My Political Journey – So Far
I first posted this in September, 2015, when Trump was new on the scene. Since then things have gone from bad to worse, IMO. I was recently asked by a conservative person who calls me his friend, “Sometime when things settle down, I would like to have a calm, if that is possible, personal talk with you. There some things about the liberal side thinking that I really don’t understand. And, I don’t understand why there is such hate for Trump.” Here’s my reply:
“’Hate against Trump’? Well, I find him repugnant. He’s repugnant to me personally because of his boorish behavior, his bullying, his lies (more than 20,000 at last count), his (alleged, but credibly so, IMO) sexual predation, and more. He’s repugnant to me interpersonally because of how he treats Melania, his subordinates, and everyone else. He’s repugnant to me professionally because he denigrates the military and has declared (corporate, it’s true) bankruptcy, what? Six times? He’s repugnant to me on a national scale because of what his Administration is doing on the border, especially where there’s no need for a 30-foot wall. (And that’s just for starters.) He’s repugnant to me internationally because he’s pulled out of the Paris accord on climate change and out of the agreement that was keeping Iran from getting a nuke. And he’s repugnant to me because of the way he cozies up to dictators, or wanna-be dictators, like Duterte (Philippines), Kim (North Korea), and Putin (Russia). He’s repugnant to me objectively because he refuses to acknowledge the science behind what the CDC is saying about COVID-19, and about climate change, and about so many other things.
“He’s repugnant to me ethically – the man has no ethics. An ethical man doesn’t stiff his company’s suppliers and try to screw them out of what they’re rightfully owed. He’s repugnant to me morally – again, he has none. Would a moral man cheat on *all* of his wives? Would a moral man *brag* about grabbing women by the pussy? He’s repugnant to me psychologically – he never accepts responsibility for mistakes (COVID-19 being only one), but always blames someone else, yet he’s always ready to take (undue) credit for anything that goes right.
“He’s repugnant to me because of his inflammatory behavior. Does he try to calm things down after (yet more) shootings? No. He deliberately inflames the situation. Does he disavow Nazis, white supremacists, and the like? No. He encourages them. Does he move on from events in the past? No. He’s still harping on the 2016 election. Which is how he got to be President. He must be *really* insecure if he has to keep talking about an election that put him in the driver’s seat.
“He’s repugnant to me. Period. Full stop.
“And if he isn’t repugnant to you, then I don’t think we have much to talk about.
“I will concede that there have been a few good things to come from his Administration – one of them being the United Arab Emirates’ recognition of Israel. But all of the good he’s done in the world is, IMO, vastly outweighed by all of the bad. I truly fear for our nation if he’s elected again.”
I make no apologies for this. I consider myself well-educated, intelligent, and well-read. I use the “media bias chart” here (https://www.adfontesmedia.com/) to decide how much weight I’ll give a story I read. I get my basic news from TIME and the daily paper, which gets most of its stories from the AP newswire. I read articles in the New York Times (left), the Wall Street Journal (right), and Forbes (right). I figure when even Fox News calls out Trump, then the man has done something seriously wrong. I read conservative columnists like Jonah Goldberg, William Krystol, and Michael Gerson, as well as liberal ones like Leonard Pitts. And I have to say I love the Fitzsimmons political cartoons, but I also appreciate that the paper runs cartoons by Lisa Benson (conservative).
A Facebook friend of mine posted this meme recently:
This led to a “discussion” (and I use the term loosely) among my friend (“R”), another gentleman (“A”), and me, about the Second Amendment. After two or three exchanges between A and R, A made this statement: “So far I have heard no facts to prove that ANY liberal understands the purpose of the 2nd Amendment.”
To which R replied, “So far, you’ve only expressed disdain for about half of the population of the United States, including constitutional scholars, several presidents, and members of the Supreme Court, among others of a wide spectrum of brilliant scholars. Thus does not bode well for any arguments that follow.”
A’s retort: “OK! I get it. Liberals DON’T know as I suspected.”
At this point, I entered the fray with, “A, what kinds of facts would you be looking for, if you were looking for facts?”
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The Peripatetic Traveler 
So well stated, Dave, thank you! I have a tough time dealing with an old friend who’s a Trumper. I just don’t get it. Why can’t they see they’ve been conned.
I don’t understand it, either. I understand (sort of) their disaffection with the “standard” Democrats and Republicans, but this slavish parroting of proven lies is beyond me. Here in AZ, an election denier just won the Republican nomination for Secretary of State (the person who oversees elections!), and another one won the GOP nomination for Governor.
Yep, but I feel confident both of those idiots will be defeated in November. One good result of all these Californians moving to AZ is we have a lot more Democrats now.
Yup. “Californication” has its good and bad points. This is one of the good ones. We’ll have to work hard to get Katie Hobbs into the Governor’s Mansion, though.