I knew from the minute he rode down that escalator more than nine years ago - June 16th, 2015.
Really, I knew well before then. From the 80s on, I was aware that he represented the worst of America. His bankruptcies, his fraudulence, his racism, his misogyny - all was clear to anyone even paying half attention.
Descending (both physically and verbally) into the darkest corners of American racism and xenophobia, calling Mexicans criminals and rapists (talk about mirroring and projection!), I did not think this narcissistic buffoon would be no more than an extremist footnote on our body politic.
Boy, was I wrong.
A great swath of the American people disappointed me - again and again and again. Every day was a new low for this scamming blowhard, and every day, those who should know better overlooked it and stuck with him.
Thanks to our minority-enshrining Electoral College, Trump blustered his way into the White House. Having lost the popular vote by THREE MILLION meant nothing to him. It meant nothing to his supporters. I swear to you, had it happened the other way around, the Electoral College would have been shredded by now.
His President, by all measures, was a disaster. He inherited an excellent economy from Obama, and over the course of three years, he slowly ebbed it away. The Covid disaster covered up how much the economy was deteriorating before then. So some still get misty eyed for the return of the Obama economy.
We have been in a vicious cycle for the last forty-four years. Republicans destroy the economy, and then a Democrat has to come in to restore it (Clinton, Obama, Biden). And yet, polling indicates that a majority of people think Republicans are better at the economy. Ah, the enduring power of Reaganesque propaganda!
However, the economy is only one of Trump's problems. He has demonized and divided since Day One. And his lack of Covid response resulted in the needless death of hundreds of thousands of Americans. We had quantifiably the worst response to COVID-19 on the planet. He turned wearing masks and social distancing and vaccines into a political issue instead of community health care. Many of us simply stopped caring about each other. I'm not sure I'll ever get over many's warped, selfish response to Covid.
He illegally did everything he could to steal an election and insert himself as a defacto dictator. You say that Vice President Pence is endangered by the mob I incited? As Trump said that day when told - "So what?"
It has been so hard. I live in a 90% Trump county. It is not comfortable to live here. You must be very careful who you speak to and how you speak. In person, I sometimes have a fierce temper when confronted by lunacy, so I have to be extra careful. Right or wrong, I have less hesitation when writing.
Every day has been wrenching. Every day, even now, I hope people around me, some of whom are otherwise decent, will wake up and say, "Tom, you've been right all along. Trump is a monster, and I'm no longer going to vote for him."
I see posts on social media that show former Trump supporters who no longer will back him. But in my own life? I don't know a single one. It has been a long, bitter wait to see any Trumpeteer I know return to the fold of Democracy.
It's so hard to accept. They don't want democracy—whether it's fascism, authoritarianism, or Christian nationalism—whatever they want to call what is, in essence, the same thing—they're all for it. And it is so hard to see the breakdown of the civic compact that is supposed to bind us all.
I just pray that this nightmare comes to an abrupt end on November 5th.
If it doesn't ... I'm not sure what to do. My heart and spirit will be broken.
This is my most heartfelt message to the Trumpeteers in my life: Please wake up. Please return to the diversity and civic strength that are the best of America.
I can't take more sleepless nights.
P. S. It is impossible to list in any one post all the rotten things Trump has done. Please look at my label, Trumpocalypse, to get a fuller picture. Or, just get your head out of the right-wing bubble.
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