Joel LaPierre, a member of the St. Lawrence County, New York Legislature, posted this fond farewell to President Obama on his Facebook page on January 5:
“Folks it is happening. Trump is making America great again! So long BIG EARS, you and your muslim brothers did your best to destroy this great country and you failed. Now great men and women are in charge to remove EVERYTHING you did. Should you get the courage to start whining about what real leadership is doing, just remember keep poking the bear and we will pack you, Mochelle, the kids, mother-in law and any one else related to you and send you all on a one way trip to Kenya where you were born.”
His Republican colleagues on the Legislature, contacted by the Watertown Daily Times, have refused to consider any form of rebuke to his comments. “These are Mr. LaPierre's views, and it is certainly not my place to limit his right to express his thoughts,” said fellow Republican David Forsyth.
Let me presume to speak for President Obama, and say, quoting Franklin D. Roosevelt, “I ask you to judge me by my enemies.”
I would also argue that the “bear” Mr. LaPierre refers to has been poked, not by Barack Obama, but by the hate-mongering lies of his own movement.
Meanwhile, the Progressive Bear has been poked, not by the falsehoods of the Right Wing Surround-Sound System, but by the demonstrable fact that Americans will suffer depredation and deprivation under Trump-Republican governance.
That Progressive Bear will go forth this Sunday, January 15, our first National Day of Resistance, with the confidence that lies and hatred will be overcome by truth and love.
Dear readers, let's put our bear claws on, find our local Resistance movement (or, if there isn't one, start one) and join the fight: the stakes are so high that history itself is calling on us to report for duty.
Photo: Joel LaPierre (in bow tie) hosting a fundraiser for Republican U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik (center)