Republican strategy is always about winning. Trump takes this to an extreme, but he is still the ultimate example of that strategy. When victory requires lying to a segment of your supporters about who you are and what you will do, then intelligent discussion is avoided at all costs. Bottom line: there can be no accountability ---ever.
The GWB administration began firing US attorneys after election day in 2006 clearly hoping that no one would notice. But a pattern emerged. Republican attorneys who had failed to prosecute "voter fraud" cases were fired. Their replacements would presumably toe the line. Thus are the institutions of a progressive democracy chipped away.
When GWB stood accuse of hiring hacks to replace these attorneys, the example of Bill Clinton firing attorneys when he became president was raised as a defense, ignoring the obvious difference between a president of one party being replaced by a president of the opposing party and the same president continuing in office. Deny/Deflect/Distract and use False Equivalence. The explanation offered was plausible - it gives the true believers an argument they can latch onto, but it was
not believable.
We hear explanations for the Trump/Russia connection that fall into this category - amid ample evidence of strong connections between 'businessman' politician Trump and the Kremlin kleptocracy that have spilled over to lurch American foreign policy to a pro-Putin posture as the State Department is eviscerated.
The more damning the evidence, the more vociferous the denials that an independent investigation is needed to determine if we have a mole in the White House...or many moles. Deny/Deflect/Distract and yes, Accuse. Accuse the Obama administration.
This will not end well.
No comments:
Post a Comment