing a growing swath of MAGA nihilists. Such intolerable laxity indicts our political system as impotent to protect and sustain itself when confronted by criminal-grade bad faith and will only encourage worse in the future, which nobody can doubt this GOP will be glad to oblige.

George Will to Jenifer Rubin, William Cohen to John Danforth, Dick Cheney to James Mattis, all agree without qualification these idiotic antics amount to nothing short of outright sedition. Throughout America during the past couple of years one flyover legislature after another has worked tirelessly to criminalize protest against police brutality, shamelessly equating marching for Breonna Taylor with anarchy and lawlessness. Well, what’s good for the goose and all that. There is no more loathsome, self-righteous, pontificating wind-bag on Capital Hill than Ted Cruz. If he really believes in the Donald’s cause, make him put some real skin in the game. Let him spend a weekend in jail, get his picture taken, eat a bologna sandwich and spend some campaign coin on high-priced legal talent that bills $750 per hour. Make them all put up or shut up. Their sedition should hurt them at least as much as it worries us. Lock em up! BC