STUPID, STUPID, STUPID PEOPLE
What I really mean is Ignorant, Ignorant, Ignorant People. (But that doesn't have the same ring to it, does it?) Nearly 63M of them, voting for the Designated Destroyer.
Some of them may be uninformed or misinformed, willfully ignorant, or poorly educated. But some aren’t. They know the facts and choose to ignore them. They vote against their own interests, for Trump, and Republicans (equally culpable as long as they persist in being the enablers of the would-be autocrat). That’s the scary part, that we are sharing a country and a future with them, and by a fluke of politics (Electoral College, Russia), the inmates now have the keys. (And the nuclear codes.)
This may sound like I’m being arrogant about my political point of view. No, that comes a little later. And it may not sound very compassionate or sympathetic, but it will be. As best I can manage. Stick with me.
But if we can’t start in the same place, agreeing on FACTS (a deal breaker for many Trumpers), then I may have to lose some of you.
FACTS
Let’s start with The Donald’s ENTIRE LIFE history of lying, scamming, scheming, cheating and moral turpitude; there really is no denying the facts. Maybe we even begin with his father, Fred’s arrest at a KKK riot in NYC in 1927 (he was not protesting the Klan, let me tell you) or his obtaining millions in post-WWII government funds to buy and manage public housing, including more than 27,000 apartments in New York City, from which he then proceeded to evict families of color, promoting existing and new racist housing laws that have haunted us to this day, so bad that Woodie Guthrie wrote a song about it (“Old Man Trump”).
Or we could really start with his grandfather Frederick, a pimp in Alaska who was kicked out of Germany for dodging their draft, and died of the flu. (You can’t make this stuff up.)
It’s hard to believe people were completely ignorant of who he was when he announced for the White House, but many voters were. New Yorkers knew. Mayor De Blasio called him “Con Don” and former Mayor Bloomberg, speaking at the 2016 Democratic convention, said “God help us. I’m a New Yorker and New Yorkers know a con when we see one!"
COMPASSION
There really is no excuse for not coming by now to understand the character of this reality TV performer, unless all you watch is Fox TV. But that does describe millions. At the moment of the 2016 election, I understand that huge numbers of Americans felt abandoned by the political establishment, D and R, unheard, uncared about, and sinking like a stone into the American nightmare not dream. I’m feeling that more and more myself.
They wanted someone to break all that up, shake things up. Trump promised that, and he sure has delivered. But some still don’t understand that they chose the wrong disrupter. The absolutely worst disrupter imaginable. A narcissist sociopath. (Look it up, then argue with me.)
What they don’t seem to grasp yet is that he didn’t drain the swamp, he just brought in his own gators. He made life fabulous for the very wealthy and they’re laughing all the way to Ft. Knox, but no better and even worse for working men and women, especially those who don’t own stock. Which is almost 90 percent of them, except in their rarely-considered small 401k portfolios.
BERNIE
Yes, Bernie. He is the right kind of disrupter. Not a communist, not even a socialist, but -- big difference -- a democratic socialist. Democratic: by the people. Socialist: for the people. NOT: the masses own the means of production. Capitalism is fine, IF regulated, not like now, a mad dog taken off leash.
In 1961 the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God’s children.” Do you disagree with that? If you do, I think your pocketbook is pressing too hard on your heart.
I believe that if Bernie had been given the platform as the Democratic nominee in 2016 he would have explained his beliefs in a way that would have put him in the White House. Polls showed it. Polls show that today. But polls are not reliable, and we’ll never know. We do know what we’ve endured since then, and how damaged our democracy and our nation’s soul is now, and for a generation to come.
COULD HE WIN?
Absolutely. Young voters support him overwhelmingly. In 2016 there were about 4.6 million more voters than in 2012. A majority of these additional voters, 3.7 million, were 65 years +. But the Bernie supporters, rightfully so, felt betrayed by Dem Party establishment/money maneuvering, and either stayed home or voted for a third party candidate, or even Trump.
Not smart, of course, if it gives you The Donald, but understandable. In their progressive eyes -- and polls show the Democratic Party leans progressive -- Hillary, or Biden, are as bad as Trump because their country is a mess of oppression and income and every other kind of inequality, because of politics as usual. And especially because of climate change issues, they feel our planet and their future is running rapidly out of time. Are they angry, those Bernie supporters? Of course. Warren supporters too, I would imagine. Just how long do we, the USA, have to wait for a woman President?
This is life or death, their entire future. I’m angry too and I’m 72.
Charles Andrews has lived in Santa Monica for 34 years and wouldn’t live anywhere else in the world. Really. Send love and/or rebuke to him at therealmrmusic@gmail.com
