Am I high? Sorry I have to ask. I've been in recovery for about 3 years, and I've forgotten. But Trump is a viable candidate, so I must be hallucinating.
This means we could be one ballot away from that Jersey Shore wannabe sitting in the Oval Office. There's a lot about this that makes my brain hurt, not the least of which is extremely bigoted white people posting videos of them doing extremely racist stuff and screaming "TRUUUUUUMP!!!!!!"
I saw one meme that compared all the things Hillary has done, from Bengazi to shredded emails to hijacking the primaries. Next to it was a picture of Trump with the caption, "Said mean things." Obviously, he's said some racist stuff people don't like, but, hey, he's not a criminal.
But WATCH the man. If he's elected, he'll have enough money and power to make Solomon blush, and you think that won't lead to some criminal activity? Can you honestly say a potato in a toupee drunk with power is what we really need? I don't think either of them are great candidates, but that's neither here nor there.
How the hell did we end up here? Why do we hear people talking about wanting to bring back 'the good old days'? And making America great again? Well, I'm glad you asked.
First of all, there's no such thing as 'good old days' in America if you're black, Hispanic, Jewish, Muslim, Indian, LGBTQI, a woman, poor, non-Protestant Christian, brown, Asian, etc. When I hear "bring back the good old days," what I'm really hearing is "I don't want to have to accept other people! Bring back the time when WASP was the cultural norm and no one questioned it!"
Let me tell you about the days when America's economy flourished. Before outsourcing we were doing pretty good. But companies started sending jobs overseas so they could pay workers less. Why? Because we want to be able to buy a flat screen at Walmart for $200.00. That's really it. Our economy took a sucker punch, because of us.
We kind of did this to ourselves. I'm just as guilty as anyone else. We wanted cheaper goods and services, companies listened and moved jobs overseas. Except for the auto industry. They didn't listen when we asked for better cars.
The heads of those companies had a good run for a long time with politicians in their pocket. What they hadn't counted on was that we would figure out their cars sucked, that we could get a better quality vehicle for less money and would vote with our dollars. Our free market gave them a chance to compete for a long time but they didn't want to and now they're scrambling.
But what about the -isms, like racism, sexism, etc.? What does that have to do with it? Those things hide more when we don’t see as many problems we need to blame on not-ourselves.
Basic human psychology. Like, we're all cool until Billy Bob loses his pension because everyone—Billy Bob included—buys Korean televisions instead of Billy Bob brand expensive pieces of crap. But Billy Bob won’t blame Billy Bob. Next thing you know he's opening a new chapter of the KKK in his basement.
Trump’s an asshole who says exactly what he thinks. While I don't agree with it, I must admit I respect someone with no f*cks to give who doesn't pretend to be something they're not. I think we're so used to being lied to we're almost offended when we're not. At least he says what he's thinking, mostly. Is he a bully? Yep!
But Trump is feeding Billy Bob’s delusion. There are lots of people who think the awful s**t he does and just don't say it. That doesn't mean they don't act on it, they just don't say it out loud.
If we were all cool, we wouldn't have to have things like the Fair Housing Act. But we are largely not cool. We are selfish, self-righteous ass hats. We like people who are like minded. The closer you are to agreeing with me the more you right are!
We took a wrong turn about 1,000 miles back and now here we are: Trump. Donald Trump is a viable candidate. And the establishment hates it. I'd be lying if I said I didn't like that a little bit. All these politicians scrambling and mad because their rigged system isn't system is being smashed like a tinker toy set by a Cheeto in a wig. God! It's beautiful! But also terrifying.
Trump's capturing a base in America that is frightening. Before, when the wealthy s**t on us they had some dignity. They at least pretended we mattered. Trump is like, "You suck! Did I stutter?"
Trump isn't the mean one. We are. He's fleshing out these long held resentments. We are the Dr. Frankenstein and Trump is our monster. And it's too late for a pitchfork-wielding mob.
Trump is holding up a mirror and we don't like what we see because what we see is our own pus-covered underbelly. Way back when, when we had the chance to pool all the immigrants together—the best and the brightest from around the worl—and really make this country something fantastic, what did we do? We denied black people basic human rights. We did the same with the LGBT community, and we s**t all over women's rights. So this is what we are.
After World War I and World War II, we could really have banded together and made this country the great thing that everybody thinks that used to be. But it never was to be, so here's the deal: we were never really that great. There, I said it!
Every time we have a chance to band together and become great we s**t all over everyone and each other because of race, religion, sexual orientation, or generally for being anything but a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant male from a wealthy background.
Trump didn't invent the -isms, he’s just playing them on his fiddle while Rome is burning.