My first thought yesterday was the siege of the capitol building in New Orleans in 1874 which was similar to the Wilmington insurrection. Yesterday looks very similar to many past US violent reactions to when white supremacy was threatened in this country, and the culture really hasn’t changed that much. Knowing that those late 19th century insurrections were mostly successful should be a terrifying reminder to all of us that this fight is ongoing and must be won.
Yeah, as horrible as yesterday was, there is nothing about it that I find particularly surprising.
Also, you know, the bombs. These people weren’t (just) there to create some pointless chaos - some of them were there to murder legislators.
What’s surprising me is that Republicans who are now the target of Trump’s ire (and potentially the target of these violent insurrectionists), e.g. Pence, is that they’re somehow surprised Trump is turning on them, “after everything we did for Trump.” Like they still don’t know who Trump is, after four years.
I think they were already pretty freaked out while they were cowering on the ground thinking all the money and power they have amassed isn’t going to stop this angry mob from ripping them apart.
I haven’t seen any video of them in the chambers while under attack but this Buzzfeed list actually has some images (13-15).
Of course after you survive something it is natural to downplay if to calm oneself, and then they saw the image of the zip tie guy, and it’s pretty clear the lawmakers were pretty fucking lucky security got to them before the terrorist did. Really lucky. And also, Trump and his mob are not going away anytime soon and clearly ignoring them sure hasn’t helped. So now lawmakers want to do something that they feel like they have some skin in the game.
Side Note: The image #2 of the cops just standing there while getting maced is satisfying of course but also really underscores how much they must have been restrained by their command chain.
And this is an aspect of Trump he’s demonstrated repeatedly not just over his life, but specifically while president. Which has been much discussed. Yet still, somehow, they’re shocked when it happened to them.
It’s like, hey dudes, you’ve finally figured it out, Trump is willing to get you killed for no real reason other than to assuage his ego.
It’s not as if MAGAnation is going to look at yesterday and say, “okay, that’s enough”. They want to normalize this kind of violence. This might not be the kind of Reichstag fire that heralds the new fascism. But there’s plenty more where that came from if democracy continues to tolerate this vile sport.
Perhaps cessation of red states should be allowed. Most of them are “taker” states anyway and live off of “donor” states like CA and NY. Let those red states wallow in their own shit-world economies.
And what about the 40-some percent of people (or more, in states with heavy gerrymandering and voter suppression) who aren’t on board with what those states do? Should they be abandoned to be treated as 2nd class citizens or worse?
That was my “ease up” response. You should have seen the first draft!
But seriously, that line of thinking is somewhat lazy and dangerous. I’ve done enough travel in the US to have seen first hand how every state has both wonderful, amazing, generous people and total assholes.
