Presidential rhetoric corresponds to presidential action; it precedes and defines it. What a candidate says on the campaign trail connects to what he (or she) will do in office. And if Trump has had a single consistent message, it is that he’ll use the violent arm of the state to cleanse the nation of “scum” and “vermin,” whether immigrants and refugees or dissenters and political opponents like Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi.
Americans who want to stop this — three things to do:
- Check your voter registration
- Vote early if your state allows
- Volunteer for the Harris campaign and for other Democrats near you
From the other side of the pond, I find it very worrying and, indeed, disconnected from reality that Americans on Lemmy discuss the body odor or groping or even raping connected to one man that could and, given the chance, absolutely will completely unhinge their entire country at once.
You might think it smug, but many people all over the world have experienced a tyranny, or are currently experiencing it. There is no second warning, nor will there be a deadline; one day, the disappearings just start, and they will become increasingly random. You will not be in control of the process anymore.
Or, in the words of Andrew Mack, albeit about the failed Vietnam War: “The American experience [is] in no sense unique, except to Americans.”
I understand people need to vent, but what I would really hope to see would be discussions on how easy, or how difficult, it is to uproot one’s live and emigrate; how to go about getting a visa, or asylum, or a job in a different country; how long it takes to become fluent in a foreign language; or how long it would take Canada to close its borders once huge waves of refugees set in.
Today’s “too alarmist” is tomorrow’s “wasn’t alarmist enough.”
/offmychest