Ah. Well, there’s a lot of debris floating around, to paraphrase Apollo 13. Thank you.
I’m not worried about him running any more. I wasn’t really ever in the first place. If he does, it will be as the de facto leader of the Patriot Party, not as a Republican. The GOP is going to be torn in two until Trump disappears.
I thought it might be a NASA job. ;-)
I agree the Republican Party is likely going to be torn asunder — I believe you and I discussed that awhile ago in the Trump thread (tag-teaming another poster who shall not be named that disagreed with us).
My worry is not about him running again per-say. He’ll fail if he does based mostly on electoral math(s) as the party fragments.
My (and others’) aim is to engage any and all mechanisms at our disposal to delegitimise and/or diminish him as a political figure, no matter how slight a cut. He is already functionally a martyr in the eyes of his followers; he has been for some time now. No actions taken over the next few weeks short of literally making him one is likely to move the needle in that regard.
What can be done is to lessen his real ability to influence the political system. He’ll be doing enough from his new media company and various RW social media platforms (that are unlikely to ban him like Twitter, Facebook, etc). And preventing him from ever being able to run for President again is a step in that direction.
And that’s without even mentioning the absolute necessity of showing there are consequences to a political figure undertaking the sort of actions he has to subvert an election (never mind everything that came before it).
It has to be shown that those holding the highest offices in the land will actually be held accountable. Trump is not the last of his ilk — more are coming. Most of them are much cleverer and ambitious, with a better understanding of the inner workings of the American political system. They’ll be more adept at skirting rules, norms, and consequences without making so much noise. And without any real threat of accountability, they’ll more freely leverage those talents, to potentially catastrophic ends. As will those like Cruz, Rubio, Hawley, etc that remain in positions of power. We know that they’ll still try, but any deterrents that can be erected are worth the effort in my opinion.
It’s not a perfect remedy. It may not have as great an impact as we would like even if it happens. But it is best one available. And it should be done, for so many reasons.
To paraphrase Richard in The Lion in Winter (and admittedly invert his meaning), when the fall is all that is left, it matters a great deal.
And Trump’s should be as graceless and bruising as possible.
