On “Giving It A Chance,” Changing Minds, and Why I Won’t Accept Silence
“Just give him a chance, he’s your president too.”
No.
This trope needs to stop.
Since the election, I’ve seen countless posts from my conservative friends, people I have some degree of respect for, claiming that the president deserves a “chance,” which, deriving from context, means he should not be so harshly criticized until he’s had said chance.
I won’t bog this down with the memetastic image of Republicans with racist and boneheaded signs about President Obama, but I will say this — Presidents do not get chances — they earn them by merit and behavior. Criticizing Donald Trump for doing poorly is not failing to give him a chance, but it is acknowledging that he is bungling the chance he has. This is not always done maliciously either — but more to document this presidency.
You see, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit angry at the hypocrisy I see from my right-leaning friends every day. These same people who levied charge after charge at President Obama — claiming he overstepped the Constitution, that he was a shadowy, sinister figure, signing executive actions in the dark to push the country on an incorrect path — now pretending that when Donald Trump does it, it’s okay — good even! — because he’s their guy.
I don’t say this to trump up (heh) my credentials on the matter, but I wasn’t the biggest fan of some of the things President Obama did either. Extrajudicial killings via drone strike, wavering when he had a supermajority in Congress, lackluster cooperative pushes for legislation with Republicans that clearly would say it was the dark of night if Obama thought it was day time, and failing to be the lion he was on the campaign trail. My disappointment in the ACA that it just stuffed insurance company pockets, instead of even offering a viable public option. But overall, we progressed as a society, more people have access to affordable healthcare, LGBT people have legally gained their inalienable rights, and we got closer to a government that represents a modern society — technologically semi-modern (maybe only 5 years behind instead of 15–20!), with social media presence and viable online interaction options.
President Trump threatens all of that.
This is the second meme I want to see end — “wishing his failure is like wishing that the pilot of the plane we are all on will crash!”
No. Fucking no. Wrong.
I (and many others like me) do not wish that he fails as President. It is in everyone’s interest that he succeed at leading the nation, keeping the country safe and advancing the interests of its citizenry.
Where we do wish he fails is in the agenda he has set out to see that through.
I don’t believe a total immigration ban is an effective way to combat terrorism, nor is terrorism even the highest offender if you want to stop citizen deaths (gun accidents in the home rate higher, domestic right-wing terror rates higher, and actual shootings domestically that aren’t part of a terrorist attack rate higher). Further, the nations which have had the largest number of terrorists (notably Saudi Arabia) aren’t on the list of bans. By picking Muslim majority countries, you can’t escape calling it a Muslim ban, because by practice and by definition it is targeting them. And no, your crying that it shouldn’t be called that doesn’t mean it isn’t so. (I will sour grapes here for a minute, that the people who pretended there was a “death panel” in the ACA don’t get to fucking tell me that a thing that actually exists can’t be called what it is.) I don’t think building a wall in front of the Mexican border is going to do anything near the cost of building it (a majority of our immigration problem stems from people legally entering, via planes, and then overstaying their visas. The southern border is actually less liable for the numbers of immigrants we have. Not to mention that we can’t border wall the water that exists to allow boats and other methods, and again, still not worth $15 billion.) Besides that, Mexico isn’t paying for it — American citizens are, with taxpayer money or trade tariffs and taxes that will be passed onto us. This administration can lie about the topic all they’d like, but the truth is already out there — it’s not happening.
On top of that, fundamentally, Trump’s worldview and view of the country are dead wrong. His speeches complain of an education system “flush with cash,” while teachers buy supplies for students out of their own underfunded paychecks. He complains of “cities rife with violent crime,” which, besides being a shitty dogwhistle about minorities, is also factually incorrect, as the overall rate of violent crime is at the lowest rate it has been in my lifetime, or my parent’s lifetimes. There are some anomalies (Chicago) but the overall trend, even given that, is still downward. He offered to “drain the swamp” and has since filled it with career politicians, people whose only credentials are “wealthy person who gave my campaign money,” and bankers from Goldman Sachs, after he spent the campaign complaining that Hillary Clinton was taking money from Goldman Sachs.
But the most fundamental issue, the one that bothers me the most, is the difference in the way he approaches public service. I will spend my whole life being a Democrat, a dedicated progressive, because I believe in the ability and power of the people, banded together as a public, being able to help pull each other up. This can be done through volunteer work, community outreach, but I do believe the government has a large and important role to play here. And in that way, I believe every other president in history (maybe save Andrew Jackson, the crazy bastard) got into the office to do what was right for the country. I disagree with nearly everything the George W. Bush administration did, but I don’t believe that President Bush was ever acting in self-interest or malice. He was doing what he legitimately thought was the right thing. He was surrounded with a lot of malicious people who advised him in directions that made him unpopular at times, but I never found myself angry with President Bush because he was using the presidency to enrich himself. He didn’t.
Donald Trump, on the other hand…has failed to divest his business interests. This may not seem so bad, but then he’s also increased rates at his hotels, doubled member dues as his posh Mar-a-lago resort, excluded countries that he does business with from the travel restriction order, and has indirectly or directly indicated to foreign leaders travelling to DC that they’d be well-served to stay at his hotel in the area. Sean Spicer delivered a mini-infomercial for the DC hotel during a White House press briefing, and the White House website information on Melania Trump includes mentions and links to her jewelry line. Many of the pushes for deregulation from the White House would directly benefit the many business under the Trump Organization umbrella. This is unprecedented. Further, regardless of your party affiliation or ties, this should be acknowledged as unethical, and the fact that it has been made out to be a partisan issue is silly.
Lastly, however, and most irksome to me, is the refrain I continue to hear from conservative friends about how “giving him a chance” should include refraining from commenting on what he is doing, or the suggestions/threats of unfollows or unfriends because of disagreement with the man or his party.
This one bothers me personally because I find the idea that people who disagree are incapable of being friends silly and isolating. These are often the same people who accuse me or people like me of being in an echo chamber — of being “snowflakes.” Really? Not only do I not unfriend or unfollow for political differences, but I will likely read what you post *more*. I enjoy challenging my opinions, because that’s how I figure out how I actually feel. When I first became politically aware and active, my news came from The Young Turks (still does, that crew are incredible!) and my dissent came from RedState. When one of my friends got a radio show on local airtime, I listened to it on my evening drive home (I found it exactly as vile as most local conservative talk shows, but I listened to it every day). And, irony, that guy is also the one posting the most about how people’s political opinions suck and he’s unfollowing people. (I know I’ve been unfollowed since the primaries, during which I said “it says everything about the modern Republican party that Donald Trump is winning,” to which he said, “It says everything you know about the Republican party that you think he’ll win.” I will always hold that up as an example. Also, when challenged in person about the unfollow, he responded, “I don’t think I did, I only would have if you said…something about Bernie Sanders.” That is the threshold? That’s it?! “Something about Bernie Sanders?!” But I’m the one in the bubble, see…) I actively read, and sometimes hate-read, everything my right-leaning friends post about politics.
Sometimes it’s ill-informed but mostly innocent (no, most economists don’t support a flat tax, especially not Fairtax, and it’s not gonna happen). Sometimes, it’s actually hateful and bothersome (can’t wait for that border wall!). Sometimes, it’s defending the issues with this administration (a National Review Online article about the travel ban, which states that Obama didn’t relieve the Syrian refugee crisis because he let in “only 13,000” refugees last year, but also, he really should have let in zero! NO, YOU DO NOT GET TO HOLD BOTH OF THESE VIEWPOINTS TOGETHER. EITHER HE DIDN’T LET ENOUGH IN, OR HE SHOULD HAVE LET ZERO IN. YOU DON’T GET TWO POINTS FOR HOLDING TWO OPPOSING VIEWPOINTS, BUT BARACK OBAMA IS WRONG IN BOTH. NO!). Other times, it’s fake news crap that let’s them feel good (echo-chambery stuff about fictional Hollywood production stoppages in protest of Trump, usually with comments that amount to “Good, self-righteous Hollywood stars having an opinion!”)
But the worst is usually comments on opposing viewpoints. One friend posted the story of a veteran who marched during the Women’s March on Washington — and a Trump-supporting friend of his responded with “Guess he’s just Lieutenant Cuck.” Really? This is what it is? We’ve disintegrated into calling people this dumb shit (also used by white supremacists, so hey, fucking great) instead of having principled discussions together. Okay. It pains me to see this, people I respect being degraded to this level over their refusal to entertain opposing viewpoints.
I’ll hold all the losses of the Obama administration. I voted for him, I supported him vocally, and so while it pains me to have to call out extrajudicial killings and expansion of the surveillance state, hey, those things happened. I own those L’s.
But it’s time for a reckoning, Trump supporters. You own the L’s your guy puts up, and hey, he’s put up some whopper L’s already. The travel ban, the Women’s Global Gag rule (we already don’t pay for abortions thanks to the Hyde Amendment, so don’t tell me otherwise), the restrictions on funding of women’s health care domestically, the deregulation he wants to do, his swamp-ass cabinet, his record low record-speed disapproval among the American public, the money that will be wasted on a voter integrity sweep (but only in the states he lost in, conveniently and which by criteria includes a couple of his inner-circle and one of his daughters), his attempts to silence and de-legitimize the press simply because they report unflattering facts about this man, and his unprecedented ethical conflicts that will color how he governs, whether you like it or not.
But I mean, hey, don’t listen to me because I’m a cuckflake libtard.
And I won’t have much sympathy for you when your Nero fiddles as Rome burns.
