Stopping top down hate

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I am glad I am not a world traveler. I could not imagine facing citizens from other nations and having to answer their questions about our president. The level of hate, ignorance, and disgust within him should not be taken lightly primarily because millions of Americans voted for him and continue to stand by him despite his vitriol.

There are elected leaders in Congress who stand in silence, refusing to condemn him for fear of the backlash they will face come reelection time. This can only mean his own party has literally handed over their political war chest to him and are now the subservient minions he longs for.

Unfortunately, their silence speaks volumes to those of us left scratching our heads and wondering, what it will take to make them speak out against the deranged buffoon they are beholden to? They love their own reelection more than their country which is part of the reason why we now have a mad man in charge of it.

Then there are the likes of Jesse Watters who want us to believe Trump’s use of the phrase “shithole countries” is how a lot of guys talk in bars across middle America. The sad thing is, for once Watters is right. Trump’s level of hate is a real reflection of the ignorance that fills the minds of millions of people. However, what Watters fails to see, presumably because his is one of those minds, is just because scores of people think like Trump doesn’t make what he said any less disgusting.

This nation is filled with disgust and hate, the kind that goes to great lengths to marginalize groups for the simple fact they are different. I guess when you only drink American made beer, you are able to look down on people from nations with a life expectancy that is a good 20 or more years less than our own because they still lack things like electricity, clean water, vaccines, and access to a better way of life. However, those who live in redneck trailer parks should be the last to toss stones or empty beer cans at others. Your man Donny is simply using you and you don’t know it.

As a resident of Ventura County, California, I have been blown away at the level of love, kindness, and respect for humanity that exists in people. The recent Thomas Fire and even more recent flooding and mudslides that have killed at least 17 people have also show the best of Americans. People are opening their homes to total strangers left displaced. Others are taking in pets and feeding them free of charge while families get situated. Donations have been so great there is no longer a need for food or clothing.

However, what has happened out here is not any different than what happens in other parts of this nation when tragedy strikes. Somehow, we rally together and find a way to grow stronger as a nation. Unfortunately, we do not have a president who seems capable of feeling the pain of others unless he stands to profit off it. Let’s face it, California could fall into the Pacific and Trump would smile.

Say what you want about the politics of any of our presidents from Carter through Obama, each of them were faced with matters that required a leader to step up and provide reassurance, strength, and compassion and each managed to do so. This is not the case with Trump. Tragedy strikes and he becomes jealous of the attention it will take away from him so he has to do or say something outlandish to bring everything back to him. This is the expected behavior of a child and not of the leader of the free world.

I really do not care who voted for Trump just as I do not care who voted for Hillary. The election is over. What I care about is how many of us intend to remain silent when this Asshat makes a mockery of the presidency and places the country at risk.

It is to be expected the opposition party will speak out. That’s just politics. However, when the elected members of his own party remain silent or try to avoid answering questions that make them uncomfortable, they become part of what I call the Top Down Hate that ends up feeding the polluted minds of the people Jesse Watters speaks of.

This morning, I read a wonderful story about Sarah Silverman and how she embraced a young man who called her the C word. Instead of engaging in a back and forth of hate spewing tweets, she took the time to learn about the man and then expressed her genuine concern for his well-being. She chose empathy rather than the low road and because she did, she managed to change the thinking and life of a man whose pain was masked as hate.

There are a lot of Americans whose pain is masked as hate. They need jobs, not rhetoric like Trump tweets. They need health care, a decent income, an opportunity to get their foot in the door and show others what they are capable of. Instead, their anger is constantly fed by the likes of Trump and driven home by spoiled brats like Watters who have no sense of concern for their fellow man.

As a result, it’s now on all of us to take control of what people we elected refuse to do. We can’t allow ourselves to be polluted with the ignorant remarks of a leader who should be behind bars rather than feeding the hate of those drinking at them. Instead, we have to reach out to to others in need and prove most of us are good people who care about all.

We need to be sure we vote and send a message, not just to a president who is guided by hate, greed, and dishonesty, but to all those in Congress who stand by in silence, too afraid to risk their political future because they have no more compassion than the man they fear.