Was The Election Rigged Or Do Trump Supporters Just Not Want To Lose?

 

I’ve heard a lot of my Republican friends say they’ll never believe Joe Biden got 81 million votes. I have to admit, it’s hard to imagine 81 million people voted for a demented plagiarist who wants to cut social security.

 But by the same token, I find it inconceivable that 74 voted for Donald Trump. And I don’t mean million. Oh, I know you voted for him because he said things that no one else would, that he called out establishment politicians in a way establishment media never would. And I know elections have devolved into voting against the worst candidate rather than choosing a candidate the whole country can tolerate.

 But it’s time for Trump supporters to contemplate the fact that their candidate WAS the worst candidate, at least in the eyes of the electorate. I mean, you already see some of his negatives, right? I’ve often heard it when you are talking amongst yourselves and I’ve heard it when you defend him by saying things like: “I wish he wouldn’t say some of the crazy things he does, but…”

 Well a lot of people see the crazy things he tweets and don’t see the “but…” They stopped listening after the crazy and didn’t hang around for the alleged good stuff he said.

 But I understand your concern over election integrity and absolutely support the push for free, fair, and open elections. And I’m sure you have been pushing for it for decades too, right? I mean, you’ve been opposing voter purges of people whose names are similar to convicted felons, right? And you’ve been fighting against gerrymandering, right? And you’ve been calling out proprietary software that leaves open the possibility of vote-switching ever since it was introduced during the Bush Administration, right? I mean I can't believe your concern for voting integrity is nothing more than a desire to have your preferred candidate serve a second term. Right?

 So let’s work on this together and get to the bottom of any election rigging that might have occurred, so that the rightful candidate becomes President of the United States of America.

 Just know that once we dig down to the truth, that candidate will be Bernie Sanders. Yeah, you say the Democratic Party stole the election from Donald Trump? That may be true, but they didn’t have the power to rig it against Trump the way they did with Bernie Sanders. The entire establishment of the Democratic Party was out to get Bernie Sanders and they were in complete control of the primaries. The Democrats didn’t have nearly the opportunity to cheat against Trump as they did against Bernie Sanders. They don't control the Supreme court and they don't control any state government in the same way they controlled the primary. They were able to completely do Bernie in and they did him hard. If it were not for the fact that they pulled out all stops against him, he would have become the Democratic Party’s nominee. So if you’re truly concerned about election rigging, let’s re-run the election, only this time with Trump versus Sanders.

 And Bernie Sanders will win, you know. Whatever your political leanings may be, you have to admit everything Bernie stood for is precisely what Americans are clamoring for at the moment. We are, after all, in the midst of a pandemic and an impending depression. When last we had a similar situation, the United States unprecedentedly elected a Democratic Socialist for President for four terms. And Donald Trump is an even more unlikeable version of Herbert Hoover. Even if you think he walks on water, Trump would not beat Sanders. It’s just not his moment.

 So if you want to overturn the election, I’d be willing to have a fair do over. But if you’re not willing to admit Bernie Sanders was at least as cheated as Donald Trump and should have a shot at the presidency, I’m going to dismiss all your bellyaching as nothing more than sour grapes.

Your thoughts are appreciated.

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If Our Country Was On Fire, Who Would Put It Out?

 

It’s like the apartment building I live in is on fire. So I call the fire department as I stand outside watching everything I own burn to the ground. Everybody’s standing, waiting. Finally, a firetruck arrives with a great sound of sirens and everyone is elated because they know something’s going to happen. The truck parks and the firefighters get off and start waving at the people standing in the street. And the people cheer at them because they are their heroes. It’s almost like a parade, where the firefighters strut their stuff to applause and whistles from those who line the street.

 Then one of the firefighters grabs a megaphone and calls out to the crowd: WE’RE HERE TO DO AWAY WITH ARSONISTS!” And the people go wild. And then the firefighter with the megaphone continues to talk about how bad arson is and how bad the people who engage in such tactics are. Like the rest of the crowd, I am initially excited. But after 10 minutes of this I start to wonder if they’re ever going to fight the fire. But very few people around me feel the same way. I see a kid booing them, but he’s flicking matches and I wonder if he’s one of the arsonists and that’s the only reason he doesn’t like them.

I’m as patient as I can possibly be, but eventually I wait for the guy with the megaphone to lower it for a second and I yell out: “What about the fire?”

 The firefighters either don’t hear me or choose to ignore me. So I repeat myself, again and again, until it turns into a chant. I notice others have joined me. The kid with the matches is chanting too, but I don’t stop him. He may have been the one who started the fire, but that’s not my primary concern at the moment. I want to save what I can of my possessions in my apartment. More than that, I’m worried about my neighbors. I see some out on the street who seem to be looking for loved ones. Others aren't dressed properly for the weather. We can deal with Match Kid later. Right now, the immediate problem as I see it is to fight the fire.

 So I continue to lead the chant. “What about the fire? What about the fire?” Because at this point I’m starting to get angry. The whole scene seems absurd. And people might very well be dying inside the burning building. I’m encouraged by those who are chanting along with me, and look over at my fellow apartment dwellers in anticipation of a shared solidarity and frustration.

 I’m shocked to see many of them staring angrily at me, so I ask them why. “Can’t you see they’re here to help us?” says a woman, in her face a look of disgust she genuinely wants to drill into me. “They’re the good guys. You need to give them your loyalty. Or, are you an ARSONIST?” And in her gaze I can see that she truly views me as being every bit as guilty as the person who started the fire.

 “I just want the fire out!” I say, in shocked response. “That’s totally the opposite of what an arsonist would want. I wish the fire had never been started. I am completely and utterly anti-arson. But the question of who started the fire is a stupid one to argue about when our apartment building is on fire. We have to do something.” 

“We’ll why don’t you ask the arsonists to do something about it since you’re being so critical of the firefighters? Don’t you see they are doing all they can? They came with their firetruck and their ladders and their axes.”

 “I want to support the firefighters. But the fact is, they’re not fighting fires. So long as they are not fighting a fire, they are not really firefighters, are they? I mean, they’re not substantially better than an arsonist at this point, because the arsonist is sitting watching the result of his work while the firefighters are simply strutting around saying they are not the problem.”

 “So what do you want?” says another of my neighbors. “Do you expect them to just rush into the fire and get themselves killed?”

 “Well, no. I expect that they are well-trained in fighting fires. I expect them to take all the precautions that their training has instilled in them. But ultimately there are risks inherent in the job they chose as their profession. I mean, there’s more to being a firefighter than not being an arsonist.”

 “So you just want them to commit suicide in order to prove themselves worthy of you?”

 “Of course not. But I do expect them to do their job! I didn’t ask them to become firefighters. They signed on to do it. If that’s what they said they were going to do, if that’s what they said they are determined to do, then they should do it. Otherwise they’re just taking the place of someone else who would actually do what they said they would.”

 Evidently the conversation has garnered enough attention that one of the firefighters feels he needs to respond: “This is not the time to fight the fire,” he says. “First we have to have everyone in position.”

 “Okay," I say. "You’re the firefighter. You’ve been trained for this. You know what you’re doing. Get everyone in position and put the fire out.”

 “You don’t understand,” says a person who introduces herself as a spokesperson for the firefighter’s union. “We have to have the complete support of everyone here. If enough of you speak loudly enough in favor of the firefighters and against the arsonists, we can begin to gain key positions from which we can advance a strategy to defeat the arsonists—”

 “For fuck’s sake, just fight the fire! That’s what we pay you for! That’s your job!”

 “We want to fight the fire. But the arsonists—”

 I hear a woman crying that her child is in the burning building, but nobody else seems to notice. Or care. An elderly man leans heavily on his walker, the cold evening wind sending shivers through him. All around me is misery, and I have no desire to engage in incessant banter while action is needed. I contemplate what I might do for the elderly man, wonder if I’d stand a chance of rushing into the burning building in order to search for those whose lives are in danger. But my thoughts are cut short as a voice comes through the megaphone.

 “Hang tight, everybody,” comes the message. “We are doing everything we can. Don’t listen to those who are trying to cause panic.”

 The man with the walker seems barely able to stand. Next to him a young couple try to keep their children warm.

 The megaphone crackles to life once again. “In the meantime, we have brought marshmallows and sticks for you.”

 An astonishingly large amount of the crowd becomes excited by this announcement. With that, the firefighters begin to dole out supplies for s’mores. One firefighter hands graham crackers to the kid who’s been flicking matches. As she does so, I can’t help think she gives him a knowing wink.

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Of Robber Barons And Muckrakers

 

A hundred years ago and more our country was mostly ruled by those who were then referred to as robber barons. Robber barons were those who sought to acquire as much wealth for themselves as possible regardless of the cost to those who worked to create the wealth. The robber barons were no great geniuses, but they were shrewd enough to know they could more easily accumulate obscene amounts of wealth by controlling the narrative by which ordinary people lived their lives. Therefore they bought up all the news outlets so that the newspapers and magazines only printed news and stories that supported the interests of the robber barons. Those who sought to point out the immense amount of suffering and injustice that existed in a world controlled by these so-called robber barons were called by the robber barons and the editors and journalists they owned “muckrakers”. According to them, the muckrakers would not see all the wonderful things the robber barons had done and chose instead to obsess about what they viewed as the insignificant imperfections of a system that gave incredible wealth to a few while allowing so many who worked so hard to create that wealth to die in poverty.

 The situation we face today is very similar. All of the advances we made in the last hundred years have been gradually erased by the descendants of the robber barons in cooperation with their modern-day equivalents. While for a time the robber barons were forced to pay lip service to the words and ideas of the muckrakers, they still owned the means of disseminating facts and opinions and have been working at whittling away at the influence that muckrakers had. We’re at that point now where the amount of muckraking permitted in the media owned by robber barons is close to zero and trending downwards. Muckrakers getting a paycheck from a corporation are mere anomalies, now, exceptions that prove the rule. Any media outlet owned by robber barons is drowning out dissenting voices in their vociferous support of the agendas of the robber barons.

 But muckrakers aren’t the sort to keep silent just because the information channels owned by the robber barons won’t give them an outlet. No, they are using any means necessary to speak their opinions. They are out there, speaking as bravely as they can the message they feel people need to hear. And the robber barons and their well-paid lackeys are doing their part to make sure their voices are not heard. And when that fails, they are doing what they can to make sure their reputations are tarnished. Because robber barons do not and never have cared about who is destroyed in their march towards dominance and wealth.

 But the muckrakers care more about speaking truth than they do the consequences of speaking the truth. If they felt otherwise, they’d probably have good-paying jobs at MSNBC, FOX, and The Washington Times.

 The muckrakers of our age are worthy of our attention. They are too numerous for any one person to point out, but let me share with you some of the many people I admire for placing themselves in the front line of a battle that needs to be fought. Those I list below are people I feel are truly deserving of the term “muckraker”. There are many more who are deserving of mention, but, like the rest, I believe they are more interested in fighting the good fight than they are in personal glory:

 Caitlin Johnstone: She is my queen. Her every article sparkles with wit, wisdom and bravery. A special mention is needed for her husband, Tim Foley, without whom Caitlin could not work all the miracles she does.

 Jimmy Dore: He is my king, but this a matriarchy. He is funny and fearless. A special mention to his wife, Steph Zamorano, who contributes so much to his work.

 Just a few more who are worthy of your time: Graham Elwood, Ron Placcone, Niko House, Glenn Greenwald, Lee Camp, Kyle Kulinski, Jamarl Thomas, Richard Medhurst, Max Blumenthal, Anya Parempal, Ben Norton, Black Agenda Report, Rania Khalek, Matt Taibi, Katey Halper, Danny Haiphong, Ajamu Baraka, Margaret Kimberly, Aaron Mate. I'm sure once you begin to appreciate the work they do, you will find many more worthy of your attention. 

Seek them out, and once you do make sure you give them the support they need to continue their work. It is important work, necessary work, courageous work.

If you like what I write enough to support me, you can buy me a coffee. If you liked it but don't have a credit card handy, please share. Also, follow me on Twitter or Facebook, sign up for my newsletter, or check me out on Amazon.