This is long, folks, sorry. I’ve been writing this for about a week and a half and every day it just gets worse, the things Trump says, the lies and false accusations he and his rabid followers make about Harris and the Biden administration, they are just plain nasty and frankly, unbelievable and yet a large part of the population believes them.
Trump, self proclaimed sexual abuser and adjudicated rapist is now claiming to be the protector of women saying we will be happy, healthy, confident, free, and no longer thinking about abortion if elected. He’s also getting more and more extreme, advocating that a day or ‘one rough hour’ of intense police brutality will put an end to crime, you know, because the message will get around. Aaron Rupar, a journalist I follow on social media, basically called a Trump’s rally in Wisconsin a hate fest laden with heinous dangerous lies against immigrants, legal and undocumented, saying with relish “getting them out will be a bloody story”. And of course after the disaster in North Carolina Trump is lying that the governor, a democrat, is refusing to send aid to the republican areas of the state (which is something Trump did to various democrat regions asking for federal aid after a disaster, California after wildfires and Puerto Rico after the devastating hurricane Maria for example), that President Biden has refused to take Georgia’s governor’s call when in fact Biden has talked to him several times, has accused Biden and Harris of ignoring the devastation when Biden already had FEMA personnel on the ground before Helene hit.
Since I wrote the above about a week ago Trump’s rhetoric and campaign against immigrants has gotten even worse. He intends to not only deport illegal residents, he will revoke the legal status of other immigrants and deport them as well. His lies about Biden’s hurricane response now include accusing Biden of stealing all the money from FEMA and using it on illegal migrants. What he’s referring to is a separately funded program, the Shelter and Services Program, part of Customs and Border Protection but administered by FEMA, set up under his own term as president. Secretary Mayorkas has called out Trump’s lie saying that FEMA has all the resources it needs to help those affected by hurricane Helene.
The fallout from his and Vance’s lies about the Haitian community in Springfield OH that has resulted in bomb threats and hate towards the small legal Haitian community that helped revitalize the town has now been directed at one businessman who defended his 30 Haitian employees as being the best he has. Jaime McGregor, a two time Trump voter, who owns a factory making tractor parts is getting graphic death threats directed at him, his family, and his business, credible enough that the FBI showed up and directed him to start taking certain precautions. McGregor, who has never owned a gun, now does and he and his family have been taking shooting lessons. Story here.
MAGAts are spreading malicious memes about Harris’ proposal to give a $25,000 down payment credit to qualified first time home buyers with an emphasis on first generation home buyers claiming that if any member of your family; parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles; own a home you are ineligible, a claim that is patently false, and that your tax money will go to allow illegal immigrants to buy homes instead when it is against the law for illegal residents to access any government aid programs.
MAGA republicans are also lying about the excellent economy…continued job growth, record low unemployment, rising wages, inflation down, stock market at an all time high (and yes I know a lot of people are still struggling but that's as it ever was)…with Marco Rubio calling the just released report fake and when Trump was asked if he would acknowledge that the economy was improving replied, ’no, it’s not’.
All this is just a drop in the bucket of Trump’s vileness. I haven’t even touched his disastrous plan to increase tariffs on all imports which economists say will be devastating to the economy as will his mass deportation plans, his continued and increasing incoherence, his litany of complaints about how poorly he is treated, his refusal or inability answer questions replying instead with a word salad that has nothing to do with the question, his support of Putin and other heavy handed authoritarians, his intention to refuse to come to the aid of our allies, his desire to abandon South Korea, his denial of the brain damage sustained by 100 of our service members in Iraq when Iran bombed our base there calling the attack during his presidency ‘a very good thing’, and on and on.
And while we mostly focus on how unfit and old at 78 Trump is to be president, and rightly so, what we need to be talking about as well is how fucking scary J D Vance is if Trump is elected and becomes completely senile or dies in office. Besides his archaic opinion of women that their only role in the human experience should be childbearing and homemaking, his dismissal of women who work and their contributions to leadership, education, medicine, science, technology, the arts, etc.; his belief that people without children, who he calls sociopathic, psychotic, and deranged, should not be able to vote and should have their taxes raised and should be punished; he demonizes immigrants and supports Trump's plan to rid the country of them, is a christian nationalist and absolutely will implement Project 2025. The republican party has already requested information from different departments about employees in a bid to determine who won't be loyal to Trump.
I have no doubt that if Trump gets elected republicans will do everything they can to shitcan him and install Vance.
When it comes right down to it, Republicans are more about power than the country, more about staying in power than the will of the people and they fully intend to force their unpopular world view if they gain the presidency and majority in Congress and will engage in threats of violence, voter suppression, and intimidation at the polls to achieve that end.
Once again, I urge everyone to check your voter registration to make sure it’s active, understand the assignment, and get out there and vote.
You’re devastatingly clear sighted about what’s coming should Trump and Vance win. In some ways Vance is even scarier than Trump because he’s an opportunistic shape shifter, a liar of the meanest order, who wants to strip women of any role in society other than widely duties and caring for children, who talks about seizing university endowments do they can no longer “brainwash” students, and on and on, it’s chilling. I hope you can convince your neighbors of all this. Some may not think they have anything to fear but they do. The roof will crash down in all our heads. Thank you for writing as you have here. I hope it is widely shared.
ReplyDelete*wifely duties (not widely duties)
ReplyDelete*so (not do)
I really should proofread!
I'm glad to say I have already voted and was so glad to go Blue all the way up and down the ballot! I know that the people who read your blog will agree with you, Ellen. I also know that MAGAs are not going to change their mind but I hope the independents and young voters will realize how horrible it will be for them and for our country if they do not vote Blue.
ReplyDeleteIt's terrifying and I am hanging on to hope that we have a big blue wave next month. I'm going to go ahead & vote early (the 17th is the first day for NC).
ReplyDeleteI pray enough people are ringing door bells, telling women their husbands don't need to know how they cast their vote, if that's a domestic problem. I live in a red county, now, for the first time in my life. I don't like it. I don't like the cross section of potential voters in my building. It's so discouraging to hear "They're all liars" swill these people are fed. This is so like 2016. There has never been more reason to vote blue, top to bottom.
ReplyDeleteEllen, I am plenty worried about Nov. 5. January 6 th was not a surprise to me. Yes, how bad it turned out to be! The unforgettable scene at the Capitol. But I was seeing all the build-up on Twitter---- I mean, tRump telling his followers to be there, all the vile goings on with the recounts, etc. Then, it was amazing that law enforcement was so unprepared for trouble! I fear this time around it is going to be much worse. I expect trouble no matter what the official outcome is. What with the hand-count requirement in GA, so much time will pass between actual voting and the reporting of results.
ReplyDeleteThe cult is never going to accept a loss. And ---- NIGHTMARE scenario!----if he should win!----I'm not sure some blue people won't be pushed over the edge by the thought of what's to come. I just hope that President Biden, who is Commander- in-Chief, is making serious plans for handling the violence that might ensue. He did attend the White House Press briefing and said that he is worried about potential violence. Of course I will vote blue. And hope!
On Saturday I sat in on a lecture at a conference on media and news creation. It was about the "creating our own reality" (one of the Bush presidents), the "alternative truth" (Kelly Anne Conway for trump) and of course Hitler's methods of big lie makes bigger lies possible. Also, introducing and replacing terminology, like "assimilation" instead of "integration" and "remigration" instead of "deportation". The power of words in a fascist state. They have a big playbook.
ReplyDeleteHow did such a large swathe of the population get to the point where they are taken in by this?
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent summary of the current state of things but also what a frightening future we would have if Trump is somehow elected. I honestly don't know what I would do. And yes, Vance is a horror show. I cannot even believe some of the things these two men say but are then covered like a normal conversation by the main-stream media. I too am voting early.
ReplyDeleteI have checked and both mine and my husband's voter registrations are active and we will vote. Of course.
ReplyDeleteIt does cheer me some to see how small Trump's hatefests have become with people leaving early while he's still spewing his meaningless vitriol. But is that really a sign? Well, if all it means is that fewer of his followers will even bother to vote, it will be something. Overall though, I am scared shitless.
I've done my part and been informed that my ballot has arrived. Now, whether it gets counted or not is another thing!
ReplyDeleteAnd now, like a tiny shrimp living in the anus of a sea cucumber, Elon Musk has moved in to Trump's rectum. Perhaps Elon's house in Texas wasn't roomy enough.
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