PLAYING FOR THE BREAKS
PLAYING FOR THE BREAKS
Playing For The Breaks is a term used in counterinsurgency strategy to leverage critical errors made by an insurgency’s leaders.
The Republican Party is doing nothing less than appeasing a political insurgency that threatens the authority of our constitutional democracy – of the Constitution itself. Whether the GOP’s motives reflect Steve Bannon’s anarchist ideology of the “deconstruction of the administrative state” - or are simply a strategic decision by Republican legislators to hunker down, and through sheer obstructionism, protect their jobs – this party has moved well beyond the boundaries of our nation’s laws. Their appeasement of Donald Trump’s obstruction of justice makes them collaborators in his crimes. They have taken sides in an insurgency by abrogating the oversight responsibilities of the Legislature and bestowing their power on the Executive Branch – to Donald Trump and his den of thieves.
The Mueller Investigation has resulted in indictments of 34 individuals associated with Donald Trump’s administration – seven of whom have been convicted so far – including some senior members of the Trump campaign. And many of his top administration officials, including cabinet members, are currently being investigated for other serious crimes.
This is a criminal administration that is led by an illegitimate president who seized power with the assistance of a hostile foreign nation – a nation with whom we fought the 45 year long Cold War. This assistance had multiple components, not the least of which was hacking into our voting apparatus in states targeted by Republican co-conspirators. This assistance included using various media platforms to transmit propaganda favoring Donald Trump while defaming his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, with false accusations of criminality.
The Republican chants of “lock her up” during the Republican National Convention were part of an effort to steal an election through lies and fearmongering – and it was sanctioned by the Republican Party, itself, at its own national convention. And, this assistance was facilitated with the support of Republican governors and Republican state legislatures that passed laws to depress minority voter turnout by utilizing unconstitutional gerrymandering and illegal voter suppression tactics. This presidency represents the aftermath of our new style of 21st Century warfare: cyber warfare. But it couldn’t have happened without the support and participation of the Republican Party.
To my continued amazement, not one Democrat, either running for president or currently a member of the United States Congress, is saying the obvious: Republicans are complicit in this insurgency. Whether their obstruction of legal investigations is ideologically motivated or simply self-serving – proponents of this obstruction should be individually named as co-conspirators. They are Mitch McConnell, and John Thune; they are Kevin McCarthy, Steve Scalise, William Barr, Lindsey Graham, and Jim Jordan. And even though no shots have been fired, their appeasement and direct defense of this dangerous insurgency is the only thing standing in the way of defeating it. This is deadly serious.
If our Constitution still defines the law of the land, then the disclosures contained in the Mueller Report would have already led to the impeachment and conviction of Donald Trump and many of his associates. But the fact that the Republican Party stands silent is proof of its own participation in this dangerous insurgency to overthrow - to topple - our government and its institutions.
There is an inflection point where appeasement metamorphosizes into conspiracy, and we are there.
The Democratic Party appears to be set back on its heels in the face of this insurgency. Our leaders seem overwhelmed by the tactics being used. Overwhelmed by the implications of the “deconstruction of the administrative state”, the readily observable collapse of our judiciary, and the unconstitutional dismantling of our electoral system. Democrats are not good street fighters; we tend to excel at conceiving technocratic solutions to problems created by previous Republican administrations.
My fear is that while strategic patience might win the Democrats the White House in 2020, we’ll only succeed in shooting the deplorable messenger, Donald Trump - while leaving the Republican Party leadership intact. This remaining Republican Party will continue its efforts to put the laissez-faire back in capitalism; use media to dispense its propaganda about fake economics and unpardonable conspiracy theories; and continue its religion-inspired, patriarchal assault on women. They will continue to operate just like they did during the Iran-Contra scandal of Reagan/Bush; just like they did with their entirely false justification of the Iraq War; and just like they did during the lead-up to the economic collapse of 2008. The Republican Party will live to fight another day – Tuesday, November 4th, 2020, to be specific.
My question to the Democratic leadership is this: In a culture so easily swayed by conspiracy theories and the notion that some Nazis are fine people, why the strained formalities? Why not just say the words: “The entire Republican Party is off the rails”. It is a danger to democracy - our democracy.
Where is our counterinsurgency plan? We are tasked with nothing less than crafting a counterinsurgency operation to respond to an attempted coup being conducted by the Russian government in cooperation with the Republican Party against the very democracy that this party purports to represent. It is a coup intended to collapse our judiciary with bought and paid for federal judges; a coup determined to eliminate every career professional in our national security apparatus and replace them with shills; a coup that will enable the insertion of a profit motive into our foreign relations based upon political pay-to-play.
So, how about Playing for the Breaks. Let’s attack our opponents at the breaks in their line: their appeasement of Donald Trump; their obstruction of justice; and their unconstitutional violations of voting regulations. Republicans don’t really have coherent policies to counter ours; they only have strategies to subvert our Constitution. Let’s stop shadowboxing and run against the Republican Party this time.
Deborah Long is a Principal at Development Management Group, Inc. and founder of several non-profit charitable organizations. If you find her perspectives interesting, controversial, or provocative, follow her at: https://www.facebook.com/debby.long.98499?ref=br_rs
