I saw this post on Bluesky:
Huge midterm losses will force Trump to either (a) attempt his 2028 gambit earlier than he’d hoped or (b) cede the stage to the Republicans who step up to run. Either way: That’s probably the end of Trump 2028. Which could be the end of Trump. http://www.thebulwark.com/p/spoiler-we…
and I groaned at just what I could read from the paywalled link. This is magical thinking.
This is the same thinking that led to this statement:
Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, shared his prediction Tuesday that former President Donald Trump will win reelection in 2024 and won’t have any effect on American democracy.
His comments came in an op-ed for the Bangor Daily News. In the piece, the representative explained the election is Trump’s to win after President Joe Biden’s poor showing at the first presidential debate.
“While I don’t plan to vote for him, Donald Trump is going to win. And I’m OK with that,” he wrote. “Democrats’ post-debate hand-wringing is based on the idea that a Trump victory is not just a political loss, but a unique threat to our democracy. I reject the premise. Unlike Biden and many others, I refuse to participate in a campaign to scare voters with the idea that Trump will end our democratic system.”
He also said this:
This election is about the economy, not democracy,” Rep. Golden wrote. “And when it comes to our economy, our Congress matters far more than who occupies the White House.”
How did the whole “Congress will save us” thing work out, huh? Golden totally failed in the moment. He was not only wrong, he was unconcerned about immigrants, children, the elderly, handicapped people, trans people, etc.
Congress hasn’t saved fishermen in the Caribbean from being murdered by the US government. Congress hasn’t saved the US from the National Guard being deployed to peaceful cities. Congress hasn’t saved the US from Border Patrol and ICE overreach. Congress hasn’t saved US citizens from false legal charges.
Now Democratic members of Congress who are also veterans did speak out, reminding US service men and women that they have an obligation to refuse to carry out illegal orders. But the rest of Congress is evidently unaware that their colleague has such high hopes for them, and have responded by saying completely outrageous things:
Speaker Mike Johnson defended Donald Trump’s declaration Thursday that some congressional Democrats engaged in “sedition” after the president suggested those Democrats should be executed Thursday.
Johnson said it was the Democrats who were acting “wildly inappropriate” by suggesting that military members should disobey unlawful orders from Trump. By post “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH,” according to Johnson, Trump was simply “defining the crime of sedition.”
“That is a factual statement,” Johnson said, adding attorneys would have to “parse” the language in the criminal act.
Trump had previously reposted another Truth Social user, who wrote, “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD!!”
Johnson said he did not see the full scope of Trump’s comments and reposts, but he joined in Trump’s attacks on the six House and Senate Democrats who posted a video addressing military members.
“For a senator like Mark Kelly or any member of the House or Senate to behave in that kind of talks is to me so just beyond the pale,” Johnson said, before telling reporters, “I’m not going to say anything more on it.”
Back at the White House, President Grievance was having a normal one:
Trump is calling for the six Democratic lawmakers who urged the military not to follow any illegal orders to be arrested, and he’s reposting replies saying they should be hanged and calling them terrorists.
But yeah, we’re winning and the president isn’t a danger to anyone. And even if he were, “Congress” would save us.
I don’t know what it is with the centrist need to use magical thinking, but it’s got to stop. None of this is normal. None of this is good. None of this says that the president and his fascist minions are not a danger to all of us.
This seems right: