Why Clarence Thomas Should Be Impeached, But Won't Be--
Why Clarence Thomas Should Be Impeached, But Won't Be--
Clearly Clarence Thomas is a candidate for impeachment, given his apparent conflict of interest related to wife Ginni's involvement in Trump's fascist coup attempt of January 6th, and Thomas' rulings on the Court which served to shield both her and Trump. But there are two reasons it won't happen.
The first is "electionitis." There is a belief that Trump's MAGA movement is divided into a moderate wing and an "ultra" MAGA, and that the Democrat's key to minimizing their impending losses is to carve out a moderate MAGA voting block which will crossover and vote for either centrist Democrats or anti-Trump Republicans. The Democratic Party is actually working to elect what they believe are "non-MAGA" Republicans in some places where they think they won't win, in order to weaken Trump. But there are also credible reports that Democratic operatives were working to help elect the most extreme MAGA candidates in GOP primaries in order to help fuel the Democratic turnout in November, in effect playing both sides. Democratic strategists are making more of an effort to start a GOP civil war than they are trying to organize Democrats to defend democracy.
Therefore, Democratic Party strategists intend to do absolutely nothing which will antagonize the so-called GOP/MAGA "moderates" to whom they are appealing. These corporate funded consultants, with their focus groups and internal polling, are so caught up in their "gaming, analytics data , trends analysis, and computer projections, that the real world and the people who live in it have virtually no meaning to them. They are playing a "roto-world fantasy sports" game in a nation facing a fascist takeover.
Their second rationale is that if they impeach Thomas, the GOP will retaliate next year with a wave of impeachment investigations against President Biden, Vice-President Harris, or incoming Justice Jackson, causing a Constiutional crisis. Therefore some who advise the President are likely pressuring him to not open that can of worms.
It is known that there was resistance by some White House advisers to the Committee issuing subpoenas to GOP Senators and Congressmen for fear of retaliation later, not IF, but WHEN the GOP wins the majorities. The Democrat's pollsters are telling them they will lose, and their strategy is trying to minimize how bad it will be, by doing nothing to antagonize the GOP "moderates" in the white suburbs. Additionally, they are cutting off money and manpower everywhere they believe the Democratic candidates either have no chance, or are too "inflammatory." Consequently, they are choosing to believe in the "let sleeping dogs lie theory" of doing nothing, hoping that dog won't come back to bite them, when the only thing those dogs do is bite.
These are some reasons the Democratic centrists have outsized power. It is another factor in how Manchin and Sinema have had the leverage to wreck the President's full agenda and protect the fillibuster, knowing that the mid-terms for incumbent parties never go really well, and they played upon the desperation born of electionitis. It is also why many younger and progressive Democratic voters are unhappy. And it's why the Democratic Party's top fundraisers are livid with the White House. If Democrats fail to turn out, or worse, crossover, don't blame inflation. Blame demoralization due to leadership that will not fight.
Therefore, if nothing is done about Clarence Thomas, if Trump and his family are not indicted, and the Democrats lose big in November, it is because of gamesmanship and delusional beliefs which are designed to appeal to both the GOP and the Democratic "centrists" for purely electoral reasons. Even worse is the continuing attempt to keep alive their DOA agenda of "bipartisanship and unity" with those MAGAs who they believe they can win over. They wish to avoid provoking the so-called radicals that are defending Trump from retaliating next year, as if they won't anyway.
It is all based on their hope that Trump's grip on the GOP is weakening due to the January 6th investigation, and that using the hearings is their best possible strategy for minimizing their losses in November. And it is a delusion, or at best wishful thinking. As delusional as are the President's statements that Mitch McConnell is his "dear friend," to put a fine point on it.
The so-called GOP "moderates" have little power, the J6 hearings notwithstanding. Republicans in Congress are under financial blackmail because Trump controls the RNC and the donors lists, and can cut all of them off at a whim. He also, remember, runs a proto-terrorist movement than he deploys to conduct physical threats and intimidation against his "RINO" enemies, which means anyone who deviates from him personally.
Also try to remember that the MAGA "moderates" they are appealing to voted for Trump twice, the second time even after two impeachments, one million dead due to his covid policy, and Trump's open alliance with Vladimir Putin. These "moderates" have refused to comply with masking and vax requirements while millions of Americans were getting sick and dying. These are the same moderates who still watch Tucker Carlson, think that Vladimir Putin is justified in invading Ukraine, that the dictatorship of Orban in Hungary is a model for us, and that education in America should teach "Christian values." Can someone please explain, "in what sense are these Republicans moderate?"
So, Democratic strategists are saying "let the Thomas thing go" and "don't attack Trump" in order to appeal to those people, who they believe will vote for Democrats, or lukewarm Trump Republicans. Their strategy is to give ground, tone down the divisiveness, and to start planning now for winning elections in 2024.
Step by step, the Democratic leadership is making the same mistakes in judgment as the German Social Democracy and Christian center parties during the last days of Weimar. They concluded that the 1932 elections weakened Hitler. They believed there was a split in the Nazi Party between the SA and the "conservatives" of business and the Army, (that "split" was wiped out of existence in 24 hours, during the "Night of the Long Knives") and that the Nazis, once they did get power could be "tamed, " or what we might call today "mainstreamed." And lastly, they believed that the Nazis were likely to make such a mess of things, that the Social Democrats would come back big to win in 1934. Of course, there never were free elections in Germany in 1934.
Methodologically, today's Democrats are making the same mistakes born of desperation and delusion, under similar circumstances now. This is why I say a course correction is needed by the White House. Not just to "get Trump, or Thomas," but because democratic values cannot be put aside or watered down in the name of winning elections, contrived unity and healing, compromise, and avoiding conflict. MAGA, meaning all of MAGA, not just a minority, are the enemies of democracy itself. That is what MAGA is. Just like in the case of the Nazi Party of the 30's, the continuing belief that they are divided, weakening, and incapable of holding power is not just wishful thinking. It is actively holding back and sabotaging the resistance that is out there of people who want to fight it.
If you want Democratic victories in the future, if you want democracy, attack the enemy, which is MAGA. MAGA IS Trump. There are no moderates who have the power to fight him. The Republicans testifying to his crimes have said for the most part they will vote for him again if he is nominated. Why not stop lying to ourselves and face this?
Don't listen to Democratic leaders who espouse unity and healing with MAGA. Go out and find Democratic candidates who want to kick some MAGA ass, like Beto O'Rourke in Texas, or Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania, and get behind them. Stand fast on those principles which the January 6th criminals attacked our Congress in order to violently overthrow. Tell the focus groups, pollsters and analytics gamemasters to go "get a life." And stop trying to read news media tea leaves.
You all know what is right. Go out and fight for it.
