“President Donald Trump’s assault on American democracy began in the spring of 2020, when he issued a flurry of preemptive attacks on the integrity of the country’s voting systems. The doubts he cultivated ultimately led to a rampage inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, when a pro-Trump mob came within seconds of encountering Vice President Mike Pence, trapped lawmakers and vandalized the home of Congress in the worst desecration of the complex since British forces burned it in 1814. Five people died in the Jan. 6 attack or in the immediate aftermath, and 140 police officers were assaulted…
…This project is based on interviews with more than 230 people and thousands of pages of court documents and internal law enforcement reports, as well as hundreds of videos, photographs and audio clips.”
-Jacqueline Alemany, Hannah Allam, et al.” The Attack: Before, During and After.” The Washington Post. October 31, 2021.
Read this The Washington Post series along with this fact from a recent Marist poll:
“Looking ahead to 2024, 36% of Democrats and Democratic leaning independents say their party will have a better chance winning the White House with Biden at the top of the ticket. 44% want someone else, and 20% are unsure.
In contrast, asked the same question about Trump, 50% of Republicans and GOP leaning independents say a Trump ticket has the best chance of recapturing the presidency. 35% want someone else, and 14% say they are unsure.”
–NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist National Poll: Trust in Elections, Threat to Democracy, Biden Approval, November 2021.” Marist Poll. November 1, 2021.
If you are one of 50% of Republicans on Team Trump, fuck you.
cafebedouin.org 
We’re referencing different things: me, the candidates, you, the insurrection or Storming of the Capitol. The latter was an unprecedented event and harbinger of more to come, but pent-up frustrations over the unresponsiveness of government and outright gaslighting of the public are going to seek release valves. I’m not in favor of outbreaks of violence. However, such things are bound to happen in the course of human affairs. Lots of movement right now below a deceivingly calm surface suggest, as you say, that we will see it again. If there is indeed no antidote beyond superior force, I anticipate successively greater escalation until nearly everything lies in ruins. Not something to hope for, though some do.
While government run by geriatrics is one problem, it’s not the problem of the moment. If you have a political party with a platform of undermining confidence in the vote when they lose, there’s only one way that ends. That’s supported by money, media and so forth, and it’ll end when it hits someone in the pocketbook. That’s why it’ll end in violence because what violence typically does is eat into profits, one way or another. In the meantime, I’m going to say my bit to “lifelong Republicans” and their tacit support for what’s coming, which is to look them in the eye and tell them exactly what I think of them and their weak ass, “both sides” justifications. No, it’s one side. The question is why you are on it.
I’d be happy to have a geriatric whose values and effectiveness at governance were aligned with programs having wide popular support and the needs of the moment. Age is not the deciding factor, at least for me.
If I’m guilty of both-siding the issue, it’s only true insofar as I denounce both sides. No, they’re not equal or identical, but they are both clearly serving the corporate-military-industrial complex and leaving the citizenry in the lurch. Candidates who represent threats to that hegemony, often massively popular at a grass-roots level, are routinely undermined and disempowered through dirty tricks. If it helps to call names, go right on ahead. I remain unconvinced.
In representative government, the ideal is to have the representative body reflect the larger society they are representing. But, at minimum, the whole edifice is built on consent of minorities. Or, in those cases where a minority rules, then the consent of the majority, say when a President loses the popular vote but wins the electoral college. Without that consent, you have some kind of despotism, or war.
There’s also the problem of false equivalency. A senile Barbara Boxer is a problem, as is the average age of Democratic leadership in general, but are these the same category of problem as a Matt Gaetz still serving in Congress, or Republican leadership trying to gaslight the January 6th insurrection as a typical tourist visit? I don’t think so.
You are very careful to not fall into false equivalency, which is admirable. But, it’s difficult to do, which is why the false equivalency strategy is used so often. It works.
I’ve lived in a Democratically controlled city. So, I’m fully aware that no major party has a monopoly on dysfunction. I’m equally aware that there are many topics where there isn’t any real differences between the major parties. There’s no one in federal government that’s going to talk critically about Israel, Saudi Arabia or the dozens of useful dictatorships that enjoy U.S. military support. The chances of any kind of prison, police and legal reform are effectively zero. And so on.
That said, if you support insurrection and want to fly the black U.S. flag, then you’re asking for the Ashli Babbitt treatment. And, let’s not pretend that’s not associated with one major party, because it is.
Legitimate (but maybe not especially good) arguments have been made for Trump’s 2016, 2020, and anticipated 2024 candidacies. Having already endured one lousy Trump Administration, the prospect of another being what’s truly needed in American politics is a bad joke that supporters don’t seem to get. I’m confident the same will be true for the Biden Administration, considering how much time exists between now and then and how social, political, and economic conditions continue to deteriorate month by month. Your last flourish of hatred is one I don’t share, as I recognize it as perpetuating ugly political divides that sorely need repair.
If you are on team insurrection and flying the black flag of no quarter, then don’t be surprised when that cuts both ways. The difference between liberals and I, is that you imagine fascism lends itself to talk therapy. The language of fascism is violence, as we saw on January 6th, and we will see again.