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What Would Nellis Say?

Jailbirds - August 2023

Trump composit.jpg

Pen & Ink drawing used in composit by Siegfried Woldhek 2019

Jailbirds
 
As we watch the conspirators, who attempted to overthrow a legitimate election with lies and subterfuge, slink into the Fulton County jail to be fingerprinted, have an unforgiving mug shot taken and released to the press, and then to be booked for felonies…committed for and under the direction of our former president…one has to wonder whether any of them finally understands the consequences of their arrogance?
 
How many have grasped the reality that they face years behind bars and financial ruin by remaining loyal to a scoundrel who has no intention of supporting their defense? How many will ultimately accept the reality that their future - freedom or incarceration - will be determined by their willingness to tell the truth?
 
None of these people valued the more than two-hundred and fifty years of struggle our nation has endured in defense of a democracy built on the will and determination of our citizens as security against tyrants who would rule over people rather than for the people. 
 
In spite of the propaganda being spewed by the Hate Networks, none of the accused are victims of a vendetta. They have been indicted and will be convicted of crimes committed against the United States of their own free will, cognizant of their roles in the most egregious assault on our liberties and unity since the Civil War.
 
Perhaps, if the nation is permitted to watch the trials, ordinary citizens, blinded by the incessant lies of the right-wing supremacist cult that has commandeered the Republican Party, might finally recognize the fabrications of those they were foolish enough to support. 
 
When the Nazi’s took control in Germany in 1932, they burned down The Reichstag, which housed their parliament, and dismissed the legislators, purged bureaucrats and experts from government, replaced justices in the courts with loyalists, transformed the police and military to serve the Fuhrer and the party, and rewrote the textbooks to justify white supremacy and racial hatred so their children would grow up glorifying their Aryan heritage. 
 
We witnessed attempts to fulfill each of these steps during Trump’s reign and there is no doubt that they will complete their task, if we do not come together to protect our future. The Heritage Foundation has spent millions of dollars over the past four years developing a plan (Project 2025) to eliminate 50,000 career civil servants, to be replaced by “loyal” extremists tasked with dismantling our government and demolishing our democracy.
 
The trials that we are about to witness are America’s last chance to expose and eliminate the threat of right-wing radicals against our democracy before they succeed in installing an autocracy run by a tiny clique of wealthy fanatics who believe they are somehow entitled to decide the fate of the nation and her people.
 
The screaming mantras of hate and division will not fade until the American people renew their commitment to truth and facts, to the inclusion of every citizen no matter their race, creed, or color, and renewing our social structure to end the culture of anger and deceit that has licensed a tiny minority of white-nationalists who seek domination over everyone else.
 
Trump and his 18 co-conspirators join more than one-thousand insurrectionists who have been arrested and sentenced for the invasion of our Capitol. Justice is just beginning to expose the sprawling plot that has entrenched his surrogates in governor’s mansions, state houses, city councils, and boards of education across the country. They were tasked with erasing common sense and common decency and they are succeeding.
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