All right, let’s have one more for the road.
A new chapter is about to begin, and that means a
lot of things. Obviously, a lot of them
are less than ideal. Will Trump accept a
loss if it’s dealt to him? Will Clinton
stay on the straight and narrow if she’s elected? Are we in for an onslaught of open bigotry? Of corrupt schemes? Is there enough unrest for people on either
side to wage war -- physically, mentally, socially, culturally, whatever -- on
anyone who doesn’t agree with them? And
what’s going to become of America at large?
What’ll become of the world at large?
I don’t know. I’m hoping for the
best, as I always do. But at the very
least? If our past, present, and future
are all part of one sprawling story, then it’s exactly as I just said: a new
chapter is about to begin, and we’re turning the page on the old one. The
often silly, mostly stupid one.
It’s funny, though. I was under the impression that there are two
things you’re never supposed to talk about: religion and politics. But this election has been on everyone’s lips
(and minds) for a while now. I’m sure
that’s true of every election year, so this one isn’t that big of an anomaly --
at least on the surface. I think the
core of it ties back to a brief conversation I had the other day, where I
admitted that I voted for Clinton. I did
so with a bit of hesitation, because I thought that you’re definitely not supposed to mention your presidential pick out
loud. But I wasn’t going to stand up
there and lie, so I didn’t.
Thankfully, the guy I talked to didn’t give me any
trouble for it. I didn’t ask him who he
voted for (because I have a weird line of reasoning and set of social graces),
but he was quick to mention that he hoped a third candidate would pop up…even
though there are technically other options, but they’re probably not as
viable as the core two. The way he
talked, it sounded as if he didn’t even intend to vote. In his words, “One’s a bigot, and the other’s
a criminal. Who do you choose?” He had a point, or at least the semblance of
one. This election is bizarre, and I
don’t blame anyone for being disillusioned by the choices on tap this time
around. With that in mind, I’m making
this post because there are still three questions I have in mind. And I’m going to tackle them for just a hint of inner peace.
So here’s the first question: why did I vote for Hillary Clinton?
There’s not much point in pretending I didn’t do
otherwise. The last two posts implied my
stance weeks in advance, and I don’t think I’ve left any clues in the 4+ years
of this blog that I’d align with…that guy. So yes, I voted for Clinton, and no, I don’t
regret it. At this stage, she seems like
the only choice. That sounds like a
begrudging admission of loyalty, I know, but don’t worry. I can make a case for myself, if not the potential
president of the United States.
It’s hard to deny the baggage that Clinton’s
brought with her into this race, right up to its final days. You can’t bring her up without some golden
buzzwords like “emails” or “Benghazi”.
Her name is almost (if not definitively) synonymous with “corruption”,
to the point where conspiracies and distrust dog her no matter what she does --
including making it to this point over fan favorites like Bernie Sanders. She’s a liar, she’s a cheater, she’s a thief,
she’s crooked, she’s got no charisma, she’s got no stamina, et cetera, et
cetera. She’s the devil in a pants suit,
in the eyes of a select few. At least, I
hope it’s a select few.
Is Clinton guilty?
Was she ever? Did she con her way
into power and wealth? Is she going to
make decisions just to profit herself and a small cadre of comrades? If she takes the Oval Office, then are we in
for at least four years of unbridled corruption? I don’t know.
I don’t know what she’s guilty of, and what she’s innocent for. At this stage, I doubt we’ll ever know the
whole truth. Or maybe we will. We’ll see.
Either way, the fact that she managed to go on
this race with all of that baggage -- with a stigma that even someone with
surface-level interest in politics can suck up -- means that she turned what
should’ve been an easy win for the Democrats into a bitter fight till the
end. The fact that we had to talk about
emails again, barely two weeks before the leader of the free world is chosen,
makes me think that maybe we should’ve gone with someone with a clean
slate. The
battle between Nixon and Kennedy all those years ago taught the world that
image is pretty friggin’ important for a president -- and even if Clinton is
the raddest, baddest CIC in the making, her image she doesn’t have a good
image.
Would things have gone much more smoothly if
Bernie Sanders made it to the last round?
Maybe. Maybe not. But maybe if he won the nomination, then we
wouldn’t have to keep up this “lesser of two evils” mentality that has every
right to scare people off.
Here’s the thing, though. Even if I can’t speak for others, I can still
say that I confidently voted for Clinton despite her baggage. Why?
Because in a sense, the vote is asking people a simple question: “Who do
you think is best suited to be the president of the United States?” That’s it.
Well, it’s also asking who you want to be in other governmental offices,
but the core question is still the main attraction. And my answer to the core question is
Clinton, because of reasons both obvious and obscure.
She has way more experience. That’s a given when your husband was
president once upon a time, but she’s also served as a senator and secretary of
state. For that reason alone, she’s much
more qualified for the job -- and when you tack on stuff like years of civil
service and initiatives to make life better for Americans of all kinds, it
pushes her even further over the edge. I
don’t think I can completely absolve her of guilt (such as it is), but I’m
personally willing to set it aside. Not
quite forgive and forget, but nowhere near an outright rejection.
You know why?
Everything up to this point -- the debates, the rallies, et al -- has
shown why Clinton deserves to be in the White House again. But she’s done stuff to prove why she should stay there. She’s admitted that her handling of the email
fiasco was a mistake, and she won’t take that route again. And when prompted about Obamacare, she
explained that there are some things that work and some that don’t, so she’d
try to fix them while in office. If
she’s going to be elected, then she’ll be there for the next four years. It’s a role that needs fluidity and insight
-- the ability to act and react as needed in the face of challenges across the
globe. Near as I can tell, she has the
wisdom to assess situations, even if they’re less than ideal. She has the courage to stand firm, with
composure as unbreakable as a titanium wall.
And if elected, she’d have the power to do what’s necessary -- for us,
and others.
Does it matter what she did up to this point? Yes.
But what matters more is what she’ll do from here on. And if we’re being honest, I kind of want our leader to be the total
package.
Now here’s the second question: is Donald Trump the real-life version of
Dio?
The answer is a resounding, booming, everlasting
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. But having put
some serious time into JoJo’s Bizarre
Adventure -- coincidentally, right before the English dub started airing on
Toonami -- I’ve been thinking about some of the stuff I said the first time
around. I compared Trump to the infamous
villain Dio Brando (and DIO, later on), and it looks like I’m not the only one;
various viewers of the dub have said Dio is basically a walking reference to
Trump. That probably has something to do
with stealing a kiss
and treating a young lady like meat on a stick.
Call it serendipity, then. Trump and JoJo
(and I, to a lesser extent) just so happened to sync up at the perfect
moment. Still, I wouldn’t dream of
comparing the fictional character and the living anomaly, mostly because doing
so feels like an insult to JoJo and
its creator. I wouldn’t blame anyone in
the slightest for calling Trump a
villain, but let’s be clear here: the Republicans’ “champion” is only the
villain in this story because of sheer incompetence. And before you ask: I’m blaming reality itself for said incompetence,
not just Trump.
Seeing him get as far as he did -- to the point
where he was even an option/Republican candidate -- was a mistake. It shouldn’t have happened, yet somehow he
slipped through the cracks and now stands within a hair’s breadth of sitting in
one of the most powerful chairs on the planet.
Everything up from that one moment weeks ago has been distressing to
watch, to say the least. And it’s been
distressing, because it doesn’t seem like a concerted, focused effort. It’s a mess -- a string of stupid events
chained together in the hopes of building a quality narrative.
Spoilers: it’s not working.
There are many, many, many reasons why Dio is the
popular villain he is today, with a legacy that’s endured over decades. Yes, we have memes to thank for his
adoration. Yes, he’s ridiculously and
unrepentantly evil. Yes, he’s got powers
that would break any other story he entered.
Still, there’s more to him than that, and they’re all qualities that
Trump is missing. Well among them: the
fact that Trump doesn’t have a set-in-stone rival to push him to his absolute
limits, and/or spark a transformation that even a blind man could see.
Although if we’re being honest? Even if it’s nowhere near a one-to-one
comparison, I can’t help but laugh at the idea of Clinton being a stand-in for
Jonathan Joestar.
Clinton is technically Trump’s rival, but I’d say
that at this point, the greatest threat to his presidency is Trump
himself. As absurd as it may sound, his
lack of the qualities that make Dio a great villain are what make Trump incapable
of seizing the office. For one thing,
Dio is capable of change; whether he’s dealt a defeat by his rival or has his
plans come to fruition, there’s progression for his character on a small and
large scale. Comparatively, Trump hasn’t
changed in any way except dive into a downward spriral -- which may just simply
be his way of exposing his true self, meaning he’s somehow made even less of a change.
Trump doesn’t have Dio’s cunning or ability to
assess a situation. Whereas the vampire
villain can use his cunning to preserve his life (or steal it from foes), the
business mogul would sooner gnaw off everything below the knee than make even
the slightest course correction…or, heaven forbid, apologize. Trump doesn’t
have Dio’s range of thought and emotion.
Dio can oscillate between a cold, calculating schemer and a raving
lunatic as needed, but Trump only has one setting -- blustery blowhard --and at
best only dials it down on occasion…or ratchets it up 300%. Trump doesn’t have Dio’s ability to captivate
hearts and minds. I know that sounds
contradictory given Trump’s fan base, but since a good chunk of the country is
probably willing to vote just to slam a giant middle finger in his face, I’d
say he’s a bit lacking in the charm department.
The worst part about it is that Dio, in one
incarnation or another, is interesting.
Trump isn’t. It’s been the same
antics, again and again, day in and day out.
It’s worse than sad, and maybe even worse than distressing (but only
just so). Trump is boring. We know he
lies. We know he says stupid stuff. We know he flubs facts. We know how he treats other people -- people
of any race, color, orientation, or physical ability. We know about his attitude. We know pretty much everything there is to
know about him that’s relevant to this election, because it’s been the same
story.
It’s the same few chapters, down to the same few
pages -- over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over.
Dio, the fictional character created almost thirty years ago, has more
nuance and intrigue than a man who’s been around -- and in our world -- for
more than twice as long. We get insights
into Dio’s character that add texture and intrigue. We get the same thing for Trump, sure, but A)
it’s repeated ad nauseum, and B) it’s as welcome a revelation as being told
water is wet.
Pretty much the only thing Trump successfully
carries over from Dio is hubris.
Granted, that’s a good trait to carry over for a villain, but let’s just
take a minute to remember that Trump is supposed to be running for president,
not the bloodthirsty conqueror of Earth.
And now for the third question: what’s next for Donald Trump?
I’m no fortune teller, so I don’t know what the
future holds. Maybe in spite of
everything, Trump will end up being the winner in this race. I seriously doubt it. I hope it doesn’t happen. But the fact that he’s made it this far means that the door’s still
cracked; he can get in there if the fates allow it. If it actually ends up happening, it’s just
something we’ll have to accept over the next four years. As I’ve said before, we can all individually
govern and guide ourselves -- maybe not in terms of making sweeping political
reforms, but we can still act with will and reason to have some positive effect
in the world. That’s a given,
right? So whether Clinton or Trump wins
the presidency, neither one has the power to dictate every last aspect of our
lives. There’s influence by proxy, sure,
but last I checked? Obama didn’t force
me to eat waffles this morning. I think
we’ll all be at least a little okay.
But again, I’m betting that Trump is going to
lose. And if he does, then what
happens? There’s been a lot of talk
about him starting a new media venture called Trump TV, though he’s long since
denied those plans (for what that’s worth).
He’s due in court for several debacles, including sexual misconduct
against a then-thirteen-year-old girl.
He’ll still have his businesses to fall back on, but they’ve no doubt
taken a hit by being associated with a man who dug himself deeper with golden phrases like “bad hombres” and
“such a nasty woman”. He’s made it this
far, and -- health permitting -- he’ll keep on going.
You know what, though? I really, truly, sincerely hope that Donald
Trump gets help.
I have a hard time believing in Trump. I don’t feel as if I can trust him,
regardless of what title he holds. I
can’t forgive him for what he’s said and done -- especially because a lot of
what he’s said and done was built on the backbone of head-slapping
stupidity. But as easy as it is to hate
him, and as easy as it is to laugh at him, he’s still a human being. As a human being -- as someone surrounded by human beings -- then the
right thing to do is to extend a hand.
Help out those who need it.
Clearly, Trump is one of those people.
I think it was Dan from Game Grumps who said that
even if there’s nothing really wrong with you, it wouldn’t hurt to visit a
doctor and get stuff sorted out. It’s a
fair point; we could all use help every now and then, especially in the mental
space where so much can go wrong. So
given that there are theories floating around about how Trump has narcissistic
personality disorder, or one of several attention disorders, or dementia, or
Alzheimer’s, or whatever, I think the
time has come for people to treat him like a person instead of a god-emperor or
sentient noxious miasma.
It doesn’t even have to be a case of having Trump
sit on the couch and look at ink blots. His
mentality is one where sprawling chunks of America are in turmoil and disarray,
which would explain his “Make America Great Again” slogan in spades. True, not every neighborhood in every state
is peachy keen -- but the way he talks, he makes it sound as if we’re living in
a Mad Max knockoff. I hope that someday, someone can open his
eyes. I hope that someone can help him
out, and see that the world’s borders reach farther than he can imagine -- that
in the end, there aren’t really borders at all.
Even if Trump is beyond redemption, it may be
possible for him to reform. I want to
believe it’s possible, at least. Like it
or not, he’s a man with an immense amount of influence, and he has the rabid
fans to prove it. But if he can be shown
the error of his ways -- the many, many, many
errors of his ways -- then maybe he won’t have to be anyone’s enemy. Maybe he can course correct. Maybe he can learn something new and
valuable, and then pass off that new knowledge to others. By improving himself, he improves others.
But that’s a naïve sentiment, I know. It depends on whether or not someone has the
willpower to effectively recondition Trump, not to mention their chances of
success. It all banks on whether or not
Trump is willing to accept help, or insights, or any opinion that clashes with
his. If he’s capable of learning that,
hey, maybe saying that a debate
moderator is wrong in the face of documented fact isn’t a good idea, then
that’s great. If he can be taught about
consequences, empathy, and teamwork, then maybe he can take steps toward being
more than just a joke on Saturday Night
Live.
If he’s not capable,
then it’s over. And on most days, it seems like that’s the case. We’re talking about a man that’s in his
seventies; “change” is about as close to him as Pluto is to Earth. If he was going to change, or reform, or get
help, he would’ve done it before vying for president. But the fact that he went full tilt on this
thing, doubling down and burning bridges and spreading lies and breeding hate,
means that he’s a good candidate for quarantine. That, or having his mouth duct taped
shut.
Alternatively, we can ban him from using Twitter
-- or at least let someone play overseer so “tweeting at 3 AM about a beauty
queen’s alleged sex tape” doesn’t become part of any national headlines.
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know
politics very well. By this time next
year, I’m going to go back to my usual, ignorant self on the subject -- and I’m
actually looking forward to it. I don’t
feel like obsessing over this subject when there’s Kamen Rider to slobber over; I certainly can’t stand the fact that
I’m compulsively checking r/politics to see “what Trump did this time”. I want this election to be over, just like
plenty of other people out there.
I mean that.
And yes, I know that it technically won’t be “over”. We have to deal with the fallout, come what
may. Still, this period in American
history -- this chapter, in a story without end -- is almost at a close. It dragged on for far too long with no focus
on the main plot and lots of terrible dialogue, but the page is finally,
finally, finally about to turn. Now we can move on to something else. Now I can move on. Now Clinton, and Trump, and Obama, and all
the rest can move on.
The story isn’t over. And because it isn’t over -- because we’re
active participants in it, not just a captive audience -- there’s so much that
can happen. Some of it will be good. Some of it will be bad. Some of it will be inevitable. But as one person or as a whole, we can all
do something to make the world a better place.
That’s what I believe in, more than political parties, presidents, or
policies. The leader of the executive
branch may be in prime position to act as a hero, but we can all be each
other’s heroes. We just have to give it
a try.
And we will.
No matter who wins and who loses, you can count on that.
There. Now
can we all please shut the hell up about emails?
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