Original Sin...

     by DonkeyHotey

It has been 73 days since our country received the news that Donald Trump would be our next president.  That was news that about 63 million of our fellow citizens willed into reality - despite the fact that almost 66 million of our fellow citizens made a different choice.

With today being inauguration day - we're no longer standing in line for this rickety roller coaster - but sitting rather nervously in our seats - and my feelings regarding how I'm going to deal with the next four years are starting to come into clearer focus. I'm exceedingly thankful that our system allows us to prepare for such a transition - even though it's probably impossible to be prepared for what is to come with this man and the people he chooses to advise him.

Trump is such a unique character - one who throws and detonates so many bombs of bullshit every day - that you're normally left flabbergasted at the sheer number of scandalous, fantastical, ridiculous things he's said or done - and you find yourself forgetting all the ridiculous things he said or did yesterday, last week - a year ago.  What's brilliant about his modus operandi is that it allows him to do so much repeated harm without ever truly being held accountable for it.

All of this has left me with the realization that, in order to stomach the next four years, I need to filter everything out - and keep my focus on the original sin of the man's rise to the presidency.  What was that original sin?  I'll get to that - but I'm sure most already know.

But for now - I should acknowledge to all my friends and family - those who voted for Trump, Hillary, or didn't vote at all (which is the same thing as voting for a third party) - I hereby declare that I do not care about any of the following transgressions committed by the soon-to-be inaugurated 45th president of the United States, Donald J. Trump; 

•         Mocking the disabled
•         Inciting violence at rallies
•         Promoting torture
•         Promoted killing the families of those suspected of terrorism
•         Banning Muslims from entering our country
•         Stated that climate change is a hoax
•         Advocated that the US default on its debts
•         Stated that a Federal Judge, a US Citizen, was not qualified because of his Mexican heritage
•         Disparaged John McCain's service - a man held and tortured as a P.O.W. for over 5 years
•         Doesn't know anything about the Constitution / Bill of Rights
•         Stiffs contractors and doesn't pay bills
•         Compliments autocratic douche bags like Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin
•         Likes to re-tweet white nationalist propaganda
•         Conned people out of money with Trump University
•         Never released ANY tax returns
•         Publicly disparaged women's looks
•         Has people donate to his foundation - then turns around and uses the proceeds to pay his legal bills
•         Bragged that he loves grabbing women by the "pussy" without their consent

The list could go on and on forever - and I assure you it will.  And for each bullet point that's added - I'll kindly say - I don't care.

Back to his original sin.  My opposition to Donald Trump as president is and will continue to be rooted in one, simple fact - and that's that he parroted the racist lie that our first black president was not a legitimate president because he was not born in the US.  Trump is not bright or curious - but he's not stupid - he knew this wasn't true.  His son-in-law was recently on the record as stating as much.  But he did it - and he did it repeatedly and without any shame.  And that, I do not and will not forgive.  Ever.  He may be our president - but he will never be my president.  And I will oppose him and his agenda at every turn.  I will mock and disparage him at every opportunity.  He will perpetually be held in a light of illegitimacy in my heart and mind.  If I were to ever be in his presence, I'd spit in his face.  The day he dies - I will mark my calendar and celebrate that very day and each anniversary thereafter.

I know that will come across as exceedingly negative and hateful.  I'm not sorry.  Fuck this man.

For all my friends who made the unfortunate decision to support this man - or are indifferent to his presidency - I hold no animosity towards you.  I love you and will welcome you into my home at any given opportunity.  But don't ever expect me to speak respectfully of this slimy reptile.  I never will.

May his remaining days be few.

dvt

Triage...

Alright - so first real post here.  There's so much to delve into with regard to this election and what the future might bring us.  But for now - I just want to acknowledge what I believe everyone is either sensing or witnessing - and that is a palpable tension that seems to be foreshadowing threats of - or even acts of -  violence.  These threats of violence are being directed at folks on all sides - that includes Trump supporters.  I want to be clear about that to my friends who supported Trump.  I do know and I have witnessed news reports of acts of hate towards people who voiced support for Trump (or just seemed to match the profile).  There are two main examples I know of - this one, where a traffic accident led to a white man being beaten and his car seemingly stolen while he was dragged off - this is horrifying.  Police reports of this incident point to a traffic accident that then spun out of control to a hateful attack on the man for either having a Trump bumper sticker - saying he voted for Trump - or maybe, just being an older white man.  Regardless of all this - this is abhorrent.

The other prominent example of violence towards a Trump supporter is that of a young girl at a high school in California being accosted by a black girl for having posted something in support of Trump on Instagram the evening before the election.  Again - friends of mine who supported Trump - this is unacceptable to me and anyone I know - regardless of whom we supported for President.  I should also note that this prompted a campus-wide protest in support of the girl that was attacked - you can read about it here.

Before I acknowledge the reports I've seen of intimidation, threats and violence towards ethnic and religious minorities from the few bigoted folks that are emboldened by a Trump win - let me make the following plea to all my conservative, Trump-supporting friends.  These reactions of violence and hateful rhetoric are only beginning.  I'm sadly confident it's only going to get much worse.  Please, please, please - as you see examples of this - please disavow it all.  Please bear witness to attacks and threats of attacks on anyone and try your best to deescalate the tensions.  Every time you see a report of an attack on someone from a supposed Trump supporter - please don't then feel the need to find as many examples of these attacks on Trump supporters as a means of tit for tat false equivalency.

There are conservative media sites out there - the top two to name are Breitbart and Infowars.  These are not news sites bound by any inkling of journalistic integrity and rigor.  They are sites meant to misinform and provoke.  They, and many like them, are going to try and get you to dig deeper into your foxholes. Please don't.  Stay informed - watch the evening National news, read your local and National newspapers.  If you spend one hour watching or reading news from an organization that is editorially conservative - do yourself a service and try to spend an equal amount of time obtaining information from an organization that is perceived or acknowledged to be of a liberal bent in its commentary. Please stop feeling and feeding the need to be right - and please try to start feeding the need to understand.

Back to the sad necessity of pointing out what everyone is likely hearing about - and that is the sharp rise in hate crimes towards ethnic and religious minorities in our country.  You can read about examples here, here and here.

I have no idea what can be done to staunch this. It may be impossible.  The one thing I wish would happen, that I think would be immensely helpful - but that I'm saddened to say is probably very unlikely - is that Trump make a major post-election speech as soon as possible.  I'll give him some help, although I'm a lousy speech writer.  Here goes:

"Dear all people of America - those who supported me, and those who did not.  I want to be everyone's president.  I want to heal the divide that's widening in our country.  I must acknowledge that during the campaign and for the past eight years, I have been at times insensitive and unnecessarily provocative.  I called into question the legitimacy of our first black president's place of birth, when I knew that he was born in America.  I have referred to ethnic and religious minorities as those unworthy of our trust and respect - and I now know that this was unhelpful and counter-productive.  I am sorry for having said these things - and I want a chance to set things right.........."

Something like that.  Will we ever get anything remotely close?  Anything short of it will likely only allow these protests and horrible acts of violence and intimidation to continue.  We cannot function as a society on these terms.

We need to stop the bleeding here - but can we?

Friends that I've included on this email - please write me with your thoughts and feelings whenever you have the chance - take your time.  Please be as positive and constructive as possible.

dvt

An appeal to all friends of all persuasions...

Social media friends - ALL of you. Those I've only known for a few years - those I've been connected with for millennia - those I went to high school and college with. I want to talk. I NEED to talk. We all need to talk. Day late and a dollar short? I sure hope not. This is not a time to crawl back into our corners and bubbles. This is OUR country at stake - all of ours - we all need to engage with one another. Left, right, liberal, conservative, white collar, blue collar - ALL collars! We've lost the tact for this art. We need to get it back.

In the aftermath of last Tuesday's election - my initial feelings of surprise, disappointment, and despair started to take a turn towards optimism and hope. Getting back home from NYC and Florida to my country home, my beautiful wife, and my sweet son - was some real medicine - I could feel my blood being filtered and cleansed just by the sight of them and our long, tight hugs.

I regret to say that reality - sure, my reality - but a reality that is all-too-real for many - has come back and sobered me. I understand that this was an election - one in which there was always going to be an end result that I'd either be pleased with - or disappointed in. And in turn - if the end result would turn out to be one that saddened me - that would have to mean that there's about half of our country that is immensely pleased with the result of the election. I understand and fully accept that.

This was a legitimate election - the results of which I must and do accept. We have to start there. Sure - we can have conversations about our voting system, voter suppression, voter fraud (or a lack thereof), the antiquated electoral college, etc. But like golf - we play in good faith, by the rules - and when we find our ball tucked behind an oak tree - you have to play that little guy as it lies - or else you undermine the spirit of what makes the game worth playing in the first place.

So - to my point and my plea. I need to do something right now - something that helps me accomplish a number of things. The list below is not exhaustive - but it's a start. I need to:

• Maintain my sanity and optimistic outlook on life.
• Engage, connect and reconnect with friends and acquaintances in my life.
• Understand and empathize with people who don't quite share the same worldview as me.
• Be seen and understood.

I haven't quite figured out the best way to achieve this - but my idea for now centers on wishing to write. Regularly. Not here on FB - but rather on a private Blog. I'd like to use the blog to work out my thoughts, my feelings, my fears / concerns - but also as a platform in which to have a conversation with friends and family. I want to engage with anyone who has something they need to express in order to be understood. I think I'd primarily try to do this by starting conversations with friends via email. And then, with your consent and trust - I'd like to post our conversations to my blog that I feel would be helpful and illuminating to myself and others.

If this interests you - please private message me. Send me your preferred, private email address so that I can write you and start a dialogue. I know we're all busy with life, work, family, children - but we can make the time for each other. We have to.

That's all for now - I hope this interests many of you - especially those of you that I know are ideologically opposed to the way in which I view the world. But I have a hunch that these differences aren't quite as great as they feel right now. I think we can turn this ship around and head in a direction that doesn't have a thousand-foot waterfall with jagged rocks at the bottom of it. That's my hope.

I look forward to hearing from anyone and everyone.

With love,

David