Friday, July 27, 2018

Trump is an Obscenity and the "Family Values" crowd couldn't care less


I might care less if the alleged party of family values (Republicans) weren't so hard on President Bill Clinton in the 1990s (to the point of seeking impeachment), who said Clinton's private marital infidelities compromised his public pursuits, public trust and public commitments. The religious right - Falwell, Dobson, et. al., were all on-board with impeachment in the name of moral values.

Fast forward 20+ years: Now, Republicans apparently couldn't care less about family values, infidelity or much of anything else for that matter. Otherwise, they would not have supported the current miscreant POTUS in droves the way they did ... demonstrating that their allegiance is first to their political party rather than any notion of genuine "moral" values.

Let's be candid ...

Trump appears to have colluded openly with Russia ("Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily." - July 2016); the same day Russian hackers obliged Trump's request.

Trump also boasted about being a sexual predator (with his "grab them by the pussy tape") that the family-values crowd appeared not to be disturbed by.

In office, Trump willfully and cruelly separated children from their parents.

He incited/incites violence at his rallies. And, he regularly threatens the free press.

He has called for imprisonment of his political opponents ("lock her up").

He is an avowed and proud white nationalist (if not an outright racist like his father). See: Charleston.

He is a serial adulterer. His history of womanizing speaks for itself.

He attacks our system of justice and law enforcement - before and since being POTUS.

He has attacked members of our military, including a Gold Star family. He has said John McCain was a loser for being caught as a POW in Vietnam.

Trump stands against everything the common consensus of humankind holds to be right, just, honorable, and deserving of grace, kind regard, and Christian charity. He is not a president but an obscenity.

Wednesday, July 4, 2018

You cannot un-see the revealed darkness inside Family and Friends

The Trump presidency shall pass, of that I am sure.

What I'm really worried about is the aftermath. The long-term consequences on our culture, our discourse, our civility, our trust and our institutions.

There also the matter of "loss of innocence." What I mean exactly is Trump having revealed to us the dark hearts inside those whom we have called good friends and family. That is not something you can un-do or un-see.

I'm reminded of a PBS documentary I saw years ago, showing a video clip of a good, decent God-fearing family leaving church on Sunday morning ... to watch a public lynching.

It is a shocking moment - that reveals how little words matter ("value-voters," for example): when you realize even the pious are quite capable of revealing their black souls in an unguarded moment of brutal honesty.