Struggling.
It is not lost on me that the vast majority (but not ALL) of folks calling for the nation to step back and give Trump a chance, to stop protesting and allow the country to come together in unity and "heal" are the ones who have, not for a single day, given the same consideration to the man who's occupied the White House for almost 8 years with dignity.
Let's take a look at what we're looking at, potentially, over the next 4 years:
TRUMP - The man who rode a platform promising:
- mass deportations
- identifying Muslims by forcing them to wear patches
- encouraging citizens to spy on each other even when there's been no indication that anyone has done anything "wrong" except for choosing a specific religion
- overturning the Affordable Care Act, leaving millions of people who finally had access to health insurance (shitty as it may be) with nothing
- to "knock the hell" out of anyone who opposes anything he wants
- to provide tax cuts to the super-wealthy who are already paying little to no taxes as it is
- to overturn Roe v. Wade, putting women back at risk of going into dirty alleys and unsanitary hotel rooms in order to continue to make her own decisions about her own body
- to defund Planned Parenthood, which provides free and low-cost health care services, which have nothing to do with abortions, to men and women regardless of their ability to pay
- unquestioned support of Police who shoot unarmed citizens
- to overturn marriage equality at the federal level, returning the decision to individual states and abolishing the spousal benefits to same-sex couples
- to reinstate Stop-and-Frisk at the national level
- to end the efforts to progress green energy and other geared toward climate change since he believes that climate change isn't real
- heavy reliance on Eminent Domain
- to work with RUSSIA on a whole bunch of issues
- to appoint judges in the vein of Antonin Scalia to the SCOTUS, basically fucking the world for the next 10-15 years at least
Now let's look at the names being bantered about as members of his Cabinet:
- Forrest Lucas, a 74-year old oil magnate
- Goldman Sachs alum Steven Mnuchin
- Newt fucking Gingrich
- Rudi Giulani, the man whose name became a household staple after the 9/11 attacks on NYC and Washington DC, yet stood on a stage screaming about how there were no successful terror attacks on US soil before Obama's presidency
- Chris Christie
- Sarah Palin (I'm sure that Russia's just in her back yard is coincidental)
And I am only scratching the surface. The fact that the KKK endorsed him and he didn't immediately and unequivocally denounce the endorsement says it all. How do we believe that he wants to be a President for all US citizens (especially for the "forgotten men and women") when he embraces white supremacists? And he's basically admitting he's not going to be President for immigrants, and is primarily concerned with the people he thinks feel forgotten: white folks.
So why am I struggling? Because as mentioned, there's a huge part of this country's citizens who never accepted Barack Obama as the President of the United States. A Republican-controlled House and Senate who enthusiastically fucked We The People for the last 8 years as long it meant opposing every single effort the President made. I am not sure how those of us who supported Obama during his Presidency would be any different than those who didn't, if we new refuse to acknowledge the incoming President.
At the same time, I don't know how to support a man who embodies everything that I am against. I am scared to death. This man, with a Republican-controlled House and Senate, with multiple vacancies on the Supreme Court... the amount of damage he can do is enormous.
Every time I think about the forthcoming Trump presidency, I flash back to the scene in STAR WARS: REVENGE OF THE SITH when Padme watched as Senator Palpatine established the Empire and lamented.... "So, this is how liberty dies... to thunderous applause."
