I can scarcely recall what I imagined the internet would bring when it bloomed a generation ago. But my speculation about an interconnected future did not include reading the real-time rage-tweets of a malevolent clown while he pinches off a loaf in the White House throne room, having been placed there by traitors, racists, misogynists and assorted goddamned nitwits.
Nope. I did not see that coming.
I often wonder what good it does to repackage the more outrageous tweet-turds for your consideration, look at what the media says about them or discuss them with family and friends. Some days I just don’t bother. Some days, I wonder if it’s harmful to give the shitgibbon’s childish rants any energy and attention at all. And some days, I feel compelled to bear witness, even in a small and insignificant way.
This morning’s rage-tweets fall into the latter category, so even though several hours have passed since they dropped into the Twitter toilet bowl, here’s a representative (stool) sample:
Everybody is asking why the Justice Department (and FBI) isn't looking into all of the dishonesty going on with Crooked Hillary & the Dems..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 3, 2017
…New Donna B book says she paid for and stole the Dem Primary. What about the deleted E-mails, Uranium, Podesta, the Server, plus, plus…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 3, 2017
….People are angry. At some point the Justice Department, and the FBI, must do what is right and proper. The American public deserves it!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 3, 2017
There are several more in the same vein, which include allusions to “Crazy Bernie” and “Pocahantas” and additional ranting about “Crooked Hillary.” But this line is the most alarming: “Lets [sic] go FBI & Justice Dept.”
These are the ravings of a tinpot authoritarian. These are the rantings of an unhinged, predatory demagogue who is salivating at the prospect of using the apparatus of the United States government to conduct show trials and persecute political opponents. Trump expanded on the same idea in a radio interview [via CNN]:
“The saddest thing is that because I’m the President of the United States, I am not supposed to be involved with the Justice Department, I am not supposed to be involved with the FBI. I look at what’s happening with the Justice Department. Well, why aren’t they going after Hillary Clinton with her emails and with her, the dossier? I’m very unhappy with it that the Justice Department isn’t going. I am not supposed to be doing the kind of things that I would love to be doing. And I am very frustrated by it.”
Should we be grateful that Trump seems to grasp that he’s “not supposed to” leverage the justice system to punish political enemies, however unfair he rates that restraint? Maybe. But given the fact that those agencies are headed up by his flunkies, the fact that he’s applying even more pressure on them to do his bidding is worrisome.
I think Cheryl’s post downstairs asks the following question in a different way: Will our institutions be sufficient to withstand the onslaught of this lunatic? I vacillate between optimism and pessimism, but this latest push has me worried.
As the Civil War began, Ulysses S. Grant said, “There are but two parties now: traitors and patriots.” There’s a good argument that the party that countenances rule by a manifestly unfit crackpot who was sleazed into office in part via the machinations of a hostile foreign power has already become a party of traitors. There can be no doubt about it if Trump succeeds in turning the DOJ and FBI into his own personal score-settling force and distraction circus.
Anyhoo, it seemed important, if futile, to note for the record that the president of the United States escalated his calls to turn this nation into a nuclear-armed banana republic today. The wonder — and perhaps the danger — is that it attracted comparatively little attention. We’re used to this shit now, and that’s not healthy.