Tonight I had a Facebook “friend” post an article, entitled “Robert Bentley (Alabama Governor): Alabama will not support sanctuary cities that shelter illegal immigrants” I gave her a hard time implying that given she is a big Christian and Trump supporter, she seemed be attracted to some pretty unsavory characters. One her Facebook friends replied something to the effect of “What about your friend Hillary Clinton”. I want to share my reply to him below:
James, I wish Hillary was a friend of mine, but we have never met. Hillary may have not safeguarded some government “secrets” as well as she should have, and I am sure that you believe that she lied about it.
However, to my knowledge she never committed adultery like Trump and Bentley or even her husband, and unlike Bentley she isn’t in the process of being impeached for ethics violations committed while flying his girl friend around on the state plane until his wife divorced him. Unlike Trump, from an early age she devoted her life to assisting those less fortunate than herself. Unlike Trump she didn’t spend her life seeking to enrich herself at the expense others, including many hardworking Americans. Unlike Trump she disclosed her tax returns and financial records for at least the last ten years – unlike Trump she had nothing to hide in those records. Unlike Trump she never had the support of neo-Nazis and white supremacists. Unlike Trump, her campaign staff wasn’t filled with Russian sympathizers who were secretly communicating with Russian agents behind the scenes and unlike Trump she isn’t having a very public bromance with Putin, probably our most dangerous enemy. Unlike Trump, she doesn’t speak the English at a 4th grade level. Unlike Trump she isn’t a compulsive liar who lies even when it isn’t necessary. Unlike Trump, she isn’t narcissistic egotist who craves attention and has to tell everyone how great she is on a regular basis. I also know the she would never praise Bashar al-Assad or aggravate the hell out of our best allies while embracing our enemies.
I suspect that if a guy like Trump were your next door neighbor you wouldn’t call him a friend unless you were just after his money.
Hillary wasn’t a perfect candidate by any means, but I was proud to support her. If you are proud to support Trump because of all of these traits, you are a sorry human being. However, I don’t believe that is the case. I believe that most of Trump’s supporters are not “deplorables”. I believe that they support Trump despite all of his ugly traits and they are willing to put up with him because the see him as a means to an end. In that case they should be honest with themselves and admit that is why they support him and quit trying rationalize away all of his negatives and make fools of themselves in the process.
Cajun 2/1/2017
Certainly the presence of Donald J Trump in the White House is a national disgrace. In an extremely short time he has proven that to any impartial observer. I am still puzzled that over 63 million of us voted for him and hope that all but the small number who did so for racist and hateful reasons are quickly becoming disabused of that support.
Hillary Clinton does have, as you so eloquently even passionately note, a long history of public service. However, while she would have certainly represented this nation is a far saner fashion than its current occupant, she represents the status quo, and that includes the rampant corruption and undue influence of corporate America that has led our nation to this almost third world status.
Clinton would have done little to nothing about the migration of more and more money to fewer and fewer, she would not have , in my opinion, attempted to stem the tide of our legislative bondage to the MIC, to Wall Street, and to the Oil and Gas Industries. Nor would she have meant stability in foreign affairs with respect to our deteriorating relationship with Vlad the Invader, not with her call for a no fly zone in Syria that would have put us squarely against Russian forces there.
It is no secret that the Clinton’s have become wealthy during their “service to this nation”, quite rich indeed. They have done so by pandering to the very entities in greatest need of curtailing. So the fact of her clumsiness with state secrets, if indeed there were such on that server, was not a real issue in any sense.
The election of Clinton might have made some of us more secure, less troubled that does the current president with his attempts to turn his office into a dictatorship. But , considering all the ills that we are experiencing, considering that we have been at war for fifteen years and counting, while very real problems go begging for funding, while our public schools do not serve our children at all well, while our infrastructure crumbles, our tax code remains unfair to most and a giveaway to those who need it least, while our young adults graduating college carry crushing burdens of debt into their working lives, debt that retards their ability to purchase homes, and has a huge negative affect upon our economy, I do not think the election of Hillary Clinton would have done much to stem this tide.
Maybe we need a rude awakening, perhaps Trump is the nightmare that will jerk this sleeping nation from its slumber. Keep in mind that over 60 million eligible voters failed to do their duty by voting in this last election. Democracy is a participatory sport after all, and it simply doesn’t work as designed when so many do not participate.