I've written before about our dismay (Gerry's and mine) the night Trump was elected. We'd watched more than one documentary about his questionable activities, particularly about the golf courses he'd established in Scotland and how horribly he'd treated neighbors to the properties. Those people hated him. In these films and others we'd learned about his six bankruptcies, the myriad unpaid contractors and others, people who could not afford to be stiffed by a man who claimed to be very, very rich. We knew about Trump's involving himself in the case of the Central Park Five. Trump University, dear God. Twenty-six women coming forward to accuse him of sexual assault. He knew it has been customary to divest oneself of one's businesses during a US presidency, but Trump simply refused to do it. (Oh yeah, he put his sons in charge. Rolling my eyes.)
We'd heard from friends who were New Yorkers, who knew a lot more. We'd seen/heard him speak. We watched him ridicule a disabled journalist. (I still can't even think of that without losing my composure.) We didn't think he was particularly smart, just listening to him speak. One could go on and on here; he's fought hard to keep his college records and grades hidden.
Things came up after the election. The Russia connection. The Mueller Report. The incompetency (and sometimes open criminality) of the people he surrounded himself with. The nepotism. He lost the Trump University case, the fake charity case, the New York business fraud case. He lost a lawsuit against the NY Times. There's simply too much to itemize.
The book by his niece, Mary Trump, is very revealing. One could almost—but only almost—feel sorry for him. He had horrible parenting (however, normal people can and do grow up, mature, and leave that behind); he's a bully, has an uncontrollable temper, lies rather than tell the truth about anything, has no empathy whatsoever, and he has actual, diagnosable mental problems including that he's a sociopath, a malignant narcissist, has delusional disorder, and dementia. Mentally, he is unfit for any public office. For any job.
We heard about the twenty-six women who've all accused him of sexual assault. You know, you've heard this: "You know, I'm automatically attracted to beautiful—I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything."
A star, Donnie? In what universe?
Let's not even discuss his utter bungling of an international pandemic. COVID—during which he presided over a greater job loss than Herbert Hoover. Or losing sixty-one lawsuits related to the 2020 election. Or even, you know, his redrawing of weather maps and claiming that windmills kill whales and magnets stop working when wet. Wasn't there something in there about flushing toilets? He's dumb, y'all. He's just dumb.
So Gerry and I, we thought, well, eventually this will all come out.
The wheels of justice move exceedingly slowly, as they say. We would wish for speed, but … finally in 2021, the country swore in Joe Biden as president and started looking around and preparing to clean house.
In August 2021 I wrote in my notes, "Trump supporters are apparently angry because Democrats (and others) are happy* because after eight years in the eye of the American public (and much more than that in the eyes of New Yorkers) committing all sorts of unethical and criminal offenses (many simply overlooked), it appears that the legal authorities are finally going to hold the Orange Menace to account. (*Happy in this case ranges from "It's about damn time" to high-fiving like-minded neighbors or posting news articles to social media.)"
Since then Trump has lost the E. Jean Carroll sexual assault and defamation cases; he's under four indictments, facing ninety-one felony charges and, to date, he's been ordered to pay more than a hundred million dollars in penalties with a potential $370 million more in the weeks ahead, where he may also lose his right to engage in the state's real estate industry for life and be barred entirely from doing business in New York. One can hope. (Actually, one hopes he'll eventually be jailed.)
You know, I've been a left-thinking woman my entire life, in spite of being raised by a conservative. During that time, I was allowed to bring my opinions to the table and they were discussed calmly. Learning happened, on both sides. Why can't learning happen here? Why do seemingly intelligent people, even Christian people (!) continue to line up on this monster's side?
As I've gotten older I've moved from center left to a little more left. During this time, I never really gave much thought to the Republican folk among whom I live. I don't give new friends a questionnaire: Are you a Democrat or a Republican? but it seems that I end up with friends of similar beliefs.
So I've gone on with my life, voted blue, occasionally noted that I couldn't understand how average middle class folks could vote Republican when that party has never been particularly interested in making their lives better, women or men. But whatever. If you want to vote against your own best interests … (shrug) … your call. Me, I keep my eyes open.
But these last few years have, indeed, really opened my eyes. There is no question in my mind, now, that people who support, like, and vote for Donald Trump are as damaged as he is. I make no apologies for this conclusion.
• • •
I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh, lord
And I've been waiting for this moment, for all my life, oh, lord
Can you feel it coming in the air tonight, oh, lord, oh, lord
Well, if you told me you were drowning
I would not lend a hand
I've seen your face before my friend
But I don't know if you know who I am
Well, I was there and I saw what you did
I saw it with my own two eyes
So you can wipe off that grin, I know where you've been
It's all been a pack of lies
—"In the Air Tonight," songwriter Phil Collins, 1980
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