Eric Zuesse
Here is an argument for replacing Trump by Pence.
Here is an argument against replacing Trump by Pence.
The public needs now to become engaged in this debate, because otherwise the only people who will be participating at all in this incredibly important decision as to whether to replace Trump by Pence, will be the members of the Congress and of the Administration, neither of which body is trusted by most Americans.
It’s now, or never, for this issue to become debated by the public. That public debate has started, with those two articles. It will either be joined now by the public-at-large, or else the existing, and widely distrusted, power-structure will make the decision with no real public participation in it. Is that the way a ‘democracy’ would function? Is it the way a democracy would function? Would the public, in a democracy, keep quiet while elected and unelected officials of a distrusted federal government make the decision as to whether the public needs to be even consulted about this matter, and whether to replace Trump by Pence until a new U.S. Presidential election determines, with the public’s input, whom the the next occupant is — and the public not be consulted before then about whether to replace Trump by Pence during that interim?
What would a real democracy do, in such a situation? Would it simply let the distrusted Government replace Donald Trump by Mike Pence — and with no input from the public? Why? Would Mike Pence be a better President than Donald Trump is? Or worse? That’s what now needs to be debated amongst the public, and not ONLY amongst the members of the Congress and of the Trump Administration (as now is being done). If the public debate doesn’t start now, then the ‘solution’ will be an imposed one, by a government that the public overwhelmingly do not trust. If the public care so little as to passively allow that to happen, then they don’t care about democracy at all — because that wouldn’t BE democracy.
When I originally posted this article at washingtonsblog, the first reader-comment said “The debate needs to be about when we start jailing some of these people for aiding and abetting terrorists and the enemies of this country both foreign and domestic.” So: that person doesn’t want there to be a public debate right now about whether or not to replace Trump by Pence.
The second one said “It doesn’t matter, because the President is only the face of the U.S. regime, not the leader.” So: that person also doesn’t want there to be a public debate right now about whether or not to replace Trump by Pence.
The third one said “with Pence — things would either be the same or else get worse.” However, that person didn’t present a reason for that opinion.
If this is the way that the public will deal with the issue, then the public will continue to ignore the issue until the dictat comes down, from the widely despised rulers, announcing their decision about it. Steve Bannon has allegedly said that the likelihood is 70% that the decision will be to replace Trump by Pence. He also said that the 25th-Amendment route — the allegation that Trump is incompetent — will be the route they will probably use, in order to ‘reach’ that decision. Apparently, the public, in any case, don’t really care much whether the President is Trump, or else Pence. So, the dictatorship will probably encounter no significant opposition — not even in words, much less in any deeds.
Somehow, I find this situation exceedingly depressing. Not only is America a dictatorship, but it’s one where the public don’t care whether it is or not.
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Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.