It’s a fact that Donald Trump set an impressive number of records as President.
It’s also a fact that, so as not to alienate all those MAGA voters, the Republican Party embraced the Big Lie — the bone-headed claim that Trump actually won, even though, like, he lost.
A few addled Trump fans might truly believe that Biden stole the election, but only a few. Most of them, as well as virtually all of the GOP politicians, know full well that Biden legitimately won.
Trump simply got beat, honestly and soundly. Democrats went to the polls in great numbers, reacting to the increasingly fascistic behavior of the conservatives and the disaster that was the Trump presidency.
For the GOP, the handwriting is on the wall: their base is shrinking, and the Democrats are thriving. The Republicans thus have concluded that to avoid going extinct, they will have to rig the voting system in their favor.
No problem. Cheating is nothing new to the GOP. Starting just after the election, in Republican-controlled legislatures nationwide, more than 800 bills were introduced to make voting harder in various ways, usually targeting black and brown people. Some legislation already has been passed and enacted.
The right-wing politicians are in a panic. But it’s a controlled panic, tempered by their belief that they are clever enough and sneaky enough to cheat and win. That’s probably true.
What’s also true is that, by the simple act of remaining Republicans, they reveal themselves to be vile, dishonest, and morally bankrupt. To which their reply is, “So what?”
Look at everything the conservatives have said and done lately: the election of Trump, the systematic voter suppression, refusing to wear a mask or get vaccinated for COVID. Not to mention, for God’s sake, the storming of the Capitol by a mob of Trump-supporting white supremacists. No decent, self-respecting person can remain a part of the GOP.
And by the way, it strikes me that this clause from the 14th Amendment should be getting more attention.
I am no longer mystified at how right-wing politicians can be so shameless. They are what they are. I am no longer shocked at how the mental health of half the population has deteriorated to such a startling degree. It simply has.
But, wow — the right-wing lies, the loony conspiracies, the vitriol, the hate. It borders on the surreal.
You could argue that good people outnumber the crazies in this country, and with the right motivation, can outvote the GOP nutjobs.
But the GOP is in the process of putting a thumb on the scales, to make voting harder for our side and, where possible, easier for theirs. To a degree that remains to be seen, they will succeed.
Their efforts to suppress the Democratic vote will be aided, of course, by the Supreme Court, which the right wing now dominates 6-3, and which is unashamedly, openly partisan.
The Court consists of three sensible progressive members (Breyer, Kagan, Sotomayor), three wild-eyed conservatives (Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch), two laughably unqualified conservatives (Kavanaugh and Barrett), and Chief Justice Roberts, who occasionally reveals that he has a conscience, but is still a conservative.
That Court will never, ever, ever stop the GOP voter suppression schemes.
So, in short, we are in real trouble. I honestly can’t see a positive outcome. For the first time in my life, I can visualize how American society could collapse.
And make no mistake: if we implode, it’s all over. At best, we would end up like Russia under Putin, or Turkey under Erdogan, or Brazil under Bolsonaro.
Or Germany under Hitler.
If America is subjected to another round of something like this…
… we are history.
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