Sedition

 Trump lied about widespread election fraud in an attempt to overturn an election he lost. We aren't used to seeing a President of the United States do something like this. To other countries this type of power struggle is all too familiar. This constitutes the crime of sedition. The attempt to overturn the legally elected government of a country. He was not alone in his crime. Those who knowingly spread this lie of voter fraud are also guilty of the same crime. 

The claimed to have evidence of the voter fraud, but in the end it turned out to just be lies.

American Patriots

 Most of the Americans attending the rally on Wednesday (1/6/2021) probably did not expect they would be part of a mob the stormed the capital and beat a police officer to death.

They were upset about their voting rights being violated by a rigged election. That the election was a cheat and a steal. Why did they feel this way? There was no evidence to support a rigged election. The only reason there was any talk about a rigged election was that President Trump, seeing that he was losing the election on election night, started lying about election fraud. If it had just been Trump it may not have gone very far, however President Trump was supported by a number of congressmen, senators, and media outlets such as Fox News that propagated this lie.

These rally attendees felt they were patriots who had been cheated by the election. Why? President Trump had continued to whip his supporters into a frenzy to see how far he could push them. The right wing media and members of congress supported the President's lies by repeating them and casting doubt on America's electoral process.

Wednesday morning President Trump addressed the rally and asked his supporters to march to the capital in a show of strength. Many of his supporters were from far right groups such as QAnon and the Proud Boys. Some of them had brought handcuffs, Molotov cocktails, long guns, and pipe bombs. They believed they would be taking over congress, it would be a revolution.

In the end, one of the mob was shot and killed, several others died of health issues, and a policeman was beaten to death.

This is what happens when the president is allowed to propagate lies that undermine the foundations of our democracy.

Trump's Base

 Over time Trump's base will grow smaller and more extreme. I have been predicting it for awhile now. After yesterday this will become much more obvious.

Trump supporters yesterday: "I totally support storming the capital."

Trump supporters today: "It must have been Antifa."

Snarky Remarks

 "Tump's the Virus, Biden's the Cure!"

"It's more like an IQ test than an election."

What are some reasons not to vote for Trump?

1.  192,886 dead and 6,434,526 cases of Covid 19 as of today.
2. Trump tried to remove the preexisting requirement from health insurance.
3. Trump withdrew funding from the WHO during a pandemic.
4. Trump fired the pandemic response team in 2018 to save money.
5. Trump withdrew the US from the Paris agreement on climate change.
6. Trump tried to end transgender healthcare protections.
7. Trump tried to pressure Ukrainian officials to interfere in our election.
8. Trump encourages racism.
9. Trump locked children of refugees in cages.
10. Trump put a tariff on solar panels.
11. Trump insults liberals.
12. Trump is trying to cut funding for social security.

The Fall of America

I know that it has been predicted that the US will no longer be the leading economic force in the world. I wondered how that transition would happen. It seems like now I am seeing it unfold before me.

America is so obsessed with greed that instead of focusing on healing the sick we are concerned with wringing as much money as possible from the sick. The financial outfall from those who must be hospitalized from Covid-19 must be devastating.

Federal agents in unmarked vehicles, sent by the president of the United States are arresting antifascist protesters in Portland and detaining them without apparent probable cause. When did the US turn against anti-fascism?

The environmental protections that we fought so hard for during the 1960s and 1970s are being swept away by this administration.

A large fraction of the population seems no longer capable of critical thinking. They exist in their own constructed reality that is at opposition to science.

Most other advanced nations have already recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic. Italy, Spain, Germany, France, and England are all able to reopen. The US, I fear, will be forced to shut down again as this plague sweeps through the nation. Americans refuse to heed the warnings of our public health officials. 

I live in a neighborhood of mostly elderly people. When I go for a bike ride I have yet to see another person wearing a mask.

For now we are trying to survive the pandemic but the next crisis will be our healthcare infrastructure. People who do not have insurance or cannot pay the high deductible. I think this will tear down the healthcare infrastructure we have.

The republican party has made a mistake by politicizing this pandemic. We could have, should have ended it early. Instead they pretended like it was not real. Now so many people are going to die, many more will be left with bills they cannot pay.

Is America great yet? Because I'm not sure how much more of Trump's "greatness" we can survive.

Trump Gets a Job as a Lab Technician

Trump's first day as a lab technician.

Supervisor: You have to wear a mask.

Trump: No.

Supervisor: You're fired!