VP Candidate Kamala Harris Stops In Lakewood, Trump Supporters Respond

[Jim O'Bryan]

This afternoon Vice Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris stopped by Lakewood on her way to another meeting in Cleveland. (photo courtesy of Mayor Meghan George)

A couple hours later, the calls started coming in. Loud screaming and horns from Barry Buick-- something is going on. I was out anyway so I drove down Detroit...


Trumpsters in a show of force and support held a rally one block west of where Kamala Harris had been just 2 hours earlier.










Then appeared one Biden sign, then another, and another.






Rob calls them to the bus that brought some of them here...

Seriously, this is the second time I have run into a Trump Impromptu Rally, and the people have been NOTHING like their onscreen personas.

It's a shame, face to face everyone is more civil. I have to admit they have loud down.

I assured them I voted for Biden weeks ago, I was wearing my Don't Drink the Koolaid Shirt.


We both agreed it is better to vote than not to vote, bumped fists and went our separate ways, and Lakewood's finest showed up to clear what was left of the protest.

Social media is a cancer.

Oh and Q...


See more photos at: http://lakewoodobserver.com/photoblogs/ ... itics-2020

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[mjkuhns]

I'm sure the average attendee at a Berlin rally in 1937 was in-person an entirely ordinary, reasonable-seeming human being. Yet somehow millions of people ended up dead, including the near extermination of European Jews.

Meanwhile in only four years of entirely ordinary, reasonable-seeming Trump supporters' program, America has already seen the introduction of concentration camps, forced sterilizations, and secret police disappearing people off the streets into unmarked vehicles.

In the real world atrocities are never the product of horned demons with blood dripping from their mouths.

Every time, large-scale atrocities are made possible by entirely ordinary, reasonable-seeming human beings who decide to attach more importance to flags and banners and colors than to information or honesty or human suffering.

[Bridget Conant]

I'm sure the average attendee at a Berlin rally in 1937 was in-person an entirely ordinary, reasonable-seeming human being. Yet somehow millions of people ended up dead, including the near extermination of European Jews.

Meanwhile in only four years of entirely ordinary, reasonable-seeming Trump supporters' program, America has already seen the introduction of concentration camps, forced sterilizations, and secret police disappearing people off the streets into unmarked vehicles.

In the real world atrocities are never the product of horned demons with blood dripping from their mouths.

Every time, large-scale atrocities are made possible by entirely ordinary, reasonable-seeming human beings who decide to attach more importance to flags and banners and colors than to information or honesty or human suffering.

THIS IS THE TRUTH.

Thank you, Matt, for saying what needs to be said.

[ryan costa]

things could get ugly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRMNAoAylIE

[Dan Alaimo]

Thank you, Matt for your excellent post. I second what you said as strongly as I can.

A few additional thoughts:
* The lessons of the WWII are fading into the history books. Trump has taken advantage of this. His rallies and mobs are terrifying to anyone who knows anything of that time. We need to do something to educate. Why not start with a Mel Brooks film festival?
* This will not end with Trump, and whoever follows Trump will no doubt be worse. After all, Trump has some self-knowledge of what he is doing. He is calculated. Note that some of his followers actually see him as deity. This sort of thing does not go away quickly.
* Jim's experience may be influenced by one thing: Jim is Jim. If anyone here has not met him, he is a big bear of a man who exudes peacefulness. There is no one I'd rather wade into a crowd of Trump supporters with.
* People are different in person than online. While Jim was meeting the Trump folks, I made the mistake of engaging with one who I had met before online. The result was the expected flood of insults, and an unexpected thinly-veiled personal threat. The guy is in the area. I'm still considering what, if anything, I should do about it.

[ryan costa]

This does not resemble a 1937 Berlin Rally.

These Are awkward and occasionally frustrating times.

This does not even resemble a beer hall putsch