I sat down at my computer this morning to write a post about littering. True story. And then I saw some words that Donald Trump littered on Twitter about a news anchor and her bleeding face lift and low IQ and how he kept her from attending a party at his Florida golf club and 35K followers “liked” it and I just cannot anymore. I. Cannot. Anymore.
When will America, Democrats and Republicans and independents and apathetics, call uncle? When do we say enough is enough? When do those of us not blinded by power, gaining power or losing power, band together to reclaim an America we can be proud of, an America that is not the laughingstock of the world, an America that is swiftly becoming the biggest bully on the planet?
I am sitting at my keyboard literally weeping salty tears for what has become of us. POTUS would call me a liberal snowflake, no doubt, but the truth is that we live in a world where the President of the United States uses Twitter to bully and intimidate and mock and lie and sow hate and fear. Given the 140 character constraints of the platform, he is quite accomplished. Like corporate America demands, he is doing more with less.
This is not normal. This is not healthy. This is not okay.
Set all your politics aside for a moment. Go ahead, I’ll wait. No matter what political umbrella you fall under, if you are a human being with even an ounce of compassion, reasoning, intelligence, character, manners, or moral compass, you have to acknowledge that Donald Trump, the President of the United States, acts like a mean, angry, bully. His actions are, in point of fact, the textbook definition of deplorable (disgraceful, shameful, dishonorable, unworthy, inexcusable, unfortunate, atrocious, insert synonym of your choice here). If you dispute that basic fact, please refer to any lesson your mother or father or teachers or religious leaders tried, though apparently failed, to teach you as a child.
As a mother raising two young sons, I don’t quite know what to do about this. I am sitting here at my keyboard typing these words because I need to do something. I feel a rage and anger and disgust towards the actions and behaviors of this president of ours, but more concerning is the fear I feel about how many fellow Americans support Trump’s particular brand of hate and divisiveness and ugliness. To use an analogy I am comfortable with, I feel like America has been diagnosed with cancer and it is metasticizing quickly. Where is the chemo that can cure hate and fear?
His official spokesperson of the day, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, stated this morning that Trump was simply “fighting fire with fire” with this morning’s tweets. If either of my sons conducted themselves the way our POTUS does on Twitter, justifying their actions by saying they were fighting fire with fire, rest assured they would incur the fire of their Mama. But how do we teach our children no, when our Bully in Chief gets applauded for his actions? The only way I know how is to explain that POTUS, their president, is wrong and acting shamefully.
“Be kind. Think of what the President of the United States would do, and do the opposite, sweetheart.” This is the lesson I am imparting to my boys. What a shameful place to be as an American.
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Filing this one under, “Don’t Say I Didn’t Warn You”
Mary Tyler Mom 