The death of the Republican party is not a tragedy to be celebrated

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/19/death-of-republican-party-consequences

Richard Nixon infected the modern Republican party with a sickness that would kill it – Donald Trump has finished the job

Last Sunday, on ABC’s This Week, host George Stephanopoulos asked Chris Sununu, New Hampshire’s Republican governor, about his recent switch from supporting Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor, for the Republican presidential nomination to supporting former president Donald Trump.

“Your words were very, very clear on January 11, 2021,” Stephanopoulos reminded Sununu. “You said that President Trump’s rhetoric and actions contributed to the insurrection. No other president in history has contributed to an insurrection. So, please explain.”

Sununu responded: “For me, it’s not about him as much as it is having a Republican administration.”

Near the end of the interview, Stephanopoulos said: “Just to sum up, you would support him for president even if he is convicted in classified documents. You would support him for president even though you believe he contributed to an insurrection. You would support him for president even though you believe he’s lying about the last election. You would support him for president even if he’s convicted in the Manhattan case. I just want to say, the answer to that is yes, correct?”

Sununu replied: “Yeah, me and 51% of America.”

Stephanopoulos: “I’m asking you about right and wrong. You’re comfortable with the idea of supporting someone who’s convicted of a federal crime as president?”

Sununu: “No, I don’t think any American is comfortable with any of this. They don’t like any of this, of course, but I mean, when it comes to actually looking at each of these trials as they kind of take place whether it’s this year or next year or as they kind of line up. Right now this is about an election. This is about politics.”

Hello? Politics is not about right and wrong?

I haven’t seen or heard a clearer indictment of the Trump Republican party.

Friends, the Republican party is over.

That’s tragic, because America needs two parties capable of governing. It needs two parties with a sense of the common good, even if their interpretations of it differ. It needs principled people in government. Even if politics is sometimes dirty and often frustrating, a functioning democracy depends on it.

It’s tragic to me personally, too. I got my first job in government in the Ford administration (for those of you too young to remember, Gerald Ford was a Republican). I argued supreme court cases in Ford’s Department of Justice. Years later, as secretary of labor under Bill Clinton, I worked closely with several Republicans in the House and Senate to enact the Family and Medical Leave Act, raise the minimum wage and protect workers’ pensions.

The Republican party now it stands only for Trump and his authoritarian neofascism. It demands total loyalty to Trump

My father was a Republican who voted for Dwight Eisenhower for president in 1952 and 1956. His father, my grandfather, was a Republican who voted for Alf Landon for president in 1936 and Wendell Willkie in 1940.

The Republican party once stood for limited government, active opposition to Soviet aggression and a balanced budget.

Now it stands only for Trump and his authoritarian neofascism. It demands total loyalty to Trump. It has turned his big lie about the 2020 election being stolen into a litmus test of that loyalty. It has no principled core – no sense of right and wrong.

Gerald Ford, the first president I served, is as far from the current Republican party as was or is any Democratic president.

Sad to say, the Gerald R Ford Presidential Foundation recently declined to present the Gerald R Ford Medal for Distinguished Public Service to former Wyoming representative Liz Cheney out of fear that a future President Trump would retaliate against the organization by taking away its tax-exempt status.

In response, David Hume Kennerly, the Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer, resigned from the foundation’s board. In his resignation letter, he reminded the board that “Gerald Ford became president, in part, because Richard Nixon had ordered the development of an enemies list and demanded his underlings use the IRS against those listed. That’s exactly what the executive committee fears will happen if there’s a second coming of Donald Trump.”

Kennerly added:

Did [Lt] Gerald Ford meet the enemy head-on [in the second world war] because he thought he wouldn’t get killed? No. He did it despite that possibility. This executive committee, on the other hand, bolted before any shots were fired. You aren’t alone. Many foundations, organizations, corporations and other entities are caught up in this tidal wave of timidity and fear that’s sweeping this country. I mistakenly thought we were better than that. This is the kind of acquiescent behavior that leads to authoritarianism. President Ford most likely would have come out even tougher and said that it leads directly to fascism.

Gerald Ford’s biggest mistake as president was to pardon Richard Nixon. At the time, Ford believed that America had to be shielded from the pain and disruption of a president put on criminal trial and possibly imprisoned. Yet to many Americans, the fact that Nixon would not be held accountable felt like another assault on the common good.

To make matters worse, Nixon continued to insist he had not participated in any crimes. In his 1977 television interviews with British journalist David Frost, he conceded he had “let the American people down” but refused to admit to any wrongdoing.

He said: “If the president does it, that means it is not illegal.” Those words continue to haunt America.

In the end, Nixon pulled off an extraordinary political heist. He persuaded millions of working-class Americans that the Republican party was their home. Beginning in 1968, Republicans won five of the next six presidential elections. All used Nixon’s playbook, relying on a coalition of corporate America and the white working class, and using racial dog whistles like “law and order” and “welfare queens”.

Nixon infected the modern Republican party with a sickness that would ultimately kill it. Donald Trump has finished the job.

Sununu’s willingness to destroy American democracy so his party can stay in power is shared by most Republican office holders today. It is a rejection of American democracy – an abrogation of the self-government that generations of Americans have fought for and died for.

The death of the Republican party is not to be celebrated. It is a tragedy. It is a testament to how fragile our democracy has become. It illustrates what happens when presidents are not held accountable. It is evidence of what occurs when decades of economic gains go mainly to the top.

It shows that many Americans have lost sight of our history and ideals, or have become so cynical and hopeless that they are willing to chuck it all in favor of an atrocious human being who claims to be on their side.

BB

S top repezaating  The Guradian propaganda BS  on site.    Why do you not write about thje ultra-leftist D emcorats who is detroying the U SA at present.   If there si a party self-destructing themselves it is the Democratic Party was moderate block is in turmoil - wh ile teh extremsists forced thrugh changes that would fiurther destroy the country.     Most people in teh USA are moderates - not revolutionary reactionaries like the Democrats became.     

So to describe the Republican Party as reactionaries is BS.   Theys tand for th e People of the USA - not for the destruction of Demcoracy - a prime objective of the reactionaries in the  Dmocrats.   It goes from males describing themselves as females - penis still in them and thenc laim they can participate and destroy female sport in the USA t givc jsutn one example - others are endless like th schools enouraging children without ermission fo their aprents and when the aprents object they are rbandxed as "White Domestic Terrorists and the FBI let loose on them.    In California such children is removed from their parensts and families and place in State institutions.     

Why don 't you cover such t hing  aimed at destruction of family life in the USA?   because shit like the Guardian spread cov ers your total thinking  on issues - while the believe in nations are eliminated and replaced by unelected bureaucrats .

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OuMaaik, no lectures please  ................. remember that you're first & foremost a proud Zbot, happy to support the total destruction of an entire nation based purely on the whims & mythological historic fantasies of a skoon bevokking mal dictator.

Seek forgiveness....................... or else

Sies.

This is the man that thinks 25.5 million Ukrainians have left their country and the world hasn’t noticed.

This coming  from a proven liar - I believe nothuing bar the fact tha the Dmcoratas are t msot leftist group of fanatics since the American Revolution.

As per normal you th rive on BS - while my claim dealt with reports from  variosu countries.   I admit that the refugess may be doukle counted because Romenia, Hungary and Moldavia cannot accommodate the numbers and the refugees could have been dxouble counted since they were moved on to other countries.   Fact si more than half the Ukrainian population of 2022 has left the country - of which  Crimea was not part of ukraine anymore and the Russians moved millions fo children and women ut of the war zone.    

So the 6 million people quoted by you has ben proven as BS and the figure is likely 18 million plas at present - not counting the woemen and children moved by Russia out fo teh qwar zone.  

That figure is increasng on a daily basis as millions of people fled from Ukraine sin ce the in vasion in 2022.    A ny figures provided by the EU i based on saving face by trying to hide the numbers.   

However, that is not the whole point iro of th e present item dealt with,   You have politically gone rogue and is now the biggest defender of the ultra-leftwing on site. - you even defend the weaponizing  of the Justice Department and other state departments to undermine opponents of the rpesent regime.   QAny people defeding  th em are FASCISTS  and th at is an apt description as to yoiu at preset   

 FASCIST AND LIAR OF HE YEAR BSTER.    .     .   .      .     .    

.     .

I told you what the situation is factually on the ground.    Ireland has been allocated 100 000 refugees to accommodate refugees from Ukraine added to allocation of so-called refugees from all over the world in terms of the EU open border policies .   That was a major reason for riots in Ireland over the last 4 months,   And the farmers are now supported by the workers in France.  and Germany who suffer at the hands of the present Governments.   

Like Ukraine winning the war is a pipedream of yours  - since the New York Times and the Wall  Street Journal are reporting otherwise - you support their BS propaganda as facts.    You are a proven liar and so lies are what you believe is true.So c arry on with  your support of the Fascist pig in the WH.                      .   

ouMaaik, its an opinion piece from Robert Bernard Reich,an American professor, author, lawyer, and political commentator. He worked in the administrations of presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, and served as Secretary of Labor from 1993 to 1997 in the cabinet of President Bill Clinton.

Well - let me put it bluntly.    In hsi altest speech Biden said voters should choose between FREEDOM and DEMOCRACY in the election.   It puzzles me - must they vote for Biden to allow him to destroy Democracy in the USA?    That seems what Biden is up to in reaity.    

ouMaaik, please describe Russia's governance ................ I've asked before, but alas, to no avail.

There are certain norms that is to be applied to Governments and the first one is whether the couintry has a constitutiton and in cases is whether there are abuses in respect of the constitution.which could be problematic.

The Russian cosntitution that has been amended in some ways that opens the way for Putin to be president - but that does not imply the country is a dictatorship as the media claimed.   The problem is the media in the Western countries are owned and controlled by the ultra-rich and they are alwauys preaching an agenda in Government that would adhere to what they prescribe.

So I rate countries based on to whate xtent the cosntitutions aof countries are abused by leadership.   Other than constant media reports there could and would be minor abuses of he constitution of Russia - but in general it cannot be regarded as a dictatorship.   

The media in the present era has an agenda on their own and so has the USA as leader of the so-called democratic countries in the world.   If the countries has conervative Governments and do not follow the so-called norms laid down by the leftist media they are accused of being dictatorships.  So Hungary and Italy has conservative Governments and they remain consttutional and do not abusive Governments - but the media accuse them of being  dictatorship by rightwing extremists.  The USA has probably more constitutional abuses  than both of those two countries combined have.   Russia is a huge country covering 1 sixth of the world land areas and in essense is governed by provincial Governments and those are not all governed by Putin's own Party and there is because of media hysteria  not known in the western counries.    There is a 100% difference between the dictatorial Governments in China and Iran - but more in line with India - which si a democracy based on  cosntitutional norms.

In the USA itself there are major cosnttutional abuses under Buiiden that was not the case under Trump in the time he  was President.   He did not  unlike Biden rule by mandates supposed to be approved by the Congress.   Many of Biden's Presidency is based on unconstitutional practices.:-

*    The weaponizing of the Justice Department and FBI to undermine opposition to the Biden Government is a major concern and an open attack on the Constitution of the USA.   The result is political charges against people accused of criminality by the emdia and that is in cosntant evidence in the USA.       

*     Non-adherence to the Laws passed by Congress and signed into law is another facet .  In the case of for instance the Open Border Policy of Biden allowing more th an 9 million peopele illegally into the countryis a major abuse of laws in the country and is Governed by Biden mandates is as far removed from Demcoracy as  the East is from the West.

*     There are total ignorance of law application in for isntance the case is with Iran.   In terms of the law passed by Congress all Iranian oil sales is to be paid for in dollalrs and those dollars is to be frozen.   The Biden Presidency has illgally unfrozen undreds of billions fo frozen funds and that eant support for the Ayatollah Government and its terrorist proxies all ove the ME.

*      At the same time the US Government over the last 70 years has had a policy where they undermine countries that they regard as opponents of the US Government.   It happened in Vietnam - where they were involved in a war started by Johnson and kept going for seven years until they fled from Vietnam in chaos and a dictatorial Communist Government took over.   Biden is sucking up to that regime and even visited Vietnam during his Presidency.

*     The USA preach that they attacked Iraq in 2003 based on lies about Weapons of Mass Destructions. - there was nothing of the kind found in Iraq.   They then changed their tune claiming that there was an objective as to the isntallation of Democratic Governance in Iraq.   They isntalled a Government of cronies in Iraq and the country is still in chaos.    

*      In Ukraine the US Government saw an opening to get a Government of their choice installed.    After the Ukrainian election in 2013 the USA undermined the elected Government in Ukraine and organized and funded a coup - after which they isntalled a Govenment of their choice in Ukraine.   The Cabinet Minsiters selected by Nuland and proposed and approved by Biden is still in place.   The Ukraine coinstitution of 1991 was discarded and a civil war erupted in 2014 in Eastern Ukraine between the Russian speaking people mostly living in Eastern Ukraine.     At least 36% of the residents of Ukraine were Russian speaking  people - yet Russian was banned as a language.   The Ukraine Government told the Russian speaking people to abandon their home lanuage and Russian Culture and threatened to expel  from their homes  in Ukaine if  they adhere to their cultural beliefs and practices.   There is no freedom of speech in Ukraine and the main Ukrainian church has been banned.   Opposition members of the Ukraine Pariament has been imprisoned without trial and all more supprted  oppoisiiton parties have eben banned by the Ukraine Government.   Yet the media claimed that Ukraine is a  Demcoratic country which it is not and has not been since 2014.    So Ukraine has a US installed and funded Government - which in reality is a dictatorship installed by the USA Government.   

In essense there are two issues I beleive is true and has been proven as such and that is that there are probably abuse of demcoracy in  Russia - we will not know the magnitude of such abuses and may be quite serious but the propaganda in western media are not to be trusted,    Thre are outright abuse of democracy in the media in for instance the USA.   Those came prominent under the Biden Adminsitartion - but the media accuse  Trump of things he never did as President and what Biden has done  since he became President - which is agaisnt the US Cosntitution - while the media attacked Trump as being a dcictator in the making. 

I do not like Putin extending his Presidency based on a referendum - it does not really being demcoratic by doing it - but I hink in reality he is less a threat to Demcoracy than Biden and the Demcorats are in the USA.    If Biden is re-elected the last vestages of Demcoracy in the USA wll be destroyed and rule of the country by the ultra-rich through the usage of  politicians and the media will take over the country and destroyed what is left of Democracy in the USA.

In the end the Ultra-rich want to control the  world and they openly state it through the World Economic Forum - an unelected organization that contol through leftist policies that eseentally reduce freedom of people will take over.    Finally in the USA and EU countries wth Fascist systems being established firmly in countries.   That is supposed to be democratic. - but essentially not meet basic requireents of democracy. - ie Government by the people through their elected representatives and being accountable to the voters,   

Biden have tried to put legislation through that would allow unidentified peple to be registered as voter registration without proof of residence  and vote without proof of identity.   That si really the basis of dictatorial control over voting similar to what is used in diicaorships.    The Supreme Court did not find that one cosntitutional and open to abuse through voter fraud.   So the new threat is to pack the Supreme Court with appointees that would not .protect the US Constitution a a basis for Governance.   A typical exxample is the ruling of the Supreme Court on Trump's candidature where the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that what they Demcorats were trying was uncosntitutional and Biden went on the rampage against jusges appointed by Obama and Biden when the decision was unanimous.  Theya lsow anted to introduce a law that would abn Trump's aprticipation in th e election - but nver fot off th ground.      

The present fake political charges against Trump will all end up in the Supreme Court and there is no chance that any verdict will be accepted by the Supreme Court since they are basically political  BS.   The only peopel protecting Democracy in the USA is the Supreme Court - not the Government of the Biden crooks running  the Government at present.           .           

  As to wwhat else is required is what ss happening in the USA where abuse by the elgval system is nowadays the norm  and many more prolitical rpisoners are held in jail without trial than there are in Russia.    The fact si that the court cases against Trump is totally political and not a single charge noit orchestrated by the WH and Justice Department has been laid against Trump.    278 000 peopele accused of being  "White Donmestic Terrorists" have eben illegally inestigated by the FBI.

The New York case is ttal BS as expected.  Th ere was no criem dientified and in the statement  in court yesterday was that Trump played hsuh money to a paswn star to not reveal what happened and that is illegal actions in the 2016 election.    The weird part was that thye apyments were made in 2017 afte the eelction was held - so the Prosecutor apppointed by Biden was lying  to court to start off with.    There was no crime committed and to trya n manufacture one is not acceptable.    In the meantime trump must attend court hearings while Biden can campaign countrywide.  If ever there were election interference  - the case agaisnt TYrump is.   It will g nowhere anyway - wh ile the meia is advocating  for Trump to be imprisoned.    A sick situation people should worry about.    The danger to demcoratic government si bigger in the USA than it is in Russia.          

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