Pastor Fienen writes:
Let's not forget that until the night of November 8, 2019 just about everyone figured that Hillary Clinton was a shoo-in for the next president. It was so certain that she didn't bother to campaign much in several of the meaningless Midwest states that would have little or no effect on the election anyway. There was absolutely no way that buffoon Donald Trump could possibly win. Politics is unpredictable.
I comment:
The concern was not the candidate. Almost everyone knew he was an immoral, lying fool. Even many of those who voted for him knew that.
But we underestimated the hatred some have for the Clintons and/or “liberals.”
We who were disappointed Nov. 8 also over-estimated the common sense, intelligence and decency of the general population, and the power of a shameless demagogue to affect that population. We did not think we were 1930s Germans, falling victim to the blandishments of someone telling them how miserable they were, how bad their country was and picking someone to blame. Then there was the racism and sexism too.
But that was long ago.
When the Forum was being upgraded I took it as a sign that I needed a mental health break, quite honestly from this topic. When someone told me it was back up resolved not look at this topic but in a weak moment I did.
Pastor Austin, this post is, for me, as unacceptable as Sam Donaldson's remarks citing that the 30% of Americans who backed Trump are ignorant. According to Donaldson, they don't know or understand or even want to know the issues. This is what the progressive edge of the Democratic party needs to understand: they not any more intelligent than the rest of the country. They're elitists who seem to think they're right and not only is everyone who disagrees wrong, but they're ignorant.
We need a new
ism in our vocabulary. We need an
ism to define those who are, perhaps, uneducated, who work in a blue collar job, who work in a mine, who enjoy all sorts of sports, who cling to guns and religion, who speak with a twang, who don't have the gift of living on one of the elite coasts of this country. If among primarily conservative Republicans we have misogynism, racism, and the host of other
isms, we need one to define progressive Democrats who seem to hold contempt for those who them deem inferior in intelligence.
We also need an
ism for what I see as hypocrisy of the left. Hillary Clinton didn't win the election and the analysis of the left holds that while sexism apparently must have played a role so did the hatred of the Clintons. No! It was Hillary who did this to herself. A lackluster candidate who went in knowing this was her entitlement. It was her casting aside the basket of deplorables. It was her policies (or lack thereof). It was her purely amoral character, the sense that she can do anything and get away with it. Yet when we say that those who resist Trump hate Trump (and practically cite the same rationale) well, no, they simply see the light -- his policies, all that he's taken away from us, his brashness, his business dealings. But no hate there.
I did vote for Trump in 2016 (and I’m not ignorant). After the final debate I could not have cast a vote for Clinton. About a year ago I told my husband that even thought I agreed with some of Trump’s policies I couldn't vote for him again in 2020. Then came the field of Democratic hopefuls. Once again, unless this changes, I will be voting for Trump. I will, as my husband said in 2016, hold my nose and cast that vote.
This country and our legislators have spent almost four years doing absolutely nothing but hating Trump and resisting him. In church terms it is extraordinarily poor stewardship of time and talents. People weren't served. Issues that needed addressing went by the wayside as the resist movement took hold of the House.
Quite a few posts back we were derailed and moved back to issues of sexuality. Pastor Austin you reminded us of the title of the thread and wrote "Focus!" I'd say that was focused. Trump isn't going to undermine this country nor the fabric of our society. The fate of our nation doesn’t lie in Trump’s hands. Nor will the right nor will the left. We stand on our morality. A society that turns its back on babies being aborted, that teaches children from pre-K on up the LBGTQ+ agenda as acceptable even holding up a transgendered child star as an icon of acceptance, that puts assigned gender aside to the point of allowing a child to take hormones to become the gender they wish, that seeks to undermine the role of parent in these issues, that has so little regard for marriage that the divorce rate is over 50%, where sexual immorality is portrayed in all forms of media as acceptable behavior so that we become inured to it -- that is where the fate of our nation lies. That is where we are unraveling. Trump? He'll be a figure in history some day just as other presidents and leaders are today - some of whom we thought would tear about our country and destroy it -- both on the right or the left. We change our language to make life palatable in our never ending enforcement of politically correct speech and yet we cannot honor one another’s differences when they are in opposition of the progressive agenda. A supporter of Trump may go against all that progressives hold dear, but that person is equally integral to the fabric of our society and the opinions of each of us holds worth and merit.
