My God, THIS Really IS America

NOTE: This is a post I wrote in 2020, when it looked like Trump would beat Biden. Fortunately, he didn't. Since that time, Trump has been found liable for sexual assault and business fraud, convicted of 34 felonies, lied about the 2020 election and participated in a scheme to overturn it, incited an insurrection and then did nothing for 187 minutes while his supporters pummeled police officers, ransacked the Capitol, and chanted to hang his Vice President. Astoundingly, it looks like Trump will be our next President.

(Originally published November 3, 2020)

My country has voted for a vile and evil man. My country has voted for a man that pushes conspiracy theories and bullies anyone that doesn't metaphorically worship the ground he walks on. My country voted for a man that PURPOSELY lied and deceived the country about the transmission and severity of a deadly virus (230,000 fellow Americans and counting). My country voted for a man who has told the American public more than 22,000 lies in four years.  My country voted for a man that encourages militia groups and voter intimidators. My country voted for a man whose party wasn't saying we need to unite the country, but rather that said his party needs to squash the other.  

I could excuse it four years ago, because people didn't know really who Trump was. Many hoped he would grow into the role of President. 

But he didn't. 

And now, they know who Trump really is. He is vile and evil.

So there's no excuse for it. None. 

And sadly--terrifyingly--my fellow Americans think this is the man they should have voted for.

This is my country. And THIS is what they think our country is?

Oh, my God.

Heaven help us all.

If Trump wins, US will survive--but it will change

Each side bemoans the end of our country if its candidate doesn't win.

They're both wrong.

The US will survive.

Harris will uphold democracy, Trump won't

If Harris wins, though, the US will NOT be overrun with "insane asylum" criminals. Nor will Marxism usurp our capitalism and system of government. Even if Harris signs policies that Trump supporters don't agree with, Harris and the staff she chooses will uphold the tenets of democracy. They will actually believe in--and follow--the rule of law. They will honor the Constitution, just as US Presidential administrations have done for almost 250 years.

If Trump wins, however. things will change.

And I'm not referring solely to the results from policies enacted by a Trump administration.

Sadly (and terrifyingly so), the foundations of this country will change a lot.

Trump promises retribution if elected

You see, Trump DOESN'T believe in the rule of law (reminder: he sat for 187 minutes on January 6 doing nothing while his supporters pummeled cops, ransacked the Capitol, and chanted to hang his vice president). He talks about retribution. He says he will direct his DOJ to pursue those that have challenged him (btw, GOP, Biden did NOT do that). He has floated the idea of military tribunals and treason charges for political opponents.

And Trump DOESN'T believe in the Constitution. He actively worked to overturn an election (reminder: "I just want to find 11, 780 votes, which is one more than we have"). Contrary to the First Amendment, he openly elevates one religion over another and has trashed the idea of free speech by threatening to imprison reporters and strip networks of their broadcasting licenses for unflattering coverage. He decries the Fourteenth Amendment that grants US citizenship for all born on US soil.

And, of course, Trump DOESN'T believe in democracy. He praises dictators. He disparages and undermines our Congress and our Courts in our three-branched government. He sent to the Capitol an armed mob of his supporters to stop the certification of a free and fair election.

But it won't end after Trump's four years.

A Trump win would be affirmation that his anti-American views--his MAGA views--are the way this country wants to go.

Already, GOP members that excoriated him for inciting an insurrection on January 6 have rewritten the violence of that day (and Trump's role) as no big deal. They wave away his comments threatening opponents or violating Constitutional ideals as hyperbole or him just being Trump.  They love the power of his rabid (and, in many cases, deplorable) MAGA base, believing it allows them to exclusively push their white, Christian views.

The GOP spreads lies about migrant workers

And it has already changed the country. The GOP now willingly pushes lies to divide the country and push its agenda (be it lies about immigrants eating pets in Ohio or that the federal government doesn't help hurricane victims). They've used Trump election lies (which many had previously decried) to shove unnecessary voting changes down the throats of states, supposedly to stop (non-existent) voter fraud, but really designed to disenfranchise voters of disadvantaged communities.  They see that being coarse and uncivil and a bully--and uncompromising and unwilling to work together--equal toughness in the eyes of their MAGA constituents, so that's how they act.

That has pushed out more-principled GOP members of Congress that just can't stomach the lies and the coarseness and the acrimony--some because they feared losing reelection after alienating the MAGA vote, and likely many who feared personal harassment from Donald Trump, which often leads to actual threats of physical violence towards themselves and their families.

And the dominoes from a Trump reign will continue to fall. The unprincipled will soon take control of the GOP. Unprincipled Democrats will then spring up to get their own slice of the deplorable GOP base. And the incivility and the coarseness and the acrimony of Trump's legacy will continue to travel down along its dark road, until the pendulum (hopefully soon) will swing back towards decency and hope and unity.

Vote for decency and hope and unity

And that's where we are now.

Decency and hope and unity (via Kamala Harris) are on the ballot.

The US will survive, even if this country chooses otherwise.

But it will be a whole lot different.

Vote Harris.