Words Fail When Talking About Trump

Day by day it’s more difficult find new words to describe Donald Trump the person, and what he is doing to America. Each tweet brings something new and appalling. Yes, if we had only listened to Hillary; but then again 'Oh those emails.'

In columns my references to Trump include his being a misogynist, a sexist, a racist, a friend of racists, a friend of fascists, a man with no understanding of history, uneducated, and a disgusting pig. The last brought outrage from friends who said I was offending every pig.

For the moment, like it or not, this man is our President. He represents us on the world stage. He is invited to world forums and will be invited to speak at the United Nations. How could this have happened? We know part of the reason; nearly 50% of Americans didn’t vote. Some who didn’t like Hillary and voted for a third party candidate ended up helping to elect Trump. A realistic person would understand what was going to happen if that was done in big enough numbers. My Facebook page is replete with people who opine Bernie or Biden or some other candidate could have defeated Trump. But they weren’t on the ballot for a host of reasons; Bernie because he lost the primary to Hillary by nearly four million votes. It was very clear any general election vote not for Hillary was a vote for Trump and anyone who didn’t vote for her must look themselves in the mirror these days and take some responsibility for Trump.

But that’s the past and getting beyond that is what is important. Trump is in the White House. We need to work together for a future where he and the Republican Party go down to defeat. Robert Mueller may bring down Trump but we will still be left with Pence and policy-wise that could be even worse. Whichever is in the oval office in November 2018 it will be our next chance to begin to turn the tide. Taking over the House of Representatives, the Senate or both will stop any outrageous legislation Republicans can dream up. We shouldn’t have had to wait until 1:30am in the morning to know whether Trumpcare would be defeated.

If Trump is still in office in 2018 Democrats only need a majority in the House of Representatives to vote to impeach. The Senate would need two-thirds to convict and that might be hard to achieve even if Democrats take back the Senate. But just a majority in the House will in essence end the Trump Presidency and block Republican legislation.

So calling this abomination of a man names won’t accomplish what we want. We need Americans to recognize how frightening what he says and does is. Then we organize and get people to the ballot box. Democratic candidates will win if we vote. First we need to stop the nonsense about demanding ‘purity’ from our candidates as the likes of Nina Turner, president of ‘Our Revolution‘ is talking about. Turner forgets she would never have won any office if purity was a determinant to voting for her. No one is pure and there is no candidate who will pass a purity test from enough voters of all different backgrounds to win an election.

The only promise we should demand of a Democratic candidate for Congress is they will commit to vote for a Democratic Majority Leader in the Senate and a Democratic Speaker in the House of Representatives. We should ask our Democratic candidates to speak out and reject a President who is unable to fully and totally distance himself from neo-Nazis, white supremacists, racists and homophobes; and reject a president or any official who is comfortable denigrating women. Our candidates need to speak out for economic equality and opportunity.

We will not win if some who reject all Republicans are doing and all this President does and says don’t vote for the Democratic candidates up and down the ticket; from City Council, to State Legislature, to Governor, to Congress. No one can sit out the election or say they are protesting and voting for a third party candidate they know has zero chance of winning. That will only end in more Trumps being elected. What more proof do we need than George W. Bush and Donald Trump.

Winston Churchill said, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.” It is messy and the founders of our nation in their wisdom set up a form of government requiring compromise. Compromise among decent people. Racists, homophobes, misogynists, neo-Nazis and white supremacists aren’t decent people. Neither is a President who gives them comfort of any kind. Too many Americans believed his lies and voted their own biases, including bias against a woman. Let us not waste our next chance in 2018 to defeat all he stands for and take back our country.

This column was first published in the Huffington Post.