It’s 2:30 AM on May 26, 2020. I can’t sleep. Despite having been in bed for less than four hours, I’m wide awake—mind racing. I get up and grab my journal. Maybe capturing my thoughts will help me get back to sleep. Ten pages later I’m worried about Marshall Law and Civil War…
So now I’m afraid and see it so clearly
Donald creates distraction
The governors keep things shut down
so DJT foments the crowds
Demonstrations
Break all the f-ing rules
& now governors have no choice
more chaos
So, where does it end?
With DJT, it doesn’t end.
I see threats and intimidation coming from his base as we move forward
The masked vs. the unmasked
Worse inequality as essential workers stay black, brown, and poor
Anti-democratic (small “d”)
Roving bands discourage “voter fraud “to help DJT win
Insurrection/chaos so DJT can impose martial law
The courts can’t save us
The Republican judges won’t save us
The Repubs stay silently complicit
It’ll be more chaos, a lot more.
Donald wins reelection, and it continues
Donald loses reelection, challenges it
He’s out and he challenges
His base, his movement continues to support him, making him the biggest celebrity apprentice of all time
To what end?
Destroy his “enemies“ Make it impossible for Biden to govern
Civil War
Military coup
Race riots
My God, where does it end?
It ends when the 65 percent say no to the 35 percent, i.e.
Trump base
Birthers
White supremacists
Anti-vaxers (I didn’t know anything about QAnon at that point)
Plus, COVID-19 ain’t going away - Science is overwhelmed - The rich get richer - Middle-class shrinks
Unemployment stays staggeringly high - Economy in deep recession (42% of lost jobs not coming back)
So DJ T needs all the distraction he can get _ AND that’s his modus operandi anyway!
DJT needs enemies
Black people
Obama
Hillary
James
Byron
Media
Evil people
Liberals
Governors
There’s always a new one
Paranoid? –> Maybe!
Flights of fancy? Not implausible
This threat is existential! - To COVID-19 victims - Medical profession (we get DJ T doctors versus deep state doctors) - Yamiche and the tribe of reporters - Twitter enemies - Brown people at the border
Totalitarianism – not just run amok!
*Run over our f-ing heads!
And I was just gonna play my bass!
Think of birtherism as a form of cursing
“I don’t have to really believe Obama was born in Kenya”
Just saying it is incendiary, bomb-throwing
shouting “fire” in a crowded theater
- And it distracts –> us
- and gathers allies
- “dog-whistle” out loud for all to hear
Meanwhile, Chuck Todd and the media stay safely in the middle
If it’s war
Just Voting (& counting on institutions we don’t trust)
is unilateral dis/un/armament
Q. How will the Civil War happen?
I’m not the first person to think like this!
RevisitingLostRoadsigns…
I hadn’t heard of QAnon at the time. I also didn’t know about the murder of George Floyd the previous night.