I Dedicate my noTrumpvote to...

Sometimes awareness and learning take repeated exposure to the facts you don’t want to hear.  Donald Trump knows this.  As a shrewd marketer and a fan of Adolph Hitler, he knows that repeating the same message over and over, even if it has no basis in fact, is a successful tactic in getting otherwise normal, intelligent human beings to commit acts they would never have dreamed of prior to indoctrination by repetition.  It is brain washing with the aid of the media. 

But I have found that it can also work for the greater good.  Every time another “crooked Hillary” comment is made on your social media, fight back by posting lists from reliable sources about the good that Hillary has been doing for years.  Write that being guilty of all the things she’s accused of would require the funds of Trump and the evil genius of Moriarty.  Surely someone would have blown the whistle or produced some kind of evidence by now, right?  Keep pounding social media with the correct facts.  We have only three weeks to permeate the minds of potential voters with the good she has done and the experience she carries into the Oval Office. 

Don’t think that exposure works?  Let me tell you a tale.  My parents were part of the white flight from East Cleveland in the early 60s.  We used to call my dad Archie Bunker, saying he wasn’t a bigot, he hated everyone equally.  Dad mellowed out a bit in his later years.  He was a staunch Catholic, a staunch Democrat, and a proud Union member.  He was all about doing what was right…no lying, no cheating, no blowhards, and you best be sure you owned up to your mistakes.  He passed in 1998, so I have no idea if indoctrination by repetition would have had an impact on his voting, or on any of the other prejudices he carried with him from his early days.  But I do know he would never have voted for the lying, cheating, denying, braggart that is Donald Trump.

My mother was somewhat quiet about everything.  I never heard her voice any nasty opinions about blacks, or gays, or members of other faiths when I was growing up.  But as she got older and more vocal, I was dismayed by some of what she would say with no care in the world who heard her.  She was in her late 70s when she moved in with us.  I remember her reaction when I told her my new boss was gay.  She was horrified.  “How could you possibly work around that?” she asked.  I would then tell her how intelligent and witty he was, how friendly and funny his partner was, and what great guys they were.  I did this repeatedly. 

The first time she actually met them, my boss’ partner gave her a big hug and told her how lovely she looked.  He told her how beautiful her hair was, and that he would know, having owned his own salon for years.  She seemed to handle that pretty well.  Gradually I kept inviting her to functions where she would have occasion to interact with them.  When my daughter married, David insisted on doing her hair and mine for the wedding.  Mom watched as he fussed and fluffed until my daughter and I looked like debutantes.

A week or so after the wedding, I informed her that I was calling the guys to invite them to dinner…as a thank you for doing our hair and for graciously attending the wedding.  “I’m coming,” she announced.  So I made reservations for four.  A few months later she confided, “You know, I don’t ever think of them as gay anymore.  I just think of them as the boys.”  I replied that it was a good thing.  That people are people.  That we are all just people. 

The last year of her life she was in assisted living.  I could no longer care for her at home, so I visited her several times a week after work and on weekends.  She would always ask, “How are the boys?  I miss seeing them.  Tell them I miss seeing them.”  What a turn around for a woman in her 80s.  She also cast her last vote for Barack Obama.  And I was so proud of her when she cast her last vote for Barack Obama. 

She taught me that people can change, no matter how old or how set in their ways.  That prejudice can be overcome.  But that it requires exposure to those different from ourselves, and the indoctrination of repetition in a positive way, to overcome the negative, the hateful, and the long-held fears of a lifetime.  Because of her bravery, and the boldness she showed in changing her mind about such fundamental issues, I dedicate my "noTrumpvote" to my Mom.

GOP Donors Find Their Tipping Point - Moral Outrage

I was reading an article about the big donors demanding that the GOP cut all ties with Donald Trump. Many are even demanding their money back. I considered this fairly amusing until I read the following.
 

“Bruce Kovner, a New York investor and philanthropist who with his wife has given $2.7 million to Republicans over the same period, was just as blunt. “He is a dangerous demagogue completely unsuited to the responsibilities of a United States president,” Mr. Kovner wrote in an email, referring to Mr. Trump.  “Even for loyalists, there is a line beyond which the obvious moral failings of a candidate are impossible to disregard,” he wrote. “That line has been clearly breached.”


Wow!


Where was your moral outrage when Trump bragged about his genitalia in public?


Where was your moral outrage when he stood in front of crowds fanning the flames of racism and bigotry?


Where was your moral outrage when he encouraged his rally attendees to use violence against anyone who wasn’t supporting him?


Where was your moral outrage when he continually degraded women in front of a national audience?


Where was your moral outrage at his continual lies about every conceivable topic?


Where was your moral outrage when he made public his plans to create a “deportation force” to send 18 million people out of the country?
 

Where was your moral outrage when he said the Saudis should have nuclear weapons?


Where was your moral outrage when he declared, that if elected, he would jail his political opponent?


Where was your moral outrage when he, twice, encouraged his followers to assassinate that same political opponent?


Where was your moral outrage when you gave money and your support to a candidate that is quite obviously running his campaign using Adolph Hitler as his mentor and guide?


Where was your moral outrage when you realized that this was not a wise, politically experienced, mature 70-year-old man, but a greedy, power-hungry, misogynistic, racist, wanna-be dictator, with the emotional IQ of a pubescent teenager, who has lived his entire life in a privileged environment where no one ever told him NO?


I could go on, but I won’t.


That line was breached long before the tape was released. It’s a darned shame that the GOP, so determined to defeat Hillary or whatever Democrat was thrown their way, overlooked all those things until it was too late to keep Trump out of the race. But then, this is similar to the way they have overlooked the will of the people for 8 years just to spite Obama, instead of doing the jobs for which they were elected and paid. We taxpayers don’t ask much of our politicians, but I don’t think it’s too much to expect them to show up every day and work together with the other side to achieve better things for this country.
 

Perhaps morally outraged donors demanding their donations back will finally get through to them. After all, money speaks the only language they seem to understand.

A Leopard Can't Change Its Spots

Trump has a 40-year history of demeaning and objectifying women.  He is NOT going to change, because he doesn’t think what he did, and continues to do, is wrong.  Any apology is meaningless, and he will say whatever he thinks will keep the voters from abandoning him in the 11^th hour.  He’s not really sorry for what he said or did, he’s only sorry that he was caught on tape and can’t deny what everyone in the country has now heard…bragging about sexually assaulting women, and his ability to get away with it due to his own fame and celebrity.

I’ve seen several posts from Trump devotees saying “If women are so offended by those words, why did “Fifty Shades of Gray” sell 80 million copies to women here in the states?”  Then there are the posts with the world’s most famous twerker, in her much-viewed lewd dance, stating “If you women are so offended, why are you out dancing like this?”  There is a world of difference between a woman voluntarily reading housewives porn or imitating the twerker and what Trump said and bragged about doing to women.  It’s called CHOICE.  It’s called lack of consent.  It’s called entitlement.  It’s a crime.

I'm not offended by Trump’s words. I'm offended by his incredible arrogance and his bragging about committing sexual assault, then dismissing what was said as just locker-room speak.

His words don’t offend me, his attitude does.  HE is offensive. Telling Howard Stern on his radio show that “vagina is expensive” is OFFENSIVE.  His comments magnify why rape culture has become so prominent in our society, especially in high schools, colleges, and fraternities.  And every time a guy gets away with such a crime, it legitimizes that behavior in his own mind and in the minds of his male friends as they regale each other with tales of their sexual conquests over a few beers. This isn't good fun. These are crimes against other human beings.

These are the behaviors of a complete narcissist.  Trump thinks he has superior genes.  This smacks of Hitler and his ilk, who thought that those with “inferior” genes should be exterminated.  In Trump’s case, it’s the African Americans, the Muslims, and the Mexicans he will deport because they lack the appropriate genes to live in “his” country.  See some of Trumps references to his superior genetics here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Yh0jAxOxGE.  He actually compares his genetics to Secretariat, the Triple Crown winner.  He forgot to mention which end.

If you doubt that Trump is narcissistic, here is a list of the symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (think mental illness, folks).

Exhibits exaggeration and grandiosity.  
Believes he is special and unique. 
Craves and requires the admiration of others. 
Feels entitled and demands of others what he won’t do himself. 
Expert at exploitation and manipulation of others. 
Lacks empathy for others, especially those considered to be inferior.  Envious and jealous of those who have obtained the power, adulation, and fame he feels are his due. 
Epitome of arrogance and haughtiness.

There you have it. 

I’m challenging every woman who has had enough of being treated as inferior, not worthy, paid less than her counterparts, being body shamed, being used, being abused, being assaulted, being raped, and watching the Trumps of this world get away with nothing more than a slap on the wrist…to get out and vote.  It is important to keep such a man from occupying the most influential office in the world.  Trump is the last person on earth I would want teaching our boys and young men, by example, how to behave around women.