Did Someone Say it Couldn't be Worse than 2020??

[lydamorehouse]

I had thought we had all silently agreed not to be that guy in the movie who says, "Well, the WORST is obviously over....!: 

So. YEAH.

I had been hoping to chat about something mundane, but apparently America is in the middle of an armed insurrection, a coup. I guess it's mostly over? The cops just let a bunch of white guys with guns come in, trash the capitol, loot it, I guess? No one should be surprised about this, though. Donald Trump has only been calling for it since before the election. He's been sowing these seeds forever, we should not be surprised this ugly stuff took root and grew.

I keep thinking about a short story that naomikritzer wrote a long time ago now, it seems, kind of about this idea of "is this really the darkest timeline" or did time travelers actually plan this stuff because actually seeing Confederate and Nazi flags in the nation's capital is what was needed to happen because the darker timeline is the one where we never even noticed.... where some Dick Chaney type just backroom dealt democracy into oblivion.  Trump was actually what we needed so that we would really wake up and see FASCISM writ large and unavoidably obvious. 

I mean, will it work?

I dunno. I mean, I would hope the f*ck so?

Weirdly, my newest writers group has not cancelled due to coup, so I am about to go online and talk about fiction. 

Comments

[quadong]

I tried not to be that guy who points out that bad things don't neatly align themselves to the calendar and had no reason to stop at midnight on NYE. I think I managed up to the moment of typing this.

I hope the attempted coup is mostly over as you say. Thank goodness that Trump supporters are incompetent like Trump himself and had no plan for actually seizing power, just for making a mess. I am not confident that tonight is going to be quiet everywhere, though.

[lydamorehouse]

Yeah.... I mean, like I said, I'm kind of glad we had the OBVIOUSLY INCOMPETENT version of fascism? Now we have to hope that this wasn't a dry run for Inauguration Day and that someone actually faces consequences or this will just keep happening again and again until it does work.

[sabotabby]

I am really hoping this is overreach. The problem is that mechanisms for social change for the better in the US—as in Canada—are badly broken. So it's not like people know what to do now that they've realized what a serious threat the far-right is.

[lydamorehouse]

Yes, see above. I agree that the biggest consequence to this is if there are no consequences for the bad actors and... with only 13 arrests, I am very afraid that's what's happening.

[kore]

IT WAS LIKE THE HORROR MOVIE WHERE THE MONSTER COMES BACK TO LIFE ONE MORE TIME

Jesus it feels like today has been 10 years long.

[lydamorehouse]

It really has been. Like, it started out so good....? by which I mean the Democratic win in George.

[kore]

Yeah, the Warnock win was so wonderful and unexpected, at least by me! then I was bracing for the fucking Republicans to be epically stupid. Then ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE, and in the middle of that, Osoff won! It is such a shame those two victories were so eclipsed, and by such horrifying shameful events. They were such great triumphs for the candidates, the organizers (Stacey!), the voters, everybody.

And then I was so exhausted and I just couldn't bear more hours of Republicans being idiots so I went to bed and missed the certification, which was a total bummer because I love watching stuff like that live. But I was just a crispy critter at that point.

[lydamorehouse]

Are you still feeling crispy? Because I am.

[kore]

God yes. I did not let myself go on Twitter and was just reading the Guardian liveblog, and came across a story about how the invasion of the Capitol was probably a superspreader event and there were Republicans in the secure room refusing to wear face masks, and then I had to go just read more old Sue Grafton novels.

[xochiquetzl]

Black Lives Matter protesters peacefully protest for "Please stop killing us": Rubber bullet in the eye, tear gas, disappearances.

Armed White Supremacists trash the capitol: Whatevs.

TWO MORE WEEKS.

[bibliofile]

re: contrast in reactions to different crowds.
Yeah, I have a lot of questions about the whole thing. (e.g., How did they not prepare for people storming the building?)

And now I worry that two weeks is far too long. Or even one more day.

[xochiquetzl]

Yeah, I hear you.

Oh, and from my state:

[xochiquetzl]

Set up: A black man and a Jew walk into the U.S. Senate.
Punchline: REPRESENTING GEORGIA.

It's hard to break out the bubbly considering today, but I'm holding on to it.

https://www.ajc.com/politics/no-doubt-about-it-democratic-runoff-wins-cement-georgia-as-swing-state/DVHG6M7YRFHEBMITYBUHGKMFOI/

Re: Oh, and from my state:

[kore]

That is still a wonderful thing!

Re: Oh, and from my state:

[xochiquetzl]

Yes it is!!!

Re: Oh, and from my state:

[lydamorehouse]

The light in the darkness.

[ryanf]

I continue to be glued to CNN's livestream.

[lydamorehouse]

Yeah, I've had to stop. It's a 48 hours since and I'm still very WTF.

[duskpeterson]

We are extremely fortunate that President Trump is an incompetent coup leader. We are extremely dead if we don't realize there are competent coup leaders out there.

[lydamorehouse]

Agreed.