A poll I saw yesterday on CNN asked Republicans who they will vote for for president in the next election. This poll was taken over the past couple of days. I’m not sure how: if it was via phone calls, or ‘man on the street’ questions, or what. But the results are surprising/not surprising. You probably guessed it: approximately 2/3s of those Republicans asked said they will vote for Trump in the upcoming election.
I remember back to the night of Election Day in November 2015 and how horrible I felt, how incredibly sad and discouraged I felt about my fellow man. I was beyond able to understand how anyone could vote for such a mean-spirited man, one known for being a pig to women, to bankrupting companies, and tearing down anyone he came in contact with, doing it without remorse. I was in tears, realizing those who walk around me were so callous and ignored the pain he caused to so many people. Years and years of hurting people who worked for him. I figured maybe those who voted for him back in ’15 were not as tuned in to the whole political world as I was, so they didn’t see how Trump belittled people – and did it so boldly, in front of the cameras, at rallies and during debates. He had no regret about it. In fact he smirked and enjoyed the attention it brought. And as time went on, and Trump was sworn in (before huge crowds – ha), and then became our president, NOTHING I saw or heard from him changed my mind about his lack of ability to lead our country. I watched as he mis-used the powerful office, and how he bullied everyone from world leaders to his own administration. I figured surely NOW people who voted for him will see how inept he was as president. How he promised things that could not, and did not, happen. (Mexico will pay for the wall.) How he was not up for the job. No political experience. How he mishandled the CoVid pandemic, ticked off all our Allies around the world, did nothing to better the immigration issue. He was all pompous talk and no action. Phew – I thought. People now know.
Yes. Thankfully enough voters DID know and Trump lost the next presidential election. Yes, he lost. But here’s where he even got more crazy. He pouted and would not attend the inauguration. Remember? And, he lied about voting machines that didn’t work right, and about election counters and those hard working citizens who worked the polls at the local departments of elections. He cried it was a ‘witch hunt’ against him. He acted like a child, instead of a grown man unable to accept the results. Months of claims of voter fraud turned out to be nothing. Case after case that his attorneys tried to find were false. There was no voter fraud.
He tweeted out meanness…day and night, so much so that he was banned due to all the lies he put up on social media.
Then January 6th happened. I’m sorry, but I don’t know how ANYONE can accept that Trump was not in on this before it, and on that date, the insurrection of our US Capitol. Much has been said, written, and shown, about what happened on that day. I will never forget how a mob who had been egged on by our very own president forced themselves into the Capitol with the intent to stop the finalizing of the election, and they were willing to harm people. They had specific people to get: Trump turned the rioters against VP Pence, Speaker of the House Pelosi, and more. People died. People were seriously hurt and the seat of our democracy was damaged by hooligans acting tough and looking like idiots. What happened in our nation’s capital was inconceivable because we ARE America, and we all believe in democracy and free & true elections. Yet it happened. The day after even the Republican leaders spoke on the house floor against what happened – because they were truly physically scared. But then they ‘changed’ their tune.
Since that day – let’s see, hmmm, Trump has been impeached twice, and he has been indicted for all kinds of illegal actions, 90 some of them. He also already lost a case about sexually abusing a woman. He has had to pay for that, along with paying bail for his 4 arrests. So far. He has trials coming up in the next months and years. He plans to juggle it all while campaigning to be president again. In fact he is twisting rhetoric and using his indictments in his rallies. Poor Trump. Boo hoo.
YET – YET – YET ! ! ! People (more than half of Republicans according to the poll) are still supporting him and say they will vote for him again. The poll out today also said that these same people had little or no concern about his lack of presidential behavior or of all the legal issues hanging over him right now. Like an ostrich putting it’s head into the ground they don’t care. THEY DO NOT CARE.
So I ask….
Who are you that you can still support Trump??? Are you so brainwashed by conservative radio & TV over time that you don’t think any more? I used to want to give you the benefit of not knowing. Not anymore. How do you live with yourself?? How can you accept him as a role model to children? How can you justify him? What does it take to change your mind? How bad does Trump have to be before you decide that he is not right? I really want to know. Seriously, what is going on in your mind?? Yes, you wanted someone ‘different’. You think he is funny. Brash. Willing to say what is on his mind no matter what. Is this how you live your life? Does he reflect YOU? Oh my.
I even get that you want our government to give you total freedom, and to require you to pay less taxes, and you want to stop others from coming in to our country. Build that wall! Foreigners are bad people. Americans are better than anyone else. At least, ‘certain’ Americans are better, right? I don’t understand it, but I get that you want it. I hear you say it. But certainly there are candidates out there willing to go there and say the same thing… and it’s not Trump.
The saddest part is: I don’t think the great division in our country will ever find common ground as long as Trump is the bestowed head of the Republican Party. When he was first elected I thought we could somehow get through, and he had those 4 years and then bye bye. He’d just go away. He’d embarrass himself enough to slither away… I hoped, but I forgot that he is a narcissist and to him nothing is his fault. He is like a cancer on our country, and he has infected his MAGA followers to the soul. He has found vulnerable people and lied to them over and over. I truly believe this has happened. Because I know some of these people. They are regular Joes and Janes. Some are friends. Some are neighbors.
So, the political poll results released yesterday re-affirms what has happened. The desire for a real president that is intelligent, that gets wise advice from those around him, that can handle business with diplomacy, that can be our representative around the world – that is gone. It doesn’t matter to people anymore. The days of honoring the president is over. Our kids are not learning it anymore. What will history books say about Trump? Will they call him a blip in democracy? Will the insurrection be part of the book? Will Trump go down in history as the worst president to this point? I certainly think so. I wonder what my grandkids will be reading about him when they grow up
So, again, I ask: Don’t you want better? Don’t you want America to have a caring, thoughtful president?
Polls can be wrong. And, in reality they are a snapshot in time. I don’t know how the research is done. Or how many people are asked to participate in the poll. No pollster has ever asked me how I intend to vote. And, many, mostly young people, do not answer phone calls anymore. Polls can be skewed. My hope is that people will change and somehow wake up, and maybe the next poll will be more encouraging. I hope it. I don’t have confidence in it though.
Marla’s Musings 