As Joy Reid of MSNBC reminded us, religion is when your savior dies for you, a cult is when you die for your leader. In Trump’s case, the cult is a system of devotion directed toward him as he is both a figure and an object. We are all his soldiers…
We have spent another week inching closer to the election with 52 days to go. Today, September 11th, is a somber day in many ways. If you were old enough, you remember where you were that day, how you felt, and what you thought about when you fell asleep that night. Those memories you don’t forget. As we approach the election, many of us are becoming more concerned and anxious about what will happen on Election Day and the days that follow. After September 11th, for some period, this country seemed to pull together. Living in DC, we even watched Fox News back then! Now as the country is being torn apart, we wonder how we ever arrived here. You can see why from Mary Trump’s, Michael Cohen’s, and Bob Woodward’s books but they do not provide the answer on how we get out of this horrific situation.
As Trump calls our service men and women “losers and stupid,” he has ignored that Putin put a bounty on U.S. troops’ heads and that, last week, troops were injured during a skirmish with Russianforces in Syria. He has insinuated that China poisoned Putin’s political opponent. Trump stated that he would end “anti-racism sensitivity training” for Federal agencies. He made fun of Joe Biden and journalists for wearing face masks. Recently, draft dodger Don honored a man at a South Carolina rally who allegedly served and lost his arms in the war and Trump even signed one of his prosthetic arms. All this hoopla and it was found that the man was never in the service and that he was born without his arms! More recently, as Trump spewed despicable lies about our lost and wounded service men and women, Gold Star families and others looked on horrified. And the Republicans remain silent and Putin remains pleased as Trump turns against our friends and coddles our enemies. This week, thanks to Bob Woodward, it was confirmed that Trump withheld information in February about Covid when he knew of the severity and potential deadly impact of the virus. His denial and inaction resulted in a lack of preparedness, inadequate medical treatment and supplies, and the death to date of nearly 200,000 Americans. This is a 65% greater number of deaths than those who died on September 11th, 2001.
Trump lied, so many have died, and still no remorse. While the hustler, Trump, may be trying to destroy our democracy, he will never be respected by thinking and kind people. We are hoping that more Americans, including the military and their families, will see through his charade and steer clear of Trump. Americans need to understand that his only goal is to get re-elected. Despite this, there are still many Trump followers who are now claiming that Biden is a socialist, that he has end-stage dementia, and that he is linked to corporations because he is from Delaware. Trumpers, on the other hand, say that Trump will save the economy and that all wrongs he may have committed either did not happen or they were done before he was President. Their arguments are endless and nauseating at the least. They could start by merely looking at the trillion-dollar deficit that Trump has created during his time in office. This is a 74% increase in less than four years. But, if you do not read or do not care, these figures don’t matter to you or to your followers.
As part of our effort to rally Florida, we went on a “Ridin’ with Biden” this week. This is when 40+ cars, decked with Biden-Harris signs, drive around the area for an hour making themselves well known. As we did the drive, we received many thumbs up, some thumbs down, and a few fingers and offensive words. We were not surprised to see and hear the hate coming from the Trump supporters.
We ask how far will this lying president and his adherents go? We have seen that there is no bottom to his culture and cult of hate. Although we understand that there are good officers out there, it is also most disturbing to see that, according to recent news reports, white supremacists have even infiltrated U.S. law enforcement agencies over the last two decades. Ties between police and far-right, armed vigilante groups have become more obvious as we have seen police acknowledge these groups, provide them water and shelter, and support their violence.
According to accounts, police links to militias and white supremacist groups have been discovered in states including Alabama, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia. Police have been seen working with neo-Nazis against anti-racist activities. Officers have been found wearing far-right, militia logos and some have been photographed with militia or have outwardly allowed white armed mobs to attack protesters and journalists. Additionally, the use of ketamine, a powerful sedative/anesthetic, has become a trend in some police departments and is being used during arrests and has been linked with one innocent young man’s death thus far.
Police brutality has intensified after the killing of George Floyd and the Trump far-right faction continues to oppose peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters. We ask, why aren’t there policies against affiliating with white supremacist groups? All roads lead to a racist Trump and his hit man, Barr. Clearly, armed civilian mercenaries should not be approved as a supplemental force to local police efforts. They reek of hate, revenge, prejudice, and with no justice to peaceful protesters or to their First Amendment rights. Trump exclaims that he wants to “protect suburban white women.” Oh please, we can protect ourselves and that would be from you, Mr. President! A man that tells an average of 12 lies a day is not a man. Sometimes we wonder if he is human at all. The violent attacks on peaceful protesters is on Trump and the blood from their injuries and deaths is on his hands, on those of the silent Republicans, and on his cult followers.
We are moving closer to this nail-biting election and have 52 days to go until we see if we will be governed by a cult that is devoted to Trump or by a democracy shared by the people. With only these few days until the election, we are getting nervous and excited. It is like your 16th birthday and the first day you got to drive a car all rolled up into one. You know the feeling! We want to be free of Trump and are visualizing that day. At the same time, we can see that a world with him, still at the helm, would be a disaster. Many have asked what will we do and where will we go if he is re-elected? Will we stay and fight and will we have the energy? All good questions and hopefully ones we will not have to ask ourselves on November 4th. Whatever happens, we will stick together as we have these past 4 years. For now, think positive and do not let them steal your vote!
“Masks are like underwear. Don’t hang around with anyone that doesn’t wear ‘em.”
In Solidarity, Be Kind & We Will Overcome
