Showing Class

I REMEMBER  how devastated I was the day after Donald Trump was elected, and sleep deprived. I walked into the senior center, half awake, and one of my buddies, an old redneck with an eighth grade education said: "how come you aint wearing no Hillary Clinton button today?" I said something rude, like "shove it". or "up yours". He accused me of being a poor loser. I denied it. He said"yes you are" and i again assured him otherwise. he persisted "the hell you aint!", and again I said no, I am not a poor loser. congratulations to Mr. Trump, and I wish him nothing but the best. He and I are on the same team. I was sincere, and I quietened the old redneck. then, on inauguration day, I promised myself and others to give the new president a fair chance, the only honorable thing to do, despite the fact that I have loathed Donald Trump for decades, his grandstanding, showing off his trophy wives and wealth, making in general an ass out of himself, including on his television show in which he drew attention by acting like a tyrant and bully, a carnival barker and clown. I kept my promise, and gave Trump a fair chance. If Donald Trump had not told twenty thousand confirmed lies during his first term, had not accepted Russian assistance getting elected, had not attempted to blackmail an American ally into giving him damaging information on Biden, did not fire and slander members of his administration who dare disagree with him, did not pretend that climate change is a hoax rather than accept the reality of it and take the drastic action so badly needed, did not constantly obstruct justice, promote tax breaks for the wealthy, conceal his own income tax returns, and engage in all manner of corruption, financial and otherwise, did not alienate allies and coddle dictators, and a few other things, I would support him. But one must draw the line somewhere, as we say. I know of no opponent of Barack Obama who even considered giving him a chance. On the day his Obama's inauguration congressional Republicans met, and agreed to oppose everything Obama proposed, his entire agenda, before it was even proposed formally. They refused to give a fair hearing to Obama's supreme court nominee, Merrick Garland. No, Obama's opponents never gave him a fair chance. If nothing else, I can honestly say that I gave Donald Trump a fair chance, and that he failed to take advantage of it.