So here we are four years later. It seemed impossible that the reality TV star could pull it off, but he did in the 2016 election. America was sleepy and assuming as Trump snatched the driver’s seat to the land of the free.
There are several things that are far worse than when this all started. Those things go without saying in 2020, unless you have been hibernating for the last nine months. But what about the silver lining?
Organizations have gained steam since he showed up. Black Lives Matter and #TheMeToo movement has far more support now, but that is likened to what happens when you turn on your back porch light and all of the bugs show up.
Trump came along and ignited the racist fringe to combine their forces like some backwoods swamp bottom feeder version of Power Rangers.
Trump has provided a necessary, if unintentional, benefit by leading the racist, homophobic and misogynistic hordes into the light of the mainstream American political stage.
He came in like the Pied Piper of Hamelin pushing the rats into the open with his magical flute, parading before our eyes an insidious disease that plagues our nation, so that we may see it clearly.
So, the question is: where would we be without Trump? Well, if we look at the bright side a light now shines on the darkest corners of this great nation that needed tending.
The racists have been emboldened to step out of their shadows. You don’t have to wear a white hood to be an enemy to people of color.
Some men still believe they can lay claim, like real estate, to the uterus of every woman in the “free world.”
We now know that to a large portion of the population, fetuses matter more than brown children.
Men in positions of power can physically assault women and women will be blamed. We also know that those same men can lead this country and hand down rulings from the highest courts in this nation.
There is a lack of separation of church and state, unless you are talking about the protections offered white, cisgendered conservative and “Godfearing” citizens from having their public symbols or tax benefits removed.
It would seem that pro-life means fetus. We have learned that the anti-abortion stance ends for some at the inconvenience of wearing a mask in favor of a narcissistic view of civil liberty that endangers our most vulnerable and most marginalized Americans.
In many ways, integrity is less important than winning for a vast majority of our nation, and we would have none of this without the clown show Trump has orchestrated.
So, let’s raise our glasses to finally being able to recognize that America is not great and needs healing.
We saw record-breaking numbers of citizens vote this week which, if Trump wins, we can only hope he extinguishes the flames of division that’s plagued our country for the past four years. If Trump does not win, let’s hope we can keep the momentum of change going.
