I can no longer sit by idly
Last night was the tipping point for me. I watched the rally in Greenville, NC, with the 13 second adoring approval of our President*, reveling in the chants of "Send her back" arising from his people in that auditorium, and I saw an eerie foreshadowing of what the Germans must have viewed in their land in the years leading up to World War II. I am not willing to watch my nation become a realm of fascist totalitarianism. Apparently my belief that this situation would not fester but would instead be resolved by rational and sane opposition was seriously misplaced.
Listening to the vulgar, uncivilized leader of the executive branch continually dissemble and blatantly spout untruthful nonsense is nausea inducing. As Rick Wilson succinctly and insightfully wrote recently in the pages of The Daily Beast:
"When Trump reads a speech written to meet the rote demands of the presidency, somewhere in the bowels of the White House speechwriting office, some guy grinds out workmanlike, even uplifting, text. It gets a coating of lube from Kellyanne and the tiny cadre of other adults left in the Presidential Bedlam and then slapped in a Teleprompter.
Trump’s delivery of those obligatory words—the odd cadences of the marginal reader sounding out the big ones, and his flat intonation—is that of a person who wants to check the rhetorical boxes so he can get on with denouncing the enemies of the people. Reading the uplift is his ticket to shoveling the shit."
And:
"And eager to feel the transgressive thrill of validating and amplifying Trump’s latest racist excesses, the MAGAs waddled in to fill the auditorium. The ladies brought the sequined Trump tank tops and bedazzled hats, and the men tightly fitting MAGA T-shirts over their swag bellies. The flags were American, the vibe 1932 Berlin.
He knew what would happen when he launched into his prepared remarks about the four members of the Squad. He wanted his five days of stacking the kindling to ignite a racial bonfire, and it did. He knew what the crowd wanted, his feral instincts about their darkest impulses as keen as always.
Trump understands his Deplorables with an almost anthropological eye; he knows they’re not just looking for validation or jobs or a drained Swamp; they’re looking for permission to be as cruel, grotesque, and vicious as he is. He knows they’re addicted now to the way he enables and empowers them to say and do the things they want, regardless of consequence."
Listening to the vulgar, uncivilized leader of the executive branch continually dissemble and blatantly spout untruthful nonsense is nausea inducing. As Rick Wilson succinctly and insightfully wrote recently in the pages of The Daily Beast:
"When Trump reads a speech written to meet the rote demands of the presidency, somewhere in the bowels of the White House speechwriting office, some guy grinds out workmanlike, even uplifting, text. It gets a coating of lube from Kellyanne and the tiny cadre of other adults left in the Presidential Bedlam and then slapped in a Teleprompter.
Trump’s delivery of those obligatory words—the odd cadences of the marginal reader sounding out the big ones, and his flat intonation—is that of a person who wants to check the rhetorical boxes so he can get on with denouncing the enemies of the people. Reading the uplift is his ticket to shoveling the shit."
And:
"And eager to feel the transgressive thrill of validating and amplifying Trump’s latest racist excesses, the MAGAs waddled in to fill the auditorium. The ladies brought the sequined Trump tank tops and bedazzled hats, and the men tightly fitting MAGA T-shirts over their swag bellies. The flags were American, the vibe 1932 Berlin.
He knew what would happen when he launched into his prepared remarks about the four members of the Squad. He wanted his five days of stacking the kindling to ignite a racial bonfire, and it did. He knew what the crowd wanted, his feral instincts about their darkest impulses as keen as always.
Trump understands his Deplorables with an almost anthropological eye; he knows they’re not just looking for validation or jobs or a drained Swamp; they’re looking for permission to be as cruel, grotesque, and vicious as he is. He knows they’re addicted now to the way he enables and empowers them to say and do the things they want, regardless of consequence."
I refuse to allow this travesty to continue unopposed. I have never felt a need to involve myself in politics, relying on a belief that inherent wisdom and goodness will eventually prevail. I must disabuse myself of that failed belief system, and become involved. I refuse to be a spectator while my country spins into racist-driven, propaganda-infused evil.
I may have disavowed the lifestyle of my former hero, Hunter S. Thompson, but I know in my heart, that he would be appalled to his core with this administration and its vile sentiments, on open display without reserve. These swine, these morally-destitute, power-abusing piles of steaming execrableness, must be opposed. The gruesome spectacle that occurs daily, in the news, via tweet, in print sickens me to the depths of my soul and spirit.
The time to smirk at the president* and his conceited, self-important idiocy is over and done. I refuse to be an observer but will devote my efforts to seeing his grotesque mockery of statesmanship deposed.
I may have disavowed the lifestyle of my former hero, Hunter S. Thompson, but I know in my heart, that he would be appalled to his core with this administration and its vile sentiments, on open display without reserve. These swine, these morally-destitute, power-abusing piles of steaming execrableness, must be opposed. The gruesome spectacle that occurs daily, in the news, via tweet, in print sickens me to the depths of my soul and spirit.
The time to smirk at the president* and his conceited, self-important idiocy is over and done. I refuse to be an observer but will devote my efforts to seeing his grotesque mockery of statesmanship deposed.
NOTE: I discovered this draft post when I reactivated my blog this past weekend (Thank you for the assist Brian!) and certainly was surprised to find it unpublished, but also want it to be out there, as my perceptions are not changed since it was drafted.
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