fascism – Candid Observations

We are eight days from the General Election, and my biggest hope is that it go off without a glitch.

But I am worried because the former president does not admit to losing anything, and if he loses this election, as he did in 2020, I am sure he is going to use his power, his money and the money of his wealthy friends, and his lies to stoke his supporters into another frenzy resulting in violence and causing confusion and doubt as to the legitimacy of the election. There will be a few more days, weeks, or moths of emotional manipulation of the American people.

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I am angry and tired. I am confused about why the election is so close, given all of the issues of the former president, including being a convicted felon and a convicted sexual offender. I am angry at America’s system of government and, frankly, stupid and worthless rules, that allow a convicted felon to run for the highest office in the land. I am angry at Merrick Garland for what feels like his lackluster responses and reactions to the crimes of the former president, allowing way too much time to pass before the former president was finally called out for his behavior and his disrespect of this country, its institutions and its laws.

I am angry that indecency and vulgarity have been accepted as normal by the media; I am angry at so-called regulatory systems that have allowed Fox News and others to continue to operate though their “talent” spews lies and in doing so, has supported the dismantling of this country. I am bothered that people giggle rather than call the former president out on his lies, name-calling, and abusive language – be it on an outdoor platform or standing in a church. (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/9/2245657/-Trump-encourages-TPUSA-crowd-to-start-curse-word-chant-in-a-church)

I am outraged that the media, for the most part, has either not been aware of or has chosen to ignore the ominous path on which the former president is taking the country. Do they not care that this country might become a Fascist nation?

I am still going through my emotions and disappointments. There is so much to sort through.

But one thing (in addition to what I have just written) I am fairly sure about is that because of the antics, the lying, and the emotional manipulation of the emotions of American citizens for eight long years, many people in this country may be suffering from depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress syndrome, and more. It feels like there are many people who at this time may need medication or therapy because this entire Trump experience has so battered their feelings and emotions.

I find it troubling that so many Republicans in the Senate and House of Representatives have been silent in public, allowing the former president to do and say whatever he has wanted. Some Republicans are speaking out now, but for eight years, they have been largely silent. There has been no harbinger of truth to bring this runaway train of bigotry, hatred, deception, and greed to a halt, as did the words of US Attorney Joseph Welch, who stopped Sen. Joseph McCarthy in 1954 as the senator continued his contrived attack on communism, ruining the lives of countless innocent people, as he attacked yet another person during a hearing: “Sir, at long last, have you no decency?” (https://www.scdemocratonline.com/stories/put-an-end-to-this,25068)

Where have been the lovers of democracy? Why have so many people remained silent, compliant, and complicit as the former president and his friends have systematically and intentionally worked to undo the American republic? I have little respect for those who released books after they got out of office or the employ of the Federal government about the depravity of what they experienced during the Trump presidency.

Why didn’t they say something out loud early in this circus, not because they wanted to sell a book but because they wanted to save their country?

I have not written much in the past months because I have been watching, and, unfortunately, inhaling the toxicity that has been hovering over us all. The toxicity has been caused not only by the masters of the soft coup that has continued since January 6, but also apparently inspiring millions of people to support the former president.

They are afraid of “the bad people” that their hero talks about all of the time, especially “the immigrants.” The former president’s language has always fed the fear of so many white Americans, language that has also been used by those who lead their churches. The goal of the former president and his minions has not been to save America; it has been, rather to empty the current “swamp” and fill the hole with their own ideology. Americans, mostly but not all white, have fully accepted and internalized the message that “the bad people” must be herded up and sent away for America to be “great” again.

Writing this is helping me push through my feelings which have constipated my spirit, but this unpacking is just the beginning. As I write, I feel the density of my anger and disappointment, coupled with a sense of dread about the former president and his friends will do in the aftermath of the upcoming election.

They want to end democracy and have said so.(https://newrepublic.com/post/179247/jack-posobiec-democracy-cpac-2024) Russell Vought, co-author of Project 2025, said they want to end multiculturalism. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQjdwsZhE_Q)

We are in trouble. I hope we get through this, but I hope even more that we have learned that people must work to preserve and improve what or who they say they love because there are always wolves in waiting who want to tear down those very things.

A candid observation …

When news surfaced that the US Justice Department intervening in the sentencing of Roger Stone, asking (demanding?) that his sentence be reduced, a friend of mine wrote, “this government is stressing me out. I am resorting to eating, I mean, overeating, to try to cope. I need help.”

She is not the only one. One friend said she has a headache all of the time; another said she is drinking more wine than usual. Yet another said, “I feel like I am a tightly wound coil, getting tighter all the time.”

What is bothering people is this administration’s flagrant disregard for and disrespect of “the rule of law.” People who once felt protected by America’s system of government no longer feel that way. They are frustrated and frightened because none of the institutions in place that were supposed to assure that America’s democracy never descends into Fascism or some variation of that system are working.

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The fear and frustration of people are helped along by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Attorney General William Barr, as well as the GOP which is shuffling meekly behind their leadership, in effect sanctioning the breakdown of this government.

The smirk which Leader McConnell displayed after the president’s acquittal was hard to see, but it’s probably fair to say that it is a smirk that African Americans have seen and experienced for generations in this country. While some of my white friends are appalled at what they have described as the trashing of justice, my African American friends take the deep breaths we have always had as justice has eluded us. The white idea and ideal of “justice” have never applied to black people. The “justice system” has never been concerned with making sure black people get justice for the wrongs done by individuals, corporations, or governments. The trauma that the lack of justice has caused has been passed down through generations. Studies have shown that internalized trauma, especially if it is repetitive, produces physiological, emotional, and sociological effects. (https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/10/trauma-inherited-generations/573055/) In order to survive, black people have had to learn to cope, to swallow deeply and keep breathing every time they have not gotten justice, but white people, especially those who believed in the purity of justice, have not built up those political antibodies. We are all suffering; I would suppose that white people are suffering even more.

What is different now is that many white people are now feeling what it feels like to be walked over by the justice system. Some white people are appalled and disturbed – and traumatized – as they are watching the attorney general of the United States help a president circumvent the law, helped along by the Senate. This president is getting away with butchering the very concept of “justice” as he chips away at the “rule of law.”

The things that he has been accused of – lying, sexual impropriety, engaging the help of an enemy of this country to win an election – were once things that would have spelled doom for a sitting president, but not this one, and the people who love the idea of justice are watching, appalled, troubled, and worried.

What this makes one ask is, “what now?” School children are mimicking and imitating the words, the spirit, and the behavior of the president. Non-white children are being bullied. White school teachers are feeling emboldened to let their biases show. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/local/school-bullying-trump-words/) (https://www.mediaite.com/news/stunning-report-reveals-hundreds-of-child-bullies-have-used-trumps-racist-and-xenophobic-words-to-attack-other-kids/

Police are continuing to engage in the behavior which has traumatized black people for generations, using their power with a sense of entitlement. (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/22/us/6-year-old-arrested-orlando-florida.html) A black teen who was a member of a swim team was falsely arrested by police as his team returned from a meet. The description of his encounter was painful to read, and more painful for him to experience. (https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/black-college-swimmer-sues-illinois-police-over-false-arrest/2219215/)

It’s not just black people who are seeing and experiencing injustice; it’s people of all walks of life. This president’s administration is adversely affecting the rights and the lives of women, immigrants, Hispanics, Muslims, people with disabilities, and members of the LGBTQ community. His policies are traumatizing the poor, the elderly, and anyone who is not, as Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative, “guilty and white.” (Stevenson has noted that in this country, one is more likely to get justice if he/she is guilty and white than if one is innocent and poor.”)

Stress causes horrible health problems, and from what I hear, more and more people are experiencing the kind of stress that comes from being traumatized. None of this bodes well for this country. Many people are pretending that things are not as bad as they are, but those feeling the stress are finding it difficult, if not impossible, to ignore this new reality.

A candid observation…