I will be the first to admit I did not watch the speech or access the text of the speech online. So I am taking my information from sources I trust that did, in fact, observe the speech, either in person or as it was broadcast. My concerns for the future of our nation, and all of humanity, are quite real, nonetheless.
It came as no surprise that the now disgraced 45th president of the United States — under multiple criminal indictments for not only inciting a riot in the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021, but his lifetime of grifting, cheating and stealing — would lash out at those prosecuting him, the judges hearing the cases against him and all those who have stood up to his bullying. It is also no surprise that he has begun threatening to involve the Insurrection Act on day one of his next term as president, to build “camps” to hold the millions of Americans he sees as enemies, e.g., those who have never supported him.
I suppose it’s also worth mentioning that those who support him, in the Congress, within the Republican Party, and in the mavens “Mainstream Media,” continue to fawn at his feet, genuflecting as they approach while begging to kiss his ring and hoping he honors them by touching their heads. It goes without saying that these quislings would not dare to speak out against such violent rhetoric or in any way push back in defense of our democracy, ordinary citizens, the Constitution, or basic human dignity.
That, at this point, in November of 2023, this nation hangs on a precipice over a dark chasm of despair and totalitarian violence more akin to the “Killing Fields” of Cambodia under the thumb of Pol Pots’ Khmer Rouge than anything that has heretofore occurred in the United States of America in the last century.
Never in the lifetime of this American has a former president referred to American citizens as “vermin.” Never has a person running for the office of president threatened to use the power of the office to attack political opponents. Never has the threat of putting millions of Americans into “camps” been made a political platform. Never in the lifetime of this American has a serious candidate of a major political party made plans to invoke the Insurrection Act to punish not only political opponents, but all those who support said opponents a plank of a political platform.
What is surprising to this humble commentator is that of those whom we elect to represent us are more interested in burying their heads in the sand, lest they should have to confront the beast of their own creation.
Alan Mahood
Chehalis
