Political post. Please avoid it if you don’t wish to read it. The comments are hidden—I’ll see them, but no one else will. I may Feature a few, or I may not. I don’t want to dwell on this.
“When people are feeling insecure, they would rather have somebody who is strong and wrong rather than somebody who is weak and right.”
—Bill Clinton, c.2004
I know we have been through worse things in our 248-year history, but I’ll just say that never in my own lifetime (born 1957) have I ever been more ashamed of my countrymen. Trump is a disgrace. As others have said, though, this election was not about his character—it was about ours.
This isn’t a political website, so I’ll be brief. Three little points: first, if you’ve never read the Wikipedia article “Demagogue,” you should—it’s good. An unprincipled populist demagogue was what the Founding Fathers most feared, and what they designed our famous “system of checks and balances” to prevent. Those checks and balances have been falling, domino by agonizing domino, since the Mueller investigation. Trump should have been in jail long before he walked off with the nomination. Another thing we all probably need to read—or read about, since no citizen is going to read the whole fetid, stinking 900-page-high heap—is Project 2025 from the cynically named Heritage Foundation. It’s in play now for real.
My modest proposal is this: that we stop referring to “Republicans” and start calling it The Trumpian Party. Republicans lined up in droves to endorse Harris. Did you know that Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate for President in 2012, is fearful for his family’s safety? “You know, I have 25 grandkids. How do you protect 25 grandkids?” he says. His great sin is that he stood up to Trumpism and voted for impeachment not once but twice. The old “Republican” party is dead. The Trumpian Party is what it is now. So let’s call it that. Dear Leader will love it.
Trump appeals relentlessly to the worst in us. Racist, misogynist, homophobic, paternalistic, resentful, vengeful, hateful, greedy or xenophobic. All he did at the end of his campaign was double down on all that, which the decent Democrats assumed would further condemn him in the eyes of the electorate. But the opposite happened. People responded to it. Shame on them.
I used to have faith in the basic goodness, the basic decency, even the basic wisdom of the American people. No longer, and never again. The Americans who voted for him will now get the government they deserve. As Ctein once noted, my problem is that I and my loved ones will get what the Trumpers deserve as well.
Mike
Speed asked, "Just curious...how many comments did you get on this post? Not counting this one. :-) "
Mike replies: 142. Some were very long. Four were supportive of Trump, but two of those came from the same person. That's not a poll, however, because I did warn people away and I'm sure many people took me up on that and didn't read it.
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