It started officially here on April 28, 2016. Trump launched his presidential campaign in CA at the OC Fairgrounds, a mile from my house. We biked over to protest – but my voice is quiet and the crowd was loud, turning violent as the sun went down. There was another option, though, and we took it.
We prowled the fairgrounds parking lot, looking for journalists. Every time we saw a camera or notepad, I walked up, smiled big, and said, “Hi! I live down the street and I don’t support Donald Trump. Would you like an interview?”
It worked. Husband and I took turns speaking on the record while Bestie ran interference, bravely keeping hecklers and trolls at bay. Between us we got quoted in probably half a dozen local outlets. The links are broken now, but I posted the next day and transcribed what a San Diego TV station showed me saying:
“It makes me really sad for our country. It’s really terrifying to me to see it unleashed like this, to see it become part of our political discourse and deemed acceptable. It is NOT acceptable, it is NOT America.”
And yeah, I know better now that my quote was wrong in one respect. Unleashed white supremacist violence is and has always been America. But like I said, that does not make it acceptable. Not even a little bit.
I’m not patting myself on the back. I’m pointing out that it was ALREADY CRYSTAL CLEAR who he was and what he would do if given the chance.
And if I’m no goddamn saint for saying the obvious on 4/28/16 — then fucking neither are this week’s newly-minted conscience-stricken heroes of the GOP in the wake of 1/6/21’s insurrection within the US Capitol. Chao, DeVos, Mulvaney, Grisham? Loeffler withdrawing her objection? Pence finally noping out at the threshold of outright treason?
Y’all are late. Y’all are cowards. Y’all are racist white supremacist demagogues who supported and incited insurrection and domestic terrorism.
How it started goes back to the very founding of this country, in slavery and genocide. How it’s going is at least a little clearer this week to everyone, a little less deniable by those who preferred to seek personal power rather than defend democracy.
How it ends? That’s far away, alas. But I promise you, I’ll keep trying to say what I see along the way.