The Meaning of America

Friends

None of this happened over night. The Republican Party has been beating the right wing drum for 60 years. Every year they moved further to the right. They conditioned their party to celebrate intolerance. When Obama was elected, there was the Tea Party with their racism. Recall early Tea Party rallies with Obama depicted as a monkey? What did Republican politicians do regarding the Tea Party? Did they reject them ? No, the Republican politicians from dog catcher to judge to Senator lined up to get a pat on the head from the  Tea Party.  The Republicans turned a blind eye to the “Birthers” and their blatant  racism and hate-mongering.

Trump was not an accident. No, he was an eventuality. And now he is here and he has solid, built in support by the Republican Party and no Republican leader will dare challenge him. They are with him and they will continue to support him.

He is their creation. He is all of their years of right wing, blithering idiot hate, squeezed into one foul, ignorant, abusive perpetually lying, loud mouth. 

He is not a man. He is the Republican Party’s  Frankenstein. He is part McCarthyism, part John Birch Society, part Klan, part Nixon “ Love it or Leave it”. He is all the bad parts of the Republican Party and not one good part. 

He is civil liberties rolled back 60 years. He is segregation and separate but equal. He is discrimination under color of law.  He is Families being separated because they are different. He is children in cages. 

He rejects  our allies and embraces our autocratic enemies. He is the natural progression to the right. He is a fascist even though he doesn’t know how to spell it. He likes dictators and he doesn’t like democracy. He jokes about not giving up power. These are not jokes. These are  test balloons of a would be dictator. 

He is loud ,raucous, chaotic rallies anywhere he can find pockets of hate. He is the “ Bigot in Chief”. He is Charlottesville. He is night marches with tiki lamps and anti-Semitic chants. He is chaotic, vile and hateful postings on Twitter. He is the red cap and the ever increasing threats of violence if things don’t go his way. 

He is a Republican creation, but we all let him happen. If we wish to save our Union from his continued disregard for the Constitution, his lawlessness, his rule by edict- then we must defeat him at the polls. 

Lincoln said if you want to test a man’s character just give him power. The Republican Party and their creation flunked the test. 

In the next election, America will have a chance to become America again. We best not miss this chance.

Robb Fickman

Houston