Shock and Awe of Horrible

Update: I originally wrote this on January 3. I thought I'd give this a bump up to the top of the blog where it might get some play now that it looks to have been prescient. I have had a number of people share with me a thought along the lines of , "Give Trump a chance, he intends well" sort of optimism. I find this delusional. I'll be very, very happy to be wrong, but there is every indication that we are about to go through a sort of 'shock and awe' of horrible. Trump not only professed admiration of Assad in Syria, but in particular noted his admiration for him in the context of Assad using chemical weapons on innocent civilians in his own country. Trump thinks of this as a sort of 'necessary roughness.' He not only professes admiration for Putin's treatment of the press (killed 47 journalists in Russia over the last decade or so) but has deep financial ties with Putin. Here's some reading that should give you nightmares: "The-curious-world-of-donald-trumps-private-russian-connections" from The American Interest. The collected facts could not be more clear, the dogs of war are howling. The wise are preparing.

Let me put it another way. We are used to fighting over the contours and limits of a liberal society - the scope and nature of a social safety net and so forth. We are entering an age where the battle isn't over the contours of a liberal society but over its existence. Such things as: inalienable rights for all people, free speech, free and fair elections, freedom of press, right to free association and public gathering and so forth. Trump has attacked each of these ideas and has vowed to use violence when necessary to get his way. This is all part of the public record. We all heard and watched all of it, too. We don't have the luxury to ignore it or set it aside. There are no silver linings in the near future. Trump will move fast to destabilize democracy and either find or manufacture as quickly as possible a use of force against the American people. (All my humble, alarmist opinion).