How far can you push people before they react?
It's astounding to me how the minority rules, how the news reports, and nothing happens. This is what we studied in school. Nazi Germany, yes, Nazi Germany, and totalitarian regimes. Hell, it's happening in Belarus as I write this, people are mad as hell and they're not going to take it anymore.
Well, they said this in Hong Kong and then Xi cracked down. And despite some naysaying by western countries, he's getting away with it. But the last time I checked the United States was a democracy, not a dictatorship.
I have no faith in the Democrats. Certainly not in Biden or Kamala, because they're playing within the system and the system is broken. Come on, Trump breaks the law, admits his behavior in Ukraine and he's impeached and...not convicted. Trump is on the side of the economy as opposed to the people and... The Donald always gets away with it. The Democrats say their hands are tied. But the public's are not.
We are waiting for a trigger event. Just like the killing of George Floyd with Black Lives Matter. Maybe we'll have to wait for the election, but it could happen before that. That's the history of the world, discontent is festering and then a seemingly irrelevant event starts a conflagration.
This is not about Trump defenders. This is not about Fox News. The truth is, every single poll says there are more Democrats than Republicans. According to the Center for the Digital Future, Anderson Cooper is the most trusted source on cable for COVID-19 information. He gets 47%, Laura Ingraham gets 10%. Sean Hannity gets 17%. Tucker Carlson gets 17%. Meanwhile, Chris Cuomo gets 39% and Rachel Maddow gets 35%. In other words, the public knows the score, despite the bloviators on the right.
And people are scared. 26% of the public will not leave the house whatsoever before there is a vaccine. 45% won't take a trip on a plane or a train. 42% won't go to a movie or play. 33% won't use a ride hailing service. Yes, if you follow the business news, Uber and Lyft have reported their numbers and investors are panicked and...come on, this is not a business story, this is a COVID-19 STORY!
In other words, most Americans are winning but they're losing. After decades of false equivalences, after years of working the refs: nyti.ms/3fYcNhl, it looks like the right has more support than it does. So, you feel alone, but you're not. What will it take to get you to take action?
You can vote. But that hasn't worked for you in eons. Oh sure, the Democrats are better than the Republicans, but even the vaunted Obama didn't speak to issues of income inequality. There's no hope. Obama promised it, didn't deliver it, and the only people believing in Biden and Harris have something to lose, when the truth is most people do not. When you've got nothing, you've got nothing to lose.
And now we have the post office situation. Just like with Ukraine, Trump admits its. He's hobbling the post office in order to hobble the mail-in vote, even though he just registered for an absentee ballot.
The average citizen knows the score. Now the news is getting down to their level. Vice broke the story of the removal of sorting machines:
"The Post Office Is Deactivating Mail Sorting Machines Ahead of the Election": bit.ly/2Y10V8k
And now TMZ is on about the removal of mailboxes in Manhattan today:
USPS Mailboxes Removed In NYC... As Trump's War Rages On": bit.ly/2PVoFGi
And they're removing mailboxes in Oregon and Montana too. Hell, Senator Jon Tester wants answers: bit.ly/2CteFRz, will he get them?
Government denials, government explanations, do not matter. Because Trump and his cronies have lost all credibility. Even if there are legitimate excuses, they won't be accepted.
But, it's now come down from the media giants to the hoi polloi. Their fire is being stoked.
As for the media giants...they've been no help in this crisis. They just report, that's all they see as their role. Meanwhile, nothing happens. We're supposed to believe in the election, which already seems unfair, never mind Trump putting his hand on the scale and admitting he's unsure whether he'll accept the results.
This is all hiding in plain sight. Trump says what he's going to do and then he does it. How long do you expect this to continue?
So, there's a disconnect between the press and the public, between the government and the public, between the police and the public. You can't rely on institutions to solve your problems. You pay your taxes, but the corporations get relief, not you. Meanwhile, you're about to be kicked out of your apartment. You've got no money in the bank, and after years of being told it's your fault, you know nothing could be further from the truth.
It's not like the U.S. is in uncharted waters, it's not like this has never happened before, it just hasn't happened in the U.S. We've been told forever that we're better, that we're superior, that it can't happen here, meanwhile it is. Trump's niece can write a book, insider Bolton too, and it makes no difference. If you're expecting change, you've got another think coming.
Don't shoot the messenger. I'm just saying the level of discontent in America is gigantic. And the pot is about to boil over. Trump is pushing it to the limit, taking away our freedoms, and he's getting away with it. Those who believe in the rule of law are doing nothing, but those whom the rule of law is supposed to protect are fed up.
Come on. It took three and a half years of Trump until the killing of George Floyd caused international protests. Yes, not only here in the U.S., but around the world. And protests were even in rural areas. The level of discontent is just that high. This is not the sixties, this is the sixties on steroids!
So everything is calm, and then one day...POOF!
Hitler had defenders. The authoritarian always has defenders. But too often the majority is somnambulant. People awake too late. But in the information age, where everybody knows what is going on, where the president even tells us, things are different.
Come on, you read the news and you wince. You tell your spouse. Maybe a friend. And then it's business as usual. Yesterday's headline is replaced by today's. But there is attrition. There does come a point when one more piece of straw, however light, breaks the camel's back.
But let's just say we have the election, that people don't rise up before that. Well, no matter who wins in November there will be riots in the street. Never forget, the right has all the guns.
The bills are coming due. For the lack of diligence for decades. We were all hit in the face when we learned there was no preparation for the coronavirus. And instead of rebuilding infrastructure, Trump is tearing it down. Meanwhile, governors are afraid of him, and reopened their states way too early, even Newsom in California, he lacked the cojones to do the right thing. And now Covid is even rampant in the hinterlands.
Yes, a storm is brewing. I'm not being an alarmist. One event, which looks little on the surface, is gonna set our whole country on fire, just you wait.
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