Stand Back and Stand By......

 

    Well, it seems that ol' Donny boy has done it again.  Given the opportunity to deny his support of the far right in America, he chose to demure.  Chris Wallace was the moderator at the first presidential debate on Tuesday evening.  About 73 million viewers tuned-in to watch and see which candidate would best his opposite.  

   At one point, Wallace asked the prez if he would be willing to disavow any support of the far right.  Trump was very snippy and arrogant...big surprise there, eh.....and insisted that Wallace give him a name to use.  Wallace came up with the "Proud Boys", which is a trending radical right group listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a 'hate group'.   They have played a (violent) role in the conflicts in Kenosha and Portland OR, as well as being an 'up and coming' presence among the metastasizing crop of  far-right groups.  They boast about being racist, mysogenist, anti-immigrant, Islamophobic etc.  

  So, the Idiot...instead of using the moment to answer that he doesn't support any radical approach to our politics, that using the threat of violence to push the far-right agenda is wholly unacceptable....he said, that the Proud Boys should, "....stand back, and stand by".  And, just like that, the opportunity to let people know that he's no fascist...was gone!  It was replaced instead with the understanding that he has put the far-right on notice that they are his enforcers and should be ready to act whenever he calls on them.

  Is there another way to spin it?  In every setting that I have experienced or have read about, or spoken with others about....'Stand By' means, "Be ready to act".  If you are an Air Force fighter or bomber pilot, and are on 'stand by' it means that you are ready to sprint out to your aircraft and have it in the air, on its way to perform a mission in a matter of mere minutes.  Firemen, and women on 'stand by' are not allowed to leave the station or put themselves in any kind of a situation wherein they wouldn't be instantly available.  This is such a common and 'standard' understanding that one should not even have to explain it.

   So, among a slew of other complaints about the Idiot's behavior in the debate debacle, i.e. incessant interrupting, brushing off the moderator's requests to behave, a cavalcade of lies and misinformation etc....all of which we have come to expect from him....the fact that he refused to chastise or otherwise distance himself from these armed vigilante hairballs, was the single fact that remained foremost in peoples' minds. There was even some tepid outrage from Republicans...well, the ones that didn't try to spin it, dismiss it, deny it or simply look away.  

   It feels like the last straw in establishing a final and proven conclusion that the president of the United States of America is a FUCKING RACIST.... not to mention being a Fascist, a misogynist, and a host of other despicablities.  The president was openly sending a completely bold and direct notice to these heavily armed hairballs that they are essentially his Brownshirts.  

   Anybody who chooses to ignore these facts and gloss them over in order to continue justifying that  they are going to vote for him....is adopting these qualities for themselves.  You cannot lend your support and your vote to a racist...for example....and then say you are not a racist yourself.  It doesn't work that way, despite the fact that it would be ever so much easier if it did.  Then you could support all manner of evil-doing...and remain above the fray yourself. 

  Well...............no you can't.  You might wish you could, but if you give your support to a politician who is a racist, you are furthering that agenda, and that makes you one of them.  Not because 'I say so' but because it is a simple fact.  Supporting a racist means that you ARE ONE.  No amount of ducking and dodging will change that.  YOU ARE WHAT YOU DO.  

These are the Proud Boys.  They think we should be intimidated by them. They freely admit to being White Supremacists, misogynists, Islamophobes, and more. They often appear in public at demonstrations carrying military style arms.

    Of course, the Idiot stood in the White House driveway, as he is typically inclined to do for brief interludes with the press corps...and said, "I don't know who the Proud Boys are."  And, get this, he said it with nary a hint of irony or duplicity.  He said it as if it was true....and, it clearly is NOT.  But, that is how he motors.  Lies come fast and frequently.  He clearly is way beyond caring about whether lying is ethical.  His ethical code consists of doing any damn thing that pops into his feverish brain...and then seeing how it is received.  If it 'floats', it must be okay.

  So, here we are, only about one month from what is certainly the most critical election in modern history.... not just for America, but for the entire planet. True. Because the decisions that need to be taken in the immediate future are going to affect the climate crisis, planetary stability with nuclear weapons, the world economy and more.

  Once again, the only way forward out of this swamp is straight ahead.......VOTE!