OB

I wonder how many Americans who consider themselves politically aware could pass a civics test about how our government is supposed to function. I wonder how many Americans who ostensibly talk about politics as part of how they make a living could. Our anti-education/anti-knowledge culture has come for our constitutional society. And people who consider themselves "patriotic" celebrate dismantling the very aspects of our Framer's work that those exquisite-minded guys were most proud of. Co-equal branches of govt and checks and balances. Not bugs...but this system's greatest features. We are a politically hypocritical society and this will cost us. Can you imagine if the Biden/Harris/Hillary Clinton crowd were doing and saying the sort of things Trump is saying now? How many of you Trump fans would be ready to take to the streets? "That's what the 2d Amendment is for Dan"...how many times have I been told that by the "defenders of our Constitution"? For 40 years you've been saying it to me! So...it's only a problem if THEY'RE doing it? One side gets a pass at assaulting the constitutional wall that protects us all, and the other doesn't? How many of you would say "they're only joking" or "don't worry, it's a negotiation position" if Kamala Harris said these things? Serious question. You'd be just fine with it? No big deal? And I'm sure the right-wing talker's ecosystem would be too? All of this is going to come back to bite us. All of it. We are shortsighted, propagandized, political hypocrites. And we simply refuse to apply the same standards to both sides. And while I'm ranting: half of this problem is the fault of the Democratic Party. I've never seen such a toothless, feckless, directionless, passion-free group of poor political candidates in my life (and I was of voting age in the Mondale/Dukakis years). Only their most radical wing shows any passion or life at all...and that's the group that absolutely, positively can't win a general election. When the great historian in the sky writes about this era the "other party" in a two-party system deserves a ton of the blame too. Everyone over 70 years old in that party should resign right now. What Trump is trying to do in our system now is exactly what the Founders designed safeguards to prevent. And that's why Trump is targeting the safeguards.