The Witness Chronicles, 2/20/25

Republican lemmings…

Photo by Ali Gooya on Unsplash

How Far is Too Far For Republicans in Congress?

Are they lemmings marching off a cliff?

Trump declared himself King in a Truth Social post as he attempted to cancel congestion pricing for drivers in Manhattan. A White House aide then reposted it with an AI image of Trump in a crown and robes.

Trump turned viciously on Ukraine President Zelinsky, calling him a dictator and claimed Ukraine started the war. That’s a claim Putin regularly makes.

He also signed an executive order giving himself permission to shut down government departments without any oversight from Congress.

This all in just one day.

It’s generally assumed that there is such a thing as a President going too far, but how much further can one man go? And where is the breaking point for Americans, as Trump moves into dictator mode and committing treason against our democracy? Finally, where is the point of no return?

We are hearing rumors that Defense Secretary Hegseth will be firing senior generals in the military as early as next week. It takes an immense amount of knowledge and experience to become senior leadership in the Pentagon, the largest and most critical part of the federal government.

Intentionally weakening and gutting our military leadership while cozying up to our biggest enemy, fits my description of treason.

So, what will it take for Republican elected officials to push back? Their inaction is going to lead to violence, endless protests, strikes, and serious and intractable division not seen since the Civil War, a war that came perilously close to destroying our democracy. Huge numbers of young men died.

We are witnessing the modern equivalent of the conditions that led to a civil war, but a civil war these days will not be fought by physically dividing the country with states seceding and a geographic border being drawn. But if we wanted to know what a modern civil war would look like, I contend that we are watching it unfold.

We are past the point of speculating what Trump intends for the future of the United States. He is being crystal clear about exactly what he is doing. He is openly declaring that he will be king and we will be his subjects, his unquestioning subjects.

We are already seeing the spectre of farm failures, no ability to respond to climate change disasters, virus outbreaks, the compromising of air travel safety, and more. We do not even know what they are destroying and why because there is so much random carnage.

We are told that Elon Musk, the President’s hatchet man, is a great businessman. But his latest business venture, the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, now X, is a dismal failure that personally cost Musk billions as he randomly slashed the entire management structure and laid off thousands.

I feel like the boy who cried wolf, except there are wolves and they are having a party in the chicken coop, slaughtering everything in sight, every day. But where is the resistance in Congress?

Each morning, with growing dread, I catch up on the news and it has continuously gotten worse every day since January 20, one month ago. Only one month ago. Let’s take a moment and digest that time frame. Only thirty some days, though it feels like an eternity.

The purpose of shock and awe tactics is to shock your opponents into inaction as they try to digest what is going on. As a military strategy, it failed because it made the enemy mad and they fought back with more emotional intensity.

I’m not seeing that happen, not yet. But the time for shock is far behind us, we need to wake up and get angry. Not just Democrats, all of us. This is our country, not just theirs. That’s why they call it a democracy.

“GOP senators fact check Trump's rhetoric on Ukraine, while still backing his strategy”.

~ That’s a headline from NPR. Wtf?

What strategy? Kowtowing to Vladimirovich Putin? I mean, seriously? The media is still sugarcoating this stuff and it’s irresponsible as journalism. But the journalists are scared too. He hasn’t moved on them, but they will get to it. Dictators always do.

The only way to end resistance is to silence it, but that’s not so easy these days, even with Elon’s tech bros burrowing into the data. We have a lot of ways to build networks of resistance and to hide them. I made the choice to be an open critic and my protection is my obscurity, I hope. But I don’t have much they can take, so what the hell?

I always try to end on a positive note, a challenge today. But nothing about Trump’s treasonous words was a surprise. He has been building up to it and if the Democrats and sensible Republicans are surprised, they do not deserve our support. It’s time for new blood.

Trump knows that and he has it in Musk. But the Democrats cling to the old guys and institutional memory, as he sweeps by them with his dangerous nonsense. And the Republicans cower before their leader, a weak man who could be closed down with action.

There’s new blood out there, but it has to discover its power. Trump’s acts are starting to ignite that power, but established politicians have to pay attention. Otherwise we will sweep them away.

Talk to people. Ask them what they think. Ask them why prices are high and getting higher. Don’t politicize the conversation. We are all in this, that should be the message. Not right, not left, just us. We all need to remind ourselves that we are neighbors and in a stable society neighbors have respect and support each other. We have each other’s backs.

Even when we disagree. Especially when we disagree.

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Martin Edic