So, We Are Really Going to Do This?

Yeah, Still Not Going to Call Him the "P" Word (at least not that one)

Okay. First off, I’m not going to bash President Biden or anyone else from that side. No talk about “failures” from me. His accomplishments (linked up with congressional legislation) won’t all disappear. The Biden Administration’s spelling it out on the official White House webpage also will be frozen on a downloadable archive.

First, I don’t think that is correct overall. The federal judges are still there. Millions have already been helped by many things. It will be hard to remove some of the things. Second, it is not very productive at this time. We have to face up to the future. Third, relatedly, it is just too depressing on a certain level.*

I also want to put down a marker. I find Donald Trump a horrible person. He is a sexual predator. He aided and abetted an attempted insurrection. He is an asshole.

He is not fit for the job. All the press with weeks of talk about Biden’s mental acuity ignoring it also doesn’t change that Trump repeatedly isn’t up to that job that way.

His latest Cabinet has multiple dangerous and incompetent people, including another sexual predator and a vaccine denier. “Clusterfuck.”

The Fourteenth Amendment says that someone who committed an insurrection is not qualified to be president (among other things). Granted, the asinine Trump v. Anderson held Congress had to enforce the provision first. Plessy v. Ferguson also held separate but equal was constitutional. At some point, the king still has no clothes. (ewww)

Trump’s crimes have not disappeared even though only New York could prosecute. He is not suddenly fit or a sane choice. President Biden’s presumptive pardons of Anthony Fauci and others underline he realizes the threat.**

The failure of the people to vote for enough Democrats to provide at least of limited check in the House of Representatives also is depressing and aggravating. So, we are stuck with anti-trans assholes being in control. We should even there note Trump is worse. Mike Johnson is the rebirth of Daniel Webster next to that guy.

The dream of establishing in the new world a republic whose ideals would be classical, grounded in civic virtue, trusting in the integrity of the public and in the capacity of men of good will and decency, was not mere rhetoric. Republicanism was a word loaded with meaning, and the care of the survival of the republic of virtue, the fear that it would succumb to the corruption to which all acknowledged it was vulnerable, was real.

Linda K. Kerber, Federalists in Dissent

I don’t have any special advice on how to deal with Trump and Trump Republicans. My indicted mayor has defended his pilgrimage to Trump’s Florida White House to discuss the “migrant crisis.” They didn’t talk about the mayor’s case. Since that show things are done. (I’m being sarcastic. Trump’s mobster mentality involves “signals.”)

It will be one day at a time, each person doing their best, hopefully being good people. As our “leaders” go after trans people, for instance, people can treat them respectfully.

I realize that the next four years will involve governing. Democrats will in some fashion work with the people in power. They should also regularly DISSENT.

For instance, there is no good reason for nearly any Democrat to vote for Pam Bondi. I get why people would vote for Marco Rubio as Secretary of Defense. But Bondi being better than Matt Gaetz is a rather low bar.

There is no special magic here. Some wish it to be. The people will generally be confirmed. But, you have to make it harder and put dissent on the record.

We are going to have a lot of pain. The world isn’t going to end but that isn’t necessary. I guess we have to take it one day at a time. But, it is so aggravating that two terms of this … person … caused and will cause DECADES of problems. For instance, I’m going to have to deal with Gorsuch et. al. for quite a long time.

I never used “President” for the 45th person because I think the label warrants some bare minimum that he did not meet. More so now after 1/6/21. Consider some priest who molested children but was never convicted and the Catholic Church shuttles around. A local parent does not need to call the person “Father.”

It’s the official label. Well, I’m not in an official capacity. The fact some people are (whatever you do) going to disrespect other people they ideologically or otherwise disagree with does not compel another path. I’m not going to silly name-call. Calling him something something “orange” never appealed to me. I’ll stick with “asshole.”

People were upset at Obama playing nice with Trump at Carter’s funeral. I get the ire. If we are serious about how bad he is, we cannot suddenly just treat him normally. The specific context there and so on made me dubious but it was a special case.

OTOH, if you are people and institutions like the press who never did take Trump seriously, sane-washing him and so forth, you can just continue your previous activities mixed in with some particularly disgusting bending on the knee.

Okay. So, about half of today was acceptable. It is the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Flags were at half-mast for Jimmy Carter (though can be for our democracy). President Biden was president.

And, then noon came and Mr. Trump Immunity swore in you know who along with James “no won’t call him J.D. “ David Vance by (okay this is too rich) Brett Kavanaugh.

This entry was officially posted at that moment of twilight.

I want to end here with a “thank you” to President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. You provided a symbol of what it meant to be a good and honorable public servant. I was proud you were my president and vice president.

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Note: Okay. I will say it annoys me that Garland didn’t drop the charges against minor players in the national security prosecutions and release Jack Smith’s report as to that. It is asinine not to do so. I had your back more than others, but come on, dude.

Note 2: There is an assumption that accepting a pardon assumes guilt, which President Biden rejects. Rightly so.

A pardon, for instance, can be a “fail-safe” for innocent people in a flawed justice system. It would be ironic that the person would have to accept guilt in such cases.

The Supreme Court (after an earlier case sometimes cited for the “imputation of guilt” bit) also found that the pardon power is not merely an “act of grace” but is a judgment the public well-being requires. A person cannot simply override this by refusing to accept the pardon. That would interfere with the purpose of the power.