Reality vs. myth
PLUS: My Substack Live schedule for the week (thus far)
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Alex Pretti was murdered by ICE and defamed in death by the White House.
His life was stolen, his parents have been shattered, and his reputation has been smeared by an evil cabal that has taken power, abused that power and lit the US Constitution on fire.
Donald Trump is a fascist, and he is waging war against American liberty.
While Alex Pretti lay on a cold slab in a Minnesota morgue, Tim Cook, the billionaire CEO of Apple, came to the White House alongside Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, Amazon MGM Studios head Mike Hopkins, as well as General Electric CEO Larry Culp to watch the “Melania” documentary. It is the most corrupt film in the history of cinema, an open-air bribe paid to a soulless, unaccomplished, Slovenian “model” who disgraces the United States with each breath she takes. Like her husband, she is a moral abomination and utterly, unfathomably corrupt.
Yet, Tim Cook and the other CEOs in attendance were undeterred.
America’s newsrooms paved the path towards this low moment. Does anybody else remember the CNN townhall where a MAGA crowd was assembled for Trump’s pleasure, and Chris Licht told Trump to “have fun” before he incited insanity and lied for 90 minutes?
Do you remember all of the profiles of Maggie Haberman and all of the self-serving congratulatory tweets of American journalists puffing each other up over their “heroic coverage” of Donald?
Do you remember Joe Scarborough, with his wife by his side, looking into the camera and saying this about Joe Biden?
I’ve said it for years now, he’s cogent. But I undersold it when I said he was cogent, he’s far beyond cogent. In fact, I think he’s better than he’s ever been, intellectually, analytically, because he’s been around for 50 years. Start your tape right now because I’m about to tell you the truth. And f-you if you can’t handle the truth. This version of Biden, intellectually, analytically, is the best Biden ever.
What are the names of the killer ICE agents?
Why have they not been named and identified?
Why haven’t their masks been pulled up by the American media?
Why don’t the people of the United States of America know the names of the ICE “heroes” who dispatched the assassin?
Do you know why?
Because it is all lies.
Lies.
Those men were cowards and murderers.
That’s why.
Stephen Miller, Pam Bondi, Greg Bovino, Tom Homan, Kristi Noem, and Todd Blanche are America’s new judge, jury and executioners. They decide who lives and dies in America.
Here is a photo from Alligator Alcatraz, one of the concentration camps that dot the United States:
This is what they have done.
It is evidence of crimes and depravity.
It is evil.
It is MAGA.
It is America.
We will either fight back against this, or we will all live on borrowed time on our knees as slaves.
No thanks.
I have a better proposition.
Have you ever heard these words, “Give me liberty, or give me death?”
They were alleged to have been spoken by Patrick Henry, a founding father of the United States, in 1775.
There are a few things that we know to be true about the comments, such as that they were made on the occasion of the second Virginia Convention at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia, on March 23, 1775.
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and future Chief Justice of the United States John Marshall were all present.
Apparently the speech made an impression.
Edward Carrington, who would go on to become a veteran commander during the American Revolution and a confidant of President Washington, listened to the speech outside the church window, and requested that it become his burial spot.
It did.
Supposedly, when Henry stopped speaking, the audience sat in stunned silence, overcome with emotion, clarity and resolve.
Here is what Patrick Henry said that day, which is recalled by history as words carved out of hard American granite at the edge of revolution and a new epoch of history:
Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. Sir, we have done everything that could be done, to avert the storm which is now coming on.
We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament.
Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne.
In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation.
There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must fight!
I repeat it, sir, we must fight!
An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us!
They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary.
But when shall we be stronger?
Will it be the next week, or the next year?
Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house?
Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction?
Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance, by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?
Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power.
Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us.
Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone.
There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations; and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us.
The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.
Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest.
There is no retreat but in submission and slavery!
Our chains are forged!
Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston!
The war is inevitable and let it come!
I repeat it, sir, let it come!
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace but there is no peace.
The war is actually begun!
The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms!
Our brethren are already in the field!
Why stand we here idle?
What is it that gentlemen wish?
What would they have?
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?
Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
The words are momentous, but they were written by Patrick Henry’s biographer William Witt, and published 40 years after the speech was delivered from the recollections of the surviving old men who heard it.
Henry had been dead for nearly 20 years. Yet, the power of mythology in America is so strong that it made real what we wanted and needed to be real.
It should be no surprise that a nation organized around government “of the people, for the people and by the people” would be particularly susceptible to the formation of such heroic tales. Imagination, virtue and memory are powerful human forces.
They can make events appear, disappear, change their meaning, or create them from whole cloth. It is always important to remember that there may be truth in myth, but absolute truth is more complex than heroic memories.
Mythological America has never existed, but the promise held out through the story has always been real.
There is no greater act of apathy and malaise than having the energy to judge the past, ignore the present, and disdain responsibility for the future.
Whatever may have been said that day in Richmond, “Give me liberty or give me death” sounded perfect for that time — and all time.
Most Americans imagine that is their position on the matter, but perhaps that might be another myth. How could it not be? What people who love liberty could possibly turn power over to a man like Trump voluntarily?
We live in an era where reality and mythology are straining against one another. Something will give way.
The Warning Substack Live schedule this week:
William J. Barber, II and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, The Save America Movement steering committee members, TODAY at 1 pm ET to discuss racial gerrymandering and voting rights
Members of The Save America Movement crew — The Ken Harbaugh Show, Dean Blundell, Black Man Spy - Malcolm Nance and Denver Riggleman — TODAY and daily this week at 3 pm ET reporting live from Nuuk, Greenland
Hope you’ll tune in.
Let’s call these murders by their name: Executions
Time to withhold our federal taxes.