Ever since Donald Trump was elected, we have seen nothing
but whining, crying, excuses and vows of opposition from the Democrats and the
left in this country. In other words, a
ton of sour grapes. However, what I have observed just since Friday’s inauguration
is enough to make an American sick at his or her stomach.
It began with over 60 Democrat members of Congress
boycotting this event, the peaceful transfer of power that makes America the
envy of most of the world. It was followed by the street riots in Washington during
the inauguration with anarchists setting fires in the street, throwing rocks
through windows, and battling cops. Then there were the campus protests, students
holding their own mock inaugurations and in many cases, such as UC
Santa Cruz, being egged on by campus administrators to come together and
mourn the coming of the new president-on University of California official
stationary no less.
On Friday night, the University
of Washington College Republicans invited gay conservative pundit Milo
Yiannopoulos to speak. As on many other campuses, Yiannopoulos’ appearance
resulted in hundreds of protesters, made up of students and professional agitators.
The scene turned violent as bricks were thrown at cops, two men were pummeled
by the crowd, and finally, one man was shot. At this point, the incident is
swathed in mystery since the shooter turned himself into police claiming
self-defense and has been released pending further investigation. Go figure. To
make matters worse, the university president came out and made a boffo
statement to the effect that the shooting ruined what had been a peaceful
protest.
Then on Saturday, the nation was treated to something called
the Women’s March on Washington (against Trump, naturally). It was bad enough
that it consisted of the usual collection of malcontents and misfits. But there was singing star Madonna, who
dropped in from wherever she now resides in Europe. Her short speech was laden
with f-bombs directed at Trump supporters. (“F---- you! F---uck you”!) To make
it even worse, she sang two of her dopey songs, the latter of which was full of
four letter words substituted for the original lyrics. There is only one word
to describe this foul-mouthed excuse for a woman: She is scuzzy.
One needs to ask: When have we seen this when a Democrat was
sworn in as president? Yes, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell made a
statement that the Republicans needed to work to ensure President Obama would
be a one-term president. Yes, Rush Limbaugh stated that he hoped Obama’s agenda
would fail. Yes, some, including Trump, tried to make the case that Obama was
not born in the US. Big deal. Did we riot in the streets? Did we refuse to
recognize that Obama was really the president? Who among the Republicans
boycotted his inaugurations?
Here is the first point: What we are seeing here is not what
I would call the loyal opposition. In a time when we are in great peril from
terrorists and apparently returning to the Cold War, we need to come together
and hope that this presidency will be successful. I did not vote for Obama, but
when he was first elected, I wanted him to succeed because I wanted my country
to succeed. That is the spirit we should all embrace. I get the feeling that a
lot of these people who are going nuts now don’t really want America to
succeed.
Secondly, this should be a teaching moment for those
Americans who are on the fence ideologically. When you watch these scenes play
out, doesn’t it tell you which side is right and which side is wrong?
5 comments:
The loyal opposition is sitting this one out for now. A competent strategist bides their time until a real opportunity arises. Remember what happened to those who said Abraham Lincoln was "No my president"? That didn't work out so well -- and if they'd quietly waited a couple of years they might have done much better for themselves. In that instance, "Those whom the gods would destroy they first make mad," and I'm rather glad they were foolish. Slavery would not have been abolished otherwise, Cf. Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address.
What you're seeing here is vapid street theater. Its not surprising that so many Hollywood types are involved. I might add though that Trump is acting, in office, in quite as deranged a manner as might have been expected from the way he campaigned.
Are you making excuses? Who are the loyal opposition? John Lewis? Chuck Schumer?
Trump may be deranged, but he is doing things every day. Most of it I like. My biggest concern is international diplomacy. He's going to need to work with our allies.
The loyal opposition is people like me, you might call us the silent majority, those who are not in the least thrilled to have an ignorant narcissist as our president, but respect an orderly transfer according to prescribed electoral process, and are prepared to raise our voices when and as we can effectively curtail the amount of damage Trump can do from the oval office.
I have no problem with that. I do object to violent protests and I reserve the right to voice my own response to people like Madonna and Ashley Judd. They have both exercised their right of free speech (with the possible exception of talking about blowing up the White House which may get Madonna a courtesy call from the Secret Service) and I have exercised mine.
I knew you'd see the light eventually.
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