How do we move forward in Donald Trump’s version of America? Many people have been asking that question, or asking what do we do now? Only time will tell. For now, this is what I’m going to do.
I’m going to try to be happy, dammit. Trump can do what he wants — God knows he probably will, given the Republican stranglehold on America, but I am going to try my hardest to not let him get under my skin. No matter what you feel or believe, he is our President. You may be part of the #NotMyPresident movement, but he really is your President. That was difficult to type. He can succeed in not destroying our great country, and we all should be rooting for us to have a 2020 election so we can rid this country of the worst Presidential candidate in modern history. We can be happy while facing down a demagogue. Just watch. (Not for nothing, but Trump’s Presidency will really help my vocabulary — I’ve typed “demagogue” like 19 times and I’ve finally gotten it right!)
When George W Bush was reelected in 2004, I felt like I needed to approach his policies with an open mind. After all, he did achieve the voter mandate winning the electoral & popular votes, something Trump doesn’t have. There were things he did that I actually agreed with, most everything else not so much. I’ll try to keep an open mind with this administration, I really will. I highly doubt that we will have much in common, but we’ll see. It will be interesting to see how often Trump plays by Republicans’ sandboxes and how often he goes outside their bubble. Last I saw, a good number of people rumored to be in his cabinet are D.C. insiders, but that could always shift towards Breitbart-esque people. So much for an outside candidate, I suppose. Keeping an open mind does not, under any circumstances, mean that I am going to respect the flaming douchebag, however. I do not respect those who cannot respect people who matter little. I can keep an open mind while mentally bashing his forehead in. We all have bosses.
After the primaries this year and the general election that followed, Democrats have a lot of fucking work ahead of them. A metric fuck-ton of work. You have work to do, as well. Since Hillary Clinton still won the popular vote, Liberalism is still a functioning ideal we have and hold dear. Wouldn’t it have been nice if we all collectively got out and voted in 2010 and 2014? We need to get out and vote in mid-term elections, otherwise Conservatives will always control Congress. Democrats have sucked at voting in mid-terms and this must stop. I will fight for this until I cannot fight any longer. Then, I will pass the torch to you so you can continue to fight. We. Must. Not. Waiver.
With Trump’s public statements about women, the LGBTQ community, minorities, and immigrants, I vow to not stand by and watch as these people are belittled, marginalized, and discarded. If you want to push out this one person, you have to push us all out. You have to go through us before you get to that one person. Stand up for yourself, but go even farther — I stand with everyone that Trump chooses to hate. I’ve always had compassion for people that have it worse than it do, and believe me it’s a lot of people because I am a white cisgender male. That compassion never waivers. That compassion never dies, it endures for a lifetime.
Being that we were not able to elect a qualified leader in Hillary Clinton, we must push forward and find someone that will jump into the fire feet first on January 20th, 2021. This is paramount. Nothing is more important than finding a Democratic answer to White Nationalism. I am saying this because we need to work within the party instead of kicking our feet, trying to find a third-party candidate to rally behind. This isn’t a rebranding, this is more akin to starting over again. The few Democratic Senators & House members we have in office must be reelected in 2018 & 2020. We are at square one and this election season was one without precedence. We cannot look back on our history books to find a solution because we’ve never encountered this in our modern history. This is how we push forward.
What I will not do, however, is to normalize Trump and his behavior. I will not respond to him with violence or hate. Martin Luther King, Jr. often said, “Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love.” These words have never been more true to more people than right now. We must heed the words of Michelle Obama in that when they go low, we go high. We must take the high road, and this route does not go to Canada. We must show the opposition that we do not stoop to their level, we have our own moral code we live by and you will not force us to abandon it. I will not let this country fall back into the political upheaval of the 1960s and 70s.
Anyone that has paid attention these last eight years should know what we’re up against. We’ve all witnessed the ridiculousness of the GOP since Barack Hussein Obama took office in 2009. The sixty-something attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (they’ll actually succeed now), the insane Government takeover over raising the debt ceiling, Texas and their abortion clinic wipeout, the North Carolina transgender bathroom exile, and Scott Walker prove that we already know this version of the Republican party. They’ve laid bare their idea of America and it culminated in the most insane Presidential campaign we’ve ever witnessed. What I am going to do is prove that their idea of America is not what America is, ever has been, or ever will be. We are inclusive. Always have been. Always will be. America isn’t a bandwagon you hop onto when things are going well.
A mounted plaque inside the Statue of Liberty states, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Does this read like anything Donald J Trump would ever say, in public or private? If what you answer is no, then we must tell him that this is our version of America. We must tell our congressmen and women that we believe in our version, not some insular, nationalistic version of a White America where minorities, women, and people of color are treated as less-than. Please remember that we have always been a great nation. We have always exceeded what we thought was once possible by light-years. Never forget that idea. Use that to push forward into this uncertain time in our history.
