As we near the November election a few things have become painfully obvious. Mainly, the non-MAGA Republicans know that their standard bearer is every bit as psychotic as you and I do. And they hate him as much as we do, possibly more. But because so many of them stand to profit from a second Trump presidency, they will flush democracy right down the drain for personal gain. For instance, I point out to you that Mike Pence went on record today saying he would “not endorse” Donald Trump — but then he said he would vote for him. Um…Mike? Trump doesn’t give a rat’s ass if you endorse him verbally. Voting for him is the endorsement he wants and you just gave it to him. But Pence has this idea that voting for the lunatic is fine, just fine, but endorsing him would be immoral.
“Let me be very clear. I will absolutely NOT endorse President Trump. I wish I could- but my morals will not allow it.
I can’t and won’t help him with his unchristian policies. There I put my foot down.
The most I will do is vote for him. It’s all I can do..” pic.twitter.com/azBiV6FRNc
— Rubicon (@Rubicon1313) March 15, 2024
We are in a contest now where the important thing is to be found in a person’s heart. Either people do the right thing for America when voting, or we are lost. If there are a lot of Mike Pence’s in America, we are lost. In fact, we are shit outta luck.
To explain this moment in history better, here are the teachings of a democracy expert, Trygve Olson. (found in Ron Filipkowski’s Twitter feed)
A philosopher (probably more than one) said that there are only two central emotions in the universe, fear and love. Or, you can translate “love” in this context as faith, and fear as hate. It is very basic. Trump is definitely selling fear this fall. He has nothing else. Nary a day goes by when he doesn’t complain more about imaginary hoards of invaders coming across the southern border, or just yesterday, thousands of Haitians were invading Florida, which is news to people who live there.
Trump used to go on Fox News and announce he personally had gotten rid of MS-13 (he did not) and of course, everybody’s favorite, the QAnon thesis: Trump is here to save the little children of the world from sex trafficking.
This is completely batshit. But we live in a world of disinformation. And it has been a long time in coming, but it’s here now. I laughed at Fox News when it launched in 1996. I stopped laughing in 2016. And I shook my head over the birther conspiracy. That became part of American lore. There are many thousands of people, maybe hundreds of thousands of people, who believe that Barack Obama was born in Africa. You cannot change their minds. This is the power of disinformation. Getting people to unlearn something is far more difficult than getting them to learn in the first place.
I hope that we can preserve our democracy. I hope that there are more Americans than there are MAGAs and Republican sympathizers, who will do as the Nazi sympathizers did and sell out their own people.
We never thought it could happen here, but it has.
Your angst is warranted Ursula. The time is upon us and we can’t depend on ANY court or legislative assembly to help. They are part of the problem, along with the MSM. It’s like a child playing with a loaded gun…the odds are great that something terrible will occur. Some of the 70 million casualties of WW2 were responsible for the carnage. Most were not, although they paid dearly. Now the entire planetary system is in the crosshairs. If the oligarchs succeed, corporations will finish destroying our ecosystem and the planet will reach a tipping point of no return. We must not be timid or quiet and everyone must vote these people out of power, and some, into prison. VOTE!
The part about working with certain people/groups hits home with me. For example the Lincoln Project. If we prevail the time will come when folks like Rick Wilson will go back to attacking Democrats and our policies so he can make money of rich conservatives. That’s a fact. However, even he (and others at LP like him) recognize the threat Trump has represented so for a time we’ve become allies of convenience. For now the role of the Rick Wilson types who were instrumental in creating this mess gets set aside. They fed and nurtured their monster and allowed it to grow strong enough to break its leash and knowing they are in as much danger as the people it was meant to “kill” know it has to be destroyed so they are helping to do so. If Republicans who love old-school Reagan bullshit like supply side tax cuts and have every intention of fighting like hell for them in the future for the time being are willing to work with us I say welcome aboard.
We can go back to fighting the old battles when Trump/MAGA creatures are driven into the shadows and/or under their slimy rocks.
Your “… We are in a contest now where the important thing is to be found in a person’s heart…” Bingo!
I was actually able to post this on THREADS… if you want to share.
I am @lorion70
When the fear of the AUTOCRAT erodes because people show they are not afraid, faith takes hold, and others want and will join the fight. It is one we must win in America
Let me see if I understand this. Pence (the guy MAGAts wanted to hang as a traitor) will not endorse their god-king and he thinks that will HURT said god-king?
Poor Mikey, delusions of relevance abound.