As Tom Paine, a huge influence on me in my younger years, once said, “Now are the times that try men’s souls”. I actually think if he had thought about it a bit, he might have included women, as he was far ahead of his time. Anyway, nowadays everyone’s souls are being tried. But we all need balm for those souls once in a while, so this post will make a few comments about some recent, perhaps, hopeful signs.
First, one of the Democrats who voted to fund ICE got a lot of negative feedback from constituents and has now apologized, saying he had “failed”. This is a result of the recent murder and the fact that people are not satisfied with half measures. The hopeful sign has nothing to do with the Democrat himself, Tom Suozzi, but has everything to do with the fact that he felt enough pressure from his constituents to make what he at least pretended to be a heartfelt apology. So many of us have been frustrated with the response to the oncoming fascism from establishment Democrats, so many of whom seem to be stuck somewhere in the 1970s when there were still some Republicans who were not fascists or willing fascist enablers.
In addition, some Republicans are distancing themselves from Trump’s Gestapo. As the headline at Crooks and Liars reads: Even Ted Cruz is Forced To Be A Voice of Reason:
“Ted Cruz of Texas said the administration is taking the wrong tone in the aftermath of the shootings in Minnesota.
“Immediately when an incident like this happens, they come out guns blazing. That that we took out a violent terrorist. Hooray! And the problem is, particularly for someone not paying attention, if you’re being told this is a mom of three and there’s no indication, you know, she’s not waving an ISIS flag or doesn’t have a suicide vest around her.
“Yeah, escalating the rhetoric doesn’t help, and it actually loses credibility. And so I would encourage the administration to be more measured, to recognize the tragedy and to say, we don’t want anyone, anyone’s lives to be lost. and the politicians who are pouring gasoline on the fire need to stop.”
More at the link. I don’t necessarily believe he cares about the murders, but he does recognize that it’s not playing well, and he still wants to be president. More and more of them are going to realize that they now have a choice. They must cater to the die hard Trumpers, or, in any district not deep red, turn against Trump’s Gestapo and some of his other deeply unpopular acts. Of course, being Republicans they will do everything they can to exempt Trump himself from any direct criticism, but we may see increasing criticism of Bondi and Noem, and it’s not unlikely that like so many others that kissed Trump’s ass and did his dirty work, they will be jettisoned when it serves his purposes.
All this being said, it doesn’t pay to be too optimistic. We’ll soon know whether Senate Democrats realize that shutting down the government to stop the Gestapo is worth doing, and whether any Republicans join them in doing so. We’ll also soon know whether the Supreme Court will follow the law and stop Trump’s ridiculous impositions of tariffs, something he has no constitutional or statutory right to do, not to mention stopping him from sending occupation forces into cities where the sole need to do so is to punish Democrats.
I’m not a betting man, but if I were, I wouldn’t risk much money on any of the above taking place in any meaningful fashion.
Some more good news:
I recognize that there are performers out there that geezers like me know nothing about, so it’s possible that there are plenty of protest songs out there of which I’m unaware. But it’s great that Springsteen has piled on:
Where’s Bob Dylan when you need him?