Trump is sinking in the polls. As bad as things are, they would be a lot worse if he was popular. I remember the days before the Iraq invasion, when a majority of Americans favored invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11. As someone who opposed this, I felt like I had lost my mind. How could so many people support something so obviously unjust and unwise?
We don’t have that problem now. Trump is deeply unpopular. Even some Republicans are turning on him, and some of his allies are publicly disavowing his moves to crack down on free speech. A handful of corrupt individuals are trying to impose fascism on the USA, but the majority of Americans disapprove.
One can look at Trump’s increasingly authoritarian moves as the “end of America”—or as flagrant desperation. I see desperation. These people are flailing, looking for any way to maintain power as it becomes increasingly clear that they will go down as the biggest failures in American history.
Yes, they will try to interfere in the elections and seek to cling to power in spite of the Constitution. But that is a dangerous gambit. Success will require the destruction of the most powerful democracy in the history of the world.
Quite a tall order. Personally, I think it is better to be in our shoes than in theirs. And I say this as someone who could be in a great deal of trouble if the fascists win (which is also a possibility, and I expect things to get worse before they get better).
The full backlash to these treacheries may take a while to arrive. But it will be tremendous when it does. Americans are learning that the biggest threat to our freedom is not some foreign power. The call is coming from inside the house ... the White House, to be exact.
This is hardly a surprise. A 28-year-old Illinois legislator predicted as much back in 1837. In his “Address Delivered Before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois,” Abraham Lincoln said that the biggest threat to the United States would come from within rather than from a foreign power.
“If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher,” he said. “As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide.”
1 Comments
splount@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 350d
Hopium. Until I see that solid 40% that has always supported him regardless of his rants or policies dissipate, this discussion is academic. Fact is people won't see the faults in the cult. The right controls the vast bulk of the media landscape while the left wrestles over strongly worded memos and maintaining decorum. Even when the left and center begin storming the bastille, corporate media will switch over to the latest iPhone release or whatever consumer shitstain is the flavor of the week. It's simply not in their best interest to report on dissent that matters.