The U.S. will mark the anniversary of the January 6 insurrection on Saturday, a milestone that will confer upon the reality-dwelling citizenry a grim reminder of the potency of propaganda and how quickly it can warp perception when introduced into the public square.
Just three years ago, most of the country watched with dismay and horror as a violent MAGA mob beat back authorities and stormed the country’s citadel of democracy. The Donald Trump-incited crush of disillusioned rioters, fueled by a stream of fantastical lies, believed that the 2020 election had been stolen by sinister forces working to undermine the democratic election.
Of course, not only was their belief flatly incorrect, but evidence later emerged indicating that it was Trump who, in fact, had tried to subvert democracy.
Facts, however, have little bearing on the sentiment inside the Republican Party, which has been fed a steady diet of lies and half-truths by Fox News and the rest of the sprawling right-wing media machine. To wit, the false notion that Joe Biden nefariously stole the 2020 election is now widely shared inside the GOP. A CNN poll conducted over the summer found that nearly 70% of Republicans believe Biden’s win was not legitimate, a number that has continued to tick up.
And of course you get put on every watchlist in the country if you say people should just handle the Donald Trump problem directly and Shinzo Abe him. We do the most to protect that man from lynch mobs even though he was more than willing to use them. And for the record, I’m neither going to murder the man nor incite anyone else to do so, it’s impossible to get away with and I don’t have the balls even if I wasn’t scared of prison, but I guarantee there would be very few tears shed if it did happen and nobody of worth would lose any sleep.
I really hope no one kills him. I’m not sure I’d be able to live another couple of decades with people treating him like a fucking martyr.
He will be a martyr even if he dies at 120 of natural causes in the lap of luxury. The cult has already formed. When he dies, he will ascend and they will wait for his return… or they’ll say he never died at all like JFK, Jr.
And in a couple hundred years there’s gonna be a ladder sitting on Mar a Lago because the various sects of the Trumpian religion can’t agree on who should move it.
Well, if Florida’s not underwater by then.
I’ve known about the ladder for a while. Religion can be horrible but when it’s funny, it’s hilarious.
God. We already have to deal with them idolizing fucking Reagan. And yeah, as long as he is alive and not in office, the chances he goes to jail go up every day.
Political assassination gets rid of a figurehead but revitalizes the entire movement. It’s not a smart thing to do if you want to actually fix problems.
That’s true but there isn’t anyone waiting in the wings who can capture the reactionary imagination like trump. They’ve been trying and they always come up short. I don’t get it because I think trump is an abhorrent waste of space, but his people just love the shit out of him. Without him the entire right fractures and starts infighting.
OR that becomes the event that unifies the right wing together. Don’t underestimate the power of a martyr.
45 US presidents, 10 assassination attempts with 4 being successful.
A major part of the problems the USA faces is because they believe political problems (well, most problems really) can be solved with the gun.
I don’t know if the problem would be better of not, but political assassination isn’t exactly exclusive to the US. There have been several in Japan, and the most recent on against Abe (done with a gun I might add) actually went a long way to solving the issues that the assassin had with the LDP, namely that the government had a lot of people taking money from the moonies.
When I was a kid, saying Timmy does it too, was never a strong argument even then.
But seriously, compared the other Anglo countries countries the US has an issue with political violence. IIRC, there has never been an attempt against a Can, Aus or NZ leader.