What Will They Say Tomorrow?

            I do not know what to think of all that I am seeing.

            I find it difficult to watch people wave American flags, and hear the president say that his followers are patriots, when he is dismantling our democracy, threatening to cut off financial aid to “blue” or “Democrat” states and saying out loud that he wants his political opponents to be arrested, and disregarding and disrespecting one of the freedoms of Americans – the right to protest.

            His racism was apparent from the moment he announced his candidacy for president. People were not aghast; they cheered him on. Mexicans were rapists and “very bad people.” White people who bombed churches were “very good people.” Black Lives Matter protests were reason to send out the National Guard.  (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/08/very-fine-people-charlottesville-who-were-they-2/) (https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-37230916) (https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/17/trump-black-lives-matter-1619-project-417162)

And in this nation of Christians, he is being cheered on and encouraged.

            I have the most uncomfortable feeling that he wants people to die from COVID-19., (https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/04/politics/trump-covid-death-toll-is-what-it-is/index.html), and that he does not care how many people get sick.

            I have shivered as he and his partner in government dissolution, Sen. Mitch McConnell, have ushered in a new US Supreme Court justice who may well be the deciding vote to end the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as well as be a tool, along with other Conservative judges, to use the Court to steal the election from Vice President Biden, should he win.

            He is involved in every part of this government which was created to be independent of the Executive Branch, from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to the FBI, to the Justice Department. Why in the world is the CDC listening to and being driven by this man who has no medical training, and whose decision makers are helping to guarantee that more and more people get COVID-19? 

            He demands loyalty to him, not to the government. He says “our country,” but the “our” is not inclusive. His “our” is in reality a small group of wealthy, primarily white people, but he caters to a sector of this country who he thinks and believe walk in a constant state of woundedness and anger because they think other groups have been treated better than have they.

            His fascination and deference to dictators, including Vladimir Putin but not exclusively him, makes me think that he is getting daily lessons from them on how to dismantle democracy. It is no secret that dictators think very little of democracy. Putin’s ambitions of destroying our democracy is no secret. (https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/06/putin-american-democracy/610570/)

            White Evangelical Christians love him. This group, which in the past has claimed moral superiority over just about everyone, has descended into the mud of injustice and inequality, apparently believing that a Conservative judge on the US Supreme Court is more important than following the Great Commandment. (https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/white-evangelicals-love-trump-aren-t-confused-about-why-no-ncna1046826). (Recently, some evangelicals have been vocal in their opposition to the president, saying they’ve been manipulated.) (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/12/christianity-today-trump-removal/603952/)

            While he gives horror stories of what will happen to America if Biden wins, the truth of the matter is that the horror is with us now. He has no platform other than fanning the flames of dissension and anger as he works to appeal to the latent racism of many white people, including “white housewives.” (https://www.npr.org/2020/07/26/895228366/trumps-trying-to-appeal-to-real-housewives-and-white-suburbs-but-they-re-declini) He is appealing to those who are afraid of black people, and who believe the worst about them. He wants them to remember how things used to be, when “the suburbs” was a euphemism for white people living away from colored people, apparently unaware that “the suburbs” have vastly changed, even as white people invade the space in which black, brown, and poor people have traditionally lived, the so-called “urban” areas. Gentrification is a growing trend. 

            This president is not an honest man, and apparently, his sycophant Republican senators know it but are afraid to say anything out loud. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/a-gop-senators-guide-to-a-trump-scandal-1-say-youre-troubled-2-keep-walking/2017/05/16/1b0ff5ec-3a66-11e7-a058-ddbb23c75d82_story.html)  They are abandoning the country they swore to protect and defend. And they don’t care.

            It’s troubling to watch. People in this country who lived in dictatorships have sounded the alarm, but those in power are not listening. (https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dem-rep-harley-rouda-draws-elaborate-comparison-between-hitler-and-trump-we-should-all-be-fearful) (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/01/23/two-years-trump-has-been-undermining-american-democracy-heres-damage-report/)

            I keep thinking that someone in the ranks of the GOP is going to wake up and speak out, not someone who has already sacrificed their job and has left the Senate, but someone who is there, who sees and hears what is going on. But the brave seem not to exist.

            I am holding my breath as Election Day approaches. If there is not a landslide victory for Joe Biden, it is a sure thing that this president will use the US Justice Department (which does not work for justice for Americans, by the way), the US Supreme Court, rich friends and Twitter to whisk him back into office.

            He is tearing this country apart. I wonder what his supporters will feel when they see the destruction he has wrought. Even without winning the election, he has run a bulldozer through all that is normal and decent. What will they say when they cannot get health care or find that their pre-existing conditions will not allow them to get health care? What will they say when their gay children have their rights taken away and when openly racist language is forgiven?

            They might be saddened, but it will be too late.

            And as I think about it, I wonder what it was that was worth so many people connecting to a man who does not love “our” country but who is, as corrupt leaders do everywhere, using the people to enhance and increase their own wealth?

            They might cry out; they might want to apologize, but “I’m sorry” is a lame phrase oftentimes, especially when the offense has been great. What will they say? And to whom will they say it?

There will be few, if any, who will have the appetite to listen or to care.

           A candid observation …