Time to Find a Secret Annex?

Donald J. Trump, a few moments ago: "We have to look very seriously at the mosques."

My reaction: Oh my God this really is like right before Nazi Germany.

Donald J. Trump, right after that: "We are in a war. We don't know where these people are."

My reaction: Probably hiding in an secret annex somewhere if "they" know what's good for them. And I need to get a suitcase ready, and find my annex because I think I'm a "they" in Trump's eyes. Even if not, when he starts rounding people up from mosques, that is when I will put a star of David on my arm and say "Take me, too."

Trump Puts the Bully in Bully Pulpit

I implore you all to think about Donald Trump’s latest reveal of his character:

Do you think someone is presidential material who tweets out an unflattering pic of the wife of one of his opponents next to his gorgeous trophy wife, the point of which is clearly and unmistakably to sneer-n-smear at his opponent with the meaning of "my wife is prettier than yours"?

Think about how juvenile and SHALLOW, how misogynistic and unpresidential, that is. Do we want someone who thinks that the looks of his opponent's wife are a valid campaign issue? Do we want someone who thinks it is okay to attack an opponent's spouse or even an opponent him or herself based solely on appearance?

Regardless of what you think of Trump's stands on issues--let's say you are all about walls, waterboarding, and shipping entire religious groups out of the country--do you really want someone with the temperament and shallowness of Trump? Not only does he openly and clearly incite violence against anyone who dares express disagreement with him, but he attacks people time and again based on their looks and or physical "packaging" alone. Just a few examples of the plethora that exist, off the top of my exhausted-from-a-week-at-my-job little head:

1. Saying he wants to look Rosie O'Donnell "right in her fat, ugly face" and...blah blah blah.

2. Mocking a reporter with a physical challenge.

3.  This latest tweet of his, designed to say that his wife is pretty and Ted Cruz's wife is ugly.

This man is NOT presidential material, no matter what you think of his stands on issues--he is a vindictive, misogynistic, vengeful, temperamental, volatile bully. Do you want him to have his finger on the button?

Flower Power or Round-Up?

Just watched (in horror) a Trump rally in Ohio, live streamed on YouTube.  And here is my musing on that:

1980, Washington, DC:  National Mall, big crowd for the 4th of July celebration.  But it wasn't a good feeling type of patriotism to me.  There was an ugly vibe in the crowd.  Reagan had come to power.  There were people wearing tee-shirts that said "Fuck Iran", and I looked around, still very young (18) and naive, and having thought up until that moment that, when my generation grew up, everything was going to be flower power and kumbaya, and I realized:  oh my God, people my age are...like...NOT all liberal and progressive and about peace, love and rock and roll, like the lyrics of our music would have one think.  What is going on here?

What was going on was the birth of the Reagan Era.  And now it is in its death throes, and the type of person who wore the "Fuck Iran" tee-shirts back in 1980 is the same type of person at the Trump rallies today. It's exactly the same vibe, the same feeling, as I felt surrounding me on that July 4th, 1980, on the National Mall.  It is an ugly, xenophobic, macho, "us and them" vibe.  It terrified me then and it terrifies me now.

I am not the same naive girl I was then, so even though I see so many hopeful signs in our country, I realize that that ugly element is still there, too.  And I can never get complacent.  Even if Bernie wins the general election and becomes president, even if we elect a great congress at the mid-terms to work with him, even if our country makes great strides toward economic and ethical health as a culture, that ugly element that is all about xenophobia, fear, bigotry and hate will always be a part of us, too.  Because, tragically, that ugly potential has always been and will always be a part of humanity.  So even if flower power were to rule throughout the land, there are always those who would try to spray Round-Up on it, on us, if given half a chance.

We have the potential for great good, and we have the potential for great evil.  The laws of this great nation are such--the constitution is such--that it makes it very hard for us to go the evil route for too long, though we have done it (slavery, the Japanese internment during WWII, different groups having to fight for civil rights, etc.).  The internal compass of our nation is geared toward good as our true north.  But it is up to each of us to fight for that, to safeguard that.  Like a garden, our country needs constant tending in order to be healthy and thrive.  Let us not forget that.  Let us speak up for flower power, even when others scream for Round-Up, and rounding up.