America’s detractors are right. Americans are too lazy, complacent, and comfortable to act. To do anything to stop this before it gets worse.
I haven't talked politics with my mom in years since I assumed she was still MAGA, but I needed reassurance that both of my parents aren't fascists, so I called her and asked "should the president be able to ignore the constitution" to which I got a "no...?" and "you understand that federal judges ARE allowed to force the president to stop, when he's ignoring the constitution, right?" to which I got a "yes...?" as if I was stupid for asking. She’s an accountant, and has a firmer grasp of economics than most, so I imagine it’s Trump’s tariffs that broke his spell on her, but I digress.
What a relief, because my father answered these questions differently yesterday. This caused a pretty big fight, which he downplayed to her as me just having TDS.
At this point she tried to reassure me with "Now I know you're passionate about this..." But I cut her off saying "Shouldn't I be? Shouldn't every American? Momma I'm scared. I don't think Trump is going to stop ignoring the constitution, and then either the Supreme Court will tell him that he's allowed to ignore it, or they'll have to use the Marshals to force him to stop ignoring it. Neither of which will end well."
silence
"I feel fucking insane. Like I'm the only adult in the country that's thinking about where we're headed, where this ends. I know it’s a hard conversation, I know it isn’t fun, but we start using our words, or we'll start using our bullets, and it will get really bloody, really fast. Am I wrong?"
silence
"And when you do talk to people about where this ends, no one can tell me I'm wrong, except MAGA, but we all know they're just brainwashed at this point, so their opinion can be disregarded."
At that point she broke her silence, to defend my dad, saying "Well you're both just so plugged in..." To which I had to say "No. I'm plugged into everything, and he's wrong. I can't accept that he has all the facts or I have to accept that my father is being un-American."
That's when she feigned slight offense at that comment, saying "Y'know, it's disrespectful to say that when he's my husband..." to which I replied "Momma, it's disrespectful to talk to me like that when I'm trying to talk about what may be the most important topic of our lifetimes. I love you, have a good week."
So yeah. Americans are too lazy, complacent, and comfortable to act. To pressure our politicians into doing their jobs and impeaching Trump. To even really talk about this, because it's scary. I AM NOT ADVOCATING FOR ANY VIOLENCE, but I think it is inevitable if he is not stopped. Because he will not stop himself.
We've blown past all the guardrails, all the checks and balances, to the point that someone who HAS read the constitution will stop him the only way a real American can at that point, if congress doesn't do it first.
It’s entirely possible Trump DOES stop himself. It doesn’t seem all that likely. It’s entirely possible congress WILL stop him. It doesn’t seem likely. What’s left after that?
If you're an American, and this scared you: GOOD. You are not alone. It doesn't have to be this way, and we can avoid it if we make congress DO THEIR ACTUAL JOBS.
If you're European, and this scared you: It should, as you and I both know that America imploding will just make Russian even more bold than they already are.
If you're ANYONE, and reading this scared you, please share the message to anyone that you think it will resonate with. Please help us save our country. I think this is the only way out, and if we all think about it, we all know it's the truth deep down.
Fellow Kansan here. Marshall is an even worse piece of shit (how is that even possible???)