The very haters who elected Trump are now calling for unity and togetherness. The very candidate that said "throw them out" and "lock her up" and "Beat the hell out of them, I'll take care of your legal fees" and "throw them outside...its cold so no coats...not coats" today told his supporters to "Stop harassing Muslims, Latinos and minorities". Are you Fuckin' Kidding me? Mr. President Elect... this is your doing you should be very proud of them not scolding them. Those same haters are dismissing civil disobedience and peaceful protests as sour grapes on the part of the progressives and liberals. The thousands in the street are not exercising the right they were given under the first amendment of the Constitution, they are whiny losers who didn't get their way. Even those who did not support Trump are saying the protests are "disruptive" and for no purpose. I've seen posts that say, "All they are doing it disrupting traffic and making it harder for real people to get home from work." They agree with the right to protest, but believe (sincerely) that they should wait till "Something happens to protest about". Basically they are saying wait till Trump does something to get mad about THEN go to the street.
I would like to address these two points one by one. First, "All they are doing is disrupting traffic and making it harder for real people to get home from work." That's the very point. If Americans can still go about their lives as if nothing happened last Tuesday, we might as well all get fitted for brown shirts and learn to goose step. The 1930's German people who were not members of the Nazi party, nor Jews, Gypsys, Political enemies, and not homosexuals, nor handicapped went about their lives without disruption while a race was slaughtered, Poland was conquered, Austria annexed, and France invaded. To make a change the sacrifice has to be shared by the entire country. The whole of America suffered and sacrificed during World War II. Gas was rationed, food was in short supply and everyone had some close relative involved in the War. Women had to take factory jobs to make the tanks to send to their husbands who were liberating the conquered. America's involvement in that war lasted 3 years because everyone in the Nation was negatively affected. War is not just a lead story on the evening news, although that is the way war has been waged for the last 50 years in America.
Secondly, Let's wait until Trump does something to get mad about and THEN go to the street. Let me count the ways the President elect has done something to get us mad. How about: Mexicans are rapist, Muslims are terrorists, women are objects, homosexuals are deviants, accusers are lairs, competitors are criminals and the system is made to game. If having a President elect that stands for all those things is not enough to get mad and protest about in the street... I'm not sure what is. Perhaps it is true that he could shoot someone on Fifth-Avenue and not lose any supporters. If his own words, temperment and juvenile response to serious matters is not enough to send people to the street what is the galvanizing issue?
The Alt.Right has taken over the Government. They hold the Executive, the Legislative and soon will control the Judicial branches. The three branches were designed by the founders of the Constitution to act as a check and balance to each other. There is no check, and no balance if one party controls the government. Single party rule is called Fascism. The last and final check we as Americans have is protest. Since the last check and balance on this reactionary ideology that has taken over our country is mass protests in the street... let us exercise that right until that ideaology falls.
The very people who are complaining about the anti-Trump protests are the same ones who praised the Arab Spring protesters three years ago. We were so glad that the Arab people were taking to the streets to protest the oppression of a corrupt and senseless government. That is exactly what Americans in the streets are doing now. We don't have to wait to see it this a bad deal for America... we already know. The problem is that soon the very supporters who believed this President was the right choice, will find that he is incapable of true leadership, and is only a puppet of a single party government. We did elect and outsider who is not part of the establishment. A wolf is definitely an outsider to the herd of sheep, but putting him is charge is not a good idea. That is why we protest. He enters the presidency with the highest negative approval rating in the history of America. Now that he has the job where the buck stops, his negatives will only get worse. All I can say is soon all of us will be in the street protesting this repressive, regime as one people and that ..... is when America will be great again. If not, well, for those of you who elected him enjoy the ride. I chose not to accept the lift.
Keep protesting, keep marching, keep shouting and keep being Americans.
As you were
Jay
Thank you.
ReplyDeleteJay:
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect: if you're terrified of handing the power of the presidency to a candidate you despise (but whom the citizens elected in an orderly, legal fashion), perhaps you ought to do what you can to limit the power of the presidency.
The Left had *eight years* to turn back the clock on the awful George W. Bush imperial presidency -- instead, Barack Obama embraced it, and expanded it far beyond what it ever was before. That didn't seem to matter to you then. If the presidency didn't matter so much, "President Donald Trump" wouldn't matter so much. But everyone who cheered on President Obama to "go it alone" or "use your pen" to override any "obstructionism" that would stop him from doing whatever he wanted (and presumably what *you* wanted) - you're responsible for the environment that you're now so scared of.
Please understand I respect your views (and all your writing, by the way), so I mean no insult here. I'm just trying to offer the perspective that your calls for civil disobedience, and in particular your gross generalization of calling anyone who voted for Trump "haters", without any contemplation of why, or respect for the fact that, many other rational, non-racist, non-xenophobic, non-Nazi adults just like you held a different opinion from you, makes you seem far less tolerant and intellectually curious than I know your previous writings show you to be.
I do understand the psychological shock, but I encourage you to address that shock with introspection and analysis, rather than "I didn't get my way" tantrums that are not helping the cause of spreading liberal ideas to voters whom Democrats will want to persuade over the next few years.
Again, with all respect -
Lou A.
Lou,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your perspective, but could not disagree more. Since Mr. Trump offered no real policy nor plans for his administration, a vote for Trump was a vote for walls, deportation, registering Muslims, calling an entire race of people rapists and a threat to jail his opponent if elected. To me that is a vote for hate, thus they can rightly be called haters. I stand by that description.
If you do not comprehend the danger of having a novice, incompetent, unstable person as head of the Executive branch who objectifies women and embraces white supremacy, then we will always disagree. In a time when one Party rule all branches of government it is essential that we stand up. Just as a side note, the last time all three branches of government were controlled by the Republicans was in 2000. We ended up in two wars, suffered a real estate crash, a stock market crash, a great ressession and the Patriot Act. The time before that when the Republicans controlled all three branches was in 1939... that brought on the Great Depression.
Time will tell
Jay
Hi, Jay:
ReplyDeleteJust to note, I'm neither a Trump supporter nor apologist. I'm not writing here to "talk up" Republicans or criticize Democrats. (I don't consider myself to be either one.) I'm just trying to up-level the conversation.
You and I actually do agree on some important aspects: the wars and the Patriot Act are terrible things; so where were the protests over that for the past 8 years? Where was the civil unrest when Obama renewed the Patriot Act powers in 2015 (with Democrats and Republicans alike)? Where was the visible anger when the current administration started non-sanctioned wars, basically on Hillary's whim, in Libya? Syria? Yemen? Or does no one care that our President chooses from a weekly assassination target list, for us to go kill around the globe, regardless of their citizenship (even USA)?
How many see the irony in Hillary, the biggest war hawk of all, ratcheting *up* the world-war-level tensions with Russia while simultaneously spreading fear of Donald Trump "with the nuclear codes" in contrast to his actual stance of *lowering* tensions with Russia? (I mention this because for my farthest-left-leaning friends (including my wife), this war-hawkishness was one of the biggest issues that dampened support for her.)
I also agree with you about both a real estate and a stock market crash - but where has been your anger about the bubble that this current administration has actively created in exactly these two areas? Holding the interest rate at *zero* combined with "quantitative easing" (a.k.a. massive money supply inflation) combined with debt (unprecedented govt spending and government-fed college loans) have created *HUGE* bubbles in these areas (as well as being a significant factor in college being too expensive for families anymore), because there is nowhere else for money to go, while meanwhile trapping seniors who actually saved for their retirement but are screwed because there is no interest to live off. Curiously, Donald Trump (again, not trying to advocate for him) has already stated that he sees that we're in a bubble, and we have to be careful to avoid it crashing down. Obama has been blaming eight years of economics on Bush - are you going to have the objectivity to discuss the economic situations that Obama has created, that Donald Trump must now deal with?
I hope it's clear I'm not here to complain about Obama (who I think in fact has been particularly statesmanlike of late) - I'm just trying to get people out of this "our side versus their side" hysteria. Screaming "haters" and "racists" feels good, but it gets us nowhere other than antagonizing millions of people who are neither of those things, and are well-intentioned (if mistaken) citizens. Do you realize that, compared to the previous two Republican candidates (McCain and Romney), Trump made significant *gains* in Black, Latino, and Asian voters? What label do you have for all those people?
Finally, for all the legitimately abhorrent aspects of Donald Trump's character, I have to disagree with your label of "incompetent". Whether he can be *effective* within the government is still to be seen, but "incompetent" does not describe someone who has accomplished what he has done - including getting elected through clever, daring strategy, and in particular a rapid ability to re-assess his team, and fire and hire quickly to address areas that are not succeeding. That's not the sign of an incompetent executive - quite the contrary. We may not like what he decides to do, but don't deceive yourself that he's incompetent.
Again, I'm not trying to change your mind about anyone (I didn't vote for Trump, btw), I'm just trying to change the level of discourse, and clean away the fog of senseless pejoratives.
With great respect,
Lou