Perfection will not be on the ballot this November, but fascism will
PLUS: This past week's commentaries
Donald Trump has leveled a threat against my family and yours.
Donald Trump has leveled a threat against my country and yours.
He means it. In fact, he can’t be talked out of the concept or turned away from it by bootlickers like Sean Hannity or the pathetic Dr. Phil, who decided to reprise his abuse of Britney Spears and multitudes more by corrupting the truth in defense of the indefensible. Only, this time the snake oil balm came in the form of legal and political non sequiturs wrapped in deceptions forged by a vast ignorance about everything he smugly asserted to be so in his down home and affected baritone.
Over at The Washington Post — the most important American institution to face limey arson in the United States since 1814 — there is a superb account of the gathering gales and rising extremism that are occurring at high noon under a searingly bright sun.
The subject of The Post’s Beth Reinhard’s frightening exposé is a frontrunner to be Trump’s chief of staff, Russ Vought. He does not believe in the separation of church and state. He believes we live in a “post-constitutional era,” which means Trump should have absolute power to do as he wishes to make America great again. Vought is unhinged and dangerous. He should never be close to political power — or worse, hold it — yet the possibility he will walk into the Oval Office with President Trump is very real.
During the last 48 hours President Biden has delivered the two most important and successful speeches of his presidency. Ramrod straight, impeccably dressed, clear, forceful, strong and filling the role perfectly, Joseph Robinette Biden of Delaware pleased the ghosts of his faithful predecessors, who saved the world and had the wisdom to prevent lighting it aflame for almost 80 years, which was as far as FDR could dream ahead. Everyone knows exactly what he is talking about. There is no need for hyperbole in describing the accumulating threats facing the American way of life.
Do you want this: following Trump’s conviction, The Federalist CEO Sean Davis said that he wants “to see lists of which Democrat officials are going to be put in prison”?
…or this from Tucker Carlson, who declared, “Import the Third World, become the Third World. That’s what we just saw. This won’t stop Trump. He’ll win the election if he’s not killed first. But it does mark the end of the fairest justice system in the world. Anyone who defends this verdict is a danger to you and your family”?
Perfection will not be on the ballot this November, but fascism will.
Extremism will be on the ballot.
Violence will be on the ballot.
Revenge will be on the ballot.
Let me be perfectly clear. When fear prevents any American from speaking up and out, our liberty is endangered. Period. When dissent is criminalized, freedom is gone. This is what Donald Trump is promising, and it should be heeded because behind it is the threat.
I am sick and tired of being threatened and harassed, and I won’t stand for it. Will you?
I hope not. Americans are not sheep or lemmings.
There are great lessons from the beaches of Normandy and a great gratitude should flow from all of us forward so that our children and grandchildren inherit their sacrifice, which must be preserved. There are other lessons that must be heeded, other sermons, prayers and speeches that must be heard again so we know what to do when the trouble comes. Have no doubt it is on the way.
I am going to write about America’s founding fathers and mothers over the next few weeks in more detail, but make no mistake Martin Luther King is an American founder. I visited the Martin Luther King Centre for Nonviolent Social Change this week in Atlanta. Do you know his six principles of nonviolence against injustice and tyranny?
Do you understand the courage required to stand down overwhelming force? Are you prepared?
Get ready. One-hundred and fifty days to go.
Freedom will not go gently into that good night in America. The moment demands an American coalition of disagreement, united by faith in the US Constitution, our history, each other and our destiny. Together, we must crush the rising fascism that is pointing a gun at all of us. We must not stand for the menace. We will not.
This past week’s commentaries
If you need to catch up on this past week’s news, here are some of the stories that I covered:
When you look at the long road the Christian Nationalists have taken to remake the country in their image, the election of a MAGA Fascist as President would be the capstone of their efforts. It started with Roe over 50 years and then ERA, and it was a slow but study accumulation of power. Like the Taliban, these fraud Christians work deliberately and are very patient. A component of it is the complete subjugation of women. No separation of church and state in a post-Constitutional era is right at our doorstep.
The generals who served under Trump must speak out now. What are they waiting for, another insurrection?