Well… I don’t quite know how to begin this. I never expected to write about this subject, nor do I think that we as a society would have to grapple with the questions that we now find ourselves asking.
As many of you know, I wrote a 2020 pt.1 piece. I lamented many of the things that had happened in that accursed year, and vowed to write a secondary piece about 2020.
Yet, we are still living with the consequences of 2020. The year may have changed, but the issues that existed in 2020 still linger and fester now and may continue for a number of years after.
COVID continues to remain a dominant force in our lives, and shall continue to remain this way until the summer, it is now killing 5,000+ American everyday, from every walk of life.
How did it get to be so bad? Because our leaders refused to acknowledge the severity of the virus, and in some places continue to ignore the harmful and long lasting effects that the virus will have.
This is the same thing that led to the scenes that played out on January 6th, that saw a crowd of insurrectionists storm the hallowed halls of OUR congress, believing that they could somehow change the undeniable truth, that Joe Biden shall be president on January 20.
They believe that they are heroes, that they showed their frustration and at the very least had halted Biden’s ascension to the presidency….. THIS IS A LIE.
These people are not heroes, nor are they patriots. These are people that had been sent, on a false pretence, to help “save Donald Trump and America.”
Essentially, these people acting like a ragtag version of the gestapo, tried to halt the democratic process, and install Trump as leader for life.
Some have postulated the consequences that would have happened if this group had succeeded. In my opinion, it would have led to WWIII.
This is an opinion that can be formulated, for many reasons. Do you, the viewer, believe that Canada, Europe and our other allies would idly sit back and let America fall?
No.
On that same notion, do you think that Russia, China, and North Korea would not attempt to gain a foothold in the USA? I don’t think so.
There is also another horrifying version that we must accept, that nuclear armageddon was nearly at our doorstep and that the fall of human civilization was near.
Thus, it is truly fortunate that this situation was not worse. If not for the actions of many police officers on that day, we may have seen a very different outcome, one that led to more bloodshed and lawlessness.
As already stated, the reason for this action at the capital was because the current leader of the free world lied to his supporters. He has lied about a great many things through these last four, nightmarish years.
Yet his last two lies have led some sects of Americans to become disenfranchised with the system of government. Not only has COVID wrecked many lives, but his constant talk of fraud has led to many of his supporters becoming isolated from the truth.
This can also be said for their IRL lives. Many have posted on these forums that their friends and family have abandoned them. It is truly sad that these people now live in isolation.
These people do not make up a majority of the American population, in fact they are near the bottom of the totem pole in my eyes and at this very moment, they are merely playing on the fact that our federal government is not very strong.
But they do not live in reality, and seek to spread weird and fake lies in order to syphon off some members of society to their cults. These lies have been spread with relative ease through internet forums and websites and papers and T.V. stations.
This is why I am personally happy that many social companies are now taking action; while it is somewhat ok that the radicals among us have a place to express themselves some individuals should not have access to major places on the internet, such as twitter and facebook.
These companies needed to take a stand a long time ago, we cannot allow violent rhetoric to seep from the internet to the real world, nor can we allow insurgent groups, such as the proud boys from sowing chaos in America.
We can already see change in this regard. Now that Trump, who is set to become a private citizen on Jan 19, is banned from twitter, these fringe groups are losing their biggest supporter.
Will this lead to more violence? To be honest with you, I cannot answer that question.
My father, who grew up in the 1960’s, says that this environment is strikingly similar to that era, where political assassinations were more commonplace.
That isn’t good.
Let me also make this point, the current president should be impeached, should be convicted by the Senate and should be censured by the Senate so that he can never run again.
This, of course could lead to these extremist groups coming out en mass to try and defend their “leader.”
The problem with these groups, is that they are easy to find, and to alert authorities to. They have message boards and discords and other forms of electronic communication that can be easily accessed via google.
Why do you think that so many of these people were put on the no fly list? Why are so many already being arrested? Because that can be found.
Some have compared the elimination of the site known as Parler to an attempt to silence the conservative. I would disagree. Many conservatives still exist on twitter, it’s the far right that has been eliminated from the site.
In regards to Trump, he, like most former presidents, will fade into the background. Politically he cannot come back from Jan 6, and his approval rating is sitting at 33%, while FiveThirtyEight has it at 40%.
He also contributed to many GOP losses, from losing the House, to now losing the Senate along with the presidency. His brand of politics has disenfranchised Rebublican voters, and Independent voters and has left that party in a truly awful situation.
The support in the GOP has also been among educated whites, where they continue to lose a large section of the country.
Will there be other candidates like Trump? I don’t know. I would say that at this moment, that it is unlikely that someone like Trump comes back into the larger frame.
Look, he was able to find the fringe radical who is more willing to vote for him, due to the policies that he has endorsed or created. This doesn’t mean that others cannot do the same, but it is unlikely that someone will be able to.
Why? Surely someone like Ted Cruz or Josh Hawley can tap into that base. Yet they won’t be able to tap into the other bases that Trump had, when he won in 2016. They also, in my opinion, have shot themselves in the foot for pulling their quite frankly dangerous stunt of trying to throw out the election results, especially amongst Independent voters who see it as an attempt to overthrow Democracy.
There are a lot of questions that we must now face. What has Trumpism cost the GOP and the nation? Why do so many Republicans appear to be at war with both truth and democracy?
These are questions that I cannot answer.
I began to write out my thoughts on January 11, thinking that the world would get better…. I don’t believe that it has.
While our capital looks like a war zone and the other 50 state capitals all undergo safety precautions, I must wonder if we can get over our differences and work together to rebuild this nation.
I am seeing signs that we can, Donalds support numbers are plummeting among Republicans, and I do sense from many conservatives that they simply want to move on from Trump.
Hell, since I added the FiveThirtyEight graph, it has gone down by two points, from 40% to 38% the lowest it has been since 2017.
The argument for standing by Trump has also been that he has a groundswell of support amongst Republicans, as it has hovered around 85-90% since he was elected.
Alas, his rhetoric has alienated a large swath of Republicans since the election, with his support in the party down to 60%, a disastrous proposition for the man who is supposed to lead the party going forward.
As I believe that I have already stated, not all Trump voters are like the people that came to the capital and ransacked it. But these people cannot turn a blind eye anymore, and are now leaving him and the toxic brand.
As for Donald and co. my suspicion is that he will be fighting off a number of things when out of office. Already the state of New York is looking into his finances, and with the reports that Georgia is now looking into Trump for election crimes, his world could quickly crash and burn.
Personally, I think that Trump will have no power going forward within the Republican party, and the nation will look to move on from one of its worst four-year stretches.
But I cannot be sure anymore.
Truthfully, we have never been here before. I would love to tell you that everything will be fine and that America will rebound.
I cannot say that, though, at this moment.
It is a somber reminder, that we must remain vigilant and ready for anything at all times, otherwise the things that we hold so dear may not exist anymore.
Stay safe, y’all.
ABQSportsReporter 