In light of today's news, it's not clear where we go from here to protect traditional American institutions.
Today, the House Intelligence Committee released a whistleblower report detailing allegations that Donald Trump solicited foreign legal interference against a potential 2020 opponent. It is a document that every American voter should read. The report and its surrounding context raise disturbing questions about the future of America’s political systems.
I’m increasingly concerned the days where American rule-of-law applies to political elites at the federal level may be behind us.
The abuses outlined in the whistleblower report are so stunning, so perverse, involve such high-level-actors, and was handled so shockingly corruptly, including by non-Trump actors (the attorney general, for example, making decisions about a credible complaint in which he was materially involved) that I can't see how we come back from this.
It probably doesn’t matter how we resolve the specific issue before us – whether Trump is impeached or not, convicted in the Senate or not – there’s increasingly compelling evidence that American federal politics will no longer be governed by a shared understanding of the rules.
Equally concerning is the fact that voters just don't seem to care about these things anymore. No one really cares about how a bill is passed, or how someone gets elected, only that the bill is passed or their preferred candidate wins. It's not just an issue of tribalism per se, it's fundamentally that the rules matter less in nearly all issues to voters than the outcome.
And let's talk frankly about tribalism. There's an entire cottage industry of "conservative" media that uses people's religious views, genuine trust in conservative principles, and legitimate feeling that mainstream media does not give conservative ideas a fair shake to manipulate them. I've spent a lot of time with less-reputable conservative media for the last few weeks. It's stunning. The presentation of facts is so clever - in a perverse kind of way - as to be amazingly manipulative.
When you push people who live in that world on current Trump events, you often reach the point where they'll say something to the effect of "I just don't care. You liberals have been ignoring your abuses for years." And they really believe that. Because they live in a world where the most bizarre conspiracy theories about liberal figures are true.
That's not to say that there aren't legitimate complaints about liberals. I suspect I'm slightly to the right of the median American voter - so I certainly have my fair share of complaints. See my entire facebook feed from 2008-2016 for complaints about how Obama: failed to act properly in a variety of foreign policy situations, violated constitutional principles in the implementation of DACA, created a disturbing legal grey zone in Marijuana policy, constantly expanded the rule of the executive, passed policy insufficiently concerned with the implications for people of religious faith, and so on.
And I stand by all those criticisms.
But President Obama was born in the United States. The tragedy in Behngazi was a consequence of incompetence, not conspiracy. President Obama's best friend/mentor wasn't a terrorist. Seth Rich was not murdered by the Clintons. But if you believe all those things, I suppose I can see why you would be willing to look past what must seem like a series comparatively minor offenses in the Trump presidency.
I hope in a few years I run into this post and laugh at how melodramatic I was. But I don't know how we get out of this. And I'm not sure there is a way.
Today, the House Intelligence Committee released a whistleblower report detailing allegations that Donald Trump solicited foreign legal interference against a potential 2020 opponent. It is a document that every American voter should read. The report and its surrounding context raise disturbing questions about the future of America’s political systems.
I’m increasingly concerned the days where American rule-of-law applies to political elites at the federal level may be behind us.
The abuses outlined in the whistleblower report are so stunning, so perverse, involve such high-level-actors, and was handled so shockingly corruptly, including by non-Trump actors (the attorney general, for example, making decisions about a credible complaint in which he was materially involved) that I can't see how we come back from this.
It probably doesn’t matter how we resolve the specific issue before us – whether Trump is impeached or not, convicted in the Senate or not – there’s increasingly compelling evidence that American federal politics will no longer be governed by a shared understanding of the rules.
Equally concerning is the fact that voters just don't seem to care about these things anymore. No one really cares about how a bill is passed, or how someone gets elected, only that the bill is passed or their preferred candidate wins. It's not just an issue of tribalism per se, it's fundamentally that the rules matter less in nearly all issues to voters than the outcome.
And let's talk frankly about tribalism. There's an entire cottage industry of "conservative" media that uses people's religious views, genuine trust in conservative principles, and legitimate feeling that mainstream media does not give conservative ideas a fair shake to manipulate them. I've spent a lot of time with less-reputable conservative media for the last few weeks. It's stunning. The presentation of facts is so clever - in a perverse kind of way - as to be amazingly manipulative.
When you push people who live in that world on current Trump events, you often reach the point where they'll say something to the effect of "I just don't care. You liberals have been ignoring your abuses for years." And they really believe that. Because they live in a world where the most bizarre conspiracy theories about liberal figures are true.
That's not to say that there aren't legitimate complaints about liberals. I suspect I'm slightly to the right of the median American voter - so I certainly have my fair share of complaints. See my entire facebook feed from 2008-2016 for complaints about how Obama: failed to act properly in a variety of foreign policy situations, violated constitutional principles in the implementation of DACA, created a disturbing legal grey zone in Marijuana policy, constantly expanded the rule of the executive, passed policy insufficiently concerned with the implications for people of religious faith, and so on.
And I stand by all those criticisms.
But President Obama was born in the United States. The tragedy in Behngazi was a consequence of incompetence, not conspiracy. President Obama's best friend/mentor wasn't a terrorist. Seth Rich was not murdered by the Clintons. But if you believe all those things, I suppose I can see why you would be willing to look past what must seem like a series comparatively minor offenses in the Trump presidency.
I hope in a few years I run into this post and laugh at how melodramatic I was. But I don't know how we get out of this. And I'm not sure there is a way.
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