I found the video that I mentioned in yesterday’s post–the one in which Rachel Maddow gave me a sliver of hope that we might be turning the corner. I’ll post it down below. Added note: The video has been taken down and the account that posted it terminated. So it was probably uploaded illegally. I don’nt think it was political, though; just a DMCA strike. Instead, here is another Rachel Maddow video. Just because.
As I told my K, though, it’s going to get way worse before it gets better. But, it does seem like the Democrats are finally putting their foot down. And a few Republicans are at least making quiet noises of discomfort.
But, my god. The boldfaced lying continues to astound me. I mean, it shouldn’t. That’s their M.O. Lie, deflect, and attack. But, as Rachel (gah, I have the hugest political crush on her) said in the video, when people can see that you are lying, it’s much harder to pull the wool over their eyes. And, again, yeah, the dedicated base will eat whatever Trump vomits up in their mouths without question. And they will ask for more. They’re beyond reach. forget about them. But again, there’s that vast swathe of the middle people who can be won over.
By the way, I have two things I must say.
The first is that while I personally am very uneasy about the proliferation of guns in America, we have an agreement that people are allowed to conceal and carry if they have a license. Alex Pretti had a license and was lawfully carrying his gun. The feds are claiming that he pulled his gun and that’s why they fired at him. But video has shown that 1. a federal agent took a gun, probably from him, and then walk away. 2. His hands were up. He had his cell in one to recorrd them and nothing in the other. 3. His last words were apparently to the woman he was trying to help up. It was shared that he shouted, “Don’t touch her!” and then asked , “Are you ok?” to the woman.
My point is that my personal feelings about guns aside, one of the biggest golden calves for the far right is the 2nd Amendment. Now, however, they (and the feds) are trying to spin it so that Alex Pretti carrying a gun was the impetus for a federal agent killing him.
Oh, hell no. Hell to the fuck no. They are the ones who worship at the feet of the god of guns, so fuck that noise .I mean, we all knew it was only for them because that’s how they treat everything, but it’s interesting how quickly the second amendment righters turn on a dime when it suits them.
The second is the repeated emphasis on how both Rachel Macklin Good and Alex Pretti were natural-born American citizens.I know whey they are doing it (politicians and journalists, I mean), but it doesn’t make me feel good. Like, would it have been ok if they were immigrants? I know that’s not what anyone means by it, but that’s what it sounds like to me.