With Trump and his administration going into meltdown, I can think of three possibilities to resurrect and save the things we care about, such as respect, dignity, comity, and the rule of law in our nation. Something must change drastically with Trump. The choices are:
1. Remove — Impeachment is hard to do. As things are unfolding, an Article 25 removal is not out of the question, but also improbable.
2. Help him decide to step down. This would involve people close to him, who know best how bad things are, giving him a face saving way to step down. It is clear that being President is not as much fun as he expected. The scenario would go something like — I got the nation going successfully on all of the important things I promised. I will not abandon my followers, but will continue to reach out to them in rallies, it will be fun. I owe it to all of the little people who are involved in my business to make sure that it thrives. The government is putting business killing demands on me and my family. I can’t let that happen. I chose a wonderful person to run the country in Mike Pence. I will step down so that he can complete what I have so well started and I will continue to grow the Trump brand to the greatest in the world. (Yeh, improbable, but I wouldn’t rule it out. Sarah Palin’s minions continued to love her even after quitting.)
3. If we can’t (or he can’t) see a way to shorten his four year term, someone needs to find ways to stabilize him enough that the nation survives without grave injury. This is a man who has always been surrounded with yes men. He also has lived in a warm bubble — gold everywhere, an attentive wife and a son who seems to want to emulate him. Now he is alone in the White House, filling his time with TV and tweets. This is enough to push a fragile ego over the edge. Quickly, Melania needs to come home. Though I can’t track things completely, it seems as if some of his more peaceful times have been when she is around. It would be great if Ivanka and Jared also moved into the White House — or at least spent a lot of time there.
It all feels improbable, but so does the position we are in at this time. My heart hurts as I watch my nation suffer and be dismantled bit by bit.
And now to the radical honesty. 2018 is soon and the Dems need to decided how they will handle the double push from the right and left. I know what I would like to see but would also love to hear from others in a discussion (not that we haven’t had a lot of these already) The essentials to help me feel good about the Democratic party are:
1. Radical honesty. Even over politics. Obama was wonderful at this. His slow, sometimes halting delivery when he was answering questions showed how carefully he vetted what he said before he said it. If he said it, I trusted it. It is not the time for wiggle words. And it is not the time for shading what one says to produce a desired result. Tell the truth, make sure you know what you are talking about and then have the courage to stand by it.
2. Transparency — DUH — To regain trust, there must not be closed conferences, hidden agendas, and old boy politics. At its best, the Democratic party should have nothing to hide. What we want is what the majority of people want. This has been lost in the political maneuvering and gotcha politics of the last election and even before that. I want a new “pure” party that actually says what it stands for and then fights openly for those things. Looking to our platform, shaped largely by the Sanders people, would be a good beginning.
3. Compassion and Comity — I love that word, comity. It sounds so rarified and mighty to me. It just means courtesy and considerate behavior to others. As a broad based party, we can serve most Americans, and even come to have them see us as representing them. But they are drawn to a number of disparate politicians now. The more we act disrespectfully to these politicians, the more chasm will exist between us and their followers. We will not attract everyone. And we will not even choose to have those who reject our values as followers. But there are many longing for a kinder politics. We should offer that, even as we stand strong and clear about what we believe in.
4. Clarity about the role of the media, and demands that they cover what the Democratic party is doing, even if they don’t provide scandals.
4. Work, work, work. Howard Dean’s 50 state, every county strategy worked. We need to return to it. We need to work to win in 2018, but also build to 2050.
I feel weird writing this — it has been rumbling around in my head, and I fear it may not add much to the discussion. But I long for things to get better and always need to try to think of ways that could happen. Thank you to anyone who reads this. Please share your thoughts as well.