The revolt on January 6th will happen again.
This is not me being a prophet. This is an empirical observation about what Republicans are doing right now, in broad daylight, to steal the 2024 election.
It's not like I'm making this up. Anyone, right now, can go to a right-wing radio show, television show, or podcast, and hear them talking about doing so right this minute. As we speak, bills are circulating through state legislatures to take the certification power for vote counts away from attorneys general, and place them in the hands of state legislative bodies instead - almost all of which will be controlled by Republicans.
A more blatant and flippant attempt at subverting democracy has not been seen since the Nazis in the 1930's. And while it's usually true that comparing things to Nazism is a virtual guarantee to not be taken seriously, this time it isn't hyperbole or paranoia.
Go see for yourself. It's absolutely shameless.
They feel justified in this because they have been constantly lied to by a media machine that does not give a damn about the truth. So people end up believing that the 2020 election was somehow stolen from them, and believe that they are justified in using desperate tactics.
Check out this video of a man whose fires have been so stoked that he's getting impatient about when he gets to use his precious firearms against liberals.
"How many elections are they going to steal before we kill these people?" Charlie Kirk gets asked at his Turning Point rally in Boise, Idaho.
Kirk, to his credit, denounces him, but that didn't stop a number of people in the audience whom whooping and cheering
Never mind that Republicans have clearly and unambiguously stolen 2 out of the last 5 presidential elections, one of which was taken by Trump, who LOST the popular vote in 2016, yet got named president anyway by an Electoral College system that refused to do the job it was put in place to do, namely prevent demagogues like Trump from getting in.
The system is so out of balance right now, that any Democrat must win 55% of the popular vote or higher, just to win.
And this fucker wants to know when he and his buddies get to use THEIR guns against US?
Where is the sense of urgency regarding the FACT that the Right-Wing Media Cult wants us all DEAD?
January 6th 2021 was a wake-up call. But clearly, the response of the Left and most Democrats is to hit the snooze button and roll over.
This is the part that scares the living shit out of me. The barbarians are at the gate, and all the guards are fast asleep. Playing cards. Abandoning their posts. Not drugged, just fucking apathetic.
Does nobody else see that America is mother-fucking jeopardy?
This is very much like one of those disaster movies where the expert sounds the alarm about the disaster, and nobody ever listens to him. Except that unlike Towering Inferno, or Volcano, or Jurassic Park, where the cautions of the highly-decorated scientists go ignored, there isn't a highly-decorated scientist or expert.
There's just me. And my little blog.
Thus it is that I am forced to sit on the sidelines, watch the experts miss the point over and over, watch those in charge repeatedly fuck up, helpless to stop any of it.
If only people listened to me like they do other contra-qualified gasbags, like Alex Jones - someone whose skill as an "infotainer" is such that he doesn't deserve, nor should ever have, one single follower.
Actually, a few other people see a glimpse of it. Charlie Sykes on The Bulwark has some inkling of it. But he keeps missing the mark. He reports on the threat daily, never EVER addressing the root cause of it all - the non-stop extremist propaganda that passes for "news" these days.
It's like watching someone trying to bail out the sinking ship - one teaspoonful at a time.
Here's a thought: How about we do something about the GIANT, GAPING HOLE IN THE SIDE OF THE GODDAMNED SHIP?! Maybe if we stop the flood of misinformation from flowing in, we can finally bail the ship out so that we can repair it in the nearest harbor.
How do we do that?
Watch this space.
Eric
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