@lynn Thanks, Lynn -- I'm going to take a long break from the news and come up for air, lol!
I agree that this decision is a disaster, but there is one thing that everyone is forgetting about this ruling.
Basically, Trump isn't the President right now.
Biden is.
So technically, if Biden was handed evidence by the CIA or the FBI that Trump is engaged in corrupt acts with Putin and that he plans to hand Ukraine and Europe over to Russia, as well as prosecution hundreds of innocent people because he can, as well as systematically take away more women's rights because he can, could Trump be considered a "threat" to the nation and be taken out.
Remember, the Supreme Court never said that Trump couldn't do this. So by extension, if Biden wasn't so honorable, he could give the order and Trump would be gone.
How could they prosecute him? He is the President.
Also, why can't Biden shut down the Supreme Court? Wouldn't it be part of his official duties? He's the President.
Or what if Trump wins and Biden decides to stage his own January 6? He's the President, isn't he? How can one decide what actions are part of the presidency or not? That question is up in the air and open to interpretation. So if Biden does exactly what Trump did (and actually succeed), then how can the Supreme Court say what Trump does is legal but Biden does the same and it is illegal?
Personally, I am in a dark place. I am so tired of Trump and his allies winning all the time while we play by the rules and suffer regardless. Whatever is up there, be it God, the light, angels, or whatever, I feel it is utterly indifferent to our plight, and we are destined to suffer years of misery while our enemies flourish before finally fading away.
But I am so tired of it. Why must we still act uprightlightly while our bullies torment us? Are African Americans better people because they endured slavery, or are they better in spite of it. Personally, they should not have to suffer through it at all. And women, who have suffered through millenia for no other reason than because they are born women? It makes me sick.
It is times like this that I feel hopeless. As though the light is a lie or that God is not good and loving (because how can Trump continue to prosper and get away with things when we strive to do what is right only to be persecuted.) I am literally holding on by my fingernails right now praying for a sign from God telling me that evil won't win, but I feel he won't answer or, even worse, he is on Trump's side and we should just accept Trump.
I honestly don't want to go through another 4 years of Trump just to watch our country go down the tube and we say "we told you so." I want Trump gone now. I am tired of the anxiety he causes. I am tired of the way he bullies and humiliates others. I have lost faith in my neighbors and even in my faith.
I won't stop fighting. It's not in me to do that. But it feels like the Alamo where we know we are going to die fighting and we won't see a better world. If there is light, I don't think I will see it.
Sorry for my dark thoughts today. I just really need to say this to people who will sympathize, as I live in a red state and am constantly surrounded by Trumpers.
@allyn I am very much in the same place as you right now. I'm experiencing some other very pressing personal issues at the moment (my cat is seriously ill, I still haven't found work, I'm about to lose my health insurance, my credit card was compromised a few days ago so dealing with the fallout from that, and my mother (whom I live with) is a die-hard right-wing Catholic and fan of TFG who thinks that Mr. Biden is senile and has ruined the country). I'm trying to put my thoughts into coherent words, and I simply can't right now. My only consolation right now - and it's very thin - is the timeline drawing that @jeanne-mayell posted some time ago. I'm hoping this is the last big dip she's indicated in 2024, because I genuinely don't think i can take much more.
The thing is Joe Biden won't do any of the things this decision appears to permit a president to do. Only a republican president would. There is decency and restraint on the democratic side but none on the republican side.
I feel like the damn has broken and the right wing, both politicians and the court, no longer even care about a pretense of propriety or the appearance of restraint. They think they are close to wining it all, the Project 25 future they've been dreaming about since Reagan and probably cannot believe how lucky they are to be so close. It's terrifying to me. The only upside it that there is no need to pretend anymore, or to give SCOTUS or any right wing politician the benefit of the doubt. These people are not decent, they are not well-intentioned, they do not love this country, or democracy. They are fascists or enablers. We should not grant them the benefit of the doubt. They are who they appear to be.
I am not a lawyer, or even especially well-informed about the law, but I just read that the ruling doesn't mean that whatever the president wishes comes to pass, but rather that he or she can't be held liable for whatever they propose.
But even if we know, what is the point? Unless someone takes action, what can be done?
Vote? Republicans have engaged in gerrymandering and using the electoral college to their advantage. Heck, we voted in 2020 and 2022, and our votes are challenged as fraudulent. And this was after Biden won by more than 8 million votes.
Put ourselves above the fray? We have sympathized, tried to understand, tried to treat them as humans, and for what? Just to be bullied, harassed, marginalized, threatened, shot at, etc.
Play by the rules? Trump and the Republicans just break the rules.
What course of action is left? Violence? Why become like them? Surrender? I can't live with that. Pray that the other side regains their humanity? I have prayed for my enemies before, and it never works. Pray for divine intervention? Methinks that whoever is up there is indifferent to the plight of the oppressed, or simply moves so slowly that the oppressed often are broken or loose their spirit.
I'm at a loss. I only ask for a sign that soon our suffering will be over and we will be safe from Trump. But I lost faith that God is listening or even cares.
I'm just going to "pray" for interpersonal decency in day to day life.
My instinct is still that if we bicker with each other or get overly emotional, that is what was intended.
Unify, be decent, and do what needs to be done. We don't know everything that goes on behind the scenes.
@allyn I guess the point is that you can't fight the problem until you admit it exists. You can't fight an adversary until you admit they exist. SCOTUS is an adversary to democracy. There is no hiding it anymore. That is what they are.
Look, the forces of good did win in 2020, and in 2022, and in many of the special elections since, and in all of the pro-choice referenda held in many states. Pro-democratic forces and voters can and are winning. It's just that the fascists (and that's what they are, no use in calling them anything else) are strong and their webs of influence are vast, having been cultivated and put in place over decades, and now being fully activated.
Who will ultimately win? I don't know. I hope we do.
I feel as though change will come only when Democrats take the Executive and Legislative branches of government, since they will have a renewed mandate to change the structure of government, judiciary, and electoral process that is fair for everyone. For some (or much) of it, they would have to try to skirt around the Constitutional amendment process where there would otherwise be no hope of red state cooperation, but negotiating a fair and equitable solution with them might be possible. Several states have the referendum process - why not on a national level?
Our Federal Judiciary and legislature must be reformed to include term/age limits, that has become quite clear. The Electoral College must be reformed or eliminated altogether as fundamentally anti-democratic. Presidential and legislative powers must be sharply defined, especially after today’s SCOTUS ruling. These are a few of the things that stick out having lived the past eight years of in crumbling system. I always have hope and look to a more positive outcome, and there’s a guiding light on the side of righteousness. I would hope that everyone is focusing their energies on this theme, and I take great comfort in the positive thoughts and visions of those here who see these kinds of changes coming to fruition.