Impeachment is a non event. Trump will survive to try for the hat trick in 2020. On 25 March Fred Hiatt, WAPO editorial page editor, provides the following insight on halting his brand of populist demagoguery. As in the past I need help with link. My apologies, but the cliff notes below are woefully inadequate. Sort of like the Barr letter to the Mueller report.
His preface:
“A populist demagogue is dangerous not only for the actions he takes but also the corrosion of norms he sets in motion.” Why will any future presidential candidate release his tax returns? Or, When the next President doesn’t declare a National Emergency to impose gun control then they risk being branded as naive sap.
“Once a popular culture begins to erode… it is hard to stop the rot. But voters can do it, if they demand to be treated with respect rather than be lied and pandered to”
Towards that end he offers a voters guide such that “you will know that your candidate is succumbing to populist demagoguery if she or he embraces”:
*The simple over the complex: If it were easy, the solutions would already be implemented. The wall solves immigration and opioids. If health care is promised solved by abolishing private insurance companies, then be nervous.
*Giveaways over hard choices: Free lunch politicians abound. “Trump told us he could cut taxes, protect Social Security and Medicare, and erase the debt, he was lying. If candidates tell you now they can give you free college and healthcare and no one- or maybe only billionaires- will have to pay, be nervous.”
*Scapegoats over solutions: “When the simple remedies fail and giveaways prove impossible, the demagogues fallback is to find someone else to blame. No candidate is likely to match Trump’s preternatural ability to see the traitor lurking within every friend while never holding himself accountable. But if your candidate starts telling you that everything will be fine if we just went after billionaires, or big banks, or big tech or… be nervous”
*Winner take all over compromise: “If your candidate insists that the other side has to lose for you to win, be nervous. It is Trumpism that will be winning.”
Can we all agree to stand, raise our glass, and toast the end of the populist demagogue and the rise of an informed and heard electorate? I know, I know. Pipe dream, right? Of course not all can stand together and agree. So to those who don’t/won’t rise, I must conclude that you are happy about your demagogue, be it Trump, Warren or Sanders, making you look the fool. Allow me to sit while you rise and salute your demagogue. Cheers!