Tag Archive | Trump

Dear Republicans:

There are two opposing factions of you who are taking shelter under the Party umbrella. As we have witnessed with the Trump years and the resulting January 6 insurrection, one is the revived “white christian nationalist” (also known as anti-semitic Nazi) group. The other is the traditional Republican.

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?

If you are still reading this, I’m going to assume you are a Republican who has remained silent because you are undecided as to which faction you belong. Let me introduce myself.

Though I am an independent voter, the words Democrat, liberal, progressive, feminist, or whatever, are also words thrown at me to place me in a small box with a label on the side. I’m proud to be those things, and I’m also proud to be tolerant, compassionate, humanistic, liberal on some issues and conservative in others, and a progressive only when it educates or creates a better quality of life that causes no harm to future generations or other living things. I am also whatever means “emotionally intelligent”.

I miss you! I remember my long years in state government, when I would meet someone like yourself, and get into a great conversation and discussion about social problems, solutions, etc. It was stimulating! It was fun! It was thought provoking! And then your party let Trump into it, and supported him as a viable candidate.

I repeat:

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?

As if the sexual assault accusations against Trump were not enough to give you pause, the fact that he is an immoral, unfaithful, sexist misogynist as proven by the Hollywood Access TV tape, should have. As also proven by his recorded campaign actions of bullying and making fun of disabled people, lying every time he takes a breath, and exhibiting NO understanding of any social or political issue, for that inhuman creature, he is the ONLY THING that matters.

When Russia was personally invited to interfere with the 2016 election and Trump “won”, you all not only ignored the majority of us who did NOT want him in office, you jumped on his rickety bandwagon and signed on as huge fans. Then you started trying to force the kool-aid down our throats. Misery loves company, I suppose. Made me seriously fear you would have supported Halloween’s Michael Myers if he had run, under the chant of Party, Party!!. (Insert videos from Hitler’s rallies.)

Did you laugh with delight when he allowed Sarah Palin to make fun of a former first lady in a selfie in front of the official portrait?? Or when he sold cans of beans on the Resolute Oval Office desk? Perhaps when he thought himself cool in ordering cheap and tacky take out food for a visiting sports team? Did you crack yourself up and slap your knee and say, “Oh, gosh, that Trump is hilarious, just my kinda guy for the Oval Office!” You must have, because you DID NOTHING TO REPRIMAND HIM before, during or after any public or sneaky debacle. Your public tolerance and acceptance of his unethical behavior and nepotism, putting his foolish children in our faces TO RUN OUR COUNTRY (which they all failed at but got richer from, may I just say), is repulsive.

Further and increasingly serious, you ignored his private meetings and public praise of Putin and his love affair with Kim Jung of North Korea. You dangerously dismissed all these signs of his devotion to an Authoritarin government, his bullying of Ukraine’s president in an attempted bribery scheme, shaming and falsely smearing the reputations of people standing up for the truth of what he was trying to do – gain power for himself. He may still be doing it with the witnesses to the January 6 Committee Hearings, exhibiting possible leanings towards witness tampering (oh, gosh, oh, my, what a total surprise).

And his Trump business organization – oh, good grief. You even ignored THAT! His university was nonexistent, but he kept the money until he had to give it back. His charity was nonexistent, but he kept the money until he had to give it back. Were not all or nearly all, of his business attempts failures? He appeared to have pimped his property while squatting in the Oval Office under the guise of hosting dignitaries and government events. HE HELD A POLITICAL RALLY ON THE GOVERNMENT WHITE HOUSE LAWN, FOR GAWD’S SAKE…and still, you were silent.

Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, said in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech on Dec. 10, 1986:

“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must—at that moment—become the center of the universe.”

As threatening and dangerous as it was, you went into nearly orgasmic glee in your support of Mitch McConnell’s defying all rules to put a handmaiden, political activist, and a rapist on the Supreme Court to start taking away the voting and civil rights of your targets. You probably knew ahead of us all that the wife of intolerant, discriminatory, state-is-the-church-and-I-am-it Clarence Thomas, is a behind-the-scenes insurrectionist.

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?

Your standards had fallen so low at this point, I imagine it was just a matter of an inch or so of rolling over a bit to find yourself completely in the gutter.

To the majority of Americans, who include constituents, Trump’s squatting in the Oval Office and shitting on everything historic, of value and integrity was shocking and appalling. His defiance of our liberties, freedoms and pursuits of happiness and appointing lawyers who will enforce gender discrimination and religious persecution, is horrendously not surprising.

And when came the 2020 election, Trump’s criminal-like allies/appointees and family were rightfully ousted from our government. And yet…you know what is coming…a well-organized, self-serving propaganda movement of LIES to stop the transfer of power took over. Trump and your Party could have taught Nazi Joseph Goebbels lessons in messaging. You sanction traitor behavior in Congress, heavily support faux Fox “News”, promote the likes of unhygienic Steve Bannon and mentally ill Alex Jones on the airwaves. You promoted lies to the denials who needed to believe them. LIES to the majority of Americans who knew better. LIES to the world who felt unspeakable fear for our democracy. Globally, you Republicans turned us into a nightmare of disgrace to our world allies. Only the dictatorships of Russia, North Korea, etc., like kids when a favorite puppet is tightly held, were excited with the possibility of a coup against our government and democracy. You are to blame for this monstrosity we are facing that parallels the rise of the Nazi Party and Hitler in Germany, make no mistake about it.

But wait. With Republicans in charge, it continued to worsen for our country. Much worse.

January 6 arrived with the denials intending to kill people and overturn the government so the Trump and his loyalists could stay in power. That’s when you Republicans started appearing on Fox News to say things like, “The election was stolen, the election was stolen, we are all doomed!” (Put to “chiken little” music, please.) You used words like, oh, I dunno…tourist…selfies…smiling crowds…peaceful protests…hang Mike Pence…drag Nancy Pelosi down the steps by her head to kill her…you know, the usual “visitors on a tour” semantics.

During the insurrectionists’ rioting, Republican legislators secretly made calls to the White House to save their lives. After briefly speaking the truth and remarking at the horror, those same Republicans got back up, brushed themselves off, and started all over again. Afterwards? After people were killed and multiple injured, and the insurrectionists were contained, did they acknowledge it then? When it is well-known as an attack on our Democracy, and more and more evidence to support that it was brought about by the inciting of Trump himself, did they or any of you embrace the truth?

No acknowledgement of the coup upon our governmental democracy, and the violence against the Capitol Police and threatened violence against our Congress, was a Party position. In fact, your RNC chair – dear gawd, help us all – led the bandwagon. Were there protests from you?

None.

Zip.

Nyet.

Niguno.

Rather…more of your usual silence.

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?

Getting still worse. When Trump was forced to stop to save his own orange skin, he and his second immigrant and third wife petulantly refused to attend the inauguaration, refused to show even the slightest courtesy to the incoming President and First Lady, steadfastly unwilling to relinguish the power of the presidency. He was FORCED to do the latter. Now, two years later, we are suffering with how he has damaged the unshakable integrity of our post office, and the voting system. Well…wait, I forgot some little detail. You WANT him to destroy our voting system, because we won’t vote for fascism, gender discrimination, misogyny, religious persecution and intolerance, which means we won’t vote for you. Makes sense to destroy the voting rights, then, if you are an anti-semitic, white supremacist fascist such as the Republican Party is now.

Trump is now stumbling his way back into the public, promoting the known LIE, seeking militaristic gang power for himself, badmouthing our democracy and wanting to destroy it. And your candidates who are cowering before and sucking up to HIM…not the Party, not the truth, not integrity…are they publicly dismissed by you? Oh, heck, no…sorry, I forgot to whom I was speaking for a moment. You are still doing it. STILL. You are now remaining silent to these resurrected atrocities.

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?

It has taken the January 6 Committee hearings to finally and with dignity and evidence, present the ultimate truths to our nation, and the world. And yet, the two Republicans who are seated on this committee have suffered at your hands for doing the right thing objectively, professionally, morally, ethically, and legally, because the thing your darkness fears the most, is any kind of light. “Must be destroyed,” you shout, no doubt.

The nightmarish truth is, the “white christian nationalists” started up multiple years ago, and Trump has fully revised that hatred under the name of “far right conservatives.” But we all know that’s another lie or two. But hey, what’s a couple more when you are in the gutter any way, right?

We Americans are not as stupid as you want us to be, in spite of your dumbing down America by defunding education and banning books. We ARE BEARING WITNESS TO THE “white christian nationalists’ movement as anti-semitic, misogynistic, and militaristic. It has cemented itself as your Party’s version of homegrown racist Nazis.

Congratulations, you have created your own Hitler. Is your arm getting tired yet from saluting so much?

And what of the Constitutional directive of “separation of church and state”? Oh, heck, just dust on your shoe, you can brush that off. Even not-hanged-and-still-alive Mike Pence isn’t willing to separate his version of church from any role in government. To him, they are the same. I guess with his new book, “So Help Me, God”, the publishers thought, “So Help Me, Mother” was a bit offputting, to say the least, and went with God instead, huh? You do know his own home state rejected him and might not even vote for him, right? Is Pence the best you got then?? Pathetic. Your own beloved Ronald Regan said, “We establish no religion in this country. We command no worship. We mandate no belief, nor will we ever. Church and state are and must remain separate.” Thanks to Mitch McConnell, your party took that speech, tore it to shreds, and gave it to Trump and his Supreme Court for toilet paper. Mr. Reagan must be looking down upon Republicans with a nasty frown. (True) Christianity is a practice…not a government.

This bears repeating: the great majority of Americans, many of who are constituents and trusted legislators to do what they hired them to do (represent them), do not want this ugly movement to continue. And yet you Republicans are publicly supporting the leader of our country’s version of racist Nazis out of fear. You are sickened, not at the “potential” criminal wrongdoings Trump has committed, but at the idea of displeasing HIM, your Party’s new leader.

Grow UP, will you? Man up! Woman up! You aren’t just letting constituents down, you are destroying your own Party with your silence, and the impact of your past leaders, such as Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.

Speak up and against this attack on our democracy, integrity and freedoms. Take your Party back! I miss you! I miss the discussions, the realization that our country needs more than one party, and together, the members enhance our political and governmental systems. I miss talking politics! I don’t want to talk criminal acts and violence any more. I don’t want to talk about misogynists reducing women to breeding animals and refusing civil liberties to people who are different. I am about to puke over this “I work for Jesus” shit, when that Jesus is white and Catholic. FYI – Jesus was a brown Jew who started his own radical movement. He was neither white nor a christian. (Yes, you have to point that last part out to people. It’s sad.)

Because of you…the public acceptance of the barbarity of Trump, his family and allies, your Party is no more. Now the Republican Party has become synonymous with broken promises, white male rapists and terrorists, propaganda without truth, denying civil liberties for our diverse populations, eliminating freedoms for women, censoring education in our schools, betraying veterans, and destroying our planet. YUK. Your Party stinks! And it’s dangerous.

But maybe it’s too late for you to save it. A wound can only grow so much pus and toxicity before the skin turns gangrene. I think the best the rest of us can do is kick every dang, ugly-souled Republican off the ticket and out of office. Another intelligent, ethical and integrity-based party will grow in your Party’s spot. And you can sit in your chair on a warm winter’s night in front of a burning fire, and tick off the counts of charges that hopefully will be brought against Trump and all his allies. Perhaps including you.

Good night and good bye, Republican Party.

Note: this article is an opinion piece and based on the sole observations of the author, who does hold in high regard another faction of the Republican Party, more humane and rare: the folks who know, respect and seek the truth. Such as:

Republican Accountability Project (formerly, Republican Voters Against Trump) members;
The Lincoln Project members;
White House staffers and Trump campaigners and appointees appearing before the January 6 Committee hearings to share the truth;
Individual Republicans such as Steve Schmidt, Sully Sullenberger, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, to name only a few.

The Tale of Two Nations Under One Crazymaker

Oct3

Prologue

Most people – around 2/3 of any group– prefer a sane person to be their boss, or to lead them. Someone who is gracious and makes them feel respected and worthwhile. Most people suffer when men and women in positions of power are difficult and demeaning. Then there is the remaining 1/3 of the group. (My unofficial official statistics.)

Our current political trauma is a perfect example of the always present 1/3: the supporters of Donald J. Trump. This group appears to reject truth, graciousness, fairness, intelligence, and justice. I disagree with the media signaling this group out for analysis. The spotlight on them only makes them dig in deeper with their alternate and incorrect versions of reality. The truth is much simpler: 1/3 of any group will always be stuck in quicksand and stubbornly will not concede to facts. This is not to imply their concerns are not worthy of consideration. They are…but not for the reasons they think. I’ll get to this later.

Religions and many spiritual gurus speak of the need to “forgive”, to “show compassion”, to “be tolerant”, especially in this climate of political polarization. I disagree and think they are on the wrong path, and this advice is dangerous. I believe there is an even deeper path of reaction is that is far more pertinent, and far more compassionate. I think what the religions and gurus are missing are two important truths:

For perhaps the first time in history, politics is no longer about politics. It’s about values. The two major parties are no longer defined by platforms and political spin, but by truth, integrity and intention. This paradigm shift is a critical transformation of our society and to our democracy; and,
Any god you believe in, by deductive reasoning, is definitely not weak, but a damned smart spiritual warrior. Politics may once have been about being nice, at least in public, but now it is about bullying, lying and temper tantrums. Now, it is more important than ever to stand up effectively to this abuse.

With this in mind, what prompted our political paradigm to change so? Enter the color orange.

Chapter One: The Crazymaker

In “The Artists Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity”, Julia Cameron identifies one personality as the most dangerous: the “crazymaker,” who “should be avoided at all costs”. Crazymakers create storm centers and are enormously destructive; long on problems and short on solutions. They thrive on drama and making themselves the center of attention. They feed on any power you give them.

Let me share with you her dentifying traits of a Crazymaker. It reminded me of someone, and so I have added that resemblance.

Breaks deals and destroy schedules. On September 28, 2020, the Guardian followed up on the New York Times report:

Alex Cobham, the chief executive of the Tax Justice Network, an international group campaigning for a fairer and more transparent tax system, said: “This shows that Trump is either a very bad businessman or a tax cheat who is not respecting the tax system that he is asking everyone else to pay. Probably both are true.”

The New York Times said Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes in the year he won the presidency, and the same amount in his first year in the White House. It said Trump paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years, largely because he reported losing much more money than he made. The Times said the records revealed “chronic losses and years of tax avoidance”.

Expect special treatment. They care little for anyone else outside of themselves. On September 3, 2020, according to The Atlantic and additional media:

When President Donald Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018, he blamed rain for the last-minute decision, saying that “the helicopter couldn’t fly” and that the Secret Service wouldn’t drive him there. Neither claim was true.

Trump rejected the idea of the visit because he feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain, and because he did not believe it important to honor American war dead, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day. In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.

Discounts your reality. Crazymakers will violate your needs. On September 10, 2020, The Nation summed it up:

Trump deliberately lied. He downplayed the danger in the critical early stages of the fight—which the president would eventually describe as “our big war”—and he has continued to lie as the death toll has ticked upward…. Tens of thousands of those deaths were preventable. But Trump’s lies made them inevitable.

Spend your time and money. According to Presidential Golf Tracker, as of September, 2020:

Trump’s Current Golf Outings: 279

Current Cost to the Tax Payer: ~+ $105 million

Triangulate those they deal with. Because Crazymakers thrive on your energy, they set people against one another in order to maintain their own position of power. From this position, they can feed most directly on the negative energies they stir up. After violence and death at Charlottesville in 2017, The Washington Post quoted Donald J. Trump:

“You had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides. You had people in that group … There were people in that rally — and I looked the night before — if you look, there were people protesting very quietly the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee. I’m sure in that group there were some bad ones. The following day it looked like they had some rough, bad people — neo-Nazis, white nationalists, whatever you want to call them. But you had a lot of people in that group that were there to innocently protest, and very legally protest.”

Multiple media reported on the command to white supremacists by Donald J. Trump to “Stand back and stand by.” CBS News reported on what was said:

“The Proud Boys,” Mr. Trump said. “Stand back and stand by. But I’ll tell you what, I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about Antifa and the left, because this is not a right-wing problem.” After the debate, in the Proud Boys’ Telegram channel, members boasted of Mr. Trump’s reaction. They used “stand back” and “stand by” in the logo and posted videos from the debate with the caption “God. Family. Brotherhood.” Biden responded to a tweet about the Proud Boys’ reaction by tweeting, “This is Donald Trump’s America.”

Expert blamers. Nothing that goes wrong is ever their fault. As far back as August of 2017, Politico had already spotted the blaming trait:

“Using Obama as a focal point probably works because he’s so polarizing with Republicans,” said Julian Zelizer, a presidential historian at Princeton University.

Yet some of the claims simply are not true or are without context, Zelizer notes, something that stands in stark contrast with his predecessors. “These are wilder, continual attacks,” he said. “The difference is in scale and scope.”

Trump most notably blamed Obama for tapping his phones during the “very sacred election process,” calling him a “bad (or sick) guy!” Evidence has not backed up that claim…

After a botched raid in Yemen that killed a Navy SEAL, Trump said, “this was a mission that was started before I got here.” Trump, however, made the final decision to forge ahead with the raid.

Facing massive protests across the country and leaks within the federal government that were critical of his administration, Trump blamed Obama “or his people” for inciting the protests and leaking the material.

Then in March of 2020, Politico reported:

President Donald Trump on Friday deflected blame for his administration’s lagging ability to test Americans for the coronavirus outbreak, insisting instead — without offering evidence — that fault lies with his predecessor, Barack Obama.

“I don’t take responsibility at all,” Trump said defiantly…

Create dramas-but seldom where they belong. It makes them even more dramatic- at your expense. Devoted to their own agendas, whatever matters to you becomes trivialized into a mere backdrop for the casemakers’ personal plight. NPR’s report on September 23, 2020:

President Trump…suggested that he might not accept the election results if he is not declared the winner in November, in response to a reporter’s question about whether he would commit to a peaceful transfer of power — regardless of the outcome of the election.

“We’re going to have to see what happens. You know that. I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots. And the ballots are a disaster,” Trump said, alluding to his unsubstantiated arguments about widespread mail-in ballot fraud.

“Get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a very peaceful — there won’t be a transfer, frankly, there’ll be a continuation. The ballots are out of control.”

Hate schedules- except their own. In the hands of a Crazymaker, time is a primary tool for abuse. AP News on September 9, 2020, the revelations Donald J. Trump gave to Bob Woodward:

President Donald Trump talked in private about the “deadly” coronavirus last February, even as he was declaring to America it was no worse than the flu and insisting it was under control, according to a new book by journalist Bob Woodward. Trump said Wednesday he was just being a “cheerleader” for the nation and trying to keep everyone calm.

His public rhetoric, Trump told Woodward in March, was part of a strategy to deliberately minimize the danger. “I wanted to always play it down,” the president said. “I still like playing it down because I don’t want to create a panic.”

Trump, according to the book, acknowledged being alarmed by the virus, even as he was telling the nation that it would swiftly disappear.

Hate order. Chaos serves their purposes. When you begin to establish a space that serves you a Crazymaker will abruptly invade that space with their mess. On September 30, 2020, CBS News ran this headline: First debate descends into chaos as Trump and Biden exchange attacks

The article included: The first presidential debate between President Trump and Joe Biden featured a chaotic series of bitter exchanges and name-calling, with the president repeatedly speaking over his Democratic rival and the moderator struggling to maintain control of the 90-minute affair.

Deny that they are Crazymakers. They will always try to convince you that YOU are the one who’s crazy. In October of 2019, The New Yorker nailed Donald J. Trump with this headline: Trump’s Message: His Critics Are the Crazy Ones

Content from the article included:

Doubts about whether he is entirely steady are not new, and Trump has long proffered various rationales for his troubling outbursts. One is that his erratic actions are tactical moves: unconventional behavior that shakes up the political and diplomatic stiffs, and makes things happen. Another is that he is just being authentic, which raises the question of what he authentically is. But perhaps the most troubling rationale is one that he emphasized in Texas: he’s not crazy; anyone who doubts him is. His supporters just need to recognize the madness of his enemies, and then everything he says will make sense.

Drive you Crazy. If someone in your life is making you crazy run far away and fast.

Former presidential candidate, Pete Buttigieg, and Philip H. Gordon, wrote an opinion piece for Foreign Policy on July 15, 2020 mentioning the damage Donald J. Trump has caused our country:

The failure of the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to build an international coalition to combat the coronavirus is in fact only the latest manifestation of a deeper and potentially lasting failure. ..A world without U.S. leadership is no longer some vague and lamentable future possibility. Since the start of his presidency, Trump has abandoned multiple treaties and agreements, undermined the credibility of U.S. defense guarantees, bullied and belittled allies, and cozied up to dictators who threaten those allies and the United States. His “America First” doctrine—with its ominous echoes of the 1930s—and indifference to the rule of law at home and abroad have left allies wondering if they can count on the United States; many have started to look elsewhere for more reliable friends and partners. The result is a world in which the United States is less safe, less respected, and less able to deal with the enormous challenges it faces: climate change, pandemics, refugees, cyberattacks, election interference, nuclear proliferation, terrorism, modern technology, and the rise of China.

The collapse in global regard for the United States has been breathtakingly swift under this president. Even before collapsing further due to Trump’s mishandling of the pandemic, confidence in him to “do the right thing” in international affairs stood at just 29 percent among 32 countries polled—down from 74 percent in former President Barack Obama’s final year in office. Global confidence in Trump is significantly lower than in German Chancellor Angela Merkel (46 percent), French President Emmanuel Macron (41 percent), and Russian President Vladimir Putin (33 percent)—and just one point higher than in Chinese leader Xi Jinping (28 percent). Germans are now equally divided on whether the United States (37 percent) or China (36 percent) is their closest partner, while just 28 percent of Britons trust the United States to act responsibly. Confidence in Trump is only 36 percent in Japan, 32 percent in the United Kingdom, 28 percent in Canada, 28 percent in Brazil, 20 percent in France, 13 percent in Germany, and a mere 8 percent in Mexico, while favorable views of the United States have fallen from 64 percent in 2016 to 53 percent in 2019. Asked in June whether she trusted Trump, Merkel paused before saying only “I work with elected presidents around the world, including, of course, the American one.”

Chapter Two: What does this mean?

It means we have a Crazymaker in the Oval Office with the nation’s securities, and the nuclear war codes. It means that Donald J. Trump is a huge security risk to our nation.

Back to the religions and the gurus and the pleas for “forgiveness”, “compassion” and “understanding.”

Ever hear of “tough love”? It is a course of action that prioritizes a person’s welfare, especially that of an addict, child, or criminal, by enforcing certain constraints on them, or requiring them to take responsibility for their actions. “Requiring them to take responsibility for their actions.” Keep that in mind.

Thich Nhat Hanh, the Buddhist monk, spoke of compassion: “When you have seen suffering, you are motivated by the desire to remove suffering — the suffering in you and the suffering in that other person — because if that person continues to suffer, it will make you suffer somehow later on. So helping other people remove their suffering means doing something for you also.” Keep this in mind, too.

Why do people get involved in supporting the orange Crazymaker? Julia Cameron suggests that people accept Crazymakers when they are self-destructive. I agree this is true. How many supporters do you see/know who do not eat healthy, establish healthy lifestyles for themselves, or take the high road in relationships? Comparable to a “writer’s block”, these folks have a “life block”. They can’t figure out how to get out of the sinkhole their resentment is in, so they have given up and are settling in for the long haul. They have allowed themselves to be used for someone else’s power, even though it is dangerous and destructive to them. There is a bit of a thrill in that, even if it means this support is doing nothing to change their lives for the better, much less rescuing them from their troubles. The orange Crazymaker is exploiting and using his followers, with their permission.

Many of us have witnessed the demise of relationships with family members, friends and colleagues, over this Crazymaker’s deliberate and abusive political polarization. We wonder what to do now. How can we ever go back to how we felt about them, when we know they like this negativity, incompetency and cruelty? Unfortunately, you and I cannot relate to them as we did before. You can’t go back, and you should not feel guilty you can’t. Things have changed. Remember the Tough Love concept? It is time to require our family members and friends to take responsibility for their actions of supporting this Hitleresque atrocity. We must find the courage to show them “tough love”, and establish new boundaries. It is the loving thing to do. But also recall the Thich Nhat Hanh quote. By supporting people, organizations, movements, and efforts to ease the suffering of those who have been and remain vulnerable, we are helping those family members and friends heal.

Forgive the Crazymaker supporters for following him? It isn’t a question of forgiveness. Instead, I choose to look beyond that question. I choose to show these misguided supporters true compassion by allowing them to live the consequences of their choice, which is to no longer be tolerated in my space. Show understanding to the Crazymaker supporters? Oh, I understand them just fine. What I choose to act on is not their choice, but the reasons behind it. I will support anything that helps ease their suffering. But until they respect the facts and all people and choose kindness over hostility, they will remain isolated from the mainstream of America that hosts the good, the compassionate and the humane.

Chapter Three: What do we do now?

Because of the Crazymaker’s deliberate polarization of our nation’s people, if he and the toxic Senate Republicans are reelected by a fair and safe majority of votes, 2/3 of our people will brutally suffer under their lies, insanity, cruelty, and gross incompetency. The targets will be women, the poor and middle classes, and all Democrats and Independents. He and the toxic Republican Senate are incapable of empathy and will continue to IGNORE the need for universal health care, environmental standards, nurturing the middle class, keeping our children safe in schools, legislating the protection of women as full human beings with control of their bodies, and anything else that is good, kind or intelligent.

If Biden and Democratic Senators are elected, the 1/3 will be given the attention they crave. Some of the 1/3 are dangerous white supremacists who must be monitored and/or charged and arrested. But many are upset with the political system and feel it has not only let them down, but abused them. They will be heard. Their legitimate concerns will be tended to, problems identified and solutions created.

With Donald J. Trump and his crazy, unethical, criminal administration, and the toxic Republican Senate gone, every effort will be made to keep our people, our nation, our world, and our planet safe from another Crazymaker. How do I know that? Because history teaches us this. Germany taught us how easy it was for their Hitler to rise to power and destroy their nation and peoples, and the surrounding countries. Germany taught us that the followers of Hitler would not protect their country, and that the only solution was to overthrow the head of the snake, Hitler, and make the supporters accountable for their actions. Germany taught us you can overcome, heal and recover.

And so shall we.

Vote out the Crazymaker. Vote out the toxic Senate Republicans. Live the day in safety and peace, and sleep again at night.

*** Update ***

Donald J. Trump is currently at Walter Reed Hospital, with COVID-19. Many of the people he exposed are at risk, and at least 3 have been identified as positive. Regardless of any outcome to this unsurprising development, Donald J. Trump’s legacy has been set, and it will not be complimentary.

When Who You Are is Wrong

Jun18

Uncle Ben’s rice. Aunt Jemima pancakes. Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup. Confederate officers’ statues. Fort Bragg. Fort Hood. Andrew Jackson on a $10 bill.

Like the target for Target, I wonder how many of us actually see the branding any more? But the minute it is gone, we would notice. And that’s the point.

The continuing murders of people of color – beautiful shades of brown, honey, caramel, mahogany, and black – never should have begun, much less never stopped. The protests around the world are hugely peaceful and relentless. The violent rioting that erupts is minimal and always makes the news. The point is, changes have to be made. Reforms have to be enacted. The world has come together to demand it, and we won’t stop until black lives matter, are kept safe, respected and honored.

It’s incredible that in 2020, this has to be said – again. Franklin Delano Roosevelt wanted another Bill of Rights for all people, not just for pasty-arsed whites. Lyndon Baines Johnson enacted civil rights legislation that the southern – confederate – states, are still fighting today through the current Republican Party. Really, people!?! Really!?!

But then I guess we shouldn’t be surprised. With Richard Milhouse Nixon denying us universal healthcare through creation of a for-profit parasitic environment, denying healthcare to and bankrupting our citizens…Ronald Prescott Reagan favoring the wealthy with his lying “trickle down” theory, robbing the Middle Class; his denial of aids and subsequent deaths to a disease that could have been researched early and treated…George Walker Bush faking an excuse to put our sons and daughters in a lifelong, brutal war, taking the economy and tearing it to shreds for yet again, the Middle Class, while keeping the wealthy rich…to the inexperienced reality show male currently squatting in the Oval House…we shouldn’t be surprised that our fellow citizens are being murdered to maintain the elite, white supremacy so convenient and desired by the current Republican Party office holders.

I am an Independent voter, with a record of choosing good people in both the Republican and Democratic parties. The Republican Party was not always like this, and Republicans weren’t always like that. This is the party of Abe Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, two of the most admired presidents in history. The year the Republican Party started turning its back on these types of greatness and focused on greed and power can probably never be confirmed. But the Vietnam War and Watergate in the 1960s and 1970s showcased the direction it had gone. With the public advent of Phyllis Schlafly writing of and organizing the extreme conservative ideals of suppression and intolerance under the appalling guise of “faith”, the Republican Party has only gotten worse for all but the 1%.

Now as a country, we face daily humiliation for the unethical, bullying and most likely illegal, behavior of a childish, insane male and his cohorts in ethical, moral and legal crimes. Our nation’s lack of affordable and effective healthcare is 3^rd world level. Our refusal to separate church and state is denying civil and reproductive rights to targeted groups. The Supreme Court is no longer divided on its legal opinions, it is defined by who is politically liberal, and who is politically conservative. It isn’t just the branding of products that needs to go to reflect true humanity. It’s the entire branding of the Republican Party.

Uncle Ben. Aunt Jemima. Mrs. Butterworth. Confederate officers’ statues. Confederate names of forts. Jackson’s face on currency. Donald Trump in the Oval Office. The Republican Party in the Houses of Congress. They all need to go.

The Democratic Party needs to review its own legacy as well and take a lesson from Thomas Jefferson: Combine the efforts in opposition to the current Republican Party, and create a two-pronged approach. This country would do well to muster its human values and common sense and come together. As a united force through a Democratic-Independent Party, humanity and tolerance can overshadow the elite and discriminatory Republican Party. That is, if the current good, humane Republicans cannot get their Lincoln Party back.

There’s a Strong Wave a’Comin’

May23

It is easy and cheap, these days, to become a star. If you are a believer of the trumped-up image of success, the media will hone in on you like mosquitos on a sweaty arm at a dusk-timed barbeque.

Reporters film the crowds at the trumped up campaign rallies, which are nonstop, often zeroing in on a few individuals for statements. Because of this global attention, these followers or hired actors have gotten the impression that they are the darlings of the press. Their message is that we must fear them and their vote. For a mob temperament that has lived in pain and resentment for perhaps decades, this attention is a heady pill for them. The sense of power must be mind boggling. Yet the image is not one that will go the distance.

All this media coverage does is create a bizarre beast of the misinformed, rejectors of facts and science, and self-haters. Many of these individuals are mimicking the most vile of all behaviors: bullying, name-calling, assault bragging, and demeaning insults. Then there are the overweight, over-ignorant who dress in false camouflage and threaten with guns. These actors and followers are not going to get down off the public stage while we are staring at them with our mouths open and horror on our faces. They LIKE being in the news. It’s akin to being in the faces of and giving the finger to those who they blame for making them feel inferior. The mob mentality motivates them to hang together while we wring our hands and fret our psyches over what is happening to our country.

The truth for most of us is that we know they are a minority and this November 2020, will be scurrying back into anonymity. It is not their false sense of power that makes us anxious. We are afraid to acknowledge these fanatics as a hate group because our brother, mother, niece, grandfather, lover, is/are a vocal cult supporter, too. We “can’t make politics about values”, we declare. We proclaim, “Everybody has a right to a different outlook!” “Politics is not allowed in this house.”

It isn’t just our families and circle of friends who are under stress. Because of the unethical, illegal and abusive manner of this current government, the Republican Party is divided between Republicans and trumpsters. Ever the polarizing, undiagnosed narcissist, the suspected Putin-backed Donald has inspired the majority of the currently elected Republicans to split off permanently from its home base.

Well, let me make a prediction. It will be impossible to go back. Where the Democrats and Independents have been digging in to their shared foundations, the Republicans who are thoughtful, compassionate, gracious, and honorable, find themselves without a party. Not only will they have to oust this squatting government, they will have to redefine and rebuild their party. Not an enviable spot to be in, but the question to them needs to be asked: Why didn’t you stop Donald when you had the chance?

For all of us, it has indeed, become about values. And damn well a long enough time it took for us to get to this point.

We did nothing when a disabled reporter was publicly mocked; when women were described by body parts with vile terms; when porn stars proved they were sought and bought; when women shared the sexual assaults; when underage girls were raped; when a traumatized veteran with PTSD was mocked; when a POW was ridiculed; when a Gold Star family was demeaned. Smear campaigns were begun against every expert in the administration for telling the truth. Environmental programs, incident response plans, fair taxes on the wealthiest, oil pipes across Native American lands, and cemeteries desecrated, were gleefully proposed and supported by the Senate, led by another suspected Putin fan, Mitch McConnell. Barack Obama was made a continuing target for ongoing insults, lies and misrepresentations. Little, innocent children remain locked in cages away from their parents. We have a justice on the Supreme Court who unabashedly campaigned for the spot, and one who is an alleged rapist and drunk. Their qualifications seem simple: take away civil freedoms of those who are not male and white. The Attorney General is proudly continuing with what appears to be an erosion of laws, the Constitution, and our democracy. Robert Mueller was leading an excellent investigation into the wrong doings of what looks more and more looks like a mob syndicate, when he was told to stop and the full report was hidden. When Donald was impeached for inappropriate, unethical and illegal behavior, Mitch McConnell protected him, and his donors and contributor’s interest and allowed him to continue squatting in the Oval Office. The sitting vice president who as governor was kicked out of his home state for his discriminatory, hateful proposed legislation, mirrors, mimics and pathetically fawns over Donald and his probable mentally, emotionally and physically disabled presence. The list is too long to continue. And, every day, a new injustice will be proposed, and new lies told.

The Republicans carry the majority of the blame, not the minority that voted for this administration. It seems that gerrymandering and the Electoral College are in their back pockets, and how they steal elected seats from those candidates who actually win the vote. Republicans did this to their party, themselves, and our country. And the rest of us, including those Republicans who have stopped supporting those currently elected and in power, have grown tired and angry with ourselves from hiding behind an accepting attitude because we are too afraid to publicly reject something that is wrong. We are chafed from the righteousness of “difference”, when it isn’t different, and when it’s just wrong. All terribly wrong.

We have been too scared to accept who we have become. Being us means, hell YES you make “politics” all about values! Damn straight, we want NO lover of bullying, backstabbing, misogynism, and lies, brought into our community, workplace, home, and/or space. And we sure as hell do not want it in our government any longer.

Leaders show us the light and then take us there to find, and keep, hope. Therein is true grace, truth, safety and compassion. On the other hand, like crabs in an open bucket, vile creatures such as these elected Republicans, grab us and pull us back down to their level, keeping us imprisoned and suffocating our souls. We are smeared with the feces of hate and violence, and the spittle of abuse.

As you witness the mob mentality of riots and threats on the news, roboted onto social media, in your community…understand that THIS false version of America is what the world now thinks of us. We have lost respect and honor. America was never NOT great – but now it grates…on the conscience.

I have family members who are staunch trumpsters, and in the same breath, declare they respect women, veterans and the environment. We know this doesn’t jive: you can’t support somebody who lacks values and grace while claiming you have honor. I have friends and colleagues who proudly declared they voted for the trumpsters because of their “religious faith”. We know that this “faith” is neither religious nor a belief: it’s an unmasked compulsion to follow and/or control. I found that how they voted does matter to me. The 2016 election was never about Republicans or Democrats or Libertarians or Independents. It was always about grace, truth, respect, honor, dignity, and the Constitution. Every one of these people know where I stand, and how I think, without my attacking them. I keep my comments towards those who are destroying our government and pimping our politics. If I were to hurl personal insults to family, friends and colleagues for what I view as their lack of emotional and intellectual intelligence, I would be what I hated the most: just like those trumpsters. “Fall back on your grace,” is what I tell myself. And also, “Speak your truth to power,” because the people who are in our space either by choice or DNA, have a powerful influence over us, and need to hear it more than anyone else. I know I’ve made “enemies” and some of these folks will no longer have anything to do with me. Such a relief! I don’t think I would have spotted their lack of values without these times. But mostly, I am awed by the other outcome these times have produced.

People everywhere, in multiple roles and various backgrounds, are finding each other and coming together like no other time in our history. Resistance to attempts to steal our civil freedoms, harbor the wealth to a selected few, destruction of the middle class, and shredding our Constitution, is ongoing and increasing. People are courageously calling out the gaslighting, the illegal acts, the unethical behavior, and the white supremacy groups. They are shining the light of truth upon this world for all to see, and to signal to our global friends to stay tuned, for we and the real America are coming back!

Claim your ground. Take a stand. Be silent if you so choose with your family, friends and colleagues, but not where you can make a difference. At the polls this November 2020, any currently elected representative who has been a public supporter of this incompetent, ignorant, narcissistic, greedy, and dangerous federal government, needs to go. Vote the opponent.

Stay well, stay in peace, and stay in truth.

‘Tis the Season of Things to Come

Dec28

In the car and out the garage, oh how the cold does blow! It stings the toes and bites the nose, and nips the fingers, too. As I walk, my heeled boots clink against the sidewalk; my double layer car coat crinkles, the hood hides my earmuffs and keeps my scarf in front of my mouth. My hands are in ski gloves and feel bulky and awkward – I can barely hold my tote bag. People scurry by, faces down out of the wind. I feel extraordinarily cozy and cheerful. By the time I have made it the block from my parking space to inside my office building, I am feeling for all the world like a proud, astute survivor of the Antarctic cold.

Ungraceful in my struggle to unwrap myself in the building’s gust of heat, I am secretly and illogically delighted with the reappearance of winter weather during actual winter, especially at Christmas and the New Year holiday.

It brings back awestruck childhood memories of all that white snow to walk in…hills to sleigh down…ice rinks to skate on…and soaked mittens and socks from the snow that slid in during the snow fight with my brothers at our snow fort. All sibling rivalry was forgotten as we peeled the layers off the kitchen floor, ignoring Mom’s shouts of “Don’t track snow on my floors, I just finished scrubbing them!” We raced to the stovepipe furnace in the living room where each claimed a side and took up positions: flat on our backs, knees bent, feet bottoms directly on the furnace. We sighed happily as the red tones of our feet started to fade to pink. We watched the fire through the little window and exaggerated our great aiming skills during the snow fight. Life was good…and warm, this winter of my childhood.

Not so much any more.

Global warming, climate change, destroying the ozone – however you want to describe it, is destroying the environment we living creatures need to breathe, eat and survive. The planet will continue to exist without us, much like the moon and Mars. I want the generations after me to live safely and healthy upon this wondrous planet. I desire they travel to cold places and warm places…visit rain forests and touch snow atop a mountain. Photograph the beauty of a desert and the prairie or farmland and vineyards. Hell, they can stay put if need be. I just want them to be able to drink water that doesn’t poison them and eat food that doesn’t give them cancer. And I want the seasons to be true for each climate.

When there is spring, let there be flowers and green grass. Where summer beckons, let there be lazy, hot afternoons and cool waters. Where fall pounces, let there be leaf burning and crisp air and apple cider. And in the winter…let there be snow and cold and bright days; cozy indoors and a respite from life.

It is time for our world to be in harmony with itself, in balance with its genders and fluid in its compassion. The strife and violence of the patriarchal society has worn out its welcome. The future is female. There is no turning back now for us, and we would not want to. The future is female and our season has come.

In the car and out the garage, oh how the hate does grow! It stings the disabled and bites the nonwhites and nips the atheists too. As I walk, my determination clinks against the sidewalk, my double layer of intention crinkles like electricity. The aura around my head shines my love and opens my mouth to speak my power. My hands are steady and my reach feels long – I can barely contain my strength. People scurry by, faces down out of the wind, but look up with a start at what has passed them by. I feel extraordinarily cozy and cheerful. This time I have made it from where I once was to where I am supposed to be. I am feeling for all the world like a proud, astute survivor of the herculean challenge of facing down hate, lies and misogyny.

Although struggling against odds, I gracefully wrap myself in my gender’s gust of power. I am secretly and fully, delighted with the reappearance of an actual change during this season of hate, especially at Christmas and the New Year holiday. It brings back awestruck childhood memories of all that white light of compassion and empathy to walk in…hills of rage to climb down…ice hearts to thaw and heal..and all the other bright lights that slid in during the fight with the New Republicans at our constitutional halls.

All polite rivalry will be forgotten as we peel the two faces off Congress and ignore their naked shouts of “Don’t steal my pile of money, I just finished robbing it from you!” We females will race to the White House and rid it of its vile stench. We will reclaim the West Wing for humanity and take our positions of backs straight, legs out, hands on hips, eye-to-eye. We will sigh happily as the orange tones of our nation’s gravest mistake start to fade away. We will watch the glow of hope through the Oval Office window travel once again across the nation, and credit our sons, husbands, fathers, brothers, grandparents, and loving friends, for standing by us during this fight. All this, too, shall come to be. Life will be good…warm …and peaceful once again in this upcoming winter of femalehood.