Two Americas: A Clear Choice In November
In 2016 after it was clear that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump would be the major party presidential nominees, I made the case that no one should say that it didn’t matter which one we voted for because they were virtually the same. I suggested we could have made that argument if the nominee had been Jeb Bush, a “legacy” candidate who was a moderate Republican, compared to Hillary, another “legacy” candidate who was a moderate Democrat, but insane reality star, fake successful businessman and fake Republican Trump wasn’t even like other Republicans. The choice seemed clear then, and it’s even clearer this year. Although the top of the tickets may look even more similar—two white men in their seventies who were Democrats—Joe Biden, the first in his middle-class family to be a politician, who has been a politician since he was in his twenties, and Donald Trump, a born-rich fame whore, who didn’t hold a political office until he was 70—couldn’t be more different. Trump is a narcissistic, cold con man who uses everyone, including his family members, as props, and Joe is an empathetic, loving father and grandfather. Even more different are their running mates. The stiff, robotic, very white Mike Pence from Indiana is so subservient to Trump that I call him Putin’s Puppet’s Puppet Pence while the dynamic, mixed race Kamala Harris from Northern California not only kneecapped her late friend Beau’s father with a “you racist” kick in the first debate, but also in a later one teamed with Senator Gillibrand to battle him with “you sexist” jabs. This black and Asian daughter of immigrants will clearly not be anyone’s “yes” woman. When she disagrees with her boss, she will tell him, “Hell, no, Joe!” As the conventions showed, the Democratic and Republican running mates are also different in how they view America and Americans, whom and what they value, and how they define patriotism.
The Biden/Harris ticket views America as an imperfect union that is greater when people of all races, genders, religions, classes, and sexual orientations unite to improve it. They think that everyone eighteen and older should register and vote and that we should all participate in our democracy by peacefully protesting (even when we’re not old enough to vote), by signing petitions, donating small amounts to our favorite candidates, and by running for elected office when we qualify to serve. The Trump/Pence ticket wants only people more likely to vote for Republicans to vote, and only white, preferably men, to hold elected office. They think elections are “rigged” when too many people of color and other Democrats vote. To Trump and Pence, the peaceful protesters are the white men carrying guns and demanding that they be allowed to infect other people with a potentially deadly virus while the people protesting the shooting and often murder of unarmed black people are thugs, anarchists, and rioters who need to be “dominated” by the “law and order” (most corrupt ever) President. To the Biden/Harris ticket, the most serious problems Americans face are racism, climate change, gun violence, and the threat to our democracy by the current wannabe dictator and his master, America’s adversary, Vladimir Putin, who is interfering in our election. To the Trump/Pence ticket, America will be great only when Trump becomes ruler for life, and the greatest threat to Americans comes, not from the “hoax” climate change or armed (mostly) white men killing protesters, brown, black, Jewish, Muslim, and gay people, people of all races and sexual orientations at concerts, in churches, stores, movie theaters, work places, and schools, but black and brown people living in the city (but coming to the suburbs soon) and black, brown, and yellow immigrants. To the Biden/Harris ticket, fascists and armed (usually racist) private vigilantes and militias are the enemies of the people. To the Trump/Pence ticket, socialists and the media are the enemies of the people.
The Biden/Harris ticket values people more than they do buildings and businesses. Their slogan should be “all lives matter more than buildings.” Thus, they don’t think anyone should be shot or killed for looting, burning, or defacing buildings. In contrast, the lawless President declared, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.“ Biden and Harris also value democracy, free speech, and the right to vote. Like all of us, they are not without bias; Harris is too fond of her alma mater Howard and her sorority. Girl, please! Biden’s bragging about his ability to hang with vile segregationists suggests that he may be more woke than most white men his age (I like that he was a lifeguard at a blacks-only swimming pool, but then he’s old enough to have been around when blacks and whites were segregated, and being a lifeguard made him the white savior), but he still needs an alarm clock (I can help with that task; drop the subliminally racist light/dark trope, Joey). However, they understand that we are all supposed to be treated as equals, and they’re willing to work to overcome their biases. Trump is as racist as Pence is homophobic. And like most Republicans, these bigoted white men worship the wealthy and think that everyone else should settle for the crumbs that trickle down. Thus, their biggest achievement in over three years in power was the 2017 tax cut for the rich, and thus they’re willing to let mostly black, brown, and red people die from a deadly virus so that they can keep the stock market high and the economy working for the wealthy. I’m not sure what Pence thinks, but Trump clearly doesn’t believe in democracy. He wants to be a dictator who is above the law. He values the media only when they’re pushing his agenda. When they tell the truth about his failures, they’re “fake news” and “the enemy of the people.” While Biden and Harris see their job as serving the diverse people of America, trying with the help of their fellow Americans to restore our democracy and to bend the moral arc toward justice, thus forming a more perfect union, Trump and Pence want to hold on to power by any means necessary and prevent people of color, women, and the LGBTQ community from rising up and taking over. To them America was great when only white men with property could vote and black folks were slaves. Biden and Harris think our best years, the rainbow years when women are as powerful as men, people of color as powerful as whites, gays as powerful as straights, and when all religions (plus atheists and agnostics) are represented in our highest offices, are ahead.
I had to laugh at the number of flags used during the Republican convention. I also mean-tweeted FLOTUS to let her know that standing in front of flags didn’t alter the fact that she was a grammatically challenged, “genius” nude model from a foreign country (only the second foreign-born First Lady). To Trump and Pence, patriotism means pretending to worship the flag (freaky Trump even hugs and kisses it) and standing during the national anthem. It also means (at least to Trump) loving him. Even though he didn’t have one grandparent born in America and even though (according to his niece) his one American-born parent spoke German as his first language and even though two of his three wives were foreign-born, Trump thinks he is America. Thus, a clearly insane, apparently criminal cult who believes that some (sane) Americans belong to a child sex ring that eats children is not dangerous but patriotic because they support him. If we don’t love him, we’re unpatriotic. Biden and Harris, who don’t love Trump, think patriotism means serving in the military, as Biden’s son Beau did, registering and voting, peacefully protesting, and in other ways exercising our right to free speech. In this moment when a deadly pandemic is our enemy, wearing a mask is also patriotic (which Trump in a moment of sanity claimed, although he clearly didn’t believe it). It’s patriotic to protect our fellow Americans by doing everything we can to avoid infecting them with a deadly virus.
The choice is clear for November, 2020; we can vote for two white men who believe that only people who look and think like them are “real Americans” and believe that America was and is great only when rich white men rule, or we can vote for the white man and mixed race woman who believe that no matter how and when we got here, where we came from and where we live now, what we look like, how much we earn, who we love, and where we worship (if we worship), we are all real Americans, and all of our lives matter equally. #BIDEN/HARRIS 2020
The Biden/Harris ticket views America as an imperfect union that is greater when people of all races, genders, religions, classes, and sexual orientations unite to improve it. They think that everyone eighteen and older should register and vote and that we should all participate in our democracy by peacefully protesting (even when we’re not old enough to vote), by signing petitions, donating small amounts to our favorite candidates, and by running for elected office when we qualify to serve. The Trump/Pence ticket wants only people more likely to vote for Republicans to vote, and only white, preferably men, to hold elected office. They think elections are “rigged” when too many people of color and other Democrats vote. To Trump and Pence, the peaceful protesters are the white men carrying guns and demanding that they be allowed to infect other people with a potentially deadly virus while the people protesting the shooting and often murder of unarmed black people are thugs, anarchists, and rioters who need to be “dominated” by the “law and order” (most corrupt ever) President. To the Biden/Harris ticket, the most serious problems Americans face are racism, climate change, gun violence, and the threat to our democracy by the current wannabe dictator and his master, America’s adversary, Vladimir Putin, who is interfering in our election. To the Trump/Pence ticket, America will be great only when Trump becomes ruler for life, and the greatest threat to Americans comes, not from the “hoax” climate change or armed (mostly) white men killing protesters, brown, black, Jewish, Muslim, and gay people, people of all races and sexual orientations at concerts, in churches, stores, movie theaters, work places, and schools, but black and brown people living in the city (but coming to the suburbs soon) and black, brown, and yellow immigrants. To the Biden/Harris ticket, fascists and armed (usually racist) private vigilantes and militias are the enemies of the people. To the Trump/Pence ticket, socialists and the media are the enemies of the people.
The Biden/Harris ticket values people more than they do buildings and businesses. Their slogan should be “all lives matter more than buildings.” Thus, they don’t think anyone should be shot or killed for looting, burning, or defacing buildings. In contrast, the lawless President declared, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.“ Biden and Harris also value democracy, free speech, and the right to vote. Like all of us, they are not without bias; Harris is too fond of her alma mater Howard and her sorority. Girl, please! Biden’s bragging about his ability to hang with vile segregationists suggests that he may be more woke than most white men his age (I like that he was a lifeguard at a blacks-only swimming pool, but then he’s old enough to have been around when blacks and whites were segregated, and being a lifeguard made him the white savior), but he still needs an alarm clock (I can help with that task; drop the subliminally racist light/dark trope, Joey). However, they understand that we are all supposed to be treated as equals, and they’re willing to work to overcome their biases. Trump is as racist as Pence is homophobic. And like most Republicans, these bigoted white men worship the wealthy and think that everyone else should settle for the crumbs that trickle down. Thus, their biggest achievement in over three years in power was the 2017 tax cut for the rich, and thus they’re willing to let mostly black, brown, and red people die from a deadly virus so that they can keep the stock market high and the economy working for the wealthy. I’m not sure what Pence thinks, but Trump clearly doesn’t believe in democracy. He wants to be a dictator who is above the law. He values the media only when they’re pushing his agenda. When they tell the truth about his failures, they’re “fake news” and “the enemy of the people.” While Biden and Harris see their job as serving the diverse people of America, trying with the help of their fellow Americans to restore our democracy and to bend the moral arc toward justice, thus forming a more perfect union, Trump and Pence want to hold on to power by any means necessary and prevent people of color, women, and the LGBTQ community from rising up and taking over. To them America was great when only white men with property could vote and black folks were slaves. Biden and Harris think our best years, the rainbow years when women are as powerful as men, people of color as powerful as whites, gays as powerful as straights, and when all religions (plus atheists and agnostics) are represented in our highest offices, are ahead.
I had to laugh at the number of flags used during the Republican convention. I also mean-tweeted FLOTUS to let her know that standing in front of flags didn’t alter the fact that she was a grammatically challenged, “genius” nude model from a foreign country (only the second foreign-born First Lady). To Trump and Pence, patriotism means pretending to worship the flag (freaky Trump even hugs and kisses it) and standing during the national anthem. It also means (at least to Trump) loving him. Even though he didn’t have one grandparent born in America and even though (according to his niece) his one American-born parent spoke German as his first language and even though two of his three wives were foreign-born, Trump thinks he is America. Thus, a clearly insane, apparently criminal cult who believes that some (sane) Americans belong to a child sex ring that eats children is not dangerous but patriotic because they support him. If we don’t love him, we’re unpatriotic. Biden and Harris, who don’t love Trump, think patriotism means serving in the military, as Biden’s son Beau did, registering and voting, peacefully protesting, and in other ways exercising our right to free speech. In this moment when a deadly pandemic is our enemy, wearing a mask is also patriotic (which Trump in a moment of sanity claimed, although he clearly didn’t believe it). It’s patriotic to protect our fellow Americans by doing everything we can to avoid infecting them with a deadly virus.
The choice is clear for November, 2020; we can vote for two white men who believe that only people who look and think like them are “real Americans” and believe that America was and is great only when rich white men rule, or we can vote for the white man and mixed race woman who believe that no matter how and when we got here, where we came from and where we live now, what we look like, how much we earn, who we love, and where we worship (if we worship), we are all real Americans, and all of our lives matter equally. #BIDEN/HARRIS 2020
No comments have been added yet.
