It is no less than a tragedy: We are watching a once great nation unravel.
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But this unraveling didn’t start last week or last month. And it would be altogether too facile to account for this it by focusing solely on what transpired last Wednesday, with the horrendous breaching of the Capitol by those identified as “Trump supporters.”
I have already written about the evidence that people from Antifa were involved in that violence (“at least one bus-load” according to one report):
https://41k.82b.myftpupload.com/uncategorized/from-israel-search-for-truth-amid-the-horror/
They came dressed as “Trump supporters” and I have now learned that a Black Lives Matter activist, who has advocated for armed revolution, also participated in the storming of the Capitol.
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But come on! We all know that the activists of Antifa and BLM are not “Trump supporters,” not by any stretch of the imagination. They represent far left radical movements that advocate violence in order to weaken America, especially the America of Donald Trump.
These radicals are sharp opportunists, however, who know how to turn a situation of turmoil to their advantage. And this possibility is what President Trump failed to anticipate as he called out his supporters. He can be faulted for this, whatever his intentions for a peaceful rally. He was used, and having been used, finds his political career finished ignominiously.
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There are two serious questions to be raised here with regard to the forced entry into the Capitol of rioters. One has to do with the ease with which they entered. As it was known that there were going to be masses of people there, it is reasonable to ask why there weren’t extensive reinforcements in place.
Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, for her part, told federal law enforcement officials a day before the riot to “stand down” because municipal police could handle whatever might transpire – which of course was not the case. So what are we looking at here?
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To really understand the situation, we need the broader context, and I would begin with Barack Obama. He was so smooth and articulate; people thought him classy. And he was black: A point of pride.
Obama, however, was an internationalist who did not embrace the concept of American exceptionalism. He leaned left, solidly on the path of political correctness. And what he did embrace was radical Islam. This was evident early on, when he invited the Muslim Brotherhood to hear his speech in Cairo. Evident, as well, when he refused to identify obvious acts of Islamic terrorism, as at Fort Hood, for what they were. He did all he could to erase allusions to Islamist terrorism from official records.
Disturbingly, Obama weakened the military. But I found him most frightening when I tracked the negotiations with Iran; at times he made so many concessions I wondered which side he was on. He lied to the American public about some of this. And I doubt that most Americans had a clue as to what he was really about.
Obama was also, I should note, hostile to Israel. As a parting shot before he left office, he threw Israel under the bus by abstaining on UN Security Council Resolution 2334, thus allowing its passage to go through. It called Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria a “flagrant violation” of international law.
For a clear perspective on his attitude towards Israel, you might want to see this:
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Hillary Clinton — with leftist credentials and a hatred for Israel that matches Obama’s — was expected to win the election in 2016. She would have carried forth her predecessor’s “legacy” vigilantly.
Her unexpected loss to Trump was a crisis for the left, and for Obama’s agenda. Trump was the antithesis of Obama. Not smooth and classy, sometimes downright rough. But a passionate American patriot, who saw matters very differently from his predecessor: He left the deal with Iran and reinstituted sanctions; had no compunctions about identifying Islamic terrorism; strengthened the military; became a strong friend to Israel.
And here, my friends, we see intimations of the collapse of American democracy. For Obama, working against the will of the electorate, refused to accept the legitimacy of his successor. He set out to undermine Trump’s agenda and destroy his reputation. But he did it behind the scenes.
I don’t think there has ever been another situation like this. He moved just blocks from the White House, and put together a very large cadre of volunteers, trained in radical Alinsky techniques, to undermine the president, weaken his reputation, and challenge his legitimacy, all at a grassroots level.
Add to this the efforts of leftist Democratic elements in Congress, who were also determined from the very beginning to get rid of Trump. This impulse led to his impeachment, which failed to secure a conviction. (Illegitimately, the desire to impeach had preceded the charges.)
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Trump, functioning as president, had to be made of iron to withstand this constant onslaught and to be productive in spite of it. And he was!
On a large number of fronts he was a highly successful president. He moved the Middle East closer to peace with the Abraham Accords, which showed, not incidentally, that peace did not depend upon a Palestinian state. He was tough with an obstructionist Mahmoud Abbas. He decreased unemployment across the board, but especially in the black community. He did more for the black community as well: increasing financial support for traditional black colleges, and promoting school choice so that inner city children might have decent education. He took important action against anti-Semitism, via executive order, by expanding the prohibition of discrimination as described in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to include religion. He brought manufacturing back to American shores.
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At this point I want to stop and take a hard look at other phenomena that have been undermining American democracy for at least a couple of decades now. It has been a slow, ugly process that should alarm everyone.
At the heart of it is a radical left position that stifles dissent. Horrendously destructive to democracy, it has become mainstream in a variety of situations.
Right-wing individuals coming to speak on college campuses must have bodyguards because of violence that may be directed against them by left-wing students; a solid percentage of college students today believe violence against those who think differently is acceptable. In the classroom, students are uneasy about voicing right-wing positions, or writing papers that espouse these positions. An open exchange of ideas is no longer possible in many forums, and it is the position of leftists that takes precedence.
Then there is the crazy concept of “intersectionality,” which maintains that a number of left-wing issues are intrinsically linked. Thus you cannot be accepted as a member of a group promoting one of these issues, unless you support all of the others.
Case in point was a rainbow flag parade promoting rights for homosexuals. One person in that parade carried a rainbow flag with a Jewish star superimposed. She was told to leave. It was assumed that the Jewish star indicated support for Israel, and that is not acceptable. If you are not pro-Palestinian, you are not a legitimate member of the gay community.
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Trump stood against many of these politically correct positions, which simply made the radical left hate him that much more. Trump and the far left were on a collision course.
Politically correct thinking embraces the notion of a woman’s right to choose what happens to her body, which today sometimes means abortion through the third trimester. Trump is against abortion. Just as he is against allowing transgender males (who identify as women, dress like women, but still have male genitalia) to use women’s bathrooms; he reversed an order that Obama had instituted permitting this.
As the radical left allows no room for dissenting opinions, it is clear that they were determined that Trump had to go. His policies, not politically correct, were not to be permitted. When you think about the election and everything that has transpired in recent days, please consider this.
And consider this, as well. Obama, behind the scenes, was pushing for a Biden victory that would allow him major control over appointments and policy. This was a logical follow up to his fight against Trump. Analysts refer to Biden’s forthcoming term as Obama’s third term.
https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/12/02/biden-to-usher-in-obamas-third-term/
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In late May, 2020, George Floyd died while in police custody. While the popular myth that has been developed with regard to him says that he was killed by the police officer who put a knee to his neck, the original autopsy report said he died of a drug overdose. (The fact that the autopsy report was ultimately changed rings bells.) You want the facts? See them here:
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/10/video-who-killed-george-floyd-frontpagemagcom/
George Floyd was a bum of the first order. He had served multiple prison terms and on one occasion pointed his gun at the belly of a pregnant woman in order to frighten her into letting him and his partners in crime into her apartment in order to rob her.
But the radical left saw their opportunity and they seized it. Across America they fomented rioting in the name of the injustice of what was done to Floyd because he was black.
It was an insane situation, replete with looting, burning, raping and killings promoted and instigated by Antifa and Black Lives Matter, an avowed Marxist group. In Seattle, in June, an area of some square blocks was declared an autonomous zone. Sympathetic journalists described the protests as peaceful, which they were not, and likened the takeover in Seattle to a block party.
Violence was being tolerated to an alarming degree. See Paul Watson’s superb video documenting the truth here, and the outrageous degree to which officials cut the violent radicals slack:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEWjQOnrZRg&has_verified=1
America gone mad.
The theme was racism: all black people are victims, owed a great deal by society, and all white people by virtue of their skin color are racists. On the street there were incidents of black people forcing white people to kneel before them and admit they were racist. Police were identified as part of the problem (didn’t a police officer kill Floyd?) and there were absolutely insane calls for defunding of police.
Corporations began to buy into this politically correct notion of racism, and to offer obligatory workshops intended to combat it. They feared loss of business or violence, or both; and there was precious little pushback.
Guy Millière speculated that, “This may have been the first time in US history that a Marxist movement received corporate support: Amazon, Microsoft, Nabisco, Gatorade, Deckers and other large American firms donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation.”
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16430/overthrow-america
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Taken together, this morphed into an attack on America more broadly. Statues of American heroes and America’s forefathers were desecrated or toppled. America was charged with having been born in sin – the sin of racism. The New York Times, leaning further left than it already was, advanced the ludicrous 1619 theory: that this was the true date of America’s founding because that when the first slaves were brought to America’s shores.
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I do not believe there is anyone reading this who does not know what I am talking about. This was an attempt to destroy American heritage and American values. To destroy American as we know it.
Said then Attorney General Barr in August 2020, “[the left] represents a revolutionary Rousseauian party that believes in tearing down the system… They’re interested in complete political victory. They’re not interested in compromise…They view their political opponents… as evil because we stand in the way of their progressive utopia that they’re trying to reach…” (See Gatestone, above)
President Trump had no patience for this, but was prevented from acting in states or municipalities where federal assistance was not sought. “Stay away” he was told by left wing Democratic mayors and governors in the hotspots of violence. What the president did was act with toughness where there was defacing or destruction of federal property.
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In the end, there are certain major points that must be emphasized.
The first is the degree to which violence – which was being utilized as a political weapon – was tolerated. Radicals saw very readily how much they could get away with.
It is shocking, the degree to which public officials, Democrats, not only turned a blind eye to the violence, they bought into the politically correct version of matters. When crazy Nancy Pelosi and her Congressional cohorts such as Chuck Schumer, wearing those kente cloths, went down on one knee in memory of Floyd, I wanted to gag. Later, Pelosi referred to riots in Portland as the “immense power of peaceful protests” and federal law enforcement officers as “stormtroopers.” (See Gatestone above)
How shameful was their abdication of responsibility to the wellbeing of the nation they were elected to serve. I hold them culpable. It was their place to vociferously condemn all violence. Obviously, they never did anything of the sort.
Of course, neither Joe Biden nor Kamala Harris criticized the violence either. In fact, on June 1, Harris tweeted (@kamalaharris): “If you’re able to, chip in now to the @MNFreedomFund to help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota.”
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The rioting was fomented at that particular point in time in order to take down President Trump. One of the leaders of Black Lives Matters was very clear about this, and actually hoped to do it before the election. This point must not be missed.
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Of ultimate importance are the changes that have been made in the curricula of America’s schools, to conform with a politically correct left wing perception of America’s founding. The curricula paint America as born in sin, and demean traditional American values.
See Dennis Prager, who says: “Regarding race and much else, America’s students are not taught history. In fact, they are not taught; they are indoctrinated. With anti-Americanism.” (Emphasis added)
https://dennisprager.com/column/what-american-schools-should-teach-about-race-racism-and-slavery/
But if American children are not taught to love America and to embrace the nation’s values, then the country is lost.
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It would be very difficult, I believe, to argue that there was no electoral fraud. I’ve cited the evidence previously, and will not go there again. But if we look at the elements within society that were determined that Trump must be a one-term president – Obama who seeks to reassert himself on the national scene, the leftist Democrats and radical leftists outside of the government – it becomes yet more plausible.
Trump, believing that fraud had been perpetrated, and that a left wing government would be destructive to America, responded passionately and without sufficient forethought, in that last effort to secure electoral support. Now the carrying on about what happened – which is being laid at his feet as something he planned – is horrendous.
It has not escaped the attention of the right that those carrying on are the same people who remained silent when there were riots in the cities.
It is not enough for the left to be electorally victorious. They want to gloat and destroy Trump to the very best of their ability. Their actions are despicable and bring no credit to the US. Trump, who is still the president of the US, has been cut off by Twitter, and Michelle Obama suggests that this should be permanent. There is talk, as well, about impeachment. It will not happen but the effort to bring Trump additional humiliation is vile.
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There is facile talk from Biden and others about “peace.” But there will be no peace in the face of such conduct. What is really meant by “peace” is: we’re in charge now, so you will do what we say. This is the left wing total intolerance of differing positions.
John Daniel Davidson has made this observation (emphasis added):
“…elite outrage is not really about what happened at the capitol—about the ‘sacred citadel of our democracy being defiled’ and so on. The outrage, like almost all expressions of righteous indignation from our elites in the Trump era, is performative. It is in service of a larger purpose that has nothing to do with the peaceful transfer of power and everything to do with the wielding of power.
“Specifically, it’s about punishing supporters of President Trump. If the pro-Trump mob can be depicted as ‘terrorists’ and ‘traitors,’ then there’s almost nothing we shouldn’t do to silence them. Right?”
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Townhall commentator Matt Vesta says, “The new corporate authoritarian liberal-left monoculture is going to be absolutely ruthless — and in 12 days it is merging with the state. This only the beginning.”
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Senator Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) has observed that, “At a time of deep national division, President-elect Biden’s choice to call his political opponents literal Nazis does nothing to bring us together or promote healing. This kind of vicious partisan rhetoric only tears our country apart.
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Right wing Republicans are not going away so fast. Without their dedicated participation, I don’t believe there is any hope for America. I see several things are critical if there is ever to be healing in the nation:
[] Electoral reform. If half the nation mistrusts elections results, democracy is finished.
[] A campaign of major proportions to restore public civility and respect for differing opinions.
[] A revamping of school curricula, so American children will again be taught to love their country.
A huge order.
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© Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by independent journalist Arlene Kushner. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution.
