It’s been one year and 18 days since the presidential election of 2016. It’s been over 11 months since the inauguration and it’s been more than 7 months since I abandoned this blog. And now I’m going to take a deep breath and try to blow some life back into this thing..
Why such a long hiatus? I quit this blog in part because it was quite simply a depressing undertaking. To do a blog about life under the Trump regime is what I would imagine bathing in battery acid would be like. To do it correctly meant researching in some depth the lunacy that had taken over Washington. It’s one thing to keep up with the news. It’s yet another to stick your head deep into a pile of manure.
But mostly, I abandoned this blog because of a sweeping, all-inclusive, no holds barred hatred that was and still is poisoning America. We live in a nation where, astoundingly, everybody’s right - and everybody’s wrong. It’s a time in which fact is fiction and fiction is fact. A time when everybody hears and nobody listens and it’s all drowned out anyway by the screaming.
It’s the blind, white hot, “I don’t wanna hear it,” animus that inspired the discouragement that put this blog on hold. And it’s not just the right and the Trump supporters that turned me off. It was also, and probably more so, the hatred and the vitriol from the left. And I say more so because the left is the side that I relate to and it’s troubling whenever the left spews deceptive bile. As soon as an argument is proven false it becomes suspect and the left doesn’t have to weaken it’s foundation through the use of the false and the sensational. Let’s keep our heads. We have enough legitimate ammunition. Let's not forget the admonition from the waning days of better times, "When they go low, we go high."
America is in crisis and as vile and as incompetent as Donald Trump is, he is a symptom. There is a disease that’s plaguing America and while we would like to claim Donald Trump as the infection he’s a symptom. Donald Trump’s days are numbered. Whether he serves an abbreviated first term or somehow manages to bumble through two terms he has a limited shelf life. And then what? Do we expect that those who voted for Trump or still support him will suddenly go away? Suddenly have a change of heart? They’re Americans, whether we like them or agree with them or not. What do you propose that we do with them?
Does the hatred go away with Trump’s departure and do the fissures between various factions and sides magically repair themselves? When Donald Trump and his gang have fled Washington will there suddenly be a national moment of kumbaya? Will the public finally take to task the feckless, immoral bullshitters like Alex Jones and Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter and their counterparts on the left? Will the American people miraculously find that they have the power to investigate and to reason and to think before they cast a ballot or before they go on social media to mindlessly post and click with the sole purpose of demeaning and pissing people off? We expect a certain amount of dignity and decorum from our elected officials yet we seem to have no problem with acting like apes throwing feces at each other. If venom is the potion of choice of the constituency then it will surely be perceived as the potion that wins the favor of that selfsame constituency.
We have a crisis because those on the right view the left as snowflakes and unpatriotic, disrespectful elites and because people on the left look down on folks on the right; blithely dismissing them as deplorables, rubes and idiots. Everyone has to be correct with no middle ground to be found. A verbal and social media civil war. We are in the midst of a seemingly incurable malaise because we can’t agree on or negotiate on issues like, global warming, gun control, race and racism, healthcare, flags (American and Confederate) or any other damned thing. Who would’ve thought that Americans would argue over whether Russia pulled an election year dirty trick that would make Richard Nixon blush? We’re arguing about the nefariousness of the fucking Russians led by an amoral KGB agent for God’s sake.
All of us left and right should take no joy in the national crevasse. We should be concerned and not proud that we unfriend people on Facebook because of who they voted for in 2016. There’s no exultation because Aunt Mabel who voted for Trump or Uncle Zach who voted for Clinton didn’t come to Thanksgiving dinner because of the politics.
And to be clear, I am not speaking about racists and neo-Nazis and the religious zealots who believe that our national chaos is going to speed up the so-called rapture. For them there is no cure and there is no room. I’m not speaking of the politically seasoned; the surrogates, the legislators; the administration and the business leaders; the politically and economically savvy serpents who have ideological and financial stakes in Trump. Trump is their means to self-serving ends.
I’m talking about those in despair who feel forgotten. The factory worker in Ohio whose job got off-shored,saw his retirement nest egg scrambled and is now splitting shifts between being a Walmart greeter and working the counter at Papa John’s. These are the people who don’t just feel like they’ve fallen through the cracks; they feel as if they were willfully dropped. And in many ways they are right. They were fucked by politicians who did the bidding of big business, shareholders, banks and Wall Street. They see establishment Washington and Democrats in particular as a bunch of elites who look down on them as hayseeds, fools and rubes. And so they listened to a carny huckster tell them what they wanted to hear and heard his opponent come off as condescending.
I have relatives and friends who voted for Trump. I know they’re not racist. I know they’re not Nazis. I know they’re decent people. At about the point where I’d quit this blog I decided that it was time to try to understand how we got here and understand those who voted for Trump. I spent the better part of the summer and the fall reading books about the hopeless Americans. I still don’t know that I understand but I feel as if my eyes have been opened, even if just a bit.
My gloom comes from seeing America moving towards, if it hasn’t already arrived at, a revenge based system. In 2009, the Republicans made a deal amongst themselves to sink the Obama Presidential ship the moment it was launched. They blocked progress and kept America from moving forward while convincing a large portion of the electorate that their obfuscation was somehow good for the country. Sadly that misguided strategy had a measure of success. And now America has elected a President who decided to make it his spiteful mission to delegitimize his predecessor to the detriment of doing the business of running the country. And many in the new opposition, the Democrats want to play their own revenge game; “Treat him like they treated Obama. That’ll show him.” Oppose what rightfully should be opposed but we cannot oppose for the sake of opposition. Where does that lead us? Progress cannot exist when the governing philosophy is based on an eye for an eye.
America is fighting a war within it's own borders. It was 159 years ago, before the first shots of the Civil War were fired that Lincoln said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand...I do not expect the Union to be dissolved - I do not expect the house to fall - but I do expect that it will cease to be divided." It wasn't long before America took up arms against itself. I can't imagine the despair that those like myself must have felt when the shots were fired. I can't bring myself to believe that America would again fight a shooting war against itself. But I am not entirely certain that America will survive this great divide. We should all; left, right and center have some moments of reflection and ask ourselves and our fellow Americans how we can somehow come together. We won't all embrace the same philosophy or the same values. That's never been America. We had better find a way to be an America with divergent views that work in concert and with a purpose of collaboration and cooperation to be the great country that the world once looked up to.
As difficult as it can be at times and as desperate as I often feel, I have to believe that the system will at some point prevail and the fabric of our government, our institutions and our society will be put back together again. I fervently hope and wish that our America will heal. I’m 64 years old and my time is diminishing. My heart aches for my children and my children’s children.
We had bloody well better find a way to cool the anger and bridge the divide. And it is on us, we the people because those in power will not get it done. I dare say that it is in the best interest of those in power, socially, financially and politically for America to be the divided nation that it is now. It's a centuries old strategy with it's own Latin appellation; "divide et impera" - divide and rule.
Earlier in this blog I wrote, "Do we expect that those who voted for Trump or still support him will suddenly go away? Suddenly have a change of heart? They’re Americans, whether we like them or agree with them or not. What do you propose that we do with them?" This is not a rhetorical question. It's a question that both the left and the right have to face, not just at the end of the Trump Administration but now and in the future. What do we do with them? It isn't rhetorical. There is a comments section at the end of this piece. What do you think?
But mostly, I abandoned this blog because of a sweeping, all-inclusive, no holds barred hatred that was and still is poisoning America. We live in a nation where, astoundingly, everybody’s right - and everybody’s wrong. It’s a time in which fact is fiction and fiction is fact. A time when everybody hears and nobody listens and it’s all drowned out anyway by the screaming.
It’s the blind, white hot, “I don’t wanna hear it,” animus that inspired the discouragement that put this blog on hold. And it’s not just the right and the Trump supporters that turned me off. It was also, and probably more so, the hatred and the vitriol from the left. And I say more so because the left is the side that I relate to and it’s troubling whenever the left spews deceptive bile. As soon as an argument is proven false it becomes suspect and the left doesn’t have to weaken it’s foundation through the use of the false and the sensational. Let’s keep our heads. We have enough legitimate ammunition. Let's not forget the admonition from the waning days of better times, "When they go low, we go high."
America is in crisis and as vile and as incompetent as Donald Trump is, he is a symptom. There is a disease that’s plaguing America and while we would like to claim Donald Trump as the infection he’s a symptom. Donald Trump’s days are numbered. Whether he serves an abbreviated first term or somehow manages to bumble through two terms he has a limited shelf life. And then what? Do we expect that those who voted for Trump or still support him will suddenly go away? Suddenly have a change of heart? They’re Americans, whether we like them or agree with them or not. What do you propose that we do with them?
Does the hatred go away with Trump’s departure and do the fissures between various factions and sides magically repair themselves? When Donald Trump and his gang have fled Washington will there suddenly be a national moment of kumbaya? Will the public finally take to task the feckless, immoral bullshitters like Alex Jones and Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter and their counterparts on the left? Will the American people miraculously find that they have the power to investigate and to reason and to think before they cast a ballot or before they go on social media to mindlessly post and click with the sole purpose of demeaning and pissing people off? We expect a certain amount of dignity and decorum from our elected officials yet we seem to have no problem with acting like apes throwing feces at each other. If venom is the potion of choice of the constituency then it will surely be perceived as the potion that wins the favor of that selfsame constituency.
We have a crisis because those on the right view the left as snowflakes and unpatriotic, disrespectful elites and because people on the left look down on folks on the right; blithely dismissing them as deplorables, rubes and idiots. Everyone has to be correct with no middle ground to be found. A verbal and social media civil war. We are in the midst of a seemingly incurable malaise because we can’t agree on or negotiate on issues like, global warming, gun control, race and racism, healthcare, flags (American and Confederate) or any other damned thing. Who would’ve thought that Americans would argue over whether Russia pulled an election year dirty trick that would make Richard Nixon blush? We’re arguing about the nefariousness of the fucking Russians led by an amoral KGB agent for God’s sake.
All of us left and right should take no joy in the national crevasse. We should be concerned and not proud that we unfriend people on Facebook because of who they voted for in 2016. There’s no exultation because Aunt Mabel who voted for Trump or Uncle Zach who voted for Clinton didn’t come to Thanksgiving dinner because of the politics.
And to be clear, I am not speaking about racists and neo-Nazis and the religious zealots who believe that our national chaos is going to speed up the so-called rapture. For them there is no cure and there is no room. I’m not speaking of the politically seasoned; the surrogates, the legislators; the administration and the business leaders; the politically and economically savvy serpents who have ideological and financial stakes in Trump. Trump is their means to self-serving ends.
I’m talking about those in despair who feel forgotten. The factory worker in Ohio whose job got off-shored,saw his retirement nest egg scrambled and is now splitting shifts between being a Walmart greeter and working the counter at Papa John’s. These are the people who don’t just feel like they’ve fallen through the cracks; they feel as if they were willfully dropped. And in many ways they are right. They were fucked by politicians who did the bidding of big business, shareholders, banks and Wall Street. They see establishment Washington and Democrats in particular as a bunch of elites who look down on them as hayseeds, fools and rubes. And so they listened to a carny huckster tell them what they wanted to hear and heard his opponent come off as condescending.
I have relatives and friends who voted for Trump. I know they’re not racist. I know they’re not Nazis. I know they’re decent people. At about the point where I’d quit this blog I decided that it was time to try to understand how we got here and understand those who voted for Trump. I spent the better part of the summer and the fall reading books about the hopeless Americans. I still don’t know that I understand but I feel as if my eyes have been opened, even if just a bit.
My gloom comes from seeing America moving towards, if it hasn’t already arrived at, a revenge based system. In 2009, the Republicans made a deal amongst themselves to sink the Obama Presidential ship the moment it was launched. They blocked progress and kept America from moving forward while convincing a large portion of the electorate that their obfuscation was somehow good for the country. Sadly that misguided strategy had a measure of success. And now America has elected a President who decided to make it his spiteful mission to delegitimize his predecessor to the detriment of doing the business of running the country. And many in the new opposition, the Democrats want to play their own revenge game; “Treat him like they treated Obama. That’ll show him.” Oppose what rightfully should be opposed but we cannot oppose for the sake of opposition. Where does that lead us? Progress cannot exist when the governing philosophy is based on an eye for an eye.
America is fighting a war within it's own borders. It was 159 years ago, before the first shots of the Civil War were fired that Lincoln said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand...I do not expect the Union to be dissolved - I do not expect the house to fall - but I do expect that it will cease to be divided." It wasn't long before America took up arms against itself. I can't imagine the despair that those like myself must have felt when the shots were fired. I can't bring myself to believe that America would again fight a shooting war against itself. But I am not entirely certain that America will survive this great divide. We should all; left, right and center have some moments of reflection and ask ourselves and our fellow Americans how we can somehow come together. We won't all embrace the same philosophy or the same values. That's never been America. We had better find a way to be an America with divergent views that work in concert and with a purpose of collaboration and cooperation to be the great country that the world once looked up to.
As difficult as it can be at times and as desperate as I often feel, I have to believe that the system will at some point prevail and the fabric of our government, our institutions and our society will be put back together again. I fervently hope and wish that our America will heal. I’m 64 years old and my time is diminishing. My heart aches for my children and my children’s children.
We had bloody well better find a way to cool the anger and bridge the divide. And it is on us, we the people because those in power will not get it done. I dare say that it is in the best interest of those in power, socially, financially and politically for America to be the divided nation that it is now. It's a centuries old strategy with it's own Latin appellation; "divide et impera" - divide and rule.
Earlier in this blog I wrote, "Do we expect that those who voted for Trump or still support him will suddenly go away? Suddenly have a change of heart? They’re Americans, whether we like them or agree with them or not. What do you propose that we do with them?" This is not a rhetorical question. It's a question that both the left and the right have to face, not just at the end of the Trump Administration but now and in the future. What do we do with them? It isn't rhetorical. There is a comments section at the end of this piece. What do you think?
I began this blog long ago and quit it long ago. I had quickly drifted from my own original purpose which was to chronicle my feelings about America under the Trump Administration. My contributions quickly moved from that to a rehash of news and criticism of the administration’s actions. That sort of thing is available in various forms and mediums and done by more qualified people than me. For my part I’m going to try to get this thing back to my personal observations. This post is a start.
If someone is looking for an ideological, partisan treatise or a serving of red meat then my contributions are probably not on your menu. My posts will be meant as a personal journal about a time that is trying at best and terrifying at worst.
This blog also started as a collaboration with a close and like minded friend. I don’t know whether he will return. I would be glad if he does and he is welcome to contribute in a way that he sees fit. Our views will likely be similar but our ways of expressing them and what we express may differ.
~ Posted by Paulie
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