I don't disagree that "kneecapping" Joe Biden's presidency is a significant component of the current Republican madness, but I do disagree that "people are putting too much into it." There is a great deal "into it," in my opinion. - Part of what we're seeing, a large part, is connected to the runoffs for the two Georgia Senate seats, critical to either the Democratic Party gaining a majority in the Senate, or the GOP retaining a majority. - Another major part of this is trump lining his pockets to the tune of over two hundred million dollars he now has in contributions supposedly to "defend" his "stolen" election, but also money he can use for whatever purpose he desires. - Yet another part of the story is the abject fear over a one hundred Republican House members and 17 State Attorneys General have of trump's political influence on their future political careers, which I personally find bizarre and humiliating for the "Grand Old Party." That and much more. While I don't see a civil war in our future, I do see serious damage occurring to our unique system of democracy that will be difficult to repair. As KC pointed out, the flaws of our system are being made clear, and not every potential "trump" will be as psychotic, dangerous and inept as this version. Another may be far more cunning and far more dangerous.
Just think of the bots from Russia and China trying push these ideas on social media. Trying to divide.
Yea. the propaganda machine (of any source) seems to actually be capable of whipping up enough fear & hate among Americans where there are riots and counter riots and with a lack of a clear outside threat, the body politics stops functioning properly with some sort of constitutional crisis and country loses its economic hegemony in a precipitous fashion (instead of gradually.) At least the poll here seems to indicate that there are some who trust Trump enough to riot. I assume that this was part of the intention behind the original Russian interference with the elections (in addition to getting lots of fodder needed to keep russian population thinking that democracy is crap not worth pining for.) Civil war definitely requires huge portions of wealth of many influential people to be in jeopardy because like @larsv8 said, civil war is not a profitable affair for both sides involved. Or lives to be in jeopardy. (Although at some point, when a few are able to control many via means of AI and drones, coup becomes much more likely - then it's logistically easier to transfer power from one group to another. Sorry to be fearmongering.)
They don't have to rely solely on bots on social media. They have fox news, oann, newsmax, donald trump and the republican party all pushing this story...
That goes to what Ottomaton brought up about how the brothers Gracchi paved the way to fall of the Roman Republic and Julius Ceasar seizing power. My guess is that Trump knows he lost and people like Paxton know he lost. Trump is willing to burn it down for his own ego but not above lining his pockets on the way out. Paxton is willing to help him if it get's him a pardon. Many of the others are acting out of spinelessness while a few of that 106 Congressional Republicans and AG's are actually true believers. While the Gracchi did undermine the norms of Rome they did actually do some good and while they were interested in their own power they were interested in the well being of Roman Pleibians. With Trump and many of those around them self-interest is his primary interest. Given all of the hypocrisy and double speak of people like Paxton, Cruz and other enablers self-interest is their primary interest.
News networks are nuts. NBC blocks out the whole site today to only showcase pandemic related stories, which I agree is a pressing issue this time of year and the hospitalizations the way they are. FOXnews on the other hand get accused on air for not covering severity of pandemic enough and anchor is "offended". And their website coverage is criticism of other outlets for not covering their favorite story enough. When did news become the new drama filled reality shows? Great example of the media being broken along with society
Read it and weep: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blog...e-in-one-post/2011/08/23/gIQAN8CXZJ_blog.html
Rush Limbaugh openly discussing secession/insurrection is the apparent result. Trump on twitter should be governed by this fairness doctrine. He usurped media's pulpit to spew dog whistles and outright partisan hate speech and that should be regulated given the size of that bullhorn. I mean, was it Goebbels, who was able to move stadiums in nazi germany. Trump or someone like him can now move half a country at once with his tweets. That's hardly the freedom of speech that the founders had envisioned - such speech can engulf everyone without a chance for another person to speak up. edit: ok maybe I'm exaggerating. i really do need a break from news.
