Coming to Terms with Trumpism

I can’t remember ever feeling so angry, unfocused, confused, and pissed off.

I took the last few days off from writing because every time I sat down to do so, the things that were coming out of my heart and onto the page were so utterly angry that I didn’t want to put those thoughts out into the Universe.

Restraint from the pen and tongue as they say.

In the past, I would say things to myself that would keep me from actively engaging with people who are clearly misinformed or unable to participate in an educated debate. Basically, I would refrain from talking to delusional Trump supporters.

“There’s no point” I would say.

How on earth can you possibly talk sense into someone that believes that the US government is being run by a secret pedophile ring and that Nancy Pelosi is (literally, not metaphorically) Satan reincarnated?

There’s no way to possibly move a person who’s foundational beliefs are rooted in hate. Hate is all encompassing and hate overpowers a logical mind.

I would rationalize my inaction by saying things like…

“It’s okay that people see the world differently than I do. I’m sure some of those people look at the things I believe in and think that I’m crazy.”

Because of this, I’ve been careful not to engage in potentially emotionally engaged situations or conversations. I have been a fool.

After having the last few days as a reflection point, my ultimate conclusion is that I can no longer allow people’s stupidity to be a reason for my passivity.

Radical Trumpism is a cancer. It needs to be sought out and actively destroyed.

We need to stop laughing at the ridiculous things that conspiracy theorists say and instead, we need to aggressively point them out.

Clearly, the cancer of Trumpism isn’t interested in running a government or moving the country forward. We need to recognize that ugly truth for what it is, and be aggressive in destroying the toxic thinking that has caused so much harm.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it over the course of the last month. It’s always been fascinating to me how ideas infect the minds of people in this way. Here’s what I came up with.

All the angry people that participate in radical Trumpism are coming to the realization that within the next 20 years, America will no longer be a predominantly caucasian nation. So what do racist people do when they come face to face with the fact that they are being replaced with people from other cultures who have better work ethic and higher IQ’s?

The answer is they grab hold of victimization and then latch on to the first strongman they can find.

No matter how much they kick and scream, time will ultimately replace them with people who are harder working and more competent to move our country forward.

This is what is happening in our country. We all know it. We see it every day and it’s time we finally say out loud what has been obvious for years.

I started writing this blog post as a way for me to personally address the fact that I have not been productive the last few days. I’ve been stuck in a steady state of shock and horror. So I wanted to write as a way to create some momentum so that I could have a productive week and get myself out of this funk.

But the more I wrote, the more I realized that the answer for me is not to “accept it and move on” like I have done so in the past.

If I passively move forward without addressing these truths, what kind of father would I be? How could I look my kid in the eye and tell him / her how important it is to stand up and fight for truth, justice, democratic ideals and capitalism?

I can no longer stand by and convince myself that inactivity is okay and cloud my rationale with excuses like “I don’t want to get involved with politics.”

At this point, it’s no longer enough to roll our eyes at the stupid things that these people say. We need to shun these ideas from daily conversation, and these people need to fade into the nothingness of time.

There won’t be any statues of them in the halls of our symbolic buildings or street corners. They will fade into irrelevancy, and that is where they belong.

I don’t know how to close this. I know that the answer is to come together. I understand that in order for us to move forward, we need to have open dialogue and conversation around the ideas that are pulling us apart.

I’m willing to do that. Maybe we all need some more time.

But I am willing to have those conversations. What I’m not willing to do is listen to and appease out right lies.