Open Letter to "Responsible" Republicans.

Fine. Go ahead. Assure your voters that you "agree with many of his policies" if you must, even if you don't. Pretend that the Federal Budget is riddled with fraud and abuse, and that no one will really suffer when Trump attacks it with a meat cleaver, if you believe that's what Trump expects of you. Smear millions of hard working patriotic Americans as next to useless dead weight whose federal jobs can be eliminated without adverse consequences, while your own constituents feel the pain. Act like you haven't noticed that extreme weather events have become as routine as your car's oil change as the words "Climate Change" are censored out of every government report. Repeat the mantra that wasteful spending alone causes deficits when any kid running a lemonade stand knows you can't just cut costs to turn a profit if you let your revenues dry up.

One can say of the above that it's all just politics as usual. In the broadest sense, perhaps. In that spirit, mischaracterize reality if you must. If you believe that the Republic needs you to remain in office that badly, I'm sure you can justify it to yourself. But here is where it stops being "politics as usual". It's the point at which the fabric of the Republic starts being ripped asunder. The precise point we now have reached.

We can disagree passionately about policies, about priorities, about politics itself, so long as we remain a "we". The last time a President reigned inside of America who thought millions of his countrymen were his enemies, his name was Jefferson Davis. There is no other apt comparison to how Donald Trump views his fellow Americans. Up to half of us he sees as "the enemy within." States he failed to carry in the last election are viewed as hostile entities whose leaders must be brought to their knees. That isn't just Trump's.state of mind. It's an active battle plan, complete with the deployment of the U.S. military into U.S. cities, and the commandeering of major previously approved federal programs withheld at his whim to punish any parts of America that oppose him

No other U.S. leader in living memory described his political adversaries as "hating America." Trump routinely proclaims if from the White House. It is the ultimate framing of "us" vs "them", and it sets the stage both for an escalation of political violence, and the imposition of "emergency measures" by Trump to quell any resistance, nonviolent activities included, to the further imposition of his personal rule.

Those of you who see yourselves as "responsible" Republicans, well you are. You are responsible for what is becoming of our nation. You are so by pretending that any of this is normal, that any of this is healthy. You are so through your silence, when clear strong voices are needed most There is no need to change political sides if you are comfortable as a Republican. Argue for the policies you support; it's the American way.

But don't forget your Oath of Allegiance, to One Nation, Under God, with Liberty and Justice to all. That isn't what Donald Trump believes in, and you know it. Does your ultimate allegiance belong to a cognitively failing narcissist, or to that oath which, no doubt, you have always proudly taken? Break the silence, for America.