I’ve read enough of your posts to know you are an intelligent dude. I disagree with a lot of your opinions, but I respect most of them. That said, a couple thoughts, and bear in mind I am fully on board with Trump being neutered politically right now, because I want policies that work again, and while Trump might win in 2024, anyone else with a pulse on the republican side surely will:
1) This was not the “threat to democracy” that it has made out to be. It was a bunch of jackasses, acting out of loyalty to someone who can admittedly act like a jackass. Zero threat despite the rhetoric. I mean if you believe the rhetoric / testimony, the kingpin leader was stopped in his tracks with words and at worst physical restraint by one person.
2) Can you at least admit the current administration is a joke? And not a joke in terms of policy impacts to regular people? Things are pretty bad.
A sincere thanks for the civilized dialogue. It's much appreciated.
I think you are greatly underestimating the threat posed by Trump and team in 2020. What would have happened if Trump had only needed to flip one or two states instead of five, a scenario that is very likely in the future? What if Barr had played along with Trump's request to say there were signs of fraud when there weren't? What if Trump had been successful in his efforts to get the environmental lawyer but compliant soldier Clark installed as acting AG? What if Rafensperger had caved to the massive pressure to find the 11k votes Trump needed to flip GA? What if similar things had happened in AZ, NV, WI?
None of those things happened, but any of them could have. The fact that we can name a handful of individuals who had to act as the bulwark that prevented losing our republic is not the sign of a healthy system. In fact, if the participants who created and pushed this scheme go unpunished it is almost certain to happen again, but with a greater likelihood of success next time.
None of the above happened, yet if Pence had caved to the enormous pressure, including the physical threats on J6, and played his role in the scheme, the many co-conspirators in the republican party had fake electors and compliant supporters on Capitol Hill ready to throw the country into absolute chaos. Hell, after everything that happened (and perhaps more importantly everything that didn't happen as listed above) leading up to and including J6, 147 republicans
still refused the certify the election that night. This proves we can't count on decency, or even a fear of shame, from some elected officials to help protect the republic.
I've shared a few times that I majored in history at UGA and it is a passion of mine. Don't think for one second that our country is somehow immune from the potential rise in autocracy and destruction of our democratic norms. It has happened many times in the past and the playbook Trump used is very well established. When Liz Chaney says that this is an existential threat to our form of government she is exactly right.
Regarding Biden, he has been bad, although I think the suggestions of being the worst president ever are way overblown. Covid really hosed global supply chains and inflation is a global problem with oil exacerbated by Ukraine. I actually think the administration has handled the situation in Ukraine reasonably well. The employment numbers are obviously fantastic, another factor pushing inflation.
I'll add that despite being a good capitalist, which I can promise you I am, I am liberal in my views of social policy. The Biden administration better reflects my views in that area than the republicans, particularly today's republicans. The decisions coming out of the supreme court and some very aggressive and unpopular legislation coming out at the state level may be the only thing that gives the dems any chance at all in the midterms or 2024. A lot of people may actually be pissed off enough to get off their collective asses and go vote for a change.
But Biden is ancient and the progressives currently have way too much influence, neither of which sets us up well to deal effectively with what I would hope you will agree is a very challenging economic and geopolitical environment. I'd like to see some actual policy suggestions from republicans beyond "drill baby drill". The US produced 12.29m barrels of oil a day in 2019 and we are on target to produce 11.85m a day this year, which is not bad considering what happened to global demand during the pandemic and the resulting impact on production and refinery capacity. We need some real policy wonks, and both parties are too busy with their BS to craft real policy.
