IT CAN’T BE TOO BRUTAL …
I read that a week before the mid-term elections, Trump’s approval was at 30% in a new Pew poll, the worst for any president heading into a midterm since 1946. And one senior Republican told POLITICO to expect “quite a brutal evening.”
Well, I want to say: It can’t be too brutal!!! Because we have a wicked man in the White House — one who lies constantly and with impunity — no Republican even mentions his lies anymore — they’re simply taken for granted because that’s what he does. Who abuses others in the most horrendous manner — think how you’d try to explain to your Somali son or daughter why the president of the United States says such ugly things about your culture and ethnicity. How can anyone turn a blind eye to such gratuitous cruelty?
I think about that when I see Trump rallies on TV and there’s always a wall of white, usually blonde, MAGA hat-wearing Americans — a wall of them behind him laughing. Laughing! Do they really think it’s funny when he makes these ugly remarks?
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What about his cheating and his stealing for his own gain while cruelly disallowing ill or disabled Americans the benefits they desperately need. Is that funny too? Not to mention how millions worldwide are suffering because Trump allowed a mad dog — the wealthiest man in the world — to decimate foreign aid. There are now estimates of thousands or tens of thousands of children who are dying or will die because of these cuts. Is that funny?
How could we allow for such an indecency. Because that’s what it is — indecency — the opposite of decency. Just as cruelty is the opposite of kindness. Or lying is the opposite of truth. Or respect and compassion are the opposite of brutality.
There is always the possibility of a last-minute shake-up in the elections. If Trump has his way, many will be turned away at the polling places; results will be contested. But as a friend recently said, “Let’s make it too big to rig.”
Let’s create a mandate that Trump can’t ignore. Not just a mandate against the war in Iran that’s led to high gas and diesel prices but a mandate against the 250 foot triumphal arch when there’s no triumph to celebrate or the gratuitously expensive destruction of the East Wing when people in this country are struggling with bills. Or the take-over of as many institutions (like the Kennedy Center for the Arts) as Trump could get his egomaniacal hands on. Or his callous obscene treatment of migrants and migrant families. Or his effort to roll back as much environmental protections as possible while damaging our national parks. Or his total denial of climate change — ignoring the floods, fires, tornadoes that are afflicting this country and the world.
In other words, I want Election Night to be as brutal as it can possibly be both for Trump and for all the Republicans who support him — I want them to see and to recognize that our country is not filled with selfish, cruel, unjust individuals. Instead, a majority — a large majority of Americans — despise everything Trump stands for and everything he’s trying to do with all his incompetent, untrustworthy, dishonest, corrupt henchmen and women. (Steve Miller especially!!)
No, no election returns can be too brutal.
