America Has Become A Powder Keg That Is Ready To Explode At Any Time

Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,

Have you noticed that people are a lot more emotional these days? 

People are angry about the lockdowns, people are angry because others are not “properly” observing the social distancing rules, people are angry about losing their jobs, people are angry about the shortages in the stores, and more than anything else people are angry at our politicians. 

Even before COVID-19 came along, I was repeatedly warning my readers that anger was rising to a very dangerous level in this country, and now this pandemic has made things far worse.  If you doubt this, just log on to Facebook and read some of the “discussions” that people are having about this coronavirus.  Many of those “discussions” rapidly devolve into venom spewing contests, and sometimes this is still true even if people are theoretically on the same side.  There is so much anger and frustration out there right now, and it is only going to get worse the closer that we get to election day.

Thankfully, so far we don’t have the sort of widespread civil unrest that we are already seeing in other nations, but the stage is certainly being set for it.  The American people don’t like being forced to put their lives on hold, they don’t like all of the new rules that have been forced upon them because of this pandemic, and they are deeply frustrated with our politicians for being unable to instantly fix things.

Of course there aren’t going to be any easy answers.  The U.S. economy has already lost 33 million jobs, and millions more will be lost in the weeks ahead.  Meanwhile, more than 76,000 Americans have already died from the coronavirus, and the overall death toll in this country is likely to be in the hundreds of thousands.

In an environment such as this, people are going to have shorter fuses than usual, and it isn’t going to take much to get people to lash out in frustration.  One of the most prominent examples of this that we have witnessed lately occurred in Austin, Texas…

Austin police have arrested a man who allegedly pushed a park ranger into a lake.

The incident occurred on Thursday at Commons Ford, a public park that is home to Lake Austin, and was captured on a video posted on social media. In the video, a park ranger is seen standing near the lake’s edge telling a crowd of people to stand six feet apart when a man pushes the ranger into the water and falls in himself.

It is quite foolish to push a law enforcement officer into a lake, but the social distancing restrictions are frustrating people so much that many of them are not thinking rationally.

And in this environment it certainly isn’t going to take much to push law enforcement officials over the edge either.  Americans were stunned when video footage emerged of New Jersey police officers relentlessly beating young men with their batons for violating the social distancing rules…

Footage from a street fight on Tuesday afternoon shows a Jersey City police officer – who is white – repeatedly hitting a man – who is African American – while he’s pinned to the ground, and now activists are calling for the cops to be fired.

The clip filmed by a witness captured the man trying to raise his arms to protect his face as the law enforcement officer strikes him over and over again.

Sadly, I expect to see a lot more wild scenes in our streets like that in the months ahead.

Right now, virtually the entire country is in a really bad mood, and unfortunately some people will choose to resort to violence.

And it can happen in places that you might not expect.  For instance, an argument over social distancing rules at a McDonald’s in Oklahoma resulted in three people getting shot…

Three workers at an Oklahoma City McDonald’s were injured Wednesday by gunfire and a scuffle that appeared to have started because the restaurant’s dining area was closed for social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic, police said.

I’ll never understand why people commit these sorts of acts of senseless violence.

But as our world gets even crazier, more people than ever are going to be going off the deep end.

Our nation is so deeply divided, and explosions of anger and hatred are becoming increasingly common.  So many Americans are willing to “shoot first and ask questions later”, and the shooting of a 25-year-old African-American man in Georgia is causing a national uproar…

Ahmaud Arbery was fatally shot while running in a neighborhood after a former police officer and his son chased the 25-year-old man down, telling officers later that they thought he looked like the suspect in a series of recent break-ins in the area, authorities said.

On Thursday, we learned that the father and son that chased Arbery down have been arrested.  But even though they have been arrested now, it appears that this case will deepen the very deep racial tensions that already exist in this country.

I truly wish that we could all learn how to love one another, but instead I continue to see hatred rise all over America.

Needless to say, one of the big reasons why Americans hate one another these days is because of politics.  November is right around the corner, and we will likely see tremendous outbursts of anger and frustration both before and after the election.

Meanwhile, economic conditions will continue to deteriorate, and millions of Americans will become increasingly desperate.

Already, meat shortages are making headlines all over the nation…

Farmers and ranchers have hogs, cattle and chicken that they feed, but can’t sell. Meatpacking plants don’t have enough workers as they get sick and have heightened anxiety. And grocery shoppers and restaurants can’t get their typical cuts or supply of meat.

Major grocers, including Kroger and Costco, added purchase limits this week for meat to prevent hoarding and help keep it in stock. Nearly a fifth of Wendy’s U.S. restaurants removed hamburgers and other beef products from their online menus, according to Stephens Inc. And another chain, Shake Shack, said rising beef prices have taken a bite into its profits.

Many Americans can deal with short-term shortages, but if these shortages stretch into the summer months a whole lot of people are going to become extremely frustrated.

Overall, I have never seen so much anger and frustration in the United States in my entire lifetime, and it is truly a recipe for disaster.

Unfortunately, I expect anger and frustration to continue to grow in the months ahead, and we could be building up to a very dangerous crescendo later in the year.