The Mystery
Ah, the mysteries of life. I listen to the speeches of the current Republican nominee for president, and I hear nothing but vile words filled with contempt and hate. Yet, a neighbor down the street or a friend across the state hears the same speech and it’s the nectar of the gods. It’s the same with his life, a life full of infidelity, criminality, and misogyny. I see a charlatan and con man. His supporters defend him and say, we’re all sinners and tell me I don’t understand him. I want to call them fools and ask how they can support this. Then I remember voting for Bill Clinton after his impeachment. He was definitely a man with feet of clay. So, I might be living in a glass house.
I guess the difference in this case is that Bill Clinton has tried to apologize in various forms for his dalliance with the intern, while the Republican nominee has never once even admitted he ever did anything wrong over his long career despite being convicted in at least three trials, having businesses closed, and having his words caught on tape describing all the things he could do, as a powerful man, to a woman. It always seemed to me that a key part of being a sinner and gaining redemption was to acknowledge your sins and ask forgiveness, aka the Thief on the Cross. How have his followers overlooked that?
If I was going biblical, I’d say Satan took them to the top of the mountain, promised them a world free of abortion in a land of perpetual whiteness in exchange for their souls. It’s probably more prosaic than that, however. It’s more likely they just jumped through the same psychological hoops I jumped through to support Clinton because I got what I wanted in terms of policy. They support their man and got to ban abortion and if he wins again, they’ll get to send brown people back to wherever. Seems sort of mean spirited, but we have a long history of intolerance in this country. I could list them but if you paid any attention at all in school, you’d know what they are. I had hoped with the election of Barack Obama that we had turned a corner. Given the unruly mob that greeted that election, however, it appears there’s still more work to do. On Tuesday we get to decide if we want to continue that work, or take a break for another Trail of Tears or turn to fascism.