Republicans: Leave Hillary Alone!
My peeps are all shocked and saddened, of course, by this Trump thing. Everyone is wondering what to do next. One school of thought is, let Trump govern, or try to; when his voters see nothing changing, they’ll realize he’s no more effective at fixing things than Democrats, so maybe that will topple the two-parry system. (There’s a lot of that kind of thinking in Oakland.) They’re not sure what will replace it: there’s a lot of idealism among my friends, who are awaiting some super-spiritual messiah to rise up and lead America according to principles of morality. I, myself, am too much of a realist to buy into that. I think we’re stuck with the system we have, which is a political one. My own inclination is to take a hard line towards Trump and the Republican Party: never give in, never give in, never give in, fight them on the landing-grounds, etc.
Anyhow, sorry for not posting the last two days: medical emergency. Here’s what I think. Democrats, liberals, humanists and people with a shred of human decency now will have to figure out how to deal with this catastrophe. I personally plan to take a sabbatical from nonstop watching of the news, which really has lain me low, emotionally and physically. But that doesn’t mean I’ll cease blogging to offer my commentary, for there is much that needs to be said, and will be said, to counter what is sure to be the welter of bullshit coming from the Republicans and Team Trump.
Among that B.S. is the steaming pile of sanctimony about “unity” coming from Trump’s mouth, a mouth more accustomed to expressing lies, insults, smears, threats and anger. I am reminded of the old adage, “Watch what they do, not what they say.” This man, Trump, was placed into office by a cadre of sullen, uneducated, resentful white males from bible-thumping red states and counties, people from whom I feel utterly alienated (and I know they feel alienated from me and people like me). These Trump storm troopers will demand that he enact nativist, backward-looking legislation aimed at undermining the one-half of the population they wish to get rid of. Trump will be only too eager to accommodate them, and with a tea-party, Christianized Congress and (soon to be) Supreme Court, he will attempt his own Machtergreifung (the German word for Hitler’s seizure of power in 1933) and enact his rightwing agenda.
So what do we liberal-humanists do?
One of the first things an over-confident Trump movement could attempt is the persecution of Hillary Clinton. We all heard from the Trump brownshirt the other day who said of Hillary, “Kill the fuckin’ bitch”—a horrific slur that Trump’s lapdog, Giuliani, relished and would not denounce. We know that a good part of the Republican Congress has vowed to prosecute Hillary and will not rest until they throw her in jail. So what can we expect, especially in the House? A re-launching of Benghazi and the email nonsense into a Republican witch hunt, complete with hearings, subpoenas and hateful invective. At the very first sign of this—the first press conference, the first announcement—we must take to the streets, in overwhelming numbers, to issue a stark, simple message to Republicans:
LEAVE HER ALONE!
These deplorable white men, these open-carry ranters, these bratty children playing with matches—they think they’ve won it all now, and in their swaggering confidence, they believe they can get away with anything they want, starting with locking her up. Well, we have to stand up to the bullies, even though they may be bigger and better armed than we, and are led by the Bully-in-Chief. Liberal-humanists must show them we will not be intimidated. From Boston to San Francisco, Austin to Portland, Atlanta to Albuquerque to Seattle to Denver to Topeka, we will link arms, surround courthouses and State houses and even the sacred halls of Congress itself, and tell the haters:
LEAVE HER ALONE!
For in going after Hillary, these bullies are going after, not just one woman in a pantsuit, but the sixty millions of us who voted for her—more than Trump’s total. We who respect and admire Hillary Clinton will defend her against any aggression by a mob of vengeful haters. If the Congress—and that means Trump, who now owns the Republican Party—insists on throwing down the gauntlet, let us assure them they will not find a passive, demoralized opposition, but us, energized and unhumbled, sure of ourselves and our cause, convinced this election will be nullified by events. It is we whom the Republicans will have to break before they lay their fat, white hands on Hillary.
Perhaps they won’t. Perhaps Trump will tell them not to, and they’ll listen to their Great Leader. But let this stand as a warning to Republicans, and a rallying cry to Democrats: don’t mess with Hillary Clinton.
LEAVE HER ALONE!
