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Old 10-04-2022, 06:59 PM   #1
wdmso
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Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Somerset MA
Posts: 9,097
This isn’t both side

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63133259

I cut and pasted the whole story it’s that disgusting and disturbing

The upcoming midterm elections for US Congress, the first nationwide vote since Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol nearly two years ago, have many Americans on edge. The BBC's Katty Kay has been finding out why.
Karen and Steve don't want to take up arms. But if Republicans lose in November this elderly Arizona couple say a civil war is coming and, yes, they will fight. They have discussed it between them, and feel that taking up arms is their best option. It was at this point that our conversation grew a little dark and my faith in the strength of American democracy grew a little shaky.
I met the Slatons at their Trump paraphernalia store in Show Low, Arizona. It was one of the first stops on a month-long road trip that I took around America this summer, a journey to understand why the upcoming elections feel so consequential, perhaps even a little ominous.
The couple were delightful hosts. They were funny and generous. They took me on a tour of their extensive stock of whacky Trump merchandise and explained that, yes, there really are people who want a $100 life-size cut-out of the former president dressed as Rambo to put in their living rooms. Quite a lot of people actually. Trump as Rambo is one of their best selling items.
We talked about history, the economy and even abortion. But it was only when I questioned their belief that the 2020 election was stolen that things got tense. Wasn't it possible, I asked, that millions of Americans just didn't like President Trump and so Joe Biden won the election?
It was Karen who responded, with a distinctly steely glint: "If you're a crazy liberal, we're just not interested. The central news, let me call them, I'm not going to call them fake news, but it is fake news to say that America doesn't like Trump. America loves Trump."

The BBC is not fake news, but I let that pass. The idea of war, however, demanded clarification.
"It will start on a small scale, it will be like town against a town, state against a state," Steve had clearly thought this through. People have been tossing this idea of a second American civil war around for a couple of years now, ever since the 2020 election, ever since the violence of the Capitol Riots on 6 January, 2021.
I find it hard to believe - maybe I lack imagination - but the idea of Americans going to war over a lost election still seems implausible. But that's Steve's take on what happened last time: "When Lincoln won, that triggered the South." That's not the only view of the origins of the American Civil War, but this wasn't the moment for a history debate; it's the present that needs attention.
As I said goodbye to the Slatons, Steve threw out a warning. It was said with a habitual American friendly smile, but it was chilling nonetheless: "This could turn really nasty." Just how nasty was what I was trying to find out.


And I am considered brainwashed.
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