Sullivan: The Bully in his Pulpit

[Colonoscopy]

The Bully In His Pulpit

Tuesday night showed the core truth of Trump. And of liberal democratic collapse.

andrewsullivan.substack.com

“Dennis Burnham, who lived next door, was a toddler when his mother briefly put him in a playpen in their garden. She returned a few minutes later to find the current U.S. president, then aged five or six, standing at his fence throwing rocks at the little boy. Another neighbor, Steven Nachtigall, now a 66-year-old doctor, said he never forgot Trump ... once jumping off his bike and beating up another boy: ‘It was so unusual and terrifying at that age,’” - Trump Revealed.
“When I look at myself in the first grade and I look at myself now, I’m basically the same,” - Donald J Trump.

The pews at the cathedral were packed this Ash Wednesday — more than I can remember in years. Some others on social media seemed to notice the same thing. And the atmosphere was dark and intense even for the beginning of Lent — as ash was smeared on my forehead with the familiar, sobering mantra:

Remember, man, that thou are dust and unto dust thou shalt return.

Unbidden grief welled up. Grief for my mother and father, grief for a Ukrainian exile friend who killed himself last summer, impending grief for a Pope I love and revere. And yes, although I may be roundly mocked by some of you for this, grief for my country.

The night before, you see, I’d watched the president’s address to the Congress. Yes, yes, I know I recently pledged not to respond to every provocation from the troller-in-chief and focus on policies and long-term results. But to understand the moment we are in — and the policies that will follow — we simply cannot look away from what Tuesday night revealed about the state of our republic. I know I’m repeating myself, and have been since early 2016, but part of Trump’s psychological abuse is wearing down opponents so they stop repeating themselves, and give in to the lies. I will not be worn down. Truth matters.

Here it is: We have a sociopathic president in total command of a cult-like party; a Congress that, as long as the GOP controls it, is a rubber-stamp version of the Russian Duma under Putin; a court balanced precariously between a modest defense of the unitary executive and an Alito wing bent on empowering an American Caesar; and a Justice Department openly planning persecution of the president’s political opponents.

 

[BioHawk]

So, if Republicans get demolished during the midterms who is going to stand on the line for the Representatives who need to leave their posts but refuse to do so?