Finding the Light of America
The tragic events of Minnesota are pushing the nation toward two tipping points.
Friends,
One of the few advantages of being as conspicuous as I am is that many people come up to me whom I don’t know, to give me their views about what’s happening in America — as if I’m a free-floating focus group.
This morning, I was at a restaurant counter finishing my breakfast when a middle-aged man sat down next to me, turned to me, and said, “I don’t want to intrude.”
He just had just done so, so I put down my knife and fork, wiped my mouth with my napkin, turned toward him, and asked, “May I help you?”
“I’ve been a life-long Republican,” he said, “but the events of the past weeks have caused me to leave the Republican Party.”
“I’m happy to hear that,” I said with a smile and turned to finish my breakfast.
“I’m from New Hampshire, and many of my Republican friends are leaving the party, too,” he said. “Minneapolis was the last straw.”
I put down my fork and turned toward him again. “I assume you’re talking about the behavior of ICE and Border Patrol agents there, and the killings?”
“All terrible, of course,” he said, shaking his head. “But what really finished me were the lies — Noem. Miller, Bovino, Vance, Trump.” He frowned. “They all lied through their teeth. I saw the video! They’re a pack of liars.”
I agreed and then turned back to my breakfast, explaining that I had to finish to get to an appointment.
But his words stuck with me.
There are two ways to look at what’s happened in Minneapolis. Two different tipping points for America.
The first is to see the nation tipping more deeply toward Trump’s fascist police state. ICE and the Border Patrol have now become vehicles of state terror. They’re engaged in extrajudicial executions with apparent impunity.
This tipping began with Trump’s purging of federal prosecutors who tried to hold him accountable for his attempted coup. It continued with his pardons of the January 6 rioters, his pardons of his allies and wealthy friends, his criminal prosecutions of James Comey and Letitia James, and the criminal investigation of Jerome Powell.
Now, we’re at full tilt. Trump’s inadequately trained, trigger-happy goons — outfitted with guns, pepper spray, and riot gear — have been bullying, beating, and murdering the residents of Minneapolis.
The regime refuses to allow Minnesota to investigate the killings, won’t criminally investigate the shooters, makes wildly false accusations about the victims, and claims that federal agents responsible for the killings have total immunity from prosecution.
But there’s a second way to see what’s happening in Minnesota — a tipping point of a different kind. The fellow from New Hampshire who sat next to me at breakfast this morning typifies it.
It’s America tipping toward mass revulsion of Trump and the people around him.
His latest lies and those of his surrounding sycophants are so blatant and disgusting that some Republicans, like my breakfast companion, are abandoning the GOP altogether.
Americans are coming together to defeat Trump’s fascism, just as they’ve come together in Minneapolis. Not just demonstrating — but also participating in neighborhood watches, standing guard outside a local mosque during Friday prayers, sending out encrypted messages about where agents are lurking, and taking videos of ICE’s atrocities and sharing them widely.
I hear from friends and former students in Minneapolis about an extraordinary outpouring of cooperation and mutual aid. They’re organizing deliveries of food and other necessities to families afraid to leave their homes, picking up groceries for immigrant families, driving vulnerable families to doctor’s appointments, and taking immigrant kids to school.
One friend tells me he’s lived in Minneapolis for 40 years and has never felt the city as closely bound together. “I think we’ve discovered the real meaning of community,” he writes.
A former student says that despite the subzero weather, he and everyone he knows have been involved in organizing — both against ICE and for one another. “This goes far deeper than a protest,” he says. “It’s a new way to live here.”
This upwelling isn’t limited to Minneapolis. I’m hearing from friends and former students across America who are seeing something similar where they live.
“You wouldn’t believe how this community has come together,” writes an old friend from Portland, Maine. “I’ve lived here for more than 20 years and don’t recall a time when we felt as united.”
Both tipping points may be true: We’re tipping toward Trump’s fascist police state at the same time we’re tipping toward a new era of community and solidarity. The latter is the consequence of the former.
I don’t buy the predictions of a second civil war. I think Americans are better than that. If polls are to be believed, most oppose the way Trump has been implementing his immigration policies. Most don’t accept his fascist police state.
As the nation shudders on the edge of his police state, we’re gaining stronger unity against it and taking more responsibility for the well-being of each other. In the darkness of Trump, we’re finding the light of America.
Skip tracing-- Congress has allocated some $30,000,000,000 to "13" private companies, to help ICE in an effort known as "Skip Tracing." This is how Trump and his MAGA jerks find "so called" illegal aliens in this country, and I was under the impression that ICE had their own eyes. What the hell is wrong with this picture? We have people living in a starvation mode in America and the Republican congress gives out $30 billion to jerks spying on our own people so ICE can deport them. We have some 47.9 million people in our country who exist in what Trump refers to as a "Food Insecurity Situation." Growing up we simply called it starvation, and the Republican congress gives out $30 billion to people so they can do the job Bovino and Neom were supposed to be controlling. Someone's pockets are getting lined, and Trump wants to rid us of governmental fraud. Trump's entire administration is a fraudulent joke.
Repulsion---
In life there are always the exceptions to the norm. As far as humans go, most of ours are either in some form of a hospital, or they have found comfort in a cushy prison existence. However, dwelling among our ranks we can find the fringe offenders. These sociopaths linger on the edges of our reality, desperately trying to blend in with our world. Most house deep social resentments derived from bad experiences they were forced to deal with at some point during their childhood. Insecurities flow through their veins in a non-stop manner. As they progress through life the notes they take get stored away for future reference. A few of these forlorn individuals end up in prominent positions where power acts as a catalyst which feeds into social situations putting lives at risk. These people will defend what it is they've obtained at all costs, and lying constitutes the glue that holds their worlds together. They are little more than human worms, who leave a trail of sludge in their wake. Greg Bovino and Kristy Noem are perfect examples of how deranged some of us can become.