Hey, guess what?
I’m still angry.
And you should be too.
Surprise, surprise, nothing has changed in a month since my last rant. Shit is still fucked up. Inaction and ineptitude are still the norm. The earth is still trying to shake humanity off its back as a reaction to pollution causing climate change. People continue getting dumber. Violence is hovering at an all time high. And the news is filled with the same old story, different day.
And yeah, I’m still angry.
Nothing says “we are so fucked” more then watching 2021 come to a crescendoing demise of wallowing despair with nothing to show but a weak economy, more covid and it’s mutating variants, the further legitimizing of white supremacy, the widespread promotion of ignorance and stupidity, and the perpetuating status quo of racism, homophobia, and antifeminism deeply embedded in all aspects of American society. Meanwhile the political situation is looking even bleaker than the rigged and bribed rightwing Supreme Court we now have. The Un-United States of America is just a few months away from the November 8th elections and with the democrats floundering it’s inevitable that the radical right will regain power of the House and Senate. As we all know this will effectively stymie Biden’s meager efforts to do anything, let alone instigate any and all of the much needed changes. And will no doubt lead to Trump running and probably winning in 2024 (if the unhealthy bastard lives that long and of course he will just out of spite).
So what else can I say except “Welcome to the Terrordome.” We had a taste of things to come last time. But this time it’ll be worse. There is nothing more polarized and ready to cause destruction and mayhem more than a vindicated fascist. One has only to look at Hitler’s failed 1923 coup d’état, subsequent arrest, highly publicized trial propelling him into the spotlight, his early release from prison (good behavior… really?), and then a decade later raising up and becoming chancellor of Germany and well… the rest, as they say, is history. You know, as in World War Two, the state sanctioned murder of millions and millions of Jews, gays, gypsies, and anyone else the Nazis labeled “asocial,” and the near complete destruction of the entire planet.
What, Nazis don’t get you angry?
And for the naysayers mumbling, “that can’t happen here.” Maybe you all should take a gander at all the corporations still pumping money into the arms of the seditionist, Trumpers, and rightwing nutjobs. Hell, it turns out that AT&T bankrolls the far right news network, One America News—like we never saw that coming. The government bailed out the airlines and their CEO’s run cash in hand to super PACs trying to kill the Green New Deal. Major players such as Boeing, American Crystal Sugar, Koch Industries, General Dynamics Corporation, Lockheed Martin, Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers, National Association of Realtors, Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, National Electrical Contractors Association, American Society of Anesthesiologists, Toyota, American Financial Services Association. H&R Block, Chevron, and Gigna, just to name a few, have continued to “donate” to the insurrectionists that spread the Big Lie and who voted against the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Democracy is under fire and your shopping dollars are bankrolling it.
And you’re angry yet?
And what the hell is the January 6th Committee doing? What more “evidence” do you need to convict people that openly tried to overthrow the government? Or are they just waiting for the republicans to gain control and not so quietly shut them down. The entire republican party is guilty of sedition. They ALL fucking knew what was being planned. Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene both played a role and continue to vocally support the execution of prominent Democrats. Cruz, Hawley, Meadows, Scott, McCarthy, Jordan, Giuliani, and even My Pillow Guy had their little grubby fingers in it. And let’s not forget, like the American press has, that Supreme Court “justice” Clarence Thomas’ wife, Ginni Thomas, a rabid “Christian” conservative, not only had a prominent part. But she also continues to evoke violence, “We all have guns and concealed carry to handle what’s coming.” And yeah, I’ll say it again, she is the wife of a sitting judge on the goddamn Supreme Court of the United States.
But of course “it couldn’t happen here. This is America.”
Sadly with so much inaction and even more short term memory loss from our elected officials I have to admit that I’m slowly falling into the apathy of “why even try,” and “who the fuck cares” and “nothing changes.” Because it is really hard to rally once again and scream, “let’s get the vote out” when we are again back at square one. Not that I am saying I won’t vote or anything stupid like that. But how many times do you support a losing proposition? However to be fair I do play the lotto every week and I’m still no richer. In fact I’m out five dollars. So yeah, maybe I am as gullible as the government wants me to be. Hey, here’s my taxes, please use $740 billion on defense while 37 million Americans live in poverty.
My only hope is that when the republicans seize control again we can take a cue from the Révolution Française and when they fail, as they always do, to manage social and economic inequality, adequately finance government debt, prevent economic depression, and sufficiently address unemployment and inflation. We collectively rise up and tear this motherfucker down. But um… yeah. Good luck with that. It’s no coincidence that Fox News plays on all military bases and that 124 retired generals and admirals sent out that letter claiming Biden stole the election. The military is the republican’s lapdog. They know which side their bread is buttered—$740 billion worth. Yet even three obviously not insane retired generals can see which way the wind blows as in their Washington Post opinion piece “The Military Must Prepare Now For a 2024 Insurrection.” Where they clearly state, “The potential for a total breakdown of the chain of command along partisan lines — from the top of the chain to squad level — is significant should another insurrection occur. The idea of rogue units organizing among themselves to support the ‘rightful’ commander in chief cannot be dismissed.” You think the violent removal of demonstrators from Lafayette Square was overkill? Wait until 2024. It’ll be game on and we’ll be the ball getting kicked around.
Now I’m angry and sad.
However this isn’t the first time that a corrupt administration and president tried to fleece the American people. Nothing really new happens in this world as history always repeats itself. Way back in 1921 Warren G. Harding was elected president. Angry at all the “progressive legislature” Theodore Roosevelt and then Woodrow Wilson had initiated in the twenty years before him, Harding was determined to overturn many of those policies. Such as implementing tax cuts for the rich, tariffs for competing foreign businesses, and limiting immigration. Yet Harding often seemed overwhelmed. He frequently told friends that he wasn’t prepared to be president. As a way to surround himself with “yes” men he awarded high-level positions to his political cronies who all were corrupt.
Is any of this sounding familiar?
But here’s the good news. Harding’s health sucked. He died from a questionable heart attack and didn’t finish out his term just as numerous rumors of scandal involving his administration were becoming public. There were claims he had fathered an illegitimate daughter in the White House with his alleged mistress. And his Secretary of the Interior had leased oil-rich lands in Wyoming to companies in return for personal loans. The fact that Harding’s wife refused an autopsy and had his body embalmed an hour after his death didn’t help the rumors around his death. And then ten years later, an obscure former Harding administrator with the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Investigation, Gaston Means, published a book entitled “The Strange Death of President Harding,” where he claimed Harding’s wife had poisoned the president (are you listening Melania?). Unfortunately Means was also a notorious confidence man and bootlegger who died in Leavenworth Prison after being convicted for a con he tried to pull related to the Charles Lindbergh Jr. kidnapping. Obviously his rep caused no one to really listen to him. But…
So I do have high hopes for Trump’s ultimate downfall and demise? Well sure, if history repeats itself, then I do. I just don’t want to have to live through the ensuing mayhem to get there. His last presidency caused me so much anxiety I don’t think I can survive another one. But it probably doesn’t matter as we’ll all be in gulags and “reeducation training camps.” While Q-Anon’ers run rampant with their pickup trucks, AR-14s, and Trump banners. The democrats will get rounded up all the while wondering, how did this happen? And we’ll all die from another pandemic.
Are you sure you’re not angry?