Out of the Woodwork

One thing I love about Orcas Island is that we are a mish-mash of all kinds of people. It is one of our strengths. Living here, you hang out with people of all walks of life, all opinions, all faiths, and all kinds of experiences. There is definitely not any one “type” of person or one general opinion. (Is there ever? I’m having flashbacks of the plot in the movie Footloose.)

A confluence of differing experiences and opinions keeps our minds and hearts open to each other; open to understanding rather than building walls; open to rethinking opinions that could use some revision.

I’ve kept relatively quiet about Trump overall. Had I chosen to express myself each time my opinions bubbled up inside, I would have had to start a whole new blog, posting every other day.

What kept me from doing so? Unity. The book I follow says to overlook offense. The person I follow says to unify rather than divide. In a church of people spanning the gamut of viewpoints, I cherish my relationships above the quick ability to opine and offend. In a school where our kids come from homes of every bent, I far-and-above choose harmony for our kids over discomfort or disruption due to political differences. In a town that houses people from the extreme left to the extreme right, I much prefer espousing love over expressing disgust. And in a country and world experiencing so many difficulties right now, our online relations either build us up or break us down.

It’s not easy to continually squash what your conscience feels compelled to speak up for, though. There’s a constant pushing and pulling inside – stay silent for unity’s sake…no, stand up against this stuff…no, let it go and keep the peace.

I truly want to understand the divide – why half of us can’t handle what we hear coming from Trump and half of us resonate with him. It’s totally intriguing from cultural, anthropological, and psychological standpoints.

Over time, I’ve quietly watched as people have quarreled about politics on Facebook. I’ve stayed out of it. I’ve asked for all sides to express what they like about him peacefully so we can all learn from each other. I’ve kept my mouth closed and my typing to a minimum on the subject, not only for the sake of peace but also for self-preservation. As much as I may have my own opinions, I don’t like to hurt others and I can vex over anything I’ve said to the point of self-consumption. If just one phrase I’ve said is written in a way that doesn’t feel right afterward, I’ll think about it all day every day.

Also, I don’t want to come out of the pandemic in a few years (as long as another one doesn’t overtake this one) feeling like society is in shambles and people hate each other because of how we used social media during a time when we couldn’t just hang out together and laugh.

But as I sat alone in our living room, everyone else asnooze in their beds, watching Trump speak at 2:30 AM Eastern time after election day’s first results came in, I decided to remain quiet no more. That doesn’t mean I’m going to start blasting Facebook every day or having heated discussions every chance I get. Not at all. But I will no longer quietly take in what I’m hearing without speaking out against it.

I also write this because I know my voice speaks for those who can’t speak up – whose businesses would be affected; whose livelihoods could change; whose daily interactions would be tarnished irrevocably if they voiced their concerns publicly. I see it like writing a letter to a congressman – that letter represents the concerns of umpteen other individuals who haven’t written but feel the same way.

Why say it now, this late in the game, when Trump could be defeated by Biden in the next few hours or days and fall into the background? Because it still matters. Or at least that’s what my conscience says. It matters to say no to a bully who is somehow getting away with everything he tries. It matters for my children’s sakes – that they may one day read what their mother wrote when they have similar choices to make.

So here goes.

Facebook, November 3rd, Election Night, after watching Trump’s near-acceptance speech and declaration that the voting system is fraudulent simply because he hasn’t yet won other states as the normal, legitimate counting continues:

11:30 PM: It is not fraudulent to count all the votes. It is wrong to say such a thing. How he is still believed for his blatantly untrue statements, I will never ever understand. I cannot sit back, remain silent, and let such unpresidential immorality go without speaking up. The untruths are stacking up to a dangerous level if the masses believing them continue to grow.

I know he always says whatever comes to mind that behooves him, but I will not sit by, especially when growing numbers trust it as truth. It was too much to begin with, and now it’s so beyond that. He’s miseducating millions who want to trust in the integrity that should inherently accompany the highest level of leadership, and it’s out of hand at this point.

I will never understand how Trump got this far. I don’t at all believe the jargon that he ran for president in the first place to make our country great again. I believe he ran for ego – to see if he could actually bag the highest position. I think it was a shock to him that he actually got it, and he’s been flying by the seat of his pants ever since, immaturely firing people who don’t agree with him and surrounding himself with his children – some in positions they have never in their lives trained for or experienced beforehand.

This sickens me. Coupled by the fact that they are all benefitting from Trump wealth, most certainly the glue of the family. Why does no child speak up about the things we see so clearly in him? He would cut them off financially and cut them down publicly. As we can see, opulence reigns and words slash livelihoods. In a family that thrives on money and power, approval probably only comes from staying in those lines and agreeing unequivocally with the patriarch. If you don’t go along with him, you’re most likely out immediately, your reputation and future opportunities forever ruined by Trump’s condemning words about you.

Let me stop here and say that I am by no means a cynical person. Trump simply wears his attitude on his sleeve. He’s blatant. He says exactly what he wants to say. His cynicism and superficial hunger for coming out on top rule his life. It takes no degree in nuance to see the obviousness that he embodies.

In response to a Trump supporter’s comments to the above Facebook statement that perhaps I’m not getting all the facts or that perhaps they have been manipulated by the media sources I’m watching, I responded:

That’s just it – I’m listening to his words. Trump’s. He’s telling people about fraud this, as he’s prone to tell people about fake that, and trying to get people to question normal, legitimate process. Process that isn’t overwhelmingly in favor of him is called false in his estimation. It’s megalomania, it’s ego, it’s immaturity. It isn’t presidential. It isn’t leadership, at least not the kind that embodies integrity, honesty, and dignity. It is divisive, ego-driven, and requires no figuring out. He’s all out on the table. He tells his followers what to believe and they believe it – because he says it brashly, confidently, as if it’s true. And I’ve never heard so many falsehoods in my life pour out of someone relentlessly. No one needs a news channel to hear him speak the obviousness that he speaks.

Media need not say anything at all. All one needs to hear are Trump’s own words. That’s the irony on the whole issue of spinning. His own words are consistently either glaringly false or setting fires to reroute focus. He is the origin of what is fake; the origin of spinning things. He tells the world and his followers, supporters, constituents, people – whichever word you want to use – whatever he wants truth to be regardless of the absolute and obvious untruth that we all know, and in the same breath he declares others fake. He’s not sly, subtle, or dressed in sheep’s clothing when he’s doing it; in other words, he never requires interpretation – it’s just so plain and obvious. I would never characterize Trump as being silenced nor do his words require any spinning to be spun. He is blatantly, cockily immoral, untruthful, and in constant need to find scapegoats for his own poor choices. Firing Fauci, for example, is a really disappointing threat he’s making. I would take Fauci’s leadership of this country over Trump’s for its level-headedness, compassion for all people, and commitment to health. Not to mention Trump’s near-absolute omission of masks and distancing, as seen again last night in the crowd at his 2:30 AM speech. His example to other adults, politicians, children, and the world is almost always either unethical, unscrupulous, impulsive, dishonest, unprincipled, or just plain uninformed. I continually cringe at the ineptness he congratulates himself for, and the immaturity the rest of the world must attribute to us all, based on his example. If it takes watching pro-Trump news to spin Trump in a dignified light rather than relying on his own words and actions, then we are no longer talking about Trump.

I tire of hearing Trump blame all kinds of people and processes. I tire of hearing talk about news stations spinning the truth, when all the lies originate from Trump. He is the one with all of the characteristics he puts on others, and somehow it works.

This is the hardest part for me. How is he so easily believed? From the start, I figured his words and actions would naturally speak for themselves and render him a buffoon.

Yet somehow his untruthful redirection on others is and has been working. And his emphasis on everything he touches being “beautiful” and “great” – even though it’s not – persists and is believed. Scary lesson number one: Brashly tell people what you want them to believe, regardless of its falsity, and they will believe you.

I also find it shocking what people dismiss in order to support – even defend – Trump. I figured the masses would be above all of the negativity pouring from him. Instead, his awful spewings seem to strike a chord in a hefty lot of people; to validate prejudices, meannness, and hate they had previously kept quietly hidden inside. (Not all of his followers, thank goodness.)

It counfounds me that such behaviors are actually desirable, to the extent that close to half of our nation’s voters want him in office again. I understand that many people who voted for him may not actually agree with how he runs the country or with what he says. That they vote for the Republican party in general, not him in particular. Or they vote for a specific cause he backs. But to trust a person who, in every speech or interview, says things that aren’t true just to hope people will believe him is unthinkable for me. And by the way Trump, declaring something does not make it so; does not make it real; does not make it true. No matter how many people buy it.

On that note, I decided months ago that I could not be a single-issue voter based on the topic of abortion. Ethically, I cannot choose a potential president on one moral issue when he’s dishonest all the time about all of them. That’s not even considering that Trump has cheated on wives and declared himself Christian for the anti-abortion Christian vote. The man chooses issues to get votes; to get a following. It would not surprise me for a moment if Trump has paid for several of his own abortions, and paid off women handily and heavily to keep it quiet. Upstanding and respectful, he is not.

He stands for abortion but won’t call for white supremicists to stop. Unless he actually agrees with them, which is even worse. He embraces the QAnon cult, though claiming he knows little about them – a poor cover. They love him. Of course he knows about groups that love him. He likes anyone who likes him. All ego, all the time.

I stand here to say that no man who operates in these ways can call himself a Christian. He was not raised steeped in it, nor is he choosing to steep himself in it now. It’s as clear as day by his words and actions. He just wants that large following. When asked for his favorite scripture, his way out of it was to say it’s a private matter. Scriptures are not private for any Christian I know. He just doesn’t know any scriptures. How hard is that to interpret? No news channel or “spinning” needed. Watch it yourself here.

An acquaintance recently posted a meme with this quote on Facebook:

“Christians have been warning about the AntiChrist for 2,000 years. Then when he finally shows up, Evangelicals vote for him. Even worse, they try to convince everyone else that he is anointed by God.”

While I don’t by any stretch think Trump is the antiChrist, the rest of this quote is mind-bogglingly accurate. I cannot for the life of me figure out why Christians are drawn so fiercely to support and defend a man who doesn’t embody Christian qualities; whose gods are ego, money, and status. Here is the response I wrote on the thread:

It’s daunting…I can’t understand it. It made me question Christianity for a good month after he was elected – if so many people who follow Christianity follow someone as untruthful and immoral as Trump, what does it say about Christianity? Is Christianity itself true? It took me awhile to get through that one.

We desperately need a leader who cares about preserving our world. We need someone who sets an example not of opulence and consumerism but care for the environment; desire for clean energies; jobs expanded in alternative materials to replace the myriad plastics filling our landfills and oceans; and completely different mindsets on living: less mindless shopping and more skill-building; less food transport and more community gardening; less driving and more bicycling; etc. We need to make sure life can continue on Earth more than we need the next fashion, the next SUV, or the next meaningless gadget.

We need a president who wants good things for all people, not for his popularity. Trump pours out insults on so many people. But he sure loves women when they support him; Blacks when they support him; minorities when they support him. He likes people when they like him.

It is fear that causes Trump to call the election fraudulent. Only the Biden votes though, right? All the Trump votes are legitimate, yes? Before the election, the only person that I feared rigging it was Trump. He’s been trying to undermine the process for months already in his fear of losing. Here’s a final comment I posted on the thread I started on Facebook:

The overarching problem, too, is that Trump calls the system fraudulent when it isn’t fully triumphant in favor of him and wants to shut down any process that doesn’t validate his hopes for continued power and ego. That’s always been the case. Nothing has changed with him. He’s all for counting the votes in states that are for him yet wants to halt the process when states are on the fence and he’s nervous he won’t win them. This speech was in the middle of the night on election night – it’s valid to continue counting votes until we know who the victor is, and he was plenty fine with the states that voted for him. Name any arena, and he tries to throw question into or invalidate anything that doesn’t behoove him, and most times he uses incorrect/dishonest “facts” to get everyone in a swirl. It’s just so common. In general, the guy straight says anything he wants to maintain what he wants, regardless of what’s actually true. He is not a noble man and I will not stand by and be quiet about it.

Trump calls something “fake” or “suppressed” when it doesn’t support him; he can’t handle it and sets out to distort truth and maintain face. He is the corrupt one. I won’t be surprised when Donald, Jr. runs for the job in a decade or so. Scary lesson number two: you can become anything in this world even if you’re not qualified, as long as you’re wealthy and talk big.

As I type these last words, Trump’s just spoken a second time about the “fraud” that’s happening because he isn’t winning. But once the votes are finished being counted in Arizona, he’s excited to win. It’s a sad day for democracy if his masses don’t see the hypocrisy in these words and instead try to defend him if he loses.

If anything, he’s offending both the hard-working Democrats and Republicans who are working tirelessly to try to make this process as fair and correct as humanly possible. I would be so very frustrated with his calling all of my hard work fraud.

How ridiculous we must look to the other countries of the world. Not only did we elect him once, it’s that close to happening again. Other nations will naturally believe that half of Americans are like him, if not all – you know how generalities and assumptions are made. I wouldn’t trust America if I were another country. I would think we’ve lost our values and our minds. That everything we used to say we stood for was and is a sham. In that light, I imagine that Trump’s defeat is our only hope for being respected by the world.

Tell me that Trump is completely different from anything in this post, and I’ll tell you a Trump I’ve never seen or heard in my life.