The sun always rises, but today is a new day…with renewed hope. Godspeed to our new President Joseph Biden & new Madame VP Kamala Harris.
Americans did it, we all came together to ensure this vital change happened on this day. A rejection of the turmoil, hatred, divisiveness, and incompetence of the last four years. A show of triumph and a return to normalcy after the repulsive and shocking attack on the Capitol just 2 weeks ago. A violent attack by an extremist mob ordered by outgoing “President” Donald Trump in an effort to overthrow our democracy. The many months of false claims about election fraud, and the incitive and provocative words that came out of his mouth to a crowd full of people during his own rally outside of the White House on the morning of January 6th are what led to that attack. Five people were killed, including a police officer, and the blood is on his hands. His rally, and the subsequent mob attack at the Capitol, were efforts to stop Congress from confirming Joe Biden as the next president. Today’s inauguration and peaceful transfer of power proves that those efforts failed, that our democracy prevailed, and that our country moves forward.
As far as that previous occupant of the White House goes, history will not be kind to treasonous Trump. The worst president in our nation’s history. He must be held accountable for the crimes he committed while in office as President. He is about to face his historic 2nd impeachment trial in the Senate and, with any luck, 1st of many convictions. I sincerely hope our nation has learned from its mistakes, and will no longer allow a disaster like what we’ve witnessed the past 4 years to happen again going forward. No more mentally ill, narcissistic, delusional demagogue megalomaniac pathological liars who happen to be white supremacists should be allowed any path to become the most powerful person on earth. It’s abundantly clear to me that he buddied up to foreign murderous dictators like Kim Jung Un and Vladimir Putin because he envies their power, and tried his best to turn our wonderful democracy into an autocracy so he could be more like them. As much as he would have loved to be crowned King Trump, unfortunately for him as of today, January 20th, 2021, his reign is over. What is scary is that for the delusional maniacs that still avidly support him, the con continues. Let’s just hope that if this con continues, which is very likely, it does not lead to any further crimes or violence.
With Election Day now officially upon us here in the U.S., people are more divided than ever. When we watch the news, browse social media, even walking in the streets, the ongoing tension between avid supporters of the incumbent president and his detractors is palpable.
Let’s restore integrity, accountability, honesty, and just plain old sanity back into the White House. It has been nothing short of a dumpster fire inside of a shit show since this clown has taken office. From his first day in office, Donald Trump has not taken the job of being President even remotely seriously. I recently saw a license plate and some memes online that say “Elect a clown, expect a circus”, and this has certainly been the case. And calling him a clown is an insult to all the honest and hard working clowns out there. Close to 101 Million people have already voted early before Election Day today, which is a record.^^ Early voting and mail-in ballots were made more widely available nationwide due to concerns and restictions around the Covid-19 pandemic. Let’s hope that this early fervor to make our voices and choices heard when it comes to electing our leaders is a strong signal that most people are unhappy with what is going on, and are in dire need for a change.
I am not a Democrat. I am not a Republican. I am an American. And the state that this nation is in right now is repugnant and unbearable. His continued refusal to take this virus seriously, and his refusal to promote unity in times of increased racial bias and divide has brought us into this moment in time. Instead of unifying people, he fuels the flames of division. We are the United States of America, but the Trump circus has made us into the Divided States of America.
The Hatemonger In Chief
At the first presidential debate he was given the opportunity by the debate moderator to denounce white supremacists and hate groups. Instead of denouncing them, he calls out a violent hate group called the “Proud Boys” and says “Stand back and Stand by”, almost as if he was giving them commands as one of their leaders.^^^^
Just recently it was reported that the federal government has yet to find the parents of at least 545 children that were separated from their families because of the “zero tolerance” immigration policy at the southern border that was implemented by the Trump admininistration in 2018.*** He has had a long history of derogatory comments against minorities, many of them well documented. Saying things like they are criminals, drug dealers, rapists when referring to Mexicans crossing the southern border.^ And more recently referring to Covid-19 as the “China Virus” and “Kung Flu” in his speeches, wrongfully inciting discrimination against the Asian American community. And let us not forget that time, years ago, when he kept insisting that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States and that we needed to see his birth certificate as proof.^^^ In the second Presidential debate, Trump exclaimed “I have done more for the Black community than anyone, except for maybe Abraham Lincoln.” and also this great gem: “I am the least racist person in this room”.
What kind of person says these types of deplorable things? A hateful, racist white supremacist, that’s who.
Trump’s reckless language when talking about people and subjects that don’t align with his personal views and preferences is frightening and dangerous. His call for citizens to “Liberate Michigan!” when criticizing Michigan’s lockdown measures to deal with the Coronavirus led to a group of radical extremists to devise a plot to kidnap the governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer.***** Luckily, the extremist militia group was intercepted by law enforcement officials before they were able to carry out their plans.
It is Trump’s hateful and incendiary rhetoric and his behavior that fuels the bias, prejudice, and divide that is at the heart of the racial tensions and widespread animosity that pervades our society at this time. It emboldens people to hurl racist slurs in the streets at people who look different from them (I have personally seen this with my own eyes), or even commit acts of violence against them (just look at the numerous news stories in recent months. It encourages an environment that leads to police brutality against minorities, and the subsequent protests and riots that come about because of it. And speaking of protests and police brutality – in June, Trump gets the police and National Guard troops to shoot teargas into a group of people peacefully protesting police brutality nearby the White House. The reason? So that they would clear the area and allow for a photo/ video opportunity for Trump to be filmed walking from the White House, through Lafayette Park, to stand in front of a church to hold up the Bible.^^^^^ And this wasteful and idiotic display of stupidity is what our tax dollars are paying for.
Throughout his current tenure as president, he has shown time and time again that he is not so subtly aligned with the white supremacist agenda. And there is plenty of evidence to support this.****
The Trump Virus
As of 11/3/2020* Total U.S. Covid-19 cases: 9.37 Million Total U.S. Covid-19 Deaths: 231K+
The way Donald Trump has handled this pandemic from the outset has been nothing short of atrocious. From the very beginning, Trump has downplayed the virus and denied how serious it was. Saying things like “it’s a hoax”, “it will go away like a miracle”, “it will disappear by Easter”, etc. In the week ending 10/27/20, over 500,000 new cases of Covid-19 were diagnosed, a new record. Yet the Trump administration announces in a press release that they’ve “ended the Covid-19 pandemic” in bold capital letters, completely contradicting the actual facts.** In the final days leading up to the election, we get a stark reminder of how he’s been deceiving, and continues to deceive, the American people.
Since learning about the virus from the very beginning, he has been lying to the public about its severity and intentionally hiding the truth. In an interview with renowned journalist Bob Woodward back in February of this year, Trump is on record stating that he knew about the deadliness of the airborne virus since January. He also stated that he knew it’s more deadly than the strenous flu, “This is Deadly Stuff” he said on record. However, three weeks after that interview he addressed the public about the virus and said “It’s a little like the regular flu that we have flu shots for. And we’ll essentially have a flu shot for this in a fairly quick manner.”(1) A leader of a nation should be open and honest with the citizens that he governs, especially when it can save lives – not create lies to serve his own needs at the expense of American lives. His excuse for this was that he did not want to create panic, and perhaps negatively affect the stock market and economy.
Trump has continually deflected when asked about his handling of the pandemic, pointing his finger to China and calling it the “China virus”, “Kung-flu” among other xenophobic, offensive and provocative names. The virus may have allegedly been first discovered in China, but make no mistake. The reason America has over 9 million confirmed infections and 231k+ deaths and rising daily is because of Trump’s incompetence, ineptitude and selfishness. His refusal to take responsibility and come up with a unified national plan to curb the virus spread has led to the tragic magnitude of the pandemic in the country today. As we’ve all seen, Trump has held large rallies nationwide with people not socially distanced and not wearing masks. He’s held large gatherings at the White House, including the “superspreader” event where he, his wife and 30+ other attendees contracted the virus. Within days of being infected, he returned back to the White House and walked around, unmasked, all for photo ops. He even implied that the virus is not a big deal and to not be worried about it, but did not mention that he was in a better position to recover from the virus than the general public because of his exclusive access to world class medical care and treatments as the POTUS. (2)(3} That is the only area where Trump has made the U.S. number one, we’re the world leader in Covid-19 cases and deaths. And this could have been prevented and greatly mitigated if we had better leadership that believed in science instead of manufacturing fiction. Trump has called his own infectious disease expert – and member of the White House Coronavirus task force – Dr. Anthony Fauci, “a disaster”, and medical experts like him “idiots”. [10]
Don the Con
If I were to list all of the egregious and despicable things this man has done in his 4 years in office and in his decades prior that show his lack of ethics and his poor character, I would be able to publish a book. And there is no shortage of books out there already that do just that. But here’s just a few more examples of his corrupt moral character:
1. He was impeached last year for his Quid Pro Quo collusion with a foreign country. His asking of the Ukraine president to investigate and provide details into Joe Biden’s son’s involvement with a Ukrainian energy company in exchange for US military aid is one for the record books. The 2 articles of impeachment are Abuse of Power, and Obstruction of Justice. Trump is only the 3rd president in history to have been impeached. [9] Of course, his complicit Republican cohorts, led by Mitch McConnell, in the Senate bailed him out from being removed from office.
2. He (still) has not released any of his taxes. He continuously says he will release them since before he was elected in 2016, yet he never has. All prior presidents for the past 40 years have made their taxes public. However, the NY Times was able to obtain unreleased copies of his taxes, which revealed he has been evading and underpaying his taxes over many years, including 2016 – the year he was elected president.[4] They show billions in business losses and at least $1 billion in debt [5], although it is mostly a mystery to whom.
3. He had his personal lawyer, MIchael Cohen, pay off $130K in hush money to pornstar Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about an affair they had while his wife Melania was pregnant with their son. Cohen also paid off $150k to Playboy model Karen McDougal for a similar affair. [6]
4. At least 26 women have accused Trump of sexual assault, including ex-wife Ivana Trump. Has has denied the allegations and has threatened to sue all of his accusers, but no lawsuits have been filed by him yet. Two of his accusers, however, have filed lawsuits against Trump. [7]
The Trump Train
I want a country that values Honesty, Integrity, Decency, Unity, Empathy, Humanity. Things that the American people should aspire to. Not the hate, division, chaos, dishonesty, corruption, and collusion that this Trump administration has thrived on these past 4 years. It’s like a bad TV movie that keeps airing, about the evil cult leader and his brainwashed group of followers that do his bidding and defend him to no end. We keep trying to change the channel, but the same damn horrible movie is on every single channel. Hopefully after tonight, or whenever the final votes are counted, they will pull this horrible movie off the air.
Trump’s avid followers have some sort of blind loyalty to him that has them convinced he can say or do no wrong, and that his word is gospel. It is quite disconcerting and worrisome, to say the least.
To me, there are only a few reasons I can think of as to why a person would be a Trump supporter. And none of them are good. They are as follows:
1. They believe that Trump as president means a stronger economy, better performing stock market, etc. And also, for those that are wealthy, that he will preserve their wealth and provide tax relief for them. There is some evidence that his tax plan would benefit the uber-wealthy.[8] But even if this were true, is it worth sacrificing the welfare of the rest of America, of minorities and the underprivileged? Do you overlook his constant divisive speeches, the lies and deceptions when addressing the American public? Are you willing to sacrifice more American lives during a pandemic in order to re-open the economy at any cost? To some, it is worth selling their soul to the devil.
2. When Trump uses derogatory, hurtful, and offensive language to describe a group of people, some do not find it off-putting or offensive at all. In fact, these people agree with the terminology Trump uses and can relate to the way he marginalizes that group. These people also align with hateful white supremacist idealogy, and pose a serious threat to the moral fabric of America. As Hillary Clinton once put it, they are the “basket of deplorables”.
3. Some of the Trump faithful that are in his core base identify with Trump’s bombastic personality and his condescending and cavalier attitude stemming from his “white privilege”. These people feel that they can relate to him, are easily influenced by what he says, and tend to be less than educated. With no actual proof or basis in fact, they defend whatever he says that is called into question. Or they make excuses as to why he said those things. In other words, unfortunately, they are gullible and feebleminded.
USA! USA!
Is Biden the perfect candidate for president? No. Does he make perfect, mistake-free public speeches? No (neither does Trump). But Biden does know the difference between right and wrong. He knows that love, kindness, compassion, honesty and sympathy is better than the hate, division, lies and corruption that plagues the Trump administration. When given the opportunity to denounce white supremacists and hate groups of that nature, Biden does it without hesitation. Trump not only hesitates, he barks out orders at them as if he was their leader (which isn’t too far off). What happened to human decency? Under the Trump presidency that concept is quickly disappearing, and being replaced by levels of bias, bigotry and cruelty that this nation has not seen in a very long time.
Donald Trump is the worst president we have seen in our lifetime. That is why this is the most important election in our lifetime. It’s no coincidence that people have turned up in record numbers to vote early, either by absentee ballot or at the early voting locations.
To me, it’s as simple as this: it’s like Satan (Trump) is on the ballot, and someone other than Satan. Satan and his cult of complicit evil wrongdoers, worshippers, sycophants and conspirers want to take this country to hell. I do not want this country, my country, to go deeper into that fiery pit of damnation these next 4 years. The evil must be removed from the White House so that the country can begin to heal from the debacle of the last 4 years. The choice, and what we do with that choice, cannot be more clear. May God bless the United States of America. May God Bless Us All. 🙏🙏🙏
*Source: The New York Times **https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/27/us/us-reports-more-than-500000-cases-in-a-week-a-record-as-the-trump-administration-says-it-ended-the-pandemic.html ***https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/lawyers-say-they-can-t-find-parents-545-migrant-children-n1244066 ****https://www.vox.com/21313021/trump-white-nationalism-supremacy-miller-bannon-immigration *****https://thehill.com/homenews/523922-members-of-michigan-militia-charged-with-plot-to-kidnap-whitmer-spotted-at-anti
