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David Rothkopf

@djrothkopf

20 Oct

I just watched "The Trial of the Chicago 7." I enjoyed it very much, quirks and Sorkinisms and all. My biggest take away was the level of anger that existed in America over our tragic losses in Vietnam. They were, over 20 years, a quarter of our deaths this year of COVID.

Vietnam was a tragic error. It damaged the US grievously and does so to this day. But, bad as it was, there was at least to a point, a strategic rationale behind it. At least half, according to experts, and perhaps up to 90 percent of US COVID deaths were needless.

Terrible misjudgments led to the Vietnam catastrophe, many officials were responsible--from the military, at DoD, in the White House and elsewhere. But the COVID catastrophe can be laid at the feet of the ego of one man, the selfishness, ignorance and unfitness of Donald Trump.

Read 10 tweets

David Rothkopf

@djrothkopf

12 Oct

79% of voters support coverage for pre-existing conditions. 77% support a woman's right to choose. 62% support the ACA. 60% support stricter gun laws. Trump is behind 12% in polls. He lost vote in 2016 by 3MM votes. GOP Senators represents 11MM fewer people than Dem minority.

A president supported by a shrinking minority and GOP Senators supported by an even smaller minority, both of whom are likely to see their support shrink in the current election, are trying to force into a lifetime position a judge whose views are radically out of step w/America.

This is the opposite of democracy. It flies in the face of long-established norms & even the promises & weighty pronouncements of GOP leaders. It is a power grab by a fading minority that is a slap in the face to the vast majority of Americans, including many from both parties.

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David Rothkopf

@djrothkopf

9 Oct

Why was Trump's response to the FBI foiling a domestic terror plot against Gov. Whitmer so limp? Why was it largely itself an attack on the governor & not the terrorists? Why did it compound his prior efforts to inflame the terrorists? Because he sees the terrorists as allies.

After nearly four years of Trump, one thing we know for sure is that this president supports right wing extremists and sees them as an essential part of his base--an especially important part he can wield as a threat against his opponents.

No major American political leader has done more than Donald Trump to support, inspire and seek to legitimize right wing extremists since now discredited, racist Woodrow Wilson celebrate the KKK in his "A History of the American People."

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David Rothkopf

@djrothkopf

6 Oct

@JoeBiden

If you are angry at the GOP and see their positions as a threat to American life and values, it is hard to accept @JoeBiden's prescription for coming together. But what he argued for is what need our leaders to aspire to. Knowing where and how to compromise is the trick of it.

Drawing a line around areas where we must not give in-like basic freedoms, basic justice-is critical. But if we are to survive and thrive as a nation, as the nation the U.S. has aspired to be, we must have leaders who will work to heal our divisions, to find our common interests.

Biden made it clear that there is no place in his vision for racism or injustice of any kind. He did not mention his opponent but the distinction between the two candidates was clear in every word, in its tone, in Biden's willingness to lead compared to Trump's corrosiveness.

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David Rothkopf

@djrothkopf

6 Oct

Some night during this horrific presidency have been harder than others--the nights we realized that he was a traitor or a criminal or a racist or an ignoramus or a narcissist or that so many Americans just did not care, in fact they celebrated all that about him.

Tonight is one of those nights. Because the spectacle of Trump's return to the WH underscores again that he has not only failed to rise to the greatest challenge of his presidency, this pandemic, but that he has actually, repeatedly made it worse for the most selfish of reasons.

But it has also driven home for me, in a way that has not been so clear to me before, that as of now, a madman is president of the United States, a man so mentally unfit that you would not trust him alone in a room with your children. It sounds over the top.

Read 13 tweets

David Rothkopf

@djrothkopf

2 Oct

1. We don't know how sick the president is
2. There are clear protocols for both someone with the disease & for how the WH should function if he is incapacitated
3. Trump doesn't do much and what he does is usually damaging so having him out of commission is not a disaster

4. There is an election in four weeks and it is likely the president will be replaced
5. Since the likelihood is Trump will recover, the net substantive impact of this is likely pretty low
6. The president's mental issues, foreign ties & general unfitness remain bigger worries

7. The election and inauguration dates are set and won't be changed
8. Most of the gov't has learned to operate without the involvement of Trump anyway...many, even his supporters, prefer that
9. Trump will have excellent care

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