Things That Matter

Showtime’s “The Circus” takes audiences behind the scenes of the most incredible moments in U.S. politics. They covered the 2016 campaign and viewers felt like they were looking behind the curtain to see the true nature of American politics and some moves made by politicians away from the public gaze. However, the latest episode has some Americans terrified about the fate of the country. A woman takes the stage at an event hosted by Steve Bannon and calls for a Trump dictatorship.

This is the moment from “The Circus” that forced all the viewers to re-evaluate the state of our nation.

“Never in my life did I think I would like to see a dictator,” the woman told the crowd. “But if there’s going to be one, I want it to be Trump.”

There is so much to unpack in that comment and, understandably, people who have seen this clip are startled. Not only does the woman claim that she never thought she would agree with a dictatorship crushing the U.S., she fully supports the idea of Trump single-handedly running the nation.

While the woman’s words alone should strike fear into your heart for the fate of our democracy, the audience’s response is the most telling.

This is why Americans should be concerned about Trump and @FoxNews' authoritarian manipulation



Trump supporter: “Never in my life did I think I would like to see a dictator, but if there’s gonna be one I want it to be Trump"



Bannon and the audience claps pic.twitter.com/m4IyYLjozg — Rantt Media (@RanttMedia) March 19, 2019

There was not a moment of concern on many of the attendees’ faces. Instead, many of the attendees, like Steve Bannon, are grinning from ear to ear as they applauded the outrageous idea of elevating Trump to a dictator.

Dictatorships have a long history of decimating Latin American countries forcing many of our own family members to flee for their lives. Whether it is the Castro regime’s crackdown on Cuba or the current devastation that is crippling Venezuela, dictatorships have impacted the lives of most Latinos living in the U.S.

Some people are seriously questioning whether or not the audience members are truly the patriots they claim to be.

Credit: @Kanew / Twitter

Obviously, only true patriots would be calling for a complete dismantling of our current political system. Why continue as a democracy when we can go the way of Russia and Venezuela?

The woman’s comment and the crowd’s reaction is a serious cause for concern. Our society has worked overtime to normalize things that Trump has done and said since he took office. We called white nationalism, white supremacy, and neo-Naziism the “alt-right” and we’ve seen hate crimes and violence from that community grow exponentially since being granted the moniker.

The message is resonating with people in a very real and terrifying way.

Credit: @Thom_Hartmann / Twitter

It’s concerning to see how quickly the white supremacist and white nationalist movements are bleeding into mainstream politics. We are moving further and further away from the same political system we had in the past that allowed for healthy debates. While people can blame both sides for the political discourse taking place, we have yet to see something of this magnitude.

We aren’t talking about someone saying they want Trump for another four years. We have someone who is openly advocating for the U.S. to abandon the democracy this country was founded on and turn to a strict Communist dictatorship.

This narrative of Communist control is too fresh for some Latinos.

Credit: @jorge1rjimenez / Twitter

Millions of young Latinos can tell you the moment their family fled their home countries to seek shelter in the U.S. This country was a safe haven for people fleeing dictatorships and deadly Communist regimes. We’ve seen the impact of dictators throughout Latin America and it all ends the same way with forced migrations for freedom and a collapse of the country and its economy.

This is a startling reality of politics in the U.S. and the kind of anger we need to quell.

Credit: @rosieperezbklyn / Twitter

The video is still fresh and there are surely people in Washington working hard to find ways to spin the narrative to make it less troubling. However, that does not change the problem at hand. We now have a recorded example of at least on Trump supporter calling for Trump to be a dictator for the U.S. A dictator.

America has long stood as the enemy of Communism and vowed to fight against dictatorships around the world. Trump has cozied up to the leaders of some of the most brutal dictatorships in the world. This woman’s comment is a sobering reminder that we are at a crossroad where decisions need to be made and leadership is needed. At the time of this writing, President Trump has not addressed the comment in any way.

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