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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSenator Al Franken
I don't know if this is a repeat...
Senator Al Franken
Well, it finally isnt funny anymore the grandiosity, the ignorance, the cruelty, the bullying, the racism, the petty insults and incessant stupidity. But especially the non-stop lying. The greatest asset that a president can bring to a crisis is credibility. On Day One of his presidency, Donald Trump chose to pick a fight with the media about the size of his inaugural crowd. On the morning of January 21, 2017, after fewer than 24 hours in office, Trump sent out Sean Spicer to tell the press corps a laughable and easily disprovable lie that Trumps crowd was the largest in history ever to attend a presidential inaugural. The very next day, Kellyanne Conway let Americans know of the existence of something called alternative facts. Oh. So, thats how its going to be, huh?
Since then, the lies have come so fast and furious that keeping track has been impossible. How do you remember the last one when three or four equally ridiculous lies are almost certain to follow that day? Dont take him literally, his supporters insisted. Take him seriously. Really? Well, no. What they really were saying was how happy they were that he would be appointing pro-life, pro-corporate Federalist Society judges, cutting taxes to benefit the wealthy, undoing regulations to help corporations exploit their employees and destroy our environment, and pulling us out of the Paris Agreement and the Iran Nuclear Deal.
That the President of the United States is a malignant narcissist who could allow no fact to stand that contradicted his insatiable need for self-aggrandizement has been of little concern to establishment Republicans. The stock market was climbing. They were getting richer. And they had cover from the right-wing media to fool enough of his base into believing his limitless dishonesty. At this years State of the Union, the First Lady bestowed upon Rush Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom, an honor he now shares with Mother Teresa, Cesar Chavez, and the crew of Apollo 13. In 1995, I wrote a book entitled Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations for a reason the same reason that I wrote Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right a few years later. Without Rush, without OReilly, without Hannity, without Newsmax, Breitbart, and InfoWars there would be no Trump.
Until this crisis, Trump has paid no real price for his constant, pathological mendacity. Before politics, the man had spent his entire career in a business where, evidently, there was no accountability for inveterate lying. But for this crisis there is accountability. And instead of leading, Donald Trumps focus has been where it always has been on Donald Trump. I give myself a ten out of ten. We are very close to a vaccine. I dont take responsibility at all. Anybody who needs a test can get a test. And the tests are perfect. Like the letter was perfect. The transcript was perfect. Of course, no leader could have prevented the devastation that this virus has and will continue to exact. But because Trumps focus has been on himself, his reelection, and his fragile self-image, our federal government squandered our most valuable commodity. And the amount of suffering which that lost time will cost our nation is as tragic as it is unknowable.
Trump will not step away. He will continue to take the stage and our focus but he will not be able to claim the credibility he never earned. We are left to proceed despite our president and find the leadership we need elsewhere. From governors and mayors and other civil servants. From health care professionals and scientists and economists. From community leaders and each other. It is time for each of us to step up and fill the vacuum at the top first by staying home. And for those fortunate enough to weather this storm financially to help those who cannot.
Lest we forget Trumps Houdini-like ability to escape the traps hes set for himself, it is also time for us to commit to his defeat in November. For now, find a way to do that from home. But when its time to come out into the light, it must be our collective mission to make this godawful human being pay the price for every lie he has ever uttered.
Well, it finally isnt funny anymore the grandiosity, the ignorance, the cruelty, the bullying, the racism, the petty insults and incessant stupidity. But especially the non-stop lying. The greatest asset that a president can bring to a crisis is credibility. On Day One of his presidency, Donald Trump chose to pick a fight with the media about the size of his inaugural crowd. On the morning of January 21, 2017, after fewer than 24 hours in office, Trump sent out Sean Spicer to tell the press corps a laughable and easily disprovable lie that Trumps crowd was the largest in history ever to attend a presidential inaugural. The very next day, Kellyanne Conway let Americans know of the existence of something called alternative facts. Oh. So, thats how its going to be, huh?
Since then, the lies have come so fast and furious that keeping track has been impossible. How do you remember the last one when three or four equally ridiculous lies are almost certain to follow that day? Dont take him literally, his supporters insisted. Take him seriously. Really? Well, no. What they really were saying was how happy they were that he would be appointing pro-life, pro-corporate Federalist Society judges, cutting taxes to benefit the wealthy, undoing regulations to help corporations exploit their employees and destroy our environment, and pulling us out of the Paris Agreement and the Iran Nuclear Deal.
That the President of the United States is a malignant narcissist who could allow no fact to stand that contradicted his insatiable need for self-aggrandizement has been of little concern to establishment Republicans. The stock market was climbing. They were getting richer. And they had cover from the right-wing media to fool enough of his base into believing his limitless dishonesty. At this years State of the Union, the First Lady bestowed upon Rush Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom, an honor he now shares with Mother Teresa, Cesar Chavez, and the crew of Apollo 13. In 1995, I wrote a book entitled Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations for a reason the same reason that I wrote Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right a few years later. Without Rush, without OReilly, without Hannity, without Newsmax, Breitbart, and InfoWars there would be no Trump.
Until this crisis, Trump has paid no real price for his constant, pathological mendacity. Before politics, the man had spent his entire career in a business where, evidently, there was no accountability for inveterate lying. But for this crisis there is accountability. And instead of leading, Donald Trumps focus has been where it always has been on Donald Trump. I give myself a ten out of ten. We are very close to a vaccine. I dont take responsibility at all. Anybody who needs a test can get a test. And the tests are perfect. Like the letter was perfect. The transcript was perfect. Of course, no leader could have prevented the devastation that this virus has and will continue to exact. But because Trumps focus has been on himself, his reelection, and his fragile self-image, our federal government squandered our most valuable commodity. And the amount of suffering which that lost time will cost our nation is as tragic as it is unknowable.
Trump will not step away. He will continue to take the stage and our focus but he will not be able to claim the credibility he never earned. We are left to proceed despite our president and find the leadership we need elsewhere. From governors and mayors and other civil servants. From health care professionals and scientists and economists. From community leaders and each other. It is time for each of us to step up and fill the vacuum at the top first by staying home. And for those fortunate enough to weather this storm financially to help those who cannot.
Lest we forget Trumps Houdini-like ability to escape the traps hes set for himself, it is also time for us to commit to his defeat in November. For now, find a way to do that from home. But when its time to come out into the light, it must be our collective mission to make this godawful human being pay the price for every lie he has ever uttered.
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Senator Al Franken (Original Post)
babylonsister
Mar 2020
OP
Cartoonist
(7,320 posts)1. Al for VP
How about it?
Brainfodder
(6,423 posts)2. He'd need a speedy sex change during a pandemic?
Joe B. said his VP will be a female....
MyOwnPeace
(16,937 posts)4. I'm supporting Joe for
selecting a woman as his running mate - a strong move!
At the same time I would love to see and would support returning Al Franken to the US Senate! Can you imagine, after the marvelous job he did of making Jeffery Beauregard Sessions squirm (and cower into appointing Mueller to lead an investigation), the job he would have done on Barr for his nomination hearings? It would have been TV worth watching!
patricia92243
(12,597 posts)3. "We are left to proceed despite our president" - says it all.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)5. K&R
pandr32
(11,601 posts)6. K and a righteous R