General Discussion

Your approach would work if we stay at the level of corruption that we were at not so long ago. But, this new crop of Trumpian buddies are going to nag him into a more perverse behavior. This is what we fear. He has announced what amounts to atrocities. That's what we are going to be dealing with.

We can choose not to believe, and wait for it. Or, we can take him at his word and prepare for it. We have the example of history to know how these evil people get entrenched, when ordinary peaceful people are subjugated and used to keep the dictator in place.

If you woke up one morning and discovered that your whole neighborhood had been arrested and hauled off, and that one of those doing the arresting was your dear friend who saved your life once upon a time, would you still feel that you owe him something even though his political beliefs do not align with yours? It's even harder when the Trumpian believer is a family member.

You don't have to hate anyone. There is a whale of a difference between hate and anger. Right now I am angry with all Republicans. They can stay away from me. As a group, their blind worship of a mean, vile fat pig is enough to dim the lights. But, why is that woman putting Trump signs in her yard? She doesn't appear to care about YOU. If she's doing it as camouflage, that's trickier.

I admire your WWJD approach to the problem of Trump lackeys and enablers. I have discovered that I am not capable of that. I don't want anyone smiling and telling me that Trump is God and will save my soul. Actually, I'm asking every day for him to just disappear from the Earth. That's where I am. And since I paid my dues by arguing with otherwise smart but seemingly stupid family members, I'm not bothering with that anymore. I have one relative left. We keep it polite. He knows that my bubble is Trump free.

I'm quite likely to stay sharp on how Trump is ripping up our country, but I am tuning out otherwise. That's because I have discovered that not seeing Trump's scowling face or hearing his stupid pronouncements keeps me calm. We have to live like this for the next four years, being strong to resist, being embarrassed in front of the world, and figuring out how to save the template of our nation. It's going to be really, really hard to even be cordial to any Republican or person who voted for Trump.

But, that's reality. We let a monster skate. We are all in it together.