Liberals are running around right now like every fucking thing fell apart as soon as Mr. 45th put his tiny hand on that Holy Bible.
But I tell you what, I’m just about more afraid of liberals who still don’t know how we got here than I am of Trump himself.
I’m afraid that these liberals will never come out of their President-Trump-induced fainting spell and will continue to blame everyone who didn’t vote for Hillary instead of blaming their own party, which has yet to accept one itsy bitsy shred of responsibility for the election results.
I’m afraid of liberals who believe, behave, and speak as though they’re superior to everyone who voted for Trump, as though Trump supporters are some sort of lesser Americans, even lesser humans.
I’m afraid of liberals who can’t for the life of them see how frustrated, disillusioned, and angry many Americans were come November 8th—Obama voters included, even after eight years of the cool, elegant savior called Obama, who was supposed to make life better for ordinary folks, but who somehow frittered away eight years blaming the other party for everything he didn’t do.
I’m afraid because of the many liberals who have no idea that Hillary Clinton lost because she wanted moderate Republican votes more than she wanted her own party’s votes.
She didn’t lose the election because of FBI Director James Comey’s last minute letter, and she didn’t lose because of the WikiLeaks, and certainly not because of the Democratic Party’s manufactured distraction called “the Russians.”
Because, hey liberals, heads up: The whole Russians-hacking-the-election thing IS the conspiracy theory; people who are suspicious of what corporate media says are not the conspiracists here.
This bate-and-switch tactic is called gaslighting.
The corporate media is gaslighting investigative citizens who dare to question its talking points.
Think about it: wouldn’t we have names and sources for at least some of these accusers and informants by now? But we have zero nada zilch names. It’s all a big secret!
Remember when we fell for the “weapons of mass destruction” scare like freaked-out lemmings heading over a cliff?
Same thing. Lots of accusations, no proof.
Seriously, go look for real, actual proof of Russian interference leading to a Trump win. The theories go on and on and on.
It’s all just a schoolyard trick, a “Look—squirrel!” distraction designed to get sound-bite-addicted Americans to look the other way while corporate America picks our pockets, dazzles us with scandals, and leaves us brain-dead.
When did liberal Americans become so gullible and desperate?
When did liberals become as entrenched in their rhetoric as Tea Partiers?
I’m afraid because of liberals who’ve given leave of their ability to think and discern, who’ve lowered their standards of scrutiny and investigation, and who fail to recognize that their sacred, erudite, fancy news sources, such as NPR and the New York Times and that cool Rachel Maddow have become the fake news pushers.
I’m afraid because of liberals who are now as manipulated by their news sources as the conservatives they look down their noses at.
I’m afraid because of liberals who’ve lost sight of, or have completely ignored that under the Obama administration all manner of not-so-great shit happened, including, but not limited to:
- Guantánamo never got closed—no habeas corpus for these folks!
- Torture was continued and condoned. Chelsea Manning was in solitary confinement for a year. (Solitary confinement beyond two weeks is considered torture, not just a slap on the wrist for ratting on your government.)
- Spying on Americans was not only not lessened, but provisions for “lawful” surveillance by our government have actually increased. And the changes that were made to the Patriot Act, now re-packaged as the USA FREEDOM Act, only happened because of Edward Snowden blowing the lid off the government’s massive overreach into our everyday lives (more like our every-minute lives, actually). Snowden, by the way, is still sitting un-pardoned in Russia.
- President Obama had nothing to say in defense of the Native Peoples in North Dakota over the Dakota Access Pipeline protests. Nothing! To me, this alone should be a “dog on top of his car all the way to Canada” reputation-ruiner.
- After fifteen years, our troops are still in Afghanistan.
- Seven countries were bombed and “droned.” This from a Nobel Peace Prize winner.
I really, really wanted to feel good about Obama, but these are not the actions of a progressive President.
Your typical goofy-ass Republican would never in a zillion years have gotten away with what the oh-so-doted-upon Obama has done right in front of our faces, while we sat glassy-eyed, praising him for nebulous, feel-good qualities like dignity and elegance.
Even though plenty of Trump’s actions have already been and will continue to be hellish and awful, far too many liberals will continue to prop up the party that failed to keep Trump out of office.
It’s always someone else’s fault—
Third party voters and the electoral college, James Comey and his unsportsmanlike last minute e-mail, Trump voters, the WikiLeaks, or small-time candidates like Jill Stein and Gary Johnson.
Oh, it’s never the Democratic party’s beholdenness to corporate money and how that turned out: the oil industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the agricultural industry, the tech industry, and the insurance industry. Holy shit, that’s a lot of sugar daddies to satisfy.
I’m afraid of liberals who still overlook that Obama’s cabinet was only slightly better than Trump’s.
Maybe Obama’s cabinet wasn’t better at all, actually.
Same insiders, same favor-appointments, same recycled CEOs. Remember the Monsanto CEO and lobbyist Obama appointed as head of the FDA?
But we liked Obama, so even when he continually went against our own party’s supposed core values, we just sighed a collective, “Look how cool he is when he drops the mic.”
It’s these liberals who will hold us back and keep us from being who we say we are.
I thought liberals were supposed to be the compassionate, justice-minded, socially aware Americans? But we cannot be those Americans if corporate America feeds us everything we believe.
Turn off your fucking TV, liberal America. CNN and MSNBC are the same fucking thing as FOX anymore.
There’s just no damn way our “news” sources can be neutral when they have gargantuan corporate sugar daddies to keep fat and happy.
So be grateful for Trump.
Because now that the smart, debonair liberal who we’d love to have a beer with—or a glass of expensive red wine with is—gone and we can see what we’re dealing with. There’s no cool dude here, and there are no well-spoken words here.
Oh, how Obama hypnotized liberal America with his suave ways, his crooning, his eloquent speech, his high IQ, his educated ways.
Oh, how blinded we were by his beautiful, fashionable, smart family and their fluffy dogs.
Oh, how honored we are to have been represented by this family.
But please.
Beware the smooth and handsome liberal
Obama was far from the liberal we thought he was.
President Obama deployed even more troops than George W did. He dropped more bombs than any President ever. The military budget went up under Obama (even when adjusted for inflation), not down.
There was no peacetime with Obama.
He may have brought us out of the recession his administration inherited, but bizarrely, most people are no better off than they were before he took office, and the chasm between the very wealthy and the very not-wealthy is ever-widening.
Some people who voted for Obama even voted for Trump this time, rather than vote for a continuation of Obama’s policies—that Hillary Clinton promised she would get right on.
So now we have the billionaire and his supermodel wife.
Yes, the conservative double standard is maddening when it comes to Michelle’s bare arms versus Melania’s bare everything, but whatever, because while it was lovely to have a smart, sharp-looking family in the White House, the liberal love-fest is over now.
Please, liberal America, realize that we’ve been played for fools.
Behind that good-looking family of four, the man of this family was dropping bombs on other people’s families—yes, civilians—in Syria, Yemen, and Somalia right up to the end of his eight years.
We’re still being played. And the sooner we realize this, the sooner we can say, Well, fuck that shit, and right the ship that is our ideals and principles.
People can say till they’re vote-blue-no-matter-who in the face that they were going to hold Hillary’s feet to the fire, but they wouldn’t have.
If Hillary had won, people’d be all la-la-hug-hug-crying-happy-female-POTUS-tears.
Then they’d have gone about their busy-ness while she-who-stole-the-nomination set about doing exactly what Obama’s been doing these last eight years, exactly what Bush did the eight years before that, and exactly what her NAFTA-inventing-don’t-ask-don’t-tell-legislating husband did eight years before that, and exactly what the movie star did before that.
It took Donald Jackass Trump becoming the 45th President of the United States for people to wake the hell up and see what the fuck is going on with our government and our country.
Hell, yeah, I’m afraid of the damage Trump will do. I’m afraid of Mike Pence. I’m afraid of Trump’s cabinet and all the other appointments he’ll make.
I’m afraid of Trump’s authoritarian tendencies turning out to be all-too-true.
I don’t like or respect Donald Trump. I don’t think he’s a good person. I don’t think he gives a crap about the people who voted for him. I don’t think he’s a kind or compassionate person at all.
I think he’s a fear-monger and a scammer.
I think he’s a spoiled rich kid who’s never known lack or want or hard times, and has grown up to be a perfectly awful adult.
I’m also afraid of liberals who are hellbent on trashing everything Trump says and does for the next four or heaven forbid, eight years, even at the expense of the country. Sound familiar?
I mean, I loathe the man and wish to hell he weren’t the president, but let’s not be like the Obama haters who would just as soon take the whole country down than try to work with a President they hated.
Trump is going to be much of America’s worst nightmare—he’s so feared and loathed that most of the nation is watching his every move.
So maybe this was just the bitter medicine we needed.
Look, we couldn’t afford another four-plus years of going about our busy-ness while some feel-good Democrat is in the White House keeping the country safe from bad guys by bombing the hell out of the rest of the world, by selling our jobs to the lowest bidders, and selling our health and well-being to the highest bidders.
So now we’ve got this icky, horribly-behaved, small-handed President who, being the reality TV star he is, already has us glued to every move he makes. He doesn’t care what people think of him, and he’s a loose cannon, ready to do whatever the hell he feels like.
And lo, maybe now we’ll never be hypnotized again—maybe it’s actually best this way.
So get out there with your can of whoop-ass, friends:
Call your legislators on a regular basis. Find your Congressional Representatives here and your Senators here.
Watch your local lawmakers closely, too, like they’re trying to shoplift in your store. Look for them here.
Say to yourself, “Follow the money!” when you hear the blame going around.
Shake your head at the talking heads on TV, raise your fist in solidarity with your fellow Americans, and say it once more, “Follow the money!”
And roll up your woo-woo sleeves, shiny friends, because we don’t have a minute to spare.
It could just be that Donald Trump is God’s way of telling us not to take our eyes off the president ever again.
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14 Comments
Add YoursI apologize. You are correct in your assessment. I was rude, and I hope you will consider overlooking my comments.
Nell, your comments on FB were fine, really, and I didn’t take them as rude. I enjoy the discussion. Plus, you offered specifics to consider, which I appreciate and definitely gave consideration.
As for Obama’s presidency being misunderstood, as you put it, I believe it is misunderstood, except that I believe that too many liberals are currently giving him too much credit for being a peaceable leader, when the reality is that the incredibly high numbers of refugees trying to get to the U.S. are the direct result of the U.S. bombing their countries. And the fact that in ’08 we were at war with two countries, but by ’16 that number had jumped to seven is horrible. Too much of his presidency was like this—cleaned-up and spiffy in public, but awful in reality.
In any case, you are very welcome to comment at any time, and at any level of passion that you’re led to. These are difficult times, made all the more so by this president making very evident our multitudinous vulnerabilities. I apologize if my words were abrasive.
The name of the game has been neoliberalism since the Clinton days, and the party is hooked on it (if you need proof, look no further than DW-S and her assassination of Bernie). He’s too old now; who represents the best hope for bringing the party out of its neoliberal doldrums?
I’m beginning to think the party is going to implode and that there’s no hope at all for it. I mean, Feinstein is voting for every single one of Trump’s nominees at this point. WTH? The whole damn world would be different right now if the DNC had run Bernie.
OK, scenario A. Fill in the blanks:
D’s wake up and form a Neo-New-Deal coalition built by __________, __________, and __________, which mounts not only an effective antidote to Trumpism, but purges the party of its go-along-get-along neolib faction. Those people defect to the R’s who have renamed themselves the National Tea Party People’s Front or something equally and offensively deceptive.
Scenario B. Fill in the blanks:
D’s fall to a hostile takeover by a Trump surrogate, who acquires the brand in order to sustain the illusion of choice, a classic oligarchic capital tactic borrowed from the corporate world. A coalition of extraparty progressive movements including leaders of __________, __________, and __________ create a Resistance which is aided and comforted by __________, __________, and __________, all nations with universal health care systems, subsidies for daycare and higher ed, and paid family leave.
Oh, man, a pop quiz. Crap. Well, here goes:
Scenario A.
Fill in the blanks:
D’s wake up and form a Neo-New-Deal coalition built by Tulsi Gabbard, Nina Turner, and Tammi Baldwin, which mounts not only an effective antidote to Trumpism, but purges the party of its go-along-get-along neolib faction. Those people defect to the R’s who have renamed themselves the National Tea Party People’s Front or something equally and offensively deceptive.
Scenario B.
Fill in the blanks:
D’s fall to a hostile takeover by a Trump surrogate, who acquires the brand in order to sustain the illusion of choice, a classic oligarchic capital tactic borrowed from the corporate world.
A coalition of extraparty progressive movements including leaders of The (newly formed) Justice Democrats, Black Lives Matter, and The Green Party create a Resistance which is aided and comforted by Faith Spotted Eagle, Glenn Greenwald, and Edward Snowden- via satellite, of course, all nations with universal health care systems, subsidies for daycare and higher ed, and paid family leave.
How’d I do, Prof.??
Forgot to mention: I’m also SO sick of hearing about this WOMAN card played & of people buying right into it, ugh!
Ditto.
SO well said, Coco!
I’m sorry to say this, but people abroad have had more than enough with self-complacent Americans delighted in their feel-good image of … well, nothing much in the direction of positiveness. And I was horrified to see even people I know who returned after some years in the States having been brainwashed by the gaslighting you’re referring to –because “Russians” and “Putin” were the scarecrow even before the 45th’s rise to political power.
The man is dangerous, but at least the masks are off. Btw, some weeks ago I came upon a comment saying that he owns stock in (one of?) the construction companies involved in the North Dacota pipeline. Is this true?
Yes, Helene, at least the masks are off as to the fact that we have created a very broken and dangerous situation that’s getting worse and worse by the moment. It’s frightening. Sadly, many will continue on under the illusion that Hillary would have been a better President, when the reality is that she would have been just a different face on the continuation of the evil we’ve created thanks to our unwillingness to put a stop predatory capitalism.
Good question about Trump and the pipeline; it would make all the sense in the world if he were to own stock in it.
Good job Coco. Love your writing and investigations. Thanks for sharing your passion and clarity with us.
Thank you so much for your confidence—it’s much appreciated!
Many truths here. I SO look forward to all the hoopla to die down and people to come back into their heart centers and remember what life is all about.
Thanks, Nancy. I think it’s crucial to remember the truly important things in life, and I also think it’s best if the hoopla doesn’t die down. In fact, I hope it’s real concern and activism instead of just a shock wave that we’re seeing. We’re at a critical point and we can’t afford to let things fall where they may—I believe this place we’re in requires intervention, whatever form that may take for each of us.