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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNYT: 'No Redemption for Trumpers' - by Michelle Goldberg.
The Myth of the Good Trump OfficialRepublican Representative Liz Cheney, the Jan. 6 committees vice chair, has been perhaps its most prominent voice. At Thursdays prime-time hearing, the last until September, she painted die-hard believers in Trumps big lie as noble victims. Donald Trump knows that millions of Americans who supported him would stand up and defend our nation were it threatened, said Cheney. They would put their lives and their freedom at stake to protect her. And he is preying on their patriotism. He is preying on their sense of justice. And on Jan. 6, Donald Trump turned their love of country into a weapon against our Capitol and our Constitution.
It is a sign of the committee Democrats love of country that they have allowed the hearings to proceed this way. They are crafting a story about Jan. 6 as a battle between Republican heroism and Republican villainy. It seems intended to create a permission structure for Trump supporters to move on without having to disavow everything they loved about his presidency, or to admit that Jan. 6 was the logical culmination of his sadistic politics.
If you believe, as I do, that Trumps sociopathy makes him a unique threat to this countrys future, it makes sense to try to lure Republicans away from him rather than damn them for their complicity. There is a difference, however, between a smart narrative and an accurate one. In truth, you cant cleave Trump and his most shameless antidemocratic enablers off from the rest of the Republican Party, because the party has been remade in his image. Plenty of ex-Trump officials have come off well in the hearings, including the former deputy national security adviser Matthew Pottinger, the former acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen and, in video testimony, the former White House counsel Pat Cipollone. That shouldnt erase the ignominy of having served Trump in the first place.
I have a lot of respect for Cheney, who is likely sacrificing her future in Republican politics in her attempt to hold Trump accountable, and for the bravery of witnesses like Cassidy Hutchinson, who testified despite the Trump camps reported attempt to intimidate her. But whatever they say now, the witnesses who worked for Trump enabled his mounting authoritarianism. Each contributed, in his or her own way, not just to Jan. 6, but also to eroding our democracy so that Jan. 6 may be just a prequel. Each helped bring us to a point where, according to a recent survey, more than half of Americans believe a civil war will erupt in the United States in the near future.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/22/opinion/jan-6-trump-official.html
Hekate
(90,791 posts)Funtatlaguy
(10,886 posts)Everyone has their limit.
Well, not everyone. Trump, Rudy, Bannon, for example.
But most sane Americans stop at the purposely overthrow of their country.
Demsrule86
(68,667 posts)Me.
(35,454 posts)that they are proud of being a con what they have done which is a puzzle for I don't know what they have done. You can't lure them if they don't want to be lure
brer cat
(24,605 posts)Silent3
(15,265 posts)Boomerproud
(7,964 posts)What's the answer or our real crisis?
speak easy
(9,302 posts)nailing their candidates who won't say that Trump lost the election.
JoeOtterbein
(7,702 posts)One of our best journalists!
Totally Tunsie
(10,885 posts)Are you aware of her current controversy regarding Al Franken?
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216951529
This is why some have no interest in her opinions and writings.
ancianita
(36,133 posts)It's the typical New York Times' treatment of Republicans over decades, and Goldberg is no more hard hitting than her bosses, even if she calls him a "unique threat." He's not unique. He's the fucking symptom of this country's future.
This argument is not hard enough on Republicans as a clear and present danger to our future.
That should be ANY Americans' take on the 74 million who voted for all this -- fuck absolution -- no trust, no judgment, no good faith, religious beliefs, economic or social stands, no patriotism, bottom to top.
After four years of this pathological darkness -- fuck 'em all.