Wednesday, March 2, 2016

An Open Letter to Donald Trump

Dear Donald Trump:

Well, it didn't happen. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I was sure that, maybe after one of your most ridiculous actions -- say, for instance, your hesitation to disavow the KKK -- that you were going to turn around and announce that your whole campaign was just a social experiment; that you were going to say: "Look how far you let me push you, American people, to support the most negative and insensitive views! Look how you let me appeal to your reptilian brain instincts! Let this be a lesson to you: Don't let fear and hate drive your decisions. I am officially dropping out of the presidential race. It has all been an act. How could it have been enything else? Just don't forget how you almost voted for a guy who was clearly running a campaign that alluded to Hitleresque ideas..."

But, much to my surprise, it looks like you are actually serious. You really do think your views are okay. You really do think you could shoot someone and get elected. You, like, really do hesitate to distance yourself from even the most heinous of people because of a fear of losing votes... And you are self-absorbed enough to think you can get away with constantly referring to how smart and great you are and then to say that you don't know anything about David Duke and white supremacists. My sixth grade son knows about the KKK. Don't they teach those things in the Ivy League you like to brag about having attended? Maybe I need to check the curriculum.

Astoundingly, you really did say and really did mean that, in order to defeat ISIS, "you have to take out their families." As John Oliver points out, you really are a potential president who advocates war crimes in public, without shame or apology -- not that an apology can erase that barbaric statement. What will you try to get away with if you're in office, with secret organizations of espionage at your service?

Well, I don't think you are smart at all, despite your insistance. I think you are good at making money through appealing to the lowest of human instincts or bullying others into submission. That doesn't make you smart, that makes you a one-trick pony and that certainly does not make you a reasonable presidential candidate. You don't think; you react and you cater to the low desires of the drooling mob.

I never write about politics, directly, on my blog, but you have forced my hand. I don't care who stops reading me because they like you. I don't care if friends abandon me because of my view. This is that important. I will vote for anyone but you. This election is easy. I have no confidence or interest in Hilary Clinton. I think that, despite her being the first real possible female president (which is something that needs to happen, soon), she is the same-old, worn-out, underhanded and shifty "white male politician" we have had for years. But if it is you against her, I will vote for her. If it is you against Daffy Duck, I would vote for Daffy.

Anyone is better than you. If the American public is a body, then you are its brain tumor. You came from that body's internal chemistry of ignorance and prejudice. You befuddle its thoughts by jamming its synapses and you, if not extracted by the vote, might realistically cause its death.

See, here is what and why you are: You are the result of the slow and steady diminishment of tact, manners and ethical backbone in our society. No one thinks old-fashioned values are important anymore and no one cares about their disappearance because, after all -- what harm can it do to lose these antiquated ideas? Comportment is a cliche, right? Respect for woman and everyone else? Pfft. Well, we are seeing the harm: people are actually considering voting for a classless, self-centered, misogynistic, narcissistic spoiled brat of an adult who thinks "winning" is everything -- more even than holding on to the ideals that make us human (and specifically, that make us better than the terrorists).

Being the president is not the same as negotiating business deals to get you more money; it's not the coaching of a high school basketball team that you can inspire with worn-out sayings off of posters with pictures of muddy cleats on them. It's okay for two guys in a bar to say that we should "blow up" so-and-so country; it's not okay for the President of the United States. The fact that Christians would vote for you just show me how far off the track of Christ some Christians have wandered. What would Jesus do? Well, I know for sure he wouldn't sacrifice basic human values and respect for life in order to avoid dangers that are only possible.

You are success without sophistication. You aspire to the highest office in the land, but feel no obligation to comport yourself in a manner that does the office credit. And no one seems to care.

Well, I do. You are not a gentleman. It doesn't sound like a big deal to you, I know, but I think the president should be a gentleman. You are not funny or entertaining to me anymore. If elected, you will be the worst choice this country has even made for its highest office.

My decisions about you are not made as a result of media spin but based on what you said and did, in plain view of the world, so I don't want to hear the "liberal media bias" argument. In fact, I am not "liberal" and I do hold many views some would see as "conservative," so this does not come from an agenda. I've evaluated your words and actions for months; this is what I think, not what my gut tells me. You can't get to that with me.

Any success you gain is yet another historical proof that masses of people are easily blinded by bluster and the stoking of their engines of hate with shovel-full after shovel-full of the blackest coal.

With an absolute lack of respect,
Chris

PS: If you ever do read this, don't forget to tweet about my being some loser/nobody and how my invalidates my thinking. Maybe you could call me a "dego" and say that I should go make a pizza...

PPS: I think America has been great since day one; flawed, but great, and I'm astounded that anyone wants a president who thinks it is not a great country...or is this just another example of your simplistic mind: the inability to think beyond generalities and say specifically what needs to be improved.

7 comments:

  1. Just my two cents, as a voter with no party registration: if you absolutely hate one candidate but merely loathe the other, you don't have to choose between the lesser of two evils; your presidential ballot will have several other evils from which to choose. I don't think we have to reward the candidate we consider second-worst; we can spurn them both.

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    1. Very true, Jeff -- I caved-in to being over dramatic... I would love to vote for Daffy Duck, though.

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    2. Daffy Duck? I'm leaning toward Zippy the Pinhead.

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  2. As an outsider, I'm always intrigued by that familiar refrain, "Let's make America great again". What does it mean? What time are they referring to? And why isn't it great now? It is the world's largest economy and bounced back from the economic downturn far more quickly than most countries.

    It has the largest military and is on the verge of becoming self-sufficient in energy production. It also has a president who is greatly respected around the globe.

    Some people might hanker for the America of the 1950s, but that was also the age of segregation and McCarthyism. I think today's America is 'great', for all its faults and it baffles me that so many people are discontented.

    One thing is certain - America won't be great under Trump.

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    1. It's an awful phrase that, I am afraid, lights fires in the bellies of the ignorant. They don't know what it means either, but they sure like the sound of it...

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  3. This is such a brilliant idea:

    "Look how far you let me push you, American people, to support the most negative and insensitive views! Look how you let me appeal to your reptilian brain instincts! Let this be a lesson to you: Don't let fear and hate drive your decisions. I am officially dropping out of the presidential race. It has all been an act. How could it have been enything else? Just don't forget how you almost voted for a guy who was clearly running a campaign that alluded to Hitleresque ideas..."

    Perhaps it will still happen??

    By the way, there is pretty strong evidence that Mr Trump is not even good at making money - just at inheriting it and subsequently squandering a large amount.

    I suppose that the failure to administer justice properly following the banking crisis eroded trust and faith in the establishment - and rightly. How a plutocrat like Trump could be appealing in that situation is hard to understand, except that he is so good at pretending to be a maverick when he's just a greedy entitled attention seeker. Ugh.

    When I try to imagine how the mess we are in can be sorted out, I keep thinking of that old Irish story about the person asking for directions and the response coming back, "I wouldn't start from here."

    And you are so right about manners, tact and all the rest. Sigh, triple sigh.

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    1. I suppose there is still time, Zoe... Think of the impact if he did it AFTER he got nominated... I'm just baffled by it all, too. Many people on this side of the water talk about moving to another country if he gets elected. In my case, I would consider that more because I am surrounded by people who would vote for him than because of his being in office...

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