'Hail Satan'
It would be difficult to name a more action-packed six months than the first half of 2020. From Russiagate to riots, Americans feel like blindfolded passengers on a roller-coaster ride, totally unprepared for the corkscrew curves and dizzying dives ahead. All they can do is scream and hold on for dear life.
The worst part of this amusement-park hellscape, however, is not the news per se, but how US leaders - specifically Democrat leaders - are responding to it. Consider, for example, the lockdown measures implemented in response to Covid-19. While most people begrudgingly accepted the need for quarantine, masks and social distancing, Democratic leaders piled on additional pain that did nothing to stop the spread of the coronavirus. In fact, the measures seemed tailor-made - like a form-fitting straitjacket - to drive their imprisoned constituents crazy. How else to explain the ban on mowing lawns, swimming in the ocean, and using a motorboat on an empty lake?
No sooner did the US begin to flatten the idiocy curve than along came another scandal, this one the death of George Floyd at the hands of a white cop. With the prejudiced support of the mainstream media, in cooperation with groups such as Antifa and Black Lives Matter, Democrats swung into action, accusing the entire police force of institutional racism. Even 'taking a knee' as a symbolic gesture of solidarity with the black community was not enough for the liberals, of course.
High-ranking politicians like Senator Kamala Harris, named as a possible running mate for presidential hopeful Joe Biden, are demanding nothing less than the defunding and disbanding of police departments.
As these sorts of responses to national crises demonstrate, any sense of balance and reason has fled the Democratic Party. Liberals have become so detached from a safe space known as reality that they fail to appreciate that law and order is a fundamental prerequisite for any civilized society worthy of the name.
Democrats, for all their eccentricities, certainly understand this. So why, then, are they advocating on behalf of policies that do far more damage than good? The answer is simple. With the most hotly anticipated presidential elections in years just five months away, they're attempting to sow chaos across the country in a brazen attempt to destroy Donald Trump's re-election bid. Thus, we see the liberals cranking up the temperature on every new scandal to emerge, at the same time the mainstream media, which has shown utter contempt for Trump ever since he defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016, lays the steaming bag of manure on the doorstep of the White House. It's a desperate and risky campaign strategy, but it's all the Democrats have really got.
And now for the next trick...
The Democrats fully understand that the most effective way of delivering a political death blow to a tour de force like Donald Trump is on the grounds of a crumbling economy. Yet, despite the shutdown caused by Covid-19, and the violence on the streets following the killing of George Floyd, the US economy has not collapsed. In fact, despite 20 million Americans losing their jobs in April, it's showing remarkable staying power.
Fortune magazine summed it up succinctly: "No one saw it coming - 2.5 million job gains in May and a lower unemployment rate."
This is extremely disconcerting news for the Democrats. If Trump heads into the November elections with the US economy on the uptick, he'll be virtually unstoppable, therefore, I suspect his enemies will rally their shock troops for yet another round of insanity.
Although many chided the Democrats for quickly forgetting about the coronavirus and social distancing as protests and riots broke out across the nation, this could be used as an excuse for shutting down businesses and perhaps even forcing quarantine on Americans yet again.
American magazine and online publisher the Atlantic explains how Covid-19 cases may explode in the wake of street protests, with a ready-made narrative that blames law enforcement and, by extension, the Trump administration: "Police officers have dealt with [troublemakers] roughly, crowding protesters together, blasting them with lung and eye irritants, and cramming them into paddy wagons and jails."
The article continues with a somber prediction: "As the long, hot summer of 2020 begins, the facts suggest that the US is not going to beat the coronavirus...It is a bitter and unmistakably American cruelty that the people who might suffer most are also fighting for justice in a way that almost certainly increases their risk of being infected."
In addition to the possibility of a coronavirus second wave, it's practically a certainty that protests against 'racist police' have only just begun. They may even be accompanied by some act of horrific violence - like the Charlottesville car attack - which then thrusts the Republicans into a negative light. After all, the people can only handle so much stress before things begin to get really ugly. All of this will contribute to crippling the economy and bringing down the House of Trump.
It requires a special kind of cynicism for a political party to willfully destroy the very nation it hopes to lead. For such individuals, there is no commitment to the country, but rather a commitment only to the acquisition of raw power. Such individuals - irrespective of which party they represent - should never be allowed anywhere near the levers of power. It's the great American tragedy, however, that it's exactly those individuals who are now manipulating the situation at this critical juncture in the young nation's history.
Robert Bridge is an American writer and journalist. He is the author of the book, 'Midnight in the American Empire,' How Corporations and Their Political Servants are Destroying the American Dream. @Robert_Bridge
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