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Monday, March 6, 2017

Dear Republicans,

Please.  Please stand up.  I get it that you did not want Hillary Clinton to be President.  I get it that Donald Trump is the President of the USA.  I get it that the office of the President merits respect.  I get it that any new President should be allowed a honeymoon period, a time to cement his or her appointees, prepare to implement his or her vision for the country via legislation, prepare to establish new connections with our foreign allies and hostiles.  I get all of that.  And I will argue that Donald Trump via lies and misstatements and tweets and bigotry and poor judgment has abrogated the opportunity to not only have a honeymoon, but the opportunity to complete his term.  No other human other than Donald Trump has ever been afforded an opportunity to assume a leadership position and shoot himself in the foot with an automatic weapon as has Trump. 

Let’s be clear.  His lies are almost beyond listing.  Perhaps “lies” is too strong a word.  His perceptions of reality that are not confirmed by reality are now almost too numerous to list.  3 million fraudulent voters.  He made that up.  It is not true.  His inaugural turnout was the biggest ever.  Not true.  96 million Americans unemployed. Not true.  Highest murder rate ever.  Not true.  Smooth transition.  Not true.  Implementing initial immigrant ban going very smoothly.  Not true.  Obama wiretapped him during the election.  Not true.  No dealings with the Russians prior to election.  Not true.  On and on and on and on.  The embarrassment level alone must surely put you in a position of shunning an invitation to a White House dinner.

Equally appalling to me, and I suspect to many of you, is his habit of tweeting whatever comes to his mind.  That is not healthy, smart, wise or leader-like for anyone to do.

Equally appalling to me is that every time there is a reality problem (that is his reality does not fit reality) he conjures some sort of conspiracy theory to explain why his reality must be right.  We have gone from alternative facts, to voter fraud, to Russians hacking him, to the press is the enemy, to Obama wiretapped him.  All pure conspiracy theories.

Equally appalling to me is the use of his office for product endorsement and petty misogynistic judgments.  Fox news is good.  CNN is bad.  Female candidates have ugly faces.  He will be good for women.  Women who are sexually harassed at work should just quit.

Equally appalling to me is that he is in fact a blatant bigot and a blatant misogynist.  He has and is willing to practice discrimination by gender, ethnicity and religion.  That may not bother some of you so much, especially if you share similar beliefs.  But for me, that is appalling.

Equally appalling to me is the shift from the role of government as a protector of citizens and consumers to the role of government as the protector and promoter of corporate interests.  No longer is the consumer always right. No longer must we protect the environment from corporate goals.  Now we protect corporate goals at the expense of the environment.  Now, it is the corporation and their ambitions that are always right.  Sadly, pursuit of wealth is rarely bound by moral limits.  Every agency that protects us is being dismantled.

We have been thinking about Trump in all the wrong ways.  I suggest we think about his practices and proclivities in other contexts.  Suppose your local school system hired a principal who after one month on the job had been caught in multiple lies, had disparaged some kids and some teachers, had proposed unfounded conspiracy theories, had suggested that the local paper was his enemy, and had proposed to do away with the code of ethics as well as the student handbook.  Would you tolerate the continued employment of such a principal?  As a superintendent of schools I would terminate a person for such behavior.  If your newly elected mayor did similar things, would you tolerate it?  If your chief of police did similar things would you tolerate it?  Then why, oh why are you tolerating this from the President of the United States?  Trump has engaged in behaviors that would guarantee his termination in any other office of public trust in this country.  What does it say of you if you defend a man who lies?  What does it say of you if you defend bigoted behavior?

I share very few values and beliefs with Vice President Pence.  I believe most of what he believes is un-American.  But I believe he is a man who is sane and thoughtful, just misguided.  Please start standing up and saying, “Trump is unacceptable.  Pence is palatable.  Remove Trump.”

Please.  If you want America to be great again then do not tolerate such behaviors from your leaders and continue to make us the laughing stock of the world while scaring and disgusting more than half of our citizens.  Republicans now rule Washington.  If you take no action in this direction it implies support for such behaviors.  That cannot be good for our country and it cannot speak well of you.


Please.

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