Now that we have Donald Trump as our president, most Americans know that we have really screwed up.
Since early November, we have heard numerous influential Americans “whistling past the graveyard” by making comments about how Trump might surprise us and turn out to be a good president.
The leadership of the Republican party – those most responsible for visiting this plague upon the American people – cowers in its “chambers of power,” not knowing what to expect next from the man they dare not call their leader. And at the same time, they speak reassuring words into the news cameras, telling us that with the help of this man, they will make the world a better place. These politicians of so little character, have shackled themselves to a monster; and rather than admit their error, they choose to risk the very likely outcome of bringing America to ruin.
The national Democratic Party leadership must share a great deal of the blame for “President Trump” as well. For months, they watched the slow-moving train wreck of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, and told themselves, and the American public, that all would be well. Their confidence in a favorable outcome was based on their failure to recognize the convergence of multiple negative factors during the year and a half run-up to the election.
Clinton and her backers paid no attention to how tightly so many voters would have to hold their noses when casting their ballots for her. The party machine simply chugged along, with its tone deaf faithful at the controls, oblivious to the screeching and grinding of gears as their assumed coalition disintegrated. The fact that crucial parts were falling off the Democratic “Victory Train” was ignored until after the polls closed on election day. Millions of Americans were clamoring for change; and the conscious decision by the Democratic Party to ignore large segments of its potential supporters was derailing Clinton’s campaign without its leaders even knowing it.
Hillary was like the grammar school teacher’s pet who touted her record of perfect attendance and the number of “A”s on her report card as evidence that she should be class president. It did not occur to her that promising to “stay the course” had little appeal to voters who wanted something different.
The American television networks that found Trump to be so entertaining – and good for ratings – must be blamed and shamed as well. They, along with their newspaper and radio counterparts found it more important – and profitable – to entertain their audiences than to provide them with accurate facts about the candidates.
Sure, computers were hacked by Russians seeking to put their thumb on the political scale; there was widespread disenfranchisement of people of color and there was intentional interference by the head of the F.B.I. There is no denying that these all contributed to the outcome of the election; but these factors do not excuse the failure of leadership in the two political parties and the corporate media.
These institutions are trying to bury their failures by putting on a brave face and telling us to hope for the best. But barely more than two weeks into his presidency, Trump has shown America, and the world, what type of abomination he is. His list of hate-filled actions since January 20th are too numerous to list here, but his defunding of Planned Parenthood, his attacks on the Affordable Care Act and his Muslim Ban stand out as just a few of his more egregious policies.
Those of us who feel the oppressive weight of a bigoted Trump administration know better than to drink the Kool-Aid being put before us by the leadership of the major political parties and the corporate media. Things will not get better under Trump. And as unpleasant, inconvenient, costly and dangerous as it is going to be; those of us who care about our own freedom, and the freedom of others, must commit to resisting Donald Trump and his regime.
America is going to choke on Donald Trump; and the only way the oppressed will survive him will be to not swallow the poison that is being offered us.
