Trump is not the kind of (read character/personality) president I would prefer. But then neither was Kennedy, Nixon, Bill Clinton or Hillary (if she had been elected). Personally, I think Ford, Carter, Reagan, the 2 Bush’s and to some extent even Obama conducted themselves with a demeanor that honors the office. I’m not sure I see that happening with Trump. He, unfortunately, is another in a category of what appears to be self serving, and, with Trump in particular, generally not presidential (my opinion). But alas all those mentioned before, and now Trump, were and are our (speaking of the citizens of US) president.
Was he (Trump) locker room boasting or has he actually grab women inappropriately? I don’t know and I suggest neither do you. To talk that way is wrong and insulting to women and to actually act out that way is criminal. I will tell you that I am VERY glad that hidden microphones were not around for some of the hurtful things I have said to Barbie and she feels the same way about some of the things she has said to me. We have truly done more damage to each other by some of our unrecorded words that anything I or Trump may have boasted about in the “locker room”. In fact as I have asked around, most admit that we are fortunate microphones were not hidden in various places for some of the worst things we have said. This in NO WAY excuses what I have said to Barbie or the demeaning way Trump spoke about women. But it is disingenuous for most of us to have some huge moral outrage at Trump while at the same time thanking our lucky stars under our breath that some of our “locker room” outbursts were never recorded. It is at this point I want to apologize to all women for any of the untoward things I have spoken in the past which were insulting towards women. I am glad there were not many, but I am guilty. I am far sorrier for how I have hurt my wife with my reactive or cutting words which actually did damage.
So I get it, Trump is not my kind of president either, but he IS my president. And I actually held my nose and voted for him as, given the candidates we were afforded, I was driven to a single issue and that was abortion. This single issue is defining and dividing our country more than race, gender questions or cake baking. It is an issue that gained significant traction out of the free love generation of the 60’s and the lack of wanting to take responsibility for what all that unaccountable sex produced. Just to be clear, this is a maturity and a responsibility issue not some benign choice issue. A majority of Americans oppose abortion on demand. Science has learned so much since the early 70’s to include the awareness of immense pain the not yet born baby can feel after just a few weeks of growth.
Consider this, we would all be outraged if somebody cut open a beautiful Labrador dog, pulled half a dozen puppies out and cut them into pieces. In fact that person would be arrested and prosecuted for animal cruelty and would likely spend time behind bars. But do the same thing in a PP office and a million people marching for women’s rights will cheer as if that act somehow preserved civility and rights. Or the fact that the majority of women who identified as pro-choice, once shown an actual video of a C&D or partial birth abortion change their position right then and there. My son Chad and I were discussing this subject this morning and he said that a nice white sanitary veil has been hung up to obscure the reality of what is actually happening behind the closed doors of abortion clinics and that people have bought into an idea of freedom, choice and rights that is actually anything but.
I had a close and long time friend write something on facebook this past week to the effect of “if my friends who voted for Trump don’t get it, then just listen”. So this past Saturday, my wife and I watched and listened to CNN and other mainstream media outlets as the “march for women’s rights” events were televised. Maybe it is just us “stupid rural” folks, but to watch Ashley Judd’s rant or Elisabeth Warren describe the things she wants to fight Trump about was to end up very confused. I will just put Ashley Judd aside as I don’t even know what to say about her, but I did not hear very much of what Elisabeth Warren was fighting for that Trump would disagree with or that Trump has not already joined in the fight for. In addition to listening, we also watched. And what we saw confused us even more. For a crowd that was (in truth) protesting Trump’s disgusting antics as much or more than they were advocating women’s rights, we were frankly disgusted by many of the vile signs, costumes and gestures. Remind me – what was this march about??? We saw signs covering the gamut of subjects, most of which had little or nothing to do with women’s rights.
Now top all that off with the fact that if you were a Trump supporter or a pro-life woman, your rights were not to be included or protected in this “noble” cause. In fact, you were not welcomed and if you did show up you were threatened and actually chased from the parade route.
So after actually listening and watching Barbie and I did in fact learn a few things. We learned that well over 50% of the women in America were simply “not welcomed” to this party supposedly promoting all women’s rights. We learned that Ashley Judd is just plain crazy. We learned that many people are, justifiably, upset about Trump’s foul mouth and perhaps actions and are willing to get out and march about it. We learned that the “everyone is welcomed to join” does not actually mean everyone. We learned that if Trump voices support for something it is ignored but if Elisabeth Warren is for the same exact thing everyone cheers. We learned that Madonna wants to “blow up the White House”. We agree that it’s wrong for Trump to say disgusting things but don’t understand why countless people wearing vagina costumes out in public is somehow ok. We learned that an anti-Jewish and anti-Israel Palestinian woman was one of the main organizers of the march which doesn’t sound very inclusive.
Most of these fears being expressed appear to be red herrings to me. I haven’t heard Trump or anybody he has appointed wanting to invalidate gay marriages, destroy the arts (although in my opinion government has no business spending tax dollars there but that is not an attack on the arts), undo LGBTQ rights or in any way destroy education (although this should only be handled at the state level in my opinion). And even though Trump would be called a climate denier, to a person, everyone he has appointed who has been asked in the vetting hearings, agrees that climate change is real. I have not seen any suggestion or indication that any US citizen might be marginalized because of race, gender or religion in fact, Trump has a better record of equal pay in his businesses than Hillary did among her own staff.
Bottom line, listening should be a 2-way experience. But we have learned that it is not always that way. We also leaned that to be included, welcomed or not ignored means something very different with those who lean left than those of us who lean further to the right. It is normally portrayed that the left is the inclusive and non judgmental crowd but this past weekend would suggest the opposite is actually true.
whosesideareyouonanyway - milton odom 