January 9th, 2020
I am still in shock about the fact that a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol Building at the behest of Trump himself. The first thing that I thought was that this was exactly why I voted against Donald Trump. Essentially, he has courted the support of what I consider to be some pretty despicable people and they were all on display during the siege, specifically far-right extremist groups. If you’re seeing support from extremist groups your views are probably on the extremist side of the spectrum. I would likely consider myself anti-authoritarian as I don’t see authoritarianism as a good way to make progress in the world. I don’t know if I would go so far as calling myself a progressive, but it certainly seems that more and more I don’t agree with conservative values, especially when someone says they believe in conservative values and then storms the U.S. Capitol. I’ve never liked Trump as all I see is a selfish and petty man who will do anything to aggrandize himself no matter how damaging the results of that may be. I don’t want a petulant child running the country as this is the result you get: mistrust and instability which has inevitably led to the Storming of the U.S. Capitol. I’m sure there are some legitimate reasons for positions that Donald Trump supporters have, but they get lost in the sea of hate and conspiracy theories that Donald Trump has perpetuated. I am appalled that a sitting President would incite this violence against the seat of American democracy and that people believed him when he called for said violence. It is disturbing that he calls BLM protestors “thugs”, but then calls the rioters at the Capitol “very special”. And this is not to say that I fully agree with all the points the BLM protestors promote, but it certainly makes it clear (if it wasn’t clear before) how hypocritical and biased this president is and how he exacerbates social unrest. I hate that some people believe everything that Donald Trump says as if it came from the mouth of God. I’m sure there are real problems that these men and women who stormed the Capitol face, but Donald Trump is certainly not helping them and is just using their support for his own political gain. Donald Trump, without a doubt, will go down as one of the worst presidents in U.S. History and I look forward to the day that he is no longer able to influence the American public. It has never been about specific republican or democratic policies for me, but always about the kind of person that Donald Trump is and the kinds of things that a person like him is capable of. I can’t help but think about the fascist regimes of WW2-era Italy and Germany and see similarities: the cult of personality that he’s been able to develop; the authoritarian rhetoric he’s used against political opponents; the demonization of the “others”, specifically minorities or anyone who disagrees with him; the use of unmarked military and police personnel to quell political dissenters, etc. The list goes on. I will be reading the book How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them by Jason Stanley at some point which should shed some light on the more specific similarities. I don’t think this climate that Donald Trump has been able to generate will be going away anytime soon and it would be good to recognize the more dangerous aspects and figure out how to handle them in my everyday life. With the storming of the Capitol, I am afraid of what the future may hold.