When Donald Trump was hospitalized for COVID-19, I found myself praying for his health and wellbeing. And, it did make me feel more than a little uncomfortable. His callous disregard for life and his willingness to draw out and publicly beat “low-hanging fruit,” should make me feel compassion for his many, many victims – and (perhaps a little) for those who support him, and maybe his wife and kid, instead of having concern for him. But, I cared, in spite of myself. His soul is a bottomless pit of emptiness. And because of that, I feel sorry for him. I can’t help it.
There is also a part of me that really needs this man alive, whole and healthy for the election. I need to believe that no matter what our differences may be in this country – that only a small sliver of the people who live here want to go through four more years (four more minutes) of a Trump presidency. I want to look back at these four years as a blemish on our country and not a sign of who we really are.
I no longer believe that there are “two sides” to our predicament. We should all be one side – one country – united in our repudiation of this man and his grift, nepotism, arrogance and crass behavior. We no longer have allies in the world and our weakness is making us vulnerable. I have come to value having a difference of opinion with people – on gay rights, on abortion, on race, religion – you name it! Never have we had to be threatened with death because we do not agree. The president of the United States said in so many words that those of us who live in “blue states” – that our deaths from COVID are inconsequential. Why? Because we didn’t vote for you? What about all those folks out here who did vote for you? No, there is just one side.
Donald Trump took the Republican Party down the drain with his behavior. I hope that they take this opportunity to cut him off and reclaim their party. There is no need for the party of small government to be saddled with racism – there are (or at least there were) many Latinx and Black Republicans. The Log Cabin Republicans are an LGBTQ affinity group! I don’t agree with their views, but I guess I get it! The party had an opportunity to go with the times – embrace diversity, bring in some women leaders. Instead, there was a push to return to a fictional time when America was great – great for a few and not for us all.
I am seriously hoping that once we are out of this dark moment, we become a country where the popular vote wins, and more and more people become Independents up and down the political spectrum. Can you imagine living in a country where the strongest candidate with the most votes becomes the president? What if we made every effort to make it easier not difficult (or impossible) for people to vote? I wouldn’t mind if politically, the pendulum continues to swing left and right like it once did – the fights for women’s rights, racial equity, LGBTQ+ freedoms and the rest keep us young – I think that’s an important part of who we are as a nation.
Donald Trump is openly stealing money from the American people, wantonly causing our deaths and lying to our faces. As Americans, we all need to be on one side – with Donald Trump standing alone. This election needs to be an utter and complete rejection of Trump and all he stands for. We’ll pick up the pieces, go back to our corners, and live to fight another day.
– GJA
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