Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Singing To The Choir

Jessie and I did Costco today with August and then we went to Publix and I swear to god- if one of us needs to go to a grocery store of any kind in the next two weeks, I will be amazed.
But of course we will.
Tonight I'm baking a little organic chicken with potatoes and onions and carrots from the garden, both purple and orange. I wish I could tell you how excited I am about this. I wish I weren't so food-oriented. And honestly- I am not even sure which I like better- cooking or eating. I always think about that wonderful moment from Northern Exposure when Adam, the insane chef, asks a group of cooking students why they think he cooks. They hem and they haw, they are completely intimidated by him and finally one shyly says, "Because you are hungry?"
"YES!" he booms. "Because I am hungry!"
A moment of epiphany for me. Because yes, I am hungry, and I like to eat good food. And thus- I love to cook.
Which is another reason I love to garden. There is no better food than what we grow.
Well, except for Velveeta, of course. Just kidding!
Sort of.

Anyway, that's not what I came here to talk about. I came here to talk about Donald Trump which I had sworn I would not do. I can't help it though. If there is any truth to the belief that what we put out into the universe has some effect (and the jury's still out on that in my opinion) then I have to put something out in the universe. It's too fucking late to worry that anything I say will only add flame to the fire of the energy which he seems to engendered which is now blazing white hot like an uncontrollable forest fire, set by a careless person with a match in a place drought-ridden for a very long time which was completely dismissed and ignored by those whose job it was to keep watch until the flames threatened the very life of...well, an entire country. Or maybe the world.
Fuck.
I see that the Republican Party are finally getting a bit perturbed. I mean, even the party that let Clint Eastwood stand up at their convention and talk to a chair is beginning to think that the idea of Trump as president might be insane.
A man I know, whom I am "friends" with on Facebook, with whom I went through an incredibly emotional and difficult time a year or so back, posted a picture of himself yesterday at that Trump rally in Valdosta, Georgia. You know, the one where thirty black students were forcibly rejected simply because they were black?
Yeah. That one.
And I have had the hardest time not attacking him. Verbally, of course. He was holding a sign that said, "Making America Great Again" or whatever that Trumpism is and I DID ask in a comment exactly what that meant. He didn't reply but his daughter did. Her comment was, "Yay!!! We will be laughing together inside because we both know why!!!"
I have a very strong feeling that the reason has a lot to do with race. Our president's race, the races of immigrants, the race of everyone in the world who has skin-color darker than theirs.

And as I've said over and over and over again, it is not Trump himself who scares me so much. It is the fact that he is given not only tacit approval but full-on, blood-pumping approval of racists spewing their hatred out loud.
I don't know if this is what the Donald set out to do, but the reality is- he has.
He tossed the match. The flame caught.
The fire is not under control.

So. Do I say anything more under that post?
What's the point? Because the truth of the matter is, these people do not care one bit about the truth. They do not care. They do not give a shit that DT is no more qualified to be president than my rooster is. In fact, that makes them happy! People like Obama scare the shit out of them because they KNOW he's smarter than they are, better educated than they are, more decent than they are and is far more successful in every way than they ever will be.
Nope. They like the Donald who is as white as white, who, no matter what incredible bullshit he comes up with, no matter how far-flung and ridiculous and impossible and hateful what he says may be because he gives them permission to say out loud what they've had simmering in their paranoid, angry brains and hearts forever.

Make America great again? Before no one had the vote except for white men?
I think that's probably the core of it right there.
When the true fact of the matter is, of course, that Donald Trump no more cares about them and their families than he cares about African American families or Mexicans or Muslims or the impoverished.
Again- they may even know this. And again, they don't care.
He's (supposedly) rich and white and has a wife who looks like a stripper and he isn't afraid to say what he thinks.
Hell yeah!

So. What are we to do?

Vote. That's all we can do.

I'd say we need to speak out but honestly- what good is that going to do? These Trumpers have heard all they want to hear which is that they can finally express the basest thoughts of their minds. And I am no longer going to be flabbergasted at the fact that their number is legion. I'm going to just accept the truth of it. I don't like it and in fact I hate it.
But it is what it fucking is.

I'm going to cook some green beans now.

I'm hungry.

Fucking vote, y'all. Please.




17 comments:

  1. it is all so astonishing is it not? This country is on the brink, how hard the mighty fall- BONK! What is to stop the dysfunctional congress/senate to boycott/stonewall any democrat that might "win"...absolutely nothing. The crazies have been exalted, the raging fire out of control, Save yourself!!!

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  2. Go here and look at the chart on who voted. This is enough to scare a person to death.

    http://www.npr.org/2016/03/02/468918065/republican-super-tuesday-turnout

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  3. I've often wondered how a Hitler or a Mussolini could possibly have come to power. And while I'm not saying that DT is a Hitler or Mussolini, I am finding the multitudes who are following this bizarre man quite unsettling. How so many mostly well fed, free, 21st century adult Americans could fall in line behind this man is really unnerving.

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  4. It's scary, what could happen if Trump, or any of the republican contenders, gets elected. Who could have thought what a black man as president could have wrought. 20% or so of Trumps supporters think freeing the slaves was a bad idea. And Trump, this is all just a game to him, a competition, and if he fails as president, as so many of his business dealings have, so what. He's still rich, the fallout won't affect him. So, will the Republican Party totally, brazenly subvert the will of the people if he is the popular choice?

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  5. Trump and his followers scare me to death! And that includes several of my own family! You can bet your ass I'll be voting!

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  6. If I lived there, I'd vote! As it is, I've keep a closer watch on this election than any other, even the ones which Obama won, and I watched those pretty keenly. Those elections were so joyous for us even though we don't live there. This one is completely the opposite.

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  7. This is what I say: Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God.

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  8. And in response to what Allison highlighted -- I think the reason is NOT because the Democrats aren't engaged. I honestly think they're waiting it out, trying to figure out whom to vote for (Clinton or Sanders) and that as soon as we get a candidate, we're GOING TO TOWN. I DO NOT think the old guard of the Republican party will allow this man to win.

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  9. It's hard to act as if the fire isn't ravaging the forest. Like you, I've tried to ignore the flames licking higher and higher but I just can't. I agree with Elizabeth's analysis of low primary voting turnout among Dems. Hillary or Bernie, come November we'll be there in droves.

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  10. Support of Trumo is indeed scarier than Trump himself.

    Laods of socio-psychological reasons explain dicatators' rise to power pretty convincingly. Perhaps Trump is a manifestation of the collective psyche of his supporters. Maybe we need to point a wand at him and shout 'Ridikulus!'

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  11. Last night I watched a talk show on our serious pompous German tv about DT and what is going on etc. The experts in the round included a former US ambassador to Germany, a couple of American academics, the ususal round-up of our own politicians and "experts" and so on.

    All of the US highbrow educated participants were suspiciously calm and reassuring in their opinion that HC will have the day.

    Next - on one of these international news channel with odd advertising - I watched a rather bizzare interview with an anonymous "international business expert" who in her best US accent assured the world that either a) DT will drop out at the last minute because he loses interest or b) he'll be made to drop out or lose or whatever by more "sinister means".

    This morning I read an interview with a scientist who researches hate postings on the social media as part of some psychological study. She indicates a direct relationship between the way social media allows for hate speech and expression of opinions that usually would not be voiced directly in person and the support for populist politicians and movements, esp. those based on hate and xenophobia. It's a floodgate, she claims, maybe we are losing our moral compass.

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  12. I think the "enthusiasm gap" that the NPR graph shows (Allison's link) will not apply in the general election -- particularly if Trump is the Republican nominee. Plenty of people will be motivated to keep him out of office. And while Democrats may not have voted in the Super Tuesday primaries with the same fervor this year, I suspect that's because many assume the nomination is already sewn up by Hillary. (Bernie is at best a long, long shot at this point.)

    I agree -- we all have to vote and do our part. I can't remember if I wrote it here or somewhere else, but a friend of mine once pointed out that Rush Limbaugh is so successful because he allows people to give voice to their baser instincts -- their racism, their xenophobia, their anger. Trump, as you said, is the same.

    Also, from what I've seen on social media, Trump's supporters overwhelmingly failed their classes in grammar, spelling and punctuation.

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  13. I saw the facebook post too. Glad you made a comment. My teeth were so tightly clenched I couldn't see straight.

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  14. I agree with the whole post, but the best part was "has a wife who looks like a stripper" Can you imagine how she would redecorate the White House? Which of course she would. It would look like Versailles and there would probably be a gold throne in the oval room.

    He won't win, he'll probably get the nomination, but he won't win. There are just too many who will get off their asses at the right moment and say,- are you fucking kidding me?? They'll suddenly get that the apocalypes is coming and snap out of it. After all, who wants to die, except those 144,000 who think he is the savior.

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  15. He's hardly white Mary! ORANGE perhaps, TANGERINE maybe, but hardly white.
    Have you seen the John Oliver thing on him? It's perfection.
    The GOP may be waking up. I read in the news he talked about his big dick tonight so maybe that will be the thing that sinks him. Let's hope.

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  16. At one of our local supermarkets here in idaho there's an aisle header 'jar cheese'. It cracks me up.

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  17. Yes, and more yes to what you wrote. You have said it all. I am beyond disgusted. But I will vote and do my part to keep him and Cruz, who is even more frightening if that could be possible, out of being in the White House. We are in trying times. And if the house of cards falls, well, a lot of people asked for it.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.