Obama lawyers form 'worst-case scenario' group to tackle Trump
Source: Politico
Fearful the new administration will abuse its power, the former presidents lawyers are uniting to fight back.
By EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE 02/23/17 05:14 AM EST
Top lawyers who helped the Obama White House craft and hold to rules of conduct believe President Donald Trump and his staff will break ethics norms meant to guard against politicization of the government and theyve formed a new group to prepare, and fight.
United to Protect Democracy, which draws its name from a line in President Barack Obamas farewell address that urged his supporters to pick up where he was leaving off, has already raised a $1.5 million operating budget, hired five staffers and has plans to double that in the coming months. Theyve incorporated as both a 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4), allowing them to operate as a nonprofit but participate in some forms of political advocacy as well.
While other Trump opponents focus on taking the president to court over the travel ban and deportations, the new group plans to drill into issues that arent already hitting the headlines, like potential intervention in and intimidation of regulatory agencies by West Wing staff.
When people hear concerns about democracies declining into authoritarianism, they expect that moment to come in a singular thunderclap where everyone can see that this is the time, said Ian Bassin, whos leading the new group. In reality, often times, democracies decline over a period of years that happen through a series of much smaller steps.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/obama-trump-lawyers-worst-case-235280
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)I should scrape up a few bucks to send them.
lillypaddle
(9,581 posts)safer - nice to know there are those who have our backs. Wonder if Pres. Obama will be actively involved, or will be behind the scenes. Or neither.
lindysalsagal
(20,730 posts)Can't wait!
PSPS
(13,614 posts)It's called incrementalism.
From They Thought They Were Free - The Germans, 1933-45
http://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/511928.html
Fantastic Anarchist
(7,309 posts)You only feel it getting a tad warmer and then ...
Cosmocat
(14,572 posts)the profiteers who drove AM radio and all other forms of media within the right wing bubble have sucked the soul out of this country over the course of the last quarter century.
It has boiled my blood, I have know it was just wrong, did all that I could and came out of it with the sad realization that I could not even lead the horse to the water, much less make it drink.
This is the last stand - the republican party has devolved into a full on fascist organization, and they willingly brought in their authoritarian head.
They will NOT walk it back, they will only get worse.
Scruffy1
(3,256 posts)Perhaps, in his own way, Trump might do more to revive representative government than any President since Lincoln. From what I've seen since the election, the people are waking up. The standard way of screwing the voters is to propose something truly dreadful and then back off a little and get them to accept something not quite as bad. It seems Scrotus is mentally unbalanced and has no strategy. The scary part is that he still gets 40% or better approval. I lay this to the media, and especially the false dichotomies they have programmed into American minds. I was thinking of a recent post about teachers having to take down diversity posters and the Principle said that you have to show "both" sides. I'm thinking,"How many sides does a sphere have?"
I'm sure all the pundits would argue it has two. I'm guessing if you post a truth the you have to put up a lie to balance it. Studies have shown that public opinion has no effect on national legislation for many years (see Givens et al) before Citizens United so getting rid of that isn't going to fix it. I have come to believe that Wolin is right and what we have is inverted fascism. They don't need force they have they media, endless spectacles of sports and nonsense. Maybe, it's just and old man's looking back to youth, but I think people were much less walled into an ideology when I was young and far more able to tackle problems with an open minded approach. Anyway, if Trump can't bring the public back from the walking dead then we are finished as a worthy nation and will join the long ranks of unstable third world countries run by the latest cabal for their amusement and benefit.
Fantastic Anarchist
(7,309 posts)...on phone, but will look for it, and reply. Would like to hear your take on it.
Cosmocat
(14,572 posts)Trump has lit up our third - the people that operate in reality and have a sense of decency and a belief in democracy.
The third that deals in an alternative reality is just fine with him.
The problem is the other third - the people who are apolitical or "independents." They either are tuned out, mildly agitated, but not near enough to get into the game, or those people who won't call themselves republicans, but have one or more belief that the right speaks to and because of it believe in the evil liberal boogyman.
I am skeptical that they will break right.
We can maybe muck things up to stall out some of the damage 45 and the party of trump WANTS to do, but the proof will come in November, starting this year, we need to see real gains at the municipal level. But, if we don't see a major blood letting November of 2018, as you note, it is probably game over.
IF we make it that far.
Fantastic Anarchist
(7,309 posts)Classical fascism, Italian and German, though different from each other (Germany was all over the place), always results in absolute government power with business interests serving the government, but benefiting business.
Neo-fascism is the reverse. Using government to gain absolute corporate power.
Mussolini, Hitler, and Stalin (Lenin initiated) all failed in their quest. Even though they had different structures and methods, the tools were the same; oppression of minorities and resistance movements, and government sponsored terror (Black Shirts, Gestapo, KGB). The authoritarian reactionaries realized that an easier way to power was to spread tentacles via business associations with governmental institutions, showing the masses all the pretty things to look at; reality tv, become famous, live the luxurious life, the Huxley method, while underneath, destroying minorities, sowing fear and terror, crushing opposition movements, and controlling media with their message, the Orwell method. The goal is complete and absolute corporate control.
And we still want to play nice?
My OP which was in response to another post on Quora:
Im having difficulty accepting your premise, which seems to indicate that both sides exists as absolutes, and more importantly, that both sides are on equal footing when it comes to objective facts and reality.
First, there may be a great political divide in this country - I do not contest that, however, the divide may not be as clear as you imply. I think it may be pretty hard to discern as you approach the middle of the continuum. However, that being said, empirically, it appears that the Left side of the continuum seems to accept facts and reality more than the Right side. It seems to me, again through observation, that the Right seems to have an aversion to events and information. Whether or not the Left has acceptable or agreeable policies and solutions to the objective facts they are dealing with is not the issue here (of course, I believe they do, but it is immaterial to this conversation). It is my opinion, from observation, that the Right tends more towards deception, or outright denial of the facts and information provided. Sometimes, they will invent facts out of thin air. They seem to not care about the objective universe around them, because it doesnt fit with their ideology or policy prescriptions. They are more comfortable, when an issue is at odds with their views, just simply to dismiss them and offer alternative facts, which of course, to any reasonable and objective person, is an oxymoron. The term alternative facts is self-contradictory. You can not have a fact and alternative fact. That may exists in Quantum Theory, but it does not exist as a phenomenon in the macro world.
It just doesnt appear to me that the Right is more accepting of a science-based ideology. The more that they have to justify their policies and actions by deception, or even just inventing things out of whole-cloth (the Bowling Green Massacre that never existed is a great example), the more they appear to be dogmatic. Im not saying that the Left is incapable of being dogmatic, but I think the Right is definitely susceptible to it simply because their foundation exists on deception and alternative facts.
It is simply amazing to me that when discussing the political divide in this country, that its automatically assumed, even axiomatic, that the two sides political and social foundations are on equal footing in terms of reality. By observation, that is just not true. The Left, at least policy-wise, tends to conform to the objective information given to them. The Right tends to stick with ideology when it comes to policy and decision making, which may or may not align with the facts given to them. Theyre not interested in modifying their policies to align with the objective reality around them, but are ready to modify reality to conform to their policy, which is rigidly tied to their overall ideology.
If were going to find solutions to the problems this country faces, and if we are going to progress in a world filled with nations who are more grounded in science-based solutions, then we are going to have to deal with the elephant in the room. The Right is not interested in progress or solutions. Its raison d'être is simply to gain power and maintain power for an exclusive group of people, science and empirical facts be damned. The Religious Right, the far-right (white supremacists), and the rural working class (all three categories can overlap), will not get what they paid for, unless they fall within that aforementioned exclusive group. Any policies that happen to be enacted that are agreeable to them, is not by design, but simply an unintentional byproduct of the overall agenda to gain and maintain power.
I have tried to provide as impartial a response as I could - believe me, I could have been far less kind regarding my opinion of the Right, but the degree of my opinion is not pertinent to my argument.
Hekate
(90,793 posts)I feel so thankful to read this. Try to remind the handwringers that Obama doesn't need to hold rallies to get the job done.
LiberalLovinLug
(14,176 posts)Cha
(297,652 posts)sheshe2
(83,898 posts)And I mean that with all my heart. This is good news.