Endings
My October 14 post about Trump claming that Nothing in his Administration will become him like the leaving of it has not aged as well as I would have liked in the wake of Wednesday's coup attempt. I admit, I did not anticipate him sending a mob to lynch Congress.
Although I'm not sure how much of Wednesday's mob action was planned by Trump. First, he's just not much of a planner. Second, he's personally a coward. I suspect his "plan" for whatever values of planning actually occurred was for the Congress to be intimidated by protestors, possibly including "protestors" roaming the halls of Congress. (Think the various right-wing anti-mask and anti-lockdown protests in statehouses of late.)
This does not absolve him of the blame for the coup or the deaths. If you play with matches and gasoline, the fire is your responsibility. It does point out that Trump is more symptom than problem.
There are large groups of Americans who are angry enough to resort to violence for political ends. That's the problem. And no, they are not, by-and-large, "blue collar" people. We've seen CEOs of companies and people who chartered private jets to fly into Washington in order to attack the capitol. We've also seen some people in the mob who clearly came to lynch politicians. (Dudes with zip ties and flak jackets - Google it yourself.)
Fixing this will require a lot of work, and not just by politicians. Some, most of the work will have to be done by society. It will start by shaming those who engage in violence, much like we've shamed those who are openly racist. Yes, some people are without shame, but the goal is to keep the number of people we need to worry about as low as possible. This entry was originally posted at https://chris-gerrib.dreamwidth.org/750350.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Although I'm not sure how much of Wednesday's mob action was planned by Trump. First, he's just not much of a planner. Second, he's personally a coward. I suspect his "plan" for whatever values of planning actually occurred was for the Congress to be intimidated by protestors, possibly including "protestors" roaming the halls of Congress. (Think the various right-wing anti-mask and anti-lockdown protests in statehouses of late.)
This does not absolve him of the blame for the coup or the deaths. If you play with matches and gasoline, the fire is your responsibility. It does point out that Trump is more symptom than problem.
There are large groups of Americans who are angry enough to resort to violence for political ends. That's the problem. And no, they are not, by-and-large, "blue collar" people. We've seen CEOs of companies and people who chartered private jets to fly into Washington in order to attack the capitol. We've also seen some people in the mob who clearly came to lynch politicians. (Dudes with zip ties and flak jackets - Google it yourself.)
Fixing this will require a lot of work, and not just by politicians. Some, most of the work will have to be done by society. It will start by shaming those who engage in violence, much like we've shamed those who are openly racist. Yes, some people are without shame, but the goal is to keep the number of people we need to worry about as low as possible. This entry was originally posted at https://chris-gerrib.dreamwidth.org/750350.html. Please comment there using OpenID.