We Are In an Abyss - Andrew Sullivan:

[applegrove]

We Are In an Abyss

July 19, 2019 at 12:21 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 109 Comments

https://politicalwire.com/2019/07/19/we-are-in-an-abyss/

"SNIP.....

Andrew Sullivan: “This country has had volatile civil conflicts before. What’s different now is we have a president whose instinct in such turbulent times is actually to intensify the turbulence with rhetoric and mass rallies that foment greater and greater mutual hostility. Most presidents regard it as their responsibility to tamp down racial and cultural conflict. Trump, having no concept of any broader interest than his own, is incapable of it. His malignant narcissism prevents him from any other way of behaving, and each outrage becomes a new baseline for the next one.”

“So yes, we are in an abyss. And as Trump becomes increasingly emboldened by his survival, and one of the two major parties has become a cult, the bottom seems even more elusive than before. Think of what might happen if Trump loses the popular vote in 2020 by an even bigger margin but still ekes out an Electoral College victory. Think of how a close election could lead to Trump’s refusal to concede, and how the wheels could come off the entire system. What we know for certain is that, for the first time, we have a president who doesn’t care if that happens, who’d rather destroy the legitimacy of liberal democracy than compete legitimately within it.”

......SNIP"

[saidsimplesimon]

1. Hi applegrove,

I frequently check with my rump voting brother, retired with friends in the midwest. We are not in a abyss, imo. His friends, in my age group, are bed ridden or senile. We will be there long after the haters are gone.

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[Voltaire2]

2. Sullivan helped bring this on.

His long walk back from rightwing world is tedious and boring.

[Blue_Tires]

4. +1

[maxsolomon]

3. "Instinct"?

It's a deliberate choice.

[Merlot]

5. Hey andrew sullivan, trumpft couldn't do all this with out the support of republicans

So please quit paining this as just an aberation of one president. It's your party's fault that we are at this "abyss," your party has paved the way for more than 30 years.

What we know for certain is that, for the first time, we have a president who doesn’t care if that happens, who’d rather destroy the legitimacy of liberal democracy than compete legitimately within it.”

So true, and it's your party's president.

[Drahthaardogs]

6. Fuck Andrew Sullivan

The same guy who supported Bush and has defended Trump. Hey Andrew, guess what? If Trump had been President when you immigrated, you would have been denied because of your HIV status. Hypocrisy is thee Mr. Sullivan.

[localroger]

7. Some men just want to watch the world burn

Trump has grifted his way to the top prize, and probably figures both that he doesn't have a hell of a lot longer to live (you can't grift the Reaper) and that there's nowhere to go but down, so he might as well pull it all down with him. He is exactly the sort of person who would make that calculation and deliberately go through with it, because fuck everyone else anyway. He isn't just a joker, he's turned into the Joker.