By Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls
Let me be clear — I hate violence. I’m a man of peace and of ideas and nothing I’m about to write should be taken as anything more than an attempt to articulate an ideological vision.
Now, having said that, I think it’s time for Speaker Nancy Pelosi to step down and someone willing to aggressively impeach Trump to take over. We have a very tight window of opportunity — if we don’t give Trump the historical stain of impeachment by August, it’s just not going to happen in his first term.
I used to think the United States would never become a “managed democracy” like Russia, but now I think it’s a foregone conclusion that is already effectively this. When Mueller punted on the issue of Trump’s criminal activity while in office, that effectively gave him a pardon and now we’re all very screwed.
It just doesn’t matter what happens next. Trump is going to consolidate power because of some serious systemic flaws in the American political environment and, barring something fluky none of us can expect the Trump’s are likely to rule the United States for the next 20 years. I give that timeframe because it’s about 20 years out that the youngest of the Baby Boomers will finally begin to drop dead just as the the browning of America really begins to reach a tipping point.
Having said all that, the point is — we honestly have nothing to lose at this point. We need to impeach Trump now. Even if it in the short term it helps Trump, in the long term we’ll have at least been seen as putting up a fight before the long night of managed democracy finally began.
That’s why I believe we need Radical Resistance. We need to overthrow the existing Democratic leadership in the House and find someone willing to do the job Nancy Pelosi apparently isn’t interested in. She’s so busy playing eight dimensional political chess that she totally misses the historical need for immediate impeachment.
I understand why she thinks it’s a trap — Trump will run on it once he’s not convicted and he’s going to consolidate power aggressively afterwards. She thinks we can make our last stand at the ballot box in 2020 and avoid impeachment altogether. “Let the people decide,” is her opinion.
I hate to break it to her, but that’s bullshit. Trump is already doing everything she’s afraid an unsuccessful impeachment will cause, so why not do it? Wouldn’t it be better to go down fighting than meekly let Trump walk all over us on his way to Putin-like levels of authoritarian control?
So, either do your job, Nancy, or step down.
History is calling.
