Tag: #AmericanHistory

No matter the dissenting opinions, we are Americans under the same sky – J. Marcelo Baqueroalvarez

 

America is experiencing pivotal events in our history.  Whether you lean to the left or right side of the political spectrum, we must learn to work together.

 

The division in America is widening each day.

If you check most types of media outlets nowadays, the narrative is similar – “us against them.”  This is happening at an accelerated rate, and it needs to stop, because we are eroding America from the inside out.  And if this happens, we have to ask ourselves: Who wins if America fails?  The answer is simple, those who benefit if America fails.

And who is this cabal of anti-Americans?  You might or might not be surprised to learn that this group of people span the entire world, and yes – some are even inside our own borders – and they were born in America.  This later one is more nuisance, because even though they are American themselves, and might be operating under the impression that they are on America’s side – they are destroying the very fabric of the country at an accelerated rate.

It is sad but true that it is very easy to highjack the intrinsic goodness of people, and turn it against them.  Worst of all, some of those who had their best intentions highjacked can very well be convinced they are fighting the good fight.  This is happening around the world.  Some have already destroyed the fabric of their own countries, bamboozled under a faux outrage that misdirected their candor and ire against their best interests.

Are we next?  I would not quite say “next” – because that is very much happening right now in real time.  But before we explore this phenomenon, let’s talk a bit about this cabal of those who want to destroy America… or at the very least bump America off the number one spot as a world-leader.  Is it too bad being number two?  It is worse than most people would imagine.  And that is why this process of bumping the USA off the world stage has been executed for such a long time, and for many has been mostly unnoticed.  Afterall, if you’re number one, your place is forever secured right?  No, wrong.  But those who have something to win from that delusion will surely make you think that is the case.

American Exceptionalism – not always a welcome concept…

It is not unusual for Americans to call the United States “the BEST country in the world.”  How do you think people in other countries, even the ones we like us view and perceive that statement, and sentiment?  If your guess is that they feel super happy for the USA and they are super stoked about it, then you’re delusional.  The reality is that most people around the world, though they would agree that the USA is a world-leader, in fact resent the fact that Americans call themselves the best of the best in the world stage.

American exceptionalism is called by many other countries “American Arrogance” – and either if you agree or disagree with that narrative, that’s the opinion of a non-insignificant number of people around the world.  And if you’re an American, this might make you angry, or make you feel bad, sad, or perhaps even combative about their perception.  “How dare these many millions of people around the world not agree that the USA is the best nation in the world!”  And to be fair, America is indeed a leader in many, many facets.  Not all good, not all bad.

For example, from some of the not so good, we are number one in gun violence.  We are also number one in the most expensive health care system on the planet.  Oh, and we are also number one on incarcerating people.  Yet when it comes to education, we are nowhere near number one, when it comes to wealth gaps we are also pretty far behind.  And don’t get me wrong, the USA is a wonderful place, unlike no other.  But you see, I also have a very different vantage point than most of the world.

For instance, I’ve lived in the USA most of my life, and I’ve served in uniform north of 20 years.  Also, both my wife and daughter were born in the USA, and I have been afforded levels of trust by America that is only limited to very few people alive.  My love for the United States of America is beyond what anybody could quantify or even imagine.  It is vaster than the expanses of the known universe.  And that is why I have no problem speaking truth to power.

What makes the United States of America truly the most amazing place in the world is the AMERICAN PEOPLE – we have the most diverse demographics in the world.  There is representation of every corner of the planet who are American Citizens, and Permanent Residents.  But not only that, we also have people from all over the world who come and serve in our Armed Forces, in our agencies, and many other segments of our nation, expanding our scope of knowledge and understanding of what is needed to make us better each day.  This diversity is inconvenient to those who want to destroy America as we know it.

Is there room for improvement?  Of course there is!  Even the fanciest smart phone, which already does more mind-bending taskings that we ever imagined possible just a few short years ago has room for improvement.  We cannot live from past wins alone; this is a continuous journey.  Change is inevitable, otherwise it creates stagnation.  Following the cell phone example.  What if we had just settled for flip phones in the early 2000’s?  And if you’re old to remember those days, having a cool flip phone back then was a huge deal.  Today, if you can find those, it might as well be in a museum of obsolete technology.

That is what diversity brings, new ideas – new concepts – new innovations – additional points of view.  Some that will be welcome at first sight, some might be more challenging, if they seem to be disrupting the status quo.  Continue with the phones example, back in the day we used to have rotary phones… you know those with the big wheel with numbers you had to spin to dial.  Imagine for a second if we had kept those rotary phones and by doing so negate ourselves the possibilities to innovate to the technological advances we have today when it comes to telecommunications.

Some of the more cynical readers might think that I went on a tangent.  Starting from American exceptionalism to rotary phones.  Well, there is a reason why I frame it in such a way.  The minds of people are getting highjacked to become one-dimensional.  My writing style is meant to rebuild that abstract part of thinking in order for us to understand the bigger picture and stop being bamboozled.  I have to be a bit more on-the-nose nowadays, because sadly we are running out of time.  The adversary is winning, and we are losing ground.

So, let’s bring this back together to the American Exceptionalism.  There are regimes who are diligently capitalizing on the resentment people around the world have been brewing against the USA for several decades.  Meanwhile, they are positioning themselves as a better alternative to the USA.  If the USA – by its own hand destroys itself, they win by default.  It is even more insidious than that.  They will try to get the USA to join the “bad regimes” club, and create a division so massive inside our own borders that it will implode, and win by default.  Either way, they would win.

Sadly, I can only oversimplify on this article, because the entire premise alone is enough to write an entire book.  We don’t have time to go through all that.  But fortunately, I’ve written and released two books that help that effort.  And also, I’ve written a myriad of long-form articles that deal with this exact theme.  I wrote all this because I saw it coming, I’ve warned a lot of people – some took heed, many have no idea what is coming their way.

 

Get your copy of “AUTHORITARIANISM & PROPAGANDA The Puppet Master Tools” (available on eBook & paperback)

Get your copy of “WOKE & PROUD The Charlatans’ Inconvenience” (available on eBook & paperback)

Read the TODAY IN AMERICA series at Half Life Crisis.

 

In my series “Today in America” I add important turning points in our American History, and how this is playing a pivotal role in how we are been bamboozled into fighting one another, and for the rest of those who are unaware – to remain unaware, thus giving card blanche to an adversarial regime to take over their lives, as the unsuspected American segment of willfully ignorant people have given tacit consent to others to dictate their lives without as much as a semblance of awareness.

Are many Americans arrogant?  You can bet your full paycheck that many are, and that is the impression many around the world see of this otherwise great nation. There is a lot of merit for why the USA has become the de facto world-leader, but that does not mean that other countries do not feel that that situation rubs them the wrong way.  And before you think “well F-em” – think again, because – first that shows that you are indeed arrogant, and foolish.  People around the world have choices, even if they owe something to America.  Much like if you have a mortgage with a bank, and there is another bank that offers you a better rate – you might refinance.  In the strategic level of geopolitics, it is very similar.

 

Being a world leader.

You’ve probably heard the term “it is lonely on the top” – and indeed it can be if a person burned bridges and used others as stepping stones to reach to the top.  Politics, for better or for worse, have a huge role to play in the way we are perceived around the world.  Every time people in congress throw verbal feces at each other, somebody in a country who dislikes the USA uses that as a propaganda point to show that “the US system of government is flawed.”  That is a phenomenal gift on a golden platter to an authoritarian regime.

No matter if you are an American or not, rip the proverbial bandage right now, the USA has a lot of room for improvement, but it is right now (at the time I write this article) remains the best alternative for a myriad of reasons.  For better or worse, whatever happens in the USA will be followed by countries around the world as an acceptable status quo. If you are not from the United States, you might or might not like the USA – but regardless the USA remains a world leader in many respects that are beneficial to the entire world.

Has the system been abused by a few unscrupulous and opportunistic entities?  Absolutely yes.  Can it be fixed?  Yes!  But it is not an automatic process.  What makes the USA the USA is the PEOPLE!  And people need to have a full grasp and understanding of what is affecting them.  Especially the “boring and scary” parts that are usually left unattended.  I can ask many Americans right now about what is most important in the current news cycle.  Many will concede (and indeed when I asked them) that they “don’t follow the news” – but they can tell you the entire gamma of TV shows, movies, games, video games, and other entertainment with superlative detail.  That especially in 2024 – which perhaps is the most influential election year in our lifetimes is not a good trend.

With that said, MOST people in the USA are actually wonderful and caring people, no matter where you are.  Is there rampant misinformation that has been dividing us?  Yes, again – and that is what I am trying to change through my writing.  But I have to admit that this is not an easy task.  There is no shortage of people who are “talking” about what is going on – but I don’t see much “doing” about it.  This part of me “doing something” – but there is a lot more that I do, and that is engaging with any group of people I can interact with.  Especially if they have a point of view that has been highjacked by propaganda.

I’m happy to report that some people with whom we had conversations, eventually had an epiphany.  They did not agree with me at first – but I like to plant seeds that will be tumbling on a person’s mind for a while.  They eventually will find the correct answer.  Why?  Because facts don’t care about our feelings, the truth comes to light at some point.  It does not matter how hard we try to hide from it.  The problem is that the truth is not always as palatable as propaganda.  Propaganda is easily digestible; the truth can be a hard pill to swallow.  Especially if we were enamored with the incorrect narrative.

You’ve probably heard also this phrase: “The chain is only as strong as its weakest link.”  The propagandists and regimes who are hellbent in destroying America are preying on those weakest links.  The trick is that they will make them believe they are the strongest links in the proverbial chain.  It is very easy to do so in fact. People (in particular) with some unapologetic on-your-face alpha personalities can be very susceptible to running errands for an authoritarian.  Sorry, that’s what normally happens.  But non-alphas also have vulnerabilities that can be quite exploitable.  It takes different levels manipulation to target each segment.  This can result in the “us against them” reality I was speaking of at the top of this article.

And to bring it full circle – being a leading nation is not a matter of having only “a few good people who are good and well informed” does not help the collective from being a premiere nation.  For example, in countries where information is curtailed and controlled by the regime, there is no diversity, nor tolerance for different points of view – the perception of reality gets skewed to the point that the population has no recourse but to stagnate.  They will instead be waiting for whatever is being fed to them as far as thinking (and sometimes literally for sustainment).

Conversely, when there is a diversity of points of view, there will be more checks and balances.  That does not mean that you have to “agree” with every different point of view.  Some of those points of view (even your own) could very well be divorced from reality.  But even on those events, that is not an entirely negative situation, because you can also understand where there could be cognitive traps (cognitive dissidence).  Having people smart enough to realize that there are blind spots is a good place to start when searching for facts.

But I’ve said it before, and I will say it again – there is a sizable number of people who confuse facts with opinions.  A fact is logical, measurable, and demonstrable.  An opinion can very well be simple conjecture and divorced from reality.  The latter is of course very convenient for propagandists who want to implant a “plausible” version of events – even if when put in context it would not be plausible at all.  But of course, that is why those unsuspected people won’t be afforded the full context.  It is designed to be that way.

Although this situation certainly happens in the USA, we are far from being the only country in the world suffering from the same situation.  Tragically, due to the fact that the United States is such an important and influential country (like it or not), the collective dissidence affects the entire world (again like it or not).  And even if there are other countries around the world looking in awe, horror, or contempt that the USA is struggling – it also negatively affects THEM sooner or later.

Leadership is a privilege, not a right.  However, in places where they can still elect their leaders – the rules have been tilted in some superficially innocuous directions.  But the truth is a lot darker; political influence is not a single-country issue.  There are regimes who realize that the more global their influence, the more they can get away with other nefarious agendas.  Agendas that most definitely affect their own countries, but it also tilts the game at a much deeper level.  That is where things get a lot more complex – because it becomes abstract, and it is hidden in plain sight.

While the majority of people are busy living their own lives, the direction for which their road is being skewed happens beneath their own noses.  The changes are gradual – and as they continue in their life journey – however long it takes, the destination was already predetermined for millions of people.  That is why understanding history in proper context is so important.  I’ve said it a million times, and I will continue saying it – propaganda is meant to be palatable, and easily understood.  Of course, it is because it becomes the vehicle for subliminal marching orders – and these orders can very well be against the obedient person’s best interests.

So, if you’re an American – like it or not – what you do adds to the collective effort for the rest of the planet.  No pressure.  But that should not be a bad thing.  In fact, when we conduct ourselves in a good way that is meant to help each other out, the benefits are returned with high returns.  And no, I am not asking about donating, or giving stuff away for free.  But for example, if you have friends who own a restaurant, or that they provide a service, recommending their services or using those services yourself already contributes to the betterment of our society.

The problem is that most people now seem like a walking price tag.  And often asked to pay more than they can afford – especially if they are in the lower parts of the economic scale.  When Americans can’t work together, what is the message the rest of the world sees?  They would assert something along the lines “if the USA is no longer a world leader, then it is time for a different country (even their own) to be that leader.”  This can be very beneficial or polarizing to the world stage – but remember that at this time in history, where there is great power competition, there are some regimes that are far ahead of the curve.  And letting the USA out to dry (like it or not) is not the best answer.

But when it comes to a person put in charge, it does not mean that person is an actual leader.  There is a huge difference between the two.  And when we compound the millions of people collective in that country, and there are few awesome people and a bunch of non-awesome people, what is the average for the country?  Does that affect the collective average – you bet it does.  Why?  Because like it or not a majority of people can affect change for better or worse.  A population who is subpar in the manner they consume and understand information will be a lot worse off than a population who is above average in the proper understanding of the information they consume.  Why?  Because they will be able to understand if the information provided to them is accurate or if it is flawed.  In other words, they will understand the proper context.

 

Dummying down our world’s population.

This has been occurring at an accelerated rate, and in many ways, it is a world-wide phenomenon.  There is a reason why things that are more “fun” and “entertaining” are palatable and spread like wild fire.  They are designed to capture our interest and to teach us something in a very easy manner – often time to try to sell us something, or make us loyal to their brand.  But something similar also happens with propaganda.

Bottom line, the dumber a person is, the easier they are to manipulate.  Make this dumb person believe they are the smartest person in the room, and they will be kissing the rear end of whomever is making them feel so good – and accepted!  No matter how crazy the narrative might be, people want to belong – and propaganda makes it easier to create these bubbles that place people in a “community of like-minded folks” – while separating us from those who “seem to be” against us.

The reality is that we are more similar than different.  And that is very inconvenient to whomever wants to manipulate us.  In fact, that is another reason why they make their enticement so palatable and easily to assimilate.  They have realized that the savvier a person is, the less likely they are to ingest falsehoods, and the less likely they are to take something at face value without doing its due diligence.

Let me give you a quick example.  Let’s pretend for a moment you’re about to spend a pretty penny on a big-ticket item. Maybe a huge TV, or a new central air conditioning Unit, a vehicle, a new roof, an expensive musical instrument, or whatever that would cost a small fortune.  In those instances, people will tend to do a lot of research on the brand, the reviews (good and especially bad), and ask around, and find out if the item they are about to purchase or the company they will be dealing with is reputable, etc.  Those who fail to do so might go one of two ways.

1. They could get lucky and everything works fine.

2. They will find out that there was some merit in doing some research because now they are stuck with a bad investment.

Whatever the case, there was more to the story.  In the first instance, yes – sometimes we get lucky buying something on a whim and it turns out to be great.  But that is not always the case.  In some instances, what we think was good turned out to be a swindle.  Especially if the situation was too good to be true.  In fact, that is part of the marketing process – making it as palatable and enticing as possible for the consumer.  Hopefully, that will include good quality control if they are interested in the customer for coming for more.  Some other times it might be just enough to make a quick buck and for the swindler to disappear into the shadows.

When it comes to propaganda, the swindlers are going to give them nice little samples, but they are not ready for the big reveal.  Much like getting a buffet dinner in a time-share sale.  Sure, they are feeding you something, but the payout they are looking for is a lot bigger than what they are offering to get you through the door, and to keep you there – until you stay long enough to listen, and perhaps being enticed to sign up.

Well, the dummying down of the population is similar, but a lot more complex in scale and execution.  Why?  Because the payout is enormous.  Some people are more prone to take some false narratives at face value – if their biases have prompted them to blindly follow a person that they find enticing.  Make no mistake, those of us who want the best for you are going to ask you to look beyond your bubble and question everything – even what WE are telling you.  Why? Because we want you to expand your mind.

Get your copy of “AUTHORITARIANISM & PROPAGANDA The Puppet Master Tools” (available on eBook & paperback)

Get your copy of “WOKE & PROUD The Charlatans’ Inconvenience” (available on eBook & paperback)

Read the TODAY IN AMERICA series at Half Life Crisis.

People who want to control you or keep you dumb will make things “too easy” for you.  This might seem convenient to you at first, but the fact is that they are re-training your mind towards blind obedience.  Through my writing I am trying to change that trend.  But it is a team effort.  Thank you for spending this time with me!  HLC

 

When Americans are divided and fight one another, who wins?  It is not America for sure, but rather a lot of regimes who want to set a divergent world standard.

 

Are we running towards a new American Civil War?

If you have been familiar with the pages of world history – to include American history, then you would not be surprised to realize that indicators leading to a civil war tend to be very consistent.  I cannot begin to explain how disturbing and dangerous this situation is at this very moment (as I type these words) for American history – and by extension the world.

There is a lot to say and praise about American exceptionalism.  Agree or disagree, like it or not, the United States of America is still the most influential country in the world.  Why is that?  The answer is complex, but it can be summarized in the fact that we are a conglomeration of every culture and heritage spanning the entire world.  There are American citizens who were literally born, or have ancestry linked to every corner on this planet.

Our diversity is our strength as a Nation.  Of course, being an influential nation that sets the standard for equal treatment to all people is inconvenient to a large slew of regimes.  In fact, it is a lot more insidious than that, but we’ll talk more about it in in a little bit – let’s put this thought in context first.  When you have a lot of diversity, it is a lot harder for “group-thinking” and “bubble mentality” to blind people from reality.  In other words, the dialog (or sometimes disagreements) will pose a different point of view – and spark a larger [actual] conversation.  That does not imply that an agreement might be reached, but it will show empirical evidence that there is more than one way of thinking.  That is inconvenient to regimes who require unilateral obedience.

In a civil war there are many factors that play crucial roles in the process leading to conflict.  I call them factors because they are multipliers.  Unrest does not tend to start suddenly, it tends to brew for a long time, and once there is enough dehumanization from one another, the new perceived foe becomes a target, while also forgetting their own humanity.  It is this group thinking that keeps adding to this “us against them” mentality.  Once the communication breakdown is inevitable, then being reasonable becomes a moot point.  The anger and visceral response take full control of each individual person, and it just goes downhill from there.

This is happening in America right now.  And I cannot begin to tell you how painful it is to realize it.  And what makes it even more dangerous – is that there are plenty of people who are blissfully unaware of this danger, and likely won’t realize it until it is too late.  That is unless we can wake up people and diffuse this whole catastrophe from occurring in the first place.  But even if this gets diffused, the less informed segment of the population would remain unaware or even annoyed about “what was the fuzz all about,” or “what people were talking about.”  Sometimes being lucky is not a blessing, it can be a curse of apathy and ignorance.

The lack of dialog in the political discourse, the current cult of personalities for particular people in office is a very disturbing trend many people ignore.  However, for a segment of the population, what was one a solemn institution – regardless of whether you disagree about policy – has become a circus where there is a non-insignificant number of “elected officials” who are constantly spewing divisive points which also happen to be propaganda points from other regimes, specifically designed to divide Americans.  This is a problem, because we are instigated and therefore getting attacked from the inside out.

The difference between the catalyst for this potential new American Civil War and the last is that those who are been enticed to start fighting are not even aware of what they are fighting for.  For the American Civil war in the 1800s it was fought because many people were perfectly ok with slavery.  Many states severed themselves from the United States in order for these “states’ rights” to have people keep other human beings as property.  The mere thought of condoning owning other human beings as property is despicable, and it was a terrible part in world-history, to include American history.  We can’t change the past, but we [collectively] can certainly be responsible for our futures.

And hence, that is what the crux of the matter gets muddied up.  There are countless people who are perfectly fine with trying to destroy other people’s lives – Americans killing other Americans.  Some have not even realized it yet.  But the divisive rhetoric is making it more and more incendiary with every passing day.  I’ve been seeing this situation deteriorate more and more in real time.  And while some are speaking up about it, the solution seems ever so elusive.  Talking with no viable action can perpetuate a problem.  And no, the action I’m speaking about does not imply getting violent against the dissenting group.

 

 

What are the actions needed to diffuse a civil war?

Let’s start with some context.  Civil wars have something in common.  Somebody wants to keep or raise to power.  They achieve this by dividing people under the specific regime, and have them kill each other to keep only loyalists alive so they can pander towards the dear leader for as long as it is convenient to this dear leader.

Did that happen during the American Civil war?  Yes, it did.  There were many poor Southerners who were convinced that anybody with a darker skin tone was inferior to them, and should remain subservient to those with a non-dark complexion.  However, there were very rich plantation owners and other people who actually owned human beings – not every southerner was a slave owner.  In fact, the great majority didn’t.  But those who did own slaves derived their incredible wealth out of the literal exploitation of human beings, who were originally captured overseas and sold as property in the United States.

Slavery, unfortunately, was not only relegated to the South, there were many people in other states who were perfectly ok about owning slaves too.  The American Civil War started because when slavery was to be abolished, many states – who happened to be in the South, wanted to keep human beings as property, then created the Confederacy and severed themselves from the United States.  Which is technically treason, and brought four years of bitter fighting among Americans.  The Union defeated the Confederacy, but this division among Americans has never really healed up.

Link to Buy the book “WOKE & PROUD The Charlatans’ Inconvenience” by J. Marcelo Baqueroalvarez

The reason is because many of them have been lied to, and even though most non-wealthy Southerners fought, they were lied too as well.  I’m not sure they would have been super wired up to fight if they would have been told the truth – which would be akin to the following: “hey you’re fighting and likely dying for these very rich people who want to keep slaves to get richer, and by the way are not fighting themselves in the front lines against the USA, they will mostly be giving orders to you – but YOU, will be doing the fighting and likely dying, while their wealth is being protected by YOU.”

Some southerners did figure that out in the middle of the battle, and the Confederacy had a lot of attrition and desertion.  They realized that the rich folks wanted to have the poor-white folks fighting on behalf of keeping their wealth.  For example, owning slaves was also expensive.  Therefore, there was no shortage of white people who made a meager living doing manual labor.  And because slaves were giving housing and food – however squalid the conditions, the non-wealthy southerners probably perceived that the slaves had it “easy” – which is of course cognitive dissidence.

Considering this, several scholars have come to the agreement that only ~1% of southerners actually owned slaves.  And it was THIS 1% who set America on a bloody four-years’ war – which they ended up losing anyway.  How where they able to make the 99% additional group of people to fight to the death for this 1% of super rich folks’ economic interests?  Sadly, lies and racism.  They convince them that folks with dark skin were inferior.  By dehumanizing a group, and dehumanizing those who accurately considered people with darker skin human beings.  And of course, feed a narrative that the union was being aggressive.  Hence, still many southerners call the civil war, a “war of northern aggression” – despite the fact that most of the Confederate soldiers were fighting against their own best interests.

In any battle mobilizing people on lies, there has to be a foe.  This foe has to be formidable – yet inferior (in any way they can consider it as such – even the despicable ways).  Once it becomes an “us against them” issue – it is very easy to fall in the trap of cognitive dissidence.  People tend to galvanize against what they consider a common threat.  And those who want to manipulate people vulnerable to exploitable biases are very much aware that those obedient fools are disposable, but that they would break their backs or fight and gladly die for a cause that was manufactured.  However, those fighting and dying are very much convinced it was for a worthwhile cause.  That is why it is so dangerous.

We’ve seen this happen in other countries.  For example, suicide bombers, they are lied about heavenly rewards and other perks. This narrative is indoctrinated for a long time… it is not like they tell today to join a group and tomorrow they will be asked to be a martyr.  The ones in the higher echelons never do the suicide-bombing themselves, bizarre, huh?  However, these martyrs are very much enamored with the idea that they are doing something bigger than themselves – despite the fact they are just disposable fools who are convinced that ending their lives and the lives of others is an honorable cause.  Well, when it comes to civil war rhetoric, although a bit different in semantics, has very similar mechanics – and produces similar results.

What are those mechanics?  Let me summarize them this way:

1. Find a foe, whatever or whoever it might be.

2. Disparage this foe until they become dehumanized (if people)

3. Ramp up violent ways to eliminate said foe, and convince that eliminating this foe (even through violence) is not only the right thing to do – but it is an honorable cause.

4. Send the most disposable fool to the front line to do the hard work (even if it is a suicide mission), by promising them some sort of reward for them or anybody they leave behind.  It is not like they can come from the afterlife if the reward never indeed happens.

5. Repeat the process until there are no more disposable fools to send to do errands for them.  Which might happen sooner or later – that is why authoritarian regimes tend to end at some point.  Or are big in indoctrinating new generations, so they can be those next disposable fools.

This process, as despicable as it sounds – it is all too real, and it happens around the world.  It has certainly occurred in America.  There are larger geopolitical intricacies.  Why? Because although the American Civil War in the 1800’s was very much domestic in the sense that some rich American folks wanted to get richer.  This new [potential] Civil War is a lot more complex.  This time is about entities outside our borders who want to destroy the USA from the inside out.  And they have been achieving this with spectacular results.

Even people with good intentions are falling victims of this sick game.  And yes, it is designed to be that way.  Therefore, for any reader who has a realization they have been lied to, don’t worry – DO something about it!  DOING means stop perpetuating the falsehoods of those who lied to you, and use this new found knowledge to tell the [actual] truth to others who were also lied to.  Just remember that you might find pushback – just like you were pushing back before the epiphany.  Again, this was designed to be that way.

It is very easy for lies to gain traction because they are designed to be easily digestible – and have just enough “accurate” information in order to pass a shallow fact-checking level of scrutiny.  But of course, this is not going to last if a higher level of scrutiny is ensued to seek the truth.  A lot of people who are not inside the bubble when this information is being pushed onto unsuspected victims won’t fall for this trick.  However, for those inside this bubble, the actual reality of being bamboozled will seem counterintuitive.  As I keep saying it, it is designed to be that way.  And it has been working for a long time.

Case in point.  Social media – especially Tweeter (X) in the last several months.  At some point there was some fact checking or at least some sort of deterrent from cyberbullying, hate speech, and other types of harassment to users.  Nowadays, it is a lot harder to report to a person than to endure the extremely offensive and divisive things many anonymous keyboard warriors spew all over the platform.  We see something similar in other platforms, but they tend to be regulated in a different manner, not only by the actual people running the platform, but by the users themselves.

A good example of accountability as described is Threads, the vibe is a lot better than Tweeter, according to the consensus of most Threads users.  I happen to agree with the Thread users.  But of course, even social media sites are being used as a polarization of who is subscribing to what world view.  Particularly, people on Tweeter (X) tend to be a lot more aggressive.  And that includes people from either side of the political spectrum, and religion.

Surprisingly (and heartbreaking enough), I’ve also seen many people who claim (claim being the key word) to be atheists who also happen to be extreme right-wing, LGBT, Ultra MAGAs, but also tend to spew all kinds of hate speech against LGBT, and repeat ultra-conservative talking points.  Of course, anybody who has been familiar with and studying sociological factors would also find it surprising as I did, because that is very much out of character for those groups.  And of course, unsurprisingly, most of these accounts spewing divisive rhetoric have avatars that are not an actual person – and there are no links to any actual social presence.  In other words, they are cowards hiding anonymous accounts, giving them the opportunity to harass others while hiding in the obscurity of the internet.  I’ll be writing additional articles about that, and I have talked about that in my blog as well.

I’ve challenged many of those, with this very line.  I point to them that it is cowardice to attack people online.  And further, they would not be doing the same thing if this was face to face with them showing their real name and identity.  They claim that those who they harass would go after them -claiming the other [users] to be somebody like the gestapo during Hitler’s times.  Which is interesting because these anonymous accounts cowards are doing the same level of harassment, only in a virtual scenario – yet in their sophomoric minds they feel justified; it seems they are lost in the irony.

Trying to reason with many of these minds who are clearly compromised can not only be challenging but incredibly frustrating.  I have to admit that although it can be tragically amusing and entertaining, it is also exceedingly sad.  And by sad, I mean it is sad to see how deep propaganda has made it almost impossible for them to see how deluded their arguments really are.  And of course, there is a non-zero chance that many of these trolls are perhaps high as a kite when they are spewing nonsense in social media.

But the most important point I want to put across with this article is that good people (not just in the USA but around the world) fortunately are the majority.  I keep seeing more and more people talking about a potential civil war in the United States – although I’ve been talking about these indicators for a lot longer than they have.  But the point remains, what are we going to do to stop this from happening?  The simple – yet complex answer is: EDUCATION!  And by that I don’t’ mean schools – I mean turning propaganda on its head.  The same tools being utilized to divide us can be reversed engineered.

I will be writing a series of articles in the coming weeks about this particular topic, because it is complex.  Meanwhile, I have been talking about that in any platform I can get a hold of.  For example, in the Festival of Story Tellers, I spoke about propaganda and how to defeat it.  You can view that video at the following link

Link to Video About Turning Propaganda on Its Head.

But the fact is that I may be idealistic all I want – but I cannot do this alone.  I’ll keep doing my part to spread awareness and provide solutions through my writing – and any other platform I can find.  I just hope that my message won’t resonate when it is too late.  HLC

 

Read our TODAY IN AMERICA articles at www.halflifecrisis.com

Link to Buy the book “AUTHORITARIANISM & PROPAGANDA The Puppet Master Tools” by J. Marcelo Baqueroalvarez

 

 

Three years ago, today Capitol Hill was assaulted by thousands of MAGA supporters.  Because of that I started my series “Today in America.”  Let’s talk about it.

Three years later, the “big lie” continues.

I remember it like it was yesterday.  The horrific images of a mob assaulting Capitol Hill, fighting Capitol Police, smashing the windows, the gallows along people chanting “hang Mike Pence” – who was Trump’s Vice President at the time. These images were broadcasted live on TV around the world, as they were also live streamed by many insurrectionists themselves.

As the events were unfolding, I was writing my first “Today in America” article as a chronicle of what I was witnessing in real time.  I invite you to read the article at the following link if you haven’t seen it yet – before you continue with the current article.  If you decide to read it later, that is fine also – but by reading it, it will give you more context as I update about what has been going on in these last three years in connection to that dark day in American History.

https://www.halflifecrisis.com/2021/01/today-in-america-06-jan-2021/

As I was reading back my words from that day – my sentiment has not changed at all.  I was just as disappointed that day as I am today.  In fact, perhaps I am even more disappointed today because there is a copious number of voters who: a) have no idea about what happened that day, and b) they know what happened, and think it is very much justified.

And that either one of those is not good news at all for our country.  But it is very convenient to other regimes who do not want America to remain the number one nation on the world-stage.

The denial of the 2020 presidential election is commonly referred by the “Big Lie” – and that is likely the way it will be designated as in future history books.  The 2020 election was not “stolen” and it was not “rigged” as Trump and his supporters would assert.  And they have tried it in numerous ways to set forth that narrative.  In every legal case the claims about the 2020 election from being stolen, and legitimizing Trump as the winner has failed.  That includes cases were Trump-appointed judges around the country ruled against him.

Did Trump get the most votes of any sitting US President ever?  Yes, he did.  But there were millions more voters who voted him out of office.  And that includes copious amounts of Republican voters.  Despite all the legal cases, lawsuits, investigations, recounts, etc.  Trump was never able to proof election fraud to be the cause for his defeat.  However, there have been thousands of cases combined against him and his followers in connection to try to change the outcome of the 2020 election.

At some point, no matter how fervently we like a person (like Trump fans), the numbers are simply not on their favor.  And think about this for a moment.  Many MAGA Republicans (please note that not all MAGA are fully convinced of this lie, and not all Republicans are MAGA) were perfectly ok about not contesting electoral fraud on elections they won.  But they were very much calling foul for elections and they were defeated.  Conversely, all blue-contenders who were defeated in that election conceded.  Keep this in mind as we continue this dialog.

The critical question we should arrive to is: “Who has the most to lose if Trump was not to be elected?”  The country “survived” and even thrived under the Biden administration – regardless of whether you like the guy or not.  It has even been good for business.  It is not perfect – there is plenty left to do.  But I for one am very happy not having to wake up to a twitter storm.  And yes “mean tweets” against targeted private citizens is not acceptable coming from the highest office on the planet.

So, the question remains.  Who had the most to lose if Trump lost the 2020 election?  Well, that is actually an easy answer.  Trump himself.  And he knew it.  There were plenty of legal cases pending against him before he was to leave office.  Many of those cases were not prosecuted while he was a sitting president (such as the findings on the Mueller report) because that was a guideline set forth by the federal government.  By the way, he was found guilty under the Mueller report – he was not convicted because of the guideline I mentioned, and the at-the-time Republican controlled House and Senate saved Trump from being kicked out of office.

After the House of Representatives flipped in favor of the Democrats, Trump was impeached – twice for two additional high crimes and misdemeanors; and saved by the at-the-time Republican controlled Senate – twice!

 

No stranger to controversy.

For many people who had been paying attention objectively, the Trump Presidency was bizarre at best, and extremely polemic at worst.  And by polemic, I mean that there was never a day were a career-ending scandal did not dominate the headlines.  It became so common place that people got oversaturated with negative information about Trump.  Trump and his acolytes also used this as a catalyst to excite his base – the higher the polemic, the more he would double or triple down.  This perceived “martyrdom” is a very powerful tool to exploit certain biases.

But objectively, if Biden or anybody else for that matter would have done 1/1,000,000th of what Trump was getting away with – the entire right-wing media ecosystem that favors Trump would have called Biden (or any other dissenter) out on that.  But for the court of public opinion, redacting particular stories is simply the status quo nowadays.  Many people don’t tune in to watch something that disagrees with their world-view.  The loyal eyeballs are more interested in getting more of what they come to accept as true – regardless of if it is factual or not.

And this is why it is important to understand the MAGA mentality at this point in history.  Trump is NOT who is leading the MAGA movement, contrary to what many would think.  There are a lot of other interested parties who are using Trump as the figure head who will spout all kinds of things that excites the base.  THAT base, THAT is what they are after.  The MAGA Republicans are divided in two main segments.  And from those there are a lot more subtleties.  But that would take me days to go through.  So, this is a good starting point.  Let’s explore:

 

JAN 6 2021 gallows capitol hill

 

Types of MAGA Republicans:

If you have read my articles for a while, then you have likely seen that I am not a fan of treating anybody with disrespect.  That includes MAGA Republicans.  I’ve met a bunch of them, and they do have their heart in the right place.  We can disagree on policy, but we can generally agree on what is good for the country.  Others are just very unsavory people, and have more of a “debate me bro” attitude than actually trying to find a solution that is good for the country.

What they have in common is that for some reason they find Trump appealing.  With that context let’s delve into what we are seeing here.  This is my own analysis, and I illustrate it in a manner that is intended to make better sense to the reader.

MAGA Type 1 – Honest to goodness Patriotic good people who actually want the best for the country.

We all have biases.  It is part of being human.  However, if those biases are exploited, then somebody can take advantage of our otherwise good intentions.  If that ever happens to you, don’t feel bad – it is designed to be that way.  And those perpetrators are very good at what they do.  And what they do is turn good values into a narrative that is actually self-destructive.

Before I continue, let me emphasize that this variety of MAGA is less likely to remain loyal to Trump.  Why?  Because at some point they realize that some of the narratives sent their way are not as accurate as they were led to believe.  In other words, they feel betrayed and their devotion turns on its head and suddenly they become very vocal dissenters from Trump.  What causes them to turn against Trump?  Depends on the person.  But the common denominator is that they will be as vocal against MAGA as they were vocal in support of MAGA once they decided they are out of that club.

Being MAGA does not mean that a person is unintelligent, but they do have a proclivity to choose one side a lot more fervently.  For example, very unlikely you will see a person being draped head to toe with Biden merch.  Sure, you might see a few, but never at the scale and scope as you see MAGA regalia all over the place.  And that MAGA merch tends to be expensive.

I have to emphasize that many ex-MAGA started their journey out of that movement once they stopped listening to what Trump or his acolytes were saying – and pragmatically started “challenging” what the non-MAGAS (including other Republicans) were advising.  Which as simply “hey, there is a lot of official information posted in the public domain, read it and find out what they are saying.”

Many who (albeit reluctantly) actually read through the paperwork realized the obvious.  A lot of important details were [perhaps] conveniently left off on any of their outlets or choices.  Being TV, pundits, influencers, podcasters, whatever.  And as they attempted to refute that information objectively, they realized that there was so much more data that was contradicting a lot of the narratives fed to them for years.

This is not an easy process for anybody to accept.  Actually, it can be very traumatic.  That is why whenever a person “hits a nerve” on during a conversation with a MAGA republican, they tend to more from the defensive into the offensive very quickly.  Often using name calling, condescending epithets (such as cupcake, honey, sweetie, etc.), and suddenly shift towards a non sequitur to state “what about this or the other” – often unrelated to the topic at hand – and coincidentally, a repetition of a buzz phrase that they were fed before as an argument point.

However, when those arguments cannot be held to scrutiny, this will be very traumatic to them.  It is meant and designed to be that way when the information was implanted on their minds in the first place.  People hate to be told they are wrong, and will immediately gravitate towards their echo-chamber to regain that “sanity check” they desperately need as part of a confirmation bias, they might not see it as such, but that is exactly what is happening.  “Somebody said something I agree with, I’ll use this as a narrative counterpoint” – I’ve seen it thousands of times.

I’m not intending to change their minds, but when the conversations happen in a public forum such as social media – other people do pay attention to the narrative, and they can see by proxy how valid or flawed an argument really is.  Most people will just look, but rather not comment, or even react with a heart, or like or whatever.  But the crux of the argument resonates with them.  Even if it takes a while for the argument to settle in their minds.  Especially if this argument is now rocking their world.  People need time to process.

This segment of MAGA has and will likely flip against Trump if they are afforded the opportunity to make decisions based on the merits, and not just limited to the strategically cherrypicked talking points deemed convenient by those in the second group as described below.

MAGA Type 2 – Opportunistic people who are actively pushing a nefarious agenda that is actually eroding the country from the inside out.

Some of those who belong to this group do so wittingly, others unwittingly.  I would argue that the second group is more dangerous, because they have convinced themselves that any dissenting option should be discarded outright, regardless of factual merits.  These become the perfect vehicle to become the muscle and loyal soldiers to run with a narrative.  What they have not realized (yet) is that this devotion is indeed disposable.

The witting group definitely know that what they are doing or advocating for can be clearly divorced from the truth and in many cases illegal.  There is a reason why Trump has 90+ criminal charges against him.  And no, it is not because of the mean tweets.  Although that type of sophomoric behavior is also well below the prestige of the Office of the Presidency of the United Sates of America.

Surprisingly or unsurprisingly to some, Trump himself is likely not part of the higher echelons of his own MAGA movement.  Some people would say that is nonsensical – but as I mentioned before, Trump is the figure head – but strategy is not his strong suit, but he is surrounded by people who can directly or indirectly take a full advantage of his clout.  Despite what anybody might have perceived in the MAGA universe, Trump is not a one-man show.  There is a gigantic team who help him drive the MAGA narrative.  Trump himself is disposable.

What Trump was able to forge is a movement that is way bigger than him.  For better or worse, it has not been without controversy.  Why do you think that is?  Well, if all the indictments, the impeachments, and the many controversies tell you something – it is obvious that he is not going to play by the rules (to include the rule of law).  And that is [sadly] very enticing for a big segment of his base.

People on this group might end up being disloyal to Trump at some point – but they will be very loyal to the ideology behind MAGA.  Trump himself has set that standard.  He had disavowed hundreds of supporters whenever they became inconvenient.  We have seen that on live television, on his “mean tweets” and many other platforms – such as the rallies.

Do you think he is able to orchestrate all those events by himself?  Obviously not, he has teams to put that together.  So, there is a vested interest in getting MAGA as a strong brand.  There is plenty of money to be made for each and every one of those appearances.  And the crazy amounts of merch are only a small fraction of everything else.

Just do yourself a favor.  Google “MAGA Merch” and see how much all that cost.  Then do a “Biden Merch” – and you will see plenty of MAGA merch being disparaging to Biden.  Who do you think buys all that stuff?  Obviously, a Biden supporter is not going to spend the 40 bucks on a sweatshirt that is depicting him in a disparaging manner.  Also, by the way – a lot of that merch is actually made overseas.  Even though some might have a “Made in USA” label.

I’ve never attended his rallies, but from people who attended – I’ve been told they are not free.  And can range somewhere around $50 to $4,000 depending on what access you can afford to get.  Add these costs, and it gets to be pretty penny to support him.  If you attended a Trump rally, can you confirm this?

Perhaps some people think, how is it all relevant to January 6, 2021?  Well, it is very much related because what I’ve described is the context that helped bring rhetoric into action.  And despite what many would say to the contrary, January 6, 2021 was the date that marked an extremely violent insurrection.  Some would call it a “guided tour” – and I realize it is very hard to listen to that type of narrative without wanting to understand how much misinformation and spin was needed in order to help them reach that [extremely erroneous] conclusion.

 

Bringing it full circle to January 6, 2021.

As much as it pains me to say this, January 6, 2021 was a day of insurrection against the United States of America.  And it pains me, because it did get worse after that, despite all the accountability that was embarked via law enforcement and other legal resources to bring those who desecrated Capitol, and committed acts of violence to justice.

Over 730 people pleaded guilty, with about 170 convicted, and two acquitted (the latter only by a judge, but not by jury trial) in connection with the January 6 insurrection.  That alone negates the “guided tour” narrative some have floated around.  Trump himself is facing criminal charges due to his involvement in January 6, and of course is the reason why he got impeached for the second time – just days before he was supposed to leave office.  Ever since, a lot of his allies have turned their backs on him.  Afterall, for the first time ever in our lifetimes, we did not have a peaceful transfer of power in America.

But Trump did not act alone, he had huge teams working towards this particular goal – months in advance.  For anybody paying attention, during his rallies, tweets, and other events, Trump would assert that the 2020 election was going to be rigged.  Of course, there was no proof of that, but he did say that he would only accept the results if he was declared the winner.

Then it makes perfect sense why before the assault to Capitol he hosted the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington DC.  What do you think a name like that would prompt into attendees who travelled from all corners of the United States to see him speak?

Trump finally addressed the crowd at noon, but before that time his loyal supporters were listening to a bunch of speakers who were revving their discontent – and validating “the importance” that brought them to the capital that day – after traveling from all corners of the United States – largely at their own expense.  Yet there were some Trump campaign donors, and even Alex Jones pledged $50,000 to the cause.  But it is obvious that 50 grand is not near enough to make a dent on the gigantic amount of resources January 6 took collectively.

Some quick math considerations: -Lodging in D.C. (generally three figures a night) -Transportation to DC either driving or getting there (flights, caravan, whatever).  Parking is not free most everywhere in D.C. -Transportation Inside D.C. from wherever their hotel or lodging was arranged -All the Trump regalia they draped themselves with (flags, shirts, hats, hoodies, etc.) -Meals -Time Off from work (vacation time / sick days / etc.) -Childcare (back home) for whomever that is commuting from out of area.  And even if they brought their kids – they still need a place to stay while they attended the event.

I can go on, but hope this makes the point.  So, even thinking about the logistical nightmare that would be for loyal Trump MAGA supporters – imagine what it would be if those storming the capitol were “posing as MAGA” as some conspiracy theorist seem to assert.  I can tell you that it is hard enough for Democrats to go out and vote, unless they feel it is very-very important to do so.  They would not go out of their way to invest all that time in effort just to discredit Trump.

You can see more about the timeline of events for January 6, 2021 at the following link.  Credit to NPR for that report.

A timeline of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack — including when and how Trump responded : NPR

 

But again, bringing this full circle.  Democrats and many other Republicans simply did not want to give Trump another chance to sit in the Oval Office.  The country was not better off when he was President – it might have seen like it was from the outside in like it was good, but working for the U.S. Government when he was in Office, I can tell you that we had to do a lot of damage control every time he would go on a Twitter rampage. Although the current administration has plenty of room for improvement, at least I am not worried about what the next scandal will be.

And about scandals – there were so many under Trump, that even before we got a chance to process one, the next two were already making headlines.  I’ve mentioned it before, and it is worth repeating.  This creates a media oversaturation that hides in plain sight important indicators to a larger issue.  Some of us who like to pay attention to that, then can identify when these “hidden issues” percolate and appear.  That is one reason why I am not surprised about the geopolitical events that occur.  That includes our domestic policy.

Fast forward three years, and Trump has won absolutely zero cases regarding his narrative of the election been stolen.  60+ cases spearheaded by Rudy Guiliani as his former lawyer.  Guiliani not only lost every case – he had to file for bankruptcy due to a lost case for defamation.  And to add insult to injury Trump never paid Guiliani for all his legal services on Trump’s behalf.  Also, his legal team flipped on Trump, and will be witnesses against him in criminal court in the next few months.

Fox News had to pay a 787 million dollars settlement for reporting that the election was stolen, and blaming Dominion for this alleged irregularity.  Whenever Fox News had to prove in court that what they were reporting was factual.  They could not, because it was not true.  Other far right news outlets were also required to fact-check themselves on air in order to avoid the lawsuit.  Why did they concede to Dominion if they (these far-right news outlets) had actual proof?

The answer is obvious, there was no proof that the election was stolen.  It has been recounted a bunch of times, and researched to exhaustion.  The only thing proven was that this was in fact the most secure election thus far.  And that would actually give credit to Trump, because was technically under his watch.  Therefore, talking about the election been rigged is actually a hit on his own record, because that would mean he did not do his due diligence to have a secure election.  In other words, he is searching for a lose-lose solution.  But fortunately, the facts are what they are.  This was a fair election – and Biden defeated Trump.

It is worth repeating what I said three years ago.  Republicans are perfectly fine showing up to rallies and buying tons of merch.  Democrats generally do not do that type of stuff.  They will show support by reading what’s available and showing up to vote in any convenient way available to them.  Sometimes it’s in person – but during the pandemic the mail-in-ballot option was a lot more attractive to them.  Hence, they voted in troves by mail.  Trump could have taken advantage of mail-in-ballots, but he preferred to ask his followers to go out and vote in person.  And that is exactly what they did.

They showed up to the polls in person – at least the ones who were not either dead or sick with COVID during election day.  The Biden campaign probably already realized that advertising on any right-wing outlet – especially those MAGA consume was just going to be a waste of money.  So instead, they advertised in outlets that would target democrats and undecided voters.  It worked, the popular vote for Biden superseded Trump’s tally by more than seven million votes.

However, these optics make it counterintuitive for a lot of right-wing voters to ascertain that Biden had a following.  Because obviously he did not appear on their television screens.  Why should he?  Was he going to be able to change any MAGA Republican Minds to vote for him in 2020?  There was a better chance for a cargo ship to navigate on top of a bunch body-builder squirrels marching in unison on a residential street than for a Trump voter to vote for Biden.  Hence, Biden chose places where he would be better received.  It is a commonsensical strategy when you think about it.

Trump has never won the popular vote, but was able to win the Electoral College in 2016.  Democrats learned their lesson, because they were losing seats in the previous elections.  And many could [rightfully] argue those were self-inflicted wounds.  In either case MAGA Republicans endorsed by Trump did not perform very well in the polls in subsequent elections.  That is of course a harsh reality many MAGA Republicans would prefer was not true.  Sure, that is normal, nobody likes to be defeated.  And as I said earlier, some of them really thought the country was going to be destroyed – yet, here we are – there have been some records of how well it has been going – although there is plenty of room for improvement.

For many people in the United States of America, sadly today is not a very significant date for them.  For some of us who are paying attention to what is going on (sometimes on their behalf), we’ve realized already what many who got turned off by Trump eventually realized.  The difference is that we did not have to either go behind bars, or lose a lot of time and money to become aware of it.

 

Food for thought, and cult of personality advisory.

This applies to Trump followers, but it could very well apply to any person to whom we develop a cult of personality.  Trump can be charming and even funny to some.  He might sound like he is “authentic” and even caring about others.  But is he though?  The same can be said about any person with whom you had a relationship of any kind that enjoyed your attention and devotion.

There is no shortage of people who have disavowed Trump, and I’m not talking about “Liberals” or “Progressives” or “Never-Trumpers” – I’m talking about hard-core MAGA Republicans.  If you are a MAGA Republican reading my words right now, YOU might not be feeling that way towards Trump right NOW (and maybe even resent me for the time being).  But it could very well be sooner or later that you will change your mind about him.  Why?

Let’s do a quick parallel example to illustrate.  Remember a time whenever you were hanging out with a person who had a lot of baggage and your loved ones were warning you against hanging out with this person?  What happen in the end if this person was indeed full of crazy baggage?  Hopefully you realized what your loved ones warned you about time and time again.  Yet, if you are a living-breathing human being, there is a non-zero chance you blew off all your loved ones and decided to hang out with this person who was clearly not good for you.  It could have taken days, months, even years sometimes.  But eventually, you got to see for yourself what everyone warned you about.

At some point, the indicators are just too many to ignore.  No matter how much you truly adore and admire a person – the facts are what they are regardless of their love and devotion to them.  For an extreme example, if your child goes and murders somebody in cold blood – you might still love your child, but you will have to come to terms with the fact that your child did something that cannot be condoned, no matter how much you want to justify it.

To a much larger extent, because blood has been shed by people who want to protect Trump’s rhetoric – yes, there are people with proclivity to violence who are just waiting for marching orders.  That should be very disturbing to any person.  The only group who wins if we descend into a civil war are adversarial regimes who want to defeat America.

Sure, that there is a lot of emotional baggage every time indictments, lawsuits, impeachment inquiries, criticism, and so much more is being directed at Trump.  But that is not YOUR baggage, that is Trump’s baggage.  Bluntly put, it is cause and effect.  The difference is that it is put in black and white, and he is getting a level of accountability that did not occur in the entire time of his Presidency.  Fast forward to today, and there is a huge number of people who understand the dangers of putting him back in the office.  And I am not talking about Democrats saying this – this is coming from Republicans.

There is no shortage of Republicans who have a lot of following all over social media disavowing Trump, and encouraging others to do exactly that.  In fact, there are some who are even rooting for Biden on this election, because they feel that is the best course of action at this point in our history, and for our country.  You’re welcome to agree or disagree with them about this.  But the question should be “why are they going through such lengths?” If [on first impression] handing the steering wheel to the Democrats is not “on their best interest.”

Well, this is the truth, party loyalty is not everything.  The best interests of the country are nonpartisan.  Sadly, there is a very real threat of a non-insignificant number of MAGA Republicans who have a proclivity for violence.  Most of the countries prefer not to give power to those few people who could do great amounts of damage to the rest of the country should they get unlimited power.

January 6, 2024 is a wakeup call that has been snoozed for three years.  It is a call for people to understand what is truly affecting our political discourse, and if whomever is enjoying our loyalty, devotion and affection is the right fit for ALL Americans.  Some might think that only “certain” Americans are to be in a privileged position – then that is not America – America is a land of equal opportunity and accountability for everybody based on their merits and their character.

I will finish by saying that the rhetoric of a 2024 stolen election by the Democrats is already floating around in the national discourse – mainly promulgated by Trump himself.  Much like he did for 2020.  That is propaganda, it is not true.  The voters will decide in the end if Trump is given a second chance.  That is if he can pass the Supreme Court case that is reviewing the Colorado decision to get him off the ballot.  The case is going to be heard in the near future.  And yes, Trump was removed from the Ballots in those states because of the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

I don’t want to think too hard on what the future will hold, but what I can tell you is that nothing that is happening has surprised me.  I have my suspicion of what the US Supreme Court will rule – We’ll see if I am still right.  My hunch is that it will be voted by party lines letting Trump stay in the ballot, thanks to the Conservative SCOTUS majority.  If that is not the case, I would be very surprised.  But if he is disqualified, I can only begin to imagine how divisive the next several months will be.  HLC

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