WisGOPs want violence and hatred. Dems need to speak up against it

Look at this garbage from one of our US Senators. He can't even say it is wrong for a 17-year-old kid to shoot two people. Despite the fact that the kid was out well after a city-imposed curfew and openly carrying long guns in a tense situation (which he was too young to legally do).

Ron Johnson dodges and weaves and refuses to explicitly condemn the Trump supporting Kenosha shooter. pic.twitter.com/VmMPBm5yxo

— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) August 30, 2020

And look at what Ron Johnson's BFF on the radio was saying right before that kid went to Kenosha with his guns.

Bice: 'Do you have enough ammo?' Radio host urges 'militia' and 'patriots' to use guns to fight Kenosha protests https://t.co/r7Tfquqa80 via @journalsentinel

— Daniel Bice (@DanielBice) August 27, 2020

And now our Hater in Chief plans to go to Kenosha on Tuesday to talk to store owners and cops....but not local Black people about the tensions and police actions that preceded the violence. And I guarantee you Trump won't be condemning the kid shooter or the AM radio hosts and Facebook posts that encouraged the vigilantism that the kid carried out.

The president liked a tweet that says accused Kenosha killer Kyle Rittenhouse “is a good example of why I decided to vote for Trump.” pic.twitter.com/l0qvMIkB7C

— Patrick Marley (@patrickdmarley) August 30, 2020

Why do these Republicans encourage this cycle of hate and destruction? Because they think it's their best chance to win elections. They cannot win on ideas and they cannot win on their records, so they try to stir up weak white people with resentment in order and repress the other side in order to try to stay in power.

I will add that that whoever is burning and vandalizing buildings is giving the repressors what they want. I don't care if it's people furious about the disparities or Boogaloo Boys trying to turn up the heat and ratfuck the protestors' cause, they need to be called out, exposed, stopped and arrested.

I also think that DC Dems have been slow on the uptake with this. A few tweets and statements against the violence and/or Trump isn't enough to cut through the RW noise machine, they need to be out in public visibly making statements and being shown meeting with the people in the community. I know that COVID-19 complicates this somewhat, but that's not an acceptable reason.

Especially when Barack Obama and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are much more likely to be able to make people cool down and think more deeply about the issues, much like how the Milwaukee Bucks succeeded in drawing attention to the special session of the Legislature that is scheduled to start tomorrow.



Look at that picture (and I love the t-shirts of George Hill and Sterling Brown, the readers of the statement).

Then think about how effective a picture of Barack and/or Michelle Obama would be in doing the same, and demanding that our current President show leadership in bringing people together, condemning violence ("on all sides", if he must) and not taking the law into their own hands.

Our Lieutenant Governor was just on MSNBC this morning, and Mandela Barnes accurately described the disparities and violence as "AN AMERICAN PROBLEM". This hurts all of us, keeps us from reaching our potential, and the resentments/repressions that result make people keep people in power that have no interest in making this country grow and improve.

If Dems can do some jujitsu on WisGOP's attempts to drive the cycle of hatred and blame those protesting the racist system, and declare "Dems want to do something about this unaccepotable situation, while Republicans want it to continue. They want the violence, they want the hatred. We want to make this state/country better." But their delaying allows the GOP mlie machine to fill the gap, and they need to get out forcerfully in front the public NOW.

"Going high" and expecting people to naturally condemn GOP dog-whistles and violence isn't going to be enough. Sad to say, but a lot of white people in Wisconsin won't care too deeply, and would prefer to have order maintained regardless of what that order looks like. It is time to get down in the guts and show some righteous anger (without destruction, if possible), and drive others to give a damn about the violence that GOPs give a wink and a nod to.

PS- Want to attach this interview from Kenosha native and former Badger football player Melvin Gordon, who had an interview with ABC this weekend. In the interview, Gordon says he supports what the Bucks did, and talks about the need for things to get better in Wisconsin/America regarding racism. It's also odd to see the interviewer identify Gordon as a "young person", but at 27, he still is!

The interviewer doesn't shy away from asking some pretty deep questions, and Gordon gives some candid, straightforward answers.