by Noah
I'm not insensitive to the meanings and repercussions of the attempted assassination of the former president and the murder of one attendee and critical wounding of two others on Saturday afternoon. As for the shooter, I prefer to not say anything until we know more than the little we know as of today (Sunday). There are endless discussions of these things going on literally everywhere and there will be more to come but, tonight I felt like posting a meme about a pressing issue that is being forgotten because of all the attention focused on Saturday's shooting. It's an issue that will be glossed over for at least the next several days as America's party of Neo-Nazis holds its convention In Milwaukee. Talk about your timing and context, the confluence of the shooting and the start of their convention is yet another one of those things many of us react to by saying, "You just can't make this stuff up."
The question posed by the meme above is rhetorical, of course. We know damn well what kind of party does this. I do, however, have a lot of thoughts about the shooting. Here are a handful of them:
1. If Trump was already in jail where he belongs the assassination attempt would not have happened and the rally attendees would not have been shot. Our justice system failed all of the shooting victims, us, and frankly, everyone in this world. We can blame a lot of people but it all comes down to us as individuals. We have way too much tolerance of way too many things. We're just not very good at holding feet to the fire and evil abhors a vacuum.
2. Here's another irony: How about the one where the figurehead of a party that so blatantly enables gun violence almost gets his head blown off by a sniper 150 yards away with an AR-15 semi. By the way, 150 yards is not amateur distance, folks but that's the kind of gun anyone can get these days.
3. As the news about the shooting broke, I got on Facebook and saw an explosion from the conservative element in our population. It was all in the typically vile language that conservatives use and it was directed at the shooter because they had made the rash assumption that the shooter was "a communist," "a libtard," and even in one instance, "a Democrat pedofile." I made a mental note on that last one, assessing that calling someone a Democrat pedofile implies that there are other kinds, say, Republican pedofiles; maybe the one who made the accusation? It turns out the shooter was a 20 year old registered Republican but he had once donated $15 to a progressive cause or politician and his car was found to contain a whole lotta explosive materials. Stay tuned! The whole thing reminded me of the initial response to the Oklahoma City bombing wherein all the righties were bellowing that the bombing was obviously done by muslim terrorists when it turned out it was a couple of their own; Christian Identity freaks to be specific.
4. Trump campaign surrogates, Republican politicians, and assorted right wing media subversives have wasted no time in blaming heated democratic anti-Trump rhetoric for the shooting. The goal of that, of course, is to get democrats to stop speaking the truth (Sadly, they probably will since they are so easily cowed) about what the Republican Party is all about. Project 2025 is only the latest example of that. Republican Congressman Mike Collins of backwoods Georgia says "Joe Biden sent the orders." Nice to know that people who think the current president can't even soft boil an egg for breakfast can get away with something like that. It's just another bit of projection on their part since that's the kind of president they hope to have in Trump. Ohio $enator J.D. Vance, who's on the list of V.P. finalistas, said "The central premise of the Biden campaign is that Trump is an authoritarian fascist. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump's attempted assassination." Here's a thought republicans: Stop glorifying fascism and hoping for a "Dictator from Day One" and maybe things will tone down a bit.
5. I'm seeing and hearing tons of crap from Republicans about Trump being spared from a direct hit to his skull by God. Really? The same God that gave us him, Putin, Kim Jong-un, Ferdinand Marcos, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Adolf Hitler, and on and on and on. Oops, better not forget another one of Trump's pals, Hannibal Lecter! What kind of shithole mind comes up with this stuff? That's another rhetorical question for ya.
6. As Trump was being whisked away from the podium, all he seemed to care about were his shoes. He kept saying, "Let me get my shoes, let me get my shoes." What was it about his shoes? Was he afraid we'd find out about the lifts? Don't worry Donnie. We already know. Hell, the media hacks would never report it anyway. And, I don't know about you, but I at least hope that, if someone grazed my ear with a bullet, I would ask right away if anyone else up there on the dais was injured. I remember these words from another Trump Rally:
"I don't care about you. I just want your vote. I don't care."
That was on June 9th of this year. I have no reason to believe he thought any differently on Saturday.
When he was "president" the convicted felon/un indicted co conspirator/liable rapist/liable defamer rolled back an Obama rule that would have made it harder for the mentally ill to get a gun.
Yes, well said. "If Trump was already in jail where he belongs..."
the implied indictment of your pussy democraps said out loud.
"The goal of that, of course, is to get democrats to stop speaking the truth (Sadly, they probably will since they are so easily cowed) about what the Republican Party is all about."
Not that many actually do speak the truth, but, yeah. pussies doing what pussies always do... nuthin 'bout nuthin.
Very well said, Noah.
Well said, Noah.