Recently I was triggered by something Trump said, as so often happens these days. His response to questions about Saudi Arabia’s latest human rights atrocity, the likely murder of a journalist, centered on profit: his imaginary hundred million dollar arms deal. He sounded confident that this rationale for letting Saudi Arabia off the hook for murder was entirely self-evident: such a good customer!
I’ve worked a lot in the service industry, mostly as a cashier, and it’s been my experience that a lot of men think the money they spend, along with their self-perceived status, entitles them to bad behavior. Management frequently agrees. So servers, cashiers, hotel staff, housekeepers, and other low-paid, mostly female workers, are expected to put up with daily harassment ranging from sexist comments all the way up to assault. Because such good customers couldn’t possibly be offended. I can’t believe US foreign policy has become The Customer is Always Right.
We’ve got to get out the vote like never before and get control of Congress. This administration is driving us straight into a cliff. Our collective mental and physical health is deteriorating, not to mention the health of our planet. People are suffering, families are being torn apart, our neighbors are being deported, and Goddess knows what else, while the clowns in the circus perform ever more frantically, while our children’s future slips away unnoticed.
The time is now. We’re going to have so much work to do just to clean up the mess, before we can get back to making progress on things like climate change and prison reform and corporate accountability. Let’s plan for that time instead of paying attention to the clowns, because they certainly won’t go quietly. Don’t be afraid. Be happy, like a pug in a field of tulips.
