By Daniel Nardini
Since former U.S. President Donald Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts in a New York court, his followers are now on the war-path. Trump’s supporters have now called for civil war, doxing the judge and jury and their families for the ruling they made against Trump, and for sabotaging the infrastructure of this country. I am afraid where this country may be heading. Calls for widespread violence and maybe insurrection is really scaring me. How has the Republican Party, the party of law and order, the party of free enterprise, and the party of freedom of movement, gone so rogue? There are serious consequences for supporting a convicted felon who had no problem breaking the law. It does not matter whether this person was an ordinary private citizen or a former president. Trump was found guilty of a serious crime, and by all definitions should NOT be allowed to run for the presidency.
In my view, most of the reasonable and rational people who had been in the Republican Party have either left the party or are leaving now. I am now seeing a party that has lost itself, and is becoming more fanatical and extreme. I am not saying there are no extremist groups or people in the Democratic Party—the Democratic Socialists of America is a good example of extremists in that party. But there is a difference between a party with an extremist wing and a party becoming dominated by extremists. This is what is happening to the Republican Party. The moderates and more “liberal” members of the Republican Party are leaving in droves. If the Republican Party was not entirely the party of Trump before, it pretty much is now. In my view, this not only excludes all other choices for those Republicans who might want to be candidates for the residency, but it also means that the Republicans have put into place an unappealing candidate that many independents as well as some Republicans will not want.
Worse, in the coming days and weeks it seems that Trump is firing up his base to possibly commit violence and maybe even acts of terrorism. This is deeply troubling because no presidential campaign has ever gone into this kind of dark direction. And this terrifies me. What do Trump supporters do? Do they start shooting incidents against unarmed innocent people? Do they attack and try to destroy the power grid? Do they start a bombing campaign? Do they declare zones where neither state nor federal laws apply, thus starting “independence zones”? In other words rebellion or insurrection. Do they attack ballot box areas to disrupt the election process? And what will the Democrats do? Declare martial law in parts of the country to keep order? As a nation and people, we are in uncharted political territory. And behind it all is one man who seems intent on destroying the country for the sake of his own narcissistic ego. If he cannot be president, then there should be no country. This extremist right wing movement is unimaginably dangerous, and we have no idea where it will go.
The Growing Possibility of National Insurrection
By Daniel Nardini
In my view, most of the reasonable and rational people who had been in the Republican Party have either left the party or are leaving now. I am now seeing a party that has lost itself, and is becoming more fanatical and extreme. I am not saying there are no extremist groups or people in the Democratic Party—the Democratic Socialists of America is a good example of extremists in that party. But there is a difference between a party with an extremist wing and a party becoming dominated by extremists. This is what is happening to the Republican Party. The moderates and more “liberal” members of the Republican Party are leaving in droves. If the Republican Party was not entirely the party of Trump before, it pretty much is now. In my view, this not only excludes all other choices for those Republicans who might want to be candidates for the residency, but it also means that the Republicans have put into place an unappealing candidate that many independents as well as some Republicans will not want.
Worse, in the coming days and weeks it seems that Trump is firing up his base to possibly commit violence and maybe even acts of terrorism. This is deeply troubling because no presidential campaign has ever gone into this kind of dark direction. And this terrifies me. What do Trump supporters do? Do they start shooting incidents against unarmed innocent people? Do they attack and try to destroy the power grid? Do they start a bombing campaign? Do they declare zones where neither state nor federal laws apply, thus starting “independence zones”? In other words rebellion or insurrection. Do they attack ballot box areas to disrupt the election process? And what will the Democrats do? Declare martial law in parts of the country to keep order? As a nation and people, we are in uncharted political territory. And behind it all is one man who seems intent on destroying the country for the sake of his own narcissistic ego. If he cannot be president, then there should be no country. This extremist right wing movement is unimaginably dangerous, and we have no idea where it will go.