Medium

White supremacy is real and white suppression of minorities, particularly Black people, absolutely permeates every aspect of our society, from business to culture to governance. Without setting aside that reality, it’s useful to examine why so many white people, with their built-in white privilege, would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with a wannabe dictator like Trump. All over social media people are asking, “Why would anybody embrace fascism? Why would they be willing to overthrow a functioning democratic republic?” The answer is simple: safety.

Many people think we’ve hit peak fascism, but Wednesday was only a bump in the road. Trump, his neofascist followers, and over half the congressional Republican caucus were just pushing the limits to see what they could get away with. And in the US Capitol, and state capitols around the country that were similarly attacked, Trump’s fascist followers learned that the personal price they’d pay for sedition and treason is less than the penalty for drunk driving.

Tyrants very rarely leave power voluntarily. In almost every case they’ve committed so many crimes in the process of acquiring and holding power, and exploiting that power to enrich themselves, their friends and allies, that they know if they step down they will be facing, at the very least, a long stretch in prison. This is why it’s so vital that Donald Trump be removed from power immediately. Be it through the 25th Amendment or immediate articles of impeachment and a vote in the Senate, it must be done.

The New York Times just published a truly shocking article detailing conversations between Donald Trump and Mike Pence. Essentially, Trump asked Pence to ignore the electoral college votes from a few swing states and thus declare Trump president for the next four years. Pence did not say, “But Mr. President, that would not reflect the will of the voters, which is the American way.“

The pharmacist in Wisconsin who destroyed 500 doses of coronavirus vaccine did so because he believed they would “alter human DNA,” reflecting a popular conspiracy theory on Facebook that has absolutely no basis in fact. Science, religion, and conspiracy theories are all, essentially the same thing: systems or attempts to explain the unknown, to make sense out of things beyond our senses or immediate, touchable reality. Thus, our vulnerability to conspiracy theories and con artists like Trump.

Donald Trump‘s phone call to Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is the latest illustration of his lifelong criminality. Over the last 40 years, career criminals like Trump have increasingly moved out of the business world and the streets and into politics, something for which we can thank the Supreme Court. There are, among us, a small number of individuals who are career criminals. They have literally spent their entire lives skirting or outright breaking the law, and not only believe the law doesn’t apply to them, but actually delight in getting away with their crimes.

Pundits across the American political spectrum are wringing their hands about the fate and future of the “dirty dozen“ Republican senators challenging Biden‘s election. One of the most widespread stories about their motivation is that they’re “afraid of Trump” or are “worried about being primaried.” Both ideas are wrong.

In the process of killing the $2000 Covid survival checks, Mitch McConnell and his fellow Republicans resurrected their Party’s longest-running scam, an idea laid out by Jude Wanniski back in the 1970s to use the deficit to destroy Democrats. The history is fascinating, and not only tells us how they’ll be re-running this long con but also what Democrats can do to expose it.