reflectivepundit

Was January 6, 2021, a Rehearsal for a Greater Threat to American Democracy?

Please read our analysis at Columbia University Press's blog https://cupblog.org/2024/09/25/was-january-6-2021-a-rehearsal-for-a-greater-threat-to-american-democracy-brigitte-l-nacos-yaeli-bloch-elkon-and-robert-y-shapiro/

Even After a Possible Second Assassination Attempt, Donald J. Trump Cannot Stop His Lies

By Brigitte L. Nacos

Whether one likes or dislikes Donald J. Trump, the news of a possible second assassination attempt against the former and perhaps future U.S. president was another shocking indication that violence and the threat thereof by perpetrators armed with military style attack weapons have become as American as apple pie.

While deadly shootings occur typically in schools, shopping malls, movie theaters, streets, and other public places killing and injuring members of the general public, political violence, too, has increased in the last decade. Serious threats against presidents, members of congress, poll workers, and other public officials have skyrocketed.

Thus, the first assassination attempt against Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, and now the second reported effort to shoot the former president on his Florida golf course should not have come as surprises. Because Second Amendment fanatics in Congress continue to refuse outlawing the most lethal assault weapons, no other western population is as dangerously armed as Americans. When mass shootings or assassination attempts on politicians take place, the gun-lobby and its servants in Congress are always quick to argue that this is not the time to discuss and do something about the weapons issue.

After Trump suffered a superficial wound on one of his ears, when shot at during his campaign rally in Butler, he seemed shaken enough to suspend his language of hate and division for a short time. Once back to normal, he suggested implicitly that his political opponents, “they,” had something to do with the attack.

Yesterday, the blame game began a few hours after the alleged assassination attempt, when Trump said in an interview with FOX News Digital,  

The would-be gunman “believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it. Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country — both from the inside and out.”

This accusation was not backed by facts. And he told another lie in the Fox interview, when he insisted that he does not use inflammatory language to describe his political opponents.

Of course, he does--on a daily basis. At one campaign stop, he said what he repeated elsewhere,

“We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country that lie and steal and cheat on elections…They’ll do anything, whether legally or illegally, to destroy America and to destroy the American Dream.”

Not inflammatory?

Instead of Attacking the News Media Trump Should Thank Them

By Brigitte L. Nacos

When journalists cover Donald Trump’s rallies, they risk rhetorical attacks from the former president and by his supporters. As candidate and as president Trump called the news media the “enemy of the people.” This was his well laid plan to undermine public trust in the press.

Following his election victory in 2016, Trump had a telling encounter with the well- known TV reporter Lesley Stahl that she described later during a journalism award event,

“At one point, he started to attack the press. There were no cameras in there. I said, ‘You know, this is getting tired. Why are you doing it over and over? It’s boring and it’s time to end that. You know, you’ve  won … why do you keep hammering at this?’ And he said: ‘You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all so that when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you.’”

Trump was successful in convincing his hard-core followers that the American press is evil and aligned with their domestic enemies—Democrats, Liberals, the “deep state” and so on. In such a climate, aggressive language can result in physical attacks.

Last Friday, a man stormed into the press section shortly after Trump had criticized the media for negative coverage in general and CNN for interviewing Kamala Harris and Tim Walz a day earlier. Before the intruder could harm reporters, police officers tasered and arrested the guy.  Reacting to the incident Trump asked the crowd, “Is there anywhere that’s more fun to be than a Trump rally?” There is reason to believe that Trump would have liked to see some roughed-up media workers last Friday.

In October 2018, after congressional GOP candidate Greg Gianforte of Montana body slammed and injured a reporter of The Guardian because he did not like to be questioned about his healthcare policy, President Trump praised Gianforte during a rally and mimicked a body slamming motion. “Greg is smart,” he said. “And by the way, never wrestle him. Never.  Any guy that can do a body slam is my kind of guy. My kind. I shouldn’t say that but this is nothing to be embarrassed by.”

After MSNBC anchor Ali Velshi covered a peaceful “Black Lives Matter” demonstration and was hit by a rubber bullet, Donald Trump recalled the incident at a campaign rally. “They [law enforcement officers] threw him aside like he was a little bag of popcorn,” the President said. “But I mean honestly, when you watch the crap that we’ve all had to take so long…when you see it, it’s actually a beautiful sight.”

Trump has no reason whatsoever to attack the press. He is the spreader of lies. Not the media. During this campaign he has once again dominated the news because he received more coverage than first Joe Biden and more recently Kamala Harris. Good examples were the trials in New York City courts, when the media offered him every day several opportunities to appear before cameras and microphones to attack plaintiffs, witnesses, prosecutors, judges, and Democrats for allegedly misusing the legal system again him, “an innocent man.”

In yesterday’s Washington Post, Columnist Colbert I. King summarized the soft reporting on Donald Trump best in the opening sentences of his column. He wrote,

“Are we in La La Land?

If I didn’t know better, I might conclude that the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, in which rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol to prevent the certification of the 2020 presidential election, was merely the act of exuberant “patriots” voicing their displeasure with Joe Biden’s victory — and that Donald Trump had nothing to do with it. What else to think, based on the media’s treatment of the twice-impeached former president and felon and his campaign to return to the White House?  Trump is being covered by the press as if Jan. 6 were old news.”

Very well said!

To Unmask the Trump-Vance Threat, Harris and Walz Must Call a Spade a Spade

By Brigitte L. Nacos

After he learned that Kamala Harris had chosen Tim Walz as running mate, Donald Trump claimed in a post on his social media platform Truth Social (what an ironic name!), “This is the most Radical Left duo in American history…” This was a mild version of his usual accusations that characterize his domestic political “enemies” as existential threat to America. On Veterans Day last November, for example, Trump said,

“The real threat is from the radical left. And it’s growing every day, every single day… They lie and steal and cheat on elections and will do anything possible…They’ll do anything, whether legally or illegally, to destroy America and to destroy the American dream…We pledge to you that we will root out the Communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.”

He and his acolytes have revealed what they mean with rooting out the enemy within, namely, to destroy the “deep state” and the “administrative state” and replace them with MAGA loyalist who are being trained for their “patriotic” duty in the next Trump administration. Oh, yes, after the mainstream media finally covered the scary content of “Project 2025” at some length, Trump distanced himself from the far-right blue print. But the same Trump supporters who worked on that project are involved in a more detailed plan for the transition from the Biden to another Trump presidency.

And nobody should forget that the former president has threatened retribution against non-loyalists, that he has talked about prosecuting and executing high level members in his administration and in the congress who stood up to his illegal schemes.

Trump’s illegal and immoral actions and plans are so numerous that they seem normal and not worth mentioning.

The normalization of Trump’s extremism and its blessing by his running mate are great, perhaps the greatest problems for his opponents in this campaign. In their efforts to counter the dark picture of contemporary America that Trump and his side-kick JD Vance are painting, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are embracing hope and joy and laughter. That is a wonderful antidote to the script of the MAGA leaders that speaks to the fear and resentment that they stoke in their supporters.    

But the lion’s share of the Harris/Walz campaign energy must be reserved to unmask the existential threat that Trump and Vance post for America. That is not a laughing matter. Satire, jokes, and hints will not do.

Harris and Walz must call a spade a spade and bare the undemocratic views and plans of former president Trump and U.S. Senator Vance as un-American. They must explain the devastating consequences of the MAGA agenda and its implementation for the mass of Americans. And they must deny the far-right’s birthright to patriotism and the American flag.

When Vice President Harris spoke in Philadelphia about the “promise of America” coming true for her and her team-mate Walz and used the refrain “Only in America,” the crowd screamed repeatedly, U.S.A!

That was a good beginning for their 90-day campaign.

President Biden Cannot Win the November Election; He Must Step Down NOW

In this morning’s Washington Post the journalist Sally Quinn recalls the mental and physical decline of her husband Ben Bradlee, the well-known executive editor, who led the Washington Post during the Watergate scandal. Under the headline “My husband was slowing down. He needed protecting,” she describes in sadness what she calls up front “A story for Jill Biden,” the growing signs of dementia.

I hope that the First Lady and Joe Biden’s most influential advisors read this heartbreaking narrative of the progressive deterioration of Sally Quinn’s husband and how she protected him from doing publicly and privately what he was no longer able to do.

 If anyone had doubts about President Biden’s mental and physical decline, there was no denying after his catastrophic failure during the first debate with Donald Trump. While not as bad as the debate non-performance, his following public communication opportunities did not wipe out the terrible memories of the televised event.

Biden’s wife and sister along with his closest aides may have been in denial about the true state of the president’s decline for quite some time. But how can they ignore what unfolded in the last five or so weeks in full view of the American public? They all should arrange for a replay—or several--of the first presidential debate and meet reality. President Biden’s condition does not allow him to be a strong candidate and certainly not an effective president during a second term.

Surveys show that Donald Trump’s lead, especially in swing states, has increased. I do not see a path for Joe Biden to win the November election. And when the top dog loses, chances are that the rest of the ticket loses in greater numbers as well.

Today, a united front of Democrats, elected and appointed officials inside and outside of congress, must convince the president to abandon his candidacy. According to polls a strong majority of rank-and-file Democrats will agree with them. In short, with Biden as candidate, there may well be a landslide win for Trump and the GOP. With another candidate, younger, stronger, articulate, there will be at least a slim chance to prevent a second Trump term and majorities on both congressional chambers.

I like Joe Biden and thank him for his accomplishments during his presidency. If he stays in the race, I will vote for him as I would vote for a dog-catcher running against the former president. But my respect for President Biden will diminish as will his historic legacy.