The Witness Chronicles, 11/11/24

Talk amongst yourselves

Stop the Blame Game, It Just Splits Us Further

We need to start one to one, and watch and wait

The former Democratic Speaker of the House, one of DC’s savviest politicians, did something Friday that is emblematic of something Democrats need to shut down. She speculated that if Joe Biden had got out earlier and we had time to have a primary, things might have been different.

This blame game is not only useless, it makes things worse.

The pundits will dissect everything, because that’s their job. But people like Nancy need to chill out with the blame game. We’re going to need a different approach.

We are not dealing with Donald Trump in 2016. He had no plan and obviously did not expect to win. So his total lack of policy stalled a lot of his actions. And his need to control everything was unwieldy. But we are not in 2016.

We face an organized campaign to consolidate all power and shift it to a new ruling class of the ultra wealthy. And they have a lot of lawyers and cash. And the first step is likely to be to build a surveillance state based on lists of opponents they have been compiling for years.

Extreme? Yes. That’s the reality and it’s time we faced it. And my advice is to lay low and start making connections one on one. This is no joke and I’m not being dramatic. Well, a little maybe but we underestimated these people hugely and we are going to be paying for it for years.

Unity is our weapon and that includes unity with those we do not agree with. They may have a rude awakening soon when they see what their guy is really all about, and we need them. If the Democrats made one mistake it was underestimating how unhappy a lot of people are in the country, people little different than you and I.

The only thing the Trump people fear is unity. Their entire power structure is based on division and turning us against them, whomever ‘them’ might be. I think building bonds is what resistance is going to be all about. But we need to wait.

Their plans are draconian and they need to put them in place as fast as possible to show their guy as a doer who delivers on his promises. But a lot of those plans are going to hit their own supporters hard and rushing them is a recipe for screw ups, to put it politely. When things start getting out of control, as they will, more people, including his voters, will start wondering what we got ourselves into.

That’s why talking to your neighbors and making connections, even when they have nothing to do with politics, should be the focus now. Especially if they have nothing to do with politics. They demonized us and, frankly, we demonized them, but one on one those divisions dissolve.

Frankly, this is a path many won’t take. The desire for action is understandably strong but it’s too soon. We need to let them show their true colors first, which they are already doing. The first thing out of the gate is more tax cuts for billionaires and corporations. They are feeling they have a mandate, and feeling their power is unrestricted and in many ways it is.

But that is when they overreach and make mistakes. The planned deporting of millions of illegal immigrants is probably where they will screw up first. But until they do, we have little to work with. So go home, read Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience (it’s a quick read), and start making new friends.

We are going to need them.

This morning Jennifer Rubin’s column in the Washington Post lays out a conundrum for Trump’s incoming presidency. He can either implement his stated plans or be popular, but not both, because when people realize what they are doing they will realize how crazy this stuff is.

Resistance is far more than protesting in the streets with chants and signs. I was a kid during the Vietnam War and I soon got caught up in street protesting at age thirteen. It all seemed so black and white back then and in many ways it was.

But until the protest movement started to make sense to other Americans, nothing happened. Well, actually they doubled down on the war. But the constant images of death and destruction and the senselessness of our being there started to sink into the American people. And eventually, smelling defeat, Richard Nixon finally ended it.

I’m 69. This thing is going to take awhile. Maybe beyond my lifetime. I know those time frames are hard for generations used to rapid change. But the people around Trump have been organizing this for years and he is not even central to it anymore. I suspect most of those pulling the strings expect and even want him out of the picture now that he has played his role.

Either that or they keep him as a figurehead, which is all he has ever been, though his massive ego keeps him from having a clue. But a figurehead with no self-control can be dangerous to their plans and the nation. If you don’t believe that, wait.

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