Director Lilly Wachowski called on Americans to arm themselves and prepare for a mobilization in case President Donald Trump loses the 2020 presidential election and refuses to transfer power to the executive branch peacefully.
Wachowski accused Trump and the GOP of violence in a personal essay published last week in the Literary Hub, citing the thousands of U.S. citizens who died of COVID-19 and those who died in violent clashes at protests and interactions with law enforcement officials.
“How many more bodies have to pile up,” asked the Matrix director. Wachowski said, “Violence is the core value of the GOP,” citing violence against blacks and LGBTQ Americans as evidence, as well as the “grueling lines voters are being drawn in this pandemic.
“The truth is, if Trump ‘wins’ this election, I find it hard to imagine that I won’t be one of those bodies,” wrote Wachowski, a trans woman.
According to projections made by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in late October, almost 400,000 people are expected to die from COVID-19 in the United States by February 1, 2020. In her essay, Wachowski alluded to predictions that the number of virus-related deaths in the U.S. – estimated at about 231,000 the day before the election, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker – would probably double by the next presidential inauguration on January 20, 2021.
“It is a staggering number,” wrote Wachowski. “A crime against humanity. And is indicative of the fact that the violence of the GOP will come to us all in one way or another”.
Trump has been asked several times in recent months whether he will commit himself to a peaceful transfer of power if the democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden wins the election. Instead of agreeing to this, Trump has repeatedly dodged this question and has instead expressed doubts about hypothetical election results that could declare Biden the winner and, without evidence, hinted that a victory by Biden could be the result of a rigged election.
Wachowski referred to several organizations that expressed concerns about Trump’s leadership throughout his term in office, and described Refuse Fascism, an organization that explicitly called for Trump’s removal, as one with a message that she particularly liked. According to Refuse Fascism’s Web site, the organization began “in our recognition that the Trump/Pence regime poses a catastrophic threat to humanity and the planet and that it is our responsibility to drive them from power through non-violent protests that grow every day until our demand is met.
The website also warns its supporters that “Trump is already stealing the election” and provides posters and other preparation materials for those who want to protest in case Trump wins the election or refuses to accept defeat.
Wachowski said that after researching the organization’s work, she had come to the conclusion that instead of waiting for the election results, “we must mobilize now, take to the streets now, to pre-empt the rolling fascist coup that is taking place NOW.
“They claim that this regime will probably have to be driven out under the weight of mass non-violent protests in the streets,” she wrote.
Although Wachowski warned against post-election protests and violence, she said it was not too late to play out an alternative reality.
“We must come together and end this fanatically violent regime that threatens our lives and the earth itself. We are the authors of this story, and we can decide how it will end,” Wachowski wrote.
“So go out there and vote with all your damn power, protect your ballot with everything you have, and I’ll see you on the streets. The world will watch what happens next.”
Washington Newsday asked Trump’s campaign for a comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.
