MAGA's response to the LA fire is a terrifying sign of things to come
As extraordinary efforts were underway to evacuate people, to protect property, to contain the blazes, a new breed of American offered not sympathy or help, but scorn.
Los Angeles is home to 3.8 million people. It is America’s second largest city. And this week it burned.
When Katrina destroyed much of New Orleans, Americans wept and offered assistance. When the twin towers were attacked and fell on that on 9-11, Americans everywhere said we were all New Yorkers. Terrible things bring us together.
Or used to.
Even as fires raged in Los Angeles, as extraordinary efforts were underway to evacuate people, to protect property, to contain the blazes, a new breed of American offered not sympathy or help, but scorn.
Elon Musk blamed DEI for the blaze. Donald Trump blamed Governor Newsom and, apparently, fish. Right-wing social media also targeted the unhoused and so called “eco-terrorists.”
All while authorities on the ground, with help from the Biden Administration, were working tirelessly to save what they could. More than 180,000 people have been evacuated. At least ten are dead, the destruction of property will run to billions of dollars. People’s homes, their businesses, the schools they went to, whole communities. Gone.
Musk, Trump, and the rest of the despicable crowd who are enjoying their freedom to hate online, are not our future. If we have one, we have it together. It comes when we say with pride and love, today we are all Angelinos.
Photo Credit: The Valley Fire in Jamul, California in September 2020. Sandy Huffaker/AFP via Getty Images
Meanwhile in North Carolina, that State’s Republican Supreme Court has blocked the certification of the re-election of one of their own members- a Democrat whose victory was confirmed in two recounts. Republicans on the court are not sure whether 60,000 ballots should be counted. It is appalling.
But loathing voters is a Republican thing- even when they win. Just look at the new Congress. Already Republicans have filed legislation that drips with corruption and contempt:
They’ve forwarded a national abortion ban even though voters have opposed that kind of ban every chance they’ve had- even in red states.
They’ve proposed the elimination if the IRS so the wealthiest really will never have to pay taxes, and so that the government will run out of money to pay Social Security and Medicare.
They intend to allow states to take federal funds from public schools and give them to private religious schools.
They also want to withdraw from the World Health Organization and to defund the two state district attorneys who had the temerity to charge their guy with crimes- the ongoing case in Georgia and the one where Trump was just sentences as a felon in New York.
None of these things- and this is what they rushed to do in their first weeks- moves America forward.
Then of course there’s the man himself. I revere elections, even when we lose. And I respect the office of the Presidency. But neither esteem of the office or the majesty of our elections can wipe the moral stench and dictatorial dreams off of Mr. Trump. His vile response to the horrific fire in Los Angeles, his absurd attacks on our allies in Canada, Latin America, and Europe- all while he tells us he is trying to schedule a meeting with Putin, scream WARNING DANGER AHEAD.
We must take care. The danger is not where this most talented showman is pointed. That’s just a cover. The attack on voting is an effort to make it impossible for politics to put the breaks on their total control. There is a parallel effort to undermine centers opposition in civil society as well. We must jealously protect these just as we fight to protect our voting rights.
The plans are already underway to weaken universities, journalism, non-profits, and organized labor-- in fact every institution that might stand in their way. This is Viktor Orban’s playbook. They plan to tax university endowments and break the tax exempt status of groups they don’t like. Kash Patel- Trump’s dream FBI Director, plans to use the agency to sue every media outlet for defamation unless it bows down to the new order. The power of the government to bankrupt and to corrupt its adversaries is very real. They plan to make full use of it.
Los Angeles will recover because its people are resilient and hard working, and they care for each other. Los Angeles will recover because the heartless and the haters have not taken over Americana society and so many of us are eager to help. They same cannot be said about our American democracy, now also on fire, because those same heartless and hateful are about to run the government.
It is a dark hour. Nearly 250 years ago the founders pledged to each other their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. Now we must again make a pact. At every level of government, and across our society, those of us who love our democracy must engage in discipline dissent, courageous protest, aggressive litigation, and determined opposition. Anything less, and we are lost. But if we persevere, victory will come, as it always has, and it will be like a great city rising from the ashes.