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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThe barricades were going up all around the White House before the election By Emil Guillermo The barricades were going up all around the White House before the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/trumpmarcos.jpg?fit=550%2C309",550,309,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/trumpmarcos.jpg?resize=150%2C150",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/trumpmarcos.jpg?fit=300%2C169",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/trumpmarcos.jpg?fit=550%2C309",550,309,true],"large":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/trumpmarcos.jpg?fit=550%2C309",550,309,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/trumpmarcos.jpg?fit=550%2C309",550,309,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/trumpmarcos.jpg?fit=550%2C309",550,309,true],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/trumpmarcos.jpg?resize=550%2C309",550,309,true],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/trumpmarcos.jpg?resize=550%2C309",550,309,true],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/trumpmarcos.jpg?resize=550%2C309",550,309,true],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/trumpmarcos.jpg?resize=550%2C309",550,309,true],"covernews-slider-full":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/trumpmarcos.jpg?resize=550%2C309",550,309,true],"covernews-slider-center":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/trumpmarcos.jpg?resize=550%2C309",550,309,true],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/trumpmarcos.jpg?fit=550%2C309",550,309,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/trumpmarcos.jpg?resize=540%2C309",540,309,true],"covernews-medium-square":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/trumpmarcos.jpg?resize=400%2C250",400,250,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Candid Perspectives<\/a>","tag_info":"Candid Perspectives","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/trumpmarcos.jpg?fit=550%2C309","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4755"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4755"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4757,"href":"http:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4755\/revisions\/4757"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
It reminds me of the Black Lives Matter rally, when Trump gassed innocent protestors to clear the path for him to have a bible thumping photo-op at the church across the street from the White House.
Force seems to be in the equation in an election that almost certainly will be contested by Donald Trump should he lose.
Autocrats can\u2019t lose. The late Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein won with 100 percent of the vote in 2002.\u00a0 He won 11 million to NOTHING. 11 million votes. The Philippines\u2019 Marcos was only slightly different in the 1980s. He allowed a few more stray votes just to look good. But his main opponent Sen. Benigno Aquino was gunned down.
In the U.S., nearly 40 years later, we have a president who says, \u201cI could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn\u2019t lose voters.\u201d
Trump can\u2019t stand losing. Especially if losing could mean prison time for Trumpy.
So, if it came down to Trump or democracy, guess what a self-serving megalomaniac like Trump might choose?
That makes this election critical.
It used to be some people didn\u2019t see themselves in our democracy. So, they didn\u2019t vote. They\u2019d say, \u201cWhy bother?\u201d
We can\u2019t say that anymore. Bother now.
Especially if you\u2019re part of America\u2019s great diversity, say an Asian American of Filipino descent, or a person of color, or a working-class person, or a woman, or an LGBTQ+ person. You should be feeling the threat as we approach Nov. 3. The threat is real. I hope you voted.
I did so early.
Like the bilingual sticker on my mask said, \u201cI voted.\u201d On October 14, I masked up and took a rare COVID venture outside my home.\u00a0 I drove to my county registrar\u2019s office.
I felt every stroke of black as I filled in all the white boxes. Our white boxes.
Here\u2019s the good thing about voting early. You get to savor your vote. My white boxes. Now darkened to my delight. (Maybe you pull a lever, or punch something, or do something on a computer? We fill in the white boxes. What a treat).
And then you gleam. I voted. And tell everyone.
Until it\u2019s all over and the fat candidate concedes, it\u2019s like walking around with a live lottery ticket. You want everyone to get in to grow the pot. Of course, I\u2019m being agnostic. I don\u2019t care about how you vote. Just do it.
Once it\u2019s over, the real work begins. The count. The legitimizing.
And for the losers, the rationalizing.
So, I hope you voted. \u00a0
The threat of having your healthcare stripped away should make you want to vote.
Are you getting the money you need to pay rent? Or to keep your business from failing? All that should have motivated you to vote.
And then there\u2019s this thing called democracy itself.
TRUMP\u2019S DEGENERATION OF DEMOCRACY<\/strong>
Remember the first time you did something bad and nothing happened to you? You got away with it.
And I mean, more than just going 45 in a 25mph zone. A lot more.
That\u2019s the new American moral standard, usually favored by criminals, but now firmly set by Donald J. Trump, president of the United States, and chief proponent of the $750 income tax for billionaires.
Under Trump, there\u2019s right and wrong and getting caught. Trump\u2019s advice? Don\u2019t get caught. Otherwise you\u2019re a sucker and loser. Or you have the luxury of being president and then you\u2019ve got the ultimate protection, immunity, for as long as you are commander-in-chief.\u00a0
With all the potential criminal charges facing the man who is protected simply for being a sitting POTUS, I\u2019d say he\u2019s plenty motivated to stay in office.
That\u2019s why as I write, I\u2019m not sure what will happen after election day. Will we see headlines like: \u201cTrump Denies Votes just as he does Virus.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
Will there be an attempt made to invalidate uncounted votes?
Or just an attempt to declare victory based on \u201cvoting irregularities\u201d?
No one is expecting a graceful concession speech from Donald Trump. Then again, if he wins, or has his way, then we could expect more of the last four years, only far worse.
He\u2019d be a scorched earth lame duck.
And he\u2019s already scorched us pretty badly.
Since taking office, Trump has evaded accountability and thumbed his nose at conventional expectations of political civility. As the American role model for us and the world, he took advantage of every edge and didn\u2019t play fair. He has proven to be the most venal and corrupt leader of the free world, bereft of conscience and morals.
Over the last four years, Trump brought out the worst in America. And I\u2019m not sure it can be undone.
CNN ANCHOR\u2019S CONFRONTATION<\/strong>
For all Asian Americans, this is real.
I\u2019m thinking of CNN anchor Amara Walker\u2019s revelation how she, as an Asian American of Korean descent, was confronted not once but three times by people who got in her face about whether she belonged in America.
It happened at the New Orleans airport.
\u201cI still can\u2019t believe I went through this,\u201d she told fellow CNN anchor Breanna Keilar. \u201cI\u2019m still shaking.\u201d
Walker described how an older man walked by her and gave her a \u201cNihao.\u201d But it wasn\u2019t a friendly hello when followed by \u201cChing chong.\u201d
\u201cI was stunned,\u201d Walker said. \u201cIt\u2019s happened to me before sadly, but every time, it shocks me.\u201d
She moved on and tried to ignore it. But later she saw the man again at an airport shop and confronted him. She asked him if he knew how racist he was being. The man smugly denied anything had happened and walked away.
Walker was mad but went back to her gate. Five minutes later, a younger man of South Asian descent, not wearing a mask comes up to her and says, \u201cHey, do you speak English?\u201d
Walker says she asked the second man why he would assume she didn\u2019t? The man responded by mocking a generic Asian sound.
As onlookers got involved trying to defend Walker, security was called. But when a police officer arrived, instead of confronting the man harassing Walker, the officer lectured Walker and her producer. According to Walker, the intimidating officer said, \u201casking someone if they speak English is not racist, OK, do you understand?\u201d
The transgressions against Walker are all a consequence of Donald Trump using Anti-Asian hate rhetoric since March when he began calling COVID-19, the \u201cChina Virus\u201d or the \u201cKung Flu.\u201d
More than 3,000 incidents were reported to Stop AAPI Hate in the first months of the pandemic.
Many Filipinos have been stopped and called \u201cChinese.\u201d Think of that. Think of the president\u2019s overall handling of the virus, downplaying, acting like a super-spreading public health denier, and all at the people\u2019s expense.
This is what America has become. This is why I hope you voted.
ONE LAST APPEAL<\/strong>
Finally, to my conservative friends. I know you are good people. I hope you voted, not necessarily for a person, but for our country.
It should be obvious, but I glimpsed Peggy Noonan\u2019s column in the pre-election Wall Street Journal. And she, one of the nattering nabobs of the political media, declared she was NOT voting.
\u201cIs abstaining an honorable choice?\u201d she asked rhetorically in her column, but then answered. \u201cFor me, it is the only one. Sometimes you just have to hold up your hand and say no, bad choice, bad paths.\u201d
But abstention? This isn\u2019t pre-marital sex. This is democracy.
Abstaining is the chicken\u2019s way out. And that besmirches the chicken. If you can\u2019t allow for a positive compromise for the sake of our country, you\u2019re not playing the game right. But this is the mindset that\u2019s created the highly partisan gridlock that\u2019s killed governance since the late \u201880s.
Noonan should turn in her nabob card.
Her abstaining is an ultimate white privilege. White elitists will survive no matter what happens. They can afford not to vote. She\u2019ll still have a voice.
Everyone else? I hope you marked your ballot \u2013 with glee.
It\u2019s your vote, your voice.
It\u2019s worth the wait, and all the trouble.
Trump as Marcos is not a good look.
Voting is always the last best chance to save democracy.
EMIL GUILLERMO<\/strong> is an award-winning journalist and commentator. His column ran in the Star-Bulletin. He also served on the Advertiser\u2019s editorial board. Twitter @emilamok. Watch him on www.amok.com and on Facebook at Emil Guillermo Media.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"