I have made no secret of my tremendous dislike for Donald Trump. We share no common ground that I can think of. I can honestly say that aside from my being unabashedly, unashamedly liberal, I also just genuinely find the man to be loathsome, dishonest, criminal, self aggrandizing, arrogant, egotistical, moronic, deceptive, underhanded, selfish, deceitful, vile, offensive, repugnant, nauseating, revolting, contemptible, despicable, detestable, unscrupulous, disingenuous, hypocritical, swindling, unethical, unprincipled, crooked, depraved, evil, pompous, disdainful, contemptuous, narcissistic, foolish, senseless, dimwitted, and opportunistic.
Despite all that, I have often tried to understand how or why people support him, and I could just never wrap my head around it. My brain just can’t seem to think the same way his supporters do, I can’t overlook the lies, the manipulation, the criminality and the hypocrisy. It’s been difficult to to say the least, to be faced with the news every day that he has been our President, and to try to stomach the embarrassment I feel he brings to the office and to our country.
It’s also affected me socially and in my personal relationships. I quit Facebook in Oct 2016 because of the constant negativity and political memes. This cut me off from a large social group but it was necessary for my own sanity and I have no regrets.
I have also lost a lot of respect, and even admiration, for some people who supported him. People that for some reason I thought would be able to see through his con and put aside party loyalty, but who eventually just continued to defend him. I talk to them less, read their writing less frequently, I have tried to maintain civil relationships though.
I think that has to end today though with the President’s decisions to honor Charlie Kirk who was murdered yesterday at a speaking event. I don’t celebrate the murder of Charlie Kirk, gun violence of any sort is detestable and he certainly had the right to have and speak his opinions.
I don’t like Charlie Kirk though. I have never liked Charlie Kirk. In my opinion Charlie Kirk has never uttered a single word from his mouth that wasn’t in some way vile or hateful. His opinions on homosexuality, transgenderism, female subjugation, feminism, white nationalism, election denialism, gun control, MLK Jr., the Civil Rights Act and so much more have offered nothing to our political discourse except to incite hate and incite violence – he embraced this hate, thrived on it, and profited from it. If you notice, there is very little actual video being shared today of Charlie speaking because they can’t find something he said that isn’t reprehensible.
Donald Trump’s reaction to Charlie’s death is appalling to me. Yes, it is tragic, and he was a public figure so it isn’t that he made a statement, it’s the content of the statement and his comments that followed. It is his honoring Charlie Kirk with a proclamation that flags fly at half-mast. It is his decision to honor Charlie Kirk with a Medal of Freedom. I would encourage any past recipients to return theirs in protest. Except for Dolly Parton, she has refused to accept it from him already on two separate occasions – You Go Dolly!
It is his blaming the rhetoric of the “radical left” for the violence when Trump himself is the one who is most responsible for fomenting the culture of hatred and violence we find ourselves now living in.
I am appalled by these honors bestowed upon Charlie Kirk, and even more embarrassed than usual to be an American today. Trumps idolization and martyrization, even glorification of Charlie’s beliefs is so revolting to me that I can’t even begin to excuse them. The only logical reason he can make such statements and declare such honors is because he agrees with him, he supports these ideas and he and his administration are doing everything they can to bring about changes to our country to reflect them.
But it isn’t just him today that I am appalled by, it’s anyone who can wake up and look at themselves in the mirror, and not disavow Charlie Kirk’s rhetoric and their own support of Donald Trump. Trump’s support of Charlie Kirk represents the absolute worst of people and how they view their fellow Americans. This is how Donald Trump sees his fellow Americans, and if you continue to support Donald Trump after today, I can only assume you share these views and opinions with him.
It is no longer enough to attempt to clarify how your own views only coincide with some of his beliefs, there is no longer room for any middle ground. You must disavow these statements, these despicable beliefs, these honors, and do everything you can do to keep Donald Trump from accomplishing his goal, to keep him from making his perverted vision of America our reality. There isn’t anything less that is acceptable.
If you can’t do this today, then I really must conclude that you and I are just too far apart morally in our views of what is right and wrong, and that the chasm between our values is unbridgeable. I no longer feel that your involvement in my life is healthy or acceptable to me in any fashion.
This is regrettable but I feel I need to be true to my self, my own beliefs, morals and values. I will accept nothing less of myself and I will not compromise them for any reason. They have guided me my whole life and I will not abandon them now. In fact, I feel a new sense of just how important they are to me, and to my role in our country and the world.
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