So where do we go from here, that is, those of us who didn’t vote for Trump?
On a feeling level I want to continue cursing the darkness, but my mind tells me that won’t do any good. So what now?
If we are honest, at a basic level there is not much we can do. Trump holds all the power.
If he does what he said he would do, we will soon be living in an ugly America. (If he doesn’t, he will prove he is the most effective shyster in history).
A Republican controlled Congress will also be up to no good, doing all the things they have dreamed of doing.
Look for them to cut Food Stamps, raise the eligibility age for Social Security, make Medicare a voucher program, renege on U.S. participation in the fight against global warming, and, of course, give more tax breaks to the “job creators,” you know, the people who are rich.
That leaves those of us who didn’t vote for Trump pretty much out in the cold for the foreseeable future.
So, again, where do we go from here?
I think the answer is that we keep doing what we have been doing, opposing everything Trump tries to do that goes against our commitment to compassion, justice, and fairness.
That is what I plan to do. I have heard the calls for all of us to try to get along, but that is like saying all the world needs is love.
Sounds good until you step into the real world of people like Stephen Bannon, Trump’s Senior Advisor, who is an anti-Semitic, racist, Nationalist.
That appointment confirms what common sense told us to begin with. Donald Trump is the same person today he was before he was elected.
He is just as unfit and unqualified to be president today as he ever was. The only thing the election changed was who has political power and who does not.
As Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson recently wrote: “No one should pretend that Trump will be a normal president. No one should forget the bigotry and racism of his campaign, the naked appeals to white grievance, the stigmatizing of Mexicans and Muslims. No one should forget the jaw-dropping ignorance he showed about government policy both foreign and domestic. No one should forget the vile misogyny. No one should forget the mendacity, the vulgarity, the ugliness, the insanity. None of this must ever be normalized in our politics.”
But my continued opposition extends to Trump supporters as well, most especially evangelicals.
I have never believed they represented genuine Christianity, and the more than 65% support they gave Trump proved that for me beyond doubt.
A faith that would lead someone to support Donald Trump is the kind of faith I never want to have.
So I plan to continue criticizing the beliefs and practices of evangelicals who sold their soul for political gain.
That’s my plan, continuing to say and do what I have been saying and doing.
Who knows, I may even end up in the streets with kids a lot younger than I am, if opposing a Trump presidency and a Republican Congress requires it.
I think they truly understand the threat our nation is facing.
If good things happen during Trump’s tenure, I will applaud it, but in the meantime, this is not a time to withdraw or to pretend like all the things that frightened us during the campaign have suddenly gone away.
They haven’t, and neither should we. After all, Trump won, but we represent the majority of those who voted, and I suspect most of those who didn’t.
Should we dare borrow a phrase we actually loathe and say, “We want to take back our country.”
For the first time I think that actually has a ring of truth to it.
linnposts.com 