If anyone is still under the impression that Trump’s veiled (and not so veiled) hate speech and blatant lies were just “rhetoric” or “metaphor” it’s time to wake up. So far he’s living up to his own terrifying words. A ban on Muslim visitors (largely from countries NOT known for supplying terrorists and not from any countries that we have large financial stakes in… I’m talkin’ bout you Suadi Arabia), what appears to be the start of a systematic dismantling of any program designed to limit the ambition of industry at the expense of the environment, major moves to dismantle the most effective healthcare reforms in modern history, and a need to squelch ANY opposition to the point of implying that you can’t trust the news and that he is the only source of truth left in America.
We live in strange and terrifying times.
One has only to look to Trump’s twitter account to quickly and blunty bear witness to the type of person that has been elected to the highest office in the land. Trump’s ego, sense of entitlement, and monomaniacle obsession with his own “ratings” and pathological need to attack anyone who dares criticize him hits you like a ten pound hammer to the face. Observe…
This is an odd comparison. Second inaugurations always draw smaller crowds than first inaugurations. He doesn’t mention that Obama had 38 million viewers for his 2009 inauguration according to Nielsen.
Trump really can’t see humor in ANYTHING that casts him in a negative light. It’s not so much that he doesn’t like it, it’s that he publicly attacks the source (which, of course, makes it funnier).
Again, if you don’t agree with everything he says and does, prepare for an attack (or at least some childlike whining)!
He just can’t stand that he lost the popular vote, and when the government refused to waste tax dollars on a totally unsupported conjecture about voter fraud…
he turned to the ONLY person claiming that voter fraud occurred, but who can’t support his claims with any actual data.
Trump has began his career with all the hallmarks of every tinpot dictator in history. He’s planted doubt about the free press and ordered everyone in his administration that most communication has to come through his lackeys or himself. He’s working feverishly to dismantle and sew doubt any internal agency that can limit his power. He’s stacking the deck with people who owe him favors (or whom he owes a great debt… I’m looking at you Betsy DeVoss). He’s given his followers a pretend enemy to rally against (exemplified by the media circus surrounding his totally useless Muslim ban. A ban that will cost the US economy millions in revenue).
We have gone from a country of hope and exceptance to one of xenophobia and hate. We turn our backs on refugees now. We refuse admittance to people with few options. People for whom America has shone like a beacon of freedom and hope of a better life. We have sent a clear message that we are only in it for ourselves.
That’s dangerous. That path leads to holocaust and unchecked tyranny. I just hope that this time, we havent provided the tyrant.
We allow these behaviors at great risk. A ban on Muslim imigrees is, at its heart, an attack on separation of church and state. Appointing an extreme right-wing religious zealot as Secretary of Education is the same. Bringing the free press into question allows the administration to suppress negative coverage and calling the election process into account sets a dangerous course for vote suppression in the future.
If a minority controls the truth and the vote; and is allowed to use religion and fear as justifications for policy, then we aren’t living in a democracy anymore. That’s the path to autocracy, and that’s the end of the United States as it was dreamt of by the founding fathers.
As distasteful as it may be to most of you, follow Trump on twitter. I think it’s going to be the best thermometer of his inner thoughts. Read between the lines, it’s all there!
Speak out, do what you can, and make sure your voice is heard. Most of all seek the truth. The truth will keep you free. I leave you with the words of Teddy Roosevelt:
News In Perspective 