A riot is an ugly ting! And since it gets started, there is little chance of stopping it short of bloodshed! Inspector Kemp Young Frankenstein
The last 6 days have been a nightmare in slow motion. Lacking any definitive briefings from the federal law enforcement community, the details have leaked out one at a time, with every new video clip more horrendous than the last. But have you noticed the one missing ingredient of the news coverage of the last 6 days? They hysterical, enraged, unhinged bleating’s of Traitor Tot over social media, defending himself.
That’s because Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and all of the other alleged social media monsters finally grew a pair, put on their big boy pants, and banned Trump from their overly powerful platforms. Sorry gang, you get no back slaps from me. Not only was your belated decision to do the right thing a day late, and a dollar short, but once you finally did it, all it did was to prove your culpability in all that came before.
For the last 5 1/2 years, Donald Trump has been a spiteful, vindictive, racist, white supremacist liar, and you just sat there. From the day that Trump was sworn in, the social media platforms gave him full and free rein over their sites, with no backchecking or accuracy. And they did this, allegedly under some unknown, get-out-of-jail-free card called the world leader rule. Their convoluted logic was that since Trump was a world leader, it was their responsibility to give him an open forum, so that the world knew that he was thinking. Funny, but I don’t remember the last outrage over one of Kim Jong Un’s 3 am poop tweets, or ridicule over Putin’s latest covfefe.
Now, just for the sake of argument, let’s take the social media platforms ridiculous claims at their face value. The general election was held on Tuesday, November 3rd. The election was finally called for Biden on Saturday, November 7th. And starting on Sunday, November 8th, Donald Trump ceased to be a world leader! because, starting on that day, Trump became maniacally, monolithically focused on his lost election. Pakistan can have nukes, North Korea can invade South Korea, China can nuke Hong Kong, Trump has his job to save, goddammit! Trump’s social media posts were separated into two simple categories, massive voter fraud, and Stop The Steal! And they became more threatening and violent by the day.
Starting in the second week after the election, Trump election challenges began being heard in both state, but mostly federal courts in contested states. And while massive voter fraud was Trump’s one-size-fits-all approach, when the cases came to court, and the judges actually asked Trump’s lawyers if they were alleging vote fraud, the universal answer was a sheepish no. It was all bullshit.
Trump was once again indulging in what he has almost nonstop for the last 5 years. The Big Lie. This theory goes all the way back to Hitler, Goebbel’s, and the Nazi’s in the 1930’s. The basic premise being that if you have the biggest bullhorn, and you keep repeating the same wild, obnoxious lie often enough, over time it will start to be believed, because there is nothing to offset it.
Please, indulge me for a moment. Think back over the last 6 days. However often you have the television news on, or how long you watch or listen to it, what have you heard? A steady, nonstop stream of accurate news, portraying the events as they happened, and exploring the leads as they are uncovered. But what haven’t you heard? Trump’s maniacal denials, obfuscations, justifications, or any of that other bullshit.
Now, imagine what would have happened if all the way back on November 17th, Twitter, Facebook, and the rest of the social media morons had come to the logical conclusion that Trump was no longer a world leader, but nothing more than a pedantic demagogue? And shut him down.
Take the last 6 days, and move it back another 15-16 days! If social media had shut Trump down then, how in the hell does he spend the next three weeks stirring the kettle? How does he put out his bullshit? How does he incite his loyal bucket heads, bedsheet models, and Loud Toys to show up at a certain place, on a certain date, at a certain time, to get their marching orders? The chain of communication would have been broken at the source, leaving Trump no other option than to start making statements on national cameras, trying to get his point across, and hoping that the networks would play ball, which they wouldn’t.
Social media has had the last 5 1/2 years to get this right but like GOP lawmakers, they were terrified but he thought of nasty tweets. But in the last 15 days, they crossed the line. They knew that Trump had become nothing more or less than a propaganda demagogue, and yet, they continued to give him free rein. And now the blood is on their hands as well.
Follow me on Twitter at @RealMurfster35
The entire time I read this, I heard Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sound Of Silence”…apropos, yes?
So did I when I wrote it Bareshark…
Although I’m from the opposite end of Illinois another tune from an unusual band from Chicago keeps popping into my head – Four Minutes to Twelve (And there’s a madman at the wheel) by the Fugs. If you look it up and listen to it the lyrics can barely be understood, especially against the clamor of acid rock blaring but the gist of it is the title. And if it has fit Trump like a glove, as these last days of his administration wind down I fear for those last minutes. A madman IS at the wheel, and in the words of a more traditional rock tune (The Doors’ Riders On The Storm) “There’s a killer on the road; His brain is squirmin like a toad. Take a long holiday; Let your children play. If you give this man a ride, sweet family will die; Killer on the road. Our country, via the EC didn’t just give the proverbial killer on the road a ride, it handed him the keys to the car and he’s still trying to kill not just us but our democratic republic!
wonder how public radio (am) is doing… because i don’t need the ache.
Whinge radio.
You are a disgusting liar, fomenting division and hatred in america.
And you’re a whinging bully on his way to the margins. And it’s no loss at all.
Breathe. Give ur brain some oxygen. Maybe ur eyesight & critical thinking skills will improve. Good luck.
You mean like your “hero” has been doing for the last 4 years?
Which statements specifically did you feel were untruthful, and why? If your concern is unity, then we can surely have a civil conversation about your dissent.
It really is weird to not hear/see *rump’s tweets. Not bad, just weird. Strangely quiet. Now is when I realize JUST HOW MUCH he has been influencing things, just by tweeting. I personally don’t think I need to hear anyone’s constant thoughts like that, and definitely not from a crazy-as-fuck so-called leader. In fact if he never tweeted, our entire country would be different right now if you think about it.
Wish it would have been so!
I actually side with the social media companies on this difficult issue, but think there has to be an alternative to either a total ban or what they chose to do for years.
The presidency comes with a lot of power, imbued through the franchise of millions of voters. The person elected is the president of the people, and I don’t think companies should get between the president and the people by limiting their communications. The president gets to call any world leader he likes, hitch a ride on air force one whenever he likes, and pardon whomever he likes…I think Tweeting whenever he likes is a power that comes with the office.
Then we come to the case of Trump, who abuses any power afforded him. A president who abuses his powers should have them restricted, limited or stripped, but because he is the president of the people, that process should be by and for the people, not executives. However, it’s hard to imagine a process by which Congress examines and restricts the president’s Twitter powers.
The obvious answer to all of this is to never elect someone who can’t handle a Twitter account responsibly, because that person probably won’t be a good president. But if we do elect such a person, there are probably some powers and privileges we just have to ride out. The social media companies decided to ride out his access until he was defeated and there was cause. Despite the harm his social media nonsense caused, this was probably the best of a list of bad options.
I actually side with the social media companies on this. The presidency comes with a lot of power, imbued through the franchise of millions of voters. The person elected is the president of the people, and I don’t think companies should get between the president and the people by limiting their communications. The president gets to call any world leader he likes, hitch a ride on air force one whenever he likes, and pardon whomever he likes…I think Tweeting whenever he likes is a power that comes with the office.
Then we come to the case of Trump, who abuses any power afforded him. A president who abuses his powers should have them restricted, limited or stripped, but because he is the president of the people, that process should be by and for the people, not executives. However, it’s hard to imagine a process by which Congress examines and restricts the president’s Twitter powers.
The obvious answer to all of this is to never elect someone who can’t handle a Twitter account responsibly, because that person probably won’t be a good president. But if we do elect such a person, there are probably some powers and privileges we just have to ride out. The social media companies decided to ride out his access until he was defeated and there was cause. Despite the harm his social media nonsense caused, this was probably the best of a list of bad options.
Social media kept the Dumpf on because it meant subscribers, and subscribers meant $$$. These guys are no heroes. Don’t think I said this quite the same way before.
You said it right now.
Excellent analysis, Murfster. Before we can fight the insurrection, we have to understand it, and to understand the insurrection we must understand the media’s role in its development. Mainstream media like the New York Times must also bear their share of blame for their bogus “bothsidesism.”
If they had cut his ass off sooner we wouldn’t have had the riots! Too little too late … But it’s still nice not having to read his crap anymore.