Lines In The Sand

Dear Americans, I've lost count of the number of times Trump has committed "impeachable offenses" in the past 8 months (not to mention during the fiasco that was his first tenure) - and the number of times outraged opponents and social activists have said "imagine if Obama/Clinton/Biden did this?!"

As if that somehow constitues some form of "red line" that others dared not cross previously. However, that analogy has become useless - because it's increasingly evident to me that the so-called line is simply one drawn in the sand, as on a beach... and every time Trump and his backing party takes up the challenge and steps across it, all the opposition seems to do is simply redraw another equally facetious line in the sand.

In the past 8 months since taking office, Trump's second term has taken the USA (and the world) closer to the brink of nightmarish dystopian horror than it has been since the entirety of the Second World War.

Global economic and trade chaos results from his idiotic and self-deprecating "tariff war", destabilizing the entire Western economic bloc, and driving support from countries who have all been historically tied to the Dollar as "reserve currency" since the 1940s - to BRICS. Some BRICS countries have already abandoned the USD and have begun to trade with each other in their own currencies, which gives them economic independence, with other advantages - but that's all beside the actual point. Suffice it to say that I think that's a good thing, because the world actually needs to be freed from the bonds of the "American Empire", for the good of all concerned.

Right now, there are US warships threatening Venezuela - for no other reason than the USA's orange dictator, the human-trafficker in chief, Donald Trump, sent them - and without Congressional approval - because he's already proven that he can break the law with impunity, and now operates on the understanding that he has unlimited power.

And here's the thing: because he gets away with it, and because nobody has stopped him, he's right. He does have unlimited power, because no American - in the form of an organization, body, colective or individual - has clarified that he doesn't.

So he can even wave a hand, and as if by magic, make evidence of his past crimes just disappear. What Epstein Files? Of course he's innocent - he has the receipts to prove it... as if buying off witnesses is proof that innocence can be bought - like the cheaper eggs he promised on his insipid campaign trail.

Meanwhile, things for the ordinary American continue to worsen. Skyrocketing prices. Loss of international trade. Loss of human rights. Domination by actual fascists who make unjust and unconstitutional decisions and laws without consultation. The crackdown on academic freedoms, and the elevation of science denialism and anti-intellectualism. The glorification of stupidity. All amid fanfares of flag-waving nationalistic insanity. And while the US decline turns into an accelerating death-spiral, the rest of us, watching, are wondering... just what will it take for you to reach that point where "enough is enough"?

Having unlimited power - and waving your hand to make things happen - can be a heady rush no doubt, and so while he's made a vast amount of brown-skinned people disappear in the past 8 months, it won't end there.

You've watched migrant workers - documented and undocumented - being dragged away to concentration camps in foreign countries by ICE thugs, and people of color - and even actual US citizens. Now they're coming for transgender Americans - and then the gays, and who knows who after that? Feminists? Non-right-wing "Christians"? You honestly haven't put up much of a fight so far, because they're still doing it - and they've already made Niemoller's "First they came" into an eerily and horrifyingly accurate prediction.

You really need to look at how other people deal with uppity governments for guidance - you seem a little lost and confused. Look at how the French make their country ungovernable during disputes about issues affecting the people. In South Africa, angry, outraged masses brought down the apartheid government by making the entire country ungovernable - and that was even before the internet and social media like we have today. Look at what happened recently in Indonesia? That's what I and the rest of the world are hoping to see from you.

But instead, all you do is waffle on about "primaries" and "the next election", and the latest cheeky post by Gavin Newsom - who is cut from the same cloth as any transphobic Republican, and might as well put on a red tie.

You still seem to be clinging onto some vain pathetic hope that "everything will work out" in the end. As if by magic, it will all be set right at the next election.

It's too late for that - they already control everything. And every step of the way, you've reacted with shock and outrage as Trump and the GoP went on a complete rampage, gutting the civil service. You oohed and ahed as Trump's then bestie, billionaire bottom-feeder and Nazi-sponsor Elon Musk set up DOGE and tangoed through governmental buildings, hijacking databases and firing everyone inside. But, as a nation, you did nothing about it.

They've fired all opposition from key positions in all levels of government. They own the judiciary, they own the military, law enforcement agencies, and the mainstream media. They will never lose another key election because they control the structures that determine "free and fair" elections. When Trump says "shit!" his slavishly loyal minions ask "what color would you like, Mr. President?"

The time for trying to subvert the system by using the system, ended months ago.

Even his declining health and inevitable approaching death won't change anything, because the Rep Party is the real enemy behind him. And Vance and Johnson are far, far worse: Where Trump is just a semi-conscious, waning con-artist and grifter - they are younger, healthier, sharp, focused, and motivated by hate, ambition and religious extremist zeal. They will want to leave their own bloody marks on the pages of history - and his death will actually unleash more horrors than you will know what to do with.

When what you need is what's called "mass action", it's bitterly disappointing to watch an entire nation that was supposedly raised on democratic values like justice and equality for all, and whose citizens own more private firepower than the entire armies of some small countries - especially after decades of movie-culture that detailed how American patriots would stand up to oppressive governments - only to see them just meekly roll over and spread 'em for fascists, and delude themselves with "we'll beat 'em next time at the polls" pie in the sky. Insert pointless waffle about "a blue wave" here. Go on, I dare you.

The truth is - that all you guys are doing now, is rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

As we say here in South Africa, "Talk is cheap - but money buys the whiskey!"

Meaning - nobody's coming to save you. You have to save yourselves. But that takes action. The less you move or resist, the harder their grip will become. Just sitting there is what they want from you - while they squeeze down harder, tighten the nooses around your necks and bonds around your wrists and ankles, gag you, and drag more of you away.

And you're just lying there, making comparisons.

Stop twitching - and do something!