Instagram and Trump and the rest of it…

WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 29: U.S. President Donald Trump and his granddaughter Arabella Rose Kushner walk across the South Lawn as they return from a weekend stay in Bedminster, New Jersey at the White House on July 29, 2018 in Washington, DC. Earlier in the day, the President once again went after the media on Twitter, calling them the ‘enemy of the people.’ (Photo by Jim Lo Scalzo-Pool/Getty Images)

I waded into Instagram for only one reason: because my agent said you need a social media platform to sell books. I’m not so sure  IG is that medium, but I know that Twitter isn’t. Facebook may not be that medium, either, but it has  a third of the world’s population engaged, so who knows?

Here’s what I know about IG. Pockets of it are so dark and strange it’s as if you’ve fallen into an alternative universe. I ran into one of these tonight.

A sampling:

How to offend a liberal with 4 words, a series:

there are 2 genders
Abortion kills unborn babies
Guns don’t kill people
Illegal immigrants are ILLEGAL
We need border security
Make America great again
Your feelings are irrelevant

Huh?

Then this, from an IG called superior_conservatives:

Beside giving illegal visas, we should give them Mastercards as well, with a photo of AOC as the backdrop.

Or this: Trump is literally making unemployment rate go down and is bringing in more jobs. So shut your ass up you dumb Obama cock sucker.

When the press, when ordinary people, talk about the lack of decorum among trump supporters, the lack of any sort of presidential anything, this is the kind of thing they’re referencing.

When the president talks like some racist misogynistic who holds nothing but disdain for the rules of law and what’s best for the country he’s supposed to be leading, it’s no surprise that the people like this come out of the closet. Hey, guess what! I’m also a racist. I think women and everyone else who isn’t like me belongs in a detention camp, a cage, prison. No collusion, no crime, nothing going on here, you stupid electorate. Just vote for me in 2020 and let’s make America great again.

Well, sorry dude, hate to break your bubble. Even Fox News recognizes that trump’s refusal to comply with subpoenas, his instructions to staff to do the same, constitutes obstruction of justice.

I don’t understand why any woman, of any color would support you. I don’t understand your Evangelical support because, frankly, there’s no moral compass connected to anything you do. Your prime directive is to make money as president, which is why you won’t release your tax returns and are demanding that your former attorney, Andy McCabe and everyone else who has worked for you must ignore his/her subpoenas from Congress.

We stand at an unprecedented point in history, where Democracy lies in the cross hairs of a nut in the White House who figures he can bully his way to a second term. I think Joe Biden is a nice guy, was a good VP for Obama, and that his life has been riddled with tragedies that give him an insightful understanding of the human dilemma. But I also don’t think he’ll win against trump. Nice Guys rarely win against bullies, even a Nice Guy with Biden’s long public service record.

We’re entering a  new paradigm, and to fully realize it, we need visionaries, not throwbacks. We need impeachment that holds trump accountable, not waffling about whether impeachment is a good political strategy. If impeachment proceedings aren’t brought against trump, then the Dems are basically saying, Hey, we know you’re a crook who violated innumerable laws, but we’re going to give you a pass in the hopes that we win the White House in 2020. It’s a weak, stupid strategy.

And by doing that, they’re telling every subsequent president to do whatever the hell they want and not worry about consequences unless there’s an expedient reason to do so. The current  DOJ policy says that current presidents can’t be held accountable, can’t be indicted because they are like kings and emperors, autocrats and dictators who are above the law.

Really?  Since when is anyone above the law?