Sunday, January 29, 2017

IOKIYAR

I started this earlier in the week and if I kept modifying it as events unfold it would never make it to the half-light of day. So here goes.

It appears that, based on the actions/inactions of Congress and the Republican leadership in general, the following are all OK:


  • Interference in a presidential election by a hostile foreign power, in its previous incarnation an existential foe of this country and retaining the means, however mutually self-destructive, of wiping out the United States as we know it
  • The evident possession, by the same hostile foreign power, of dirt on (and more likely, of financial advantage over) the Constitutional President
  • The consistently pro-same-hostile-foreign-power stance taken by a presidential candidate, now the Constitutional President, increasingly at variance, to put it mildly, with the US intelligence community
  • The nomination for Secretary of State of a man awarded a decoration by, yes, the same hostile foreign power
  • The appointment as National Security Advisor of a conspiracy theorist who contacted the SHFP (got tired of typing) the same day the outgoing administration imposed sanctions for interfering in the presidential election
  • The nomination to other Cabinet posts of men and women clearly unqualified for the position and, in some cases, hostile to the basic mission of the Departments they have been nominated to lead. (I'll spot him Mattis, although in that case they broke a rule regarding public service within a specified retirement period.)
  • The apparent inability of the Constitutional President to absorb even the slightest amount of criticism that comes with the job, manifesting itself in tweets threatening martial law and minions spouting "alternative facts" from the White House and TV studios
  • The retention by the Constitutional President of business connections with direct implications for foreign policy, not to mention a DC property lease that is in violation of regulations as of 12 PM on January 20

Any one of these would have stopped a Democrat in his or her tracks before the end of the primaries, and rightly so.

This is all OK, it turns out. Perhaps I should take the advice offered to me, to stop whining, to be calm and accept that this too shall pass. Remember, you can get away with all of the above as long as you keep in mind:

It's OK If You're a Republican.

7 comments:

JCC said...

Perhaps the most comforting thing that I've seen in response to all of this has been the occasional Republicans/conservatives that are willing to see all of this for what it is, stand athwart the tide and holler "NO!" I include my brother (retired Colonel, lifelong Republican) and such unlikely folks as George Will and Evan McMullin in this.

The most disheartening? The overwhelming silence from the vast majority of Republicans and other so-called conservatives - often from those who had previously stood against Trump. That is perilously close to being a "good German" or "just following orders." As Trump, Bannon and Putin bring the waters of Democracy to a full boil, it's apparently hard for many of these folks to realize that we're all in the pot together.

smrty.mrty said...

And elected because email and Benghazi. How those are worse than the SHFP ties is beyond me.

(I recognize that some voted because of abortion. Yet they want detractors to accept all that's come while they refuse to accept a 40 year Supreme Court ruling.)

jjv said...

I yield to no man in my detestation of the Putinist Right but there is zero evidence Putin has anything on Trump. Second, when any foreign agent stays at a Trump hotel in Washington the money goes to the treasury, not the Trumps. Foreign dignataries at the TRump hotel actually lose them money. That won't be reported in the WP or NYT but it is now the case.

I think a political tendency that cared not about Obama's butt kissing of Iran and Putin (tell Vladamir....) is ill-equipped to make the Stop Russia! argument. I'm against Trump's dictator suck ups but you folks make me laugh. Your God-King Obama was the biggest dictator suck up since Carter. Forgive me if the political tendency that gave Castro a big win before he went to Hell is not in a good position to tell us how bad Putin is.

Agencies are out of control. Each and everyone of his appointees is going to do what Trump said he would do. The EPA is supposed to only issue regulations after a cost benefit analysis. They simply break the law on this. Being against breaking the law is not a prohibition on cabinet appointments. Conservatives feel many of these agencies do more harm--particularly to the Constitution-than good. Appointing people who will reduce that harm is why he was elected. The liberal view that every body's gotta be a liberal or can't be in Government violates Articles I-III of the Constitution. Sorry.

Finally, Trump has gotten Dave and Marty to worry about softness against Foreign dictators by an administration. Is there nothing that man can't do?

MAGA!


Dave S. said...

Regarding kompromat: zero evidence, indeed. Were this to have emerged in the 1990's with Bill Clinton's name attached, you and your Arkansas Project types would have been shouting this from the rooftops.

Regarding the lease violation, here is a brief report on the issue; I trust the source is acceptable. Profit or loss is immaterial here.

You did not appear to address any of the other points, preferring ad hominem (and ad feminem) attacks and look-over-there union debate chicanery. I must conclude that you are OK with everything else that has happened and continues to happen.

Finally, your last two comments have concluded with the witless repetition of a mindless phrase, lazily acronymized into the bargain. I suspect you did that to "make liberals mad" and that is your prerogative, as it is the prerogative of toddlers everywhere. I have to say, speaking as a friend, that it does not wear well on you.

JCC said...

For a person who "yields to no man [note - but some women?] in [your] detestation of the Putinist Right" you spend very little time criticizing them and spend an awful lot of time attacking others. Forgive us if it's hard to see the unyielding resistance to authoritarianism from here. It may be more obvious from other perspectives.

onomenurse said...

This is nice, i appreciate the effort

onomenurse said...

This is a wonderful post, thanks for the effort. Here is an easy step to step guild on how to login to your pinterest account