Trump Revealed the Dark Side of America that was Lurking Amongst Us

America has a great tradition of having good people doing good things but then you have the other side . Militias , tax protesters, skinheads , hate groups . They are the worst of the worst in our country and sadly, Trump gave them a voice and once again brought hate groups and racists mainstream. He gave them a platform to push their extremist views by retweeting racist and divisive rhetoric and propaganda.

The events at the Capitol revealed what we have seen for four years, but somehow tried to ignore. This was the final revelation of a period of our history that had hate crimes, racism, and deplorable acts by Trump and the people who support him. I mean, we knew a moment like the insurrection would eventually take place, and sadly, it is not the end. In many ways, it may be just the beginning of what is to come.

You see, we may have gotten rid of Donald Trump, but getting rid of the extremists he emboldened will be much more difficult. Trump gave these people a voice and he has given them a free pass for the last four years by creating a culture of hate in the United States of America. I believe that Hillary Clinton said it best when she said during the 2016 campaign that he took hate groups and white nationalists mainstream. Hillary also said that Trump has allowed a far-right fringe take over the Republican Party.

He most certainly did that. Hillary tried to warn us, but many did not listen to those warnings.

Just remember, even if you did not storm the Capitol — if you support Trump, you are COMPLICIT in that attack and every act of violence and hate that comes from him and his fringe groups like the Proud Boys and others carry out!

In fact, the attack on the Capitol showed that the people who support him are terrorists. I know that people often state that the vast majority of his loyal supporters are good, hard working Americans who love this country, but there are several problems with that thought process. If you do nothing when you see injustice and just go along for the ride then you are no better than those who stormed the Capitol or committed the many other acts of violence during his first and only term as president.

History will judge those who went along and did not stand up and speak out when injustice occured. Let me tell you, there has been a lot of injustice that has taken place during the Trump years. We have witnessed everything from locking immigrant children up in cages to cutting healthcare for millions of our lower income citizens to ignorning a pandemic that has taken the lives of tens of thousands of Americans. Then, we have the terrorist attack that Trump incited on the 6th of January.

History will not forget how most of his base went along and defended the coup attempt on the Capitol. I have had some talks with these people and have seen first hand how they deflect away from what the insurrectionist Trump supporters did on the 6th. They falsely claim that liberal groups like Antifa and Black Lives Matter attacked the Capitol to make the supporters of Trump look bad. This is completely false and has been debunked by the known Trumpers who have since been arrested.

Just like they did with events like Trump locking immigrant children in cages (they again say that was Obama, falsely), Trump making fun of the disabled reporter (they say that was taken out of context), his Muslim ban (They falsely claim it wasn’t a Muslim ban), and so many other things over the last four years — they went along and said NOTHING. This is why I say that history will judge the complicit and those who did not walk away.

Of course, there was a campaign called the walk-away campaign that was based on Democrats walking away from the Democrat Party, but now we will see people trying to save face and leave the Make America Great Again Trump (MAGA) party. It will not matter though, history will not forget who these folks are and what they went along with.

Things were bad enough before the events of January 6th, 2020, but now the entire world sees who these people are and will not forget. The events of January 6th proved that those who stormed the Capitol, those who incited and organized that attack, and those who defend it are enemies of our constitution and our country.

I do not believe that it is being too extreme to call these people enemies or terrorists and that is because that is what they continue to prove themselves to be. Trump did not create these far-right extremists, but he for sure brought them out of hiding and into the great wide open. Trump without a doubt revealed the dark side of our country that we knew existed, but never at the level that it is. These people have always been a problem in our country, but before they hid in the shadows, that is until Trump gave them a platform and a voice.

Trump retweeted white nationalists, he called hate groups “very fine people”, and refused to disavow the support of former KKK leader David Duke. These acts by him gave the darkest corners of the internet and our society the ability to become the norm in America. These people normally would not come out into the open and openly annouce their hate, but Donald Trump catered to them for four years and gave them an outlet to spread their hate and at times, he even spread it for them. Trump and his supporters have shown us the very worst of America for the last several years and even now as the final hours of his presidency are upon us, this trend continues.

The coup attempt that was incited and orchastrated by the President of the United States was years in the making. It was something that we should have seen it coming, and some of us, did see it coming. Personally, I knew that we would reach this moment and that he would not leave office the way that other presidents have left when they lost an election. I knew something was on the horizon, I just had no idea what it would be until I heard that speech on January 6th.

If you paid attention over the last four years you can see how this was coming and going to happen. Look at the difference in how Trump and the right-wing media talked about his supporters who committed violence and acts of terror over these last few years, even before the siege of the Capitol. The hosts at Fox News, Breitbart, and other far-right wing networks along with Trump were largely silent when his supporters committed mass shootings, stabbings, and other acts of violence, but had a different approach to protests by Black Lives Matter(BLM)and others.

They considered the mass shooting in El Paso at the local Walmart that was carried out by a Trump loyalist after he incited the event with his rabid anti-immigrant rhetoric as an “isolated incident”, but the protests by BLM after the racist killings of unarmed black people were incited by the “left wing media” and Democrats. The double standard is the ultimate signal of the racist and hateful agenda of this president and the defense of what he did by his loyal defenders has been pure hypocrisy — but of course, they called us hypocrites when it came to the Capitol attack.

Trump supporters have been comparing the insurrection in D.C. to the protests after police shootings that happened summer claiming that we are hypocrites. They claim that Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Shumer, and others incited those riots and organized them, but that simply is not the case. The protests that turned into riots happened because people were fed up with police getting away with murder and black lives not mattering, they were not planned, unlike the Capitol attack. That was planned and incited by Trump and those in his inner circle and the evidence is there. The protests after the police shootings were not planned and they were not an insurrection to stop a constitutional event and overthrow an election result.

The coup attempt and the threats that have come after that attack showed us more than ever the darkness amongst us. The election win was a win for our country as we got rid of the worst president in our history, a dangerous and unstable man. However, the damage that he has done will linger for years to come because his supporters and the conspiracy theories pushed by QAnon and other dark groups aligned with Trump will be with us for the forseeable future.

You see, ideas do not win, you need power behind those ideas to change things.

Biden is the power behind ideas of hope and decency that will give us the good change that we need. The power that Trump had gave the far-fetched ideas of the QAnon cult and other extremist was dangerous and will be with us for some time if we do not call it out. The dark forces that are his followers have never had three things — a job, a girlfriend, or a purpose. I heard this recently and it is true. They want to be relevant and this is their purpose, to destroy our republic from within.

Trump supporters are dangerous, and this is because they follow a dangerous cult leader who is enabled by propaganda hate networks like Fox and others, who push conspiracy theories that are equally as dangerous. The last four years gave hate a voice once again, and for us to be truly a great nation again, we must stand up to that hate. We must call January 6th what it was, an act of terror against our country. This event was no different than what has taken place in the Middle East and across the globe, and in many ways was far worse.

These people are anti-LGBTQ, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, racist, and flat-out full of hate.

The wall will not keep us safe because the threat is already here, the threat is Donald Trump and his supporters - His terrorist organization supporters. This is what they are, this is what they will always be, and it pains me to say this about my fellow countrymen and women. These people believe the most far out there conspiracy theories and have followed Trump for four years as he conned them and lied to them. They are not pro-America, they are pro-Trump and that makes them even more dangerous.

The dark corners of America that Trump brought out into the open will not go away any time soon. The storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters was given life by the words and direction by Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, Ted Cruz, Rudy Giuliani, and many others with their lies about the conspiracy theory of election fraud and these “leaders” represent the very worst of our country. These people are terrorists and those names are terrorist leaders — make no mistake about it.

This was builiding for years. Trump talked about the myth that the election would be stolen from him and if he lost it was “rigged”, and his fans bought those lies and that propaganda. The “Stop the Steal” movement was started by Trump confidant and ally Roger Stone, recently pardoned Roger Stone I might add. This was years in the making and it will not simply go away just because Trump is no longer president. He may not be around to egg them on as the President of the United States, but his movement will not die when he leaves office on the 20th.

White power activism is dangerous and that is exactly what the pro Trump movement is all about. The threat isn’t ISIS or Al Qaeda anymore, the threat to our country is already here. It is Donald Trump and his millions of his loyal and sheepish followers. They and their QAnon movement and ideology is the threat, but the threat goes much deeper. Whether we are talking about the Proud Boys, QAnon, militias, or simply just deranged gun nuts who support Trump, there is one thing we know, and that is that Trumpism is a disease and the can of worms has been opened.