I will be busy tomorrow at 11 a.m.
I will be at one of the thousands of No Kings protest rallies.
I am not a Marxist. I am not a terrorist. I will have made my sign myself. I will be carrying an American flag. I will be unarmed. I will be assembling peaceably.
I will be the opposite of everything that President Trump and his MAGA supporters claim we are.
I have a purpose. Demonstrating will do some real good in the world. My mood will be brightened by seeing like-minded people and some will take heart from seeing me. That will increase the world's supply of happiness and hope -- a good thing.
Trump is selling the idea that anyone who opposes him hates America. He says we are part of the "radical left" and that America is “under invasion from within." He says his critics are anti-American terrorists and our military should “take them out.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson held a press conference, with other GOP leaders surrounding him in support. These were thought-out, prepared remarks:
We call it the ‘hate America’ rally that will happen Saturday. Let’s see who shows up for that, I bet you’ll see Hamas supporters, I bet you’ll see antifa types, I bet you’ll see the Marxists on full display, the people who don’t want to stand and defend the foundational truths of this republic.
I have a second purpose by being on the sidewalk on Saturday. I hope to change minds, in the way that political opinions can change. I don't expect MAGA cultists to throw away their red hats and start voting for Democrats. It doesn't work that way. But ideas float out in the political atmosphere. Opinions congeal without people particularly noticing it. Often it isn't one thing; it is everything, and then people's realize they feel differently about something.
For example, many of us felt that Joe Biden went from being "old" to "too old," even in the years before the disastrous debate. His brand changed. Something flipped. We could be cautious about Biden in 2020, but OK with him. By 2024 something had crossed over. He was too old, and too stubborn to admit it.
Same with the Tesla brand. It used to imply a paradigm-changing, cutting edge, technologically savvy future. It was creative destruction in a good way. Tesla was cool. Now Tesla implies quick-and-dirty destruction by a careless, entitled guy on drugs, making shoddily-constructed cars with overpromised features. It wasn't just Elon. It wasn't just the Cybertruck monster. It was everything. The very idea of "Tesla" changed.
Trump has a brand. I hope to be a tiny grain of sand in the gears of that brand. My hope is that my presence will demonstrate that Trump is telling a lie so obviously contradicted by plain reality that even MAGA cultists -- a few of them at least -- conclude that their idol is lying to them. They will see that Trump isn't opposed by some stigmatized dangerous group, but that he is opposed by people attempting to preserve, not destroy, American democracy. Hitler made Jews the enemy of the people of Germany and got enough buy-in to consolidate power. Trump is trying to make Saturday's protesters look like a dangerous enemy of the USA, for his own purposes. I hope to make it hard for him.
Trump has done an extraordinary job of getting thought-conformity among Republicans. Trump sold Trumpism. He controls the levers of government power.
What Trump cannot control, though, is how people think about him. Is he a brave, swashbuckling leader who fixed the immigration problem and got things done -- the kind of can-do leader America can be proud of? Or does the balance tip against him. Maybe, just maybe, Americans will see that Trump's accusations are so full of B.S. that people see through it and Trump himself. I hope, by my presence, to show that what Trump says about his opponents isn't just wrong. It is preposterous.
At some point people see that the king has no clothes. Then everything changes.
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| Photographed at the June rally in Medford |
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I’ll be there, also carrying the American flag. I don’t appreciate it being appropriated by people who couldn’t care less about what it stands for. Republicans, who consider dissent against Trump un-American, are calling it the “Hate America” rally and consider participants who oppose their quest for absolute power “Marxists,” “extremists,” “terrorists,” etc. I hope all readers will join our effort to keep the Founding Fathers’ dream alive.
ReplyDeleteAshland plaza is also a place to meet
ReplyDeleteThree generations of my family will be meeting here in Seattle, including my “dangerous” 3 year old grandson and his little friends and their parents. Same hopes as you articulate here. I’m not sure it matters in the big picture but it matters to me.
ReplyDeleteI toured Auschwitz in 1988 and rented a flat from, and shared meals with a survivor from that time. Besides the obvious heaviness and somberness of walking through the camp and the stories she told, I felt myself wondering why people did nothing as fellow humans went from being marginalized, to being systematically tortured and murdered. I cannot just stand by and watch it happen here and do nothing.
Don't block the sidewalks so that the disabled can't pass.
ReplyDeleteI would like to see many Baby Trump inflatables at the demonstrations.
ReplyDeleteFYI that anon comment referencing Seattle and Auschwitz was me. Just hit send before choosing. Not wimping out :)
ReplyDeleteHow is "John C" any better than Anonymous? Seems ridiculous and pointless.
DeleteI know who John C is: an intelligent, well-informed person, with reasonable politics, and a consistent commenter here with worthwhile things to say. Truly anonymous commenters could be anyone. I filter those, based on my impression at the moment. I am harder on anonymous comments.
DeleteI am so bothered by the hatred you spew I cannot find the words to express.
ReplyDelete“I cannot just stand by and watch it all it happen here…”
ReplyDeleteBut according to Sinclair Lewis’ darkly ironic title, it CAN’T happen here! Still, while there is overlap indeed between Trump and Buzz Windrip, the connection notably does not include the recent celebrant of Jews and Israel and the underwriters of Auschwitz. Nor anything remotely resembling a Final Solution of any variety….
Dear LD
ReplyDeleteThe rapid normalization of dehumanizing “the other” before our eyes is not the stuff of mere academic debate. This is real life and it matters.
John C.—
ReplyDeleteIn uneasy times, assays in comparison/contrast must—or should—be historically accurate. Respectfully, “mere” categories matter. Whether it’s Hitler or “dehumanization”, broadbrush conflation in my view undermines otherwise-warranted precise indictment. The fog of political war?
LD - A war indeed- between reason and blind fealty.
ReplyDeleteLD - A war indeed- between reason and blind fealty.
ReplyDelete