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PostPosted: 03/18/19 10:24 am • # 1 
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...it's that McConnell is like Hindenburg.

Historian Christopher Browning;

Paul von Hindenburg, elected president of Germany in 1925, was endowed by the Weimar Constitution with various emergency powers to defend German democracy should it be in dire peril. Instead of defending it, Hindenburg became its gravedigger, using these powers first to destroy democratic norms and then to ally with the Nazis to replace parliamentary government with authoritarian rule. Hindenburg began using his emergency powers in 1930, appointing a sequence of chancellors who ruled by decree rather than through parliamentary majorities, which had become increasingly impossible to obtain as a result of the Great Depression and the hyperpolarization of German politics.

Because an ever-shrinking base of support for traditional conservatism made it impossible to carry out their authoritarian revision of the constitution, Hindenburg and the old right ultimately made their deal with Hitler and installed him as chancellor. Thinking that they could ultimately control Hitler while enjoying the benefits of his popular support, the conservatives were initially gratified by the fulfillment of their agenda: intensified rearmament, the outlawing of the Communist Party, the suspension first of freedom of speech, the press, and assembly and then of parliamentary government itself, a purge of the civil service, and the abolition of independent labor unions. Needless to say, the Nazis then proceeded far beyond the goals they shared with their conservative allies, who were powerless to hinder them in any significant way.



If the US has someone whom historians will look back on as the gravedigger of American democracy, it is Mitch McConnell. He stoked the hyperpolarization of American politics to make the Obama presidency as dysfunctional and paralyzed as he possibly could. As with parliamentary gridlock in Weimar, congressional gridlock in the US has diminished respect for democratic norms, allowing McConnell to trample them even more. Nowhere is this vicious circle clearer than in the obliteration of traditional precedents concerning judicial appointments. Systematic obstruction of nominations in Obama’s first term provoked Democrats to scrap the filibuster for all but Supreme Court nominations. Then McConnell’s unprecedented blocking of the Merrick Garland nomination required him in turn to scrap the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations in order to complete the “steal” of Antonin Scalia’s seat and confirm Neil Gorsuch. The extreme politicization of the judicial nomination process is once again on display in the current Kavanaugh hearings. ...

Whatever secret reservations McConnell and other traditional Republican leaders have about Trump’s character, governing style, and possible criminality, they openly rejoice in the payoff they have received from their alliance with him and his base: huge tax cuts for the wealthy, financial and environmental deregulation, the nominations of two conservative Supreme Court justices (so far) and a host of other conservative judicial appointments, and a significant reduction in government-sponsored health care (though not yet the total abolition of Obamacare they hope for). Like Hitler’s conservative allies, McConnell and the Republicans have prided themselves on the early returns on their investment in Trump.


https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/10/5/17940610/trump-hitler-history-historian


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PostPosted: 03/21/19 7:02 am • # 2 
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McConnell cannot criticize Trump even regarding his disgusting comments on McCain.



Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) joined Isakson in defending McCain but stopped short of criticizing Trump directly.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/435025-trumps-attacks-on-mccain-exacerbate-tensions-with-senate-gop


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PostPosted: 03/21/19 7:24 am • # 3 
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John59 wrote:
McConnell cannot criticize Trump even regarding his disgusting comments on McCain.



Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) joined Isakson in defending McCain but stopped short of criticizing Trump directly.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/435025-trumps-attacks-on-mccain-exacerbate-tensions-with-senate-gop


It absolutely amazes me the hold trump has on republicans. I think in the beginning they backed him thinking he could be manipulated, but it ended up he actually manipulates them with his outlandish behavior, and listening only when he wants and to who he wants. I can only guess at this point they think his base is all they have left (and they are sizeable) and do not want to lose them or they have no real standing with any group, at least any decent and critical thinking group of voters. . .


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PostPosted: 03/23/19 6:28 am • # 4 
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Karolinablue wrote:
It absolutely amazes me the hold trump has on republicans. I think in the beginning they backed him thinking he could be manipulated, but it ended up he actually manipulates them with his outlandish behavior, and listening only when he wants and to who he wants. I can only guess at this point they think his base is all they have left (and they are sizeable) and do not want to lose them or they have no real standing with any group, at least any decent and critical thinking group of voters. . .



I don't think it's so much a hold that Trump has on them but more that Republicans are willing to put up with him as long as they can get things they want.

To that end, they are reluctant to criticize him about anything. His comments on McCain prove this.


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PostPosted: 03/23/19 7:19 am • # 5 
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John59 wrote:
Karolinablue wrote:
It absolutely amazes me the hold trump has on republicans. I think in the beginning they backed him thinking he could be manipulated, but it ended up he actually manipulates them with his outlandish behavior, and listening only when he wants and to who he wants. I can only guess at this point they think his base is all they have left (and they are sizeable) and do not want to lose them or they have no real standing with any group, at least any decent and critical thinking group of voters. . .

I don't think it's so much a hold that Trump has on them but more that Republicans are willing to put up with him as long as they can get things they want.

To that end, they are reluctant to criticize him about anything. His comments on McCain prove this.

You both make solid points ~ but the Rs take "reluctant to criticize" to a new/deeper low ~ I see the reluctance as more a deep fear of the DiC's love for revenge/"getting even" ~ :ey

Sooz


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PostPosted: 03/23/19 10:11 am • # 6 
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Don't forget he paid them off with giving them the impetus for their tax cut. Unlike a lot of the funds they get, that didn't just go into some campaign fund with restricted use. It went directly into their pockets. Of course they're loyal little soldiers. They've been bought and paid for.


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PostPosted: 03/23/19 1:42 pm • # 7 
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Its actually a lot simpler than that.

If they come out against Trump in a big way then there's a real chance that they will lose much the support of that 30-35% of the electorate who are staunch Trump supporters. And they are unlikely to pick up anything like those numbers from Democrat voters. So they would lose their seats.

The "politic" thing for them to do is keep their mouths shut and go with the flow.


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PostPosted: 04/14/19 8:48 am • # 8 
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Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich Explains How Mitch McConnell Is Destroying American Democracy

https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/videos/274903940125916/


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PostPosted: 04/14/19 7:11 pm • # 9 
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Robert Reich nails it ~ McConnell is a true snake, and will do anything to [appear to] "win" ~ :angry

Sooz


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