Abuse of Power · Activism

Former Criminal Investigator Calls For The Full-Scale Occupation Of Washington DC: ‘Marches Are Not Enough’

June 27, 2018 by Samuel Warde No Comments

Protest march against Donald Trump

Former criminal investigator and criminal defense attorney, Seth Abramson, posted his strongest call to action so far.

For those unfamiliar with his work, Abramson has been publishing extensive Twitter threads and mega-threads regarding the ongoing investigation into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. And, while he has his critics, Abramson – a former public defender at both the state and federal level – has an impressive resume.

His official bio notes, in part that:

Seth is regularly interviewed about politics and higher education by domestic and International media. Recent interviews include the BBC, CNN, NPR, PBS, ABC Radio, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Chronicle of Higher Education, New York Magazine, and The New England Review of Books. Seth’s essays have also been widely cited, including discussions on CNBC, PBS, FNC, BET, and NPR, as well as in Politico, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, The Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy, Slate, and Pitchfork.

As a side note, I have been reading Abramson’s posts for well over a year, and I have never known him to be wrong with any of his overall conclusions regarding the Trump regime. Yes, there are predictions of his that have yet to prove true, but again – so far, I have never known him to get any major point wrong. Mainly what I see are the occasional typo, which you will find here on Liberals Unite as well.

That being said, Abramson put out a stunning thread on Tuesday, beginning with the following statement:

Today a leading GOP Congressman said we’re headed for a Second Civil War and then retweeted a Nazi sympathizer and said he wasn’t sorry for doing it. Let me repeat: a leading GOP Congressman. Time was when the media would already be hounding the president to denounce Steve King.

As it that weren’t enough, he goes on to state:

And why isn’t U.S. media making a stink about this? Because they and most of America already accept that the President of the United States not only won’t denounce Nazi sympathizers or implicit threats of future violence but actually warmly embraces both of these. God help us.[emphasis added]

Continuing, Abramson gives a detailed analysis of the current threat to democracy facing America in the weeks and months leading up to the midterm elections.

In short, Abramson explains that:

  • “We’ve *already been told* by law enforcement that the mid-terms elections will be tampered with and that we won’t be able to stop it *because* the president and his party deliberately took no action whatsoever to safeguard the most precise commodity Americans have: our votes.”
  • Trump and the GOP have “stymied attempts to notify us beforehand; repeatedly lied to law enforcement and voters about it; actively attempted to cover it up; and done nothing to prevent its repeat.”
  • “Trump’s whole Russia policy was part of a business deal, all his top aides had clandestine Russia negotiations they lied about, McConnell covered it up pre-election, and Trump is ensuring its repeat now.”
  • Trump, “who’s actively encouraged violence, deceit, misogyny, and racism in U.S. culture—and who is daily engaging in corrupt practices and obstruction of justice—now sends his minions out (e.g. Laura Ingraham) to both imply violence is coming and pre-blame Democrats for it.”
  • “The GOP flagrantly stole a Supreme Court seat, meaning the rule of law is compromised at the judicial level; at the executive level, the president has made himself a king by saying he can pardon himself; at the legislative level, Congress does nothing or it obstructs justice.”
  • “The judicial branch can’t be rectified with this Congress—as it was these same GOP leaders who stole it. The legislative and executive branches are now voted for—in *America*!—under circumstances in which we can’t trust the vote because those branches refused to safeguard it.”
  • “Now we have a fascist border policy, a racist travel ban, open coordination with Russia on sanctions despite them tampering with our elections…and the media can’t do anything about it because the journalistic enterprise in America has learned *nothing* about covering Trump.”

Abramson went on to tell Americans to:

Ask yourself tonight—does this get better? If so, how and when? Ask yourself: do you think the 2016 vote was legitimate, given what we know? Ask yourself: do you think Trump is helping cover up Russian crimes, obstruct investigation of those crimes, and enable their *repeat*?

And remember, this week the SCOTUS the GOP used theft to get not only approved a racist travel ban but *also* exactly the sort of state-level gerrymandering that is taking away the vote from anyone but those who Republicans want to see in the voting line. America is cornered.

Abramson warns that, so far, all America has done is sit and watch as all this has played out, that “Under such circumstances, the voters of *every other Western democracy* would have called for a general strike and new elections. Instead, we’re sitting here arguing about the Red Hen Restaurant in Lexington, Virginia. We look like idiots who don’t know what “democracy” means.”

Turning to the solution, Abramson calls for nationwide strikes and the peaceful occupation of Washington D.C., warning that democracy itself requires it.

  • “I’ve now said it many times: everything short of occupying Washington lawfully and peacefully until new elections untouched by Russian interference—and repeated attempts by Trump and his minions to coordinate with a hostile foreign power—is basically cathartic window-dressing.”
  • “Stop following Trump’s laser-pointer through each mini-crisis—most concocted by his own venality, deceit, and incompetence. Expert Democratic organizers need to be talking about something peaceful and lawful that nevertheless is much bigger than mere marches. We’ve had those.”
  • “So we have a choice: wait until a sham mid-term election in which—if Democrats do well—it will only be because the Russians weren’t able to do enough with the carte blanche Trump has given them, or plan to vote in those elections if we must but *also* do something right now.”
  • “Either Democrats, independents and Republicans of conscience execute a peaceful and lawful general strike this summer—including an occupation of critical public spaces—or America will in short order stop circling the drain and simply go down it irretrievably once and for all.”
  • “Republicans in Washington had *two years* to do the right thing—starting with federal law enforcement and the previous presidential administration begging them to let the government warn voters of Russian cyber-aggression before it stole an election (which it ultimately did).”
  • “There’s nothing rash or undemocratic about a peaceful, lawful, *long-term* general strike this summer by those in a position to participate in it without a threat to themselves or their dependents. There’s nothing rash or undemocratic about occupying D.C. instead of marching.”
  • “There are organizers out there with vision and experience in building complex coalitions—as well as a commitment to peaceful, lawful protest and (as necessary) civil disobedience—so one has to wonder where they are. Surely not debating Red Hen or setting up yet another march?”

Samuel Warde
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