Strategy Reading: Pence the lesser of two evils

[tassosss]

via siderea  by way of dewline 
reposted with permission


This article by Jonathan Crowe, Opposition in the Age of Gish Gallops proposes a strategy for the Medium Game. In summary, he observes:

• Yes, actually, from a world-annihilation standpoint, Pence as president is a superior choice to Trump.

• There is no way to get rid of Trump procedurally without the Republicans in Congress helping.

• It's going to suck to be a Republican in Congress under Trump, for reasons he explains.

• Republicans in Congress will stick with Trump not out of loyalty but fear of reprisal.

• If the Republicans in Congress lose their fear of Trump's reprisal, or fear something else more, they will gladly throw Trump under the bus in a heartbeat.

• Trump will no doubt be eminently impeachable, should they ever be minded to do so.

• Therefore it should be the Left's focus to foment strife between Trump and the Republican Congress.
I'm not doing his argument justice. Go check it out. Strongly recommended.

Comments

[lightbird]

Thank you so much for linking this. Really thoughtful and helpful article (and the post by Abi Sutherland that Crowe linked to was helpful as well).

[sathari]

Which was the Abi Sutherland link (I didn't see it attributed as such in the article itself)?

[lightbird]

It was near the end of the first paragraph, linked to the words "exhaust themselves".

Here is the direct link to the Sutherland article, the post is called "Taking It Back".

[sathari]

Oh, thanks so much! *goes to read*

[lynnenne]

I agree. Pence' views and social policies are reprehensible - but Trump is a threat to American democracy in particular and life on this planet in general.

[sathari]

This is FANTASTIC--- it dovetails nicely with that issue several of us have been talking about regarding activism fatigue, that whole issue of "a thousand terrible things" (/Qui-gon Jinn) coming at us. So maybe we need a discussion post around which issues we think are most base-breakable, and with which Senators?

In my heart of hearts, I want to take aim at Sessions' stance on asset forfeiture, since a) that is actually a comparatively big scary stick Trump can use (or have the AG's office use) on anyone who stands up to him, in exactly the way he's using Twitter and Breitbart et al now and b) it's one that's likely to be disturbing to those very one-percenter types who are the establishment GOP's base--- now Trump doesn't have to make a deal, he can just find a way to accuse you of a crime and then have Sessions and Co. take your stuff. (Also, per the Politico article about the browbeating, I might just have to send Mark Sanford an email thanking him for his comments about free speech... and reminding him that the majority of Americans who didn't vote for this mess will be watching for Republican leadership with courage.)

That said, I think the ACA might be another, better place for pushing? Edit: After reading the Jeet Heer tweets, Medicare cuts might be even better, or rather the two together! Again, discussion time!

[novel_machinist]

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with the idea that Pence is going to be better than Trump. Pence makes his goals of a Theocracy sound reasonable when he speaks. Make no mistake that his goal is to create an isolationist Theocracy and then move to take over as much as he can in the "name of god".

Indiana has an aids epidemic right now, one that Pence's refusal to join a needle exchange directly caused. He's pro conversion therapy, anti public education. Measures have gone into making school buses privatized. Considering the number of rural poor in the state, it could leave many students without access to an education.

I'm not just upset that Republicans are in power. I'm worried that my marriage is going to be criminalized. I worry that's what the Republicans actually WANT. I worry that Pence is going to do irreparable damage from the inside, not the outside.

Furthermore, I don't think Trump is BRAVE enough to start a full scale war with anyone. I also don't think that any country is going to let itself be offended into starting one with that blowhard either.

Pence is far more dangerous because he's insidious, intelligent, and above all else, believes that he is the righteous tool of his god that will purge this country of evil and become a bastion of his narrow definition of godly and just.

[tassosss]

All of these are good points, and I think they make a compelling argument. I agree that Pence is entirely dangerous because he is smart, and given how the entire Republican party seems to have leveled up to new heights of awful, I'm not sure if the awful would be normalized faster or if it would be made easier to swallow.

Honestly, I'm not sure where I come down on things. I think what scares me about Trump are the erosion of norms that his presence brings and the fact that because he lies all the time/doesn't pay attention to issues there's that much more uncertainty about what's actually going to happen.

That said, the political extremism that McConnell, Boener, Ryan, and Tea Party forces have led the GOP to might have led to the same place.

I guess it's all academic unless Trump actually gets impeached.

[novel_machinist]

Thank you. We're in a rough place right now, I think everyone's a little on edge; at least I know that I am. The recent steps to repeal the ACA are dangerous if they will be carried out as swiftly as some people fear.

I'm not certain that things will move along so fast that they cannot be fixed in 4 years.

Trump is all smoke and mirrors for the conservative right IMO. People pay attention to what he says and does and ignore what's going on in the boring legislature sessions.

My biggest concern is that his supporters, who are numerous, are going to simply swallow what he says and never look into it. If their health care goes away he'll blame Obamacare and they'll lap it up.

Then they could give him another 4 years. 8 years is a long time to do damage