Trump draws the line in Waco
If you’ve been wondering what the 2024 presidential election is going to be like, Donald Trump answered that question on Saturday at his rally in Waco, Texas. While a video of insurrectionists breaking into the U.S. Capitol played on a huge screen behind him, Trump doffed his MAGA cap and stood with his hand over his heart as a bowdlerized version of the National Anthem sung by a group of Jan. 6 defendants calling themselves the “J6 Choir” played over the loudspeaker, featuring a voice-over of Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
Trump’s rally speech that followed was the usual list of us-vs-them whining grievances and accusations, attacking the various investigations he faces as “prosecutorial misconduct.” Conflating his legal woes with the lives of his followers, Trump told the crowd, “Our enemies are desperate to stop us. This is the final battle. When this election is over, I will be president of the United States. You will be vindicated and proud, and the thugs and criminals who are corrupting our justice system will be defeated, discredited and totally disgraced.”
So, there you have it folks. Trump is glorifying his supporters who violently attacked the Capitol as heroes. That they assaulted and injured more than 140 police officers is, according to Trump, something to be lauded and looked up to.
Playing video footage of the assault on the Capitol at his rally is quite literally inciting his crowd for the same sort of violence on his behalf. I think Trump knows he can’t win with the percentage of the vote represented by his most loyal followers. He’s not running a campaign for election. He is readying his followers for another insurrection.
That’s the line he has drawn. He knows he can’t win at the ballot box, so he is preparing the ground to take the White House by force.
Trump's cult is loud, it has shown a penchant for violence, but it is not led by brilliant strategists nor is it very large. Sure, it's about 30% of what passes for the Republican Party, but the Republican Party is less than 30% of all voters. That means it is a very small minority of the country.
Time for us to act like it. There are a lot more of us than there are of them. We are the majority. We have put up with their bullshit for far too long. And if they want trouble, I say Bring It On. Sure, there might have been 15,000 of those assholes in Waco last night, but more than a few reports said that they started to leave after 30 minutes of the Dear Leader (I think they really came to see Ted Nugent and Marge, but that's just me). So what? He wanted them out in force in NYC and he got nothing. And in spite of the fact that Garland seems unable to prosecute the big fish, they are going to prison by the dozens in DC. So, let him whine. Let him think that he can rally Y'all Queda to his side. When he loses again, both in court and at the ballot box, we need to make sure we never hear from him again.
As someone who is in my 70's, I cannot comprehend how anyone on the downward arc toward death can continue to lie and hate and provoke harm for others. If you are fortunate to live this long, and if you have not done so before now, it is the time of life to make peace, make amends, love, forgive, make the world better off then when you were born because you don't know when your opportunities to do so will end by your death.