Being An Elected Leader Means Being Accountable And Having A Conscious
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The US has overthrown the Maduro regime in Venezuela, captured its leader, Nicolas Maduro, and occupied the country. Continuing a long history of US interventions in Latin America, Trump has vowed to “run the country until such time that we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.” The US policy of regime change had been telegraphed for months, as Trump ramped up attacks on supposed Venezuelan drug boats, imposed an oil blockade, and ordered a CIA drone strike on a Venezuelan dock alleged to be used for loading drugs. Now those clear violations of international and US law and false allegations about Venezuela’s role in the fentanyl trade are ending with an occupation and US control of Venezuela’s oil-based economy.
We did not imagine that Trump would seek to overturn the constitutional order following his failed coup of January 6, 2021; that he would seek to upset the global economic order by weaponizing tariffs; that he would appoint such a large cast of unqualified, incompetent loyalists to key government posts; that he would use the department of justice to go after real and imagined personal enemies; and that he would seek to bring to heel every institution of civil society—the press, judges, universities, law firms, entertainers—just as any dictator would. Finally, we could not imagine that the leader of our country would be so lacking in common human decencies—that he would be so devoid of empathy and compassion, so focused on retribution, so single-minded in acquiring wealth for himself and his billionaire supporters, so openly racist and homophobic.
The United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) — once the constitutional guardrail of the Republic — now behaves like a mafia consigliere, advising and shielding a political mob boss who treats the presidency as criminal territory to be conquered. Instead of restraining power, the Court greases the rails for it.
For anyone paying even modest attention to the current administration’s foreign policy posture, a Christmas Day bombing justified as “protecting Christians from ISIS” in Nigeria was neither shocking nor clarifying. It fits a familiar rhetorical script. What it did not fit was reality.
Wishing, hoping and praying that the best is still yet to come. “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus’ name”. These lyrics come from the hymn, The Solid Rock by Edward Mote in 1834.
This data indicates Democrats will need to do more than run against Trump if we want to win in 2026. To keep the momentum going, Democrats will have to show working class voters we also know how to govern in the places where we currently hold power.
In late November, Donald Trump publicly referred to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as “seriously retarded” while attacking Walz’s leadership. When questioned afterward, Trump did not retract the slur. He doubled down, saying there was “something wrong with him.” This was not a stray insult or an offhand remark. It was a deliberate statement, delivered through the megaphone of presidential power, reviving a word long recognized as dehumanizing toward people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Get Ready to Honor America’s Birthday by Fighting for Freedom, Again
Religious conservatives waged a 50-year battle to deny the rights of gay and lesbian people, especially the right to marry. As the dominate force in the GOP, they coerced traditional Republicans to formally oppose same sex marriage, and make it a national political issue in the 1990’s. They also oppose the Equality Act which would extend federal protections to LGBTQ people nationwide. And at the state level, Republican legislators, as in Florida, passed “don’t say gay” laws targeting LBGTQ people.