So, during our game tonight, we started to talk about politics. Now you all know the old adage that the two things you never talk about during dinner are religion and politics. I would think that watching our alma mater's football game would also be a place where both topics are verboten. But seeing our team kick ass wasn't holding our attention, so one of us started talking about politics -- actually it may have begun with the Dakota Access Pipeline because a guy who started making a conversation with us works with Native American tribes -- and we talked about it for the second half of the game.
It got heated at times. Quickly each of us knew where the others stood in the political spectrum. But I think we left as friends, still. I think.
The passionate discussion about the election brings up a sentiment I'm kind of seeing floating around the zeitgeist. There have been comments I've noticed on social media that "regardless of how you vote" (and that is always a caveat everybody seems to put into their comments, so much so I want to do a wanking motion) we need to come together as a country. As a corollary to that, a lot of people believe that this nation is divided between, for example, those who are voting for Hillary Clinton (that's me, and I'll blog post why either Monday or Tuesday) or Donald Trump.
I notice the division. And believe me (to use a routine Trump bromide), I would rather not hate people who share different views than I. But fuck unity. And if I don't get my way, and if for some goddamn reason America decides to vote for Trump, I and other Clinton voters/sane people should raise holy hell about it.
More so now than ever, we need to take a stand against hate, bullying, bluster, laziness and incompetence. (We and the media talk about the first three things about Trump while the latter two traits get overlooked when I totally believe they're just as important in disqualifying him as President, if not more so.) But even in times when an asshole like Trump won't be a presidential nominee, we still need to take a stand. Why? If you feel strongly that that candidate is completely wrong for the office he or she is running to hold, you need to back that up with the deeper sentiment that it is morally unacceptable that the people you share this country with disagree with you. I don't mean walking down the street with pitchforks, or picking fights with people with different ideologies than you. But bitching, complaining, ridiculing the candidate as well as those people who support him or her? Fuck yeah, that's fair game.
Let me put my feelings into more specific context. The Republicans since the start of the millennium, and even back 40 years, have been nothing but racist nihilists hellbent on possessing the United States government for their own greedy and amoral urges. The people who follow Trump are absolutely fucking nuts. But many Republicans have been bonkers for a long while now. They have run government and poisoned government institutions, and thus us, for their monetary, momentary gain. The last time we had a Republican President, the Vice-President promptly stuck his hand up George W. Bush's ass and manipulated him into a senseless war with Iraq so (and I truly believe this) his company can make millions. He is the worst President in my lifetime, and yet there are others who believe Ronald Reagan was much worse.
Regardless, both Bush 43 and Reagan share the same party affiliation, as do the majority of members of the House of Representatives, who have tried to repeal Obamacare more than 40 times even though they knew probably by the second repeal that it wasn't going to happen. The majority of members in the Senate are also Republican, and all they're doing is something they're not doing: Holding a hearing and then an up-or-down vote on Merrick Garland, Barack Obama's choice to replace Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court. Mitch McConnell, Republican Senate Leader and no-necked turtle look-alike, said that they're screwing with Garland because, "The people should decide the next President, who will then be able to pick his or her choice." This garbage even though many Presidents in the past have nominated judges to the Supreme Court in an election year. McConnell's bullshit was just one final new rule made up by the white man for the black man to follow. I truly believe that.
What I'm saying is that my opponent is evil. Now, one should not give into evil, especially if the opponent is evil, because that means you two are, on a deep level, the same. (This brings to mind Nietzche's quote that if you fight the monster pretty soon you become the monster, and that if you stare into the abyss long enough the abyss starts to stare back.) But I care about this country, the direction it's headed and the perception the leaders we elect will give to the world in our name. And if FiveThirtyEight is any indication, people are not only willing to tolerate this evil man, they wholeheartedly want this asshole. Frankly, after all the shit that's come out about him, if you either ignore it or don't think it's a big deal or say that's the part you actually like about him, well, frankly, you are what's wrong with America. And since I love America, I will do all I can to stop people from taking America away from me. Therefore, people who vote for Donald Trump are, beyond stupid, and my enemy. I don't believe in the country coming together to support our President anyway, and I sure as hell won't do it if this monstrous dickhead becomes The Leader Of The Free World.
So what happens to all the people I know that will vote for Trump, probably like the guy in the alumni club with me? We'll probably shake our heads at each other and stop talking about politics and start talking about the football team again. Meanwhile, on Facebook, I have tons of Facebook friends who are vocal in their support of Trump (and hate -- and I mean hate -- Clinton with the passion of a thousand suns, and I don't understand it, so much so that I think some of them are downright batshit crazy). Those are the ones hoping that we can come together after all of this is over. I would rather not. But honestly, most of the Trump supporters I'm friends with over there are hot models, and if they post a sexy picture of themselves, I can forget about their political affinity real damn quick. (Why they support a man who believes he can just grab women by the pussy is something that I'll just have to leave alone.) I'm shallow that way, but at least I'm honest about it.
Till then, I hope to Buddha above that Clinton wins the White House and that Democrats take back the Senate so that Merrick Garland can finally be accepted as a Supreme Court Justice so we can get back to the goddamn business of running the country, and running it in a dignified, fair, non-poisonous way. And if Trump supporters don't want to support us right-minded Clinton supporters, frankly, they can go fuck themselves. Two can play this game.
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