A Tale of Two Sh*tties
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.
Charles Dickens was truly a smither of words.
I think about those opening lines to A Tale of Two Cities often these days. So much rings so true in speaking of where we find ourselves in the Fall of 2020. I do, however, make one slight revision.
“It was the worst of times, it was the worst of times…”
There is no debating that we are all, regardless of which side of the aisle you cheer, in the worst of times. We are still neck deep in a pandemic with no true path forward. A newly installed Trump stooge, Scott Atlas, has suggested to the dyed dipshit in the oval what basically amounts to “Ehhhh, fuck it, let’s all swap spit and get on with it.”
I’m not kidding. He has not a shred of experience in epidemiology, yet his big idea is to have everyone get COVID as fast as possible to try to create herd immunity. Small problem there, Scott — millions will have to die in that scenario. MILLIONS. We have currently lost 187,707 people since the end of February. We have charted well over 6 million positive cases, it has not left a single demographic untouched. Yet this administration wants to sacrifice millions to their latest drink-bleach-eat-hydroxychloroquine-like-Skittles-shove-a grow-light-up-your-ass list of get sick quick schemes.
I’m not ready to volunteer as tribute. You?
The web is filled with people trying to hide behind the CDC report that only 6% of those who have died from COVID have died purely of COVID. The rest all had some comorbidity that these dullards want to blame — hypertension, pneumonia, obesity, diabetes, heart problems, Black skin…
Here’s the thing about that — without COVID they would not have died from their underlying conditions. OK, sure, someone would have had a heart attack. Someone’s inability to afford their insulin would have been their undoing. But these people were not actively dying from their comorbidity until COVID comorbed them.
If you have cancer and get hit by a truck, your cancer did not end your life. Get it? High blood pressure and a crocodile drags you under in the swamp? Cause of death? Chomp-spin-drown, NOT your blood pressure.
So here we are firmly embedded in a crisis with winter just ahead. Gentle reminder — in 1918, the second wave that hit took an estimated 200,000 lives in October alone. But hey, enjoy your Labor Day parties.
That worst of times is being experienced by us all, regardless of locale, mask/no mask, school, no school. COVID, like the Spanish flu 100 years ago, gives not shit uno.
But the “it was the worst of times, it was the worst of times” I mentioned is how we are all living the same timeline, but internalizing it wholly differently. We are all seeing the very same things, yet processing, reacting, responding in diametrically opposed ways. Seriously, the vision of America is like that goddamned blue/white dress from a couple years ago. And you saw the ruckus that simple frock caused.
In Trump’s America, every Democratically led city is a hellscape. They are filled with murderers, rapists, arsonists, people who spell their graffiti correctly. Fittingly, in their viewing, the dress is WHITE. White, white, whitewhitewhite.
In reality, where the dress is actually BLUE, we are marching for justice. We are protesting for equality. We are demanding accountability. And the lion’s share of the damage, the fires, the violence are being investigated and found to be done by Proud Boys, MAGAts, white nationalists trying to make the peaceful protests look like the 7th circle of hell.
In Trumpland, Kyle Rittenhouse is a poor, misunderstood teen who feared for his life when he killed two people and injured a third last week.
In reality, Kyle Rittenhouse is a murderer who peaceful protesters tried to stop from shooting more people. One man who bravely approached him had a skateboard. Kyle had an AR-15. Not exactly a fair fight, huh?
In Trump world, filled with righteous CRASStians, they have raised over 100 grand for the poor boy seen in pictures cleaning graffiti.
In our reality, he is also on video punching a girl repeatedly from behind. And the people who broke it up and defended her? A car full of Black youths.
Just a small aside as you MAGAts elevate him as a hero, send him your money, and love you some white boy victim bullshit — if this pasty choad walked into your kid’s high school strapped up like a Rambo cosplayer, how would you view him then? If another football coach tried to tackle him to stop him from shooting more people, would you be pouring money into a GoFundMe for this little incel mass shooter?
<insert crickets>
In Trump’s view, which is also MAGA’s view — kind of like wearing drunk goggles — the shooting victim in Portland was peaceful. The one who shot him a raging Antifa.
In our real world where Joe Biden speaks like, sounds like, feels like a real leader, we have condemned all the perpetrators. But then that is a recurring theme — one of theirs commits an heinous act and they offer up a plethora of excuses. One of “ours”? HOLD. THEM. ACCOUNTABLE.
They love the whole flight manifests-Jeffrey Epstein-Bill Clinton thing. They love to wave that in our faces. Then they have no idea what to do when we say, “If he raped a child? Lock him up. Next question?” They literally begin to drool as their small mind short circuits because their guy has over 23 sexual assault allegations against him, is on record bragging about grabbing the pussy and they spin like braindead tops to defend him.
We are all watching the postal service be hamstrung by a political appointee who got his job by donating to the Trump campaign but has no idea how much mail costs. We see this. We know the traumas being caused as people go without checks, medication, as small businesses are threatened by being unable to adequately fill and deliver orders on time.
We know how bad it is.
These same things are being experienced in MAGAland, yet they refuse to see it, call it like it is. Because that would require taking off the Trump goggles and holding their naked emperor accountable.
We are all seeing the same events transpire in the evenings as clashes happen, tear gas flies, paint and rubber bullets are shot, and death seems even more likely.
It is ALL worst.
But we see what is actually happening as Trump caravans, filled with armed mouthbreathers, flying Trump flags, purposely drive through peaceful protesters, salivating at the chance to run someone over, shoot them dead (or red with paint), throw a punch, instigate.
They look no different than the Taliban in their pickups, holding their guns, flying their flags. This Trumpliban, or Y’all Qaeda as they are sometimes ribbed, have zero purpose driving into these areas other than they believe the vision laid out for them by an increasingly desperate loser and they are responding to his call to arms. Trump is actively inciting these people.
Nowhere in their vision is Jacob Blake and the 7 bullet holes in his back. George Floyd? Meh. Should have had a stronger neck. Brianna Taylor was Black, so she got what she deserved. How dare she be sleeping Black in her own home?
They literally do not see these things as the travesties, the horrors, the systemic racism that they are.
They just see us marching and demanding justice for people they do not see as worthy to begin with. They see professional athletes peacefully protesting and are filled with the righteous indignation of HOW DARE THEY?!? instead of HOW DARE THEY — the they being the police who did this to begin with. In their worst, Trump has them believing that their precious suburbs will be destroyed because Joe Biden will let Black people buy houses! Pssst, asshat… Black people already live in the suburbs. Just like transgender people have been using the Target toilets all along, too.
In our worst, we see the reality of the situation we are in. We see how the Constitution is dying, how every check and balance, every norm, every law has zero meaning to this collection of power whores. We see how close we are to losing everything that this country is about. We see a rapidly spiraling man, desperate to stay in office to stay out of prison, surrounded by spineless, grifting, enabling Republicans. We see the danger, we know how real it is.
They see a WHITE dress. And Trump is the only one who can save them from the horrors he has caused. Seriously, someone want to explain to me Make America Great Again, Again?
What the actual fuck? He has been in charge the whole time. Every bit of this worst is by his tiny hands. He owns it all. Joe Biden did not incite violence. Joe Biden did not openly embrace white nationalism, racists, and Nazis. Joe Biden had no part in banning Muslims, molesting children at the border, kidnapping them, banning transgender people from serving. Joe Biden did not fail to call out bad policing, murderous policing. Joe Biden did not call Nazis “fine people.” Joe Biden did not lie over 20,000 times. Joe Biden has not averaged 28.6 lies per day since the COVID crisis began. Joe Biden is not embracing a murderous punk in Kenosha. And Joe Biden is not raping and pillaging this nation.
Trump is. He owns all of this because he caused all of this.
It was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us…
We are at once seeing the possibility while also gripping the reality. We see the darkness for what it is, and we despair because of it. We know should the outcome in November be the WHITE dress, all is truly lost. We will have lost this great experiment to a demagogue, and joined every shithole country on this planet.
We were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.
We know the dangers, regardless of those who refuse to see reality, who thirst for a Trump induced rapture.
This is truly a tale of two shitties. No matter what you are seeing, it is unnerving, it is bleak, it is frightening. But only one of these views is accurate. Only one of these views is clear on the causes, clear on the path through, clear on the potential, clear on the way to strengthen this country for everyone.
It was the worst of times, it was the worst of times. We must convince the nation to vote to stop this madness. We must convince them that the dress is BLUE, the goddamned dress is BLUE.
