Life during Trump second term: Paramilitary democracy accelerates

"We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must -at that moment-become the center of the universe." Ellie Weisel.

"In November, Black Girls Ride will rev our engines, we will go to the polls and fill the ballot boxes of this nation and choose a leader that will provide the unity our country needs. We invite you to vote like your life depends on it. Thank you."  Porsche Taylor, Black Girls Ride at the Get Off Ours Necks rally in Washington, DC.

Two Headed Monster: One Side is Out of Control

Sides must be taken.

Americans must choose the side of the Kenosha, Wisconsin protestors and the two men killed by a teenage YMCA lifeguard and supporter of President Donald Trump. Trump must be soundly defeated on November 3, 2020. He is America's Mussolini and his followers the equivalent of the Black Shirts.

The American election process only produces two candidates for presidential office. For the foreseeable future, Americans are stuck with a system dominated by Republicans and Democrats, awash in large donor money and polluted by Political Action Committees. Talk of imposing term limits, eliminating the Electoral College, instituting referenda, and developing robust third parties are just that: talk. Americans are too lazy to be revolutionaries for change which is one of the many reasons cookie-cutter candidates from both political parties make the grade as presidential timber.

Indeed,  Americans are represented by a two-headed monster and it is difficult to divine the difference between the two parties. But one head of that monster, the Republican ghoul in the guise of Donald Trump, has gone off the rails. It is trying to rip itself away from the Janus-faced Democratic side of its body and intends to reconstitute itself as a singular sort of Republican Lotan not only of the sea but adapted to the land.  The Republican party has become home to racists, fascists, militant cops, Q'Non, the Boogaloo Boys, a rag tag army of right wing militias, and corporate vampires who want to pay no taxes, privatize Social Security, and rule over a wasteland of unemployed and homeless Americans. In short, it is the Republican party is the party of ignorance and oppression.

Joe Biden, a kind of conservative, not quite an elderly Yoda, called from exile on Planet Delaware, is no Ha'dad Ba'al to Lotan, but a vote for Biden represents a hold-the-line measure until a Ha'dad Ba'al arrives in some form to purge the United States of the social and environmental diseases that Trump and the Republicans have exacerbated over the past four years (with complicity of many Democrats)

Yes, Biden's fatherly advice was absent when it came to Hunter Biden; the nefarious "yes" vote for the second Iraq War; his support for the 1994 Crime Bill (although there is a lot of fog around some of the facts on the matter); and his Wall Street ties leads to a grimace. Further, Biden seems to be "playing not to lose" which is a dangerous strategy. "Protecting the lead" by going conservative is not a smart play.

So what's an American citizen supposed to do? Not vote and proclaim to friends and family that the candidates are beneath one's dignity and, well, "I can't morally cast my vote for x or y." Or, "Oh me, oh my, it's the lesser of two evils and I voted for y instead of x. I held my nose even." Bull*&^%!

The importance of the 2020 election can be found in the impassioned, and convincing, speeches from the Get Off My Neck March. There really is only one sane choice.

Trump Dystopia:

Democracy

During a Trump second term, the militarization of the United States will accelerate. National Guard and active duty military personnel will occupy urban spaces which will become the site of relentless anti-Trump and pro-Black Lives Matter protesters.

• Increased violence between right and left wing groups across the United States will be the norm. Left wing groups will arm themselves forming counter-militias of their own. Gun battles will take place between the two opposing groups during nationwide protests against a Trump reelection. Police will be overwhelmed as they will not be able to quell riots, stop gun battles or perform routine policing duties. A wild card will be urban gangs. What alliances will they make? The active duty military will have to intervene.
• Austerity measures to pay the bill for the COVID19 Pandemic relief will be put into force. Unemployment and homelessness will explode. Work camps will need to be setup to deal with the needy masses. Chain-gang style employment, without the chains, will be initiated to work on infrastructure projects. Defense contractors and prison industries will make millions as they oversee work camps and provide security.
• Mutated COVID19, mixed with seasonal flu strains, will flow throughout the United States causing increased infections and death. Trump and his minions will encourage this development because it will clear the system of minorities, the elderly and the infirm.
• The US healthcare system will drown in a new wave of COVID19/Flu cases. States and localities will go bankrupt because they will not receive financial assistance or proper supplies. Americans will still scoff at the idea of paying more taxes to fight the Pandemic. Death rates for other diseases (cancer, heart disease, etc.) will soar as non-COVID19 patients will be turned away from care. Insurance companies will go broke paying on policies. The infected will be sent to and imprisoned in unused athletic stadiums. The military will be used to herd the sick into holding pens and secure them there.
• Right-wing, fascist Boogaloo Boys and Q'ANon will continue to designate as Republican, run for political office, and, once elected, begin to infiltrate local, state and federal representative bodies.
• Trump will take the nation to war against Iran. Israel, Saudi Arabia and the UAE will be allies, even as American business in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria has not been concluded: US troops still remain active in these countries. It is likely the United States would have to draft its young people to fight such a war. Anti-American violence will explode in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, and scores of other countries around the globe.
• Environmental regulations, species protections will be eliminated.
• "[America's] atrocious record with regard to the human rights of its citizens suggests that, with parliamentary complicity, it is degenerating to the status of a paramilitary democracy." The United States will continue to slide into military state.
• Under relentless attack by Trump and his stooges, the First Amendment will be shattered. Media will become further centralized. Americans will be fed larger doses disinformation. Alternative media sites will come under threat of removal if they incur the wrath of Trump & Friends. Thus: "Hazards of centralized mass media include the following: 1.) A disproportion of power occurs and disproportionate informational power accrues to those who control centralized mass media; arguably, it is inherently undemocratic. 2.) An inability to transmit tacit knowledge; the context of content presented must either be explicitly explained or is assumed to be understood by the receiver. 3.) An inclination to focus on the unusual and sensational to capture the receivers' attention, leading to a distortion and trivialization of reality. 4.) The deliberate promotion of emotions such as anxiety, fear, or greed can be used to sell a particular agenda. 5.) An inability to deal with complex issues because of time and economic constraints leads to simplification, further distorting and trivializing reality." (US Army Special Forces Manual, 2008).

John Stanton can be reached at [email protected]