Long but thought provoking interview. I was a little surprised MLK’s name didn’t come up.
This is an informative interview of E.J.Dionne. I like Dionne’s take on things, including the elections. Two different positions expressed by Dionne and the interviewer, but I would argue that history leans in Dionne’s direction. The success of movements of a single tendency to effect major shifts in politics is hard to find.
In blocking witnesses yesterday, it strikes me that Trump and the Republicans are making a high stakes’ bet, but then again they were faced with a Hobson’s choice, that is, no good alternative. If they lose in November, it could set in train a bleak future for them, as political and demographic changes work against them.
The certain exoneration of Trump in the Senate, despite overwhelmingly evidence to remove him from office, creates immediate dangers to the integrity and fairness of the coming elections. Who knows what he might do to secure his reelection.
At the same time, the obvious manipulation of the trial by Senate Republicans renders the president’s “victory” duplicitous and illegitimate for a majority of Americans. Unlike the Mueller investigation, the impeachment process didn’t take place behind closed doors. Nor will it easily be spun as Mueller’s finding were by the likes of Trump, Barr, and all to a once burned public.
In fact, the fixed trial, despite the heroic efforts of Democrats, makes it certain that the investigations into Trump’s flagrant wrongdoing and criminality will continue. The genie isn’t going to go back into the bottle. Indeed, millions of patriotic and democratic minded Americans expect to hear more.
What is more, the light shed on the lengths that Trump will go to destroy an opponent and rip up “our” constitution in order to secure his re-election will lend new energy and determination to the massive, diverse, and growing coalition to defeat Trump and the corrupted Republican Party in the coming elections.
It’s a dark day for the country, but rays of light are piercing through the darkness.
Trump’s version of personalized white nationalist authoritarian rule hasn’t yet infected every political institution nor the thinking of the majority of the American people. But his certain acquittal by the Senate turns the November elections into the remaining barrier to prevent the full consolidation of this form of rule. In the face of this existential threat to everything we hold dear, the watchword across the diverse democratic coalition and Democratic Party should be a no brainer — UNITY.
