Wrapping my head around Trump voters

Recently, someone from my past got in touch with me on Facebook and I thought I'd friend them and reconnect. Oy, oy vey, oy vey is meir. (Not literally, but feeling like, oh, oh god, oh god help me - at least to me. Someone else can do a literal translation.)

We'd never been super close but her mother had been one of my favorite people growing up. This person had a post about Trump being her man and I thought she was joking. She wrote, "Carol we both voted for him, he will make this world a better place then Hillary could ever of made it.Wait & see he will turn this country around for the better." Oy vey, oy vey, oy vey.

This is who voted for him. The deluded, who he is stabbing in the back with his appointments even as I write this. I just don't know how anyone could have believed his posturing, his lies, his phony Christianity. I am trying not to get upset, but truth is, I am upset. I am upset that so many of our fellow citizens fell for his crap. 

On one hand, I knew that bunches of people voted for him, but they were faceless masses to me. On the other, I knew Hillary won the popular vote, so of course the people I know voted for her. And then I see my friend's posting and I am pulled up short. Yes, she is not well educated, and probably watches Fox News. But how could she and so many others be fooled into thinking Trump was a good alternative?

Well, I do know how. For eight years the Republican Party has been crying about how awful President Obama is. For every good thing he accomplished, they spread lies about the terrible state of our economy. For every school shooting, they disallowed reasonable gun control. People without health insurance getting health care, bad, bad, bad. Oh listen to me go on. I could vomit and I'm sure you could too.

Michelle Obama says "When they go low, we go high." I'm sorry, Michelle. It doesn't seem to be working. But what is the alternative? Getting low like they did, and still do? As much as I want to hide under a pillow, that is not the answer. My inbox is jammed with messages from groups and individuals saying we have to work together and stay strong. Which one gets my money? Which one gets my energy?

I miss Molly Ivans who had fun pointing out hypocrisy and the Emperor's New Clothes. I wish I knew someone who could lead us with humor and hope. The only way we are going to survive is if we can laugh.

Someone tell me it's a joke. Or tell me a good one that makes me smile.

By Popular Request

Back when I was a young mother with young children I accompanied my daughter's class to an art museum. At that time I also had a preschooler who was attached at my hip, super shy and would never talk to strangers. She came along on the field trip and surprised everybody by looking around and then saying to the docent, "My mom does this!" Out of the mouths of babes. I looked at this particular exhibit and was less than impressed and thought what is the difference between this artist and me? Confidence. Not only did this artist believe so much in their talent, and had to express it, they got someone else to believe in them.

I bring this up because every time I post something personal on Facebook, the response humbles and surprises me. People like my writing. What is the difference between me and professional writers? Confidence. Very often my friend Ken will ask me to blog again. Okay, Ken, I'm going to try. If anyone wants to follow me, there is a link.

Since Election Day many of us have been shaking our heads and trying to clear our vision. This didn't happen we say. This is a mistake. There will be a correction. Nope, yesterday made clear the Electoral College confirmed Donald Trump will be our next President. Get used to it if you can. The friends I follow on Facebook, the sites I visit, are all fairly liberal. They do not reflect the other side. Can I, as Michelle Obama suggests, go high when they go low? I don't know. I really don't know. As a liberal, I am tired of being kicked in the face.

Hillary Clinton is a church going Methodist Christian and the president elect doesn't even pretend to live by Christian principles, yet the religious right fought tooth and nail against her and threw their support behind him. Did it all come down to abortion? This is a man who willingly paid for abortions. Maybe there is a log in my own eye, but I can't see the mote in his supporters eyes.

Since the election we have been asked to come together as a nation and stand behind our president elect. I've been asked to put aside differences and unite. At the same time, the Neo-Nazis and White Supremecists have been feeling their oats and think they are validated each time they publicly show hate. They've been around for years, but now feel free to take a stand and strut their stuff. And just as I have been surrounding myself with like minded liberals, thinking we are a majority, they think they are a majority too.

I don't know you, the people who voted for a selfish man who thinks the rules don't apply to him. Maybe you just wanted a change, and thought what the hell, let's try something different. I do know the rules apply to me. Not only the laws of this land, but the laws of decency and universal brotherhood. At this point there is not much I can do about the election. I would like to work for abolishing the Electoral College. And I want to keep my center strong and balanced. There is stormy weather ahead, dress warmly, and hold on tight.