The pincers are closing. On the dictator side, the signal will be the triumph of fear and the passive acceptance of repression. On the post-trump side lies the arduous work of trying to reconstitute the Democrats as a leadership party rather than a pale exercise in compromise.
The timeline
Ten weeks is a short time and it is all the time left to reach one or another of these conclusions. This is at odds with everyone I know. The resistance against Trump is prepared for a long battle. They believe Muller will take many months to make his case. The media are pleased as punch if we can stretch this out.
Stories on this have not been forthcoming. Finally, Newsweek has supplemented a piece it did two months ago.
A current take on Trump's fate
Dumping Trump: All you need to know about how he could be legally removed from the White House | Opinion https://t.co/DJQsduDM2Y
— Stephen C. Rose (@stephencrose) August 21, 2017
This piece does not suggest that the end is near. It does, however, substantiate my own premise. Trump is not likely to be charged directly with a crime. He is far more likely to be threatened with impeachment when he acts to save his relatives and possibly his close associates from criminal prosecution. Knowing that is neither here or there. The issue is getting him gone. If he has a revelation and resigns tomorrow, so much the better.
Buttons will be pushed
The reason for this impatience is time, the inexorable passage of time. Imagine the next weeks without a move to be done with Trump. There will be more demonstrations. Bannon will foment some. Provocation is in the air. The buttons will be pushed.
Do I need to say more? In the environment Trump has created, with a passive media and a GOP of weak if even present courage, I say we are at the edge.
Memories?
We may remember a time when we laughed at Trump and see that we are no longer laughing. Do you think that when Trump is home free from prosecution and able to best Mueller that our future will be safe? If you do, welcome to my Brooklyn Bridge sale.
Unacceptable
I have already made it clear in these posts that Trump should go for many reasons.
Some reasons would apply to any GOP president who embraces neocon and neoliberal views.
Today's embrace by Trump of the neocon line may seem far-fetched. Not so if you read the Axios preview (below) of his speech to the armed services tonight. Not so if you read the opinion piece in Forbes by Doug Bandow back in late April. Trump may lack the neocon nod to democracy but he is set, apparently, to assert a military presence anywhere in the world. And his stated intent is to build the military far beyond its present bloated size.
Other reasons related to Trump's manifest and unpredictable ways are neither cute nor fetching - they are depressing and disgusting. They do not belong in the White House.
What we get
Today, Trump will bluster as he follows the ways of Obama, Bush 2 and others into the Great Game. This is what his generals want. He can celebrate them and no doubt will. Sadly a sense of democracy as a call for universal respect of all persons in the world is not strong enough now to warrant optimism. With Trump, we get an impeachable rogue who also happens to fit the bill of his worst predecessors.
1 big thing: Bark like Bannon, bite like Mattis https://t.co/8704ir7AVP #axiosam
— Stephen C. Rose (@stephencrose) August 21, 2017