My Hope For The Coming Days

Be humble in victory.

Be gracious in defeat.

Don't be consumed by your fanaticism or your hatred. 

Replace finger-pointing with handshakes.

Replace diatribe with dialogue.

Let the light of our humanity erase the shadows of our division.

You don't have to change your view to understand the opposing view.

Remember no political figure is worth losing friends or loved ones.

Why I Am Voting For Joe Biden

This is an extremely long post. No apologies offered for my detailed writing below.

I have never in my life voted for a Democrat for President of the United States.

Except once. In 1976. I was 10 years old. It was a mock election in grade school. I chose Jimmy Carter because he seemed like a nice man. He is. What other 90-something year old former president keeps busy by helping build houses for the poor?

From the first time I voted in 1984 through the last election in 2016 I always voted for a Republican. Reagan, Bush, Bush, Dole, Bush, Bush, McCain, Romney, McMullin*

(*- ran as Independent)

That last one isn't Trump. There were reasons for that four years ago. Too many to mention other than I felt he was unworthy of the office, and his Democratic opponent was equally unworthy. I voted for the person who best represented me and my values even knowing he would not win. That's what you're supposed to do in an election for any office. 

There's a lot for me to dislike about Joe Biden. On the surface he seems moderate enough even though eight years as Vice President under Barack Obama would suggest otherwise. His choice of Kamala Harris as his running mate I felt was a mistake as she is too far to the left politically for my comfort level.

(For you assholes who think I dislike her because she is a woman and a person of color, stop reading this now and wallow in your ignorance elsewhere.)

While I don't totally buy into the recent "gotcha" story that allegedly involves corruption with his son Hunter, his past plagiarism when it comes to speeches he's given does give me cause to wonder about how original his thinking will be.

Stands the Democratic Party have taken over issues like defunding police make my stomach turn. In general I might understand the left but agree with very little of their overall agenda, and Biden is the flag bearer for them, even though he has claimed the platform is his and not the DNC's. I think at the end of the day they're his handlers more than he is their champion.

Even thinking about voting for Joe Biden now makes me queasy, and yet after all of this for me to choose to vote for him means something is very, very wrong with this country in general and the current President of the United States in particular.

Donald Trump's narcissism is far and away my biggest problem because every single problem he has that is an issue for me stems from this. 

Every. Single. One.

His narcissism is such, that he continuously gets in his own way. Decisions he makes, things he says, all stemming from how he feels or how he's made to feel based on questions asked or criticism given.

Never before has a President of the United States worked so hard to control the narrative. I don't recall any president before him, Republican or Democrat, go out of his way to attack journalists who dare to present news which, even when 100% factual but puts him in a negative light, is labeled as "fake news". Trump's almost robot like in the way he responds to critique resorting to name calling and Tweet Rage.

Speaking of Twitter, he spends way too much time on it. Even though I appreciate he uses the platform to bypass the media, clearly he has better things to do than spend hours on end playing on social media especially when it comes to being petty with critics and opponents and spreading misinformation about things like Covid-19.

I disagree that Trump single-handedly destroyed the economy. That's a lie the Biden camp is happy to sell to anyone willing to buy into. Governors in most of the 50 states acted to stem the spread of the virus and those lockdowns were the largest contributing factor to the slowdown. That being said, Trump's handling of the pandemic did contribute to the economic downturn and if he had listened to the medical experts early on, if he had attempted to cooperate with states who needed federal assistance - especially states headed by Democratic governors who he deliberately shunned, and had he simply been honest about what he was told about Covid-19 at the onset, I believe that our economic situation would be nowhere near as bad, and that we could be seeing real recovery by mid-2021. One can only speculate as to how many lives may been saved, but I believe had Trump been humble and led by example when it came to masking up in public many people would have stayed safe.

Trump's conspiracy claims aren't as far fetched as they may seem. A significant number of Democrats had been targeting him since the night he won the election and never relented. Their hatred of Trump only played into his hands allowing him to cast doubt over allegations of Russian collusion, and targeting the Bidens in Ukraine. He was only emboldened by this, and when Russian collusion could not be proven beyond reasonable doubt, and the rushed impeachment trial failed over the Ukraine issue.  "See I told you so!" coming from Trump under these circumstances were enough to bring his base of supporters even closer and to feed his narcissism even more.

Russia, Russia, Russia. I don't believe for a moment Trump colluded with Vladimir Putin, despite the irrefutable evidence that Russian intelligence very much interfered in the 2016 election and that interference benefited Trump, from the DNC email hack exposing the screw job committee heads put on Bernie Sanders to ensure a Hillary Clinton nomination, to the memes and "news articles" that spread vile stories and misinformation and promoted division amongst Americans. Putin is far too smart to have worked directly with Trump or anyone in his campaign because if they had colluded and been caught, which would have been likely, even the most hardcore Trump supporters could not tolerate a US President appearing to bend the knee to the Russians and Putin knows that better than just about anyone. When the time came to confront Putin over his and his government's misdeeds in the 2016 election especially when the FBI had the goods on Putin to hold over his head, Trump simply had a chat with Putin, asked if he's responsible, was told no, then announced to the world he believed Putin. Remember Trump had long since fired James Comey from the head of the FBI and replaced him so there was no reason for Trump to believe they were conspiring against him. The fact Trump took the word of an adversary over an organization devoted to protecting the United States speaks volumes.

You can see that for yourself.

Treating our allies poorly doesn't help either. His outrageous actions at the G-7 summit, his threats to pull the US out of NATO, his Border Wall rhetoric, his forcing negotiations with Canada and Mexico to replace NAFTA have contributed to making this country look bad in the eyes of our closest friends. Weakened alliances only encourage countries such as Russia, China, and Iran to chip away at those long-standing ties.

Most recently, and most disturbing of all, is Trump setting the stage to reject the results of the election and even suggesting that people go to the polls to observe others, hence voter intimidation. Also, despite my own concerns about the overwhelming number of people who will be voting my mail - several times higher than usual - Trump continues to cast doubt about the legitimacy of the election. No president or presidential has ever done that before. Even Al Gore, who held onto hopes of winning in 2000 during the Florida vote debacle, ever questioned it after the issue was settled. Clearly when a leader appears to want to tear down the one element of a democracy that makes this country a democracy, the ability to freely elect someone, that simply cannot be tolerated. 

I thought about voting for an independent candidate or a third-party nominee. If this were like 2016 that might be the way to go. The circumstances are so different now. The stakes are far too high to leave things to chance. Clearly this is an either/or vote, and any vote not for Biden works to favor Trump.

I don't like Joe Biden but I got to know him for 8 years as the Vice President.

I don't like Donald Trump and I got to know him for the last 4 years as President.

This election isn't even about choice anymore for me. It's about necessity. It's about protecting our country.

Donald Trump has proven himself to me to be unworthy, unable, and unfit to continue as our President. He did not live up to his oath of office. He threatens the fabric of our democracy,

Whatever I may dislike about Joe Biden, I believe that he will at least attempt to clean up the mess that Trump will leave behind, attempt to heal the divide where he can, and at least smooth things over with our allies while sending a message to our adversaries that the great experiment of 2016 is over.

That's why I will be voting for Joe Biden. I don't want to. There's just no viable alternative.

My view on Trump - Part One

Long post ahead. 

If you're one of those people who equate disagreeing with Trump, not understanding Trump or being critical of Trump, as hating Trump, you'll be easily offended.

If you're one of those people who equate agreeing with Trump, endorsing a Trump decision or seemingly giving Trump a pass when outrage is "expected", as loving Trump,   you'll also be easily offended.

If you are easily offended STOP READING THIS because you are unable (or worse - unwilling) to look at things from a neutral perspective. You sure as hell won't be able to see it from mine. That being the case don't let me waste your time. 

Still here?  Read at your own peril.

Part One

2016 Election

Trump For President? 

I didn't like Donald Trump. At all. 

I didn't hate him, but in my view at the time I saw someone who was going to harm relations with Mexico, harm the economy, was a womanizer, a narcissist, and a privileged rich kid who never exactly grew up (as evidenced by the way he called opponents names much as a 6 year old would pick on a classmate in kindergarten). 

I knew he was kind of like this long before he announced he was running for president, with his twitter feud with Rosie O'Donnell among others and his various interviews over the years. 

I didn't even think he had a chance in hell of winning when he did throw his hat into the ring for the 2016 race. I thought it was a joke. I didn't think he'd get any kind of real attention. A few votes for laughs and maybe a little steam during the primaries but then the hoopla would die down and the Republicans would pick someone willing to walk the party line instead of some rich outsider - forgetting the Red vs. Blue rule of politics which is both sides will say and do whatever it takes to win and damn the consequences.

Mexico and The Wall

As the primaries went on and Trump continued to gain support and delegates, I found myself shaking my head at a lot of the things he said. What got under my skin was the rhetoric about building a wall along the Mexican border and then making Mexico pay for it. What concerned me was that Mexico is not only a border neighbor but a huge trading partner. Yes, illegal immigrants stream into the US every day from the Mexican side of the border and it is a problem that needs to be solved. I felt a new and improved wall in and of itself would be insufficient without investing more Border Patrol personnel, advanced electronic surveillance and engaging the Mexican government into deeper cooperation in regards to illegal border crossings, Trump was stuck (and still is stuck) on focusing on building a higher wall thinking it would be enough. I felt the lessons of the Maginot Line would have come in handy for him, but alas...

The wall would have symbolism for both sides.  For Trump and his supporters it was seen as a bold step to stem the tide of illegal immigration. To me, I saw it as divisive. The war on drugs is being fought bravely south of the border by loyal Mexican police and military. I felt that suddenly building a wall and then forcing our Mexican partners to pay for the construction sent a terrible message which could demoralize them and perhaps even cause them to walk away leaving the cartels for us to deal with alone. The cartels are already crawling across the southern border and I feel if it weren't for the sustained efforts of the Mexican government to combat them the cartels push into this country would be far greater and far worse. 

Name Calling

Politics, as mentioned above, is a game that is played to win.  It's not uncommon for competing candidates to throw barbs and put a label or two on their opponents. Distasteful, but seemingly par for the course.  I just don't recall it being done in the way Trump has done it. I'm sure people got a laugh or two when he got into scruffs on social media with the likes of Rosie O'Donnell but when he brought that kind of verbiage into the political ring I found it both childish and unbecoming of a person who has portrayed himself in a far more positive way. I felt this was also not the way a potential incoming president should act towards anyone, even if he dislikes them as much as he disliked Rosie. I couldn't help but wonder what might happen if he got into a war with words with other world leaders who, such as himself, are rather thin skinned and unable to shake off the slightest criticism. Would we be sending our military to fight a war based on traded insults? Would that be honorable?

Women Opposing Him

I don't know if Trump feels threatened by strong women. I think his daughter Ivanka is a strong woman and he had something to do with that for sure. I couldn't help but wonder though based on how he reacted to both Megyn Kelly and Hillary Clinton.

Kelly, during one of the Republican debates, asked Trump about past issues he's had with women, such as harassment claims. That led to Trump turning a lot of his attention on bashing Kelly, calling for her to apologize, calling for Fox (her employer at that time) to fire her. In fact for a time it seemed like he was more focused on her than his other opponents seeking the nomination. I found this worrisome. If he's that thin skinned that's a problem. If he's actually offended that someone would dare challenge him, that's a problem. The fact he went after her the way he did made me wonder if he had it in more for her because she was a woman. He did not go after men who were critical of him with the same kind of vigor, though he used lots of playground insults to address them all.

Whether he went after Clinton with the same vigor as he went after Kelly is debatable, and even if he did the stakes were much higher. Politics, remember?  While using labels as "Crooked" to describe Hillary were very distasteful he did what anyone else opposing her would have done in questioning her conduct in regards to both the Libya fiasco and using an unsecured private email server where 30,000+ messages went missing and did so aggressively.  

Emails and Russia

On one of his numerous campaign stops, Trump was going on a rant about Clinton and her missing emails and said maybe Russia could find them. Later on, the Democratic National Committee's emails were hacked and leaked by WikiLeaks. The hackers were, presumably and probably, Russians.

Often times, when this is brought up by the left, they cite this as Trump actually inviting a foreign government to interfere in our internal affairs. The fact it's Russia with a leader hell bent on screwing with our country any way he can short of starting a war makes it all the worse.The fact they did interfere made it even worse still.

I think context is required. 

Did Trump actually invite Russia to interfere? Yes - and no.  Trump was ranting. When people rant in general the filter is off and words just flow from the mouth. In my opinion Trump may have said the words but I felt he meant it as more wondering if anyone could get to the bottom of what happened to 30,000 emails. Clinton had testified to Congress about what she knew and didn't know about the emails and while she did own up to using a private email server which she was not supposed to be doing, she had no explanation as to why so many messages vanished and where they may have gone. The Russians are notorious for hacking and at that time in 2016 had been suspected of lots of activity - very much in the news feeds when Trump blurted out those words that day.

When the DNC was hacked and hundreds of emails were revealed by WikiLeaks the day before the national convention, the emails revealed some less than honorable activity within the party by the DNC chair Debbie Wasserman-Schulz (a close friend of Clinton's) and others working behind the scenes to tweak the nomination process to ensure Clinton's bid. The Mainstream Media quickly and quietly buried the contents of those emails after the convention, leaving only the fact that the DNC email was hacked. People on the left feeding off three facts (Trump seen asking Russia to find Clinton's emails, the DNC email server hacked, and a glaring lack of substance and context) in the weeks leading up to the election painted the picture of Trump collaborating with Russia to win the election.

(Note: I am not implying that Hillary Clinton knew of her good friend's efforts to help her secure the nomination. I will say that if she does know anything about it, she'll keep it to herself as any intelligent person would.)

Trump's non-Collaboration with Russia

As for whether Trump actually got help from the Russians, again that requires adding context.

I do not believe he directly worked with the Russians to get dirt on Hillary Clinton.  I don't believe it because it doesn't make sense for him, or the Russian government to do such a thing.

Russia absolutely did interfere in the 2016 elections, and they did help Trump. Those are established and irrefutable facts. The reason the Russians and the Trump campaign did not collaborate with each other is a simple one. Impeachment and conviction.

For this, lets not even bother looking at Trump or how smart you think he is or isn't.  Lets look at Russia's Vladimir Putin, who as mentioned is hell bent on messing with the US. He was in the KGB, which specialized in messing with the US. His tenure in office has shown him to be a pain in the ass every chance he can.  So with that mindset put yourself in his place for a few minutes and look at things from where he's sitting.

His country's greatest adversary in the world is about to elect a new president. The choices are a New York real estate developer who's both politically inexperienced and easily annoyed by critics and responds to them angrily at times, opposed by the wife of a former president who on her own terms is not only quite capable of being president but would also be a formidable foe. Who would you want to win?

Collaborating with a foreign power to win an election would be seen as treason, even if the collaborator is on your political team. It's indefensible on every level, and Putin knows how we think every bit as well as we do. That was his job, and it's part of his MO now.  He knows that if he, or anyone linked to his government, collaborated with Trump and or anyone in his campaign, Trump's term as president would be a very short one as there would be zero hesitation to remove Trump from office, republican or not. The implications would go even deeper. Mike Pence would be heavily scrutinized and if there was enough evidence he too would face impeachment and possible removal himself. Even if Pence were to remain, he is an experienced and competent politician. The fallout would go far beyond the DC beltway. Direct collaboration with Trump could even be considered an act of war by some.

Putin wouldn't take that kind of chance to have his candidate of choice losing office so quickly and risking a conflict he teases he's ready for but is he really? If he's dumb enough to work directly with Trump, they're both dumb enough to get caught.

Easter Greetings 2020