A miscellany of things, in no particular order, that I’ve found myself thinking about in the past 24-hours.
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In view of the age of the Supreme Court, it was inevitable that Trump would have a second, and perhaps yet a third, nomination to the Supreme Court. Even so, the retirement of Justice Kennedy must be counted a dangerous event for the country; the Affordable Care Act, and Roe and Obergefell, are in immediate danger.
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Presidents are often disappointed in their nominees. Reagan would doubtless have regretted his appointment of Anthony Kennedy following his vote in Obergefell, George H.W. Bush expressed more than once his regret that he had nominated David Souter and, following his support for the ACA, I am sure that George W. Bush regrets his appointment of John Roberts.
So Trump may accidentally appoint a decent man rather than an witless ideologue in the style of Clarence Thomas. I don’t predict that, mind you, but lightning does occasionally strike and it does no harm to keep our fingers crossed.
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The country’s best defense is two-pronged:
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The Senate vote on Trump’s Federalist-approved nominee must somehow be delayed till after the election, and …
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The whores who now comprise Republican office-holders must be turned-out — one and all. From community dogcatcher to village Mayor to Senator, Trump’s enablers, Republicans, must be defeated.
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Trump is meeting with Vladimir Putin just a few days after an important meeting with NATO — which is “as bad as NAFTA,” according to Trump. Does anybody believe — Anybody? Anywhere? — that our allies will share important information, and speak freely, with Trump? They will not. Trump has smashed that bond, and his embarrassing obsequiousness toward Putin assures that NATO’s ties to the United States will not be restored while he occupies the Oval Office.
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Trump dances to Putin’s tune — and there is a reason. I suppose there is an outside possibility that Russia has achieved some sort of military superiority not disclosed to the American people, but I doubt that; some general or other would have gone public with that by now. I think it’s much more likely that the pee-tape is real.
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A stunning number of Republicans refuse to utter a peep of objection to Trump’s serial lies and offenses. Why? When we recall that Trump somehow inveigled Israeli security into attempting to dig-up dirt on the Iran deal negotiators, I can’t help wondering if he is blackmailing key Republicans.
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Mueller’s investigation has already established dispositively that the Trump campaign cooperated with Russia during the 2016 campaign; that the campaign did so amateurishly — perhaps amateurishly — is beside the point. Surely, cooperating with your country’s enemies to undermine a free election is at least flirting with treason.
I’m kind of hoping that Mueller satisfies Republican demands that his investigation be wrapped-up and that he issues a publicly available report — a .PDF published to the Internet, say. September or October would be a good time for that, I’m thinking.
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More Americans need to exhibit the character and courage of Stephanie Wilkinson, the owner of the Red Hen restaurant who declined to serve Sarah Sanders; only frank, no-nonsense scorn and ridicule will affect these people — and we’d better do it before the Supreme Court gives them yet more power.
If you think that’s too dark a worry, recall that history’s worst tyrants — Hitler, for an egregious example, though he is hardly the only one — assumed absolute power legally.
That is plainly Trump’s goal, and it could happen here, too.