Posted by @jeanne-mayell:
I cannot see what I wish I could see which is a nationwide protest of millions of people marching on the Capitol and the White House and demanding that he leave.
Jeanne,
At the moment, I can’t see that either.
I agree with @lynnventura about people's exhaustion and disbelief. I also wonder if part of the problem is the failure of our mainstream media. That may sound a bit simplistic, and I know there are a lot of competing voices (Faux, Breitfart, etc.) – not to mention T’s real threats against legitimate news outlets and journalists. And we also have the influence of the corporate entities who own these media outlets. But if these journalists don’t clearly speak out NOW, their voices may be permanently silenced. If not now, when?
As I watched some of Joy Reid this morning, she posed the following questions: how should we cover a president who literally calls himself a king? And how should we cover the political party who treats the president like a king?
On Joy’s panel was Will Bunch, an opinion columnist with the Philadelphia Inquirer. He recently wrote a piece, “Trump’s Banana Republic: Police state for the poor, free pass for the president’s pals and the rich.” Bunch said that he moved from journalist to opinion columnist during the Iraq war. He stated the media wasn’t up to the job of alerting the public to some of the alarming trends that were taking place in this country at that time.
Bunch said that we need a different kind of journalism in the T era; journalism and democracy are intrinsically linked, and when we have a president like T who is threatening that democracy, journalism can’t fall back on its “on the one hand/on the other hand” habit. He said that journalists need to find a different voice – clearer in letting people know what democracy is, what democracy should be, and forcefully spelling out the ways T is violating it.
Joy remarked that the Iraq war was a clear example of the error in taking the president at face value. With T this has been taken to an extreme degree – he has much more power, freely given and supported by the Rs in Congress.
Conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin chimed in, stating that this notion of objectivity and balance has been so instilled into the media that they now don’t call it like they see it at all. She said journalists need to use the verbs, the adjectives, and the correct descriptions so they can give the public a crystal clear feeling of how dangerous this guy is. She said that’s not being biased; that’s being accurate in conveying the dangers that T poses to our democracy.
Rubin said that the media has to stop playing the stenographer’s game – e.g. this is what the president says/this is what Schiff says. She said that because T’s actions are so extreme, and because the bubble he operates in is so closed, the press needs to pound on their door and say “No! This is what is really going on.” So instead of playing some clip of T speaking as if it’s “news,” the press needs to say “he lied about this today.” She said this intense scrutiny should also apply to the Rs in Congress.
Rubin said the force by which the press “tells it like it is” has to take on a new meaning. The press’s job is to be a watchdog: to inform, expose, and to be adversarial when necessary, when the government is engaging in abuse or corruption. Rubin emphasized that the press cannot assume that the public will figure it out by themselves – they won’t.
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- @jeanne-mayell I left an abusive husband and many of these warnings are applicable.
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@jaidy I have directed people to the "support" thread to help you. You just have to post something there. And people can respond and send light to you there. https://www.jeannemayell.com/community/how-to-cope-and-even-thrive-in-difficult-times/if-you-need-support-understanding-and-love-let-us-know-here/paged/46/#post-20622
It's interesting but I have seen and witnessed a new wave of musicians putting out "protest songs" that truly tell it like it is. I don't know who is actually listening - but these are there - and the songs will move you to tears. Smithsonian Folkways Archives is a label that started signing artists again, and it captures this essence so well.
As for marching, I believe that the issue is that as long as people ONLY watch Faux News - they really don't know the truth (hence the concerns about the Banana Republic) - these are the people that are just so brainwashed that it hurts my head and my heart to ever try to reason with them. I hope that folks actually start listening to projects such as the Lincoln Project (George Conway, Rick Wilson, etc.) so that the tide turns.
@turtle26, thank you for the link. Music has the power to break though barriers and unite people. You just made me remember a country-western song I heard a few weeks ago. In “Hymn for the 81%”, Christian pastor, Daniel Dietrich, criticizes his fellow evangelicals for their ongoing support of T.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GT-LfLpzzo
About Faux – does anyone happen to know what percentage of people in this country only watch that "news" outlet? Because I still believe there are significantly more of us than of them. And if that’s the case, why aren’t there more of us engaged and peacefully speaking out?
@turtle26 @michele Speaking of songs, I like Taylor Swift's song to the youth who she had rallied in vain to work for a democratic win in the Tennessee midterms. She got 51,000 kids to register to vote. But Trump showed up and the republican won. She wrote this song for her fans afterwards to get them to keep fighting -- Only the Young.
My hope is that she and others with her talent will write some rallying songs for this election.
@jeanne-mayell yes! I live in TN (in a blue dot city) and we absolutely cannot stand MoscowMarsha.....sigh - Phil Bredesen was so well spoken and so well-educated but it's such an uphill battle in a state like this.
@deetoo@turtle26, thank you for the link. Music has the power to break though barriers and unite people. You just made me remember a country-western song I heard a few weeks ago. In “Hymn for the 81%”, Christian pastor, Daniel Dietrich, criticizes his fellow evangelicals for their ongoing support of T.
Great song. Here are the lyrics:
I grew up in your churches
Sunday morning and evening service
Knelt in tears at the foot of the rugged cross
You taught me every life is sacred
Feed the hungry, clothe the naked
I learned from you the highest law is love.
And I believed you when you said
That I should trust the words in red
To guide my steps through a wicked world
I assumed you’d do the same
So imagine my dismay
When I watched you lead the sheep to the wolves
You said to love the lost
So I’m loving you now
You said speak the truth
I’m calling you out
Why don’t you live the words
That you put in my mouth
May love overcome, and justice roll down
They started putting kids in cages
Ripping mothers from their babies
And I looked to you to speak on their behalf
But all I heard was silence
Or worse, you justified it
Singing “Glory Hallelujah! Raise the flag!”
Your fear had turned to hatred
But you baptized it with language
Torn from the pages of the Good Book
You weaponized religion
And you wonder why I’m leaving
To find Jesus on the wrong side of your walls
You said to love the lost
So I’m loving you now
You said speak the truth
I’m calling you out
Why don’t you live the words
That you put in my mouth
May love overcome, and justice roll down
Come home
Come home
You’re better
You taught me better than this
Come home
Come home
You’re better than this
You taught me better than this
Come home
Come home
Oh you’re better than this
You taught me better than this
Come home
Come home…
You said to love the lost
I’m trying to love you now
You said speak the truth
I’m calling you out I wish you lived the words
That you put in my mouth
May love overcome, and justice roll down
May love overcome, and justice roll down
May love overcome, and justice roll down
May love overcome, and justice roll down.
One of the commenters added this:
"Thou shalt neither trouble a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Thou shalt not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry out unto me, I will surely hear their cry."
Tonight Rachael Maddow spoke about Barr and the president saying:
I mean, I love bananas as much as the next guy, but this is really Banana Republic stuff full stop. This is the worst case scenario. we've all been imagining and sorta gaming out in terms of rule of law and this president and it is happening...
She then went on to talk about how we might be headed to a constitutional crisis especially if the Supreme Court says the Tax records can be released next month and Trump insisted people ( Deutsch Bank) defy the supreme court.
@lovendures, I also watched Maddow last night. I thought her outline of the strong T family/Douche Bnk/foreign interests connections were pretty scary. I've watched Rachel the past few nights and she's been doing a brilliant job addressing the eroding of our democracy. Too bad the majority of Americans don't watch her.
I'm attaching a pdf of the SCt's hearing dates for March. Looks like oral arguments on T's financial records and taxes will be heard on March 31st. I'd read that the decision probably won't come until June.