Speaking of Democracy-Eroding Rhetoric
Several examples of really damaging rhetoric from GOP elites from last week from a Tweet I bookmarked last week:
Lazarus is a political scientist at Georgia State and his take is not hyperbole. When leaders of one of the two parties are willing to constantly undermine public trust in elections, how long can democratic governance persist?
And then there is ongoing from Trump:
He continues to hype the lie about electoral fraud (which poisons our politics), but one has to admit that calling for Republicans to boycott elections is one remarkable own goal. (This announcement appears to have been taken down from his web site).
Who are these people? WTF happened to them? I don’t see this as the work of Fox News.
Trump’s boycott threat seems to me to suggest that he is having trouble getting some Republicans to sign on to his program. Those Republicans, it also seems, are otherwise keeping a low profile. Also, since it’s now taken down, it suggests to me that he doesn’t see the boycott threat as working for him to gain support.
Honestly, politics is at least 75 percent carrot and at most 25 percent stick. But Trump wants to reverse that. He isn’t a team player, he’s a “my way or the highway” guy all the way. I never thought he’d be successful as a politician because of it.
This whole situation is really weird. It’s hard to apply normative inferences from it, because nothing about it is normative.
The lying R’s are denying that what goes around comes around. Whether TFG or another R is elected in 24 or even 28, if that candidate doesn’t win the popular vote convincingly along with the EC, Dems will be the ones who won’t accept the loss.
A related topic. While I haven’t read the piece yet, at The Atlantic there is an article asking the question; is Biden doing enough to save democracy? If the author believes Biden is not taking R attempts to subvert the process seriously, I’m in agreement.
Of course, I should have known. Dr T, had a post up and that was the next I clicked on.
If the Trumpkins were remotely sane, they’d recognize that Trump is in this solely for Trump, and satisfying the insatiable demands of his fragile ego. But they won’t.
Trump’s statement was probably a terribly crafted threat intended only for other Republicans. “Keep harping on my being robbed or I’ll take you all down with me!”
The information there is he’s afraid of losing his grip.
@CSK:
They love him for it.
@dazedandconfused:
They’re a bunch of fucking morons.
@CSK:..morons…
Earlier I gave this astute observation an up vote. Upon returning to this thread I see that my ballot has been removed and I can not cast another. Of course that would be voting twice which is against state law. However since my initial vote has vanished I have to wonder just what’s going on?
Moderation!?!?
@Mister Bluster: @Mister Bluster:
It’s just issue of how your browser loads from its cache, I think. Or something along those lines, I’m not in IT. Try hitting ‘refresh’ a few times, or loading it in another browser.