As a whole lot of TV news anchors and hosts with their panels crawl like flies over a pile of horseshit, backtracking from positions they almost took about Trump or even actually did, I stare in horror. What happened? Was there suddenly a discount on lobotomies? Have one and get one free for a colleague?
As David Remnick said on Fareed Zakaria's GPS, "I think
I'm hallucinating".
You'd never know from any of it that Trump
is a conspiracy theory nut, the man who in 2011, when he was mulling over
running for president, launched his birther conspiracy theory persecution against
Obama and didn't drop it even when Obama produced his certificate. Who then
did, glibly drop the story and accuse Hillary Clinton of starting it all. [She
didn't.]
A clod who can't finish sentences, who
talks about penises in the presidential primaries, whose own campaign people had
to take his Twitter account away from him to stop him being an abusive idiot at
3 in the morning.
A businessman who vastly overestimates his
wealth, avoids taxes, who has gone bankrupt with properties countless times and
with some casinos made a profit through the bankruptcy whilst the small
businesses who built the buildings went broke. An employer who cheats and
stiffs his workers. A fraud who is facing a big lawsuit over his fraudulent
'university, a demagogue who has shady dealings with and something of a crush
on Putin. Whose own business life started with a small million dollar loan from
his father—and that would be the guy who made a fortune in Stalin's Russia—which
he squandered and went on to several bankruptcies. A fool who wants to
dismantle NATO and bomb the hell out of the Middle East. Yeah!
A man who mocked the disabled at a rally, insulted
the parents of a Gold Star Muslim soldier who died in action, who lies anything
from a score to 70 times a day, calls women pigs, calls Mexicans rapists and
murderers and promotes hate against Muslims and Jews.
Who is celebrated by the KKK and white
supremacists. Who talked in sexual terms about his baby daughter and later,
when she was all grown up, said that she was so hot he would date her if she
wasn't his daughter. Who was caught on tape acknowledging that he gropes women
and loves the entitlement he has to do it. Who has threatened to destroy the
women he abused and who had the courage to finally tell the truth. A serial
abuser who is facing a lawsuit for child rape and who wants to close Planned
Parenthood and punish women for having abortions.
A greedy, corrupt wanna-be mogul who paid
off Scottish local politicians and the police so he could destroy a community
and vast tracts of pristine and ecologically precious land in Scotland for his
golf course. Who said of the poorer people who lived in houses that his guests
would be able to see from his golf course hotel that they were disgusting. "Who
lives like that?" Trump said, his face twisted grotesquely. He wanted to
get rid of them.
That's the guy who will be sworn in as
America's next president. I keep trying to hit replay and edit; it's beyond
belief. I experience shock and grief a thousand times a day.
Hillary Clinton, introduced in a moving
attribute to her and her campaign by her running mate Tim Kaine, gave a
graceful and dignified concession speech, in which she said, "Donald Trump
is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.
Our constitutional democracy enshrines the peaceful transfer of power." Yes
indeed, and the rest of her speech was a rousing call to action, to not let
bigotry prevail. Understandably, her Twitter account has gone silent for a
while, as has her daughter's and husband's.
But I miss them and Tim Kaine. I miss their
optimism, their grace and intelligence, their decency, their message of
preserving everything that's good, of unity and the importance of equality and
tolerance.
I miss the hope I had, the faith that good
prevails and it's all going to be okay. I miss knowing that Obama's legacy will
be honored. I miss the ads!
Barack Obama met with Trump in the White
House. It was an assault to see the man of such tremendous stature sitting with
the stinking bigot, although I got a savage satisfaction from seeing how Mr.
White guy the racist had to sit between an African American president and the
bust of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Obama said they had an excellent meeting, and that "My number one priority in the next
two months is to try to facilitate a transition that ensures our
president-elect is successful." He did it because he's a responsible guy
and it comes with the job.
It doesn't mean that he suddenly thinks
Trump has changed or that he wants everybody to forgive and forget although
he's been quoted by the slavering media as if he did. Representative John Lewis
tweeted what the President can't, yet. Not until he's out of the Oval Office,
anyway.
What a terrible blow. It's bad enough to
see the end of an era that was too short, to say goodbye to a President and
First Lady who have led America out of the gates of hell, who have not a single
tiny teeny blemish on them, who truly madly deeply care, who have worked
diligently to improve equality and lay the foundation for a healthy society.
Who have gained the respect of everybody around the world, and even that
impossible to please American public, who have moved us, inspired us, led us,
even entertained us. Certainly touched our hearts and souls in ways that we'll
never forget.
Yes, it's hard enough to see them go; my
world feels empty at the thought of it. But to have them followed by this. It's
a travesty. Of epic proportions.
