Thread by @jeffblack945

#RevThread # 200
The Pittsburgh Rally, 9/22/20

1/ This morning, as I listened to @Morning_Joe, I was moved by the pain of @DonnyDeutch as he compared Trump’s speech at the Pittsburgh rally to Hitler’s speeches in the 1930’s.

2/ When I was 19, a sophomore at Hamilton College in upstate NY, my roommate, Nelson, was the only non-white in our class. (This was 56 years ago.) A man named George Lincoln Rockwell came to Hamilton and gave a speech in our theater. ...

3/..Rockwell was the only prominent self-professed Fascist in America in those days. I went to the speech. Rockwell said, “We have this Civil Rights Movement. How about a civil rights movement for real Americans?”

4/ I was pretty dumb, and I wondered, “Does this man have a point?” But as that thought was crossing my mind, our professor of Rhetoric rose, his face flushed with fury. He turned his back on Rockwell and strode out of the room...

5/ ....I admired that professor and loved his course, so I figured something was wrong with this Rockwell guy.

6/ Back in the dorm, I asked Nelson what he thought. Nelson patiently tutored me in what it was like to be the only Black person inside a community of privileged whites. He shared what it was like to be the target of fascist rhetoric. He changed my heart.

7/ I watched Trump at that Pittsburgh rally. Fifty-six years later, and the same crappola. This white superiority is a stubborn sin, isn’t it? Thousands upon thousands of white people, and only white people, jammed together....

8/... risking their lives and the lives of everyone they live among because of the pandemic, giddy with joy that their champion had returned.

9/The President of the United States gave a speech worthy of George Lincoln Rockwell. It was fascist rhetoric gleefully offered and giddily received.

10/There were, of course, the scapegoats du jour – congresswomen of color – and the vague promises of a new and pure world as soon as Trump’s power is expanded.

11/ It was Trump’s second such performance inside of one week. He is once again finding his voice and infecting the people. The storm is gathering. The fascist is hitting his stride, the mimetic contagion is spreading, the crowds will grow. Evil is being loosed upon our land.

12/ Get out of denial.

13/ Prepare to vote him out. Do not expect the good Mr. Biden to defeat this fascist monster all by himself. Pray. Donate. Put signs on your yard. Help people register.

14/ When you hear the warped rhetoric, even if it’s in your family, rise, turn your back, and leave the room. @JoeNBC @morningmika @WillieGeist