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Walternate 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇺🇹🇼🇩🇰🇬🇱🇲🇽🇵🇦's avatar

The notion that we are arguing whether to obey the plain meaning of Constitutional text crafted to protect said Constitution from an oath-breaking, fascistic, insurrectionist coup-plotter because doing so would be undemocratic, only to enable democracy's destruction via a counter-democratic Electoral College victory is insane. I expect as much these days from Republicans - making sense comes second to making noise - but from Democrats as well? I'm amazed at how effective MAGA tactics are. Just as fearing Putin's response to perceived escalations caused us to move too ineffectively with support for Ukraine, so too is fear of MAGA and Republicans as a whole causing us to hesitate in defense of our own country.

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Ellis Weiner's avatar

Thank you, Thomas. Fascinating and (as usual) beautifully written. Two points:

1. It should come as no surprise when Republicans pick which parts of the Constitution they choose to honor and obey, and which they ignore. Jews, Christians, and Muslims do that every day with regard to their holy books. Republicans do it more, these days, because their party has deteriorated completely, and is now a governing party hostile to government itself. So why *would* they see themselves bound by the Constitution?

2. James Bennett, formerly editor of the NY Times Op-Ed page, recently published a ten-billion-word essay in The Economist (okay, it was around 18K words) about his experience there. You had to wade through the first 10,000 words before encountering the word "lie." He is critical of the Times' reporters and editors (mostly liberals) for not respecting Trump's MAGA fans' opinions. But their opinions are based on an unending stream of lies--from Trump, Republican Senators and Congresspeople, Fox News, etc. Why *should* they be respected? They should be reported on, yes, but not granted the status of "a different, but valid, way of looking at things."

3. BONUS THIRD THING: What would Ross Douthat or Shadi Hamid say if the majority of U.S. Christians voted to round up all America's Jews and ship them to Israel? "The people have spoken"?

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