Don't Fool Yourself; He's an Evil Man and He's Going to Hurt You
And if you voted for him, you have dirty hands
“I will govern by a simple motto: Promises made, promises kept. We're going to keep our promises. Nothing will stop me from keeping my word to you, the people.”1
These are the words uttered by president-elect Trump in the early morning hours of November 6. And what are some of the promises made? Here are just twenty.
Rounding up, temporarily incarcerating, and deportating undocumented immigrants, using the military if necessary.
Invoking the Insurrection Act to quell public protests and demonstrations.
De-licensing and/or suing media that criticize him.
Prosecuting “enemies from within,” basically anyone he has a grudge against but especially the Biden “crime family,” Nancy Pelosi, and Adam Schiff.
Pardoning January 6 convictees who participated in his insurrection attempt.
Ceasing aid to Ukraine.
Once again pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement.
Deregulating environmental safeguards: “drill, drill, drill.”
Imposing consumer-harmful tariffs, 10% on most imported goods with an additional 60% on Chinese goods.
Eliminating the Department of Education.
Eliminating the Chinese wall between the President’s Office and the Department of Justice.
Sacking special prosecutor Jack Smith “within two seconds” of taking the oath of office and then prosecuting him and his team.
Appointing Elon Musk as an efficiency czar. Musk promises to cut $2 trillion by cutting back programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.
Appointing lunatic Robert Kennedy Jr as health services czar to “make America healthy again.”
Promising to repeal the Affordable Care Act as soon as his “concept of a plan” becomes a plan.
Waging war on “disloyal” federal employees by once again invoking Schedule F.
Pulling the U.S. out of NATO.
Withholding federal disaster funds from “blue” states.
Eliminating the National Weather Service.
Continuing to tilt tax law to privilege the wealthy.
In his campaign rhetoric, which grew steadily cruder and violent, Trump made no bones about his contempt for foreigners, women, media, constitutional safeguards, and the rule of law. He lied incessantly to boost himself and denigrate first Biden and then Harris. There seemed no standard of civility, truth-telling, or decency he was willing to honor. This should not be surprising; such behavior is the throughline of the entire adult life of this convicted felon, adjudicated rapist, and perpetual con man.
Two undeniable conclusions can be drawn from this.
In his second term, surrounded by sycophants and misfits who would never be included in any administration other than his, he will be a clear and present danger to both the United States and the entire world. This includes those benighted Americans who voted for him. What he’s promised to do will impact them negatively. And they’re foolish for not seeing as much.
They’re not simply foolish. The same people who voted for him also have dirty hands. I’m totally unimpressed by any effort, no matter how good-willed, to excuse their behavior. They voted for a man whom they knew—whom everyone knew—is utterly unprincipled, hateful, and self-serving because he’s been absolutely uninhibited, in both his words and behavior, about showing us that’s exactly who he is.
It’s as if 1930s Germans read Mein Kampf and voted for Hitler anyway because he promised to get the bloody trains running on time—but also because he titillated them by voicing their deep-seated, unutterable-in-polite-company moral darkness. And if one of those German later said, “Oops. Silly me. Did I fuck up or what?,” who among us would respond, “Oh, that’s okay. You didn’t know any better. How could you’ve?”
You MAGAists have fucked up royally. Unless you just awakened on 5 November from a nine-year coma, you can’t plausibly claim ignorance about the sort of man Trump is. If you say you’re indifferent to the horrible promises he’s made because all you’re interested in is your pocketbook, your moral compass is cynically transactional. And if you come right out and admit that you love the man not despite but precisely because of his ugliness—he not only sticks it to the “elites” whom you hate but also trumpets your own dark impulses—you’re reprehensible.
In any case, even though you won’t admit it, you’re in for it now, and you’ve dragged the rest of us along with you.
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I agree with you 100%, Kerry. He's a sick and evil man and there is no WAY I could vote for him under any circumstances. But allow me to share a shortened take on my view. Let's not kid ourselves. We ALL (US citizens and many others) have blood on our hands already. We financed and manipulated the creation of an apartheid state, itself founded on expulsion and wholesale slaughter, and now fund an ethnic cleansing if not an outright genocide. And that's JUST Israel. We murdered over a quarter of a millian civilians in Iraq by UN estimate; some estimated are double that. I don't think "blood on your hands" applies only to MAGAs. The ONLY way to avoid blood on one's hands is to pay no taxes (Thoreau-style) and vote for NEITHER of the two major candidates in the last election. These are dark times and getting darker.