The Federalist – * Failed Pols

I do not fault stupid people for making the stupid decision to elect Donald Trump in 2016.

I do fault smart people for making stupid decisions. These include:

1. Senators who voted to acquit Donald Trump in his no-witnesses-allowed impeachment trial, including primarily Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell:

* Impeachment of Donald Trump (2020-02-05)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_of_Donald_Trump#Acquittal

* Mitch McConnell (2020-02-05)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitch_McConnell#Impeachment_trial

2. Members of the GOP who voted to disenfranchise voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – before, during, and AFTER the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol – including Paul Gosar (AZ-04), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Jody Hice (R–GA-10), Mo Brooks (R–AL-05), Scott Perry (R–PA-10), Josh Hawley (R–MO), and Louie Gohmert (R–TX-01).

* 2021 Storming Of The United States Capitol (2021-01-06)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_storming_of_the_United_States_Capitol

* 2020 United States Presidential Election Electoral College Count (2021-01-06 – 2021-01-07)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_presidential_election_Electoral_College_count

3. Donald Trump’s cabinet, who could have invoked the 25th Amendment to remove POTUS at any time:

* Cabinet Of Donald Trump (2017-01-21 – PRESENT)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_of_Donald_Trump

4. Social media, including especially Facebook and Twitter, for allowing their social networks to be used as platforms for hate speech.

* Donald Trump On Social Media (2017-01-21 – PRESENT)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_on_social_media#2021

5. Mainstream media, including especially CNN (on the left) and Fox News (on the right) for not doing their jobs – asking questions until they get answers – and allowing POTUS to lie unchecked.

* Veracity Of Statements By Donald Trump (2017-01-21 – PRESENT)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veracity_of_statements_by_Donald_Trump

6. Lawmakers at all levels, for failing to fix bad laws and for failing to enact good laws. Changes that must be made going forward include:

Limiting POTUS power:

Executive order power must be limited.
All cabinet members (acting/interim/actual) must be confirmed by Senate.
Treaties and tariffs must be the role of Congress so that POTUS cannot engage in trade wars.
War Powers Act must be updated to limit POTUS power to deploy the military.
Special Counsel Act must be updated to make clear that POTUS cannot fire special counsel.

Writing better and new laws:

Impeachment Act of 2021, to define how impeachment is conducted, including the requirement to have witnesses.
Follow the lead of The Restatements Of The Law project (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restatements_of_the_Law) and codify major SCOTUS cases, including especially Roe v. Wade.
Fix the Census.
Fix immigration.
Fix SCOTUS processes, such as limiting appointments to 2 per POTUS with the number of SCOTUS justices fixed at the number of Federal Circuits (currently 13).
Election reform, including who is qualified to run for POTUS and that tax forms must be disclosed to do so.

Just to name a few.

Stupid people, bad laws, and lies got us into this mess.

Smart people, good laws, and the truth can get us out of this mess.

LAW >> MAN.

#FailedPols
https://www.failblog.com/

The co-dependent and symbiotic relationship between Donald Trump and the American Evangelical Christians seems to grow stronger with each Coronavirus Task Force update. The bond of enablement between the two factions has existed since Trump’s candidacy, but with each uninformed proclamation and every falsehood that issues from the president’s mouth, the bindings tighten.

It’s not news to most Americans that evangelicals see Donald Trump as their modern-day savior. Donald Trump has indicated that he sees himself as having in fact done more for evangelicals than even Christ himself did.

Indeed, Donald Trump has appointed two conservative Supreme Court Judges and numerous conservative federal judges who evangelicals hope will overturn Roe v. Wade for them. He has moved the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem after having earlier declared the U.S. as officially recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital—moves that evangelicals see as crucial to fulfilling their biblical “End Times” prophecy (Trump himself likely didn’t understand that at the time; he just knew that Israel, and especially Jerusalem, are important to the evangelicals). He’s done numerous photo ops with famous evangelical leaders, where he appears to have his head bowed in prayer. He mirrors the evangelicals’ disdain for science, especially when it contradicts their worldview.

Like a teenage boy who wants to date your daughter, Trump has learned to work the evangelical room, aiming to impress with words and phrases that, while not often accurate, are close enough to sound like he’s making a sincere effort.

“He gets us,” they think, willfully overlooking his gaffs.

“I get you like no one else in the history of the world ever has,” adds Donald Trump.

And what pandering scheme would be complete without promoting Bible-thumping capitalists at his Coronavirus Task Force briefings?

“God gave us grace on November 8, 2016 to change the course we were on,” said Mike Lindell, inventor and CEO of MyPillow from the podium. Lindell’s company will convert 75 percent of its pillow-making production to making masks to help combat the COVID-19 crisis.

“God had been taken out of our schools and lives, a nation had turned its back on God. I encourage you to use this time at home to get back in the Word. Read our Bibles and spend time with our families.”

To be sure, Americans are grateful that Lindell and the folks at MyPillow have stepped up. Evangelicals, however, are over the moon that Trump chose to showcase someone (Lindell) who wants America to “get back in the Word.” Their president’s gross mishandling of the coronavirus crisis, now a pandemic, is canceled out by what they see as his heroism in anointing people who are fond of quoting New Testament scripture.

The rest of us know that Donald Trump’s evangelical posturing isn’t genuine. The evangelicals know it, too, on some level, and Donald Trump almost certainly knows that they know it.

Why does it all continue to work?

For the hard-core evangelicals, if one has faith, one should not be interested in proof. One does not need science or data—in fact, they are to be scorned—if they are in conflict with what evangelicals believe to be true. Hence, in the evangelical Christians, Donald Trump has found the ideal base of supporters who will be with him as long as he vaguely refers to something biblical once in awhile, and continues to disregard science.

Though Donald Trump likely can’t consciously cite the neuroscientific phenomenon, he is instinctually aware of what neuroscientist Dr. Michael Shermer calls The Believing Brain. Shermer’s thesis is, “We form our beliefs for a variety of subjective, personal, emotional, and psychological reasons in the context of environments created by family, friends, colleagues, culture, and society at large; after forming our beliefs we then defend, justify, and rationalize them with a host of intellectual reasons, cogent arguments, and rational explanations. Beliefs come first, explanations for beliefs follow.”

Donald Trump knows that, like most human beings, the evangelicals will sooner disregard or shape facts and contrary evidence to fit their narrative than abandon their faith. He knows, too, that this applies not only to their religious faith, but also to their faith in Donald Trump.

This is a gift to Donald Trump, especially because many evangelicals go a step further by believing that God chose Donald Trump to be president. Because of this, he knows they will forgive, overlook, deny, or rationalize every corrupt, dangerous, perilous, or irrational move he makes. And in return, they will get their judges, their hoped-for reversal of Roe v. Wade, their “godly” government. Or not.

With symbiotic relationships in the plant and animal kingdoms, participants benefit mutually from each other. Donald Trump, however, knows that his symbiotic relationship with his evangelical base only requires that as long as they see him as appointed by God, it’s only important that they feel like the relationship is mutually beneficial.

MyPillow CEO Speaks at Trump’s Coronavirus Press Conference |
Late Night with Seth Meyers [2020-04-01]

Christian Leaders Pray Over Trump During Launch Of Evangelicals For Trump Coalition | NBC News [2020-01-03]

Category: The Federalist

* Erik’s Editorial: The Guilty Parties Who Put American Democracy At Risk In The Name Of Donald Trump

Editorial: The Symbiotic Relationship between Trump and the Evangelicals