A Left-Right Coalition Against Trump Can Work—But Only Under One Condition
Who could be against the idea that liberals and conservatives should unite around the proposition that President Trump is unfit for office and should be removed from the presidency?
The question takes on added urgency as the rule of law, the principle of*arithmetic*and the practice of*congressional order*are abandoned in Washington, while criminal indictments of Trump’s advisers proliferate. As E.J. Dionne notes in the Washington Post,*"Our political foundation is rotting away."
With an ignorant, shameless man in the White House, with command of 4,000 nuclear weapons, one would hope Americans of differing political views could unite around a program of opposition.
Last week Lawfare blogger Ben Wittes, a devout centrist, proposed such a program in 18 tweets.*In the Daily Beast, reliably liberal journalist Michael Tomasky said he is ready to sign up, not the least because, he says, liberals don’t have to concede any core principles.
I see Kristol and George Will popping up on MSNBC, I see Max Boot emerge as one of the most powerful critics of Trumpism around, and I peruse Jennifer Rubin’s columns that with each passing week are reading more and more like Molly Ivins’. Irving Kristol, Bill’s father, famously said that a conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged by reality. Today, a liberal is a conservative who’s been trumped by it.
They’ve changed. Not me. I’m happy to make common cause with them.
I would be, too. I agree with virtually all of Wittes’ 18 points and I know many conservative and libertarians who will, too. Charles Sykes, conservative blogger turned anti-Trump author ("How the Right Lost Its Mind"), told me in a recent interview he’s ready to join with the left in opposing Trump.
“We’re in an emergency. Left and right don’t agree on much, but those few things we do agree on are now in danger: rule of law, free speech, the democratic process," he said. "The question is, can we work together?”
continued https://www.alternet.org/left-right-coalition-against-trump

