“How do we explain to our children the president of the United States is a bad guy?” This was the first question I had for my wife the day Donald Trump was announced as the next president of the United States.
My first impression of Trump was when I was young, looking at Doonesbury in the Sunday comics and one of the characters was reading the news. “Donald Trump has changed his name to Trump T. Trump,” the headline read. I don’t recall if that was the exact line, but it was pretty close.
As far back as I can remember, the Trump name has been associated with ego and misbehavior. He spent time in and out of litigation throughout the Eighties and Nineties because of business misbehavior and contract violations. When he resurfaced in my sphere of recollection, it was for the TV show, The Apprentice. I couldn’t bring myself to watch it. I found him obnoxious and self-important.
When I heard Donald Trump was running for president, I was surprised, but also relatively unfazed. I saw the Republican candidate lineup and thought, “sure, it’s changing of the guard, of course everyone will come out of the woodwork.” Trump’s ego wouldn’t let his December years go by without a shot at the Big Seat. He wouldn’t win and that would be all the better.
When Trump took the primaries and actually become the candidate representing the Republican party, I was genuinely shocked. Certainly, the GOP couldn’t have honestly considered Trump to be a viable candidate. Maybe they thought he would lose and they would try again later.
As the campaigns rolled along and debates were had, I figured, there is absolutely no way Trump would take this election. He was an inexperienced, questionably moral candidate going against a lifetime experienced Washington D.C. politician. He certainly was no match.
Yet, he spun this to his advantage.
I watched as the states turned red, one by one. Before I went to sleep that night, I already knew Trump had won. I just didn’t understand how. This person I had been watching behave badly for nearly 40 years just won the US presidency and this meant, somehow, there were a good number of people in the country who were happy with this result.
This brings us round-trip back to where we started. Today I understand far more how this all could have happened, though I will explore what I have learned in another article. Our daughter is Latina and I can only imagine what her experience could be like in a world like the one Trump envisions.
With all of the hate mongering, violence and anger which has been stirred in our nation, I fear what she will face through school and into her adulthood. I mourn the violence people are enduring now and I fear what children like our little girl will face as they grow.
So, yes, our president is a bad guy. He is a monster who is in league with monsters. We cannot continue to walk the path we are on. Subjugation, greed, and destruction are the coin of the realm for Trump. Let’s stop him from cashing in the spoils of his war.