Watching things play out, and the degree to which the protest "control" is stoked by the enforcement strategies, the use of completely unnecessary violence, and the glee in inflicting power and personal animus of many the police/military efforts, it's hard not to speculate about a bigger picture this is serving.
Is all of this a dry run?
There is no peacekeeping here. There is no conversation taking place between the president and the American people. There is no progress or response to the people he has taken an oath to serve (rather than himself). This is NOT simply protecting shop windows. This is straight silencing of civil disobedience and punishing protest. So what is really going on?
Is the intention here to create more divide between enforcement and the citizens--to inflame and make sure each see the other as the enemy? To create true ill will between them, one armed, the other unarmed, so that when called upon again it already begins at a higher pitch and the two parties will be more focused on revenge and less focused on why they are in conflict or who is pitting them against one another? To get Americans used to fighting one another--for it to lose shock value between those administrating the beatings and those watching and reporting the beatings?
Is this a loyalty test to see who in enforcement is willing to turn against fellow Americans, who can be counted on to follow ANY order and who will turn on the president (weed them out now)? Is Trump trying to further stoke his base, get them itching to jump in with their guns and side with enforcement and show those Libs a real lesson, maybe start shooting at fellow Americans themselves and take matters into their own hands (no accountability to Trump, no orders, just Americans killing all on their own)?
Is this the next step in the white supremacy boards and conspiracy sites he makes cryptic nods to and that have grown in paranoia and fervor even though THEIR man is in charge--somehow the enemy is even more of a threat--and is he selling them that he is the savior, the coming of the white national Christian revolution and it needs to be bloody against this Deep State as is God's plan (you know, Jesus LOVES military and killing and dictators).
Is he checking how far he can push Republicans, what they will still tolerate and not speak against, and to what limits he can push the courts on the extent of presidential authority, and how well he can amass an un-identified, un-uniformed, un-traceable, un-recorded secret army (finally his own brownshirts and SS) to do the real brutish dirty work and trigger violence and force obedience? What can the likes of Barr and Miller and the rest do to keep him in power no matter what?
I think there is a very good chance that what we are watching is far darker and far more planned than we think.
I am afraid this will subside the next few weeks, underneath it will still boil, but Americans will get pulled back into concerns of the virus, the stress of daily lives, and the upcoming election without knowing we just saw the dress rehearsal for Trump's re-election strategy and what will be his attempt at the takeover by a military state into the authoritarian regime he has fantasized about and planned for since day one of his oath.
I believe that with the crimes he and his cohorts have already committed and the dirty deals they have struck he simply CAN NOT lose control of the government or he will lose everything. This is him surveying how difficult it will be to not leave office. And if I was as screwed up as him, I would have to be encouraged by the results thus far and how many are okay with the violence and will still stand with him or be silent NO MATTER WHAT.
If I were him, I would conclude that a takeover is worth a shot. I would see no reason to honor the election results, follow any law, or care one lick about anyone other than myself--which has always been his operating instructions any way. His base literally believes everything he says even when they are straight out lies that could not be easier to show as lies. He owns truth so why not just keep tossing tax breaks to the rich; hoisting patriotic (I hugged a flag!) and religious (I lifted a Bible!) symbols for the gullible loyalists; permitting guns and violence for the rednecks; deregulating and allowing the corrupt, old white boy network to prosper; giving Republicans whatever they want if they just shut up; and appeasing the foreign interests that pay his bills and help his business interests. Why not? The liberals are a bunch of p@ssies who couldn't even remove him from office with blatant illegal conduct, couldn't even get him under oath. F them.
So, we need things like the Mattis response and pushback by ANY Republican of conscience, corporate America, and the dogged determination of the protesters on the street (not the vandals) because I think we are standing up for something much more ominous than we know and sending a message that very may well save the Republic.
Is all of this a dry run?
There is no peacekeeping here. There is no conversation taking place between the president and the American people. There is no progress or response to the people he has taken an oath to serve (rather than himself). This is NOT simply protecting shop windows. This is straight silencing of civil disobedience and punishing protest. So what is really going on?
Is the intention here to create more divide between enforcement and the citizens--to inflame and make sure each see the other as the enemy? To create true ill will between them, one armed, the other unarmed, so that when called upon again it already begins at a higher pitch and the two parties will be more focused on revenge and less focused on why they are in conflict or who is pitting them against one another? To get Americans used to fighting one another--for it to lose shock value between those administrating the beatings and those watching and reporting the beatings?
Is this a loyalty test to see who in enforcement is willing to turn against fellow Americans, who can be counted on to follow ANY order and who will turn on the president (weed them out now)? Is Trump trying to further stoke his base, get them itching to jump in with their guns and side with enforcement and show those Libs a real lesson, maybe start shooting at fellow Americans themselves and take matters into their own hands (no accountability to Trump, no orders, just Americans killing all on their own)?
Is this the next step in the white supremacy boards and conspiracy sites he makes cryptic nods to and that have grown in paranoia and fervor even though THEIR man is in charge--somehow the enemy is even more of a threat--and is he selling them that he is the savior, the coming of the white national Christian revolution and it needs to be bloody against this Deep State as is God's plan (you know, Jesus LOVES military and killing and dictators).
Is he checking how far he can push Republicans, what they will still tolerate and not speak against, and to what limits he can push the courts on the extent of presidential authority, and how well he can amass an un-identified, un-uniformed, un-traceable, un-recorded secret army (finally his own brownshirts and SS) to do the real brutish dirty work and trigger violence and force obedience? What can the likes of Barr and Miller and the rest do to keep him in power no matter what?
I think there is a very good chance that what we are watching is far darker and far more planned than we think.
I am afraid this will subside the next few weeks, underneath it will still boil, but Americans will get pulled back into concerns of the virus, the stress of daily lives, and the upcoming election without knowing we just saw the dress rehearsal for Trump's re-election strategy and what will be his attempt at the takeover by a military state into the authoritarian regime he has fantasized about and planned for since day one of his oath.
I believe that with the crimes he and his cohorts have already committed and the dirty deals they have struck he simply CAN NOT lose control of the government or he will lose everything. This is him surveying how difficult it will be to not leave office. And if I was as screwed up as him, I would have to be encouraged by the results thus far and how many are okay with the violence and will still stand with him or be silent NO MATTER WHAT.
If I were him, I would conclude that a takeover is worth a shot. I would see no reason to honor the election results, follow any law, or care one lick about anyone other than myself--which has always been his operating instructions any way. His base literally believes everything he says even when they are straight out lies that could not be easier to show as lies. He owns truth so why not just keep tossing tax breaks to the rich; hoisting patriotic (I hugged a flag!) and religious (I lifted a Bible!) symbols for the gullible loyalists; permitting guns and violence for the rednecks; deregulating and allowing the corrupt, old white boy network to prosper; giving Republicans whatever they want if they just shut up; and appeasing the foreign interests that pay his bills and help his business interests. Why not? The liberals are a bunch of p@ssies who couldn't even remove him from office with blatant illegal conduct, couldn't even get him under oath. F them.
So, we need things like the Mattis response and pushback by ANY Republican of conscience, corporate America, and the dogged determination of the protesters on the street (not the vandals) because I think we are standing up for something much more ominous than we know and sending a message that very may well save the Republic.
