Ever since it became apparent Donald Trump was going to be our next president, I've been going through a series of emotions: Sadness, anger, guilt, a fighter's mentality, a screw-it mindset, and back to sadness. I keep trying to find a silver-lining to Tuesday night's results, yet every time I do, I'm greeted with a heart-breaking story about how Trump's America could look tomorrow, let alone in 4 or 8 years. There's no other way to put it - when Donald Trump won on Tuesday night, America lost. We're now seen as a joke around the world (excluding Russia), and unfortunately, this joke is no laughing matter.
Donald Trump is a showman first, a businessman second, and a politician last. Yes, that was a major charm to many of his supporters, but let's take off the blinders for a moment. Would we want a person with no construction experience to build our home? Would we want a man without any doctoral experience to be our surgeon? Would we want a woman without any driving experience to be our cab driver? No, no, and no again. So how on earth can we feel it's a wise move to place an individual with no political experience whatsoever to be our nation's leader for the next 4 to 8 years? No matter which metric a person wants to use, it's not a wise move. As a matter of fact, it's the antithesis of a wise move.
Not only that, but let's call a spade a spade - the man is a racist, sexist, xenophobe, homophobe, sexual predator, and pervert. Don't give me that crap about him just being a "man" and engaging in "locker room talk." Ironically enough, whenever I hear a person resort to the term "locker room talk," I'm tempted to ask them, "When's the last time you were in a locker room?" because there's a 95% chance it's been quite a while. Do guys regularly compliment women on their physical attractiveness? Of course. Do men often make perverted comments, like, "Damn, I'd like a night with her"? Yes again. However, do men tell one another that, because of who they are, they can get away with sexually assaulting women? No. Anyone who says differently is either wearing blinders or needs to find some different friends. Also, don't defend Donald Trump from his 15-some-odd sexual-assault allegers. It doesn't matter if the assault occurred yesterday or 50 years ago, no person, male or female, should ever be subject to sexual assault. Why did they wait so long to tell the world of Trump's misbehavior? I'll tell you why - because, at the second presidential debate, when confronted by CNN's Anderson Cooper on his leaked Access Hollywood video and if he had ever sexually assaulted a woman like he described in the video, he said no. These women, who had likely placed these alleged incidents behind them, finally said, "You're denying you ever assaulted me in front of millions of people?!? Oh, hell no!" So, I'm sorry, but there's no liberal conspiracy at work here when it comes to the timing of these numerous announcements. Not only that, but Donald Trump is on record of making inappropriate comments about his daughter, Ivanka; of bragging about misbehaving around "beautiful" women; of even sneaking into the dressing room of Miss Teen USA contestants - some as young as 15, as they're getting (un)dressed. Let's also not forget the woman who filed a lawsuit claiming Trump raped her when she was 13. If that's not enough, our next president has regularly insulted the following groups of people: Muslims, Hispanics, POWs, veterans in general, the disabled, the list goes on and on and on.
Despite what many of his supporters claim, the man doesn't tell it like it is either. If people think Hillary Clinton is a liar, she's Jesus compared to Donald Trump. Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking site, Politifact.com, has graded approximately 300 claims made by both politicians. Among Clinton's graded statements, 51% are ruled as being either "True" or "Mostly True," while 26% are viewed as "False," "Mostly False," or "Pants on Fire," for a net of +25%. When it comes to Donald Trump, only 15% of his comments have been graded as "True" or "Mostly True," while 70% have been seen as "False," "Mostly False," or "Pants on Fire," for a net of -55%.
Even when it comes to Donald Trump's supposed biggest strength - his business record - it's spotty at best. The man has had to endure 6 bankruptcies, has gone through two years of $1 billion losses, has hired illegal immigrants, is notorious for not paying workers, has exaggerated on his wealth, and not only that, but it's not like the guy built his fortune from the ground up. He went through $50 million of his father's money by the time he was 35, was loaned another $1 million, inherited an additional $14+ million. Largely due to his father's connections, Donald Trump was also always surrounded by business savvy individuals who knew how to make a buck. Trump's decision-making may definitely have factored into his current wealth, but let's not beat around the bush - he wouldn't be anywhere close to where he is without his father's fortune and connections.
Trump has also failed to release his tax returns. Even Richard Nixon, who was going through an audit at the time, released his tax returns when running for the presidency. It's alleged Trump dodged the draft. It's documented that he's cheated on all three of his wives, yes, three. Well-renowned economists have basically said Trump doesn't know what in the hell he's talking about as far as job creation and increased wages are concerned and said, if his policies are fully implemented, we would likely endure an elongated recession. Some of his military proposals would violate the Geneva Convention. If he follows through with his promise to add a conservative Supreme Court Justice in place of Antonin Scalia, it's quite possible we could see reversals in the following rulings: Roe v. Wade, Obergfell, and the Affordable Care Act, not to mention there'd be less chance of a Citizens United overturn than of Sheldon Cooper becoming a porn star by the name of Girth Coopy.
If that wasn't enough, Donald Trump has no core values. The man's viewpoints blow with the wind - yes, just like his hair. He's changed party affiliation 5+ times in the past couple of decades. He's gone from pro-choice to pro-life, pro-gun reform to anti-gun reform, from increased taxes for the rich to who in the hell knows? He's the ultimate wild card. Between his extraordinarily high rate of lying to his tendency of flip-flopping, I'm not even sure he has any idea what he wants to do while president.
The man we just elected is a racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, greedy, narcissistic, dishonest, disloyal buffoon who has less sense of decency than my dog has sense of Daylight Savings. We just hired a man with no doctoral experience whatsoever to be our surgeon over a woman with 30 years in the field. We just became a joke to the world, an embarrassment to ourselves, and an utter disgrace for years to come. But we can't give up.
I can't tell you how many women have come toward me over the past couple of days in tears, telling me, "I feel violated, like less of a person, like I'm only to be judged for my appearance, like less of a woman." We've chosen bullying over civility, lies over reason, conspiracies over facts, every -ism in the book over unity and acceptance. We've chosen hate over love. But this isn't the first time in our nation's history that we've had to face such a challenge and we can't give up. Our LGBT brothers and sisters are in danger of losing marriage equality and we can't give up. Our black, Hispanic, Asian, and Arab brothers and sisters are in danger of facing hate, violence, and/or deportation and we can't give up. Our sisters, mothers, wives, girlfriends, aunts, and nieces are in danger of losing their reproductive rights and we can't give up. Twenty-two million of our brothers and sisters are in danger of losing their health insurance and we can't give up. We're all in danger of losing each and every one of the progressions we've made over the past 8+ years and we can't give up.
Not matter how dire the circumstances may seem now, we need to stay strong, reach out to one another, lock arms with each other, and in spite of all possible obstacles, find a way to march forward together. Hate can only defeat us if we give up. So let's all take a deep breath, reach out to our brothers and sisters to the left and right of us, and march forward - before Trump takes office, while he takes office, and long after he takes office. Hate may have won a battle on Tuesday night, but if we stick together, we'll, without question, win the war.
Donald Trump is a showman first, a businessman second, and a politician last. Yes, that was a major charm to many of his supporters, but let's take off the blinders for a moment. Would we want a person with no construction experience to build our home? Would we want a man without any doctoral experience to be our surgeon? Would we want a woman without any driving experience to be our cab driver? No, no, and no again. So how on earth can we feel it's a wise move to place an individual with no political experience whatsoever to be our nation's leader for the next 4 to 8 years? No matter which metric a person wants to use, it's not a wise move. As a matter of fact, it's the antithesis of a wise move.
Not only that, but let's call a spade a spade - the man is a racist, sexist, xenophobe, homophobe, sexual predator, and pervert. Don't give me that crap about him just being a "man" and engaging in "locker room talk." Ironically enough, whenever I hear a person resort to the term "locker room talk," I'm tempted to ask them, "When's the last time you were in a locker room?" because there's a 95% chance it's been quite a while. Do guys regularly compliment women on their physical attractiveness? Of course. Do men often make perverted comments, like, "Damn, I'd like a night with her"? Yes again. However, do men tell one another that, because of who they are, they can get away with sexually assaulting women? No. Anyone who says differently is either wearing blinders or needs to find some different friends. Also, don't defend Donald Trump from his 15-some-odd sexual-assault allegers. It doesn't matter if the assault occurred yesterday or 50 years ago, no person, male or female, should ever be subject to sexual assault. Why did they wait so long to tell the world of Trump's misbehavior? I'll tell you why - because, at the second presidential debate, when confronted by CNN's Anderson Cooper on his leaked Access Hollywood video and if he had ever sexually assaulted a woman like he described in the video, he said no. These women, who had likely placed these alleged incidents behind them, finally said, "You're denying you ever assaulted me in front of millions of people?!? Oh, hell no!" So, I'm sorry, but there's no liberal conspiracy at work here when it comes to the timing of these numerous announcements. Not only that, but Donald Trump is on record of making inappropriate comments about his daughter, Ivanka; of bragging about misbehaving around "beautiful" women; of even sneaking into the dressing room of Miss Teen USA contestants - some as young as 15, as they're getting (un)dressed. Let's also not forget the woman who filed a lawsuit claiming Trump raped her when she was 13. If that's not enough, our next president has regularly insulted the following groups of people: Muslims, Hispanics, POWs, veterans in general, the disabled, the list goes on and on and on.
Despite what many of his supporters claim, the man doesn't tell it like it is either. If people think Hillary Clinton is a liar, she's Jesus compared to Donald Trump. Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking site, Politifact.com, has graded approximately 300 claims made by both politicians. Among Clinton's graded statements, 51% are ruled as being either "True" or "Mostly True," while 26% are viewed as "False," "Mostly False," or "Pants on Fire," for a net of +25%. When it comes to Donald Trump, only 15% of his comments have been graded as "True" or "Mostly True," while 70% have been seen as "False," "Mostly False," or "Pants on Fire," for a net of -55%.
Even when it comes to Donald Trump's supposed biggest strength - his business record - it's spotty at best. The man has had to endure 6 bankruptcies, has gone through two years of $1 billion losses, has hired illegal immigrants, is notorious for not paying workers, has exaggerated on his wealth, and not only that, but it's not like the guy built his fortune from the ground up. He went through $50 million of his father's money by the time he was 35, was loaned another $1 million, inherited an additional $14+ million. Largely due to his father's connections, Donald Trump was also always surrounded by business savvy individuals who knew how to make a buck. Trump's decision-making may definitely have factored into his current wealth, but let's not beat around the bush - he wouldn't be anywhere close to where he is without his father's fortune and connections.
Trump has also failed to release his tax returns. Even Richard Nixon, who was going through an audit at the time, released his tax returns when running for the presidency. It's alleged Trump dodged the draft. It's documented that he's cheated on all three of his wives, yes, three. Well-renowned economists have basically said Trump doesn't know what in the hell he's talking about as far as job creation and increased wages are concerned and said, if his policies are fully implemented, we would likely endure an elongated recession. Some of his military proposals would violate the Geneva Convention. If he follows through with his promise to add a conservative Supreme Court Justice in place of Antonin Scalia, it's quite possible we could see reversals in the following rulings: Roe v. Wade, Obergfell, and the Affordable Care Act, not to mention there'd be less chance of a Citizens United overturn than of Sheldon Cooper becoming a porn star by the name of Girth Coopy.
If that wasn't enough, Donald Trump has no core values. The man's viewpoints blow with the wind - yes, just like his hair. He's changed party affiliation 5+ times in the past couple of decades. He's gone from pro-choice to pro-life, pro-gun reform to anti-gun reform, from increased taxes for the rich to who in the hell knows? He's the ultimate wild card. Between his extraordinarily high rate of lying to his tendency of flip-flopping, I'm not even sure he has any idea what he wants to do while president.
The man we just elected is a racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, greedy, narcissistic, dishonest, disloyal buffoon who has less sense of decency than my dog has sense of Daylight Savings. We just hired a man with no doctoral experience whatsoever to be our surgeon over a woman with 30 years in the field. We just became a joke to the world, an embarrassment to ourselves, and an utter disgrace for years to come. But we can't give up.
I can't tell you how many women have come toward me over the past couple of days in tears, telling me, "I feel violated, like less of a person, like I'm only to be judged for my appearance, like less of a woman." We've chosen bullying over civility, lies over reason, conspiracies over facts, every -ism in the book over unity and acceptance. We've chosen hate over love. But this isn't the first time in our nation's history that we've had to face such a challenge and we can't give up. Our LGBT brothers and sisters are in danger of losing marriage equality and we can't give up. Our black, Hispanic, Asian, and Arab brothers and sisters are in danger of facing hate, violence, and/or deportation and we can't give up. Our sisters, mothers, wives, girlfriends, aunts, and nieces are in danger of losing their reproductive rights and we can't give up. Twenty-two million of our brothers and sisters are in danger of losing their health insurance and we can't give up. We're all in danger of losing each and every one of the progressions we've made over the past 8+ years and we can't give up.
Not matter how dire the circumstances may seem now, we need to stay strong, reach out to one another, lock arms with each other, and in spite of all possible obstacles, find a way to march forward together. Hate can only defeat us if we give up. So let's all take a deep breath, reach out to our brothers and sisters to the left and right of us, and march forward - before Trump takes office, while he takes office, and long after he takes office. Hate may have won a battle on Tuesday night, but if we stick together, we'll, without question, win the war.
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