Election Thoughts-How Do We Explain it to Them?

How Do We Explain it to Them?

I honestly never imagined I would be writing something like this today, so I'm writing completely off the cuff here.

We as a people, as a nation, stand shocked today by the revelations of last night's election results. I had the unfortunate circumstance of watching this whole thing play out while I was at work (the whole time I was wishing I could be drinking something very high in alcohol content because, Damn!)

I see folks on social media, on both sides of the fence, almost equally shocked. The "Wow, I can't believe he actually won! I wanted him to win, but I didn't actually think he would..." as well as the "Holy Shit? He actually won? I can't believe my fellow Americans would actually elect this moron!" posts flooded social media this morning. Many of my friends, friends who identify as LGBTQ, friends of color, friends of differing religious viewpoints, and friends who have younger children are terrified of what's about to happen to our great nation. Why?

We have elected someone to the office of President who on multiple occasions has indicated that traits are bred into those of color, stating they are lazy, or they're genetically predisposed to aggression and violence. We have elected someone to the office of President who has blatantly said that women should not be hired or paid because they have brilliant minds, but because they are attractive. This same person who has bragged about the sexual assault of women, of 'grabbing them by the pussy,' of being able to do whatever he wants because he's famous. He's publically ridiculed the disabled, suggested a former Vietnam Prisoner of War was a "coward," and personally attacked those who have differing opinions than his.

Why did we choose such a person for this most esteemed position of responsibility? When I asked the Trump supporters I knew about this, the answer was, "he's a brilliant businessman who tells it like it is..." So, one element of this decision-making process would appear to be his brilliant business tactics. Humm.. four bankrupted casinos, a fraudulent 'university.'" An excerpt from a Newsweek article states:

"Lost contracts, bankruptcies, defaults, deceptions and indifference to investors—Trump’s business career is a long, long list of such troubles, according to regulatory, corporate and court records, as well as sworn testimony and government investigative reports. Call it the art of the bad deal, one created by the arrogance and recklessness of a businessman whose main talent is self-promotion."
Newsweek Magazine  

I'm not so sure brilliant business tactics are his strong suit, but 'he tells it like it is,' was the other part of the argument. So, we want to put a man in the Presidency who has no tact? We want to put a man in the office who has no patience? In an interview with Donald Trump's ghost writer for his book, the author stated that Donald Trump didn't have enough attention span to be able to relate the necessary data for him to be able to write the book. He went on to say that Donald Trump had less of an attention span than his two-year-old child and that if his writing of the book contributed in any way to Trump's becoming Presidency that he would regret ever taking the contract to write the book.

Based on the aforementioned evidence, we can conclude that Donald Trump is a bully, a narcissist, a sexist, a racist, and a homophobe with little to no business acumen. How will we explain this chapter of history to our children, and their children, and their children's children? How will we explain that our greed was more important than protecting the planet we live upon? How will we explain that it's ok to bully others, as long as you win? How will we explain that it's okay to hate or fear someone because they are different from us, or because they believe in something we don't? Or will we even be able to explain it to them because they're too busy fighting the wars that were started due to one man's megalomania? Or maybe it all won't matter after the first nuke is launched and the retaliation strike occurs, making the Earth ultimately unfit for life as we know it?

How do my friends waking up today explain it to their children that the man on TV who wasn't nice, who was bullying all those other people because he wanted to win, has now been elected to become the President of the United States?
I don't know.

Royce Sears
www.roycesears.com