The danger is here
One hundred and fifty-four days remain until the presidential election. Summer is underway, and the 248th anniversary of the independence of the United States of America is one month out. It will pass quickly.
Something is building and bearing down, while the foundations of what we have been and known are cracking. Truths are eroding, public virtue is retreating, and menace is rising quickly now.
The Proud Boys are thugs and violent fascists. They are practitioners of political street violence and intimidation. They are Trump’s SA, and there would have been no January 6 without them. I urge you to read this Reuters report, detailing their resurgence. This should not be surprising because there has never been a fascist cause without thuggery and thugs. Make no mistake, the Proud Boys are Trump’s thugs, and they are ready. Here is their “prayer:”
Strengthen us Brothers with power and hard fists to help us defend the right and defeat the wrong.
What I am writing today is nothing new. Trump’s thugs marauded across Washington, DC on December 12, 2020, previewing what was to come on January 6. Both dates are now bound together as a preview of what is coming. Here were my tweets from that moment. Whatever else might be said about The Warning, consistency and prescience don’t seem to be a problem.
Yesterday, I wrote about the fiery exchange that was refereed by Kasie Hunt on CNN between George Conway and Scott Jennings that ended with Hunt, declaring criticism of Scott, CNN’s cleaned up, non-violent Lewandowski and resident MAGA chargé d’affaires, was off limits because:
SCOTT IS OUR COLLEAGUE.
The problem with the standard as a news judgement is fairly straightforward. Scott’s friends want to lock up, shoot and kill George because he dared to speak out against Donald Trump. Please understand I am being literal.
The threats of violence raging across social media are very real, very specific and very intentional. The airwaves are filled with apologists for the threats and menace, but then again, the clear implications of menace and thuggery are always denied by fascists. There have always been people willing to appear on radio or television to declare the events happening are not really so. Nothing has changed between 1938 and today in this regard.
When we look back from this era and what is building, there is no doubt in my mind that my children will one day be alive to hear a sober speech by a future American leader about this era, and how it could have all been stopped. Everyone will nod along and know — at least the people who were alive and can remember. Others will think the lessons don’t mean anything because they don’t remember, weren’t alive and can’t see how anything that happened before could ever matter — particularly from the time before they existed.
I have no doubt that glory lies past the tough days ahead for America, but things are going to get much, much worse in this country before the sparks of renewal and reform are lit.
Something terrible must be stopped. That is all that matters. Before ANYTHING can happen in America, what is growling and coming must be stopped and defanged. The danger isn’t coming anymore, it is here, present and ready for the next stage of a nine year-long tragedy that simply looks like a short preface to the main event just now coming into focus.
My father passed away last wek at age 97. Being of partial German heritage, it was instilled in us to always be aware of the power of cults. My family came to the US in 1858. However, ancestral culture was strong. My great aunt went to visit Germany in the late 1930s, and came home raving about how great Hitler was. He was going to turn Germany around; my grandfather and my great uncles were appalled. My father related hearing Hitler's voice on the short wave radio, and it sending shudders down his spine. In 2018, my Dad and a high school friend and wife (Japanese American, locked up in a camp in Arkansas during WWll), and I had lunch. Dad and Bob said Trump reminded them of Mussolini. We were raised to always be informed and to be aware of cult mentality. We experienced threats from the John Birch Society in the 1960s. We were able to tell Dad that Trump was convicted before he slipped away. In 2019, Dad said,"I really thought we had ended this ugliness." It was heartbreaking. Glad both parents won't see this. Now it's our turn. NEVER FORGET, BE INFORMED, STAY INVOLVED, LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
I was foolish enough to think that a conviction would strengthen the spines of the enablers. It is beyond belief, but yet here we are. If you witnessed the shameful hearing with Dr. Fauci yesterday the right wingers are ok with slander and have no qualms about inciting violence.