🍿 I’ve seen this film before
Watching the Republican convention last week, I kept thinking to myself: I think I've seen this film before.
Over the course of their convention, we saw a whole lot of the same, out-of-touch nonsense we saw 4 years ago – and 4 years before that. To cap off their wonderful 2020 re-run, they ended it the same way too: by nominating Donald Trump to be their candidate for President.
In the wake of their 2020 loss, the GOP has only moved further toward extremism and become even more out of step with the policies that actually help people. If a replay is what they want, let's give it to them.
You would have thought that voters could see right through Donald Trump's effusive lies, and posturing in the last election — and perhaps they'd consider some of the issues on the short list of his worst abuses of power during his presidency: politicizing the Justice Department; obstructing the Mueller investigation; abusing his pardon power; demanding loyalty oaths; leveraging the presidency for personal and financial gain; abusing the bully pulpit to spread lies and sow division; attacking whistle-blowers and anyone brave enough to tell the truth.
...not to mention subverting the 2020 Election and inciting an insurrection, but who's counting?
Fast-forward to 2024 and, we have his post-loss antics to consider as well: encouraging an insurrection in a last-ditch effort to hold on to power, getting indicted for stealing classified information on his way out, and convicted of 34 felonies for falsifying business records.
If they're saying and doing the same things in the same way they did 4 years ago, we cannot expect a different result.
Trump's grand plan for 2024?
- Indict political enemies, and go after so-called "fake news" outlets (networks and publishers who have criticized him) like MSNBC and CNN — effectively ending the First Amendment.
- Intern, and deport undocumented immigrants; militarize the border; and invade Mexico.
- Inhumane policies like bringing back firing squads and hanging; send the National Guard to round-up unhoused people in cities; and a nationwide abortion ban.
- Mismanage international relations by jeopardizing NATO, handing big wins to Putin, and taxing imported goods driving up costs for Americans.
- Reinvest in fossil fuels, roll back dozens of Biden-era climate measures, further endangering frontline communities.
- Defund public schools that have required vaccines for decades to keep kids healthy and safe; pull funding from schools that embrace diverse gender identities and stories.
It's tired. It's ineffective. It's hateful. They made their priorities clear — let's make ours undeniable.
With the RNC behind us and on the heels of yesterday's news, I'm fired up knowing that we are going to have Vice President Harris taking on 34-time-convicted-felon Donald Trump on the debate stage.
Yours in the fight,
Jim