Rob turned on the news this evening to check on the Republican convention. I listened to some of it from my office, but couldn’t bring myself to actually watch much of it because it made me want to gag. What I heard confirms several things for me:
The Republican memory is short. They talk about small government, yet under W Bush, the federal government exploded with the creation of Homeland Security, the TSA, unprecedented surveillance on the American people, two wars that were never formally declared by Congress, and the defense budget bloomed. Small government, uh-huh.
The Republican platform is about them against us. Pick your them – it doesn’t matter what name you give them, what religion they abide by, what country they come from. We’ve heard Trump tirades about Mexicans, Muslims, women, blacks, Hispanics from any country, it doesn’t matter. If you are non-white, a woman of any color, and DON’T believe we must be the world cop and invade any country that pisses us off, then you are part of THEM.
The Republican Party is in its death throes, but the death may be long and prolonged and could take us through four years of a Trump presidency, through four years of something that smacks of Fascism, of a kind of concentration camp mentality. Imagine it: a first lady who has posed nude in her fashion career; a president with orange hair who has declared bankruptcy four times and yet calls himself a business whiz; a president who will throw a temper tantrum worthy of a two-year-old if he doesn’t get his way… well, I could go on. The list is long.
Right now, his wife is speaking on his behalf. Donald, she claims, is for all Americans, rich and poor and middle class; Muslim and Asian, Hispanic and blacks, young and old and everything in between. Yes siree, the Donald is America’s savior because he LOVES this country and will KEEP AMERICA SAFE, something no Democratic has ever done.
Again, selective memory: 911 happened under the watch of W Bush, Republican.
Trump’s entire platform for this convention is based on Richard Nixon’s – be afraid of everything in the world and rest assured that I will keep you safe. In fact, fear was the theme of the first day of the convention. Be afraid, be very afraid because things are crazy out there. Black Lives Matter and Islamic terrorism all rolled into one. But help is on the way: Trump will be the law and order president.
Until this moment, I wasn’t going to vote for Clinton because I don’t trust her. Never have. She’s a hawk and my gut tells me that even though she has adopted some of the points in Bernie’s platform that galvanized millions of young people, it may be just rhetoric.
Now I don‘t see any choice but to vote for her because it’s obvious that Trump isn’t just suffering from narcissism and megalomania, he and his supporters live in an alternate universe, where the 1950s never ended. If you’re different than the norm of that era – gay, a black married to a white, an atheist, a woman who seeks to end a pregnancy, someone who doesn’t cheer war, invasion, and hatred of people whose religious beliefs are different than yours – then you’re suspect. In 2005, I think it was, we were in the Dominican Republican, sitting at breakfast. A French man at the next table turned to us and said, “What’s wrong with you Americans? How could you elect W Bush?”
“We didn’t vote for him,” I snapped back.
I can imagine similar questions would be tossed our way if we traveled overseas under a Trump candidacy. Trump’s campaign promise of sending 11 million illegals back to Mexico and barring Muslims from entering the country excite his base, but are stupid and impractical ideas. How do tell someone is a Muslim? There are Christians in every Muslim country in the world. How are the border guards going to know one from the other? It’s like the right’s argument about guns: Take away the guns and only the criminals will have guns. Block all Muslims from entering the country and only the terrorists will enter the country by hiding under the veil of Christianity.
Stupid ideas. Schizoid ideas. But, bottom line, these are the kinds of ideas entertained by the deranged in padded cells.
Now, excuse me while I go sob.
Have been watching from this side of the Atlantic – interesting times to say the least. I won’t comment further as we have our own problems over here – but ‘things’ are stirring in many countries.
I know. Everything you said is true, and that’s what makes me sad for the country my grandchildren are g0ing to inherit. To be fair, it isn’t just the Republicans at fault, though. The Democrats are not without blame as well. There MUST be some way to come together as a united community of America and resolve the worst of the differences. I honestly am torn and am undecided whether or not to vote. Yet, failure to use the privilege to vote will not be good, either. Both parties are slamming each other into the ground. For me, it will come down to the people I sense will be a competent and hard-working group of leaders who have the best interests of the ordinary citizens in mind, and who will be the least war-mongers and the most truthful and trustworthy. I don’t trust Hillary, and I don’t think Obama was strong enough to carry out his leadership position. And Trump….ooooomph. Just must wait it out, watch, listen, and try to do the right thing.
I must disagree that “most of Trump followers are old white men and the uneducated”. My three sons are in their early forties, and many of their peers, the ages of my sons, are almost all college graduates, are Republicans, and support Trump. I do not agree with them. Having said this, I find myself in a deeply disturbing space but don’t know exactly how to articulate it without being offensive. The United States of America is at war within its own borders and among its own people. Not just the “Black Lives Matter” groups and other such dangerous teams. When a Republican denigrates the Democrats in power with scathing words and accusations, etc., that Republican is denigrating millions of fellow American citizens who are Democrats.
When a Democrat similarly denigrates the Republicans in power, that Democrat is denigrating millions of fellow American citizens who are Republicans. These are not the acts of spiritually-oriented, spiritually guided, spiritually minded individuals, and unfortunately, all of us are in this in one way or another. We must somehow, some way, find the means to come together as a Nation without such vitriolic hatred against each other, or we shall surely fail in our purpose to be a highly evolved country with values that, although we may disagree, are not at war with our neighbors who have opposing points of view. This is why we have more than one political arena, more than one religion, etc etc etc, and somehow, in some way, we must learn to accept our differences of opinion in manners that do not create and spread hatred.
In my own mind, I think we might begin by understanding that although we disagree with another person’s ideologies and philosophies, we accept and respect their rights to them, just as we have rights to ours. Otherwise, this beloved USA will falter further and further into the abyss in which we are floundering. We have become a land that pits brother against brother, color against color, on and on and on, and I truly believe in my heart that we have the awareness to cease the prevailing current attitudes that perpetuate the ideas of “divide and conquer”. It doesn’t work. It only brings us shame and pain, and that isn’t who we are.
I think what we’re seeing is the death of an old paradigm.
A couple of years ago, well before Trump entered the picture, I heard a Republican operative say that the only way Republicans can win the White House in ’16 is to be as divisive as possible. Well, we are seeing that happening before our eyes. The GOP convention is divisive within as well as exceedingly divisive against its opposition. Beyond the repetitive chants of ‘Lock her up,’ and all the other epitaphs thrown about, we have a retired general who spoke at the convention and at 6 Trump rallies tell a radio talk show host that Hillary shoot be executed by a firing squad. Can’t get much more divisive than that.
Meanwhile, on the streets of Cleveland more than a mile from the convention site, police are rounding up protesters carrying and throwing tennis balls. Closer to the convention, right wing demonstrators parade with semi-automatics and are shielded by the police. Nice.
The RNC is staging a counter-revolutionary movement. Laws are being written to protect the powerful rather than empower the vulnerable. Order is being defined by a corporate media that cultivates narcissists. The non-violent warriors in the streets of Cleveland will barely be noticed until one of them loses her shit and creates a spectacle. It’s important to craft a viewing angle for this election cycle that lets us see what isn’t in the lights of MSM cameras. There is a strong, smart and peaceful _d_emocratic uprising that won’t be televised. Watch/listen to Amy Goodman, Cenk Ugyar, Chris Hedges, Naomi Klein, Bill McKibbon, Cornel West … and get into the streets of Cleveland and Philadelphia with us.
Did you see the fall out this morning where Melania’s speech was copied from Michell Obama’s speech 8 years ago? I’m astounded that the Trump campaign has been so successful getting people to follow them when they are so inept about so much. I keep reminding myself that the majority of Trump followers are old white men and the uneducated. This country needs to focus on education for all. Between the old white men and uneducated and all the killings I am depressed and aghast.
I saw that about her speech. Incredible.
I didn’t watch it at all. I figured I could read about anything important this morning. I too am crying for my country and realize that we MUST elect Hillary no matter how bad she seems, she’s so much better than Trump. 🙁
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Wow, so powerfully said and succinctly summarized! For me the question is, if Drumpf gets in, can we even get him out in 4 years? I don’t think we’ll be able to count on any due process we’ve come to associate with the American way, or much sanity in government. Hell, the republicans have already hijacked the government in refusing to work with this administration, and we the people? Go figure. I do trust HRC to be the leader this country needs now. What are her motivations; to make money; or, to be the best first woman president this country could ever hope for? Do you think she’s racist, sexist, mean? Do you think she’ll be able to address international issues as sanely as possible, while respecting and understanding other cultures? Do you think she’ll further the cause of women, financially, educationally and with civil liberties, here, and influence that agenda around the world? Do you think she’ll choose a diverse committee of people to staff her administration? Do you think she’ll obstruct the progress already made in activist communities in any way? I voted for President Obama over Secretary Clinton because she voted for the war in Iraq; she has apologized a gazillion times for voting yes – the no’s were a rare minority, indeed. But, then she threw her lot in with President Obama’s administration and worked her ass off on behalf of this country. Is she ambitious? Wouldn’t you have to be to want the job? But is she experienced, is she capable, is she a very reasonable candidate for the job? In the atomic glare of orange light shining on the Repug platform, she’s the right woman for the job, and the person I’m voting for. At least this is what I think now. I’ll watch and listen as much as I can, especially to third party platforms. I don’t have the stomach for the huge miasma of deceit and disrespect that is on display at the RNC. Thanks for writing so brilliantly about it; I’ll be sure to pass it on. Let’s vision an America we can be proud of, at least now, while we can. Call me crazy, but I want a happy ending. I want to believe that America is full of sane, rational wonderful people who will make sure we get good government come Nov. It takes analysis like yours to ensure that happens. Thank you.
I like Jill Stein and would like to see her included in the debates.