It’s worse than most people think, and it’s getting worse fast. Think of it in terms of Brett Kavanaugh’s emotional declaration aimed squarely at Democrats. For our resistance to his nomination for the Supreme Court he said we will “reap the whirlwind.” It wasn’t just a threat, it was a promise. He means to make Democrats, progressives, and anyone vaguely resembling a “leftist” feel the pain that he suffered during the hearings and run up to his confirmation. This was just what Senate Republicans wanted to hear and they supported him with renewed enthusiasm.
Here’s just one confirming example, Lindsay Graham threatened Democrats in a tweet that read, “if this is the new normal, you had better watch out for your nominees.” What he’s saying is that bringing evidence of low character, perjury, even criminal sexual behavior will no longer be tolerated. The role of Democrats is to shut up and take it while Republicans turn the United States into a Randian paradise for oligarchs and the 1%.
Worse, now Donald Trump is explicitly demonizing Democrats and everyone to the left of John Birch. At his latest rally he called Democrats, “the party of crime,” and anyone those who support Democrats in the run up to the coming election“an angry left wing mob.” The subtext isn’t lost on his supporters. How do you treat a mob? You send in the dogs, the water canons, the black hooded cops with tear gas, truncheons, and the other tools of riot control. You arrest dozens or hundreds and put them into the criminal justice system, the same one Mitch McConnel has been larding with right wing ideologues, where hey are penalized and made to suffer in ways that become warning to others who dare to exercise their First Amendment rights.
Think I’m being extreme? Remember the 600 people who were arrested in Washington D.C. while protesting Trump’s heinous immigration policies? What did they do? Essentially, they just showed up. Charges dropped against all but a few, but only after being detained, printed, booked, and hasseled within an inch of their lives. The water canons were missing, but you only have to think back to the militarized police behavior in Ferguson to know that they weren’t far away. And just yesterday Trump addressed a convention of police chiefs where he said that Kavanaugh faced “false charges, false accusations, horrible statements that were totally untrue” and the police chiefs gave him a standing ovation. (Be clear about this, when push comes to shove, they are not on our side.)
So times are scary and it’s getting worse. We may have a little window of opportunity where we can save democracy, our freedoms, and our way of life.
I believe we need mass demonstrations in the streets. I believe those demonstrations have to do things like shut down freeways and the Interstate Highway System. I believe our actions must have an immediate and demonstrable effect on the economy—even if the damage is felt first by us in lost wages and the like. We’re going to have to show that—uh oh, here comes familiar slogan—the people united can never be defeated.
But I worry that we are not those people.
I donate. I call my reps. I freeway blog. I phone bank. I drive folks to the polls on Election Day and I vote. But I don’t think its enough. I think the fix is in again and we’ll see that on Election Day.
You know what I think? I think just posting a diary like this is a dangerous thing that I may one day regret—almost as much as if I did not post it.