Matt Taibbi, Glenn Greenwald, and Tulsi Gabbard have spent the past few days revving up a new phenomenon, disparaging liberal resistance. I am not saying that healthcare, the economy, housing, income equity or gender and race should take a back seat to any other issue. What has been proven this past week by Democrats despite skeptics is that they “can walk and chew gum at the same time.’ Gabbard who I will admit was near the top of my list of Democratic hopefuls the past 2 years said, “If [Trump] had been indicted for conspiring with Russia to interfere with and affect the outcome of our elections, it would have precipitated a terribly divisive crisis that could have even led to civil war,…”
I could not disagree more with her conclusion. Acquiescing to fear would have me still picking cotton for British Lords while they sip a spot of tea, and soccer players, excuse me footballers would dominate Gatorade commercials; Like Messi, I wanna be like Messi. What Gabbard sounded like Monday was a liberal’s version of Trump’s warning of the military, the police, and bikers retaliating if he leaves office under a cloud of investigations. Ever since the Barr Blurb, not the Mueller Report, was released, certain liberals who in the past have discounted the administration’s treasonous behavior and newly minted, I told you so-ers, have climbed the perch to crow.
Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone Magazine penned a scathing rebuke of the Democrats entitled, It’s Official—Russiagate is This Generations WMD. Glenn Greenwald who has defended Julian Assange, Wikileaks and Edward Snowden said that the Russia Investigations became an “ideological litmus tests.” Neither opinion surprised me but I was disappointed in Tulsi Gabbard. She has amassed a string of wisdom-less pearls recently that have disturbed me. On the Green New Deal, she said, "I have some concerns with the Green New Deal, and about some of the vagueness of the language in there, so I have not co-sponsored that resolution," of course it is vague, it is an outline. Much like Gabbard’s proposal for free four-year college tuition, specifics on payment should not scuttle a good idea it should spur action. On her vague reaction to the question of whether Syrian President Bashar Assad is a war criminal; she attributed her response to a misunderstanding saying that her reluctance to label chemical attacks by Assad as real in every case because she felt the Trump administration might use that as an excuse for war. Nevertheless, when asked again, whether she believed Assad was a war criminal, Gabbard said she thought "evidence needs to be gathered."
This new version of neo-liberalist populism has me wondering where my party is going. We are going through the second wave of conservative anti-elitist populism that started with arugula and tans suits and has now morphed into “the Wall” and cuts to autism and special needs programs for kids. Butterfly wing plucking training will start soon.
This vain attempt to recapture bigots and kneeling to the rust belt white working class is compromising the progressive vision. Democrats should lead not bow. When the website for Obamacare failed initially, Democrats declared the Titanic was sinking and clung to deck chairs. Now that a preliminary report has come out that has still not cleared the President of the United States of being the most corrupt politician in American history, liberal media voices are denying an iceberg was struck.
Vote in 2020 for Change.