Thanks?

From an email I got on Thanksgiving Day...

"First, just by reading this, you are more fortunate than close to a billion people all over the world who cannot read at all, due to a lack of educational resources. Think you don’t make much money? If your family income is at least $10,000 a year, you are wealthier than 84% of the world. If it’s $47,500 or more you are in the top 1% of the world. If you have food in your fridge, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, that’s more than 75% of the planet can say. Similarly, if you have access to health care, air conditioning, clean drinking water, and a flushing toilet, you can make a claim that most of the world cannot. In reality, in comparison to virtually the entirety of humanity, you are a King." 

Yes, I am grateful for what I have. And I try to remember, when I'm unsatisfied with certain circumstances in my life, that I still have it better than the majority of my fellow humans on the planet. But at some point, that gratitude turns to anger and sadness and I think, "Wait, not sleeping on the sidewalk, in a modern domicile, with basic comforts makes me a king? What kind of a fucking world do we live in?!"

Trump Isn't The Rotting of Conservative Values Just Its Most Potent Symbol

You would think Cadet Bone Spurs would have, at least, a smidgen of respect towards the people who, unlike himself, put their lives on the line and oftentimes made the ultimate sacrifice. But as we've seen, time and time again, this narcissist PoS will retaliate against any perceived slight, no matter how inappropriate it would be to do so, regardless of circumstance.

And if that wasn't bad enough, his sycophants will defend him no matter how despicable the remark and who it's intended for: war heroes, Gold Star families...you name it. The military are just props for these people. Nothing more.

If there's one thing we can all be grateful to Trump for is the unmasking of legions of conservative hypocrites in Washington and around the country. The fake military supporters who never call him out on these transgressions; the so-called Christians who make excuses for the Pussy Grabber-in-Chief; and those defenders of the Constitution only when it's convenient and lines up with their partisanship, are all part of the same ratty tapestry of duplicity and hypocrisy that is eating away at the fabric of conservatism in this country.

They can never be the family/moral values, patriotism people ever again. They've shone their true colors and they have faded like a 50¢ t-shirt.

Recipe for Graham Cracker Pie

In a recent WaPo OpEd piece, conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin points out that Rep. Mark Sanford [R- SC], after mildly criticizing Chumpie, was primaried by a “cheerleader for President Trump” who was then in turn beaten soundly by Democrat Joe Cunningham in a county described by Sanford as the most “conservative district in the country to flip to the Democrats”.

So the local GOPers went for the Chumpbot but the overall populace went blue. Hmm. According to Sanford, one of the reasons for this is current, Trump-inspired, Republican incivility: “I heard it from young soccer moms and longtime Republican voters alike. They don’t want to condone behavior that is counter to what they’ve taught their children.”

 Rubin suggests that by Sanford primarying the rat known as Sen. Lindsay Graham [R-SC], he “would do his party, state and country a service” and characterized Graham’s born again Trumpism as burning “with a fervor that stuns colleagues and friends of his former ally, the late senator John McCain (R-AZ)”, further bemoaning Graham’s vote in favor of “a budget-busting tax bill, but he’s also become an all-purpose apologist for Trump’s lawlessness (e.g., illegally putting an unfit acting attorney general in charge of the Russia probe, undermining the credibility of elections, smearing the FBI).” Rubin believes “Sanford has the unique ability to primary him from the right while bashing him for enabling Trump.”

The interesting thing is that those in the know not only agree with Rubin but have stated that Graham’s conversion to Chumpism stems from a fear of losing his seat, not to a Democrat but to a fellow Republican in the primaries. Sanford could be the one.

A Line of Blood in the Sand

I recently saw Dave Chappelle being interviewed on CNN and the one thing that stuck with me from that exchange was his assertion that he still could not understand how families and friendships had been frayed due to politics. What I don’t understand is how Chappelle could not comprehend such a thing.

We’re not in the realm of arguing over tax cuts and funding for Sesame Street and the NEA anymore; those quaint days are behind us. What we have now is a significant portion of our citizenry supporting a PROVEN bigot, con man, misogynist, sexual predator and thief who cannot and will not acknowledge his role in fanning the flames of hatred and division in this country, not in the furtherance of an ideology or philosophy but simply to pamper his fragile ego. A man whose increasingly despicable actions and pronouncements are seen as daily reminders of past authoritarian regimes by those who have managed to survive them, including Holocaust survivors. And listen, I don’t know about you, but if someone who lived thru the horrors of Nazi Germany tells me to pay attention to what’s going down, I’m gonna pay attention.

Trump has drawn a line of blood in the sand, one that dares decent people to continue to follow him. And for many of us who see this waste of human life for what he truly is, being apologists for his followers is simply not possible. In the end, my question is not why Mr. Chappelle doesn't understand the reason behind these aggressively divided families and friends, but why would he expect anyone to look the other way at an allegiance to the monster that has created this divide?