Why NOT to vote Republican

[Yppej]

Most speeches are past my bedtime.

[JaneV2.0]

...
I do not like the fact that he chose to dress down only one “extreme “ ideological group as disrupting America when there are others. And he got it really wrong when he said MAGA peeps believe the U.S. is “carnage, darkness, and despair.” Based on regular interaction with you all on this website, I think Rob and JP and others have the same opinion. I think that Daddy Joe got that way wrong. It’s more likely he didn’t want to call out the people in his own camp because well, he wants them to vote in November. Let’s not insult them.
....

Antifa and Black Lives Matter--the usual groups the right cites as scary and threatening--are anything but. If Antifa were actually a thing, I'd join up, because I definitely hate fascism. And BLM exists to highlight and protest police brutality. They aren't forming militias, holding rallies exhorting people to rise up against the government, spreading propaganda and lies about a "deep state," and systematically choosing politicians to reinforce this anti-American agenda. They don't have stooges like Lindsey Graham predicting/encouraging violence if the DOJ dares to prosecute Trump for withholding state documents. MAGA presents a clear and immediate danger to our democracy, and it's MAGA followers President Biden referenced.

Scary left-wing groups barely register on lists of domestic terrorists, they're basically non-existent at this time.

"Left-wing terrorists, according to the FBI, have a revolutionary socialist agenda, and present themselves as protectors of the populace against the alienating effects of capitalism and U.S. imperialism. Notable early participants in left-wing terrorism were various socialist and anarchist groups from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Leon Czolgocz, who shot President William McKinley in 1901, embraced anarchist beliefs, though no anarchist group would accept him for membership." (faqs.org)

[iris lilies]

Antifa and Black Lives Matter--the usual groups the right cites as scary and threatening--are anything but. If Antifa were actually a thing, I'd join up, because I definitely hate fascism. And BLM exists to highlight and protest police brutality. They aren't forming militias, holding rallies exhorting people to rise up against the government, spreading propaganda and lies about a "deep state," and systematically choosing politicians to reinforce this anti-American agenda. They don't have stooges like Lindsey Graham predicting/encouraging violence if the DOJ dares to prosecute Trump for withholding state documents. MAGA presents a clear and immediate danger to our democracy, and it's MAGA followers President Biden referenced.

Scary left-wing groups barely register on lists of domestic terrorists, they're basically non-existent at this time.

"Left-wing terrorists, according to the FBI, have a revolutionary socialist agenda, and present themselves as protectors of the populace against the alienating effects of capitalism and U.S. imperialism. Notable early participants in left-wing terrorism were various socialist and anarchist groups from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Leon Czolgocz, who shot President William McKinley in 1901, embraced anarchist beliefs, though no anarchist group would accept him for membership." (faqs.org)

Sigh. I guess the looting, burning, and murdering by BLM enthusiasts doesn't really happen in St. louis.I am mistaken.

NOT

Jane you really are physically far removed from the bullshit. It DOES happen. The leftie perps are idealogoically united if not organizationally united although I see a certain amount of organization, especially when the Ferguson bullshit hit. Now THAT debacle used social media communications to organize plans of action and timetables. Even the cops are in on it, standing back to let the hoards run rampant through my city. All this takes place less than a mile from my house.

Don’t tell me there are no “scary left wing groups.” It is out of control rioting from my point of view. You don’t have to see it, and good for you out there in leafy suburbia land.

[JaneV2.0]

I'm not here--at all--to make excuses for the small percentage of people at BLM protests who committed crimes, and I won't argue with you about criminals in St. Louis who take advantage of protests to shoot up the place, but you're right--these don't represent an organized, coordinated, well-funded movement to take over the country like the white nationalists have coalesced into in recent years.

I wouldn't characterize the MAGA crowd as wallowing in "carnage, darkness, and despair," I see them awash in belligerence, narrow-mindedness, and paranoia. So I think his speechwriter could have done better.

Personally, I have some trepidation about the future (I finally understand how Hitler rose to power), but I'm old and can hunker with the best of them. It's up to the generations behind us to pull in the reins and steer us back to a steady democratic course.

[LDAHL]

I don’t see BLM as a terrorist organization, despite the impressive level of destruction they have contributed. They are more in the way of a 1960s-1970s grift, shaking down contributions and mau-mauing the flak catchers for the material benefit of the leadership.

They’ve acquired some pricey real estate in the name of social justice. One leader rejected the idea of financial disclosure forms as “triggering” and “unsafe”. There are various civil suits and AG inquiries ongoing. There may be a few committed ideologues in the mix, but I see them as in a different category from the tiki torch guys.

But I don’t see the tiki torch guys as a well organized and funded conspiracy either. I think Biden’s poorly lit rant was merely an attempt at borking his opposition. I see clowns on both sides, not a nascent American Reich.

[JaneV2.0]

The tiki torch guys are a small part of a much larger developing picture.

I wish I shared your rosy outlook that this trend toward nationalism and authoritarianism is harmless and transitory. But I fear that those who promote Trumpism depend on the passivity of the populace to achieve their ends.

[iris lilies]

The tiki torch guys are a small part of a much larger developing picture.

I wish I shared your rosy outlook that this trend toward nationalism and authoritarianism is harmless and transitory. But I fear that those who promote Trumpism depend on the passivity of the populace to achieve their ends.

oh I absolutely see a governmental trend towards authoritarianism, but if you don’t see it on all political sides then that’s a huge part of the problem.

[JaneV2.0]

oh I absolutely see a governmental trend towards authoritarianism, but if you don’t see it on all political sides then that’s a huge part of the problem.

You might be surprised to find that I do see authoritarian tendencies on the left--especially in the medical, nutritional, and academic fields.

[jp1]

I'm not angry, I'm sad. Sad that we've come to the point where a group of people can be called out as enemies of the state and a rather considerable portion of the country see nothing wrong with it.

If this continues without popular pushback, we'll be a poorer nation for it.

And I’m sad that a group of hypothetically rational people don’t see the threat that maga poses to this country. If it continues without anyone holding them to account we’ll not just be a poorer nation but we won’t be a nation at all.

[jp1]

Having finished my homework assigned by JP, I will now give my brief report on President Biden’s speech in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

I thought it was… OK. It was, generally, a “Rah Rah America” speech and that is nice.

I do not like the fact that he chose to dress down only one “extreme “ ideological group as disrupting America when there are others. And he got it really wrong when he said MAGA peeps believe the U.S. is “carnage, darkness, and despair.” Based on regular interaction with you all on this website, I think Rob and JP and others have the same opinion. I think that Daddy Joe got that way wrong. It’s more likely he didn’t want to call out the people in his own camp because well, he wants them to vote in November. Let’s not insult them.

At least he defined MAGA people and I believe I do not fit that definition so I will not be hauled off to the Gulag/have my Instagram account blocked for wrongthink.

Then there was lots of blah blah blah about what he has accomplished, and that’s fine, he gets to do that because he is the President (and which is why I don’t listen to these speeches.) We have the best economy now of first world places so I guess that’s good. Certainly employment is strong. He said we were coming out of the “darkness of Covid, Charlottesville, gun violence and insurrection” to see the light. Ummm, ok. I do not believe the criminals in my old neighborhood got that memo about gun violence but who am I to question the President.

So that is my report. I cannot give this speech a letter grade because I seldom listen to Presidential speeches so I don’t have grading criteria.

Thank you for your book report. Overall I thought I was well done and I will grant you a B+. The only reason I’m not giving an A is because I would have appreciated more detail on who you think it is in energetic Joe’s party who needs to be called out and why.