A few years ago, a police lieutenant driving a sports car tried to push me out of my lane. He wound up getting a big scrape on the side of his car. I was determined to be at fault. The highway patrol officer wrote it up as me entering his lane. I was charged with negligent driving. Every single person, from witnesses to the judge, made it pretty clear what was happening. In fact, I watched in real-time as two other drivers changed their account of what they'd seen as they gathered that the offender was an officer of the law. All of this was to ensure my insurance paid for a new paint job, but they would help me out. None of it went on my actual driving record, as long as I went to defensive driving school, where I didn't learn anything about defensive driving, but I did get lectured by local celebrities all day about what a horrible person I was. I learned a lot.
So, that's how the justice system works.
Hang on, I have more stories for you:
My brother-in-law leaves his keys in his car at night.
He swears nobody is going to steal it.
To this day, nobody has stolen his car. He believes the absence of proof is the proof of absence. Since nobody has stolen his car yet, it must be perfectly safe to leave your keys in your car. Right?
One of my neighbors did the same thing, but with a gun. He left it in his unlocked car because he swore it was the safest place. Unfortunately, someone stole his gun. He told me to watch out and make sure I kept my doors locked at night. He didn't report the gun stolen. If someone commits a crime with that gun, he's going to have an awful lot of explaining to do.
He's pretty sure that won't happen.
Now let's talk about the Trump verdict. Yep, guilty on all counts. Woohoo. Shall we break out the champagne and troll some MAGAs?
Trump is now a convicted felon. But if you crawl around on the internet looking for details, you figure out something unsettling but not all that surprising. He probably won't face any actual jail time. He will continue his campaign for president. Once again, Democrats will use Trump as a fear tool, begging us to save democracy (again).
And, well, many of us will try.
We'll go out and vote in November. We'll do it even if it risks our health. We'll do it even if our jobs don't give us that day off. We'll do it even if we have to spend hours in line, while yoga moms and golf dads either don't vote or do it in places with a 15-minute wait. We'll do it even if the current administration botches one crisis after another while funding war crimes and genocide. We'll do it because the powers in charge have done everything to ensure an alternative that's far worse than anything we could imagine.
I'm not saying this to sway anybody one way or the other.
I'm just telling the truth.
And the truth is...
The current administration is pretty horrible. It started out with high hopes, but things went south fast. Over the last year, we've learned that it doesn't matter how a candidate presents themselves. They can campaign on the most progressive ideas out there. Once they're in office, they all do the same thing. They protect the rich. In the case of John Fetterman, they start dealing snark to their own core constituents. It's interesting.
We know, it's nothing compared to what Trump will do. Trump has promised to deport his political opponents. He's promising to track women's pregnancies. He's promising to dismantle any hint of a green infrastructure. He's promising to crush pro-Palestinian protests. He's promising to eliminate funding for any public school with a vaccine requirement.
We know Trump.
Behind closed doors, Trump isn't an idiot. He's just a bullshitter. Bullshitters don't need book smarts. They just need an intuitive grasp of human nature. As far as that goes, Trump is highly intelligent.
He's a genius at lying.
Trump has turned politics into the ultimate reality TV show. He's got the highest ratings in history. Look at how much time everyone spends talking about Trump. And as much as he performs outrage at the insults from celebrity liberals, they're actually his secret weapon. Trump lives in a world where any kind of attention is good attention. Through their endless coverage of these trials and allegations, the corporate media has practically run his campaign for him.
Yes, Trump is a narcissist. He's intellectually lazy. He's not especially good at anything (except lying). He's overconfident. He runs his mouth all day. In short, he's everything America loves. Trump is the perfect embodiment of everything this country claims to abhor but secretly holds dear.
That's his other secret weapon.
There has only ever been one way to beat Trump, and that's to offer a better vision of the future to a population that's increasingly angry, scared, tired, and lonely. Democrats have failed to offer a better vision because they, too, rely on campaign donations and little gifts from the same extremely rich families who back Trump. Today, it's just a question of what flavor of fascism you want:
Vanilla, or tang?
There's a third way here, and that would be to reject both parties. That won't happen because, as piles of psychology have shown, people are scared of change. Today in 2024, they would rather vote for a brand of fascism that serves their interests than take a chance on embracing a true democracy, one where they might not come out on top.
Some of you are getting angry. Well, don't get angry at me. Get angry at the people who defend the system. I'm not defending it.
I'm just making observations.
What's the solution?
Well...
Maybe Trump will actually get sentenced to jail and barred from running for office. That sure would be nice. Does anyone really think that's going to happen? And if it does, how do you think the rest of this year will go? Do you think half of Americans, the one with tons of firearms and deep anger issues, will peacefully accept this outcome? Or will they turn this place upside down and inside out? Remember, we live in a place where the law serves those in power, and your friends leave their keys and their guns in their cars at night, unlocked.
Feel free to share your thoughts.
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