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Limping To The Finish Line Will Not Cure This Problem. Crushing the “Trump Reich.”

Posted on | July 8, 2024 | 4 Comments

Mike Magee

I have always felt a kinship with EJ Dionne. We are both Boomers, though I am 4 years his senior. We share similar politics, religious origins, early Catholic school educations, fathers in health care and mothers who were teachers, deep New England roots, addiction to the written word, blessings with long marriages and children (they 3, we 4), and deep revulsion with Trump and his enablers and everything they represent.

Viewing him as measured and wise, I took special care in reading his Washington Post column  today, “The words about Joe Biden I never wanted to write.” 

For twelve days since that first debate, I have worked to remain officially neutral on “what next to do,” and stayed focused on how to ensure a decisive (message sending) defeat not only of Trump but Republicans up and down the ticket, so that there is no confusion that the whole cabal – Project 2025, Leonard Leo et al, the  Supreme Court’s “Doomed Crusade”, Bannon-led MAGA insurrectionists – is sufficiently devastated that it can not remerge from the cinders.

There is no doubt that Biden’s physical and mental decline was on full view for over 50 million Americans two weeks ago. And you don’t have to be a medical historian or a prize winning journalist to recognize that the degenerative processes that are responsible for his decline are progressive (albeit possibly slowly progressive). That is to say, his decline will continue, as predictably as did Ronald Reagan’s.

But as E.J. makes clear in his opinion piece this week, “Biden’s capacity to do a ‘good job’ is not ‘what this is about.’ Donald Trump’s threat to democracy is the overriding question before the country…”

While Dionne is right that this is not “about Biden,” he understates the problem when he suggests instead that it is about Trump alone. That is no more true than to suggest that WWII was only about Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito, when in fact the challenge was far greater than that. 

Stated simply, the human species in the Axis societies had gone off the rails, and channeled themselves into a death spiral. “Breaking the spell” required unprecedented force and ultimately the use of atomic bombs, followed by multi-decade investments through the Marshall Plan to reestablish civilized human societies.

President Biden limping to the finish line, and repeating slight margin victories in seven swing states will not solve America’s current problem. We are too far along. As with Hitler’s Germany in the 30’s, the enemy’s course trajectory is by now visible for all to see, and it will achieve its’ Project 2025 goals and objectives if allowed. These determined radicalized leaders are more than half way there, fueled with a religious fervor that can not be modified by honest debate or calm logic. 

Success breeds success as well for evil as for good. So far, with Biden still in power, political arsonists have achieved an immune Executive branch; a biased Judiciary with no Code of Ethics; a House of Representatives directed from Mar-a-Lago; and 14 state houses with absolute control over their citizens reproductive rights.

Clearly the problem is bigger than Trump. Project 2025’s declaration leaves little room for confusion. It states: “It is not enough for conservatives to win elections. If we are going to rescue the country from the grip of the radical Left, we need both a governing agenda and the right people in place, ready to carry this agenda out on Day One of the next conservative Administration.”

There will be no Pearl Harbor to wake us from our sleep, or galvanize our clear majorities that know in their hearts that something has gone very, very wrong. That Presidential debate was our final warning.  Time’s up. As Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said this weekend “This is a really critical week. I do think the clock is ticking.”

What then is the formula for an overwhelming defeat of the Trump Reich? Three pillars: Energy, Enthusiasm, Women-Led.

Comments

4 Responses to “Limping To The Finish Line Will Not Cure This Problem. Crushing the “Trump Reich.””

  1. Joshua Sands
    July 10th, 2024 @ 5:02 pm

    Mike, thanks for this. You are so right and not many are talking about the ongoing threat of the extreme right or Christian Nationalists. Getting 4 more years with “Biden limping along” is going to be less impactful than one of the younger Democratic leaders. The next generation needs to get our country back on the rails. As Thomas Friedman points out, there are major problems ahead from a climate crisis to serious national security issues. We definitely need a confident, articulate leader in the WH.

  2. Mike Magee
    July 10th, 2024 @ 7:25 pm

    Thanks, Josh. Your comments are always on the mark. As you suggest, there’s much work to be done. Best, Mike

  3. Lawrence Williams
    July 12th, 2024 @ 2:21 pm

    Hey Mike. I agree with your position that we need a strong candidate who can defeat Trump. At the moment I believe that person is Joe Biden. President Biden’s accomplishments in his first term are extraordinary, no president in the last 100 years has accomplished so much. My heart wept as I watched the President stumble through that thing called a debate. The whole thing was a debacle mostly due to the stupid way in which it was designed and run. Yes, I realize that much of the design came from the Biden team. To use the common vernacular “Biden’s team fucked up. TOTALLY!!” But everyone’s attention is on Biden’s performance while Trump just stood there and lied for 90 minutes and no one seems to care.
    President Biden’s bad day is being treated like a scandal. It is not a scandal. But he is being crucified like he is some kind of criminal. Joe Biden is not the criminal in this race. We need good, strong, young leaders to take the Democratic Party into the future and many of the most capable individuals are women. But right now is not the time to try out one, or two, of these young leaders. Now is the time for them to join forces and together insure that Joe Biden is given every possible means of support to help him beat Trump and save our democratic republic from being turned into a fascist dictatorship.
    I wholeheartedly support President Joe Biden.
    My love to you and Patricia and your progeny.

  4. Mike Magee
    July 12th, 2024 @ 6:45 pm

    Thanks much, Larry. I really appreciate and deeply respect your opinion. If this period we’re going through leads to consolidated and enthusiastic support for Biden, I’m all for it. Also feel, for now, Trump is having to game out two different candidates – so that’s good. Also our messiness is stealing air time from him. And that drives malignant narcissists crazy. So we’ll see…and I look forward to our dialogue on this. Best, Mike

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