George Packer writes in The Atlantic:

Two days after the shooting, with her son fighting for his life, [Julia Jackson] begins her public remarks softly, almost inaudibly, but her own words seem to give her growing strength, and finally a profound resonance. She says that her son would not be happy with the damage to his community. “As I have prayed for my son’s healing, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, I also have been praying, even before this, for the healing of our country,” Jackson says, and she goes on: “We are the United States. Have we been united? Do you understand what’s going to happen when we fall? Because a house that is against each other cannot stand. To all of the police officers, I’m praying for you and your families. To all of the citizens, my Black and brown sisters and brothers, I’m praying for you. I believe that you are an intelligent being just like the rest of us. Everybody, let’s use our hearts, our love, and our intelligence to work together to show the rest of the world how humans are supposed to treat each other. America is great when we behave greatly.”

Packer concludes:

[Biden] should speak for justice and for safety, for reform and against riots, for the crying need to bring the country together. If he says these things half as well as Julia Jackson did, we might not have to live with four more years of Trump.

The headline is an unfortunate clickbait, but the article is worth reading.

Susan B. Glasser writes in The New Yorker:

Even for a salesman like Trump, it was never going to be an easy deal to close, what with a deadly pandemic, mass unemployment, nationwide protests over racial injustice, and even a killer hurricane smashing into the Gulf Coast hours before his speech. Some seventy per cent of Americans currently believe that the country is on the wrong track, according to recent polls. Who can blame them?

This should be devastating context for a President, any President, seeking reëlection, a true picture of American carnage to replace the false one that Trump conjured four years ago. Yet the strategy of Trump and his team is now clear: to talk about how bad things would be in Joe Biden’s America, a violent socialist ruin in which freedom itself will no longer exist and rampaging protesters, like those now committing “rioting, looting, arson, and violence” in “Democrat-run cities,” will be coming soon to a suburb near you. “The hard truth is, you won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America,” Vice-President Mike Pence said on Wednesday night. “No one will be safe in Biden’s America,” Trump said on Thursday night. To say this sounded a bit off in actual America, Trump’s America, does not do justice to the bizarre dissonance of this year’s Republican Convention.

If he gets reelected, not even democracy will be safe in Trump’s America. We need to vote for Biden.

The Republicans and their incompetent-in-chief applied the same fear tactics they used four years ago. They sounded like someone has been running our country instead of the orange idiot. They didn’t mention any progress in the last four years because they have failed to make America greater or safer.

They have no plan or vision in the next four years. They promised that he would bring back the economy he himself has driven to the ground. They said nothing about the unemployment numbers under his watch. They ignored the pandemic because they have failed to keep America safe. They made it seem like our country is in deep shit and he’s the only one that can pull us out of the shithole, in which he is currently in charge of.

The lies are beyond comprehensible, but they seem to work for his base. If you lie repeatedly, it will become the truth and that’s how fascism works. We are heading that direction if we won’t vote him out on November 3.

Một số bạn đọc đã gửi email đến tôi sau khi đọc blog post “Nên đi bỏ phiếu.” Có bạn cho rằng tuy giờ đây đã thấy được sự dối trá và vô tài của ông Trump như vẫn không bỏ phiếu cho ông Joe Biden. Bạn cho rằng bỏ phiếu cho đảng Dân chủ là làm ngược lại với lợi ích của bạn. Vì bạn là một người làm thương mại mà đảng Dân chủ thì tăng thuế.

Tôi hiểu được việc bạn kiếm ra tiền bằng mồ hôi và nước mắt của mình. Nhưng nếu như bạn bỏ phiếu cho đảng Dân chủ không có nghĩa bạn làm ngược lại với lợi ích cá nhân mà bạn làm theo đạo đức của chính mình. Giữa công việc đóng thêm một chút thuế hay để nền dân chủ (democracy) của đất nước tự do bị sụp đổ thì bạn chọn như thế nào?

Dĩ nhiên tôi không thể nào đứng nhìn nền dân chủ bị phá hoại trong tay một người không tôn trọng luật pháp. Không ai trên cả luật pháp và tổng thống Mỹ cũng không ngoại lệ. Nếu như đóng thêm thuế để giúp đỡ những người gặp khó khăn thì cũng nên.

Tôi nghĩ hoàn cảnh lúc mới đặt chân đến bến bờ tự do của bạn cũng giống như tôi. Nhờ có tiền trợ cấp của chính phủ Mỹ (tiền của những người đóng thuế) đã giúp đỡ dân tị nạn chúng ta lúc ban đầu gặp nhiều khó khăn. Nhờ đó mà bạn đã phấn đấu từ hai bàn tay trắng để có được ngày hôm nay. Giờ đây anh đã thành công thì tại sao không giúp đỡ người khác như mình ngày xưa? Người Việt Nam chúng ta có câu, “Đừng ăn cháo đái bát.”

Biden thanked the commender-in-chief and crushed the coward-in-chief in his speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention:

Thank you, Mr. President [Obama]. You were a great president. A president our children could—and did—look up to. No one will say that about the current occupant of the office. What we know about this president is if he’s given four more years he will be what he’s been the last four years. A president who takes no responsibility, refuses to lead, blames others, cozies up to dictators, and fans the flames of hate and division. He will wake up every day believing the job is all about him. Never about you. Is that the America you want for you, your family, your children? I see a different America. One that is generous and strong. Selfless and humble. It’s an America we can rebuild together.

Truth be told, I had not been excited about the Biden candidacy. He has his share of flaws and gaffes. After hearing his personal story; however, I have changed my mind. Joe is kind, compassionate, and caring. Joe had been through pain and grief. He lost his first wife, his daughter, and his son. Joe understands the struggles. He goes out of his way to help Brayden Harrington, a thirteen-year-old boy, to overcome his stutter.

We need a president who has sympathy, decency, and generosity. We need a president who takes care of all the people, not just himself. We need a president who unites instead of divides us. In the past four days, look at the people he is surrounding himself with. The Biden administration will be filled with diverse, qualified, and competent members.

Truth be told, I had already made up my mind to vote for Joe. After tonight, I will be excited to be voting for him. He will save America from the pandemic and he will save our democracy from fascism. I urge you to vote for Joe as well.

Pete Buttigieg gave a convincing speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention:

Beau Biden lived a life of service, in office and in uniform. When you put your life on the line for your country—especially this country—you do it not because it’s a country you ​live in​,​ b​ut because it’s a country you ​believe in​.

I believe in this country because America, uniquely, holds the promise of a place where everyone can belong. We know that for too many and for too long, that promise has gone unrealized. But we also know America has been at its best whenever we make that circle of belonging wider.

He made the case for Biden and Harris:

Every American must now decide. Can America be a place where faith is about healing and not exclusion? Can we become a country that lives up to the truth that Black Lives Matter? Will we handle questions of science and medicine by turning to scientists and doctors? What will we do to make America into a land where no one who works full time can live in poverty?

Elizabeth Warren dropped a hidden message to BLM and a not-so-subtle message about the orange idiot at the 2020 Democratic National Convention:

Donald Trump’s ignorance and incompetence have always been a danger to our country. COVID-19 was Trump’s biggest test. He failed miserably. Today, America has the most COVID deaths in the world and an economic collapse—and both crises are falling hardest on Black and Brown families.

Millions out of work. Millions more trapped in cycles of poverty. Millions on the brink of losing their homes. Millions of restaurants and stores hanging by a thread.

This crisis is bad—and didn’t have to be this way. This crisis is on Donald Trump and the Republicans who enable him. On November 3, we hold them all accountable.

I still wish she was the nominee.

Kamala Harris gave a passionate speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention:

And we’ve shown that, when we vote, we expand access to health care, expand access to the ballot box, and ensure that more working families can make a decent living.

I’m so inspired by a new generation of leadership. You are pushing us to realize the ideals of our nation, pushing us to live the values we share: decency and fairness, justice and love.

You are the patriots who remind us that to love our country is to fight for the ideals of our country.

In this election, we have a chance to change the course of history. We’re all in this fight.

You, me and Joe — together.

What an awesome responsibility. What an awesome privilege.

So, let’s fight with conviction. Let’s fight with hope. Let’s fight with confidence in ourselves, and a commitment to each other. To the America we know is possible. The America, we love.

Let’s do this!

Obama gave an exceptional speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention. He talked about democracy:

Tonight, I am asking you to believe in Joe and Kamala’s ability to lead this country out of these dark times and build it back better. But here’s the thing: no single American can fix this country alone. Not even a president. Democracy was never meant to be transactional—you give me your vote; I make everything better. It requires an active and informed citizenry. So I am also asking you to believe in your own ability—to embrace your own responsibility as citizens—to make sure that the basic tenets of our democracy endure.

Because that’s what at stake right now. Our democracy.

Well, here’s the point: this president and those in power—those who benefit from keeping things the way they are—they are counting on your cynicism. They know they can’t win you over with their policies. So they’re hoping to make it as hard as possible for you to vote, and to convince you that your vote doesn’t matter. That’s how they win. That’s how they get to keep making decisions that affect your life, and the lives of the people you love. That’s how the economy will keep getting skewed to the wealthy and well-connected, how our health systems will let more people fall through the cracks. That’s how a democracy withers, until it’s no democracy at all.

I deeply missed our Black President.

Gần đây tôi nhận được một số thư từ đọc giả cho biết cộng đồng người Việt đã thức tỉnh. Nhất là một số người gốc Việt lớn tuổi đã nhận ra được sự bất tài và thiếu trình độ của ông tổng thống thất bại. Sự vô cảm, tự cao, và vô dụng của ông ta để cho con coronavirus giết hại hơn 172,000 mạng người Mỹ. Con số đó sẽ còn tăng mỗi ngày. Cho nên là lần bầu cử sắp tới họ sẽ không bỏ phiếu cho ông ta nữa nhưng họ cũng sẽ không bỏ phiếu cho ông Joe Biden.

Đi bỏ phiếu hay không là sự chọn lựa của bạn. Nếu bạn không đi bỏ phiếu cho ai cả thì bạn chỉ lãng phí đi cái quyền lợi của mình. Và nếu như bạn chỉ không bỏ phiếu cho ông ta thì bạn vẫn cho ông ta được cơ hội thắng. Nếu như bạn thật sự nhận thức được sự nguy hại của ông ta và sự sụp đổ nền dân chủ thì bạn nên bỏ phiếu cho Joe Biden.

Chúng ta thường dạy con cháu rằng khi thấy những gì không đúng, chúng ta phải lên tiếng, và phải hành động để thay đổi sự việc sai trái đó. Bạn hãy dùng tờ phiếu của mình để thay đổi đất nước thứ nhì của chúng ta. Chúng ta mang ơn của họ rất nhiều và chúng ta có trách nhiệm phải góp sức để đấu tranh cho nước Mỹ mạnh mẽ, hòa thuận, và công bằng cho tất cả.

Tôi vẫn lo sợ rằng nếu như ông ta tiếp tục làm tổng thống thêm bốn năm nữa, nước Mỹ sẽ không còn nền dân chủ nữa mà nó sẽ trở thành chủ nghĩa phát xít. Cái tự do mà dân Việt Nam của chúng ta đã đánh đổi cả tính mạng để đi tìm sẽ trở thành quốc gia độc tài. Bạn có thể nào nhìn thẳng vào mắt của con cháu bạn nếu như điều đó sẽ xảy ra chỉ gì bạn không chịu đi bỏ phiếu cho lần bầu cử này? Nên đi bỏ phiếu cho ông Joe Biden càng sớm càng tốt.