Wednesday, May 04, 2016
Elizabeth Warren––on our state of affairs
The following is from Elizabeth Warren's blog. I usually don't post items such as this on my sites, but we are now a nation (and world) in extreme crisis, where events could in my view destroy us and much of the rest of the planet. Follow the rise of demagogues and dictators and you will see a familiar pattern at work here. Sinclair Lewis long ago wrote a novel called "It Can't Happen Here", but in fact it can. Think of Hitler, Mussolini, Huey Long in Louisiana, Peron in Argentina. Megalomaniacs gain power by appealing to the masses, who do not think for themselves, are easily swayed by empty promises, and end up being the victims of their own mistaken judgments.
Elizabeth Warren is my shero. Above all others, she speaks the truth about our world.
Donald Trump is now the leader of the Republican Party. It's real – he is one step away from the White House. Here's what else is real:
Trump has built his campaign on racism, sexism, and xenophobia. There's more enthusiasm for him among leaders of the KKK than leaders of the political party he now controls.
He incites supporters to violence, praises Putin, and, according to a columnist who recently interviewed him, is "cool with being called an authoritarian" and doesn't mind associations with history's worst dictators.
He attacks veterans like John McCain who were captured and puts our servicemembers at risk by cheerleading illegal torture. In a world with ISIS militants and leaders like North Korean strongman Kim Jong-Un conducting nuclear tests, he surrounds himself with a foreign policy team that has been called a "collection of charlatans," and puts out contradictory and nonsensical national security ideas one expert recently called "incoherent" and "truly bizarre."
What happens next will test the character for all of us – Republican, Democrat, and Independent. It will determine whether we move forward as one nation or splinter at the hands of one man's narcissism and divisiveness. I know which side I'm on, and I’m going to fight my heart out to make sure Donald Trump’s toxic stew of hatred and insecurity never reaches the White House.
