That day I got carried away
I avoided Election Night and fell peacefully asleep that night in November.
The next weeks I followed subduedly the legal jousting. It turned out to be a one-sided fight with team Trump and Four Seasons Total Landscaping biting the dust time after time.
January 6, 2021 Attack on the Capitol
Then came the disgraceful events of January 6th, and the attack on the Capitol. The first visual which came to mind was that of the attack dogs in Animal Farm. Regardless of the Trump’s admiration of Putin, that allegory is almost the opposite of what right-wing Trump is about.
That afternoon, my work productivity was declining rapidly. When I read Belgian Twitter commentary, in favor of Trump, I got carried away and waded into dangerous Twitter-war waters.
For context, there is huge political divide in Belgium between the Flemish-speaking North and the French-speaking Walloons in the South. In political terms, this translates largely to the Right-leaning N-VA and Right-Wing-populist Vlaams Belang in the North, and the Socialist Party PS in the South. Trump’s rethoric about the Radical Left immediately appeals to the right-wing Flemish voter. The difference between the GOP and Democratic Party is much more nuanced, and the mapping is not as direct.
With that background, one of the Flemish comments to the attack on the Capitol read
This makes sense when one has to cheat so blatantly to claim the president’s seat. 52k testified under oath to fraudulent cases. 74M people voted for Trump but Biden would get 80M to his name? More than Obama ever did? Think logical and rational.
I sheepishly responded with
And off we were to the races. I had been waiting to have a facts-based debate with a Trumpista for a long while. To each lie and falsehood article he posted, I responded with a fact-checked counter response. This was not an opinion debate or a troll war. Oh no, I wanted to call him and Trump on the lies. And I was ready to eat crow if needed. But let’s be honest, … this was too easy. I could have done it all night. What a rush!
Now back to my shell and staying on the right side of Twitter.