Dan Rather won the internet, as he occasionally does, with this tweet:
It’s tempting to use the analogy of rats fleeing a sinking ship to describe the growing number of Republican elected officials starting to speak out against Donald Trump. But that's really not fair to rats, who tend not to be complicit in driving ships to the bottom of the sea.
I wish I were a fly on the wall.
Or a scintilla of sentient thought trapped inside the cranium and able to report on the brain activity of those who have sided with the most misanthropic president to ever sit behind the Resolute Desk.
Misanthropy and malignant narcissism - what a deadly cocktail!
I wouldn’t read too much into those edging away. With less than three weeks until the beginning of the tabulation of the election results, they are hedging their bets. It is precisely the same sentiment as the fire and brimstone televangelist I heard while watching a Sunday morning talk show who argued you should believe in Jesus Christ your savior as a means of “covering your bet.” Or “covering your ass.” If your belief turns out to be wrong, what have you lost? Speaking out about the outrageous statements made from the president’s very unique bully pulpit takes no courage whatsoever. Acting in opposition to this administration’s lust for power that would be an act of courage.
Refusing to nominate Amy Coney Barrett to Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s still warm Supreme Court seat - that - would be an act of courage.
A few Republican senators are making the rounds, hemming and hawing, looking down at the tops of their thousand dollar dress shoes, aw shucksing it with the press trying to distance themselves from the crazy of the last four years. Crazy that was punctuated at a Michigan super spreader rally just the other day by the oaf who would be king with chants of “lock her up!”
This time it wasn’t Hillary they were looking to lock up but Governor Whitmer of Michigan. The same governor who white domestic terrorists plotted to kidnap and execute. The same governor under constant death threats due to her trying to follow the science in regards to keeping Michigan healthy during the pandemic.
And then the boor who would be dictator for life mumbled in response to the Lock Her Up chant, “Lock them all up.”
Who does he mean by that? He means anyone who does not believe the same as those sharing this moment with him. He means people who do not support him. He means the ‘others’ who do not attend his rallies.
This man is no longer just the heir of a fortune and son to a jackass.
He is no longer just an ambitious New York real estate developer with poor taste in style.
He is no longer a reality television persona portraying a lie.
He is no longer just the crazy uncle you wish would shut up at Thanksgiving.
Sixty million Americans opted to let him be the leader of the United States. The president of the United States has more power at his fingertips than any other person who has previously walked the planet. Millions and millions of Americans - those who voted and those who didn’t - chose a malignant narcissistic misanthrope to be the leader of the free world.
They see nothing dangerous in his behavior. They cheer him on. The waves of adulation prop him up but he’s like a Christmas tree kept too long after Christmas and the needles are dried out, and the lights are malfunctioning and he’s only one cat swipe away from toppling. Tawdry, out-of-place and wholly inappropriate for the setting.
“Lock them all up.”
Do you think it is metaphorical? I think he means it.
When I say I want the Republican Party to wander in the wilderness for forty years and think about all they’ve wrought, it is wishful thinking on my part, but I am being metaphorical. When I change my Twitter account name to Heads on Pikes, I am being metaphorical. Of course I don’t want to see anybody’s head on a pike. Ew, gross. When I talk of “pitchfork” economics, I don’t honestly believe an army of pitchfork-bearing malcontents are going to change anybody’s mind. (I do, however, think a million person march on Washington - or Wall Street - armed with pitchforks would be a fabulous symbolic statement.)
But if I were the most powerful human on the planet, knowing how much my words count, I would not be saying such things loud, in public and encouraging the crowd to take it up as a chant. These are not slips of tongues, or gaffes, or Hollywood tape gotcha moments.
He’s visiting a state where men armed with enough weaponry to terrorize a small country were actively conniving to harm a duly elected governor of that state and were arrested for having taken part in the plot - and he pours even more gasoline onto the fire!
It’s unconscionable, reckless and reason enough that he should be removed from office. If only some of these rats, who have begun to notice the gunwales of the ship sinking below the water line, had some amendment they could utilize to prove their sudden remorse is genuine.
Nixon surrendered and agreed to resign when a cadre of legislators of his own party visited with him on Capitol Hill.
If any of these cowards truly care more for country than party, that’s the least they could do.
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John Prine singing Clay Pigeons. Why the hell not?
“And get along with it all, Where the people say y’all….”
Also, speaking of birds. My brother, Bill, sent me this novel about post-apocalyptic Seattle from the perspective of animals and - specifically - a crow named Shit Turd.
It’s a very fun read. Called Hollow Kingdom. Kyle Hadersberger - are you reading this?
