Thursday is not only Thanksgiving Day for this family; it's the day on the American calendar when my dad left the building. A year ago. Thanksgiving night.
I wondered how I would survive without Dad, the keeper of the commas, the repository of arcane English, and the funniest guy I knew. This year, I learned to live without punchlines minus the jokes ..."You're a mean drunk, Superman," and numeric joke equivalencies....#73...a classic. After I lost Ziggy, Dad resumed his traditional role as resident comic. This year, neither jokester was here to make me laugh and life wasn't nearly as funny as it could've been.
On the less funny side, I keep wondering what my staunch GOP father would say about President-Elect Trump, the people populating his advisory staff, or the minions extending their straight arm salutes. If you think I'm kidding, watch this all the way to the end:
On the less funny side, I keep wondering what my staunch GOP father would say about President-Elect Trump, the people populating his advisory staff, or the minions extending their straight arm salutes. If you think I'm kidding, watch this all the way to the end:
All by itself, this woulda killed my Dad, the guy who was in a tank at the Bulge, at Ramagen, and at more than one concentration camp. My Dad, a part of that Greatest Generation that gave their lives so what happened there wouldn't happen here, would've wept.
It doesn't much matter that Mr. Trump looked into the 60 Minutes camera and said, "STOP IT!" It doesn't much matter that Jewish Jared Kushner, his son-in-law is a part of his inner circle, or that his daughter converted to Judaism. Trump may not be Hitler, but his henchmen sure sound like Goebbels, Goering, and Eichmann, not the patriots he insisted they are in his speech today. (And here's a Muppet NewsFlash for Ivanka and her family....being a Trump is not going to save you when they come for the Jews. Just so you know. )
Who Donald Trump appoints, what they have said in the past, and what they have supported in the past does matter, and the appointment of well-established hate-mongers provides a real avenue of expression for the Alt.Right movement. They are no longer fringe, they are moving into the mainstream. Richard Spencer and the rest of his cadre believe this election "opens the door" to their ideas as the legitimate expression of the American will.
Who Donald Trump appoints, what they have said in the past, and what they have supported in the past does matter, and the appointment of well-established hate-mongers provides a real avenue of expression for the Alt.Right movement. They are no longer fringe, they are moving into the mainstream. Richard Spencer and the rest of his cadre believe this election "opens the door" to their ideas as the legitimate expression of the American will.
It is not.
There is no mandate here; the raw numbers support that. Hillary's popular vote margin continues to widen, although not enough to impact the electoral college. So no matter what President-Elect Trumps wants to think, his way of thinking does not represent the will of We, the People. He only represents a portion and not a very big one at that.
Not sure about that? Here is a pie chart of the raw vote count:
 |
| Clinton - 62,391,335 votes ....Trump - 61,125,956 votes differential 1,265,399 |
We can all pretty much agree the big winner in the pie is the no-show section. After that, it's Clinton, and then Trump, followed by Johnson, then Stein. Yeah, the margin between Clinton and Trump is slight, but really, 1.26 million votes are still a whole lotta votes.
So here's the big take away: hate does not have a mandate. It's still a small portion of We, the People, and as such, we can still make sure it doesn't take root. There are more of us than there are more of them, and now is the time to get off our collective asses and start making sure the swamp monsters Mr. Trump is putting into positions of power have their teeth yanked right outta their scaly heads.
Make noise. Go demonstrate. Stand up. Be heard.
We know from the 60s we can make a difference. We don't have to settle for reactionary homophobic, xenophobic hate rhetoric. If they wanna march in white sheets....we'll march in rainbow ones. The lessons of the Third Reich are not lost on our parents, and the lessons of the 60s are not lost on us. If they want to shout SEIG HEIL, we'll sing goddamn Kumbaya if we want.
Watch the video again. Right now.
Then, make noise. Go demonstrate. Stand up. Be heard.
Hell's bells, people; We, the People, cannot be observers. Like our Founding Mothers and Fathers, We, the People are an Activist People. And we're not about to stop now.
Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week
The only President who gets to complain about the theater is Abraham Lincoln.
[thank you Steven Colbert]
The saddest part of all this are the bloc of no-shows. I don’t care who you vote for – just get out there and vote! People who didn’t even vote and are now all of sudden on the streets protesting Trump’s election (and there are a quite a few btw – self identified) need to take a long hard look at themselves. Don’t blame Trump supporters for the current state of affairs, when you can’t get off your lazy, apathetic, arse and spend an hour or two once every four years filling in the circles on a ballot form. I am not interested in your excuses, rationalizations, non-voting strategy etc. You get what you deserve. We don’t have to listen to your whining and complaining, because you have forfeited your right to a hearing. That bloc of non-voters is entirely irrelevant to the conversation.
ReplyDeleteI have been a citizen since 1992 and have voted in every election since, and many times my candidate did not win. I will continue to vote in elections even if my candidates never win again. Because that is what grown-ups do. They participate in the democratic process. I didn’t vote for DT, but am not going to stand on the Freeway blocking Interstate commerce because others did. That’s what spoilt children do.
I agree that the ideology of some DT supporters is abhorrent (see latest copy of the New Yorker for details) but don’t blame them for their delusions. The real fault lies with non-voters. People who voted for BO last time round but couldn’t vote for HC for example, or people who decided to “sit this one out”. They are the villains in this story, not the ones exercising their democratic right to vote for a candidate of their choosing. DT may not have a mandate, but apathy gave him one..
I’ll stop now.
Ed.