A PLEA FOR PRO-DEMOCRACY UNITY

 I am confused and worried.
We cannot, under any--I repeat, any--circumstances countenance a second Trump term. For one thing, it's very likely to be a life term, after which Junior will have himself crowned emperor of North America.
And once that happens, democracies around the globe are likely to start falling like dominoes.
We have seen the rebirth of right-wing thuggery which Trumpelthinskin and his henchmen continue to encourage. We have also, most recently, seen the same pattern on the left as I remember seeing in the late sixties and early seventies, back when I was in junior high school. It starts with nonviolent resistance to injustice; well and good. When George Floyd was murdered, any burning or looting was mostly courtesy of right-wing moles! But then, neo-Marxist and/or Islamist fringe groups worm their way in and start to add violence, especially, now, anti-Jewish violence so that protests that started nonviolently wind up as pogroms, or the next thing to them.
I hope, in the current mosh-pit of protest ostensibly on Gaza's behalf, one thing is not forgotten: Hamas began this war, without any excuse. They also care nothing for the Gazans except to use them as human shields and to make as many of them into shahids (martyrs). Without their utter and total defeat, there can be no new day for the wretchedly unfortunate Gazans! Even many advocates for Palestinian rights say so; Bassem Eid for one!
A cease-fire may stop the shooting, but will it leave Hamas clinging to power or not? Can any honest-hearted protestor against the current Israel-Hamas war give me, or anyone else, an answer to that?
I can tell you straight up, a cease-fire which does leave Hamas clinging to power will not--repeat, not--end the killing! It'll just be Hamas doing the killing of more Gazans who have had enough of Hamas up to their gullets! And many such corpses are now coming to light!
One wicked (and probably Islamist) fool said he thinks he can get along better with an openly hostile president (Trump) than one 'who pretends to be our friend' (Biden). Listen, you slave-trading fool, and listen good! Yeah, you and your minions survived one Trump term--but you won't survive another!
I promise you that! Why not, say you? A few reasons: when Trumpelthinskin first came in, there were still guardrails. There were still some 'adults in the room' (and you ain't one), as we say. This time, those guardrails are gone or wrecked, there will be no 'adults' to hold Trump back but only those willing to be even worse than he is!
Now, wicked, precious, self-important infidel fool, contemplate an executive order, constitutional or no, which strips all recent Muslim immigrants of their citizenship and renders them liable to immediate deportation! Think that's impossible? Think you have friends who will fight that? Even after you do your part to bring down the free world? Allow me to suggest, even you--heck, I'm not sure that even Trump--cannot concoct such lies as will save you from the consequences of you helping to end democracy over the globe!
Your former allies will remember your part in killing democracy and you will not be saved from being deported to, say, Yemen. You will have no allies then!
You're not the first ethnic group to see their tax dollars used to kill their cousins. Talk to those Americans of German, Italian, or Japanese ancestry. Clear out your head if you can, and be sure to put all the pieces together.
I've said this before and I'll say it again as often as I think I need to: vote Democratic this fall, and then you can think about candidates, within the party or independent, for offices in 2026 and 2028. Stay home or help Trump win in other ways and there may well be no free elections again within our lifetimes and no point in thinking about future candidates. And you, and many others like you, may well be deported.
And I for one will point you and your flock out as traitors to democracy. Nor do I expect to be the only one doing so. Think about that, too.
Think you're ready for that? I say, yeah, suuuure you are!

WHAT WE COULD LOSE IN NOVEMBER--AND A QUESTION

    What could we lose?
Well, of course, our individual freedoms of speech, faith, etc. We could set democracy worldwide on a downward path. We could lose the rule of law to the rule of the biggest and nastiest bullies.
We could lose hope of seeing a more multiracial, multiethnic, multi-faith democratic republic--a first in human history--within our lifetimes, if ever.
Certain people are so angry now that they are, apparently, ready to bring all these hopes crashing down for the rest of us and, yes, for themselves as well.
Never mind us: don't these spiteful, splenetic critters understand that a fascist Trump government would probably revoke their citizenship and then deport them as potential terrorists? And that Trumpelthinskin would also give The Cheltenham Kid, aka Netanyahu, the green light to obliterate and largely depopulate Gaza? Do they care that little about those they claim to care about? Or are they preparing for something else? In such anarchy, do they really think they'd prevail and establish Sharia here and in Europe?
Sorry, dudes, got really bad news for y'all. We're at least as good as scapegoating as are your relations, and if we lose these precious articles come November, would you like to know who will be in the sights of many of us as scapegoats? Y'all, that's who. Y'all ready for that?
Think, and think hard. First, if you feel Israel has no right to defend itself, then GIT! Right now!
We neither want nor need YOU!
Second, I want to believe most of you don't feel that way but you feel Israeli retaliation has gone too far. Most military men--that is, those who know what war is--who have been observers in Gaza tell us that no army has ever done, or does, as much as the IDF to avoid civilian or other unnecessary loss of life. I hope you're not just furious at armed, victorious Jews. Because if you are, you got some serious internal work to do! Not to mention, of course, that Hamas uses its own people as human shields like the cowardly filth they really are! And more dead Gazans actually please them because they use even those Gazans murdered by Hamas as 'examples of Zionist savagery'. As Rachel Maddow says, bullpuckey!
Third, on-camera war is never a happy sight. But tear yourself away from the grisly images for a while, and do some serious thinking. I'll also mention in passing that this is really what MAGA is all about: nursing real or imaginary grievances to the point where they want to burn down democracy's house without regard to how even they will suffer (or lying to themselves that they won't) just so long as those they hate at least look like they're suffering at least as much!
Well, if we lose democracy and all its benefits, and target you as scapegoats....who do you think will suffer most? Think about that! So should your on-Spring Break sympathizers!
You might be disappointed in Biden and the Democrats, but what else can we do but vote for them? That is, if we want real elections, democracy, etc., to continue at all, let alone grow stronger?
So, uninstructed and uncommitteds, think about these things and do what, in your minds and hearts (and NOT in your spleen, where angry pride was thought to reside once) you know to be right. And not just for all of us, but for you and your families as well. And for Gaza too, for that matter.
Parting question: today, just about half of Jewish Israelis have either returned, or their parents and grandparents, to Israel from elsewhere in the MENA (Middle East/North Africa) region. Most of them have, and still do, vote Likud or further right. Many of the descendants of the first Ashkenazic returnees still incline to the center or the left. Why do you think that is? Don't the Mizrahim know Arabs better, having lived among them for centuries? Think about that too; take all the time you need.