I get it. They don’t like Joe Biden. They claim he has dementia. They repeatedly bring up his son, Hunter, and Hunter’s “shady dealings” in Ukraine. They’re tired of virtue signaling, holier than thou, politically correct liberals who want to tell them what to do, how to speak, and the “right” way to live. I get it.
Believe it or not, I don’t like a lot of the liberal mindset, either. I, for one, am super weary of reading shaming social media posts about everything from wearing face masks to what constitutes proper character. I think most people are who they are and believe what they believe, and no stale Facebook meme or falsely attributed wise quote is going to change their behavior. BUT…
I truly don’t understand why so many people are so wedded to having Donald Trump as the leader of our country. As far as I can tell, his leadership has been a complete and total disaster. Every president in recent times has been somewhat moderate and had some sense of decency. Trump doesn’t care about ANYONE but himself. How can you be a good person and support such a man as a world leader?
I get being conservative and identifying with the Republican party’s stated values. It wasn’t so long ago that, I too, identified with being politically conservative on a lot of issues. Trump isn’t really a conservative, though. He doesn’t make decisions based on a fiscal or moral compass. It’s all about being in charge and stroking his massive ego, satisfying his libido and insatiable need for admiration and regard from his minions. He would not deign to spit on you if you were on fire. He literally DOES NOT GIVE A SHIT about anyone but himself… and maybe Ivanka, whom he has said he’d like to date if she weren’t his daughter. Ivanka, for her part, appears to be following in Trump’s footsteps, albeit in a slightly more polished way.
Last night, I read the article I linked immediately above– it’s from Vanity Fair, written by Lysandra Ohrstrom, who attended prep school with Ivanka in Manhattan in the 1990s. For years, she considered herself Ivanka’s best friend. As they grew older, it became clear that they didn’t share the same values. This happens a lot as children and teenagers develop into adults. It happened with me and my former best friend, although I also determined that she wasn’t a good friend in general. I know what it’s like to face the painful realization that someone you counted as a loyal friend turns out to be a fraud. Based on this article, that’s what happened with Lysandra and Ivanka. But, just as it was between my former friend and me, the signs were there. And the signs that Donald Trump is a vile, inappropriate, uncaring person were also there. Consider this anecdote from the Vanity Fair piece:
I’m not surprised by this anecdote. There have been plenty of others over the years. If there had only been one or two stories about Trump being so gross, maybe I could dismiss them the way some of my friends and relatives have. But there have been so many stories of Trump’s piggish behavior toward women that I just can’t turn a blind eye. He’s even said he enjoys grabbing women by their genitals and kissing them, even if they don’t consent to his attentions. I don’t think a person with such a low opinion of other people ought to be leading them.
I am delighted that Joe Biden won the presidency. It’s not because I think he’s a fantastic candidate. I don’t actually know that much about him. But he’s clearly a much more decent person than Trump is and will think more about the people he’s been tasked to lead rather than himself. And, you know what? If something happens to Biden and he can’t complete the term, I would support Kamala Harris as president. At the very basic level, a world leader should care about other people. Trump does not. A man who can treat a teenaged girl like a feast for his eyes isn’t worthy of running the country.
I’ve seen a lot of people doggedly championing Trump, though. I don’t understand why. If you just want a conservative leader, why not champion someone who is conservative, but doesn’t treat others with such obvious contempt? Why not expect your leader to be a basically decent person who has respect for other people? What is so incredible about Trump, other than the fact that he emboldens white supremacists?
A couple of days ago, I was chatting with one of my sisters and I remarked that one of our cousins recently unfriended me. My sister asked me why. I wrote that it was probably because I am vocal about despising Donald Trump and I cuss a lot. But then I added, “Anyone who has a problem with my language, but supports a man who explicitly brags about grabbing women by the pussy is a hypocrite, as far as I can tell.”
I know this cousin is a devout Christian. I have always known her to be a decent and good person. But she admires Trump, despite his obviously unChristian, inhumane, disrespectful and outright cruel behavior. It makes me wonder if, deep down, she’s hiding a dark side I never knew. How can any decent person support Trump?
I have another cousin who grew up a Jehovah’s Witness. JWs are famously anti-government. They aren’t supposed to join the military or salute the flag. Her family left the JWs, ostensibly because the local church leaders wanted to install a child molester as a leader. Since leaving the JWs, they’ve become rabidly Republican, and this cousin of mine who is a mother of five and has a beautiful daughter, has posted a lot of political crap about how the election was “stolen” from Trump. I have to wonder if she’s intellectually disabled.
How can anyone accuse Joe Biden of “stealing the election”? He wasn’t the one who installed political appointees who did everything they could to suppress voters. He had nothing to do with appointing Louis DeJoy, a Trump supporter with no post office experience, as the Postmaster General, who apparently did everything he could to suppress mail in ballots during a global pandemic. Even if Biden “cheated”, it seems to me that Trump is also guilty of cheating. But I don’t think Biden cheated. I think a lot of people are just fucking fed up with Trump’s embarrassing shitshow and want him gone, so they legitimately voted for Biden because he could actually win. We all want our lives back, and Trump’s policies don’t facilitate getting things back to normal, nor do they inspire respect from other citizens of the world.
I really do try to respect people’s opinions. I do think it’s important that people vote their consciences as much as possible. I understand that everyone has their reasons for feeling the way they do. I just don’t understand how anyone with a conscience can ignore just how awful Donald Trump and his family are. It’s not just gossip or hearsay. The proof is abundant, and if he weren’t a filthy rich, famous white guy with powerful friends, he would probably be sitting in prison right now for rape.
I read an article in the Army Times last night and noticed the comments… some ignorant woman mentioned Joe Biden’s “dementia”. He does not have dementia. If you ever spent any time with someone with dementia, you’d know just how awful it is to joke about it or speak about it in an ignorant way. Dementia is devastating. My father had dementia, and I saw it change him from a vital, intelligent, strong-willed and strong-bodied man, to a feeble, frightened, helpless shell of himself. I didn’t always have a great relationship with my dad, but I would not wish what happened to him on anyone. It’s truly heartbreaking to watch. How can any decent person make the claim of dementia about Joe Biden, especially if they don’t know him? How can they joke about it? Believe me, it’s not a laughing matter. Dementia is nothing to joke about.
So I posted that Joe Biden doesn’t have dementia, which earned me a bunch of “laughing” reactions from the moronic Trump supporters who refuse to see that their hero is a morally bankrupt buffoon who wouldn’t deign to offer them a squirt of piss if they were dying of thirst. From what I’ve read about Mr. Biden, he lives a healthy lifestyle and does not have dementia. He does make a lot of verbal gaffes. He has issues with stuttering, which only shows that his brain works faster than his mouth does. But I have seen no evidence that he has dementia, and to make light of that condition is reprehensible and disgusting. This is a good read regarding Biden and his non-existent “dementia”…
Anyway… I’m getting to the point at which I’m having trouble separating my Trump supporting friends from their beliefs. I’m still trying to understand, but it’s getting harder and harder. I look forward to Joe Biden taking office. At the very least, maybe he’ll bring some civility and dignity back to the office. If he manages to accomplish anything good, I’ll count it as a bonus. The bar for success is set very low at this point.
All that I can say is, “AMEN”!
Thanks for reading!
Here’s a link that might answer some of your questions on why so many people are concerned about fraud. https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/11/sidney_powell_absent_software_fraud_trump_had_at_least_80_million_votes.html Myself, I disagree with the author in that I don’t think Trump will remain president regardless. I think Biden will be sworn in in January. He may even remain president for the better part of a year but eventually Senator Harris will have to replace him. I understand you hate Trump. I understand you probably will never give your vote to any Republican, but the day may well come when you do want to vote for an Independent or a Libertarian or even a Socialist. When you see how fast Dominon makes that vote disappear it won’t be such a joke. Even if you are very happy with the idea of a Biden/Harris administration (or soon… Harris/God only knows) you should consider the future. Once your right to vote is gone, it’s gone.
Um… Clare? I have voted for people in all of the parties. I used to vote Republican as a general rule. I later voted Libertarian and, in fact, voted for Gary Johnson twice. This time I voted for Biden because, in my view, we MUST get rid of Trump. I vote for *people*, not political parties. Trump is a horrible person. I see voting for him as akin to voting for an actual criminal.
And I am not buying the conservative mantra that the Democrats are going to turn the United States into a socialist country. I very much doubt most Republicans even know what true socialism or communism is. Most of them would do well to get a passport and live abroad for awhile. Maybe then they’ll have a fucking clue.
In any case, I’ve about had it with people who keep apologizing for Donald Trump and his criminal gang. I won’t take the Republican Party seriously again until they present decent people as political candidates. Until then, you bet your ass I’m voting BLUE.
Clare,
Just an observation from a guy who has been around a while and paid attention to politics and history of the United States since, oh, the 1970s.
Conservatives have been peddling the “America will go Socialist/Communist if we let Democrats/liberals/progressives run the nation” story since the early 20th Century. Part of the reason is because many people who were alive at the time of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 were obsessed with the idea that if a 300-year-old authoritarian (and conservative by its own nature) monarchy could be toppled by its own outraged citizenry, the same thing could happen in the United States and Western Europe.
Also, conservatives everywhere (not just in the U.S.) have an atavistic fear of change of any kind and tend to favor “from the top down” authoritarianism in every aspect of a society, especially when it comes to religion, politics, and economics. Even if change is good, say, like civil rights, gender equality, labor/management relations, and access to healthcare/education/affordable housing, conservatives will oppose it 9 times out of 10.
When Franklin D. Roosevelt came along with the New Deal in the midst of the Great Depression and looked for ways to help the average American during a time of massive unemployment and economic hardship, conservatives called him a traitor to his class (FDR was, after all, a patrician from a wealthy and politically influential New York family) and pulled the old “he is a Socialist!” card.
Ditto for when FDR and liberals in Congress copied Otto von Bismarck’s blueprint for a retirement/social security safety net program created in Imperial Germany in the 19th Century (hardly a hotbed of Communism) and created the Social Security program in 1936. “Horrors! Roosevelt is going to destroy America and turn it into another Soviet Union.”
I could go on and on about how Republicans/conservatives love to play the “Dems are Commies” card and give you a long list of programs that they claim would turn the U.S. into a new USSR, a new Cuba, or a new Venezuela. But, y’know, I’m not a young man anymore, and I have other things to do, so I won’t. Besides, you’ll probably dismiss everything I would list and claim I am a naive “lib” and that I don’t know what I’m talking about.
I’ll just say this: I agree with everything that this blog post says about Donald Trump, his lack of character, and his unsuitability to hold the office that he was elected to in 2016.
I also will say that I, too, find fault with many things that Democrats/liberals/progressives in politics either propose or have done; there is no one political philosophy/worldview that solves all of humanity’s problems. And like the Overeducated Housewife, I have voted for candidates from different parties and used to consider myself “independent” until Trump came along and forced me to choose sides so I could vote in my state’s closed political parties.
In any case, I don’t think that I have to lose any sleep over the notion that Democrats will take away our rights. I am more worried about conservatism’s penchant toward authoritarian governance and socio-cultural domimation.
Have a nice day, though!
I have spent way too much time trying to figure out how anyone could still support Trump, and I am done with trying to understand them and their motivations.
I have concluded there are 3 categories of Trumpers. Some fit neatly in one category and some are a combination of two or all 3. The truly deplorable (white nationalist, racist, xenophobes), the religious fanatics who think God sent Trump here (maybe they should re-read Matthew 7:15 and ponder that a bit), and the truly gullible and dumb who believe every conspiracy theory thrown their way.
I found out in the last week that my sister-in-law is a Trumper. I can tell you with no malice intended that she falls solely in category 3….not the sharpest tool in the shed. Thank God I won’t be seeing her at Thanksgiving this year, because I would not be able to stop myself from asking her what is up with all the wackadoodle shit she is posting on Facebook.
It seems to me that a lot of people are buying into conspiracy theories. For whatever reason, they are petrified that a woman of color will end up being president. I have seen many people commenting that they’re afraid Biden won’t be able to serve his term and a white guy will no longer be running things.
I suppose it could happen, but I don’t get why that’s worse than Pence taking over from Trump. But I have also been seeing people posting a lot of whackadoodle shit, too.
Orwell was right.
“Ignorance is Strength”
This is going to get real bad.