Politics As (Un)Usual

"Have you ever heard of Broad City?" my youngest son, J, asked me yesterday. "It's trending on Twitter."

I had never heard of Broad City and asked J what it was and why it was trending. Apparently, it's a show on Comedy Central. It was announced that during Broad City's new season, Donald Trump's name will be treated as an obscenity, bleeping it whenever his name comes up.

I immediately loved this. I've never been a Trump fan, especially since he decided to enter politics, and most especially since he won the presidential election. I've written about my love (or, rather, lack thereof) of Trump in several posts here ("It's Been an Atrocious Election Year..." , "Politics Make Me Sick", and "Donald Trump as What?", for starters).

If, after reading those posts, there's any doubt about how I feel about our current regime (oops, president), you might need to reread the posts. In her book Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith, one of my favorite writers, Anne Lamott, wrote, "I have had it with (George W.) Bush." And I am so over Trump. I also love that Stephen King was known to call Trump "he-who-shall-not-be-named" on Twitter (well before he was blocked by the tweeter-in-chief). Another one of my favorite writers, who is one of my friends on Facebook and who I won't "out" here without her permission, has taken to calling t.i.c "baby man." It fits.

All this is leading up to today's news: "Congressman Targeted: Rep. Scalise, Others Shot at Baseball Field". According to NBC, "House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was standing at second base during a congressional baseball practice when a gunman opened fire and hit him in the left hip, witnesses said."

The New York Times reported that the lone gunman opened fire on Republican members of the congressional baseball team because he "was reportedly distraught over President Trump’s election" ("Steve Scalise Among 4 Shot at Baseball Field; Suspect Is Dead".)

No matter how angry (or "distraught") one is over something, this is not an acceptable way of handling that anger. The only reason to resort to such means is if someone is directly threatening you, for family/loved ones, or those around you with certain death. Any other reason is unacceptable. Protest. Write. Use legal means. This could include impeachment proceedings. But damn, not violence!

I still don't like the direction the current regime is headed in, the craziness and unethical way those in power are treating the poor and working class. It's basically class-warfare. But if we're going to fight back, we've got to do it without violence.

Otherwise, we're no better off than hate-mongers who try to destroy the country for all of us.

Donald Trump as What?

Donald Trump has been inaugurated as president of the United States.

Let that depressing news sink in. It's going to be a long, bumpy four years.

Eight years ago, I wrote a post on my original Journalistic Writings blog about President Barack Obama's inauguration. Four years later, when President Obama was inaugurated for a second term, I reposted it on my Journalistic Writings, Two blog.

And now we have Donald J. Trump. It seems we've gone from classy to trashy. How else does one describe going from a president who tried to be inclusive, was still married to - happily married to, from the looks of it - his first wife, was strong enough to take a stand without calling people derogatory names to someone on his third marriage (divorced twice), allegedly cheated on all three of his wives, bragged to Billy Bush (who seemed to be amused by DT's bragging) that he'd grabbed women by certain bodily areas, that one could "do that if you're rich and powerful enough", calls people he doesn't like or who aren't rich WASP (white anglo-saxton protestants) men derogatory names, and spouts off without thinking first, then has to back-track with "well, that's not I meant"?

Personally, I like how the writer Stephen King has referred to trump on Twitter as "he-who-shall-not-be-named." Lately, King has mentioned trump's name...but apparently is still not a fan. I just knew there was something I liked about Stephen King (besides his writing).

Of course, Trump didn't win the popular vote, but he did win the Electoral College's vote. I totally get the Electoral College being needed when the United States was in its infancy. But with technology the way it now is, there's no reason we can't have every person's vote count...Every. Single. Person's. Vote. Counting.

Back in August, I posted that Politics Make Me Sick on this blog. (They still do.) In that post, I mentioned one of my favorite writers, Anne Lamott. Anne wrote about George W. Bush during his years in office, and mentioned, "A friend called to wish me Happy Birthday, and I remembered something she's said many years ago, while reading a Vanity Fair article about Hitler's affair with his niece. 'I have had it with Hitler,' Peggy said vehemently...And I've had it with Bush."

At the time I read that, I thought, "Yeah. I can relate." But at the same time, I figured that after he left office, if I ran into George W. at, say, a barbecue or other gathering, I might actually chat with him and his wife for a few minutes - and actually be civil about it.

I can't, however, say the same about trump. I can't picture myself even crossing the street - crossing a two-lane street with maybe five cars on it all day - to say hi to trump. I am soooooooooo over trump.

It's going to be a long, bumpy four years.

It's Been an Atrocious Election Year...

The recent presidential election has left me feeling depressed. It seems to have had that effect on quite a few die-hard lefties.

There are bound to be at least one or two people who'll point out that had Hillary Clinton, there'd still be approximately half the country depressed over the election results. It was a close election. And while Hillary won more physical votes, she lost by way of the electoral college. It's happened before. Trust me: as a voter who lived in Florida during the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore, I'm well aware that there are contentious elections. Any time you have bumper stickers showing up saying that the state you live in has Electile Dysfunction, you know that there are unhappy voters.

And yet, the 2000 election can't possibly as contentious as this year's election. While many Republicans hated Hillary, mentioning her emails during her time as Secretary of State, along with any and all complaints, it was nothing compared to how Democrats felt about Donald Trump. Heck, even members of his own party tried distancing themselves from him.

Anne Lamott is one of my favorite writers. She's written several books of essays about becoming a Christian (Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith), and her ongoing struggles of meshing her faith with her left-wing politics (Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith and Grace Eventually: Thoughts on Faith). In the first essay in Plan B ("Ham of God"), Lamott wrote, "Everyone I know has been devastated by Bush's presidency...So much has been stolen by Bush, from the very beginning of his reign...I have had it with Bush. Hadn't the men in the White House ever heard of the word karma?"

The first time I read these words, I practically cheered. I haven't voted for any of the Bush family: Not George H.W. Bush, not W., and not younger brother Jeb for Florida governor. Did I mention being a die-hard lefty Democrat - and a feminist, too?

And yet, while I've never voted for the Bushes, the thought of Trump in the White House, and seeing the people he's picking to surround himself with - rich white men who seem to be positively allergic to anyone who isn't a rich WASP-ish male - is making me positively nostalgic for the Bush years - all 12 in the White House, along with Jeb's in Tallahassee. For me to even think that way, much less write about it, should tell you something about my deep mistrust of he-who-shall-not-be-named.

That last bit - the "he-who-shall-not-be-named" - should look familiar to anyone who follows Stephen King's Twitter page. I've got to respect someone who calls the president-elect that.

When I went to bed the night of November 8, the end results weren't in. Around 2:30, I got up to use the bathroom and passed my youngest son, J., in the hallway. I didn't dare ask at that hour who won. I figured if it was a clear-cut Hillary win, he would have told me. The fact that he didn't say anything, other than to announce he was heading for bed, meant that either he-who-shall-not-be-named had won, or it was still up in the air. I hoped that it was the latter and went back to bed.

But no. When I got up in the morning, the obscene headline told it all.

The chatter on Facebook and Twitter has been crazy: it's not hard to tell who voted for whom by the posts.

But after a week-and-half, the die-hard lefties seem to be deciding, "Okay, so now what do we do?", while posting ways to get rid of the electoral college, and try blocking some of he-who-shall-not-be-named's picks from actually ending up in DC.

It's going to be a long haul. Let's just hope and pray he-who doesn't screw up as bad as we're afraid of.

Politics Make Me Sick

I never voted for any of the Bush family: Not George H.W. Bush, not George W. Bush, and not Jeb (although I almost thought that Jeb might be the smarter brother). If any of them were to run for office again, I still wouldn't vote for them. To paraphrase Dr. Seuss, I would not vote for them in a boat, with a goat, with green eggs and ham, I wouldn't vote for them, Sam-I-Am.

In the first essay in her book Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith, Anne Lamott bemoans the "scolding at the hands of the Bush administration."

"A friend called to wish me Happy Birthday, and I remembered something she's said many years ago, while reading a Vanity Fair article about Hitler's affair with his niece. 'I have had it with Hitler,' Peggy said vehemently...And I've had it with Bush." ("Ham of God," Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith.)

Throughout "Ham of God", Lamott states why she wasn't wild about George W. Bush. And I am as much a fan of the Bush politics as Lamott. Nothing personal; I'm sure that if one could pull politics away from the Bush men, if one could have a talk over, say, their favorite barbecue, places to vacation, and such, we might almost have a decent conversation. Almost.

That said, the current political scene is making me positively nostalgic for Bush family politics. Between Rick Scott, former chief executive of Columbia/HCA, now in his final two years as Florida governor and Donald Trump the GOP nominee for president, is there any doubt as to why I'm nostalgic?

When George W. ran for reelection, my dad called to apologize for voting for W. the first time around, later becoming an Independent (after being a life-long Republican) because of W. That said, I'm sure Dad is not rolling over in his grave, but, rather, spinning faster than a windmill during a hurricane.

First, Rick Scott. A 2012 Huffington Post article mentions his plunging popularity. Things have only gotten worse ("Rick Scott, America' eighth least popular Governor") for his popularity, and with good reason. He got into office on his "Let's get to work" campaign - promising more jobs for Florida - then promptly starting cutting jobs left and right in Tallahassee. He ran Columbia/HCA while the company was embroiled in controversy over, in large part, the company's Medicare billing practices. Although Scott wasn't implicated, the company ended up forking more than $600 million to the federal government for the largest fraud settlement in US history (taken from the Wikipedia page on Rick Scott). Then there's the fact that he passed on billions of federal dollars to help expand Medicaid that would have covered 650,000 Floridians. There's more, but you get the idea.

Then, there's Donald Trump.

It seems that every time the man opens his mouth, garbage seems to spew out. I would say it was mostly manure, but at least manure can be useful if one is planting roses or mushrooms. I have yet to hear anything that useful coming from Trump. It seems that Trump says something that takes maybe 30 seconds to say, then spends the next week back-tracking. He's managed to insult everyone and anyone who is not a rich white Christian man in great health.

Besides Hilary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and the mainstream media, Trump has managed to insult a growing list of people, places and things. Try people in his own party: Sen. John McCain ("not a war hero"), Former President George W. Bush, Sen. Lindsey Graham, and in a really low moment, a reporter with a disability.

That's just a start. Watching news reports on Trump, it's not hard for me to imagine him being responsible for starting a major war simply by acting like a spoiled brat bully.

Is it any wonder why, while I never voted for a Bush, I'm almost nostalgic?