I said to myself “There will be guns” ever since I heard presidential candidate Donald Trump tell his supporters that Pro Hillary Clinton election officials may rig the voting to keep him away from his Big Chair dreams — and then admonished angry hordes nationwide to physically watch the polling places and remain vigilant for ballot tampering.
Trump even has a web page where you can sign-up to patrol a voting site and defend against “Crooked Hillary.”
My conclusion isn’t unreasonable. The same same culturally pessimistic fanatics — more or less — responded to the health care reform debate in 2009 by taking their guns to the streets.
Healthcare, y’all. Guns. Yes, I know …
Therefore, don’t you think the same people will view the fate of the nation being decided on November 8 for the next four years or longer as an arms-bearing event?
Hell, I expect to see even more guns.
Trump’s droning of a “rigged election” theme since this summer has paid dividends this fall in the form of his followers threatening to become violent.
And we now have foreshadowing of what could be a very long day next month — a Virginia CBS News affiliate reports that an armed Trump supporter lingered in front of a Democratic congressional candidate’s campaign office in Fluvanna County.
Just chillin’ on the sidewalk, of course. With an assault rifle. And staring into the office window. For almost 12 hours.
But merely saying “Trump supporters will have guns” skims the surgace of the problem.
Whatever you wish to call the Fluvanna incident, you must remember that the sidewalk gun show — and the additional assault weapon displays you’ll likely see in the coming weeks — are the output of bipartisan neoliberal policies that have suppressed household incomes, destroyed the middle class and siphoned jobs from America during the past four decades.
Trump isn’t the genesis of this anger, but he’s masterfully coupled the real pain many of these Americans are experiencing with their inner fears and deep-rooted hatred while identifying racial and social groups as the objects for blame.
You know, much like what Adolf Hitler did back in the day.
This cult of misdirected odium isn’t going away after election day and regardless of what the mainstream media tells you, the problem will remain regardless of the political party in control.
In fact, I expect matters to rise above the simmering point — and soon.
Perhaps I’ll discuss the solutions — one extremely obvious and the other not as much — tomorrow, but the message for the moment is to expect guns this fall …
song currently stuck in my head: “have mercy upon us” – amina claudine myers
mentalunrest.com 