Tag Archives: bullying

I watched, of course. I watched the debate with my friend Marie, who is not as annoying as I am about politics, but is very intelligent and informed, and what we came away with was that yes, Biden did not do well. Like all good Democrats, our hands settled into the appropriate wringing position that so accompanies our ever-present anxiety, our optimism stunted once again by the overblown bluster that diminished President Biden that night and reintroduced the familiar dark cloud that finds us so easily in uneasy times.

But today, after a fitful sleep and several days of televised, electronic, and newspaper “autopsies” of the event, I got up, shook off the cloud, and got angry. Because what I realize, and what I want the anti-fascists everywhere to understand is that there was NEVER a chance that Joe Biden could have won that debate. How could ANYONE who is intelligent, accomplished, and honest even begin to debate such a creton like Trump? When we were watching the show, my friend & I were so dumbfounded about the size and speed and frequency of Trump’s lies that we were tripping over each other trying to refute the disgusting things Trump was saying, one after the other and other and other- we were getting dizzy just trying to keep up! And our conversations were full of mouth-hanging-open-Incredulity, barely able to make full sentences.

So, yeah, I’m not the President, who obviously does know the truth to all of Trump’s lies. What he didn’t have was time; to have to respond immediately to the filth being spat by Donald Trump was impossible. But that doesn’t mean that he has gone soft in the head, or that he is some sort of doddering, foolish old man. If two politically active, reasonably intelligent women who are a couple of decades younger than either candidate couldn’t squeeze out a few rejoinders to the mud Trump was wallowing in, tossing out the Prez because of some perceived “frailty” is just stupid.

It’s stupid because, despite the absence of media coverage, Joe Biden has accomplished more in 3 1/2 years than any President since FDR. He has a list of accomplishments that are jaw-dropping in themselves. He has done more for the American people than most people can even imagine. He doesn’t pretend to be Presidential, he IS Presidential. He doesn’t pander for votes, he EARNS them by listening to what the citizens say, thinks about them, and finds ways to help or fix the greatest number of problems in the most coherent and concrete way possible. His efforts to reduce and eventually eliminate child poverty; absolving students with stifling college debt; creating grants to help first time home buyers; funding for historic colleges, lowering prescription drug costs; fully funding the Veterans Administration and studies to help determine cures for the damages of war, and providing Child Tax Credits for young parents have created what should be a great “safety net” for our Democracy for millions and for years to come. And he did it at the same time he REDUCED THE NATIONAL DEBT! But those are not the things that we hear about. Donald Trump is today’s political version of P.T. Barnum, and the civilian audiences turn to see whenever he points to another ring in the circus.

His sleight of hand is successful, too, because he knows that our weakness, as citizens, is that we aren’t really paying attention to what is REALLY happening, so his forked tongue picks up our ignorance and turns it onto us. He listens (or rather, his dangerous and greedy minions listen) to what good things we hear about when we are driving or between dinner and Netflix and bedtime, and he flips the story. For all of the things that Joe Biden has accomplished, Donald Trump claims them as HIS. He lies, boldly, loudly, and without embarrassment, that it is HE who has “done more for our Veterans than any President ever….” after denying his calling the fallen and wounded or captured soldiers “suckers and losers” in lieu of attending ceremonies to celebrate our heroes. He claims that “EVERYONE” wanted to reverse the Roe v. Wade decision and send it “back to the states” where “it belongs”, and even though most states have voted exactly OPPOSITE that position, he has said he will sign a federal ban once elected.

But those are not the things being written, spoken, debated about after last week’s debacle. And neither are we hearing about his indictments for 34 FEDERAL CRIMES, his CONVICTIONS for fraud and RAPE, the more than 35,000 PROVEN lies-that’s right, THIRTY FIVE THOUSAND lies he told during the 4 years he lived in the White House ; an average of 21 lies PER DAY! (How hard to you have to work to reach that level of deception?!). Just to be clear- he hasn’t stopped that behavior-he still lies as easily as he breathes, accusing the “radical left” of every single thing he and his thugs have done AND CONTINUES TO DO.

It is nearly impossible to imagine any person of honor and integrity like Joe Biden, who has served his constituents and our country for decades, being able to counter the diatribe of lies and libelous accusations that were blown at the President Thursday night. But that was the point, right? Because Donald Trump, as far as we know, has claimed to read only two books in his lifetime. He claims (not convincingly) that he has read the Bible and that Adolf Hitler had some good ideas in Mein Kampf. Whether we believe he actually read either of those books, one thing is clear- someone around him obviously did. (My money is on Steve Bannon and Steven Miller). Because he is the perfectly diabolical example of the Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels’ appalling assertion that “if you tell a lie often enough and loud enough, soon, it becomes the truth”. It would appear that it was true of the German reich’s propaganda, and has had the same effect here in the US in 2024.

So, all the anxiety we are feeling and the hand wringing we are doing is JUST EXACTLY WHAT TRUMP WANTS. In that way that a snake weaves his way through grass, Trump (and his minions on the SCOTUS) the White Christian Nationalists, and the rabid MAGA acolytes that he has managed to convince of his divinity, Trump has learned the “survival skills” one must have in order to slither into the White House. All he has to do is amplify Goebbels’ contention and do it on tv or in his tent-revival rallies, and that’s what many millions of people believe. Even more frightening is that Trump has added the despicable practices of name-calling and calling on his rabid followers to destroy any one and everything that he believes is “out to get him”, and he can sit back and watch as his bile drips and slimes over our nation’s “light on the hill”.

This process works, he knows, and people begin to fear speaking out against the horror they see and feel brewing just beneath the surface.

I make campaign buttons for various Democratic campaigns. Mostly they are very positive, specific to supporting a particular candidate or issue. But I admit, I do enjoy coming up with some humorous ones that are not necessarily endorsed by “official” communications offices, and I’ll take advantage of my ability to create them myself to take a “dig” at the opposing candidate. Some of the favorites this year are the ones that are defiantly anti-Trump. I take the buttons to various campaign events, send them out to different supporters, and pass them out when people ask me about them.

The buttons I make are free, with no restrictions for how many they can take, and are not copywritten, available for anyone to make copies for themselves. I’ve done this for several years now, and for quite a few campaigns, and they are always a hit. For the last few years, however, since Trump was elected the first time, when I share the buttons with the crowds, the absolute favorites are those that say “Make Trump Lose Again” or “NO MAGA”, and others similar, with amusing images and so forth. And EVERY TIME, at every event, people pick up the anti-Trump buttons, laugh, tell me they LOVE them, but put them back into the box and say, “I’d be terrified to wear that one” or “I don’t want to get shot”. Yeah. And they aren’t laughing when they say it. TRUMP IS WINNING, folks.

But after I did my day of Democratic hand-ringing, I realized that I did not want to live like that! I refuse to live the last years of my life under some nasty, ignorant fascist Russian/Heritage Foundation puppet. I will FIGHT for my grandchildren to keep that element from gaining power over them.

But of course, a couple of campaign buttons and an anti-fascist editorial now and then will make no difference if the progressive, liberal, democratic, flower-child, and “outsider” communities give up. We CANNOT allow these people to take the reins of our Democratic Republic and shred them in order to squeeze out every penny, every bit of hope from those of us who know what they are doing. So I’m begging all of you, my timid, loving, generous friends, even if, like me, you don’t have a lot of money to spare or if you don’t think you have anything to offer, PLEASE, PLEASE, find the Democratic headquarters in your city and volunteer. Do it for a weekend, join the phone banks or text messaging teams- for the Democratic candidates in your communities and up the ticket to the Senate (Sherrod Brown, Ohio!) and for the President, Joe Biden.

It might seem like everyone everywhere is overreacting to this contest, claiming this “the most important election of our lifetimes”. Of course, they have said that for every one of the past 25 years or so, and maybe before that, too! I kind of thought that way, too, until I read the 900 pages of the Project 2025 Heritage Foundation manifesto that the Republican Party has adopted essentially word for word as their party platform. Honestly, I’m not sure I’ve slept soundly since I read it. This election quite literally will mean the difference between democracy and the destruction of everything we love about being Americans. It is THAT important:

They plan to eliminate the Department of Education, with the curricula designed not by teachers or educators of any stripe, but by the President! There will be no unions, especially the teacher’s unions, so that teachers that go “rogue” and teach students REAL history, REAL social studies, REAL language arts, etc. or who don’t follow the radical “white christian national” program sent from the President can be fired without warning or recourse, or even arrested!

If those brave teachers are arrested, then, their luck has just about run out, because the Justice Department will no longer be a separate Department, away from political influence. The Justice Department will also be filled with appointments by the President, and will be able to be fired without warning or recourse should they stray from the President’s official demands for his notion of “justice’.

And of course, your communications will be compromised. Privacy on line, on your phone, or in your doctors’s offices? Don’t count on it. They are potentially up for “inspection”, because even if they don’t dismantle the Department of Homeland Security altogether, they have promised that the “security” they are looking for is investigating anyone and everyone they suspect of not conforming to what the Office of the President feels is enough. So, that would also mean that I could be arrested for writing this post; you could be under suspicion for clicking on it, doubly if you actually read it, and “watched” for what kind of response you have to it.

And god help you if you are black or brown skinned, LGBTQ+, disabled, Muslim, Jew, or any other religion they do not approve of. Do not protest having to walk past statues celebrating Confederate Generals or “Christian” heroes or imagery when walking into the DMV. Civil Rights? Look at what the Trump-enabled SCOTUS did today. As long as he is sitting in that White House, he can do nearly anything as part of his “official duties as President of the US”.

It really does sound a lot like what George Orwell imagined so many years ago when he wrote “1984”, doesn’t it? We’ve had a few years now where every now and then that phrase comes up in conversation when we talk about the worst possible thing that could happen to our country or our world. Because that is what it would be-the worst possible thing that could happen to our society. And that is exactly what they are proposing in the Project 2025 manifesto, plus much, much worse. They have the foundational structure already in place. How many times have you seen politicians saying things like, “Trump is a lunatic, I would never support him”, only to have them turn around a few days later and start talking about how much they LOVE him and want to kiss his ass? And pretend that they never said the things that we SAW AND HEARD THEM SAY? Forget 1984…this is more like “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”! Only, this is not fiction, this is real.

We cannot let them win. You don’t like Joe Biden? Fair enough, you don’t have to like him. You don’t have to want to go hang out in a bar with him and have a beer. You might think he looks old and feeble and doubt his ability to be energetic on the job. I get it, it would be nice to have a younger, funnier, more vigorous leader, one that looks good performing on television or in front of a big wound-up crowd of supporters who travel with him all over the US. Even one like Trump that will tell you that he is “sent by God” to be your “savior”, that he is “the only one who can save this country” (all words uttered, by the way, by the aforementioned leader of 1940’s Germany) or that he will provide “your retribution” for whatever issue you have in your own life.

But he is NOT sent by God, nor is he your savior, or the only one who can save the country. He may provide “retribution”, but it won’t be for you, it will be solely for his own grievances. He doesn’t care about you. At all. Except when he needs your vote. But once you vote him into office, he won’t even need you for that. He will name himself or one of his rich money lenders as “President for Life” or declare that it is his family that will take over for him in case he isn’t immortal as well. Just think….you could have Don Junior or Eric or his favorite, Ivanka, as your next President! Personally, I think maybe the highly educated, civil servant and Vice President of the US would make a better choice.

So wash your hands, splash a little water on your face, take a breath, pull up your britches and do what you need to do. Don’t do it by yourself, bring along some friends. Get in touch with your local Democratic Party, or the League of Women’s Voters, or the campaign headquarters of a candidate running locally and volunteer. Or apply for a job. They actually have a lot more jobs for people to work with campaigns now, since Trump and his MAGA goons have scared off many of the older and experienced election workers. But you have to muster your courage and not let them win before the campaign even gets going. But it’s got to be done, and it’s got to be done NOW! There are only a few months before the election- and we don’t have much time.
(And just so you know, for those of you who fear Trump’s effect on our society and are thinking that you might have to “move”….. Canada, Australia, and most countries in Europe do not want us! (My daughter Cassady worked for two immigration law firms in the past 12 years, and shared some of that knowledge, but not enough for me to quote it to you, sorry!) As far as I can tell, the only options of countries with a “western” culture open to U.S. citizens (and I am in no way professing to know for sure) are New Zealand, maybe Mexico, and maybe South Africa. )

WE CANNOT ALLOW THEM TO WIN!