This is what greeted me this morning as I opened up my iPhone and went to my newsfeed.
According to the Washington Post article:
The scenes have been disturbingly familiar to CIA analysts accustomed to monitoring scenes of societal unraveling abroad — the massing of protesters, the ensuing crackdowns and the awkwardly staged displays of strength by a leader determined to project authority.
In interviews and posts on social media in recent days, current and former U.S. intelligence officials have expressed dismay at the similarity between events at home and the signs of decline or democratic regression they were trained to detect in other nations.
“I’ve seen this kind of violence,” said Gail Helt, a former CIA analyst responsible for tracking developments in China and Southeast Asia. “This is what autocrats do. This is what happens in countries before a collapse. It really does unnerve me.”
It really does unnerve me as well.
Good morning America.
This, That, and the Other 
I’m very scared.
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As am I.
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It is and I feel we have absolutely no control over preventing disaster.
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If Trump let’s them loose, I can’t help thinking that there will be a lot of soldiers who’ll be thinking hard about which side they’ll fight on.
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I hope they’ll think and be compassionate and not just blindly follow orders to take arms against their fellow Americans.
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Unnerving, indeed.
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It unnerves me, too, but well said.
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We won’t collapse. One positive of being in a republic are the riots. Permanent change requires shifts in social norms and values and we are seeing those shifts. I’m not referring to the riots as those are, in all actuality, the minority view (the only way to be heard is through violence view). I’m referring to the majority agreeing that things need to change on a social level. We saw this during the Civil Rights movement and it did produce mass social change and subsequent policy change. The ultra-conservative view sounds like it’s getting stronger, but it’s weaker now than ever before. Online activity amplifies their position, but looking deeper, we can see clusters clinging on to what they know, unwilling to accept social change. Every generation faces this and eventually pushes the unwilling to the side. That is also the positive of being in a republic. Tensions have been brewing since before Obama. They were stoked during the Obama administration as he represented the positive social change we’ve been fighting for. He also represented the withering away of the “old ways.” Trump’s crew took advantage of that withering and used their resources to amplify the now minority viewpoint to such a degree that it made it sound like the majority. Tensions boiled after 3 years of listening to Trump’s comments and watching his actions. Three months of confinement, stress, and challenge meant any group would be near their snapping point (conservatives screaming about their rights to attend church, elderly screaming about their right to continue living, young screaming about their rights to get a coffee and go clubbing, etc.). The actions of three stressed police officers and one who should have lost his badge long ago tipped the scales, turning the fire into an inferno. It’s an inferno that will continue to burn for some time (probably until November) but it will slow to a simmer, the Constitution will still be intact, the White House will still stand, and the people will come together under their shared new norms and values (which really aren’t new considering children’s television programs have been promoting it since the 60s) and the White conservative and minority voice will slink into a corner, licking their wounds until another fire gets started. All permanent change begins on the social level and I am sure we will see positive policy change in a year or two. We’re already seeing these changes through local elections. All change is hard, but we will not fall. This will not bring about another Civil War. The next President will, hopefully, begin on repairing our relationship with the global community and follow the people’s lead here at home.
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I appreciate your taking the time to write and share that. Thank you. I hope you’re right. There’s a lot more for us to fix than meets the eye, but this is one of the places we have to start.
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Everything in America is in a constant state of change. I focus mainly on environmental policies and things that will help develop ecological citizenship. We are not the country we were fifty years ago and we are not the country we will be fifty years from now.
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True. Sometimes I think we were better fifty years ago, but then I have to remember the details. I just felt more hopeful then. (Also, more churches were better… I think.)
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Fifty years ago, everything was swept under the rug, tucked away in the back of the closet, and only whispered about at church socials. The facade was seen then though, that’s one reason Norman Rockwell’s paintings were so popular. Now, we openly discuss abuse, sexuality, racism, sexism, and everything else that was relegated to the shadows. That’s a huge step toward change. When the minority view is most threatened they lash out and strike. We’re seeing that now and it won’t be long before they accept defeat. Their views may have been the majority in the early to mid-twentieth century, but they’re not anymore. Mass communication brought people together and their voices built. This really has nothing to do with religion, and some times religion can make matters worse. But it can also unite people, as we are seeing after Barr’s (and Trump’s) order to clear the streets for his photo op. Once proud supporters are decrying that action. The tides have turned. It’s hard now, but the children of today will reap the benefits when they become parents.
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This really has nothing to do with religion, and some times religion can make matters worse. But it can also unite people, as we are seeing after Barr’s (and Trump’s) order to clear the streets for his photo op. Once proud supporters are decrying that action. The tides have turned. It’s hard now, but the children of today will reap the benefits when they become parents.
A majority quote-unquote evangelical churches wouldn’t have (almost single-handedly except for the investment banker types) elected someone quite as horrid as this guy. (He does take cues from Nixon, though, and Jackson and the wannabe Wallace… and the North Korean leader… and I could go on.) So-called evangelicals (or non-denominationals or non-accountables*) weren’t the overwhelming majority of Christians, then; there was a concerted effort to paint progressive churches as bad and replace them with 🤐. Not that everyone of faith has to answer to someone (human), but I really think there was an evil campaign on the private side. Or the need for some bits of reform were taken over by opportunists (including corporatists).
* This isn’t really the heart of the matter. My mother started attending a Baptist church shortly before my teen years, and that guy (the preacher) was a neo-con/neo-lib type. He was more about the psychology of winning than about real love.
But I digress. You’re right that most things were swept under the rug and not discussed. I didn’t hear church gossip. Maybe I would’ve been better off if I had. I was likely a bit sheltered. My shocking revelation (in my late teens) was that my mother is a racist. Of course, not openly… and she had a few… black friends. But the ugly came out. I wasn’t to have black friends… even though I met them at my private, Christian (Lutheran) and outstanding school.
Some are leaving Trump over this church incident. Thank God some have souls. I’ve also seen that some left him over the way he responded to Hong Kong protests.
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My Grandmother was the “what are they doing in our neighborhood” person who once slowed her 80s red station wagon to a crawl to follow a young black couple out for a walk. My mother once stood next to a Hispanic worker in the grocery store and loudly proclaimed, “They can’t even check egg dates! Why are they taking American jobs if they aren’t going to do it right.”
I’m the only socialist in the family and my son is the only communist (they’re 15 and will come around to socialism eventually lol).
My Grandmother was a devout LDS and my mother was LDS and Catholic (it was the 60s…whatever). Son and I have our own personal beliefs.
Neither of us really fit in with the family and we’re just fine with that. One thing that is happening now that didn’t happen in the 50s and 60s are more churches and “upstanding members” questioning their leaders motives and critically asking how those motives reflect their beliefs. When Catholics start telling the Pope that times have changed and the church needs to change with it is unheard of. We’re seeing more people, who speak less loudly than their counterparts, come forward and speak with the voice of reason and majority.
As I always remind people, what we see on the news is the worst of America–the best isn’t news. That doesn’t mean that everyone else is silent. It means they are working behind the scenes to do good work. It just takes time. Only the future will be able to look back and put all the pieces together–just like we do with the Suffrage movement (that sucker took almost 100 years from start to finish).
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My Grandmother was a devout LDS and my mother was LDS and Catholic (it was the 60s…whatever).
Lol. My father was Catholic, and my mother was not. That was scandalous.
When Catholics start telling the Pope that times have changed and the church needs to change with it is unheard of. We’re seeing more people, who speak less loudly than their counterparts, come forward and speak with the voice of reason and majority.
Yes, it has been unheard-of.
As I always remind people, what we see on the news is the worst of America–the best isn’t news. That doesn’t mean that everyone else is silent. It means they are working behind the scenes to do good work. It just takes time. Only the future will be able to look back and put all the pieces together–just like we do with the Suffrage movement (that sucker took almost 100 years from start to finish).
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I hope everything you wrote here comes true. I’m not as optimistic as you are that our republic will weather this firestorm.
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We have survived everything brought at us and home grown. We’ll have a black eye, a few bruises, and a lot will nurse wounded egos, but we have, as a nation, been through worse.
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Sad!
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This is as Don Henley says, “The End of innocence”.
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O’ beautiful, for spacious skies
But now those skies are threatening
They’re beating plowshares into swords
For this tired old man that we elected king
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That is actually about Reagan.
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History repeats itself.
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Looking to history, the tactics of a certain chancellor in Europe, there are too many similarities. I fear, and I’m on the other side of the world.
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I fear that you’re right. 😕
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I think we’ll be ok over the long haul. The question is how much damage this deranged cowardly man can do as he becomes increasingly aware of his impotence and his loosening grip on events. I’m grateful that Mattis spoke so strongly; hopefully, he will remind those who serve of the taboo against warring against their own citizenry—before the election.
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I think he’s feeling like a cornered rat right about now, and a cornered rat is a desperate particularly dangerous animal.
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Haunted Wordsmith – thank you for your insight. I also hope your optimism rings true. What I know for sure iS:
“THAT EVERY PERSON THAT IS REGISTERED AND ABLE TO REGISTER TO VOTE MUST, MUST, MUST GET OUT ON TUESDAY NOVEMBER 3RD OR DURING EARLY VOTING, MAIL IN BALLOTS – HOWEVR THEY DO IT. THEY MUST, MUST, MUST VOTE!!!!!”
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I really hope the Washington Post is wrong!
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Unfortunately, they got the story right.
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😱
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