(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . America in crisis: Democrats must win the election. Here’s a blueprint for victory [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-07-02 It is a bitter irony. In a decision that threatens democracy, the Supreme Court has given Democrats the tools they need to win the election. But only if they use them. In America, justice is not blind - it’s Republican. The Founders wrote the Constitution - and Congress writes laws - but it is the Supreme Court that says what they mean. Sadly for democracy, this Court is pro-plutocrat, pro-corporate, and pro-tyranny. On Monday, it informed a stunned nation that the Founders had intended the president to be above the law. For the next four months, Biden and the Democrats have one mission — to hammer home this existential threat to American democracy. And win the election. Last night, Biden reacted in what the Washington Post called a “fiery speech.” They reported : “For all practical purposes, today’s decision almost certainly means that there are virtually no limits on what the president can do,” He said adding that he pledges “to respect the limits of the presidential powers.” The president also noted that the decision means that it is “highly unlikely” that Trump would be prosecuted before the election in November, which he called “a terrible disservice to the people of this nation.” “So now, the American people have to do what the courts should have been willing to do, but will not,” Biden said. “The American people must decide whether Donald Trump’s assault on our democracy on January 6th makes him unfit for public office in the highest office in the land.” I realize that Biden is not a natural speaker. But he needs better speechwriters. Even the best orator will not excite the crowd with this flabby material. Biden should say, ”The people did not elect me to be King. The Supreme Court may want monarchy in the US. The Founders didn’t. Freedom-loving Americans don’t. I don’t. The Republicans do. If you love the Constitution and enjoy liberty, you must vote Democratic. For too long, Republicans have got away with the absurd claim that they are the party of law and order. Biden should double down. “The Supreme Court, led by justices bribed by plutocrats, with three picked by a criminal, want a country led by a Louis XIV who spits on regular Americans. America’s motto is “In God we Trust” not “Let them eat cake.” Note: nonbelievers might object to the religious imagery. But it’s just words and there’s a war to be won. If co-opting the enemy’s rhetoric is an advantage, then all’s fair. Biden should triple down. “The president is not above the law. If you commit a crime in office, you must hauled into court. There is no get-out-of-jail-free card in the Constitution. These unelected judges, with a lifetime job guarantee, something no working American enjoys, have created a presidential right out of thin air. Ask Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Lincoln, Roosevelt, or Reagan if they think they should have been free to commit crimes in office, they would have said that was absurd and un-American. And yet that is what these judges have decreed. When you are on the opposite side of an issue from America’s most revered figures. You are on the wrong side of the issue. That’s just for starters. (Note: I put Reagan in there for older right-leaning independents.) Biden needs to get the voters riled up. There is too much on the line. If the Supreme Court’s immunity decision only affected Trump’s legal problems, it would be a disgrace. But it would be a limited travesty. The bigger abomination is that their pro-tyranny decision proves the judicial branch is not independent. They are in the tank for Trump and will rubber-stamp everything he does in office. If Trump wins, he will stuff the executive branch from cabinet secretaries down with brown-shirt loyalists. With the courts in his pocket, he would have absolute control over two branches of the government. As for the legislature, there will be no Adam Kissinger or Liz Cheney. Every elected Republican will swear an oath of fealty to America’s despot. Even if the Democrats hold onto the Senate (note, they would lose a tie with a Trump VP) and regain the House, you can bet Trump and his compliant AG will swamp the courts with election lawsuits challenging the congressional elections. And this time, unlike 2021, the Supreme Court will thumb the scale in his favor. I have long resisted Republican/Nazi comparisons, but no more. Hitler never won a majority of the vote, but once he gained a plurality in the Reichstag in 1933, he crushed all opposition (see The Enabling Act) . There were no more elections in Germany until 1949. Democracy only returned after a World War killed millions and reduced the country to rubble. Today, there will be no Allied white knight riding in to rid America of dictatorship. The US could see a Soviet-style tyranny lasting for decades. I suspect some readers, while they acknowledge the situation is not good, will think I have been hyperbolic. I hope they are correct. But the Democrats have to act as if I am right. To that end, from now until November, the Democratic Party - both nationally, and in the states - must dedicate itself to its one job. WINNING THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. To start, they have to get rid of this Biden ‘in or out’ nonsense. Democrats are addicted to dithering, but they need a candidate with 100% support. Having got the “who is the candidate” nonsense out of the way, the Democrats need to up their rhetoric and aim for fatal blows. Everyone knows Trump is a liar. It is no secret the guy can’t speak English. But his moral and physical defects are baked in. All the YouTube videos in the world showing Trump mangling the language, forgetting what town he is in, or telling tales of windmills killing whales, and sharks being worse than batteries will not move the dial at this point. The GOPs anti-abortion absolutism gave the Democrats an electoral rallying cry. The Court’s immunity decision doubles that advantage. liberals have to use it. Democrats need voters to understand what Trump will do to the country. MAGA calls the bureaucracy the “deep state”. Democrats need to point out that these are the people who keep planes from crashing into each other. They need to hammer home that it is the feds who make sure seniors get their Social Security checks. That the young get at least some assistance with the ridiculous price of college. That wounded veterans get medical attention. That the water Americans drink and the air they breathe doesn’t kill them. The federal government, and its agencies, stand between the average citizen and the robber barons. The insurrectionists hate what they call the deep state because that is what prevents America from being the world's largest banana republic. To that end, every Democratic leader in Washington and the states, along with every Democratic politician, needs to agree that internal division and petty strifes must be put on hold until after the election. The enemy is the person who has a gun pointed at you. It is not the person at your side who doesn’t agree with you 100% on everything. At this point, anyone who still thinks that two parties are the same and that the best way to vote is third-party, then forgive me, but you’re insane. As Benjamin Franklin said, “We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.” vote like democracy depends upon it. Because it does, [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/7/2/2250399/-America-in-crisis-Democrats-must-win-the-election-Here-s-a-blueprint-for-victory?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/