Happy Festivus ya’ll. What a crazy, disastrous and sad year. 2020, more than any other year, deserves a massive Festivus, because grievances need to be aired. In lieu of ruining Christmas dinner with my complaints, I shall leave them here, for you, on the interwebs.
I thought about curating a list of my top 100 grievances against Trump, but at the end of the day it all boils down to one all-encompassing issue. He ruined Republicans and what the party stood for! No individual Republican in this country was left unharmed by Trump these last four years. If you fell in line with him and joined the Trump Train, you’ve probably had to compromise your morals many-a-time trying to defend the man and his unpresidential behavior. You’ve probably gotten into fights with your loved ones and co-workers. And you’ve probably gotten genuinely more racist in the process.
And if you didn’t fall in line, you were deemed a RINO and dismissed as a Democrat. This has been my personal hell: still desperately holding on to my original party affiliation and my fond memories associated with it, praying that things can go back to normal, and all the while internally freaking out, wondering if I might actually be a Democrat. But no! I truly haven’t changed at all. It is the make-up of the party and what is now tolerated, which has changed. Trump has infected the party with fear, racism and ignorance, and now it is diseased.
Over the past 20 years, Trump has changed his party affiliation 5 times. He tried out Republican, Independent, No Party Affiliation and Democrat. Coincidentally, he has also been working towards running for President for just as long. One can only assume he was testing out the waters, seeing where he had the best chance of success. And unfortunately, the Republicans lost. Trump hijacked the GOP and completely flipped what it means to be a Republican, because he isn’t a Republican. How insane is it that he is now doling out RINO status to life-long Republicans, while he’s never shown allegiance to the party at all, or the people who work for him. The only allegiance he has is to himself.
It’s scary how easy it was for him to manipulate so many people so quickly, and create a cult-like following. And it wasn’t long before people were referring to me as a RINO, much to my surprise. I hadn’t even heard of the term at that time, (which means Republican In Name Only btw), but apparently it has been around for over a century. In fact, here’s a fascinating article on the history of the term, written back in 2015, after John Boehner complained that he was being described as such.
I’ve always identified myself as a Republican, and although my parents were Republicans too, I always felt that I made the decision on my own, not just blindly following their lead. I’m proud of myself for not voting for Trump in the past two elections. To me that is putting country over party, and at the same time, putting my party over the candidate. I didn’t want my party associated with Trump and his ignorance, racism and alarmingly sexist behavior.
One of the worst parts in all of this is my own shame in remaining a Republican. I have to caveat my political status with a quick, ‘but I didn’t vote for Trump and I’m not racist,’ because without the hasty addendum I will be served a noticeable and harsh look of judgement from most people. And I can’t even be mad because at this point I also assume that anyone who voted for Trump the second time is at least a little bit bigoted. In 2016 they had the Clinton excuse and that they hadn’t seen him in action, but this time around they’re actively condoning a million different terrible policies, executive orders and general remarks he’s made.
So why not just be a Democrat, you ask? Because I don’t want to! And I shouldn’t have to.
So no, I am not a RINO. Mitt Romney is not a RINO. John Kasich is not a RINO. And neither was John McCain. Trump is the actual RINO, along with any and all of his supporters who deal in racism, hate and bullying, or use the Bible to somehow justify his behavior. Because as we come upon Christmas, let us not forget the words written in red. Flip to any page in the New Testament and none of them will support Trump’s behavior, in fact they’re literal lessons against it.
Here’s a meme to fully articulate my feelings on this matter.
And now to the latest drama. Trump posted a twitter video earlier tonight, lobbying for $2,000 stimulus checks instead of $600. I have to think even the hardcore MAGA people are going to be scratching their heads at this spectacle. Exactly how does this stunt showcase leadership or rationale? He could have been active in the negotiations and made his preference known from the very beginning. Why wait until after the bill has passed to say anything, with only 2 days until Christmas and deadlines looming?
As a person whose entire career vanished on March 16 of this year, I am 100% down for this $2,000 check to happen. But my check wouldn’t be going to stimulate the economy. It would immediately be put into my savings account, because as of now, I’ll need to save it for future bills and rent until my industry is allowed to resume.
But the fact that Trump couldn’t distinguish between the government funding bill and the covid relief package is both disturbing and laughable. “It’s called the covid relief bill, but it has almost nothing to do with covid,” he said. For better or worse he has been POTUS for four years, so at this point he really should be able to make the simple discernment. Even the cameraman most likely knew enough to have corrected him, and should have paused to do so. And if not the cameraman, does he not have a single intelligent advisor left? Or… is he once again intentionally manipulating people and banking on the fact that some people aren’t paying attention to congress and will take his misinformation as fact?
Most of what he listed off as frivolous spending only made him seem anti-science and racist. And while he might be right that some of those funds should be diverted to domestic covid relief, if not frozen entirely for now, he failed to mention the $1.375 billion dollars for the border wall that made it in there. And lets not forget his cringy ending, reminding us all that he is actively trying to overturn the election results.
I only wish I could have been there to see Mitch McConnell’s reaction in real time as he watched that video. I’m imagining his face going from deathly white to tomato red, followed by a whispered, ‘What the heck’. It’s probably almost as hilarious a reaction as I imagine he had that time Trump basically said voter suppression is the only way for Republicans to win elections. (More on this later, as I have THOUGHTS.) Back then I literally imagined McConnell morphing into the blond, face-palm emoji.
And why are we sending any money to people who still have their jobs and are making over $45k a year right now? $600 dollars is only half of rent in a mid-priced city, so $2000 really helps someone who is struggling and unemployed or underemployed. But $600 to a person who has had their job this entire time? That won’t do much to stimulate the economy, while $2000 to that employed person is just wasteful on the part of the government.
Instead of $2000 stimulus checks, Trump should be lobbying for at least $500-600 per week in unemployment insurance, and it should be approved through at least May, since that is the earliest they’re predicting 80% nationwide inoculation. As of now it is only $300 per week and is only approved for ELEVEN weeks, which is a joke. Where are the economists in all of this? Why am I the only voice of reason?! lol
Dang, Trump totally ruined my Festivus post with his crazy yet predictable late-night drama. Guess I’ll have to leave it to future posts to tell the Republicans all of the many other ways they have disappointed me in the past four years, Festivus or no.
Happy Festivus, Merry Christmas and good luck in 2021.
Until next time,
