(As you read, keep in mind: this friend is one of these people who says things like: “well, I don’t like tRump as a person, but I think he’s doing a great job as president” or sometimes even exclaims: “he’s one of our greatest presidents!” I have a co-worker who falls into the exact same category, but I think I’m slowly getting through to him)
The Letter:
Dude,
Back in 2010, when the Koch-funded, sham, AstroTurf "Tea Party" movement was in full swing, you fellas were all
up in arms about "tyranny" and "blood and soil", etc.
Now, in 2019, tyranny is RIGHT HERE, knocking at OUR FRONT FUCKING DOOR! WHERE ARE YOU BASTARDS NOW THAT WE NEED YOU? First things first: This man is a career grifter, a welcher, a money launderer; a man who stiffed probably every contractor who ever worked for him. He praises dictators and our enemies, alienates our long-time allies, and
dreams of never leaving office.
He is the embodiment of all of mankind's worst qualities rolled into one man. He is an inept, wanna-be mob boss, and a xenophobic, malignant narcissist. And so unbelievably SHALLOW: If you say something nice about him, he will shower you with praise. If you challenge his views or confront him with the truth, he'll turn on you in an instant and will then do all he can to destroy you.
Most importantly: He has committed crimes before, during and since his campaign & election, and the entire GOP Congress has since enabled ALL OF IT. Also crucial, he has worked to dismantle the functions of our Government from within, by appointing agents of destruction in each respective agency, along with endless resignations/ firings, not to mention an unparalleled quantity of “acting”, un-vetted, un-confirmed
temp workers in key positions.
He is (many people are saying this) the “greatest” at only 3 things:
CON MAN,
BANKRUPTCY and
BULLY LITIGATION. (and thus, total avoidance of
personal responsibility... remember when the GOP actually stood for that? Or claimed to, anyway?) For him, it's ALWAYS someone else's fault.
(OK, 4 things — #4:
PROJECTION and other
defense mechanisms)
And right now, he is playing you and all of his remaining supporters for fools. You speak of all the things you think he's done right: yet if he farted unicorns, puked rainbows and completely obliterated cancer tomorrow, he would
still need to be held accountable for his crimes against our democratic republic. FULL STOP
Frank: Let the scales fall from your eyes, take a step back and rise above!
Your friend, no matter what,
-----------------------------------
Anyway, I also included the following quotes and resources in my letter, because that’s what sometimes seems to work with these folks:
Thomas Paine, Malcolm Nance & Sarah Kendzior… (+ Speaker Pelosi)
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“To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.”
“In the darkest days of the American Revolution,” Pelosi explained,
“Thomas Paine wrote, ‘The Times have found us.’ The times found [the founders] to fight for and establish our democracy. The times have found us today, not to place ourselves in the same category of greatness as our founders, but to place us in the urgency of protecting and defending our Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
"This is a transnational crime syndicate masquerading as a government."
― Sarah Kendzior
(Scholar of authoritarian regimes including those in Central Asia & the former Soviet Union)
https://sarahkendzior.com/about/
Frank and I go waaaay back to 9th grade back in 1979. He was one of very few students who immediately befriended me, me being little more than an alien long-haired metalhead who was uprooted from suburban Los Angeles and swooped into a small mountain resort town in mid-9th Grade. Culture shock for sure, dude! So Frank took me under his wing and deflected much of the heat & bullying I was taking from all the High School Jocks. We bonded through a common love of Prog Rock, and many other examples of the more intense, experimental music of the era. Frank was and is an absolutely AMAZING drummer and musician, and we later even performed in a hardcore/ thrash metal band together. (yes, we were one half of the “infamous” see: “unfamous” Vapo Slobs)
Just before the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994, Frank and I co-owned an AK-47 along with 1,000 rounds of 7.62mm ammo. (strictly for fun and target shooting out in the desert) His dad even bought us both NRA memberships way back when, which was the early 1980s. Neither of us had a problem getting rid of that gun, (perhaps he did balk just a bit) and deep down knew that no one needs a weapon of war as a toy. Frank would play the early Rush Limbaugh broadcasts on the work truck radio during our lunch breaks at the Kaiser Cement plant, where we were both electricians fresh out of High School, working for his dad, Frank Sr.
Frank’s old man was an OLD SCHOOL Indiana Republican, was a funny MF-er, and is a person whom I miss dearly. Anyway, I would listen to that Limbaugh shit… and kinda laugh… but I ultimately realized that it was total BS and soon moved to the left for good. Frank, on the other hand, has lingered on with that shit show over the years, despite being an otherwise really smart dude.
In fact, Frank has always been a truly quality human being, who, among other things, took on the unbelievably selfless tasks of caring for EACH of his parents, although years apart, through their full hospice situations right up until their deaths. Frank & I once found an abandoned little terrier mutt while driving around the desert on a lunch break, that some sick human had intended to sentence to a cruel, lonely, agonizing death. I will NEVER forget my first time seeing Frank cry (see: sob) as he swooped that hapless, wiry little dog into the truck. (a dog who lived out his years in gleeful, fenced in acreage, and who Frank’s wonderful & badass mom named “Lucky” upon our arrival back home that day; Shirley, I miss the hell out of you as well)
So I wonder out loud, as we find ourselves possibly in the final times of tRump… How does someone with this much empathy & wisdom continue to support such a self-absorbed, greedy, fiendish idiot?