© July 15, 2024, the Griot Poet
I credit the podcast “Politics by Tabitha” for the tagline for
this piece.
“I’m old enough to remember”:
The genesis of violent rhetoric.
“Do me a favor: knock the crap out of them! I
promise you that I will pay your legal bills.”
Hinting that his followers would use “second
amendment remedies” if he lost the 2016 election.
“I could shoot someone on 5th Avenue, and I
wouldn’t lose any voters!”
“I’m old enough to remember”:
Birtherism by the immigrant Orly Taitz,
During the campaign of the first credible black candidate
running for president.
Soon to be taken over by a failed businessman and reality show
host.
You can see the thread from questioning President Barack
Obama’s legitimacy to Vice President Kamala Harris being a “DEI hire.”
“I’m old enough to remember”:
“Terrorist fist bumps,” racist rhetoric, Facebook memes with
watermelons,
The right was appalled by sleeveless dresses and tan suits,
causing existential crises!
“I’m old enough to remember”:
Moscow Mitch and “Crazy Eyes” Bachmann vowed to make Obama a “one-term president,”
And secret meetings where an ENTIRE party vowed not to work with him, even on policies that they previously supported,
“I’m old enough to remember”:
Obama burned in effigy,
The right joined the dark chorus, demanding that he “show his birth certificate.”
Then he did. The short form wasn’t good enough. Then he
published the long form.
People who couldn’t spell “forensics” if their lives depended
on it knew that both were forgeries!
Glenn Beck said he thought Barack Obama was “prejudiced against white people.”
“I’m old enough to remember”:
The right screaming at migrants at the Texas-Mexico border,
And “little Marco Rubio” on the “Gang of Eight,”
Trying to tackle comprehensive immigration reform,
They had a solution ready to forward to the full Senate,
Until he abandoned it to run for president.
For a son of Cuban immigrants, that was quite a trick!
“I’m old enough to remember”:
Lindsey Graham called him a “race-baiting, xenophobic
bigot.”
I remember Ted Cruz standing up to him for insulting his wife
and accusing his father of murdering President Kennedy.
Marco Rubio called him a conman.
Rand Paul couldn’t stand him.
One by one, they all folded,
Right after the Russian GRU hacked the DNC and the RNC
servers.
We found out that Hillary Clinton liked yoga and was excited
to be planning Chelsea’s wedding,
And that John Podesta liked cheese pizza from a certain DC
restaurant,
Alex Jones and other conspiracy theorists made that “child
pornography” and “Pizza Gate.”
A man from Salisbury, NC, shot at the roof looking for
children in a nonexistent basement.
Intel released about the RNC: nada, zero, zip!
But Paul Manafort, the unpaid campaign manager and Russian
oligarch consultant, was smiling.
“I’m old enough to remember”:
Government shutdowns cost taxpayers millions of
dollars the 60 times they tried to repeal Obamacare, with no replacement
offered or mentioned.
“I’m old enough to remember”:
Moscow’s refusal of his Constitutional duty to
“advise and consent” on Merrick Garland’s elevation to the Supreme Court,
That would have made it lean liberal 5 to 4.
Roe vs. Wade would still be protected.
Moscow pulled rules out of his rear in what amounted
to a bloodless coup to reshape the third branch of government,
Shoving in Handmaiden, Amy Coney Barrett, before RBG’s corpse
was cold.
Now, it’s 6 to 3 “conservatives,”
All Heritage Foundation picks,
Moscow is a member of it,
“Project 2025” was enacted before they publicly announced it.
“I’m old enough to remember”:
Who repealed the Obama legislation in the first year of his administration,
Blocking mentally impaired people from the purchase of
firearms.
Particularly AR15s, as used by the shooter.
Karma has never had a more cogent example.
Mr. Crooks was a supporter of the felon with signs festooned
in his front yard.
“I’m old enough to remember”:
The attack on Paul Pelosi,
Speaker Emerita Nancy’s husband,
By a psychopath who was chanting, “Where’s Nancy?”
Like those insurrectionists at the Capitol,
The same who injured and killed Capitol Police officers.
That the convicted felon calls “hostages.”
The same he has vowed to pardon.
The same who intended to kill Speaker Pelosi and Vice
President Mike Pence,
I remember “CF” leading the jeering against Paul Pelosi before he became a shooting victim.
And how they made a joke of an 81-year-old
grandfather getting his skull smashed by a hammer.
“It must have been a gay sex act,” they
said.
They put up Paul Pelosi manakins to punch and kick at their
conventions.
“I’m old enough to remember”:
An Army friend called me on November 5, 2008, and asked:
“Reg, did you ever think that we would live to see this?”
My friend and I are both veterans of the Army and Air Force,
Even though we swore an oath to “protect and defend The
Constitution,”
We could not see anyone like us as the Chief Executive.
We’d seen 43 previous examples of the preferred model.
Dr. Carter G. Woodson, “The Mis-Education of the Negro”:
“When you control a man’s thinking, you do not
have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him to stand here or
go yonder. He will find his ‘proper place’ and will stay in it. You do not need
to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there
is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes
it necessary.”
November 5, 2024, is sixteen years since this faithful call between friends,
Our ancestors fought for freedom since the Revolution, since Crispus Attucks,
Only for the “blessings of liberty” to repeatedly not be extended.
For,
A nation founded on the land theft from Native Americans and the
genocide of tribes from the Taino to the Cheyenne and Arapaho at Wounded Knee.
The kidnapping of Africans for uncompensated labor for centuries.
Four presidents were assassinated,
Three were shot but survived.
Three attempts with bystanders killed or injured.
Four attempts where no one was killed except the culprits.
“I’m old enough to remember”:
Before we can state that “we’re better than this,”
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