Against Trust

Trust is an issue in this 2016 United States election and it, in my opinion, boils down to this: the voter wasn’t trusted… and neither was Hillary. I’m ruling out the Republicans who, despite signing up with Drumpf, let their voters choose (with the help of the media of course). Democratic engineers (since their lack of trust made them engineer the election to lean toward Hillary Clinton) didn’t trust people to vote for Hillary Clinton. Let’s use the keywords and phrases Hillary Fiends (yes, you’re addicted to her and you fiend for her no matter what she does to you) love to use: Hillary has been “vetted”; she is “battle-tested”; she is “still-standing”; “she’s a fighter”. If true then this should have meant one thing: Hillary will win against anyone. She’s beyond Rocky. She surpasses Patton. She will win. From the sound of Hillary Fiends, all she does is win, win, win, no matter what and we’re gonna love it (thank you for the new jargon, Mr. Drumpf). I applaud the enthusiasm of #Her supporters, but what I am worried about is that they don’t even trust her. Yes, that’s right. They actually don’t trust that she can withstand the test of this particular battle with Drumpf. They don’t trust that she will be still-standing after this is all said and done. That’s disheartening. You currently hear the calls for unity, but they’re not because the DNC and the Democratic Party want to hear your your views on politics and how to change the direction of the country: They’re because they don’t trust that she’s going to win. Their worry about Drumpf exacerbates this lack of trust in her and in the American voter, which leads Democrats toward promoting a lot of undemocratic tactics and phrases. They want BernieOrBusters to be quiet (a nod to Seth Meyers). They want dissenters to stop “being ridiculous” (a nod to Sarah Silverman whose soul seemed to have floated away as she made that statement; seriously, check the tape). Yet all this mistrust proves one thing: Drumpf already won. Just as any Democratic politician will tell you, “If you stop being free then you let the terrorists win.” Well, “If you stop being democratic then the Drumpforists win.” Drumpf won the narrative already. I am not trying to help him or his supporters: I think you all want him because you too are scared, but unlike the Democrats, it instills and emboldens your trust in Drumpf… that and you’re racist. With Hillary, after all the catch and stock phrases that appeal to her gender and experience, you are afraid that she’s not going to win. And yet… you voted for her. Why? Because “Cocaine is a helluva drug” (thank you to the late Rick James) and you looked at numbers about Bernie against Drumpf in the general and you couldn’t #feelthemath (or #feelthepolls… but that sounds gross and might even be sexist, but don’t worry… Comey and Lynch say that if I didn’t mean it then it’s okay). Even with the undemocratic use of Superdelegates (ubervoters that are meant to provide a general election winner) you still held on to her, but not because you trusted her because you clearly don’t trust her even though you are all into saying #ImWithHer. No… you just attached hope, perhaps your first wave white feminist dreams (no matter the gender), your belief in the brand (since apparently, Latinos are “loyal brand customers” to the DNC) or whatever. But it wasn’t trust. I want to make that part clear. I don’t think you even trust her with your wifi password. How do I know this? Because you want people who think like me (the critical leaderless voter) to vote for #Her because in your eyes (and in Nate Silver’s eyes, if you look just at the daily polls) you don’t think she can still-stand. So there’s that. Then there’s the most consequential part: I didn’t vote for her; you did. You, the media, the “Fight Song” girl, and the DNC struggled to bust her head into digital glass (she only broke the digital glass ceiling… ponder that). You, with your freedom, chose her. Here’s a quick lesson about freedom: sometimes you freely make bad decisions and you have to deal with the consequences. I urge you to start acting like a citizen of the United States and deal with your freedom and all the stuff that comes with it. Be pro-choice about Hillary and deal with the results of her birth into this world as the Democratic nominee. Bernie supporters participated in democracy with the hope that he would win, fair and square, but it looked more like unfair and hexagon. Meh, whatever. We’re actually kinda over it. Some of us are going to #Her; some of us are not. But leave it alone and talk to us about issues. I don’t know if you know this, but issues are really awesome to talk about in a calm and civil manner. Be activists and demand more moral judgments from your candidate and you might get even more of us. If we don’t matter to you then fine; go out there and test it for yourself in battle against Drumpf’s racism, sexism, and Islamophobia. I don’t like him so maybe I’ll give you a hand in the form of mocking his hands, but don’t expect my vote because your lack of vision is not my responsibility. I don’t want to be Obama and clean up after you like he did with Bush. If Drumpf wins, the cause and effect relationship isn’t “my not voting Hillary = Drumpf win”. That’s an indirect cause and effect relationship and it really doesn’t make sense. Please think about it… for a day, if necessary. If Drumpf wins then the cause and effect relationship was “I promoted a very strong primary candidate but an iffy and perhaps weak general election candidate and I didn’t fully trust she would win which is why started shaming and ‘guilting’ people into voting for her = Drumpf win.” Did you see that. That’s YOUR FREE CHOICE in all its magnificent and democratic glory. You didn’t keep your eye on the ball; the big presidency win. Runner ups in American Idol don’t go around blaming people who didn’t vote for them. Even Hillary isn’t going to blame people who didn’t vote for her in the event that she loses. She’ll say, “The American voter wanted someone else for the job and I will gladly be a member of President-elect Drumpf’s cabinet.” And now you, Hillary voter, are refocusing the cause and effect spectrum of events so that we emphasize election day, instead of emphasizing that you promoted a weak general election candidate. Yes, she’s objectively better than Drumpf, but that doesn’t’ mean she’s stronger than him in terms of securing a victory. You changing the focus of this particular cause and effect choice absolves you from the moral culpability of your free choice to support her. Sorry, but I am not absolving you of your free choice that you made when you supported her. I care about you too much as a fellow citizen (and perhaps non-citizen). Nope. Not going to happen. Freedom can be a burden and it can be costly and your lack of vision is about to be costly to everyone else should Drumpf win. Had you trusted #Her, you would have been out there protesting that the elections be exercised fairly and that the DNC be impartial and your trust would have been rewarded by more support for her than you have now. But nope. You were worried that an old, white, and relatively unknown guy from Vermont who was promising “pie in the sky” things might just win what you thought was owed to Hillary after you heard her 2008 convention acclimation for Obama. To conclude: Screw what I have to say. I’m an asshole (you’ll probably say that was the only right statement in this piece). Hell, maybe she’ll win and if she does then that’s fantastic because that will mean that your limp trust for her was greatly rewarded and that, indeed, you didn’t need those pesky Bernie Bros (are you still calling us that?) or BernieOrBusters (you are definitely calling us that). You just might be able to say “I told you so!” while President Hillary Clinton STILL deports immigrants, STILL participates in “conflicts” abroad, STILL advances TPP, STILL picks moderate to Republican leaning Supreme Court justices, STILL tweets that she’ll do something about senseless shootings of black and brown people, STILL pays you 12 dollars an hour (with the promise of 15, pending your support for her second term so you better be #WithHer again!), STILL backs out of financially supporting college students, and STILL allows mass incarceration to persist (subject to change pending your support for a second term so totally be #WithHer again!)… all to the tune of “Fight Song”.