If you’re on Twitter, perhaps you’ve seen people calling for violence. I assume it’s happening on other social media as well. It looks like this:
Why on earth do people think there is ever a good time to panic? I entirely fail to understand what good comes from putting our hair on fire. Will we think better with our hair on fire? Will we be better able to plan and mount an effective defense?
A little bit of agitation is good. It motivates us to action. It stimulates voter turnout. Too much is paralyzing. And pointless.
I find the sudden desire for panic fascinating given the timing.
Why panic now, when we’re less than six months from an election?
And the great leader said, “Okay everyone, panic!” And they did! And it really, really helped. Had they not panicked, things would have been much worse.
Kidding. That never happened.
The idea of a civil war at this point is silly. If there’s violence it will be a law enforcement issue. Besides, just stay home. Good luck having a civil war in a pandemic.
Yes, democracy is in danger. Yes, you’re being manipulated.
We still have meaningful elections (Look at Wisconsin) The people trying to destroy democracy want us to panic and think we can’t wait until the election so that we do something destructive.
A few things feed into the problem. First: Panic and doomsday tweeting gets a lot of “likes” and “retweets” and everyone wants to be popular.
Second, would-be fascists and oligarchs do something called “govern by crisis and spectacle.” The point is to keep people spinning and off balance. It works. Trump creates constant crises and then everyone goes into a spin. Others see the spin and panic.
There are people implying (or coming out and saying) that we can’t wait until the election to remove Trump:
There is a big problem with that.
The problem is that unless 2/3 of the Senate agrees, there is no legal way to remove Trump before Jan. 2021.
It seems obvious to me it that isn’t a good idea to remove a president using illegal means (I typed that in the understatement font) particularly if you are interested in saving rule of law.
It’s a binary choice: Either we follow rule of law, or we abandon rule of law. It also seem obvious to me that if both sides abandon rule of law, it’s all over.
Why don’t people understand what is happening? Trump is trying to incite panic because he knows if the opposition stays focused he’ll lose the election in November. The far right wing wants to create unrest and violence to upend the election.
Why would people play into his hands?
Some people agitating for violence want a revolution. They want rapid change. They don’t like the slow give and take of democracy. They want a perfect world now. They see Trump being outrageous, so they grab the moment to stir up the revolution they want.
Others are victims who are being manipulated.
The third group are far right wing militia types who have been talking about civil war for a while now.
You know who else would like to see Americans abandon democratic processes, jump the gun, and try to remove Trump before the election?
Gimmea P! Gimmea U! Gimmea T-I-N.
One goal of active measures is to get people to lose confidence in democracy and democratic processes.
Lots of people would like to see us panic and create unrest and confusion.
Don’t help them. Don’t run around saying ‘OMG we have to remove Trump NOW we can’t wait until November.”
Figured out what you can do to get people to vote in November. There are not many persuadable voters out there. Most people have strong feelings one way or another: They either love Trump or hate him. The election will be won based on turnout.
Violence will not improve the situation or save more lives (duh)
The first part of this question is easier to answer. The Constitution doesn’t enforce itself. If the Senate refuses to do what the Constitution mandates, there isn’t much we can do other than vote them out. I know that’s frustrating.
The second part gets us into the kind of party the GOP has become. I’ve talked about it in terms of hierarchy v. fairness. If (like the Trump-FOX-GOP) you don’t believe fairness and equality are possible (if you think nature forms a hierarchy) you grab power and cheat.
If you think government is about allocating power instead of creating fairness, then of course you cheat when its your turn, and change the rules when its your opponent’s turn.
