I can’t seem to get it out of my head. I’m sitting here quietly, trying to rest my mind and prepare for the meeting coming up. But there are ghosts raging through my head that won’t be laid down.
They’re apparitions from the insurrection last week. They rage and rant. They scream and chant. The scene that keeps coming back is a hoard of ostensible Republicans chanting “hang Mike Pence” like banshees. The white-hot energy of the experience is ricocheting through the stratospheres of the country, whether we attended or not.
After the melee they head home still carrying that energy with them. There are videos of people being removed from their flights when they went on the no-fly list. Some go right back into that place of fury, raging at the universe for wrongs done to them with no sense that they bore responsibility for something bizarre. Most have the look of normal people. I wonder if they’d ever behaved that way before that wild day?
So far there have been two suicides by people involved: a 2nd generation capitol cop and a Florida guy arrested as a protester.
It was blood-lust.
What is it that’s making me most sad about that day? I considered turning up my nose at the hoard of Trump venerators surging and rampaging through the capitol, but I’m deciding against it. They’re getting their just reward without ill feelings toward them on my part.
For some reason I feel like crying for the children. All the children.
Tomorrow will be January 16. It’s the next day white nationalists were/are planning some other big nasty at state capitals to scare the weak liberals and anti-Trumpers… some “We’ll show ‘em!” events (They kept saying that on the 6th). I think they believe they’ve started their big race war, but we’ll see.
They’ll fail. Their dream of a white kingdom led by a pseudo-godly white man is fools gold. Nobody’s going to give them Washington or Montana – or Arkansas – as their safe white home. There’s something they’re trying to hold on to with all the desperation in their bodies. To them it’s something wonderful and worthy, but it’s dying. They depended on a flawed vessel to save them, and now some are starting to suspect he was not The One. They need somebody else to suffer for this. Any volunteers?
No of course not. We may look on with bafflement, but we have other things to do. I’m saying that for myself because I binge-watched mayhem for a full week and just need to get on with life.
That doesn’t mean I quit thinking about Trump supporters though. Just like Trump they hate to be ignored, so they won’t disappear. American culture has to figure out positive things to do with them.
My fantasy is that as the FBI fingerprints them they have a come-to-Jesus moment where they decide living next to Black people, and hearing Spanish in the grocery store doesn’t sound that bad after all. I know it’s just a fantasy though. I fear they really do want to blow something up first. “We’ll show ‘em” culture is deep embedded in their psyches and is hard to exorcise away.
The author of that securitarian book notes one positive point. He finds that securitarians (Trump supporters) do change their perception of who an “outsider” is. It just takes awhile. In 1968 73% of Americans thought interracial marriage was not ok. By 2013 only 11% thought that. 40 years sounds like a long time, but it’s movement in the right direction.
When I started pondering how to relate to Trump supporters it came to me that I was looking at the wrong starting point. There are a lot of people I need to talk to more. There’s a big network of people I care for but haven’t seen since last March. Connections with progressive folks who’d make good partners for Omni about something. People of color I can check in with. Most of us still have a bit more time than we did long ago pre-covid.
We’ve lived in covid land for a full year now, and I hear that Pod Mentality has become a real thing, especially among liberals. Right now when the issue of relating to strange political behavior is high on our minds it would be great to talk to some friendly, like-minded folks. We need ways to safely break out of our Pods and start expanding our friend networks again.
How about coming by my virtual house for a chat? There are friends stopping by for an after-party on the 22nd. In fact we’ll be talking about Trump supporters that day. If you want to ask me questions about this visit give me a call (479-283-2167) Here’s the link:
Gladys Tiffany is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Choose Democracy NWA Group
Time: Friday Jan 22, 2021 4:30 pm Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83685311189?pwd=Q3BMWGxyZ3hnOUViTWJHZ1ZvNEV4UT09
Meeting ID: 836 8531 1189
Passcode: 655768
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