Bruce Springsteen, a Category 5 Hurricane and Racial Realism
Crazy things are happening all around, and something tells me that the 'gods' are warning us to wake up before it's too late!
Many Floridians on the state’s west coast have been through it, some just a couple of weeks ago, as you can see in the image above. My sister’s house was destroyed by the storm surge a couple of years back. She lives in Cape Coral, and yesterday, they were predicting a surge of 12+ feet. Anything over three feet for her means the water floods her house — a 12-foot storm surge engulfs her house. She is shocked, writing in our family chat,“We can’t go through this again.”
They are evacuating with everything they can take. A few months ago, the house was finally rebuilt and made “new.”
A storm that transformed itself from tropical into a category 5 with winds of 180 M.P.H. in hours is barreling toward a nation that is turning itself inside out to justify why electing a fascist, amoral rapist for president would somehow make us better, more peaceful, and more ‘American.’
Donald Trump reminded us how dark — well, “them,” the lunatics who go to his three-hour-long rallies — yesterday in Wisconsin how dark and grotesque his vision of America is. Trump tried formulating coherent ideas to keep the yawning crowd from falling into deep sleep. He spoke about how the darker-skinned immigrants tend to be more violent and just overall filled with “bad blood.” Because of this situation, he told the assembled MAGidiots that America’s DNA was being spoiled.
SIDEBAR: Before I weave this missive any further, let me just say the following: The only thing wrecking our national DNA is MAGA! END SIDEBAR.
As Speaker of the House, little-in-over-his-head Mikey Johnson plays politics with the lives of millions of Americans as they struggle to recover from Hurricane Helene by not calling Congress back to provide more funding for FEMA, the Milton salivates at the prospect of turning large parts of Florida into a water park. The Johnson family plans to stuff themselves on kettle corn and Moon pies washed down by ice-cold RC Cola while Floridians like my sister doggie paddle to dry land — then he and the entirety of the America-hating right will blame Democrats for the lack of FEMA support.
Nonetheless, amidst all of this darkness and right-wing hate, a voice at the Freehold Diner, in between his chicken salad sandwich and a bowl of pea soup, came to us as if from the heavens.
Click on the link to see the Boss laying it in only how Bruce can.
In his terrifically humble way, Bruce said: “With the full knowledge that my opinions are no more or less important than those of any other citizen.” This is a sentiment that Donald Trump has never had — remember, he is the “chosen one,” as he once told us — and that most MAGidiots can now not grasp. In the full-bridled and violent way that MAGA regards any opinions that fail to elevate Donald Trump to the status of divine savior, the very humility and graciousness their savior preached has become silliness and weakness.
Bruce Springsteen laid it precisely and perfectly. A school friend, who came out in his 40s, was waiting tables on the day Bruce made his message. Somewhat bizarrely, my gay schoolmate was a Trump fan because he, too, is “so tired of the immigrants.” After Bruce finished filming, he proceeded to quietly eat his sandwich with the occasional raspy comment and laugh echoing through the diner on Main Street across from the old post office. He looked over and realized how much he loves the Boss and his music and wondered, “How can I like this man’s music and vote for Trump?”
He’s voting blue, he wrote me.
One vote, one at a time, maybe we can win this thing, but I will be honest: there is a category-five mess of hate, racism, and fascism gathering in the place where the Republican Party used to be. The fascist elements went from being went from being merely a distracting minority to the controlling majority in a very short period. In early November, this storm will make land.
Are we ready for the storm surge?