I’m not sure how to proceed. If I lived in a vacuum and “Clinton” and “Trump” were just random names, I would say that while I disagree with the President-Elect on this or that, it’s important to respect the Office and important to work together toward a better America.
We don’t live in a vacuum. We have heard a lot from Trump. Being charitable, he’s been very loose with facts. He has mocked people with disabilities. He claimed to sexually assault women—and then play it off as “locker room talk”, as if the language used was the problem, not that bragging about grabbing women without permission, whether or not he was lying about it to impress an Access Hollywood reporter. He broke tradition and has yet to release his tax returns. What little bit was leaked out after deep investigation by the media suggests that his strong business sense that he campaigned on may not be sound. He claimed to give large amounts of money to charity while failing to providing any information to support the claim. After researching nearly 500 charities that he may have donated to, a reporter found extremely little to support that he’s given at all, much less to the level described.
For all of this extra work that the media has done, a public service given the lack of previous disclosure never serving in public office before, Trump has been extremely vocal about his hatred of the media. While they have flaws too, the four estate is an integral part of the American experiment. They are afforded the first amendment for a reason. Sadly, the media’s rapid attention to the train-wreck that is Trump and his campaign, from day one, propelled him. He plays people into thinking the media is corrupt while using them to get attention himself.
I could go on and on and on about his temperament, careless words, his tweetstorms, his absolute lack of class, and so on. It would just be too depressing to keep going.
None of our presidents have been perfect, but they all have generally been more honorable than not. I could trust them to think through the decisions before them and, while they might be different than what I would do in their shoes, I could still look up to them as the example of a leader. We say how we shouldn’t look at athletes as role models—they’re just really talented as a sport. Presidents are elected from across our country after an extremely long campaigning process, that includes being chosen as the flag-bearer of their party.
You’re right. Bill wasn’t always a great role model. His adulterous ways and his attempts to hide it did not live up to the expectations of the office. I’m not sure if they were worth impeaching him, but it’s incredible that the party that sought Bill’s impeachment nominated and led our country to choosing a man with a longer list of affairs, a list of sexual assault accusations that he said he would sue now that the election has past, multiple bankruptcies, with an open fraud suit before him. Let’s not question if his loose accounting between his foundation, campaign activities, and his personal checkbooks violated any FEC rules.
I want to support the President. I want to have an open mind. I want to be able to teach my daughters to respect the office while being able to respect the man in the office. I can’t do that when he’s talks about his success as a sexual predator who brags about walking into women’s dressing rooms. I can’t do that with a failure to offer a real apology for the actual actions and some sense of regret.
Oh, there’s so much. I haven’t begun to question if he would dismiss my daughter’s abilities because they are of Mexican heritage. Of the rage he inspires in his following that he does nothing to tame or direct toward positive action. He claims to want to bring us together after using and promoting incredibly divisive language. Of conflating so many issues and being incredibly causal on causation based on invalid facts.
A month ago, we were wondering if his VP pick would stay on the ticket with him or if his party would try to replace him because of the severity of what he said on tape. Today, we’re making plans for him taking the role of leader of the free world.
He brings out the worst in people with no attempt to help transform that for the greater good. He doesn’t take anger and outage to transform it into positive action. He takes anger and outage, encourages it, and unleashes it.
In 71 days, he will be our president. I truly hope Trump uses this time to demonstrate how he’s truly better than everything he’s presented himself to be.
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