"even the most significant condemnations have been rendered impotent. Following the Phoenix rally, former national intelligence director James Clapper gave a wildly upsetting interview to Don Lemon. When the CNN host gently pushed for a clear-cut condemnation of the president, a clearly shaken Clapper delivered an unflinching declaration of Trump being unfit to serve.
“I don’t know when I’ve listened and watched something from a president that I found more disturbing,” Clapper said, his voice tight to the point of nearly cracking. “I really question his ability, his fitness to be in this office,” he continued, before wondering when “enough is enough.” What did he mean by “enough,” Lemon wanted to know. “The complete intellectual, moral, and ethical void [of] the president of the United States,” Clapper clarified. “And how much longer does the country have to, to borrow [the] phrase, endure this nightmare.” Given Clapper’s history of having served under every U.S. president since, and including, John F. Kennedy, those words should have been absolutely gutting. Instead, they felt less effective than asking a butterfly to call the police...
The old guard of media and government is scrambling to stop this train wreck — but the reality is such that the president’s most egregious behavior fails to disqualify him from being taken seriously. Still, a true paradigm shift remains a distant hope, in part because of a desperate willingness to pat Trump on the back for any action that doesn’t cause an immediate crisis...
For there to be a complete and total change in the way we discuss this threat to American democracy, we must make it clear that resisting Trump’s demagoguery is in keeping with overall public opinion. Don’t stew on these disasters in silence. Use your voice in every space available.
FB: "The urge to normalize Trump’s behavior comes from a desperation for respectability. Outwardly, nonpartisan journalists and government figures held their tongues under the guise of being fair and balanced and the misguided insistence that their professionalism relies on honoring “both sides.” The attempt to even the playing field is excruciatingly obvious in hindsight, with the “but her emails” comparison most certainly going down in history as the most destructive false equivalency of our time. How are we still being duped?"
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