Trump And His GOP Are Undermining Our Institutions

I saw a joke from Andy Borowitz the other day about how hippies feel they're being forced to embrace the FBI after decades of hating it. "Former hippies across the United States have been put in the unbearable position of rooting for the F.B.I., hippies have confirmed. From Vermont to California, erstwhile hippies bemoaned a nightmare scenario that has forced them to side with a law-enforcement agency they have despised since the Summer of Love...'Donald Trump has wrecked America’s standing around the world, spread misogyny and bigotry, ravaged the environment, and endorsed a child molester,' Carol said. 'But making people like us support the F.B.I. is the most unforgivable thing he’s done.'"

But a new poll from Monkey Survey at the same time shows that Trump, Trump-TV and the Republicans in Congress have had an impact on a large number of Americans in terms of trust in one of the county's most trusted institutions, the FBI. And not in the same way Borowitz was laughing about. Congress may only have an 11% positive approval and Trump's may only be somewhere in the 30s, but the constant hammering on the FBI has completely undermined trust in the organization-- at least among Republicans. Look at that chart up top-- and this one:

Trump is getting just what he wants and it really us very dangerous for the state of democracy for this country. This isn't a game anymore. All that talk about fascism is realer than anyone hoped. Can we hold on til November and next January when the new Congress comes in? Will Putin and Trump even allow a new Congress to be fairly elected?

Jerry Nadler, the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee sent this note out over the weekend:

Yesterday, over the objections of the FBI and the Department of Justice, and in an utter disregard for accuracy and truth, House Republicans released the so-called Nunes memo in a move that places their main political goal-- protecting Donald Trump-- above our democracy.

The DOJ called the decision “extraordinarily reckless,” and the FBI, which rarely comments publicly about such matters, said, “We have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.”

Republicans are willing to tell any lie to protect Trump and their party.

...When the pro-Trump memo’s author, House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes, was asked whether his staff had coordinated with the White House, he refused to answer the question.

Let me be clear: the Republican majority in Congress is now complicit in Trump’s propaganda war-- a deliberate campaign to undermine and derail the work of Special Counsel Mueller and the entire Russia investigation. They have moved from stonewalling efforts to get to the truth to actively aiding in obstruction of those efforts.

The memo’s release is a charade designed to protect Trump from being held accountable for the foreign interference in the 2016 presidential election.

...Reports have suggested that the release of this intentionally deceptive memo may be used as a pretext to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and undercut Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation. We cannot allow Trump-- now with the help of the Republican majority-- to destroy those democratic institutions whose function it is to uphold the rule of law.

This sustained Republican misinformation campaign is a betrayal of the American people, and we must speak out loudly against it with one voice. I will continue to fight it with every ounce of effort as Ranking Democrat of the House Judiciary Committee.

Thank you for standing with me, for democracy.

This is getting scary. And Trump isn't deporting MS-13 gangsters; he's deporting longtime peaceful, productive residents of our neighborhoods and no one is standing up for them. WHo's going to stand up for you and me when he comes for us?