Being angry in the age of Trumpism

Full disclosure alert: I’m angry. 

When we started this blog almost a year ago, I told myself that I shouldn’t  try to write anything when I was mad or angry. After all, it’s tough to make points when you’re not clear-minded and frankly, it’s not healthy. But in the age of Donald Trump, screw it.

The anger I feel has been building. I’ve had it since January 20, 2017 but until now I’ve been able to keep things in check–until a few days ago. As I sipped my coffee on a rainy and dreary Pacific Northwest morning, I decided to switch the channel to MSNBC, as there was a break in the Stephanie Miller Show I was watching on Free Speech TV.

Anyway, I saw the usual “Breaking News” alert at the bottom of the screen warning us  that the president would soon be making comments. And sure enough, right on cue … there he was. The man with the fake hair and rapidly moving mouth had invaded my TV. In the background you could hear the roar of the helicopter, waiting to take him away somewhere. Of course you could also hear the White House Press Corps shouting questions to him, waiting with bated breath at whatever propaganda he decides to spew forth.

He did not disappoint. Lies … 13 angry Democrats … the despicable and illegal Mueller report. Enough! Back to Stephanie. I can’t take much more.

And then a day or two later there he was again–invading my space. On Twitter, I see a meme where he’s sitting with some foreign leader of some sort, so I clicked on it. Why? I don’t know anymore. But, he sits there running his mouth as he always does and he does a two-minute rant on how it was Barack Obama who started the process of putting kids in cages. Not him. In fact, he said it was him that put a stop to the practice. Of course these are all provable lies. But you know what? Not one journalist in that gaggle had enough guts to challenge him on what he said. Not one. Anger? You bet. The failure to challenge him … the failure to put him on the defensive … the normalization of the abnormal human being. Enough is enough.

It’s been nearly four years since this man has invaded America on a seemingly never-ending basis. He rode down that golden escalator like a king coming to address his minions. We know that’s where it all started. It’s hard to believe it’s been that long. But he’s still around. And you know what folks? He’s not going away. I’m convinced of that now.

He has the courts. He has the Attorney General doing his bidding. He has his own TV station for crying out loud. Democrats have only been in charge for a few months, and I know they’re doing their best. But it’s not going to be enough. They can’t keep up with the corruption. They can have all of the hearings they want. They can issue all the subpoena’s in the world. It’s not going to matter. He’ll ignore them.

The Mueller Report? What Mueller Report? We may get something resembling a report of some kind in the near future. But we know it won’t be the whole thing. And who doesn’t think for a minute that Trump has already seen the report–or at least the main points of it. His attorneys are surely working on a pack of lies and rebuttals to refute any negative information that may come out.

And peaking of his Attorney General, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more smug and cocky guy in my life than William Barr.  He clearly wanted no part of the hearings this past week. I saw Anderson Cooper of CNN interview Senator Chris Coons of Delaware and calmly ask, “What do you think Mr. Barr’s motivation was to say that the Trump campaign was being spied upon?” Really? While Cooper has had his moments of glory holding Trump accountable in the past, this was not one of his stronger performances. I mean, where is the outrage? We know Barr’s motivation. He’s a complete and total sycophant and protector for this president. I expect so much more from our media. In many ways, they’ve emboldened this president because of their weak and pitiful coverage.

I haven’t even mentioned the Republican Party. Their complicity and allegiance to this president is beyond pathetic. This party has failed us time and time again. They aren’t going to start holding him accountable. Why would they? Clearly, Trump has them in his back pocket. Oh, every once in a while you may get a few of them who say they’re ‘disappointed’ in what the president has said or proposed. But it’s so muted and so meek, why even bother?

Yeah, I’m angry. And I think I speak for many who are equally angry. Sometimes my wife tells me I probably shouldn’t watch so much news all of the time. And you know what? She may be right on that. Luckily I have other vices. I love sports. I’ll be watching the Masters this weekend. Last weekend I watched the NCAA Basketball Final Four games, and then the championship on Monday.  I have other things to do that takes me away from the ‘invasion’ of Donald Trump. I can’t, and none of us can, let him rule our lives. The king of all narcissists would love nothing better. But while this anger is palpable and deep, I will not let it define me. Anger is one thing–sitting on my ass and giving up is another.

My point is that we who resist Trump, and all that he stands for, are in this together. The sooner we stop thinking that he may somehow be removed from office or resign at some point, the better off we’ll all be. He’s not going away. I don’t like it. In fact, I hate it. Knowing what he’s doing to our democracy and getting away with it is hard to come to grips with. But we must.

Luckily, we have a fine group of candidates on the Democratic side who will be fighting it out to see which one will take on the ‘invader-in-chief.’ Yes, he’s going to be candidate. And making sure we have the right candidate to take him on is going to be my passion for the next year and a half or so.

It feels good to vent. I hope I didn’t offend anyone. The goal of this blog–this website, is to highlight the differences between the two political parties in a straight forward and factual way. Sometimes though, I will fray from this goal. Sometimes I’m going to speak from my gut. I’ll get a little emotional now and then. It’s because I’m passionate about our democracy. I care … sometimes too much. When I see it being hijacked by the type of individual our Founding Fathers feared would emerge at some point, I cannot sit back and be silent.

You bet I’m angry. I know I’m not alone.  If we channel our anger in 2020 and vote in massive numbers–we’ll win, and win bigly … as you know who would say.