Dan Rather: There's Nothing "Conservative" About a Coup

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://steady.substack.com/p/theres-nothing-conservative-about



The more we learn about what led to and transpired on January 6, 2021, the more surreal it gets. And the scarier.

As reporters, we are trained to avoid hyperbole, to choose words carefully, not to let the drama outpace the facts. But in this instance, as with so much of the Trump era and the actions of his enablers and acolytes (in short, the driving forces behind today’s Republican Party), I fear this instinct toward journalistic caution is obscuring the full scale, and horror, of the truth.

We can see clearly the contours of a violent coup, one far surpassing the militant rioters we saw storm the Capitol. This was a blueprint to end American democracy. It was strategized and planned and came much closer to execution than many want to admit. We were teetering on the precipice, and we can return once more to a point of existential peril.

The sheer audacity and outrageousness of these events careen us well beyond the guardrails of the democratic consensus that seemed to exist prior to Trump's rise. We cannot become inured to how dangerous the situation is.

The revelations from recent documentary evidence — audio recordings and text messages — add further plot points to a narrative that, as I have said many times, would rival the imaginative powers of even the most creative Hollywood screenwriter. We now know definitively what many suspected: that aiding and abetting the destruction of our democratic process was a close and active collaboration between members of Congress and the White House. That this statement is so obvious should not rob it of its power to enrage and disgust us.

*snip*

[dalton99a]

1. Up is down in Trumpworld

None of the actions of those who attempted this coup can or should be considered “conservative.” Again, I am not picking on this particular article; I have used the term “conservative” in the past as well. It is ingrained in American political discourse. But it is also a word with a meaning, and to ascribe it in our current national environment is to help whitewash the truth.

There is nothing “conservative” about plotting to overthrow American democracy. It isn’t “conservative” to undermine our institutions. Quite the contrary. It isn’t “conservative” to preach extremism and marinate oneself in lies. It isn’t “conservative” to usher in a radical new vision of American government, one supported by intimidation and violence and rooted in minority rule.

I would argue that the term “conservative” should be rethought within our legal system as well. There is nothing “conservative” about ripping up decades of precedent. There is nothing “conservative” about undermining the way we vote. It isn’t “conservative” to use the power of the bench to further political aims. Nor is it “conservative” to in effect legislate from the bench, which has long been the criticism of so-called “liberal” judges.

Again, “conservative” is not being used as a proper noun. It should not be a synonym for Republican. It suggests restraint, moderation, and caution – attributes completely absent from the modern Republican Party. And when someone talks about a “conservative” politician advocating for the destruction of American democracy, this oxymoron reinforces branding benefiting that politician with a smokescreen that hides reality.

[Kid Berwyn]

2. "This was a blueprint to end American democracy."

Thank you, Dan Rather.

[gulliver]

3. Yep, the Dems have both the true liberal and the true conservative territory now

The Republican institutions (Fox News and the Republican Party chiefly) have gone desperate and radical. Republicans let sneaky, rotten-minded clowns run away with their whole act.

[Poiuyt]

4. Dan Rather can still write with the best of them

[Skittles]

5. how much more orange can that fucker Trump get

he looks BASTED