In consolation


Republicans now have the presidency and both houses of Congress, so they can do whatever the hell they please, and the rest of us will just have to live with it. I find this is a hard row to hoe, but it would be a lot harder if I had been among those who trusted Clinton. Some thoughts…

I voted for Jill Stein, so I’m one of those people who are being blamed for Trump’s victory, the argument being that a vote for anyone but Clinton was a vote for Trump. Yet, this persistent demand that everyone vote for the lesser of two evils can only result in the country never having more than two major candidates, both of them on the side of Big Business. Besides, I mistrusted Clinton so much that I couldn’t even be sure but what she would be a worse president than Trump. For one thing a vote for her would have carried with it the certainty of war, war, and more war, it being well-known that she was much more militaristic than Obama.

As much as I deplore Trump and nearly all of his policies, I liked some of his stances. For example, I consider his idea of a “wall” on the Mexican border to be absurd, but I agree that illegal immigration is a serious problem, and I had every expectation that Clinton would encourage it rather than control it due to her emphasis on helping illegals rather than deporting them for being the criminals that they are.

I hate “political correctness,” and Trump represents a hard and well-deserved slap in its smug and mean-spirited totalitarian face. I’ll give an example based upon my last point. Thanks to PC, America went from using the term “illegal aliens,” to “illegal immigrants” to “non-documented workers,” and finally to “immigrants,” thus denying any distinction between someone who wades the Rio Grande in the middle of the night and someone who spends years working through America’s painstaking immigration process. Another example is that PC won’t engage in dialogue with those who don’t knuckle under to its values. It instead fires them from their jobs, hounds them from their schools, demands their public censure, and labels them, among other things, as racist, homophobic, xenophobic, anti-immigrant, and that catch-all word hater. Even a devoutly PC person can get in trouble with PCers if he or she is found guilty of some “subconscious microaggression” with no defense being possible. PC’s worst nightmare will soon be its president, and, despite my own abhorrence of Trump, I can’t help but smile.

I finally gave up any thought of voting for Clinton when I heard her vilify a cop who had shot a black man the day before. Clinton couldn’t have known that the shooting was unjustified, yet she chose to pronounce that cop guilty without a trial and by so doing, she supported others in insuring that the cop couldn’t get a fair trial, the PC assumption being that when a cop shoots a black person, the shooting constitutes proof that the cop is a racist who probably joined the force so he or she could have a license to murder minorities. I hold people like Clinton partially responsible for the rising hatred of police and for cops being shot dead while sitting their cars.

Although I’m more liberal than conservative, I hate liberal smugness, and Clinton was the poster child for it. When I picture of Trump, I picture anger and intimidation. When I picture of Clinton, I picture insincerity and smugness.

I don’t want Moslem immigrants coming here because Islam inspires oppression and violence. Where Islam exists, the rights of women, gays, and non-Moslems are scorned. I don’t even care how wonderful a given Moslem is, he or she belongs to a religion that opposes human rights, and the more children that person parents in America, the greater America’s risk of Islamic violence and oppression.

If, through our membership in NATO, America is going to risk nuclear war with Russia while protecting some little Eastern European country that most Americans can’t find on a map—assuming the’ve even heard of it—then the very least that our NATO partners can do is to pay the share they pledged to pay for NATO membership. Millions of Europeans detest America for its militarism, yet American militarism is the only thing standing between them and Russia, and what do we gain for protecting these parasites? I agree with George’s Washington statement in his Final Address (the speech he gave upon retiring from public life): “It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world…”

I agree with Trump that this country should come first, and I believe this means, for one thing, cutting off all foreign aid. If a person borrowed money to the point that he had no hope of ever repaying it, and he gave that money to poor people on the other side of the world while his own children were wearing rags, going without medical care, and sleeping under a leaking roof, I would consider that person an idiot, yet this is exactly what America does. I know we don’t do it simply because we care about the poor, but rather in order to buy the friendship of the leaders of the poor, but I say screw those leaders because if we minded our own business instead of trying to run the entire world to our satisfaction, we wouldn’t need their friendship.


I’m scared shitless to have Republicans running my country, but I would have felt unsafe if Clinton had won. When Peggy put the cats to bed last night at 1:00 a.m., she turned on the TV for a moment and saw that Trump had won. She went to bed but was too upset to sleep, so she got up at 3:00 and turned it on again in the hope that she had misunderstood. When she realized that Trump really had triumphed, she stayed up until 5:00 watching the election results and becoming ever more scared. Because what I would fear most—in the short-term—is nuclear war with Russia, I actually feel a little safer with Trump, at least in that regard. Why is that a country that is forever praising peace, forever saying that it is working for peace, and forever chastising others nations for going to war, is itself constantly at war? The ONLY president I would feel optimistic about would be one that got us out of these goddamned endless wars, each of which leaves us poorer and less safe than when we got into it. I’ve heard insanity defined as doing the same stupid thing with the magic expectation that it will yield a different result, and that pretty much defines America. A vote for either major candidate would have been a vote for war, and I can at least feel good that I didn’t vote for even more young Americans coming home lame or in body bags, their lives sacrificed for nothing.

20 comments:

Marion said...

Now you know a little of how I felt the past 8 years watching Obama destroying America with his endless tax & spend & Obamacare farce. At least Trump is not a professional politician who's been on the dole his entire life like the Clintons/Obamas. And Lordy, those Podesta brothers with their "spirit cooking" crap made me want to convert to Catholicism & call an exorcist!! Middle class Americans have spoken: Drain The Swamp!!! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

lotta joy said...

Not that my (or anyone's) opinion matters, I think Trump won because he's NOT a politician. The white middle class is tired of politicians promising the same things as the prior politician. It's like voting for a telemarketer.

We wouldn't need a wall if we just stopped making America so attractive to illegals with free everything, via the few and fewer who still work for a living. I found Trump's opinions beyond obnoxious and I hope they were done for the shock value and not as a representation of a crude president. When his last speeches became more calm and rational, I realized anyone can be taught if they're willing to learn.

I just couldn't put up with four years of Hillary's ego and "happy dancing" gloating. The continuance of the Obama regime was beyond scary.

I'll be having ASAP shoulder surgery and will be unable to type for 6 weeks. So I'll be off the radar in case you would accidentally write me.

PhilipH said...

This is a revolution, or so it seems to me. There is such a huge and growing divide twixt haves and have-nots in all countries that we have to expect such results. God save America and the rest of the world. Oh, I forgot ... such a plea is pure bollocks.

E. Rosewater said...

congrats on voting green. i get really angry with people who complain that green voters cost them the election. trump lost more votes to libertarians than clinton lost to the greens.

i think that obama calling trump a racist and a fool fired up trump supporters more than it motivated minorities to vote for hillary. and obama doing photo-ops with al sharpton was beyond sickening.

i don't like cops but what all the liberals fail to realize is that cops deal with crazed drug addicts on a daily basis and if they gave each one the benefit of the doubt, the law of averages would soon catch up and the cop would be dead.

are you going to watch season 2 of deadwood?

stephen Hayes said...

I did not vote for Trump and don't hold him in high regard (an understatewment but he's my president now and I must hope for the best.

Emma Springfield said...

I purposely do not state my political or religious beliefs online. That being said I am happy this election is over. Nuff said.

Strayer said...

I hope for the best too and just hope I don't have to live under a bridge somewhere. Some of Trumps allies have vowed to end HUD, so I get nervous over that and the fact his tax cuts will have to get paid for by someone and usually its the poor that get it, because we have no clout. So I think about that and worry some over public lands but to me the politicians all seem about the same otherwise. I was unable to connect with Clinton or understand what she stood for. I hated Trump due to all the stuff he gets away with, not just words, the behavior, fleecing contractors, oh well what's the point, list is too long. I'm with you on the PC thing. I hate that.

kylie said...

so pleased you voted green!

the next few years will be interesting

Charles Gramlich said...

gonna be interesting times for sure.

Kranhu said...

Enjoyed every word you wrote.
A link that might be of interest.
https://medium.com/@trentlapinski/dear-democrats-read-this-if-you-do-not-understand-why-trump-won-5a0cdb13c597#.n7vo7zffz
Kris

Snowbrush said...

“Now you know a little of how I felt the past 8 years watching Obama destroying America”

You somehow mistake me for an Obama supporter. I considered him weak and equivocating. I hated his gum chewing, his slang, and I found his lecturing style of speech so patronizing that I muted the TV when I heard his voice.

“Middle class Americans have spoken”

Income-wise, it was not the predominantly middle class states that voted for Trump but rather the poorer, more rural, and more religious states.

“I think Trump won because he's NOT a politician.”

You and Marion. Is it not odd, though, that the highest office in the land is the very one for which having NO job experience is considered an asset? I rather think that Clinton’s problem wasn’t her long experience but rather the fact that she represented a continuation of the status quo at a time when so many Americans were calling for change even if it meant voting for a childish demagogue who appealed to their worst instincts; substituted the words “Believe me” for proof; logic, or policy details; and whose promises were completely at odds with how he lived his life and conducted his businesses. While Clinton was a political insider, Trump was a business insider, at least to the extent that he knew how to fail repeatedly at business and to manipulate government regulations in order to cheat the same hard-working Americans who he is now promising to care so deeply about—and declaring bankruptcy four times in the process. Millions were harmed for trusting Donald Trump, and that was before he ran for president. Now, I’m wondering what is going to happen when his rigid, intolerant, and unforgiving core supporters realize that he won’t be able to do all that he promised, although I’m sure he will handle his failures as president in the same way that he handles all his failures—by blaming them on a liberal conspiracy, a tactic that has worked very well for him so far. Trusting Trump is like trusting God in that you have to do it on the basis of blind faith. Did you know that: “94 percent of black women who voted and 68 percent of Hispanic or Latino female voters chose Hillary Clinton, but 53 percent of all white female voters picked Mr. Trump. The data can be broken down further: 51 percent of white women with college degrees voted for Mrs. Clinton, while 62 percent of women without one voted for Mr. Trump, a reflection of his success with working-class whites.” Why? If a man confesses to grabbing women’s twats without their permission, shouldn’t that constitute a red flag, particularly in the minds of women? Also, Clinton actually won the popular vote by 200,000.

“I'll be having ASAP shoulder surgery and will be unable to type for 6 weeks.”

I’ll be in touch. I’ve just fallen seriously behind in my blog visiting. I’ve had three shoulder surgeries, so if I can advise you about anything, please have Joe write. As for not being able to type, why won’t you be able to type? You won’t be able to lift your arm, but if you rest it and the keyboard on a pillow, you can still use your fingers. I wrote everyday from the first day I came home after my surgeries, and they were extensive surgeries.

Snowbrush said...

“There is such a huge and growing divide twixt haves and have-nots in all countries that we have to expect such results.”

Yes, but the two classes here vote opposite of what you might expect. For example, my former (and very poor) state of Mississippi receives more federal aid to the poor than it pays to the federal government in taxes. Yet, it is states like Mississippi that vote for candidates who oppose federal aid, largely because those candidates reflect their social and religious values about things like abortion, land use, and gay marriage. My current state of Oregon is a huge state (you could fit numerous Eastern states inside the borders of Oregon) where most of the population lives within a valley that is 40 miles wide and 100 miles long. This valley—the Willamette—is heavily Democratic and extremely liberal, and it controls the vote in Oregon. The rest of Oregon is rural and poor, and it votes Republican. What is the Republican plan to help the poor? It’s to help the rich get richer in the belief that they will use their wealth to hire the poor at whatever wages they choose to pay them (after all, the minimum wages laws will all be abolished).

“congrats on voting green.”

Thanks, I’ve done that twice now, and it makes me a part of the less than 1%—the 0.96 to be exact.

“i think that obama calling trump a racist and a fool fired up trump supporters”

Are you saying that for one buffoon to call another buffoon a buffoon might have been a problem?

“are you going to watch season 2 of deadwood?”

I think I stopped part way through season 3. I’m just not a serial kind.

“I'm with you on the PC thing. I hate that.”

Not that Trump people are any better, not really. While liberal college students protested Trump posters in schools, calling them “hate speech,” Trump and his supporters were referring to Clinton and her supporters as treasonous. It’s the desire of both sides to punish the other, but, thankfully, I haven’t heard of anyone being physically harmed, which is probably not would have happened had Trump lost. Do you suppose he’ll be apologizing anytime soon for the hundreds of times he said the election would be rigged?

Tom said...

To me Obama was a little bit like Carter. I liked the man; but thought the leadership was lacking. As for Hillary, I felt that she did not have the courage of her convictions. She seemed moderate in her own views, but was constantly pandering to the ideologues in her party, making her look fake and insincere. Trump? Let's hope for the best, and prepare for the worst.

Snowbrush said...

Whoopee, Oregon is going to secede from the Union!!! I mean, what else can we do?

http://katu.com/news/local/petition-wants-oregon-other-states-to-form-their-own-country

PhilipH said...

Wow! Donald (Mr. Brexit)Trump could be causing the break-up of the U.S.A., very much like the U.K could be doing. If right-wing bullies in Europe have their way then the EU is likely to crumble and fall. Trump seems to be very right-wing.

Is Fascism on the rise? Is Adolf being resurrected? Surely not. Err, possibly not.

G. B. Miller said...

Both sides are heavily to blame for the next four years. I could write a seriously long comment justifying the first sentence, but this isn't my blog.

Suffice to say is that one shouldn't really worry about the yokels in D.C., it's the rubes in your backyard that will probably make your life a lot worse in the next four years.

And even though I consider myself to be a moderate Republican, I couldn't bring myself to vote for him, so I went Libertarian.

Snowbrush said...

“Is Fascism on the rise?”

It certainly is here with the election of Trump, and I hear that his election has given encouragement to Marine Le Pen of France, and, I would guess, to anti-immigrant groups all over Europe, for there, as here, there is the sense that the old white, Christian order is falling before the onslaught of immigrants who come speaking other languages and holding to other religions. In 2012, non-white American births exceeded white American births for the first time, and by 2044, whites will be the minority here. I am among the millions who are not happy about this, which, of course, makes us racist and xenophobic. Such is dialogue in America. You’re either a liberal or you’re diagnosable and should go hide in shame under a rock. It was largely liberal condescension that propelled Trump to victory, that and symbolic things like bathroom rights for transgender people, things that, in much of America, aren’t likely to ever be accepted. You can only push people so far.

“I could write a seriously long comment justifying the first sentence, but this isn't my blog.”

People can read it or not.

“Suffice to say is that one shouldn't really worry about the yokels in D.C., it's the rubes in your backyard that will probably make your life a lot worse in the next four years.”

Here in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, there have been numerous demonstrations against Trump. Last night in Portland, windows were smashed and the cops had to fire rubber bullets to break things up. Here in Eugene, a flag was burned, and a Trump supporter objected, his “Make America Great Again” hat was taken from his head and also burned. It’s all so pointless aside from proving that the people who do such things are that which they claim to hate.

angela said...

It's the same here as well. Two major partie and lots of little people.
I always vote the little people. Yes I get told I'm throwing away my vote. But at least when the final numbers are tallied, I may not change who wins. But I send a message saying not everyone is happy with the same old crap we are being dished up every time.
Things must change

Snowbrush said...

“I always vote the little people. Yes I get told I'm throwing away my vote.”

I have embraced a bottom line of not voting for a candidate who isn’t actively for peace. Of course, when Obama was first elected, that was what he claimed—and got a Nobel Peace Prize in advance for it—yet he has presided over eight additional years of war. AND FOR WHAT? The only argument I hear is that if we don’t fight them there, we’ll have to fight them here, which is what was said about Vietnam. Well, we lost Vietnam, but I sure have seen any Vietcong wading assure here in Oregon. God, but I’m sick of wars that have no clear goal and no clear path to victory. They’re instead wars of attrition, the only goal being to see who gets tired first. Well, I’m tired first of spending money and sacrificing lives for nothing that I can see. Trump said we should let Russia take over the fight in Syria, and I thought, great idea, let Russia do it. So what if Russia is opposed to the people we’re supporting? It’s not like those people are going to be our friends and love us forever because we helped them take down Assad. Oh, contrair, they’re going to demand that we send them foreign aid forever whilst they continue to fight among one another for another hundred years or two because that’s all those people know how to do.

BBC said...

It's not that your vote was wasted in this election. All votes were wasted in this clusterfuck election. Stuff will happen, interesting stuff.