Grow Up Mr. President
November 11, 2016
Whoa, it looks like they gave the Donald back his Twitter account.
[In case I forget when reading back on my blog years from now, this is what happened: Trump campaign officials, in the crucial final days before the election, forbade Donald from using his Twitter account because, well, his tweets had become a campaign liability and were damaging his chances of winning. This prompted Obama, who was out on the campaign trail himself, stumping for Hillary, to say something like, “…campaign aides have taken away Donald’s Twitter. In the last two days, they had so little confidence in his self-control, they said ‘We’re just gonna take away your Twitter.’ Now, if somebody can’t handle a Twitter account, they can’t handle the nuclear codes.”]
Anyway, now that the campaign’s over, they’re feeling a little bit more relaxed and don’t really care if he sticks his big ol’ foot in his mouth. Right out of the gate, he didn’t disappoint:
“Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair!”
The grown up in me sure hopes our new president can do better than this going forward.
Just a couple of things: Professional protesters, incited by the media? No sir, these are real human beings, your constituents, the ones you talked about bringing together in your victory speech, the ones you trashed for the last seventeen months, who feel worried about legitimate things like their futures, based on what you said you’d do if elected.
Instead of petulantly lashing out and crying foul, how about this: I hear you. As I pledged on election night, I am going to do my best as your president to reach out, to listen. I know I was not your choice, but I want to find ways that we can work together to face our nation’s many challenges and move forward. I need you. Thank you for your passion, your commitment and your desire to make our country a place we can all be proud of.
Or somesuch.
And really? Not fair? What’s not fair about the freedom to gather, about the freedom to protest? I sure don’t need to be the person to remind you that that is the purest form of freedom and exactly how our democracy works. Goodness sakes. What the hell did you expect? A majority of the people who voted in this election did not vote for you. Yet YOU are now our president. Talk about unfair. We get to feel bad about that.
Please, if you want to be our president, grow up. Take responsibility. The kids are watching.
And, because hypocrisy has been a hallmark of the Trump campaign, I’ll post this little gem of a Trump tweet from 2012, the day Obama won a second term in office with a three million vote lead over Romney:
And let’s not forget that in the weeks leading up to the election, perhaps anticipating a loss, Trump called on his supporters to take up arms and start a revolution if Hillary should win. He proclaimed the election rigged (before the polls even opened, mind you) and that the action was therefore justified.
This is our new president.
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I really need a break from this stuff. Today was the third day in a row that I just planted in front of my computer and read articles and post mortem analyses. All the frustration, hurt, sadness, fear and mourning is not going to change the outcome. The protests continue, which I think is entirely appropriate, in fact I may be attending one tomorrow (having missed Wednesday’s). I do hope they remain peaceful, but I sure understand the anger. And I hope, and expect, all of this to be channeled into something constructive down the line.
One thing I know, Trump’s got a long way to go before he earns anybody’s respect. He’s not only shown himself to be foul-mouthed know-nothing completely devoid of class and dignity, but he’s also demeaned the office of the presidency. Kids now know that presidents can swear, call people names, lie, kiss and grab women whenever they want, blah blah blah.
He’d better start to clean it up soon before the presidency becomes just another clown car of a reality show.
Life of Wry 