Wednesday, November 09, 2016

Unity


Warning: Language ahead.

Let's review, shall we?

The 2000 election was very close and contested. There were voting irregularities in Florida, a court challenge, multiple attempted recounts, and then the conservative Supreme Court intervened and said, "No recounts. Bush wins." This was, of course, controversial.

Nevertheless, Democratic candidate Al Gore stepped aside and conceded graciously. George W. Bush became President for 8 years, during which time Democrats worked with him, especially after 9/11.

At the end of those tumultuous 8 years, the United States had lost thousands of lives, was mired in two wars, and the economy was cratering. Barack Obama was elected President in 2008 by nine and a half million votes and won the electoral college 365 to 173. At the end of such a catastrophic Presidency, one might expect Republican leadership to acknowledge mistakes, understand why they had lost so badly, and act with contrition, working with the new President, to put themselves back on track.

Not these fine folk.

Before President Obama was even inaugurated, they decided in secret to oppose every single initiatie Obama wanted. President Obama appointed Republicans to his cabinet. He appointed Republicans to key posts (James Comey, the FBI director who blew up the election a couple of weeks ago is a Republican), adopted Republican ideas, like what became Obamacare, and constantly reached across the aisle. For his troubles, they stonewalled, they obstructed, they attacked him, and even, for his entire Presidency, questioned his status as an American citizen. Republican obstruction slowed the economic recovery and hurt millions of Americans. Republican Senators have even sat on a Supreme Court nomination for 10 months, something unheard of in modern politics, and, when it looked like Hillary Clinton would win the 2016 election, suggested never allowing her to appoint any Justices.

Finally, for their 2016 candidate, they chose the one guy who most embodies the "Birther" movement, denying President Obama's citizenship, Donald Trump.

Which brings us to today. Now that Trump is in the transition stage, post-election, suddenly Republicans are calling out for unity. It's time for all Americans to come together. We need to put this divisiveness behind us for the good of the country.

Well, FUCK. THAT. NOISE.

Seriously, they acted like angry selfish children for 8 years, hurting millions of Americans, and now that they're back in control they want people to treat them kindly? It's okay to behave that way when Democrats are in charge but not when they hold the power?

FUCK. THOSE. GUYS.

The President and Hillary, both patriots with honor and dignity, today called on people to give Trump his due and wished him a successful Presidency. I respect that and them.

But FUCK. THAT. SHIT.

And just today Mitch McConnell began salivating over the idea of immediately repealing Obamacare in January, costing 20 million people their health insurance. He is gleeful at the idea of Americans being once again at the mercy of a heartless, money-based healthcare system.  This will literally cost people their lives and he's excited about it.

FUCK. MITCH. MCCONNELL.  Just fuck that immoral, soulless, asshole.

This entire election has been like a nightmarish satire. While Clinton may not have been the best candidate, she is a smart, experienced, compassionate leader who would have been a good President, maybe even a great one. But she couldn't overcome 30 years of Republican slander and sexism. And her opponent is a pathological liar who has no interest in or knowledge of policy; he's in it all for the accolades, to serve his enormous ego.

I never for even a moment thought Trump had a chance at this thing. I had too much faith in the decency and intelligence of the American people. Hell, like Al Gore, who had 500,000 more votes than Bush nationwide but still lost, Hillary has 200,000 more votes than Trump. But because of our stupid, archaic electoral college, for the second time in 20 years, the candidate that received the most votes lost.


FUCK. TRUMP. NOT MY PRESIDENT.


2 comments:

Unknown said...

Would it be OK if I cross-posted this article to WriterBeat.com? I'll be sure to give you complete credit as the author. There is no fee, I'm simply trying to add more content diversity to the site and I liked what you wrote.

Autumn

Ipecac said...

Thanks, Autumn, I appreciate the compliment! Unfortunately, Writersbeat seems to be rather overstocked with Trump supporters right now and while I appreciate your efforts to add more content diversity, I don't want to get into any flamewars right now.