It was either this, or another post on Marvel’s Spider-Man. And come on, nobody cares about that stinker. That garbage is headed straight to the bargain bin.
It’s a super-good game, thoooooooooooooooough.
Besides, this is more important. Slightly more important.
Slightly.
Even if I was? Opinions -- especially those that are different from yours -- can’t hurt you. Similarly, you are more than just your opinions and worldviews; those that disagree with them aren’t trying to invalidate your inherent worth as a human being. I feel like we as a species need to learn (or re-learn) that in the wake of the internet age. Enough about that, though.
On one hand, making fun of Trump at this stage is easy and cheap, and ineffectual because of it. Low-hanging fruit, for sure. Petty, even. I mean, how many times can you hear the taunts about his skin tone before it stops being funny and starts being kind of mean-spirited? I feel like I’ve hit my limit ages ago. On the other hand? Holy shit. The phrase “self-inflicted wound” has never been more apt, because most of the stuff people make fun of Trump for is stuff he’s brought upon himself.
The endless onslaught of words, thoughts, and actions that come from the president* gives even the most amateurish comedian a year’s worth of crowd-slaying material. Near as I can tell, he’s not orange because of some debilitating disease worthy of an Oscar-winning drama. It’s a conscious choice to tan himself until “tan” becomes a shade lost to time. I’m serious -- I’ve seen pictures and footage of him (more than I care to admit since the back half of 2016) and my brain reflexively assumes that there’s been some photo or video editing to make him look more orange than he really is. But no. Depending on when you catch him, that’s his real skin tone. It’s a conscious decision to present himself to the world looking like that. It wouldn’t be so bad if he wasn’t the president*, but here we are.
Also it wouldn’t be so bad if he tanned the skin around his eyes, but that’s a bridge too far given the nature of tanning (I assume). Or…is it some kind of spray he uses? Bronzer, I think it’s called? Whatever, he looks silly because of it.
I feel bad about making fun of Trump…for a little while, at least. But then I remember all of the stuff he’s directly and indirectly been responsible for, and then I don’t feel so bad. That’s how it should be. If you do good, you should be praised and celebrated. If you do evil, you should be scorned and ridiculed. I don’t know how you make it as far as Trump did -- in terms of age or occupation -- and not learn that basic fact, but here we are with a man who rightfully sucks up anger and hatred like a sponge.
So here’s the thing: no matter what your opinions, affiliation, or stance on policies, can we all just agree that Trump should never have been president*? I mean, he shouldn’t be president* now, but we had a chance to nip this in the bud two years ago and we didn’t. His efforts have either been MIA or downright debilitating, he’s consistently embarrassed the entire country on the world stage, he’s opened up countless divides between countrymen who should be able to walk hand in hand, he’s practically tossed the Constitution into a wood chipper for his own benefit, and there’s the slight (not-slight) possibility that he’s only in power because of/for the gain of Russian string-pullers.
We shouldn’t be at this point. But you know what the saddest part is? It’s good that we’re at this point…because by the time you read this, we’ll be at an even lower point than we were before. And the day after that, we’ll be even lower.
I guess the idea is that -- barring the Russia probe and Mueller’s special investigation, which by now is probably deeply entangled with obstruction of justice charges against Trump -- plenty of people are waiting for the one event that the president* can’t bounce back from. The one thing that will signal, conclusively, that the final red line has been crossed. That no one, either in Congress or out in the farthest corners of the country, can stand by him any longer. I’m going have to “respectfully” disagree with that idea. In a perfect world, there wouldn’t be one event that triggers the betrayal, and nothing else counts. Every single event up to the betrayal forms a cumulative effect -- a tsunami that pushes and pushes and pushes until we reach the breaking point and say “NO! I’M DONE WITH YOU! GET OUT!”
It’s not like we haven’t reached that breaking point already. Remember that time Trump sympathized with Nazis and deemed them equal with nonviolent protesters even though the former party murdered an innocent woman? Or that time he went golfing instead of giving hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico more support besides free-throwing paper towels? Or that time he called other countries shitholes because he thought they still lived in huts and didn’t want to be there doing his job? Or that time he started a pointless trade war with our allies with ridiculous tariffs he likely doesn’t understand? Or that time he put up a portrait of Andrew “Trail of Tears” Jackson while in the presence of key Native American figures? Or that time he revealed he didn’t know why we had the Civil War?
Or that time he begged the Mexican president (note the distinction) to build the wall, and then begged him not to talk about not building the wall because it would make him look like a chump? Or that time he rammed executive orders through to shut down travel to predominantly-Muslim countries? Or that time he suggested arming and training teachers with guns so that they can go vigilante and stop school shootings in progress? Or that time he wanted to revoke the rights of any TV stations that didn’t sing praises about him 24/7? Or that time he stood behind the separation of families and imprisonment of children in traumatizing conditions partly because caving and releasing them would make him look weak?
Or that time he called the media “the enemy of the people” on the grounds that they treated him unfairly with their “lies”? Or that time he pulled out of the Paris Agreement despite the dire need for environmental protection, only to cap off the G7 summit by trailing behind the other leaders in a golf cart because he couldn’t keep up with the other world leaders? Or that time he wanted to strip PBS of its funding? Or that time he colored an American flag with a blue stripe even though he presumably could have just looked down at his lapel for a cheat sheet? Or that time he picked a fight with --
*deep breath*
A Gold Star family, Rosie O’Donnell, LeBron James, John McCain, Vietnam veterans, the #MeToo movement, Omarosa, Theresa May, Angela Merkel, Justin Trudeau, Kim Jong-un, Democrats in general, the NFL in general, Australia in general (not really, but that’s a funny image), China in general (same reason), Harley Davidson, the FBI, the CIA, CNN, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Alec Baldwin, Jeff Sessions, James Comey, Google, the mayor of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in general, transgender children (if only by proxy), and many more. Many, many, many more.
That’s not a comprehensive list, given that -- as of writing -- the man is trying to ram a Supreme Court nomination through in an effort to protect himself from impeachment/criminal charges/ironclad evidence of treason. And he’s calling his pick a good guy despite various hearings confirming the exact opposite, along with the possibility, if not likelihood, that his pick is guilty of sexual abuse. And a week from now --
He’s the president* with near-infinite resources at his disposal, and that’s the guy he picks? Are you for real?
And a week from now, the list will be even longer. It’s exhausting. It’s exasperating. It’s the source of countless existential crises. It’s stupid and I hate it. The Trump presidency*, and the administration as a whole, is unsustainable. We should all stop pretending like it is before…well, this is where I’d say “before someone dies”, but people already have. The man who can’t even spell check his tweets has a body count to his name.
Trump is a major issue. That much is clear by now, I hope. But it’s not just him. He’s the face of this continuing conflict, yet he’s not doing everything alone. No president can. Countless societal ills have brought us to this point, which means that the problems we face right now are both exacerbated by and rooted in past failures. Racial tensions, economic disparities, dips in education quality -- yeah, I’d say there are a lot of reasons for Americans to be sore about their lot in life.
I get it. For some people, Trump seemed like the answer. An outsider, someone unbound by the political humdrum and SOP, could shake things up for the common man. That was the theory, at least. The hope, even. But we’re almost two years into this presidency, and what do we have to show for it? NOT the prosperity we were promised. Unless you’re a rich old white male, but that doesn’t count because they were already prosperous. Given all of that and more, I’d say it’s time for a change. The Trump experiment has been a clear failure, and will continue to fail for a while yet. The damage is done. Now comes the cleanup -- or if not that, the containment.
The midterms are coming up. Given how long the time between 2016 and 2018 has felt -- and more pressingly, how few chances we’ll have to impart change until the next presidential election -- the time to act is creeping up on us. We have to do something to stop this. To stop them. Admittedly it’s not as if a change in the branches’ control will instantly equal Trump getting das boot, but it’s a start. Like I said, it’s not just Trump that’s the issue. If anything, he’s only a puppet on strings, dancing to the whims of his masters’ fingers and putting on a show for the masses. Meanwhile (setting aside Russian interests for the moment), we’ve got the GOP trying their hardest to consolidate control and wealth, and earnestly distorting America to suit their vision.
That’s an incredibly generalized, unfair assessment. I know that. But right now, I’m not exactly keen to play devil’s advocate. The Republican party has control over the House, the Senate, and the Executive Branch. They have the power to stop this, or at least curb some of the chaos that spurts out of the White House on a weekly (sometimes daily) basis. They haven’t. If anything, they’ve only made things worse. Gutting health care, giving tax cuts to the wealthy, rolling back environmental protections, protecting big businesses while indirectly stripping rights from the citizens they’re constitutionally obligated to protect…and why? For what? For themselves? For their donors? For power?
For Trump?
I can’t accept that. I can’t accept that the GOP -- people who have to have some level of reason and intelligence, however corrupted -- is willing to die on that hill. They’ll jump in front of the bullet to protect Trump? Chronic sex offender, failed businessman, reality TV D-lister Donald Trump? Do they honestly respect the man? Do they even like him? Every last cell in my body screams no, which might be the entire point. Logically speaking, the only reasons why they’re opting to protect him at all costs from any and every angle are
A) Through active efforts or sheer bumbling, he’s helping them get their policies passed
B) He’s a useful patsy covering for them while they secretly stack the decks (and the courts) in their favor
C) The party has been just as compromised as Trump, and losing him means losing everything
D) They’ve grown accustomed, if not addicted, to the power and control, and would sooner burn down the country than relinquish it -- what might be the party’s last gasp of life in a changing, evolving world
E) They believe in their ideals so strongly that they’ve collectively been driven to madness -- blind to everything but a short-sighted, self-serving agenda
Those aren’t reasons I pulled out of thin air. All things considered, they’re not even mine; it’s just the common sense reasoning that many others have come up with. Trump is a problem. The GOP is a problem. At this stage, the two of them are one and the same -- intermingled, like lovers in a California king. And let me be clear: I hate the fact that I have to assume the worst of people. I don’t like the sense that I can’t trust people in office, especially when I’m not registered as part of their team. It just comes off as bitter, mindless hate.
You know what I hate more, though? The fact that I have to care. I miss the days when I could spend my free time griping about crappy video games or trying to scrape together novels featuring liberal amounts of ghost-punching. Now? I’ve got a tab in my browser locked in to the latest political news at all times. My phone has a tab open to give me the latest political news at any time. One of the very first things I do in the morning is check to see what the White House did to screw up in the eight hours since I went to bed. I loathe the fact that I know various political figures by name instead of trusting them to do their jobs -- and “political figures” extends to various reporters and news anchors, given that I’m no stranger to CNN.
But what I hate most -- what I hate more than anything else, including the moments when my thoughts are interrupted by minutes-long tirades against men I’ve never met -- is that Trump and his cronies aren’t making America great again. Not actively. Not perceptibly. The country’s divided, the quality of life hasn’t improved (and has even gone down for some), the government is a mess, and the future’s looking bleak due to age-old problems being the foundation of blossoming new ones. We live in a world where a few men can decide the fate of millions -- and right now, the fate they’ve chosen for us is “I live like a king, you die in the streets”.
That’s not the kind of life, or future, I want. Not for me. Not for my family. Not for anyone. And despite what team I’m clearly rooting for, my hopes extend to anyone that lives and breathes in this country. I want what’s best for everyone, not just the people I know or the members of my team. I want everyone to be happy. To live a better, brighter life. To have hope. The way things are now, I’m inclined to believe that one party can push the needle toward that ideal state. The other can’t. Given that, the choice is clear.
The midterms are coming, and with it, a decision on what sort of country America will become over the next couple of years -- if not from here on out. My choices, barring some minor details, are clear. I’m registered to vote; the next step, besides showing up and doing it, is likely to make sure my family’s set to do the same. By extension? The next step is to try and convince you, reader, to do the same.
Even if it seems pointless, vote. Even if there are slim odds, vote. Even if there’s no hope left -- if the system looks broken beyond repair, with a slide into utter dilapidation inevitable -- vote. It’s your chance to decide, however indirectly, what form the future takes. Don’t back down now. I know I can’t. I won’t.
And neither will you.
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