Click on the links/Images below to learn some of the particulars of what Trump did yesterday. It gives frightening a good name:
Heather Cox RichardsonRobert Reich
What executive orders did Trump sign on Inauguration Day?
-Stop Paris climate agreement
-Federal hiring freeze
-Get lethal injection drugs to carry out executions.
-withdraw the US from the World Health Organization
-TikTok will keep going 75 days
-pardon of 1,500 Jan. 6 rioters
-more security at the southern border
-suspension of all U.S. foreign assistance programs
-Create "Department of Government Efficiency"
-modify refugee admission program
-Declaring a national emergency S. border
-Stop weaponization of political adversaries
-drug cartels are foreign terrorist organizations
-preventing government censorship of speech
-address the cost of living crisis
-federal workers return to in-person work
-Regulatory freeze
-Resent 78 previous executive orders
-stop wind projects
THIS WAS ON A FRIEND’S PAGE: An anguished question from a Trump supporter: ‘Why do liberals think Trump supporters are stupid?’
THE SERIOUS ANSWER: Here’s what the majority of anti-Trump voters honestly feel about Trump supporters en masse:
That when you saw a man who had owned a fraudulent University, intent on scamming poor people, you thought "Fine." (https://www.usatoday.com/.../trump-university.../502387002/
)
That when you saw a man who had made it his business practice to stiff his creditors, you said, "Okay." (https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-hotel-paid-millions...
)
That when you heard him proudly brag about his own history of sexual abuse, you said, "No problem." (https://abcnews.go.com/.../list-trumps-accusers.../story...
)
That when he made up stories about seeing Muslim-Americans in the thousands cheering the destruction of the World Trade Center, you said, "Not an issue." (https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../donald-trumps.../
)
That when you saw him brag that he could shoot a man on Fifth Avenue and you wouldn't care, you exclaimed, "He sure knows me." (https://www.usatoday.com/.../president-donald.../4073405002/
)
That when you heard him relating a story of an elderly guest of his country club, an 80-year old man, who fell off a stage and hit his head, to Trump replied: “‘Oh my God, that’s disgusting,’ and I turned away. I couldn’t—you know, he was right in front of me, and I turned away. I didn’t want to touch him. He was bleeding all over the place. And I felt terrible, because it was a beautiful white marble floor, and now it had changed color. Became very red.” You said, "That's cool!" (https://www.gq.com/story/donald-trump-howard-stern-story
)
That when you saw him mock the disabled, you thought it was the funniest thing you ever saw. (https://www.nbcnews.com/.../donald-trump-criticized-after...
)
That when you heard him brag that he doesn't read books, you said, "Well, who has time?" (https://www.theatlantic.com/.../americas-first.../549794/
)
That when the Central Park Five were compensated as innocent men convicted of a crime they didn't commit, and he angrily said that they should still be in prison, you said, "That makes sense." (https://www.usatoday.com/.../what-trump-has.../1501321001/
)
That when you heard him tell his supporters to beat up protesters and that he would hire attorneys, you thought, "Yes!" (https://www.latimes.com/.../la-na-trump-campaign-protests...
)
That when you heard him tell one rally to confiscate a man's coat before throwing him out into the freezing cold, you said, "What a great guy!" (https://www.independent.co.uk/.../donald-trump-orders...
)
That you have watched the parade of neo-Nazis and white supremacists with whom he curries favor, while refusing to condemn outright Nazis, and you have said, "Thumbs up!" (https://www.theatlantic.com/.../why-cant-trump.../567320/
)
That you hear him unable to talk to foreign dignitaries without insulting their countries and demanding that they praise his electoral win, you said, "That's the way I want my President to be." (https://www.huffpost.com/.../trump-insult-foreign...
)
That you have watched him remove expertise from all layers of government in favor of people who make money off of eliminating protections in the industries they're supposed to be regulating and you have said, "What a genius!" (https://www.politico.com/.../138-trump-policy-changes...
)
That you have heard him continue to profit from his businesses, in part by leveraging his position as President, to the point of overcharging the Secret Service for space in the properties he owns, and you have said, "That's smart!" (https://www.usnews.com/.../how-is-donald-trump-profiting...
)
That you have heard him say that it was difficult to help Puerto Rico because it was in the middle of water and you have said, "That makes sense." (https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../the-very-big-ocean.../
)
That you have seen him start fights with every country from Canada to New Zealand while praising Russia and quote, "falling in love" with the dictator of North Korea, and you have said, "That's statesmanship!" (https://www.cnn.com/.../donald-trump-dictators.../index.html
)
That Trump separated children from their families and put them in cages, managed to lose track of 1500 kids, has opened a tent city incarceration camp in the desert in Texas - he explains that they’re just “animals” - and you say, “Well, OK then.” (https://www.nbcnews.com/.../more-5-400-children-split...
)
That you have witnessed all the thousand and one other manifestations of corruption and low moral character and outright animalistic rudeness and contempt for you, the working American voter, and you still show up grinning and wearing your MAGA hats and threatening to beat up anybody who says otherwise. (https://www.americanprogress.org/.../confronting-cost.../
)
What you don't get, Trump supporters, is that our succumbing to frustration and shaking our heads, thinking of you as stupid, may very well be wrong and unhelpful, but it's also...hear me...charitable.
Because if you're NOT stupid, we must turn to other explanations, and most of them are less flattering.
- Adam-Troy Castro
- - - - - - - - -
TO THE PEOPLE I KNOW WHO VOTED FOR HIM,
You know how I feel about him.
I’ve never hid my contempt for him, never pulled punches in declaring with great specificity why I have so vehemently opposed him.
You’ve seen the precise detail I have gone into over the past decade in inventorying why I have been so steadfast in resisting him and his movement.
There’s nothing I could say about him here, that you don’t already know.
But as this next chapter of our nation begins, I just want you to know something I feel about you:
I am going to hold you responsible:
for every vile and disgusting thing he says,
for every way he perverts our systems,
for every reprehensible decision he makes,
for every human being whose life he makes a living hell,
for every immigrant he rounds up in hospital beds and churches,
for every legislative assault on the rights of women and LGBTQ people, the poor, and the elderly,
for every economic catastrophe he generates,
for every international conflict he enflames,
every public health emergency he exacerbates,
every natural disaster he weaponizes.
You chose this.
You chose him.
For likely the third time, you had a chance to reject his vitriol, to condemn his criminality, to prevent his lawlessness, to denounce his bigotry—and you flat-out refused. More than that, you celebrated it. That’s not something I can quietly abide.
You’re not some faceless statistic who is part of a theoretical voting block or a nondescript, red-hatted member of a jeering mob or a single number in some exit poll. You’re someone I’ve shared life with, shared holiday tables with, worked alongside, grew up with. I know who you are, at least who I thought you were, and so this is personal for me.
You know I have LGBTQ family members and you’re throwing them to the wolves.
You know I have a daughter I adore and you’ve participated in her marginalization.
You know the vulnerable communities I’ve tried to advocate for and you’ve willingly partnered in their discrimination.
You know the threats my family and I have endured at the hands of his followers and you’ve counted yourself among them now.
And no matter how you’ve chosen to justify your allegiance to him, ultimately you made your decision, and quite frankly, I have lost the respect for and the affinity I had with you. There is a divide between us now that will never be completely removed.
We may share history and memories but we do not share elemental values, and that’s something I won’t simply accept because this isn’t about some relatively benign topics we can agree to disagree on. This is about our fundamental values, our core moral principles, and our dealbreakers on how other human beings should be treated. This is about tens of millions of flesh-and-blood human beings who will be visited by adversity, injury, sorrow, and death because of the choice you made.
I’m telling this to you now, because we probably aren’t going to be talking as much in the coming months and this will be by design. I will be spending my time more judiciously moving forward, and I don’t believe in wasting any of the fleeting moments I have left here in pretending or performing or in feigning connection when that connection has been irreparably harmed by your affiliation with him.
And when we do see one another, there will likely be lots of talking around the real stuff: lots of surface-level conversations about the weather and the kids and sports, but just know that I will not be letting you off the hook for any of the horrors ahead.
You might label this all as petty or judgmental or hateful, but honestly I’m really not concerned with what you think because you’ve proven yourself to have fairly terrible discernment and questionable morals.
Though you’ll likely contend so, I’m not a hateful, bitter, or unforgiving human being, I’m just someone who has a clear understanding of what matters to me in this life, and I believe in holding adults accountable for the irresponsible decisions they make, the due diligence they avoid, the discrimination they perpetuate, the suffering they turn away from, the violence they nurture, and the ugliness they ratify. I don’t wish you ill will or hope for tragedy to befall you, even if it may come from the very man you’ve given power to. I want the same peace of for you that I want for every other person on the planet.
But by voting for him you have declared how little we have in common, how small our shared ground of agreement is, and how different the visions of this nation we share.
And as much as it grieves me, I’m simply choosing to believe you.
 |
| https://www.craiyon.com/image/CrO3ts69Q9-yE6Z_sTZBEQ |
