Stop the Steal

 Watching this last election, especially in the last year, has been mind bending. Watching after the election was even more mind bending. As court after court threw out election challenges - 60 - SIXTY - at state level, state supreme court level and US Supreme court level, it seemed obvious to a reasonable person that there was insufficient evidence to conclude election fraud.

But Trump supporters couldn't let the idea go. "Stop the Steal" took root and it was dug in deep. Around town you could see it with Trump signs and some have not gone away. Trump supporters I know were posting on social media with expectation that something big was going to change it all. As the court cases fell, one by one, by dozens, the desperation grew. I saw romanticized Revolutionary War images and Mel Gibson as the Patriot. Threads assured commiserators that something big was going to set things right. "Time to fix bayonets" appeared on one page.

On January 6th at the start of the insurrection, I checked one persons page. "It's Happening!" she posted gleefully. Others chimed in with similar excitement.

That day I watched in horror but I was not surprised. There has grown a blood thirst with this right wing movement. We saw it in our own town when a peaceful group met to support Black Lives Matter and a dozen or so AR15 guys showed up, supposedly to protect our city monuments. My only surprise from January 6th is that I didn't know someone who was part of the insurrection. 

Anyone who tries to tell me that insurrection was Antifa not Trump supporters, needs to explain what all the Revolutionary War posts are all about. Why were so many QAnon, Proud Boy and Oath Keeper members identified and arrested?

And the biggest question of all - If the insurrection was successful, what would the country look like after that? Would there be elections? Would those elections automatically eliminate votes from certain parts of the country? If all the elected officials were killed that they wanted killed, then what? No repercussions? We just kill people we don't agree with?

We do need to "Stop the Steal". We need to stop the steal of reason and rational thinking. We need to stop the steal of our civility. We need to stop the steal of our morality. 

I've watched people I know say on one hand that something is a hoax and then say it was cooked up in a lab and intentionally spread. Others have irrationally grown focused on human trafficking. Another believes the Kent State massacre is proof that we need AR15's. It's simply mind bending. I've had a nurse argue that we should not wear masks because they do nothing to help.

We do need to "Stop the Steal". We need to stop the steal of reason and rational thinking.