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Noah Otte's avatar

An excellent and fascinating article that I mostly agree with, Labia! Okay, I will start off with my few areas of disagreement. I would disagree when you called the MAGA movement the MAGA Klan. The vast majority of Trump supporters from what I've seen are not prejudice in any way nor are the majority of Republicans. There certainly are fringes of the party and some state parties that are racist, homophobic and transphobic but the party itself and its base are not. President Trump himself is certainly not prejudice. He's always portrayed that way by the media and from statements that have been taken out on context, but he is not. Racist? Not at all. He has four people of color in his cabinet, gave more funding to HBCUs than any President ever has, there were record low unemployment rates for blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans, signed the Ashlynn Mike Amber Alert in Indian Country Act, posthumously pardoned Jack Johnson, and he released Alice Marie Johnson from prison. Then let's look at his personal life, he opened his offices at Trump Towers to Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in the 1990s, was presented the Ellis Island Award in 1986 for helping inner city youth, he lifted the ban on blacks and Jews becoming members at Mar-A-Lago Club when he re-opened it is a private club in 1995, he helped Mike Tyson get his career started, he's been endorsed by NFL legend Lawrence Taylor, Actor Iasiah Washington, Rapper Lil' Wayne, Comedian Paul Rodriquez, Representative Byron Donalds of Florida, and Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina. The Cuban American community in Miami strongly supported Trump. High percentages of racial minorities, Jews and Muslims and Arabs voted for Trump in 2024. This would include the current nominee for U.S. Ambassador to Kuwait and the current Mayor of Hamtramck, Michigan Amer Ghalib an Arab Muslim and a Democrat, endorsed Trump. Lastly, don't forget President Trump fed the people of Gaza with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Most of those who came into the capital on January 6th didn't commit criminal acts and treated the capitol building with great awe and reverence. Only a small minority assaulted law enforcement or committed acts of criminality. But the one's responsible for that day are Nancy Pelosi and Muriel Bowser who refused to call out the DC National Guard and the FBI incited the far-right extremists in the crowd who stormed the capitol. Then the federal government arrested thousands of people most of whom were innocent of January 6th. Those who actually committed crimes were overcharged. All had their civil liberties violated. I also would mostly disagree with you on Trump's immigration policy. Does it have its flaws? Absolutely. I don't agree with deporting ALL illegal immigrants nor deporting U.S. citizens nor sending illegal immigrant criminals to a dungeon in El Salvador. But I do think for the most part he's handling the border the right way and the mass deportations and ICE raids are very much necessary. You can't have ten million people come across the border including terrorists and criminals without being properly vetted. Same with Trump's policy on antisemitism. Does it sometimes go too far? Yes. But for the most part, it's the proactive and hardline policy that had been needed. Trump's response to the riots in LA was absolutely appropriate.

But your overall point is absolutely correct! There has been an egregious right-wing overcorrection, and the left-wing and far-left's reaction has been equally as bad. Both parties are absolutely awful which is why I consider myself an Independent. There are no good guys in this battle between Alien and Predator. The left pushes gender-affirming care for minors, identity politics, biological men competing in women's sports, destroying American history, and opposing the rule of law. The right pushes their own version of language policing banning words like "trauma" and "inclusion", banning books, strict regulations on abortion, rolling back LGBT civil rights, and getting rid of no-fault divorce. Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are morons who have no idea what they're doing and are just in politics for themselves as are Mike Johnson and John Thune. You mentioned the left condemning Trump's response but not the rioting itself by violent and militant liberals and leftists. Rioting is wrong no matter which side does it. Violence whether it be by left and right is wrong. Antifa, BLM and Redneck Revolt are literally the other side of the coin to the KKK, Neo-Nazis and white nationalists. We need to equally condemn them both. If you condemn the horrific murder of Democratic Minnesota State Rep. Milessa Hortman, you must condemn the two horrific assassination attempts on President Trump. You have to be consistent, and the Democrats can't do it. The Democrats are NOT a respectable political party anymore. They are unpatriotic, bash capitalism, don't stand for free speech, the rule of law and women's rights, encourage violent rhetoric, push identity politics and political correctness, have moved too far left, have abandoned the working class, and don't care about the Jewish people and our most important ally in the Middle East. Many of them love Hamas and worship at their feet. What happened to the Democratic Party that produced the likes of FDR, Harry S. Truman, Henry Wallace, Paul Douglas, Helen Gahagan Douglas, Shirely Chisholm, Barbara Jordan, Hubert Humphrey, Birch Bayh, George McGovern, Walter Mondale, JFK, RFK, LBJ, Dick Gephardt, John Kerry, Barack Obama, John Lewis, Elijah Cummings, and Pat Schroeder? But the GOP is no better! They still aren't all that young or diverse, have much work to do to make inroads with the LGBT community, ban books they don't like, deny Climate Change, are joined at the hip with the religious right, push a free-market healthcare system even though we know for a fact it won't work, and won't support any gun control legislation. What happened to Republicans the quality of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Barry Goldwater, Nelson Rockefeller, Bob Dole, Jack Kemp, Orrin Hatch, Dick Lugar, Hugh Scott, Ronald Reagan, Howard Baker, Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., Thomas E. Dewey, Robert Taft, Margaret Chase Smith, Edward Brooke, John McCain, and Mitt Romney?

It's time to save this country! It can't be done overnight and will take all of us, but here some great reads to help us begin to start:

* In Search of Braver Angels: Getting Along Together in Troubled Times by David Blankenhorn

* Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America by Lee Drutman

* Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis

* And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle by Jon Meacham

* Them: Why We Hate Each Other and How to Heal by Ben Sasse

* Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America from the Culture of Contempt by Arthur C. Brooks

* Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist by Eli Saslow

* Uniting America: How FDR and Henry Stimson Brought Democrats and Republicans Together to Win World War II by Peter Shinkle

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Richard Brannin's avatar

Yes you are wrong about the ICE riots in Los Angeles. The Democrats want to preserve Congressional seats made possible by illegal immigrants, I believe they also will permit illegal immigrants to vote and their presence helps keep money flowing to unions. Lots of reasons to fight enforcement of Federal law. They have not attempted to stop the violence, hence Federal intervention.

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