I was in highschool when President Allende was overthrow with help from Henry Kissinger and the CIA.
One day my history teacher invited a special guest speaker to give us a talk. She was an eye witness to the coup d'état in Chile. I remember the bone chilling talk, like it was yesterday. As a supporter of Allende, her life was spared because she was an American born citizen who was simply deported back to the United States. But she reminded me that those who were native born Chileans weren't so lucky.
Ten years later, I attended a panel discussion on the rise to power of Nazism in Germany. Everyone of the six panelists were well into their 70’s or 80’s and were German born citizens who lived through the horrors of World War 2. They were born between 1900 and 1915, which means they witnessed the rise of Nazism as adults!
Their emphatic message was emotional and simple: “Don't think the horrors of a Dictatorship can't happen here in the United States!”
I said to myself, “at least this danger won't be happening anytime soon.” That was back in the early 1980’s. Now, 40 years later that danger the elderly Germans were warning us about has arrived!
Like in any dangerous situation one needs to know when to retreat, when to stand firm, and when to advance.
I have some concrete ideas to defeat Tyrant Trump and his evil minions. I’m sure anyone reading this diary has some ideas, too.
First, the good news: I truly believe 2024 is going to be a blowout for Democrats, like 1974! That’s right! You heard it hear first!
I also believe the vast majority of Americans have very little to no idea what our wanabee Dictator is cooking up even though it’s mostly out in the open.
It will be absolutely crucial to educate the general public about the ramifications of a slow (or fast moving) overthrow of our Democracy and Constitution. We need public ad campaigns like they used to have in the 1960’s and 1970’s. They can be quite effective!
We also need to constantly remind people of Tyrant Trump’s extreme nastiness and bad manners. Would you want this ugly, mean person to be your neighbor or your boss or your co-worker or your kids teacher? Then why-on-earth would you want this piece of shit to be your President?
Thirdly, where appropriate, we need to couch the election in terms of you're voting against something (Trump/Fascism) instead of trying to convince people to vote for Democrats. In other words, voting against Dictator Trump is being patriotic even though you don't particularily like Democrats/Biden.
If I’m wrong and the worst happens the forces of evil will need the help of the U. S. military and they will probably need to move fast.
But unlike judges or legislatures, the governors of each state have access to military forces of their own through the National Guard. And some states have huge arsenals. Our blue state governments will give us some level of protection depending if they have a spine!
The Governors will have to have the courage to disobey any unlawful/unconstitutional orders the Dictator makes. Then the legislature, the judiciary and the rest of us will need to back our Governors up! It will be a constitutional crisis of immense proportions, but our Democracy, at least at the state level, will still be breathing!