We're Getting Tangled Up by the Trump Octopus of Evil

The 8 Evil Arms of the Trump Octopus:

1) Climate change denial in the time of an ongoing climate emergency
2) Crimes against immigrants, separating children from families
3) Russian asset; being bough by various countries; national security threat
4) Corruption and kleptocracy, Emoluments
5) Sexual crimes; assault, rape, pedophilia, sex trafficking with Jeffrey Epstein and others
6) Endless lying and ignorance
7) Delusion and ridiculous bragging
8) Degradation of rule of law: obstruction of justice, a corrupt Atty General in William Barr

It's too much for anyone to take on all at once, because no one can take on so much evil, especially when one major political party pretends none of the this is happening or is a problem. It's all so  maddening for anyone who cares. And much of the awfulness tends to draw attention from the other awfulness. It's a blizzard of sordid criminal behavior that gets to be simply overwhelming.


David Rothkopf lays it out in more detail:

It's being a traitor.  But it's not just being a traitor.  It's the
obstruction of justice but its not just the obstruction of justice. 
It's the attacks on rule of law.  But it's not just the attacks on the
rule of law.  It's the assault on freedom of the press.

But it's not just the assault on freedom of the press.  It's the
pathological lying.  But it's not just the pathological lying.  It's the
 unfitness for office.  But it's not just the unfitness for office. 
It's the incompetence.  But it's not just the incompetence.

It's the attacks on our most important allies and alliances.  But
it's not just the attacks on most important allies and alliances.  It's
the systematic destruction of our environment.  But it's not just the
systematic destruction of our environment.

It's the violation of international treaties and agreements.  But it
 is not just the violation of international treaties and agreements. 
It's the embrace of our enemies.  But it is not just the embrace of our
enemies.

It's the defense of murdering dictators but it is not just the
defense of murdering dictators.  It is the serial undermining of our
national security.  But it is not just the serial undermining of our
national security.  It is the nepotism.  But it's not just the nepotism.

It's the attacks on our federal law enforcement and intelligence
communities.  But it is not just the attacks on our federal law
enforcement and intelligence communities.  It's the fiscal recklessness.
  But it's not just the fiscal recklessness.

It's the degradation of the office and of public discourse in
America.  But it's not just the degradation of the office and of public
discourse in America.  It's the support of Nazis and white supremacists.
  But it's not just the support of Nazis and white supremacists.

It's the dead in Puerto Rico and the at the border.  But it's not
just the dead in Puerto Rico and at the border.  It's turning the US
government into a criminal conspiracy to empower and enrich the
president and his supporters.

But it's not just the turning the US government into a criminal
conspiracy to empower and enrich the president and his supporters.  It's
 weaponization of politics in America to attack the weak.  But it's not
just the weaponization of American politics to attack the weak.

It's all these things together and the threat of worse to come.  It
is the damage that can not be undone.  It is pathology that has
overtaken our politics and our society, the revelation that 40 percent
of the population and an entire political party are profoundly immoral.

It is a disease that has infected our system and is killing it.  At
the moment, we still have the wherewithal to fight back.  But even those
 who recognize the dangers of this litany of crimes are proving too
complacent, too inert in the face of this threat.

It is one of those moments in the history of a country when there is
 a choice to be made, a choice between having a future and not, between
growth and decay, between democracy and oligarchy, between what we
dreamt of being and what even our founders feared we might become.

The litany of crises and crimes is so long that we are becoming
numb.  You have heard of the fog of war. This is the fog of Trump. The
volume of wrongs becomes its own defense. Is the president accused of
being a rapist?  Well, then remind them he is a racist and they'll
forget.

This is a moment for leaders to step up.  To challenge each of these
 abuses via every legal means available.  To organize and draw attention
 to them.  To blow the whistle if you are in government and you are
being asked to violate your oath.  To resist and refuse to be complicit.

If you can't do those things that make your voice heard and join a
movement, support a political candidate, donate money, register voters,
fight voter suppression.  But whatever you do, resist becoming numb. 
Resist the temptation to let the recitation of old crimes and new...

...become a deadening drone.  Every one matters in times like these.
  Every one must stand up for what is right.  In their homes.  In their
schools.  In the workplace.  In their churches and synagogues and
mosques.

We are approaching a great national decision about whether the
American experiment will succeed or fail, whether this moment does what
two world wars, a civil war and countless past misjudgments and missteps
 could not.

We will make it together, resist, offer a better alternative,
embrace that alternative and the best leaders we can find...or succumb,
let the inertia of some among us mark the end of what for two and half
centuries was an idea so compelling it inspired the world.