Time to Say Goodbye

Poor Prudie - even she was surprised by Mr. Trump's victory!

This was a tough election – duh! In my opinion we were offered two very poor candidates for president, both with very obvious flaws. So much so that it was the case that many people voted AGAINST the other candidate rather than for their's – a damn sad way to run a country. In any event Donald Trump won so we need to move on but I cannot lie, it hasn't made me happy. This is my effort to help get straight with this, for myself if no one else. If it makes you feel better too, fine. If not . . . well, there’s always 2020 (or 2018.)  

If you’re a Republican you might feel like this . . .

"Go back to Pharaoh the liberals," the LORD commanded Moses. "Tell him them, 'This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so they can worship me (and guns) Exodus 9:1(mostly)

"For evangelicals, for the Christians, for the everybody, for everybody of religion, this will be, may be, the most important election that our country has ever had. And once I get in, I will do my thing that I do very well. And I figure it is probably, maybe the only way I'm going to get to heaven. So I better do a good job." Donald Trump, speaking to evangelical leaders in Orlando, Florida, August 11, 2016

Huh? 

This is my fourth attempt to write this, each version different than the previous one. Some too whiny, some too angry, some too, well, just too much  . . . hey wait, I think I know what happened, I was going through the 5 stages of grief! You know: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Dunno, maybe I’ve made it to acceptance (or stopped at depression.)

Now you may ask yourself, why would Dear Leader grieve about this election unless he was another of those elite, liberal Hillary lovers? A possible reason but wrong. (In fact, I did not vote for either candidate.) The honest answer is very simple and very selfish – I hate being wrong. And the sad fact is that I have been TOTALLY wrong on this whole sordid thing from the beginning. 

I have followed this blond turd for over ten years and loathed his bombastic and idiotic statements (as well as his ridiculous hairstyle) for the same period so I was biased from the start. I thought he’d be out by last fall. I didn’t think he’d have any chance of winning the nomination. Finally, I thought that no matter what the polls said, when people went in to the booth there would be no way any cogent person, no matter how much they hated Hillary, could vote for a misogynistic, racist, sociopath who has no interest in facts or truth. I know, I know, Hillary was deeply unpopular candidate (more on the candidates latter) but she at least seemed sane. In a binary choice I guess I thought people would choose crooked over crazy. Boy, was I wrong! Note to self: practice what you preach to your students on confirmation bias! 

So keep the source in mind as you read the rest of this.  

If you’re a Democrat you might feel like this . . .

“This will not be over quickly. You will not enjoy this. I'm not your king.” (But I am your president!) Lord Theron before assaulting Queen Gorgo, Movie “The 300”

After much psychological milling around and pages of self-important harrumphing, I will just let fly with a bunch of micro thoughts (and no comments please about those being all I’m capable of.) Starting with:

     - The results of this election were inevitable; if not this one then the next one or the one after that. I have long preached that the wheels were wobbling on the old national golf cart due to the total takeover of our system by big money at every level. (Not liberal, not conservative – just all corrupted.) Trump identified this in his own unique way and jumped on it.

·        Score one for the Donald.

 “Look at those hands, are they small hands? And, [Republican rival Marco Rubio] referred to  my hands: ‘If they’re small, something else must be small.’ I guarantee you there’s no problem. I guarantee.”

(Okay, make that two for Donald)

     - Trump has said he intends to “drain the swamp” in Washington and I am sincerely on his side – it really needs it. He is already learning, though, how hard it is to be an outsider in Our Nation’s Capital i.e. you need insiders to figure out how to get inside so that you can throw the insiders out. Also, “It’s hard to remember you came in to drain the swamp when you’re up to your ass in alligators.” I’ll be right behind you, pal!

     - This election apparently really was about white men who feel left behind and I guess probably are. But it’s not just working class whites either. I have any number of educated, smart and financially secure friends who are just as angry, convinced, I assume, that we are heading to the perdition of a liberal hell and pooping on the Constitution while on the way. (I grant you they ARE older and white and sometimes angry - but usually only about their golf swing.) These are not dumb people so the fact that they would prefer someone like Trump who they would ordinarily find as appalling as I do shows that they are as desperate as everyone else to fix real and perceived problems. (And, of course, they hate Hillary too.) 

(Check out this link for a great explanation for Mr. Trump’s success – it is brilliant, pretty accurate and generally positive toward Mr. Trump.)

3 Movies Explain Trump's Rise

- Oddly, I also understand that about 50% of educated white women voted for Trump. Go figure. 

You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p**sy. You can do anything." –Donald Trump in a 2005 interview with Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush

(I think the Democrats better go figure too – but maybe skip the p**sy grabbing.)

     - What I’m saying is that Trump clearly recognized this anger and anxiety and brilliantly tapped into this river of frustration the good, old fashioned way: fabricating and demonizing enemies (Mexicans, Muslims, lefties, the media - pretty much everybody not on Fox), offering simple (but likely impossible) solutions to complex problems (walls, deportation, tearing up trade agreements, bombing ISIS, bombing Iran, not bombing Russia) and NEVER apologizing no matter how wrong he was (At least 75% of everything he said.) Ironically, Bernie Sanders was coming at this same thing from a different angle – minus the demagogue stuff – and might have been an interesting match but thanks to the DNC we’ll never know.

 - But here's my surprise prediction (with zero evidence to support it): Trump didn't mean most of what he said and he's actually NOT a misogynistic, racist, sociopath asshole (although I'm still pretty sure he's not too keen on actual facts and data.) I grant you that is not a very high bar but there you have it. (Keep in mind, however, the accuracy of my predictions to date that I mentioned at the beginning.)

·        Score another one for Trump.

 "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, okay? It's, like, incredible." Donald Trump, speaking at a rally in Sioux Center, Iowa as the audience laughed, January 23, 2016

     - This is not just an American issue. In the UK the Brexit was kind of sending the same message about people feeling like they are being controlled by the big boys, the system, the elites. Ditto in other parts of Europe who are rebelling against the bullies of the EU. There is a LOT of angst in the developed world and Donald has hopped on board that train. Where it will stop, no one knows - but it will be a hell of a trip.

     - Then there is the fact that no matter what he says, Mr. Trump is like every new president that comes in; he is not going to get all or even most the things that he says. Remember Obama’s hope and change? No less a brilliant analyst (and future cabinet member?) than Sarah Palin said, “How’s the hope and changey thing working for ya?” She was right – it didn’t.

     - In fact, Trump is already showing an understanding about how campaign promises stand up in the reality of a president’s actual power and the complexities of the real world of governing and that’s a good thing. He's even thinking about keeping parts of Obamacare - will wonders never cease?! Besides, many of the promises he made are so over the top heinous, impractical or impossible that they should slip into the abyss of broken campaign promises as quickly as possible and I’m confident they will, so we got that going for us. 

“I have much better judgment than she does… I also have a much better temperament than she does… I think my strongest asset maybe by far is my temperament. I have a winning temperament.” Donald Trump

- Hopefully President Trump means what he says about being the president for ALL the people, it is a sentiment to admire. Also, hopefully he will be a little humble about how he won the election i.e. without the popular vote majority - just like the last Republican president. 

  "I think I am, actually humble. I think I'm much humbler than you would understand. Donald Trump, 60 Minutes interview, July 17, 2016

 - As an aside, it appears that just a little more than half the eligible voters in the US voted AGAIN, proving that we do, indeed, get the government we deserve.

Past President and Future President . . .

               Hey you sandbagger, you owe the Clinton Foundation a hundred bucks!

(You knew I would get a golf picture in here somewhere)

     - In some ways, Mr. Trump really is an outsider; he didn’t take money from many of the big Republican donors so he doesn’t owe them anything - that is something I respect. And if Bill Kristol is against him, I'm for him! (Although that's almost cancelled out by that smarmy dink, Sean Hannity who is also for him.) Yes, he has a Republican Congress but that is both a good and bad thing. First, I’m not convinced that Trump is really a Republican. (He could have appealed to the same people as a Democrat  - although probably without the xenophobia and woman baiting.) He's a NYC billionaire who has rubbed shoulders with the so called elite all his life. He has also said he is a strong believer in social security and universal healthcare - damn curious Republican!  

         If I don't get along with Democrats, I'm sort of, like, out of business. Donald Trump

     -  And this Congress, especially the House, is full of such a group of scurrilous curs that it ALMOST makes me feel sorry for Paul Ryan. Trump is certain to bump heads with a lot of these jokers (as presidents always do) so that’s a good thing too. On the negative side, we know what can happen when one party has all branches at once: see Geo W's first term (and second wasn't too great either.)  And Barry O and Obamacare. Enough said.

     - The down side also is that we will likely have to put up with some real pukes in his cabinet; please, Don, Newt  is okay - put him charge of the Dep't of Family Values - but do NOT find a place for Giuliani, find some . . . outsiders! 

Sorry, but thinking of Trump looking for cabinet members reminds me of Hedley Lamarr in "Blazing Saddles" when he was looking for a gang to terrorize Rock Ridge:

"I want rustlers, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents. Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves. Bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, shit-kickers and Methodists."  

And Republicans?!

     But then Obama had some jewels too like Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch. Oh, and Rahm Emanuel too so have at it, Donald!     

-    Trump has some ideas that are worth a try (excluding the Great Wall of Texas and Fed Exing millions of illegal immigrants out of here - oh, and maybe starting trade wars.) Term limits? Good luck but go get 'em, Donald! For the economy there are some ideas to try like reducing regulations and making it easier to do business here and fixing the tax codes. Of course there will be a lot of the same, tired Republican stuff like tax breaks for the rich and bigger spending for the DOD but what the hell, you have to take the good with the bad - and who cares about deficits (when Republicans are in charge anyway!)

Speaking of Trump’s economic policy? “Now, you might say he’d make a terrible president. I mean, the guy bankrupted his own casino. A casino! Where the House always wins! Unless it’s Donald Trump’s house!” Louis Black

Oh and don't forget immigration reform - with this lot it's going to be one of those things you need to just sit back, watch and be entertained!

   - I have no idea what he will do with foreign affairs which is perhaps the most frightening. I really like the idea of not being the policeman of the world anymore and punishing our troops with constant wars of nation building. I am foursquare behind the president on that (although I’m sort of a pacifist so he probably wouldn’t want me there.) And there is talk that John Bolton is being considered for a top job. If so, start building a bunker, the man is nuts!   There is also the terrifying mix of Trump's thin skin and nuclear weapons (and John Bolton.) Oh boy. (Another example of hope for the best but plan for the worst with this guy.)

I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me. Trump, Nov 2015

"I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier." Donald Trump, on receiving a Purple Heart as a gift from a retired lieutenant colonel and supporter (August 2, 2016)

Thanks, commander-in-chief, you're swell!

  

-  Finally and best best of all, the Republicans own the whole shootin' match now. It's poop or get off the pot. They wanted it, they got it.  Whatever comes out the other end of the sausage grinder is all their's  so . . .

    I say we all get ourselves some chips and beer and watch the show! 

Okay, enough o' that. Here is maybe the most important positive (hopefully.) If the major parties had been paying attention to the many issues affecting main street Americans instead of being in the pocket of big business, big unions, special interest lobbyists – and yes, the elites - they could have sought out the kind of smart, young outsider candidates to represent their competing views based on what’s really going on in the country. They might have spared the country this excruciatingly divisive experience. But noooo, instead we get a deeply flawed OLD political retread with more luggage than a 747 and a cartoonish, OLD reality show star who is so spectacularly unqualified he makes Geo W.  look like old Abe Lincoln. Holy crap, are you guys kidding me?! 

The Democrats are in deep shit. They have more factions than the Muslim Brotherhood, basically zero people in the wings to carry on any of their current, tired liberal policies let alone creating any new ideas. As importantly, they need a crash course in how to deal with white males especially the working class (and apparently educated, white women.) Stop looking for victims and start trying to solve real problems for people! 

It may not seem like it with their election success across the country but the Republican party is also in a world of hurt. They do have the new president, the congress and many state governments (although a lot of those experiments are going deliciously haywire.) Yet Trump might be about as much of a Republican as Hillary – and much less predictable. And with their ungovernable tea party goofs and out-of-step old guard there is going to be a battle for their soul. However, it won’t matter if they don’t figure out what to do about non-white Americans and younger generations. HELLO! Angry old white guys are dying off . . . something I'm personally very sorry to report.

"We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated." Donald Trump on his performance with poorly educated voters who helped him win the Nevada Caucus, Feb. 23, 2016

Essentially, both parties are totally unprepared to deal with the 21^st century and a new age of chaos.

So what’s the good news? Well, hopefully this election has been a wake up for them both. Maybe they will get off their asses now and get to work trying to figure out a way to solve some of the problems that Trump has identified instead of retreating to their comfortable but failed past. It will be hard and ugly but it has to be done. It’s either that or the two-party system – at least with these two parties – is doomed. And who knows, maybe even that’s not so bad. Thanks, Donald! 

So there you have it. Trump is unlike any candidate in my lifetime - and I'm an old guy. There really is no telling how this will turn out; he could be a transformative president getting things heading in a better direction  . . . or end up being the devil's spawn. We won't know for years. Here’s what I do know, there are two paths you can take: you can try to be supportive of the president, wish him well and give him some time – if he does well, we all do well. Or you can be like be Mitch McConnell, the great Republican Senate Majority Leader who proudly said after Obama was elected that the Republicans' primary role was to assure that there was no second Obama term. How nice (even if they did fail.) I will let your conscience be your guide on this.

On a final positive note, my wife gives piano lessons to a couple local high school kids, she’s had them since they were little. As luck would have it, she had one over the day after the election. Needless to say, the election had been a huge topic of conversation in their class (public inner city, not private school.) I asked him what was the discussion like about this divisive election. He said, the students talked calmly and deeply about the process and shockingly (to me) not the personalities. He said that “It was the best lesson they could possibly have had about civics.” Damn, I hope the rest of us can be as smart as 10^th graders. 

Feel better? Me neither but I think (hope?) we’re going to be all right.

PS

One final good thing, at least for me: I vow NOT to forward a whole bunch of stupid anti-Trump emails (which will be legion) to all my friends who have kindly shared same with me about the soon-to-be ex-president the last 8 years. Well, maybe just a few.