Took last week off from writing, but not from thinking.
What occupied my mind was the reoccurring thought that I am still deeply troubled by Trump voters even though I understand the difference in values that separates them from the rest of us.
I could describe the way I feel about them in a lot of different ways, but if I am honest I have to admit that it comes down to anger.
Yet, I’m not even sure “anger” encompasses what I feel, given the fact that it means having “a strong feeling of annoyance.”
“Annoyance” doesn’t even scratch the surface of how they make me feel. Not even close.
After all, we’re talking about people who are willing to vote for a man who sounds like Adolph Hitler when he talks about immigrants, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin when he talks about NATO, and Hungarian dictator Viktor Orbán when he talks about democracy.
This is the man Trumpers want to be president again.
Last Saturday Trump gave a speech in Mosinee, Wisconsin before a crowd of about 7000 people that was genuinely frightening in its sheer irrationality and vengeful tone, but the people in attendance cheered as if it made sense to them.
Their reaction was as disturbing as the speech itself. Not only was Trump’s speech irrational gibberish, but the fact that his nonsense didn’t bother the people listening made the entire event obscene.
And they want people like me to believe their support of him is normal, as if we simply share different points of view about what this country needs, different perspectives on who can better lead our nation forward.
Nothing could be further from the truth. There is not one thing normal about Trump, which means it is impossible for there to be anything normal about supporting him.
Kamala Harris is a normal American politician running for president. People may disagree with her policies, but not one rational America is worried that if she is elected she will destroy our democracy.
But that is exactly what worries rational Americans if Trump wins.
We know he is a disturbed man who craves attention, admiration, power, and money, acts like a spoiled child when he gets angry, and sees no problem in abusing the powers of the presidency to nullify the legitimate role and power of the other two branches of government.
He wants to be president without any accountability at all for his actions, and his voters are okay with that.
It is lunacy to think it is normal to vote for Donald Trump. If anything, his supporters are as dangerous as he is to the nation. Together they represent the gravest threat to American democracy since the Civil War.
It doesn’t matter if they don’t see themselves this way. It doesn’t matter if they don’t believe Trump is the threat he is. He is, and that makes them responsible for the damage he is continuing to do to our country.
And that makes me angry.
They may be normal people in other ways, but none of us should fall into the trap the news media has of normalizing their support for a man who should be in prison rather than the White House.
That is why Liz and Dick Cheney said last week that they will be voting for Kamala Harris. Both of them are ultra conservative Republicans who understand that Donald Trump is not a normal politician and this election is not a normal election.
So they are doing the unthinkable – voting for a Democrat because they believe in our constitutional democracy more than they believe in the Trump Republican Party.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, as Hippocrates said, and the Cheneys are living proof of it.
That this is where we are as a nation is why I have anger, contempt, disgust, and any other adjective you want to add to the list toward Trump voters.
The fact that they have the gall to claim they want to make America great again adds insult to injury. You can’t make something great again when you don’t have a clue about what being a great nation means in the first place.
So, even though I understand the difference in values that separates us, it doesn’t make me feel any better about them.
If the late conservative icon, Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, were alive today, I am sure he would describe the threat of another Trump presidency the same way he described the threat of evangelical ministers getting control of the Republican Party when he said, “It’s going to be a damn big problem.”
That makes Trump voters a damn big problem, too.
Being angry about that is the least I can do for my country.
linnposts.com 