When Donald Trump led a violent insurrection on Jan. 6 in an attempt to overturn the election which ousted him from the White House, that should have been enough to underline his disdain for democracy and for America. But just in case anyone missed that, or any of his hundreds of other efforts to retain power regardless of the fact that he decisively lost the election, Trump went on his rapidly failing social media platform on Saturday to make it absolutely crystal clear.
Once again repeating his big lies about “fraud and deception” in the 2020 election, Trump called for the “termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution” in order to place him back in the White House.
The whole thing might seem utterly beyond-the-pale, were it not for the equally incredible reaction. Which appears to be a resounding who gives a f***?
Trump so regularly says something absolutely vile which should be offensive to the sensibilities of anyone who cares about facts, laws, history, or democracy has left all his statements in a kind of odd limbo. On the one hand, a former leader of the nation calling for the overthrow of the current government and installation of himself as the head, while explicitly calling for the Constitution to be pitched, seems like textbook sedition. On the other hand, Trump is just such a repetitive and consistent asshole, that raising the stakes to tossing the Constitution on the bonfire of his vanity, seems like just another Saturday.
Truthfully, there is great danger in paying too much attention to anything that Trump says. Even his most drooling followers have long since stopped listening to the words in his rally appearances. They just come to bask in the reflected orange glow of his better than Washington / Lincoln / Jesus wonderfulness. Trump knows how to hate the right people. That’s all that counts for those who love him.
It’s not as if Trump calling for an overthrow of the government is likely to lead to a violent uprising. This week. This week, Republicans will just be celebrating how with nothing more than words, Trump once again “owned the libs” and caused people to fume in outrage.
However, there’s a huge danger in dismissing any of this as “oh, that’s just Trump. Ignore him.” Because no one has done more to normalize racism, misogyny, xenophobia, anti-science, anti-journalism, anti-facts language than Trump. Every time he speaks like this and it doesn’t generate a powerful backlash, Trump has succeeded in moving the line for “political speech” a little further toward having “Kill them all, let God sort them out” as the platform of the Republican Party.
Will Trump be charged with sedition over this latest statement? He will not. Odds are good that not one Sunday morning talk show will even ask their Republican “guests” about the this latest demand for a monarchy.
That doesn’t mean this isn’t significant. Because no matter what any poll says, there are very good odds that Trump will be standing for election in 2024, and that half of America will be ready to automatically stamp that GOP button. So that Trump can take his lighter over to the Library of Congress and see how parchment burns.
Once again repeating his big lies about “fraud and deception” in the 2020 election, Trump called for the “termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution” in order to place him back in the White House.
The whole thing might seem utterly beyond-the-pale, were it not for the equally incredible reaction. Which appears to be a resounding who gives a f***?
Trump so regularly says something absolutely vile which should be offensive to the sensibilities of anyone who cares about facts, laws, history, or democracy has left all his statements in a kind of odd limbo. On the one hand, a former leader of the nation calling for the overthrow of the current government and installation of himself as the head, while explicitly calling for the Constitution to be pitched, seems like textbook sedition. On the other hand, Trump is just such a repetitive and consistent asshole, that raising the stakes to tossing the Constitution on the bonfire of his vanity, seems like just another Saturday.
Truthfully, there is great danger in paying too much attention to anything that Trump says. Even his most drooling followers have long since stopped listening to the words in his rally appearances. They just come to bask in the reflected orange glow of his better than Washington / Lincoln / Jesus wonderfulness. Trump knows how to hate the right people. That’s all that counts for those who love him.
It’s not as if Trump calling for an overthrow of the government is likely to lead to a violent uprising. This week. This week, Republicans will just be celebrating how with nothing more than words, Trump once again “owned the libs” and caused people to fume in outrage.
However, there’s a huge danger in dismissing any of this as “oh, that’s just Trump. Ignore him.” Because no one has done more to normalize racism, misogyny, xenophobia, anti-science, anti-journalism, anti-facts language than Trump. Every time he speaks like this and it doesn’t generate a powerful backlash, Trump has succeeded in moving the line for “political speech” a little further toward having “Kill them all, let God sort them out” as the platform of the Republican Party.
Will Trump be charged with sedition over this latest statement? He will not. Odds are good that not one Sunday morning talk show will even ask their Republican “guests” about the this latest demand for a monarchy.
That doesn’t mean this isn’t significant. Because no matter what any poll says, there are very good odds that Trump will be standing for election in 2024, and that half of America will be ready to automatically stamp that GOP button. So that Trump can take his lighter over to the Library of Congress and see how parchment burns.