Editor’s note: This commentary is by Dale Newton, the owner and operator of Fruitlands B&B and Berry Farm in Cabot. He has been an English teacher in Vermont public schools for 32 years.
[Y]ou want a practical way to understand how indefensible Mitch McConnell’s refusal to let the election security bills come to the floor of the Senate?
Many of the voting machines across this country run on Windows 7. The end of the Windows 7 life cycle is set for January 2020. “End of life” indicates that Microsoft will no longer support the operating system. This includes paid support and all security updates.
I believe that we are at a point where he and others like him put winning at all costs, even winning with illegal foreign support and meddling, above country and morality. Staying in power is the all encompassing motivation. Principled or moral foundations need not apply.
Do you have another rational explanation?
Add that to the prep work that is being done. Michael Cohen, a man who knows “Individual One” better than almost anyone, told us all in clear terms. If Trump should lose the election in 2020, he will not leave office. He will claim illegals voted, voter fraud, and a rigged election. Than it will pass to Barr? SCOTUS?
Not a conspiracy theory. Listen to what he has said in the past, and what he is saying today. Listen carefully. In his entire career he has blamed losing, his losing, on others cheating him. Never has he ever been responsible, in his own mind, for a loss. No bankruptcy has ever been due to his decisions and actions. Winning is the only thing that matters … along with “ratings.”
He is telling you in the open. “Joking” about a third/fourth/fifth term is how he plants the germ. He is the most vindictive public figure of our lifetimes. Maybe the most vindictive in our history.
Study the rise of autocrats. The pattern is clear. They sow the seeds: fake news, the Other, fearmongering, racial divisions, scapegoating, protecting the wealthy and powerful inner circles, distractions, diversions, creating degrading names for classes of people such as “infestations, brutes, dangerous, filthy, rapists, etc.” They build walls: the Warsaw Ghetto was one of 400. They attempt to take control of the judiciary. They spread disdain for education and the “elite.” They build a pro-(put in name) media network. They demonize the opposition. They exercise a willingness to use the power of the state to reward business leaders who are loyal and to punish anyone who gets in the way. They politicize the military and employ it in domestic affairs.
Four important general characteristics of autocrats: encouraging violence against perceived foes, cult of personality, adopting religion for selfish ends, denying and undermining the authority of the other branches of government.
