Two Days to Go: Why I Hate Them So

 

Trump has spent four years sowing division and heaping hatred upon anyone who disagrees with him. He has told thousands of demonstrable lies; purged the government of those whom value duty to nation above loyalty to him; done his utmost to prevent Democrats from voting and their votes from being counted; and trashed every value that I hold dear. Those who voted for Trump made all this possible, and are determined that it continue. The harm that Trump has done to people like I--and millions of others--is harm for which I hold them responsible.

Two days ago, Trump supporters used their vehicles to harass a busload of Biden supporters who were on their way to an event in Austin, Texas (the event was cancelled). Trump, who has a long history of encouraging violence on the part of his supporters, tweeted photos of the harassers along with the words, "I LOVE TEXAS!" (Earlier in the week, a similar incident occurred in Missouri, and the FBI is investigating both incidents.)

Election day violence (the election is November 3) is a major concern in America. The reason for the concern is that Trump has been saying for months that he can only lose if the election is stolen, so in a country that contains more privately-owned guns than people (most guns being in the hands of Republicans), and is under the leadership of a violence-promoting demagogue, violence seems likely. Might it get worse than a few out of control demonstrations--might there be an attempted coup if Trump calls for one? No one knows.

I do know that, prior to Trump, fears of election violence like that which is seen in the Third World didn't exist here because people imagined that the country was strong and stable. Yet, in four short years, America has gone from being the world's most powerful democracy to standing upon the precipice of fascism and possible collapse. I feared Trump and his supporters from the outset, but because I trusted that America's laws and democratic institutions would protect us, I didn't foresee that two days before the election of 2020, I would be writing such a post.

But why is it that the very flag-wavers (they have now swapped the American flag for the various Trump flags) who sing, "I'm proud to be an American because at least I know I'm free," support a man who runs roughshod over the very values they formerly expressed a willingness to die for? I can but point out that their words are the same words that were spoken in 1930's Germany, which were the same words that are spoken by all people who regard "strong-man" dictators as the solution to their nation's problems. 

If I awakened one day and discovered that half of my fellow citizens were child-molesters who passionately defended child-molestation and attended large rallies (during a pandemic, no less) at which they chanted "Lock Them Up!" whenever their leader criticized the opponents of child molestation, I would wonder what signs I overlooked that might have allowed me to look beyond the fresh paint adorning their souls to the rot underneath. Even if Trump loses and even if there is no attempt at a coup, I will never again respect his supporters, not because they are dead to me, but because I foolishly imagined that their authoritarianism was tempered by decency. It was not the first time that I so wanted to believe in the goodness of people that I traded truth for fantasy.

28 comments:

Elephant's Child said...

From this side of the world we watch and wait. Anxiously. For your country and for the world.

Anonymous said...

Misguided as you and I may think they are, what is an avowed Republican voter who doesn't support the megalomaniac to do? Not vote I suppose. I think it may well have partly been responsible for Clinton losing the last election but I do like her term for his supporters as a 'basket of deplorables'. They really are.

Anonymous said...

I am shocked to learn that the average American is someone who supports Trump. I believed the majority of us are decent people who do the right thing when the need arises, will help our fellow Americans who need a hand up, a fair share, a helping hand period. I thought we believed in respect, compassion, the right to be different . . . I believed we are decent people. I am still reeling after the majority prove otherwise.

I am shocked to hear those who voted for Trump pretend they didn't or apologize for voting for him because they were fooled. He was sad and mean and unloved, filled with hate, angry and a host of other dangerous descriptives before they voted for him and he has only gotten worse since being in office. He is an example of all the things America was not meant to stand for. For shame. How sad and pathetic we are as a people.

I pray that Texas, my home state goes from purple to blue. There is redemption after all.

Snowbrush said...

"From this side of the world we watch and wait. Anxiously. For your country and for the world."

I know--thank you.

"Misguided as you and I may think they are, what is an avowed Republican voter who doesn't support the megalomaniac to do? Not vote I suppose."

Some Republicans who regard Trump as a traitor to their Party and their nation have formed organizations that have raised many millions of dollars (which they are spending on ads and commercials) to defeat him.

kylie said...

That old curse "may you live in interesting times" is certainly showing it's validity!

Sue said...

Dear Snowbrush, Two days??? It may be somewhat longer, before the final tally comes through...all those paper mail-in ballots. And from this address, one more paper-vote. Driving at night, only to discover, (in 2016, a rainy dark nasty night) no parking ... nuh-uh, this time, very determined to vote, and so took advantage of the mail-in opportunity.
Am so anxious to hear the results, but will just have to be patient...bummer!
Am thinking, if the one i voted for gets in, his term will buy us four more years, because it's only a matter of time before this, once great, nation devolves...

angela said...

I fear for you, your country, democracy and the safety of the world.
It’s frightening watching it all unfold from down here

Strayer said...

It's really very pathetic that we have sunk to this level of degeneration. Maybe they don't remember history and why our veterans fought and died in wars to keep us from becoming what we now are becoming. I have no words really. The next couple of days will be interesting from a historical standpoint, but possibly dangerous too.

Snowbrush said...

"I pray that Texas, my home state goes from purple to blue."

I hope so too, and I share your discouragement and alienation upon learning that the standards of decency that you assumed to exist don't exist. Thankfully, I now live in the liberal Willamette Valley, but am from rural Mississippi. By the way, my wife's father was stationed at Lackland when she and met, and we often vacationed in the mountainous regions of west Texas.

"That old curse "may you live in interesting times" is certainly showing it's validity!"

It might be hoped that America's president deals with the nation's challenges rather than becoming them, yet everyday for four years, I've awakened with the question: "How has the idiot fucked-up thus far today?" Four years of Trump hiring, firing, attacking, dismantling, and keeping the whole world wondering what he would do in the next minute! I think it likely that Biden will win, and when he does, I hope that his justice department will pursue Trump and Trump's unethical family and associates until they are all in their graves.

"Two days??? It may be somewhat longer."

I just meant that it will be two days until the votes start being counted because, yes, it will be "somewhat longer" before the final result is determined, and I think we can trust the Republicans to file suit after suit to have Democratic votes thrown out every step along the way.

"Driving at night, only to discover, (in 2016, a rainy dark nasty night) no parking ... nuh-uh, this time, very determined to vote, and so took advantage of the mail-in opportunity"

Despite Trump's claims that it's fraught with massive fraud, I've never heard a single Oregonian criticize the state's vote-by-mail-only or suggest we go back to walk-in voting.

cont.

Emma Springfield said...

We can hope that the choice is a good one. There is too much to lose if we don't choose wisely.

Snowbrush said...

"Am thinking, if the one i voted for gets in, his term will buy us four more years, because it's only a matter of time before this, once great, nation devolves..."
As a child, I assumed that I would live forever, that adulthood was an eternity away, that God wouldn't let bad things happen to me, that my nation would always be "the greatest nation on earth," etc. When I learned that the universe itself isn't eternal, these beliefs started to collapse like a house made of toy blocks. I am 71, so I figure that if the collapse doesn't happen within the next fifteen years, at least I won't be around to die in it. This is a sad thing to hope for, but it's the best I can come up with, and it does even provide some comfort to know that, no matter what we do, nothing we love can be made safe forever. Maybe you know that Oregon was the first state to legalize marijuana, and depending upon how the vote goes, this year might see it become the first to decriminalize the simple possession of "hard drugs" and to legalize psilocybin for therapeutic use. So, here's what you do, you move to Oregon and take psilocybin on a shrink's couch, and it will presumably enable you to better accept the rapidly approach end. I am only half joking because I am in the same boat as you are, and given all that I know about the drug, it is definitely something that I would consider. In fact, I did take psilocybin--and acid--in the seventies, but the small doses I took were nothing compared to the mega doses that people now take in therapy.

"It’s frightening watching it all unfold from down here."

Because I live in the US, I at least have the power to make a tiny difference by voting, and while I'm not in a "swing state" in which my vote is likely to count for much (in the presidential race I mean, there also being many other things on the ballot), it still felt good to drop my ballot into the walk-up voting box last week.

"The next couple of days will be interesting from a historical standpoint, but possibly dangerous too."

The word "possibly" suggests that you're more sanguine than I, yet given how much I listen to the news (on NPR), it's possible that my views have been skewed by the endless diet of ugliness in combination with my basic pessimism. Maybe you know that, here in Oregon, Trump supporters have been assaulting people at peaceful Black Lives Matter rallies--this happened in tiny Creswell on Sunday. I have no idea why the Trumpians are doing such things--aside from sheer hatefulness--that is unless they're practicing for battling the anarchists and looters in downtown Portland.... When not much is happening on NPR, I sometimes--but rarely--wander over to Fox to see what they're saying about a specific news item, but I only stay until I hear "The Democrat Party," "the China virus," "Hunter Biden's laptop," "Democrats are God-hating Communists," "Nancy Pelosi wants the country to fail," etc., which means that I'm gone in roughly three minutes. There was a time when Fox had at least one intellectually stimulating talk show host--Michael Medved--but of course they got rid of him.

PhilipH said...

Trump tweets and speaks from his fat backside. He is able to set this world on fire which makes him Satan personified. Why nobody has planted a few bullets in his big thick head is bewildering.

He's worse than all evil scum, past and present, that I've seen and heard during my long lifetime. Hitler, Mussolini, Himmler, Goring, and Lord Haw Haw,(William Joyce). In fact, William (Lord Haw Haw) Joyce, is almost the same as Trump. He broadcast regularly on the radio during WW2, spouting propaganda, lies and misinformation throughout the war. He was born in Brooklyn America in 1906 and took German citizenship in 1940. His stinking life end in a British prison in 1946.

Yes, he could well be described as Trump. We Brits, young and old, loathed this piece of excrement, but I hate DJT even more.

PhilipH said...

My earlier comment has vanished. No matter. I was just comparing Trump to others I'd lived alongside during my long life and concluded that we should now link DJT to Lord HawHaw, real name William Joyce. He was born in Brooklyn USA in 1906, becoming a Fascist as he grew. He took German citizenship in 1940 and spent the whole of WW2 spouting propaganda, lies and misinformation by radio. He was hated as much as Hitler by all of us. He died in a London prison circa 1946. I detest DJT as much as I hated Lord HawHaw, with his "Germany Calling, Germany Calling" programme during the war. So, for me, it will be Lord HawHaw as DJT tweets or spouts on TV.

Snowbrush said...

Philip, you gave me a lot to think about...

First, perhaps the confusion about what happened to your comment was caused by me switching back and forth between moderating comments and not moderating comments. When I elect to moderate them, it has always--so far anyway--been because a scammer left a comment, and because I'm unwilling to have my readers' inboxes filled with crap, I choose "moderate comments" in order to discourage a repeat performance on the part of him and his associates. After a few weeks, I return to automatically allowing comments. Now...

William Joyce and Donald Trump were both born in Brooklyn. Joyce was hanged, of course, and while you and I would like to see Trump meet the same fate, he will probably likely live out his life in luxury and at enormous expense to the American taxpayer. Of course, once he's no longer president, he will have to pay his own travel expenses instead of making the taxpayer vomit $200,000 an hour to keep Air Force One flying (he has been using it for up to five campaign stops per day--yesterday alone, he covered 2,500 miles--while Biden has to pay his own expenses).

On shooting Trump... Peggy hates Trump, probably as much as you and I, and, like us, there is no evil that she would consider him incapable of doing if it would serve his purposes. So, I asked her the other day if she would shoot him assuming that she would (1) succeed and (2) escape capture. She surprised me by saying no, her explanation being that "it wouldn't be right" (as to WHY it wouldn't be right, she didn't care to say, right and wrong being qualities that come from one's gut, in her view, and are therefore needless topics of discussion) I then asked if she would have spared the world a second world war by shooting Hitler, but I didn't get a firm answer because Peggy HATES ethical, theoretical, and philosophical conversations as much as I love them, and so our discussions usually end with her quickly losing patience. The trouble, of course, with shooting someone like Trump is that his followers would view him as a martyr, blame the killing on a government conspiracy, and then seek retaliation--or even civil war-- thus raising the question of whether his death might not cause more harm than good. Another problem, of course, with taking justice into one's own hands is included in Kant's statement: "Act according to the maxim that you would wish all other rational people to follow, as if it were a universal law." In this case, would I want everyone to have the freedom to kill anyone that they considered a serious threat to the nation or world? No, but, as I see it, there are situations in which the stakes are so extraordinary that normal morality doesn't apply. For instance, in war, good and loving men kill complete strangers who, in many cases, are themselves good and loving men. Yet, some wars are truly necessary, and the same is true with some assassinations. This shouldn't be taken to mean that I'm a danger to Trump, both for the reasons given, but also because I lack the skill, the steely resolve, and the sangfroid, to kill anyone who wasn't coming at me with a gun. Also, I love my wife more than I love my nation and world. Yet if Trump were assassinated, my sympathy would be entirely with his killer.

ApacheDug said...

Well said, Snowbrush. I appreciated reading this, greatly. I need to go back & read it again.

ellen abbott said...

I could not agree more. the things that surprised me were the complete lack of decency among his supporters (well, most as I know two people who vote for him and they are good people beyond their support for him) and the complete failure of the Republican Senate in particular and the Republican party in general to put country before party in their desire for power. though why that should have surprised me when they put party before country for the 8 years of the Obama presidency. I just never thought that they would allow Trump to free reign to destroy this country, that they would allow his lawlessness and his cruelty as long as it made them rich.

Marion said...

Sore loser, spoiled brat democRATS! Suck it up, buttercups!!!!! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Snowbrush said...

"I appreciated reading this, greatly. I need to go back & read it again."

That's about as nice a compliment as I could hope for.

"the things that surprised me were the complete lack of decency among his supporters"

Today, I heard a radio caller say that she had hoped the election would restore her faith in her nation through an overwhelming vote against Trump's ignorance, pettiness, and corruption, but not having gotten that, her alienation and cynicism remain untouched. So far it looks like Biden will win, but that the Senate will remain Republican, which means that things under Biden will look much like the obstructionism that occurred under Obama. The decent people have all been run from the Republican Party, which, of course, is the Party that prides itself on its Christian values.

I found last night interesting because Trump was demanding a permanent end to vote counting at the end of the day (NEVER has such a thing happened). If this had occurred, entire states would have been disenfranchised, but Biden would have won. Today, Biden is still ahead, yet Trump has declared victory, presumably because--with no evidence whatsoever--he holds that votes not yet counted (which would primarily be mail-in votes that lean toward Democratic candidates) are fraudulent. Yet according to the votes already counted, Biden would still have won. So how does Trump figure he won? Does he plan to cherry-pick votes from Democratic areas and have the Supreme Court declare them invalid, thereby giving himself a victory? I have no idea if the Supreme Court would really do such a thing, but if it didn't, it won't be because Trump didn't demand it. If it should happen, American democracy will be at an end, and we can largely thank the good Christians of the South and Midwest for it. I remember a time when they criticized Communism for abandoning morality in favor of "the ends justifies the means." Now it seems that they're fine with the Communist approach as long as the ends are their ends and the means their means.

PhilipH said...

Lord HawHaw is finished. Let the planet rejoice. Trump has gone, flattened by a Royal Flush dealt cleanly by Joe Biden. Hip Hip HOOOOORAAAAY!

Winifred said...

Well looks like Trump has got his come uppance at long last! The damage he has done to the US is immeasurable. Hard to believe that the Republican party has tolerated his offensive and dangerous behaviour, they have done themselves no favours. He has made the US a laughing stock, having a president who is such an obvious liar and cheat is so sad. He has damaged the world's perceptions of the US democracy so much it will take years to overcome it. Just hope Biden & Harris can work at reuniting your country. It certainly is not a United States at the moment. Best wishes for the future.

Snowbrush said...

"Lord HawHaw is finished. Let the planet rejoice."

Philip, I so appreciate you. What with being socially isolated by chronic pain and the threat of Covid, I've become so imprisoned within the walls of my home that having Internet friends like you is vital, and it makes not a lick of difference that we're separated by a continent and an ocean. You're the only person on earth who ever calls me anymore, and that means a lot (M. has suggested Zoom calls, so maybe I will soon start visiting with her as well (Peggy has been meeting with friends on Zoom).

"The damage he has done to the US is immeasurable. Hard to believe that the Republican party has tolerated his offensive and dangerous behaviour, they have done themselves no favours. He has made the US a laughing stock..."

Yet Republicans, by and large, don't seem to care, their thought being that the US doesn't need allies because we are so great--and so favored by God--that we can go it alone. For a long time, I sincerely wanted to understand the reasoning of Peggy's Trumpian father, of one of her Trumpian sisters, and of my few Trump-supporting blog followers, but once the election drew near, and I listened to--supposedly--thoughtful, educated, and intelligent, Republicans being interviewed, I realized that they were out there in tin-foil hat land, and I lost all interest in them. Biden wants so much to draw the nation together and heal the wounds caused by Trump, but, meanwhile, Trump and his party are doing their damnedest to overturn the will of the people to keep him in office by any means necessary. I'm glad that Biden wants to work with these fascists because I sure the hell would not. Maybe if I were forty years younger I would live so long that my hatred would diminish, but I certainly don't see doing it happening in the decade or two that I'm likely to have left. It saddens me to feel this way, but I didn't come to it overnight, and it won't be going away because, in my view, sharing a nation with them is like being trapped in bed with a rattlesnake.

https://frenchpress.thedispatch.com/p/the-presidential-election-was-legitimate?utm_source=pocket-newtab

CreekHiker / HollysFolly said...

I actually quit Facebook for about a week because I just couldn’t take it anymore. I decided if I had to be off social media and all news channels for four years I could do it! I just hope this transition happens and we can all move on!

Sue in Italia/In the Land Of Cancer said...

I am writing this 8 days after the election so despite all of trumps dirty tricks, Biden has won Let the healing begin

Of course trump still insists he won because well he wanted to win

Robocalls were made to voters in Flint saying the lines were too long, don't vote until the next day I dont think anyone fell for that

But the worst was trump calling his armed henchmen to surround the Detroit vote counting center pounding on the windows trying to scare the mostly African American poll workers

As for you trump lover reader Suck it up Buttercup Good versus evil

Snowbrush said...

"I actually quit Facebook for about a week because I just couldn’t take it anymore."
Blogspot is my only involvement with social media--aside from email. Facebook has a legacy of lies, violations of privacy, tolerance of neo-Nazis, and information theft, so I would NEVER go near it, but I have followed blogs whose owners abandoned Blogspot (and the blogs they had followed here) in favor of Facebook. 

"As for you trump lover reader Suck it up Buttercup Good versus evil."

Why, do you suppose, did she call us Buttercups? All I can think of was that--flower-lover that she is--she chose the buttercup in order to celebrate us for being a pure, glowing, beautiful, lovable, memorable, endearing, and air-purifying blessing, to everyone with whom we come in contact. I was also extremely touched that she acknowledged our love for our nation's ideals by pasting a row of no less than 21 American flags!

...Aside from Marion, whom you referenced, and whose full comment had read: "Sore loser, spoiled brat democRATS! Suck it up, buttercups!!!!!🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸" https://www.blogger.com/profile/14786883679294446945), I don't know how many Trumpians still visit my blog because some have only commented once, and others only comment rarely. I miss them when they're gone, but given some of my posts, I'm hardly surprised. Marion certainly hung in there longer than most, but it was impossible to engage her--and, worse yet, she would make outrageous claims and then ignore my request for sources--and so I had asked that she not comment on my posts about Trump. Obviously she did, and I "allowed" her comment because I don't recall having ever refused any comment that wasn't outright spam, and because I thought it constituted an accurate representation of the intellectual level of a typical Trumpian... I see that she left it on election day, no doubt in anticipation of a very different outcome--an outcome that she had predicted. She obviously celebrated too soon.

Heidrun Khokhar, KleinsteMotte said...

It is all a mess as Trump tries desperately to win 2 seats for senate on Jan.5. The saga goes on. And Biden has been left with such a divided nation that it will be tough to get some decency back. Living has become normal amongst many people and the media. The world has be changed.A new era lies ahead. Virus issues will become a way of life.and as the population grows humans will continue to abuse the planet.

Joe Todd said...

Looking forward to the next 4 years with Biden... YEA... Have a great Thanksgiving

Snowbrush said...

"Biden has been left with such a divided nation that it will be tough to get some decency back."

I can't imagine wanting to be president, but then I can't imagine wanting to do a great many things at which I would fail miserably. Biden really is said to be talented at reaching out to the other side, and while he can't succeed if the Republican assholes (see how miserably I would fail!) refuse to reach back, his willingness, ability, optimism, and determination, surely represents the only hope we have. Of course, people like you and i are wondering why they would work with him when they have been closed to working with anyone else since the late '80s when Newt Gingrich held sway.

"Have a great Thanksgiving."

You too, Joe.

The Blog Fodder said...

American has two more years to restore institutions badly damaged and make enough progress in leveling the playing field between whites and minorities that the do not lose heart. I do worry as Biden is a "moderate" aka corporate Democrat and they are next to useless when it comes to anything progressive.
I stayed away from politics until after the election because there was so much of it anyway. Then I cut loose on a double blog post. Here is the link to part one. https://dablogfodder.blogspot.com/2020/11/white-supremacy-is-heart-of-american.html