The Wrong Side of History
Twelve years ago, I had a friend and science fiction fan who was also a militant conservative. He despised Democrats and when Obama was campaigning for the presidency, my friend threatened, bullied, and raged against anyone who supported him. Attempts at civil discourse were met with with belligerance and vitriol.
At one point, I remember my friend praising an incredibly detailed plastic model of Godzilla attacking the White House—until he learned that the builder constructed it in protest against George W. Bush. My friend instantly changed his opinion, condemning the model vehemently.
After Obama was elected in 2008, my friend sent an email to our circle stating that he did everything he could “to prevent this from happening” as if he were some modern semi-Svengali, who had failed to mesmerize millions of Americans to do his bidding.
Later, in 2009, my friend sent a scathing email to PA Senator Arlen Specter when Specter changed his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat. He told Specter that he would go door to door if necessary, to convince people never to vote for him again.
I don’t know if my friend ever followed through on that because it was at this point when I cut ties with him. He had become impossible to deal with and worse, he had carbon copied my work email address in his correspondence to Specter.
I mention all of this because on Monday, June 6th, I shared a video on my Facebook wall of Joe Biden’s laudable speech from Philadelphia . In that post, I made it clear that I have never been an admirer of Biden, but I also included a lengthy polemic against Donald Trump in which I said something to the effect of…
“If you are entertained by Trump’s abuse of social media as his personal platform to demean, threaten, bully, intimidate, and encourage violence against anyone he dislikes (like the petulant, callow man-child he is)…
If you condoned Trump’s use of 1960s racist threats to quell peaceful black protestors while white men looted and damaged property to incrimate those protestors (a fact he failed to acknowledge)…
If you found it acceptable when Trump emboldened and supported armed white men when they entered the Michigan state capitol in an attempt to coerce and intimidate Governor Whitmer and the state legislature regarding COVID-19 quarantine (I guarantee you, if the governor had been Republican, or the gunmen black, Trump would have been outraged)…
If you are not concerned that our president, after cowering in a bunker, ordered police to use pepper ball projectiles and smoke to remove protestors—and a priest—simply so he could walk to a church in D.C. and take a pointless photo op while brandishing a bible he never read (as if this benighted, feckless thug were some model of Christianity)…
If you agreed with this tawdry, ersatz leader when he boasted of being the greatest president since Lincoln…
If you delight in Donald J. Trump’s dangerous lies and rhetoric that have done nothing but divide this country rather than unite it…
Then unfriend me or unfollow me, and while you’re at it, go unfuck yourself.”
However, I later realized that in writing that closing line, I was no better than my friend from 12 years ago. I had allowed my rage at what I perceived to be damage inflicted on my country—by a bloviating, incompetent fraud—to get the better of me. On that day, I allowed myself to be dragged down to Trump’s level and to that of my former friend.
So I deleted that post, but not because my opinions regarding Trump have changed. He remains a disgusting and repulsive monster, a fact he reinforces on a daily basis. My estimation of this deranged tyrant is not based on mainstream media but on observation and the evidence of his own words and conduct, which are far from the mark of a true leader.
Remind me again how a president with a revolving door on his Cabinet of Corruption has been successful in “ draining the swamp. “
How about that wall that Mexico was supposed to pay for?
For a president who claimed that he would never leave the White House because there is too much work to be done , how many golf outings has he taken?
No, I deleted that Facebook post because it was out of character, cut against the grain of who I am, and I have enough decency to check myself when that occurs. Unlike political extremists on either end of the spectrum, I welcome intelligent, spirited, and civil discourse—within reason.
For example, I patiently debated the same person four times in six months on Facebook over my candidate of choice, Tulsi Gabbard. Every time I mentioned Gabbard’s name on my Facebook wall, this fellow writer railed against her and I entertained a spirited exchange once, twice, three times, but by the fourth incident, I felt it to be harrassment and I finally had to unfriend and block the individual.
Of course, the incident proved yet again that no one ever changes their mind as a result of a political debate on social media. It’s a waste of time. All those fruitless hours I’ll never get back!
In conclusion, I will replace my original, antagonistic closing line from my Monday Facebook post with this:
If you support Donald J. Trump, you are on the wrong side of history.
At one point, I remember my friend praising an incredibly detailed plastic model of Godzilla attacking the White House—until he learned that the builder constructed it in protest against George W. Bush. My friend instantly changed his opinion, condemning the model vehemently.
After Obama was elected in 2008, my friend sent an email to our circle stating that he did everything he could “to prevent this from happening” as if he were some modern semi-Svengali, who had failed to mesmerize millions of Americans to do his bidding.
Later, in 2009, my friend sent a scathing email to PA Senator Arlen Specter when Specter changed his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat. He told Specter that he would go door to door if necessary, to convince people never to vote for him again.
I don’t know if my friend ever followed through on that because it was at this point when I cut ties with him. He had become impossible to deal with and worse, he had carbon copied my work email address in his correspondence to Specter.
I mention all of this because on Monday, June 6th, I shared a video on my Facebook wall of Joe Biden’s laudable speech from Philadelphia . In that post, I made it clear that I have never been an admirer of Biden, but I also included a lengthy polemic against Donald Trump in which I said something to the effect of…
“If you are entertained by Trump’s abuse of social media as his personal platform to demean, threaten, bully, intimidate, and encourage violence against anyone he dislikes (like the petulant, callow man-child he is)…
If you condoned Trump’s use of 1960s racist threats to quell peaceful black protestors while white men looted and damaged property to incrimate those protestors (a fact he failed to acknowledge)…
If you found it acceptable when Trump emboldened and supported armed white men when they entered the Michigan state capitol in an attempt to coerce and intimidate Governor Whitmer and the state legislature regarding COVID-19 quarantine (I guarantee you, if the governor had been Republican, or the gunmen black, Trump would have been outraged)…
If you are not concerned that our president, after cowering in a bunker, ordered police to use pepper ball projectiles and smoke to remove protestors—and a priest—simply so he could walk to a church in D.C. and take a pointless photo op while brandishing a bible he never read (as if this benighted, feckless thug were some model of Christianity)…
If you agreed with this tawdry, ersatz leader when he boasted of being the greatest president since Lincoln…
If you delight in Donald J. Trump’s dangerous lies and rhetoric that have done nothing but divide this country rather than unite it…
Then unfriend me or unfollow me, and while you’re at it, go unfuck yourself.”
However, I later realized that in writing that closing line, I was no better than my friend from 12 years ago. I had allowed my rage at what I perceived to be damage inflicted on my country—by a bloviating, incompetent fraud—to get the better of me. On that day, I allowed myself to be dragged down to Trump’s level and to that of my former friend.
So I deleted that post, but not because my opinions regarding Trump have changed. He remains a disgusting and repulsive monster, a fact he reinforces on a daily basis. My estimation of this deranged tyrant is not based on mainstream media but on observation and the evidence of his own words and conduct, which are far from the mark of a true leader.
Remind me again how a president with a revolving door on his Cabinet of Corruption has been successful in “ draining the swamp. “
How about that wall that Mexico was supposed to pay for?
For a president who claimed that he would never leave the White House because there is too much work to be done , how many golf outings has he taken?
No, I deleted that Facebook post because it was out of character, cut against the grain of who I am, and I have enough decency to check myself when that occurs. Unlike political extremists on either end of the spectrum, I welcome intelligent, spirited, and civil discourse—within reason.
For example, I patiently debated the same person four times in six months on Facebook over my candidate of choice, Tulsi Gabbard. Every time I mentioned Gabbard’s name on my Facebook wall, this fellow writer railed against her and I entertained a spirited exchange once, twice, three times, but by the fourth incident, I felt it to be harrassment and I finally had to unfriend and block the individual.
Of course, the incident proved yet again that no one ever changes their mind as a result of a political debate on social media. It’s a waste of time. All those fruitless hours I’ll never get back!
In conclusion, I will replace my original, antagonistic closing line from my Monday Facebook post with this:
If you support Donald J. Trump, you are on the wrong side of history.
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