What Now?
On January 6th, 2021, Donald Trump vocalized his following into an attempted insurrection on the Capitol to interrupt the confirmation of Joe Biden as President. The coup attempt left 5 people dead including a woman holding a “don’t tread on me” flag trampled by the mob and a guy who tased his own balls whilst trying to steal a painting.
Various social media platforms banned Trump. Right-wing social media app Parler was removed from various networks. Many people were rightfully upset, angry, and scared.
A constant comparison for Donald Trump has been to Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime. The comparison met the ire of Ted Cruz, who had more to say in retaliation to AOC than he did Trump mocking his wife. So if our worry is a reinvigorated and even angrier Trump rallying his mob to commit further domestic terrorist atrocities in the name of “patriotism”, what more can we do besides tweet through it?
A constant issue of our generation, especially in the digital age, has been to take to social media and hope for the best. In many cases, this brings awareness and accountability. In others, it becomes a case of shaking fists at our laptops in hopes for a response or at least a couple of likes. I’m guilty of this too. I have challenged the aforementioned Senator Cruz to boxing matches and fist fights on several occasions. I know he’s not going to respond. I know we will probably never fight (damnit). I would further assume he probably doesn’t even see it. But in this social sphere, especially as we are all in further isolation, we allow ourselves to tread on, “I posted about the bad man, I did good.” It’s a new year. We’ve seen what these people can do and what they’re capable of and we need to start doing more (and sadly, I don’t mean fist fighting senators).
We’ve done our part with voting, now we have to bound our elected officials towards what society needs to heal and grow. The biggest criticism towards Democrats is that they’ve essentially become Diet Republicans. They’ve gotten by on, “at least we’re not those guys” without changing the policies and practices that have made mass shootings a habitual part of our nation, continued mass incarceration, and allowed healthcare to be a dodgy issue within the States. The supposed fundamentals of America are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. If someone is sick and can’t afford the amenities to keep them alive, they’re not given life. If someone is murdered by police instead of ticketed just for selling loose cigarettes, they’re not given liberty. If a child can’t pay for school lunch because they’ve accrued debt and have to go to class starving, it doesn’t seem like a happy pursuit.
We know which Senators aided Trump and stood by him and they need to resign. It’s not enough for me to say it. It’s not enough for you to post it on Facebook. We have a wealth of knowledge at our fingertips and we need to get Senators who don’t have the best interest of the American people at heart — to put it mildly — their asses out of here. We have to stop treating these people who make decisions for our daily lives like an ex who is doing slightly better than us. And I get it. Tweeting through these things help us mentally because we’re drained from the lunacy of the past four years that we need to laugh. But I’m tired of having to laugh at the same thing with no results and you should be too. No matter how you voted, you should be angry that you only have $600 from the government as a response to so many being unable to work for the past 9 months. No matter how you voted, you should be angry that more money goes into defense than education. No matter how you voted, you should be angry that there were people who knew about this pandemic early and invested in protective gear…actually, that is on a lot of you who voted.
On January 6th, 2021, a bunch of riled up, idiotic white supremacists stormed the Capitol in hopes of making some sort of change. What the rest of us need to do is create the kind of change that shuts those cowards down forever and nukes any attempt at radicalizing future people like them. We need a revolution. We need an overhaul. We need to demand and make change that doesn’t fit into 280 characters. Believe that the last dying breath of fascism is going to attempt to pop up with a gasp like the villain at the end of the horror movie. It’s our job to put it out of its misery so we can make America great ag…nah, fuck that line, it was never great. Let’s start trying to make it good. With liberty and justice for all.
Contact Senators: https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact
Contact Congress: https://www.house.gov/representatives
Contact Supreme Court: https://www.supremecourt.gov/contact/contactus.aspx
You can use DuckDuckGo for other stuff. Be cool.
Martin Morrow is a writer, comedian, and actor living in Los Angeles, CA. Follow him on social media @martinMmorrow and on Venmo @Martin-Morrow