I am scared............
I am sure that many of us have never liked Donald Trump as a person. It is not easy to like a pathological liar, an extreme narcissist, braggart and a bully. However, as a President; Donald Trump is downright frightening. It isn't that his far right policies are of great concern to this Democrat. When it comes to governing, it is the hate, the authoritarian approach, and the constant lying. The night of his election, I tossed and turned with very little sleep. This old white man was up and going to the bathroom about once every hour. I made an emergency visit to the doctor the next morning. I was certain that I had a bladder infection. A urine sample revealed that was not the case. The Doc explained that the frequent urination was likely due to stress. She asked if I was under a lot of stress. Well, the only stressful matter on my mind that night was worrying about the destruction of our country under the newly elected Donald Trump. I guess that explains how concerned I was on the day he was elected.
As I've previously acknowledged, I am old. However, I do remember very well what I was taught in school (during the cold war) about the tactics used by the soviets to control their people in an effort to maintain their power. During most of my lifetime, Russia has been a closed society that has strictly limited freedom and carefully controlled information distributed to their citizens. I had been taught that they continuously controlled the narrative as a means to maintain their power as well as tight control over their citizens. Today, one only needs to look at what happens to the opposition of Putin and/or any citizen that dares to speak out against him or on any important matter that is contrary to his beliefs. Protesting in Russia is prohibited. Now, I realize that I have been stating the obvious, so please understand that I am doing so as a means to illustrate why I am so baffled that so many kind, caring and patriotic citizens of this country would want a leader such as this. Perhaps some voters just didn't know? If you are the slightest bit perceptive and honest, you have to admit that Donald Trump is very much like Putin, except perhaps in the area of intelligence. There is no doubt that Putin would eat his lunch any day of the week, As if his admiration of Putin isn’t bad enough, he is also indebted to him.
A handful of Republicans had endeavored for years to destroy the character of Hillary Clinton. That explains to some extent why so many independent folks voted for Trump. However, it doesn't explain why he maintains a 75 percent approval among Republicans, and an overall thirty-some percent support. They cannot all be that stupid, can they? Why do they not see the danger with Fox News serving as an outlet for a Trump government controlled narrative? Why do they not see the danger in using the term "fake news" to characterize our mainstream media outlets? Why do they not see the truth when Trump is peeing on their leg and telling them it is raining?
There are very few, if any, norms remaining that have not been violated by this president. That includes giving classified information to the Russians. He has threatened our democracy on an almost a daily basis. Over 2,000 lies or inaccurate statements during the previous year. He has also successfully minimized the importance of most things that had previously been considered to be of great value.
I see basically three kind of people that are solid Trump supporters. Those are:
1.) People that want something from him.
2.) Lowly and insecure white men that need to be told they are of higher value than black men.
3.) Insecure white women that need an authoritarian father figure to hold up as their hero.
Although suppporters of Trump are in the minority, they currently have all of the power. Donald Trump and his supporters are now (as I write this) subverting our democratic government
with efforts to protect and consolidate his power. They are creating and propagating a significant amount of distrust in our most important institutions. Our once great country is slowly being destroyed and it seems that there is nothing that anyone can do about it.
Yes, I am scared...........................……………………….Are you?