I meant to write this a few months ago as I was ruminating over the state of our political climate that would eventually lead us up to this particular night. 4 years in the making. 4 years of utter ridiculousness that would employ a modern-day “pinching” of ourselves – a long swab up our noses to test for Covid-19 – that would only enforce the fact that, yes, the life that we hoped was a nightmare has truly happened.
I find myself thinking about the Saturday after the inauguration of #45 in January 2017, when I joined my old coworkers, along with 200,000+ participants in a trip to the first Women’s March in D.C. Millions of people around the world marched in solidarity with the U.S. against the fact that this triflin’-ass, pussy-grabbing, mouth-looking-like-a-puckered-anus-covered-in-Cheetos-dust ass clown would be in charge of our country. Multiple daily news blurbs and countless viral tweets with outrageous boasting and accusations about the opposition have bolstered the flock that seemed to have pledged all that they can give to a bumbling village idiot.
People who are resoundingly in agreement with one particular person, to the point that their emotions overtake logic and common sense, are essentially in a cult. Brainwashed. They spout the broken record of their idol with conviction that puts their relationships in a precarious state of being. Jim Jones. Charles Manson. Adolph Hitler. These tyrants stir up pictures in people’s heads of the insanity that was in plain sight. A person takes up the idea that someone of prominence that speaks his mind is a great thing. They gloss over all the lies, all the rhetoric, the shell game that they play with us every day. A narcissist that needs to be seen constantly until they are provoked with questions that they can’t spin a lie in the moment and choose to walk away. Or who will stand there and calls people names and attack like they are a petulant child. Such a person is the People’s Bully.
I can hear what some of you are saying. Comparing him to those diabolical lunatics is a s-t-r-e-t-c-h. Probably. But allowing, even encouraging, the country to fall back 60 years or more in how we treat others, particularly those who are not white; thinking it’s just to allow those that have dedicated their lives to protect and serve to take it upon themselves to be judge, jury and executioner in the heat of the moment are not worthy to be trusted to do what is right by our citizens. And by encouraging the behavior of someone who is deemed the leader of a nation to not condemn the actions of those that have gone rogue, whether brandishing a badge when confronting someone over a counterfeit $20 bill or driving a 2010 Dodge Challenger into counter-protesters, you have essentially become part of the problem.
A lack of empathy or concern for another human being has gotten us to our current state of a nation. Racial divisiveness en masse that lain somewhat dormant for decades has flipped our world upside-down and have shown the true colors of white privilege. Because of one man that has no filter when speaking on a national or international stage, we have come to a point where we think it’s okay to spew the rhetoric of our ancestors as if the progress of those oppressed never occurred.
Now, let me be clear – I cannot turn a blind eye to the opposition, and said opposition includes yours truly. Over the last 4 years, I, along with others of like disposition, am not innocent in the current civil “war” that pervades the nation. I have allowed myself to be mired down by the attitudes of the country and misinformation disseminated from the highest point of government down to the dregs of society. Instead of ignoring the drama, I have fed into it, drawing up hatred that I’ve only reserved for the New England Patriots. In that vein, I too have become part of the problem. I’m certainly not proud of the anger coursing through me. Quite honestly, it is setting me back in my physical and mental health, as well as bringing me down to the level that I have come to despise. At least I’m aware of my short-comings to own them, even if I don’t acknowledge it in the heat of the moment, as others around me – on both sides – continue to point the finger and lay blame on others. As the battle wears on, proclaiming innocence while sticking to your guns and endangering relationships that have been fostered over the years is a major reason we are at each other’s throats with no sign of backing down.
As election night and subsequent days wins down, with premature but expected determinations of state-by-state winners for Commander-in-Chief, we brace ourselves for what the next 4 years will bring us and whether we can truly turn this country back around.
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