Abortion Rights, Congress, Jamie O, Political Crack, The Darnold

‘I Don’t Think People Are Sufficently Alarmed’

Senator Brian Schatz issuing a wakeup call.

Before I get into Senator Brian Schatz’s warning about the stakes of the 2024 presidential election, I will make an observation: We often seem to be a binary “CALM/PANIC” society.

There’s a fetish in American life, especially in the media, that the phrase “cooler heads prevail” is an aspiration and iron-clad rule (with certain exceptions, which I will note below). Among the Brightest Minds of the American Political Discourse (a.k.a. The Centrist Dipshits), “eh, not gonna worry about it” is a sign of deep intelligence. Any demonstration of worry, fear, etc. is a sign of low intelligence.

This, of course, is silly because it takes context out of the equation. If a guy is outside your office window with a gun screaming I WILL KILL EVERYONE IN THERE that is not the time to say eh, I don’t think he’s very serious, so I will be reasoned and ignore him.

We also sometimes panic over things that do not deserve panic, like plagiarism at Ivy League schools, and do not panic over things that do deserve panic, like the war on women’s health care. And that leads me to what Senator Schatz said this week in our Hallowed Halls of Congress:

So, Trump’s legal team, including this week’s Malaka of the Week winner, introduced a bananas legal concept, that a president is immune from criminal prosecution unless they are impeached. They said that this is the case even if the president orders the military to assassinate a political rival.

In the video that Schatz shared, he outlines what Trump’s lawyers argued, and then he begs people, including those on the right, to please consider what the consequences would be of an American president with full immunity. I suppose 10 years ago you might have been able to make an argument that “the power of the office” would keep a president in line, but in 2024 that is incredibly naive.

He then ends the video with something I’ve said over and over again in reply to people saying “oh, where did you hear something like that, I doubt that’s true” when talking about just how dangerous this version of the GOP and giving an example: We hear it from THEM.

I do occasionally encounter people who are still laboring in the sparkly rainbows and dancing unicorns and “my immigrant friend told me that America is the bestest ever so we can never mess up” American exceptionalism delusions that were destroyed by Trump’s election. So they might still try to debate that American democracy is in peril. So, here’s the man himself to stomp even harder on your American mythology:

So…am I saying we should panic, or curl up into a fetal position with a cup of cocoa and a Twinkie? No. I compare it to when weather forecasters call for a big snowstorm and the usual suspects whine on Facebook “they are hyping up this storm to scare people and make them panic.” That’s not what I am saying at all, and any thinking I am suggesting panic is on the person reading that into my words. But I do believe that anyone who is not a Trump worshiper must take it seriously. The threat is real. Like a snowstorm, we need to take it seriously and prepare.

Trump and his supporters (including those in his solar system like Professional Moral Panic Instigator Christopher Rufo) tell us what they intend to do if in power. They have shown, again and again, that these are not just idle words. They will work to implement policies that are not about democracy nor helping people but about authoritarianism and hurting anyone who is not a straight white Christian male.

This means being in touch with what is going on. I do believe that Trump being so wide-open about his intentions is a major mistake that will cost him the election, but that is not a guarantee. It will still be close because there are still enough people who believe in mythology instead of what is happening all around them, are willing to accept fascism if it means a chance their taxes will be lowered, think of themselves as immune to Trump’s threat, just don’t care about others, or, of course, are loving the idea of a far-right American dictator. We’ll need every vote and plenty of volunteers.

2024 could very well be the most momentous year in American history. We need to make sure that it’s because an authoritarian far-right movement was stopped in its tracks.

The last word goes to The Impressions.