Hope is...

Our last post was about the Trump triggered gloom that so many of us are waking up to every morning.  We get up in the morning with a case of the heebie-jeebies wondering what Trumpian mischief we’ll be greeted with.  And then we continue through the day to learn that the President of the United States actually tweeted another inanity or vomited more vengeful bile. It's a routine that's become demoralizing and physically tiring.   

We’re less than three weeks into what’s already seemed like a blackish eternity and hope has been a rarity; a little flicker in a dark dank cavern of tyranny.  But it’s made its presence known, hope has.  And when it does we smile, pump a fist and exclaim, “Yes!”  In any resistance even the smallest, most seemingly insignificant little victory is cause for hope. It serves to bolster the notion that we’re keeping at bay the degradation of our democracy and all that America is supposed to stand for.  Every victory is a promise to repair the damage to America’s reputation that’s being done by the charlatan squatter currently occupying the White House.    

Hope started the very first day with the Women’s Marches where legions of like-minded men and women in all 50 states and 60 countries told Trump and his minions that no, we are not going to go gentle into your dark night.  And since that first day we’ve seen what hope can be and what hope is.

Hope is Sally Yates, the (acting) Attorney General who ordered the DOJ not to defend Trump’s immigration/travel ban, knowing full well that it would incite the wrath of a vindictive President

Hope is U.S. Judge Ann Donnelly blocking part of Trump’s executive order issuing travel and immigration bans.

Hope is Federal Judge James Robart who issued a nationwide halt to the Trump travel ban.

Hope is a flurry of nationwide protests that erupted after the Trump travel ban. 

Hope is Dale Earhardt; fuckin’ Dale Earnhardt, pissing off NASCAR/Trump nation by tweeting that “America is created by immigrants.” 

Hope is 97 companies filing an amicus brief against Trump’s immigration ban.

Hope is the power of the consumer and corporate America telling the Trump Administration, “You know, we’re just not buyin’ it.”

                 Ivanka Trump’s removal from the store shelves, both literal and virtual, of Bloomingdale’s, Home Shopping Network, Belk, Shoes.com, Jet.com, Nieman Marcus and Nordstrom.  In a moving email to its employees the presidents of Nordstrom explained the company position and vowed to back its employees.

                Uber CEO Travis Kalanick quitting Trump’s Advisory Counsel in response to consumer pressure.               

                Starbucks announcing that it will hire 10,000 refugees worldwide in protest of Trump’s travel ban.               

Hope is former Secretary of Labor, Professor Robert Reich who offers outspoken and sound opinions on Trump and his administration.

Hope is a group of seasoned journalists that includes, Dan Rather, Bill Moyers and Carl Bernstein who have been candid, outspoken and rational about the blot that’s smearing America.

Hope is the hundreds of EPA employees who co-signed a letter in opposition to Scott Pruitt’s nomination as head of the EPA.  Hundreds more staged a lunchtime rally in Chicago to protest against Pruitt.

Hope is a tremendous and unprecedented (no not “unpresidented”) groundswell of public opposition to most of Trump’s cabinet picks.

Hope is more than a dozen states’ Attorneys General supporting a lawsuit against the Trump travel ban.

Hope is California Governor Jerry Brown who delivered a fiery State of the State address in which he pledged, "We will defend everybody, every man, woman and child  who has come here for a better life and has contributed to the well-being of our state." Brown ended his speech with a defiant, "California is not turning back. Not now, not ever."

 Hope is the world community that condemns Trump on an almost daily basis, including the British Parliament which has told Trump not to darken the doorstep of its House.

And hope is in the strangest damn places because it will take cracks in the inner circle to topple the despot.

Hope is Glenn Beck?  Yeah, Glenn Beck, the guy whose bluster and "alternative facts" helped to create Donald Trump and is now apparently contrite for it.  Beck sees in Trump’s victory, “the seeds of what happened in Germany in 1933.”

Hope is a group of fellow conservatives who have joined Beck in denouncing Trump; Thomas Sowell, William Kristol, Cal Thomas and Michael Medved.

Hope is David Brooks.  Yes David Brooks the New York Times’ conservative columnist who has been highly critical of Trump.  Brooks is joined by George Will who opined about Trump’s inaugural address, “Living down to expectations, he had delivered the most dreadful inaugural address in history.”

There’s hope that the Republican Congress will realize that Trump is a losing proposition who will have to be isolated and eventually removed from power.  And the added hope is that GOP realize its mistake all too late to avoid its own ignominious defeat in 2018. 

And ridiculously enough hope resides in the likes of Kellyanne Conway and Sean Spicer whose “alternate facts,” and ongoing comedy act will continue to paint a picture of chaos, disarray and incompetence in the White House.

And yes, hope might just be resting secretly and maliciously in Donald Trump’s very soul in the guise of his own inept, ignorant, spiteful, bigoted self; character weaknesses that as they become more apparent, more troubling and more wearisome will finally lead to his own downfall.

But foremost, hope is us; those who realize that America is greater than Donald Trump and his stooges and their warped vision.   Hope is in the America that won’t stop resisting; not for four years, not for one year, not for a month, or a week or a day or a single minute.  Hope is the America of reason and good conscience that steadfastly refuses to believe that fear and hate and division are the paths to national greatness.  Hope is in the hearts of Americans who hold that inclusion and charity and justice are what America has traditionally stood for and must continue to stand for if it is to exist as a nation.  Hope is in the knowledge that American ideals are written in the Constitution and engraved on the Statue of Liberty and not in an angry tweet. Hope will never allow us to claim an unrepentant, two bit charlatan as our President.  Hope is all of us of good conscience rising as one to say, “Hell no,” to the bleak, pessimistic and abhorrent tyranny that threatens this nation.   

Posted by Paulie - San Francisco CA