Appeasement, Appeasement Everywhere
The old story goes that Nero fiddled as Rome burned.
As America burns, Democrats keep giving matches to Republicans.
They are capitulating left and right.
Or more accurately, right and further right.
Two prominent Democrats have rolled over and played dead as American fascism continues to take root.
Senate minority leader Charles Schumer initially said he wouldn’t vote for a stopgap measure that would prevent a government shutdown.
One day later, he announces that he will vote in favor of the stopgap, infuriating many of his fellow party members, who know that Schumer’s support will allow the continuation of the president’s and Elon Musk’s evisceration of the federal government.
Schumer’s actions are another missed opportunity to reign in the Republic’s dismantling.
He must remember that when the president was a Democrat, the Republicans didn’t hesitate to try to shut down the government.
They weren’t afraid of government services being stopped, or government checks being delayed.
All they cared about was subverting President Obama’s and Biden’s agenda.
This time, a shutdown would have helped to slow down, if not stop, the eradication of services, the firing of essential personnel, and the transfer of government coffers into Musk’s already swollen bank account.
Every missed opportunity brings us closer to the day when totalitarianism takes over.
While Schumer is missing opportunities to thwart government erosion, a certain Democratic governor is platforming the wrong people.
California governor Gavin Newsome has started a new podcast, “This is Gavin Newsome.”
Several of his guests are the president’s cronies or supporters, including Charlie Kirk, Michael Savage, and most recently, Steve Bannon.
Newsome reasoning for having these guests is clear but fatally flawed.
He is planning on running for president and believes that having right-wing guests on his show will demonstrate his openness and willing to compromise, two traits conspicuously missing from today’s Republican Party.
Newsome’s movement to the center is a common move for political candidates.
But his timing is horrendous, and his choice of guests is even worse.
It is not the time to be conciliatory to fascists.
Hatred and bigotry aren’t the arguments of sane, reasonable people, and Kirk, Savage, and especially Bannon are racists.
If Newsome wanted to include conservative voices on his podcast, he should have interviewed Liz Cheney, Bill Kristol, George Will, or others who are conservative, but who could clearly and skillfully enunciate why the president and Musk are bad for the country.
The people Newsome is trying to entice will never, ever vote for him.
He could interview the ghost of Adolf Hitler, and it wouldn’t get him right-wing voters.
He should maintain his principles and fight fascism.
Even if his actions are motivated by staying on the president’s good side, he needs to remember that the president doesn’t have a good side.
Either you constantly pay the president homage, or you are his enemy.
Our elected officials are our first and likely last line of defense.
They must resist consistently and uniformly.
Rolling over and playing dead isn’t fighting.
Giving your enemies a microphone isn’t fighting.
Our Democratic and Republican leaders must grow spines or move out of the way for those who have them.