Please, let's stop sniping at each other

Eugene Robinson

Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post wrote today that the Democratic candidates really need to stop sniping at each other.  He said those snipes only play into Trump's hands.  Indeed.  Robinson, often seen on MSNBC, is absolutely right.  Let us all listen to him and take heed.

However juicy or cute, the snipes turn us all off and make us lose confidence in the system.  If Joe Biden, for example, criticizes another non-Trump candidate, he cturns me off.  I think it's bad taste, at a time when the overriding mission should be to beat Trump, no matter the candidate, no matter the cost, no matter the schadenfreude in taking these potshots.

Fact is that Trump has a pretty good chance of winning in November, either legitimately or by dirty tricks or Putin (which has now been legalized).  So it will take all we have to beat him.  Even then he will claim the election was rigged and surround the White House with his defenders.  If so, what will you do about it?

So coming up with unrealistic campaign positions and promises, and throwing darts at other Democratic candidates is a sure fire way to help Trump and undermine whoever gets the nomination, and the system.  Don't they see this?  It's so obvious, and so tacky for them to keep on doing this.

I would vote for any Democratic candidate that rises above this, and I would be very unhappy with any or all of them that criticize each other.  I'm sure that many, many other people feel the same way. Let's stay focused.  Let's not beat each other up.  There's not that much time left to Election Day.

Worse, the turn off could leave voters, perhaps large numbers of them, turned off to the party and for that matter the process itself.  Many people didn't like Hillary in 2016 so they didn't vote for her or anyone, and left the field to Trump.  So wrong.  Got to vote in any event.  A Democrat must win.

When I hear that Iowa screwed up, and possibly other Caucus,and Primary,states, I can't help but thinking how the embarrassment of the screwup also makes the Democratic party look really bad and also works in Trump's favor.  Now, let's see what happens in Nevada and in the states beyond.

If Nevada is also an embarrassment,  I would be tempted to entertain the throught that somehow Trump or his friends are involved, directly or indirectly.  In any event, screwups like Iowa further undermine the confidence of the people in the process, and at this point we really can't afford that.

Our Democracy is at stake.  If people don't see themselves as part of the government, and the government as constituted of them, sooner or later we're sunk.  That said, the 2020 elections are the most important elections in our lifetimes and maybe in the life of the Constitution and the Country.

If Trump wins this year, you're not going to like it.  Forget about any chance of equality, decency, fairness and the rule of law.  Forget about civil rights and civil liberties.  It's all out of a dark B-movie, or 1933, or worse, and it's emerging right in front of us  There's no room for complacency, but the fact is that many of the people around us are just that.

They feel life will go on, no problem, and that this is just part of the ebb and flow of media and politics.  But it's much more than that.  It's political and constitutional crisis and reckoning, and it's not a drill.  The country is at great risk, so is your daily way of life, and perhaps your life and the lives of unborn generations.  And while we fiddle the planet and the species is also at great risk.  The consequences of Trump for four more years are deadly, and will last a very, very long time.

So whatever you do, don't lose confidence in our system.  Whatever you do, pick a Democratic candidate and vote for that candidate, even if that candidate is not your personal favorite.  And don't spend your time knocking down other Democratic candidates - we don't have time for that.  There is only one mission - beat Trump and save the Republic and all that it has meant to us over the years.

A commentary by Jay Fidell