I wondered when we'd get to this discussion.
The chaos that the death of George Floyd has resulted in has reached such uncontrollable levels, it has absolutely stunned me. We started off in the right direction IMO, with black and white and liberal and conservative Americans finding all sorts of agreement about the brutality of the actions of that bad cop resulting in an atrocious death that never should have occurred. Since then, what has happened is so extreme (to the beyond crazy point IMO), that it has overshadowed the horrific event almost beyond recognition.
All of us might argue about who has decided to politicize this, left or right - but boy has it ever been politicized. Also, we might argue from which extreme end of one of those political sides the bulk of the destruction and chaos has occurred, if not from the extremes of both sides.
On HT, the political corners are in full swing and, of course and as always, Trump initiated everything bad that has happened to the country from the minute of the Floyd death forward (and Trump created the pandemic too).
As I've watched this all unfold and escalate in stunned disbelief, I am forming opinions as to how this might impact the election. I think, as usual and this time in ever growing ways, it's the reaction that will end up creating the most election impact rather than the incident (the death of George Floyd) that led to the reaction.
We'll see if American voters think 2020 white America is comprised of the most ugly, racist hearts ever seen in history or ever seen anywhere in the world. We'll see if American voters think the death of George Floyd by a cop (who has now been arrested for murder) means that racism is so very prominent in 2020 America that the burning down of our nation is justified and that the number one topic of 2020 America is and should be systemic racism. We'll see if American voters think the actions of the criminals now trying to take over and destroy our cities should be viewed and justified as understandable, justifiable, and "what did everyone expect with this level of systemic racism" anger. We'll see if the police (or potentially military, if it comes to that) restoring order to our country is seen as dangerous overreach and harm to individuals who, after all, are mostly peaceful protestors with a few bad apples mixed in.
It may be close enough now to the 2020 election that "racism" and law enforcement (whether usually reasonable or always bad and maybe very, very bad) does become the number one topic of the election. I'm certainly seeing that the death of George Floyd has brought the topic to the forefront and the pile on to that systemic racism topic has been extraordinary.
I do think it's reached the point where it will be hard for all this to not have a big impact on the 2020 election, one way or the other.
Q