Getting Political

A 1941 cartoon by Dr. Seuss.

Not wanting to suck as a human being, and also not wanting to add to the divisiveness that is politics, I've been pretty quiet on social media and most conversations, clicking "like" here and there, and maybe sharing an article. Exceptions? I'll lament to Chris or a participate in a general "holy-crap-what-a-Trump-shit-show" with people I know won't be offended by me commenting in such a way on said shit show.

But because I believe utter despair is even less Christian than cheating on your just-gave-birth wife, defending neo-Nazis, lying pretty much all the time, displaying the greed and impulsiveness of a toddler (a really rotten toddler), or enacting child abuse on some of the world's most vulnerable and voiceless citizens, I know no other way to hope than to string together some words and hope they lead to actions that make an effing difference.

Yes, yes, Trump is terrible and awful. We know.

Do we?

Trump is killing America, death by a thousand cuts. The biggest danger is that we might stop noticing each cut, stop recognizing each bit of blood until we're all bled out. We either rationalize something outrageous (I'm looking at you, Fox News) or get quickly distracted by the next crazy tweet.

Let's recap just a few of those cuts:

• Muslim ban. Remember that? 
• Charlottesville commentary. Remember that too? 
• Trade wars screwing businesses and making the crappy toys we buy from China cost more. While I don't care about the cost of Barbie dolls, it's not terribly Republican. 
• We managed to piss off Canada. That's like angering a Golden Retriever. 
• Our president has unabashed admiration for the North Korean dictator and envies the way his totalitarian regime can control its people. (Fun fact: democracy, free speech, and free press make that waaay more tricky, but let's give Trump an A for effort there.) He's even jealous of Kim Jong Un's military parades. But who has a bigger rocket? (ohmygod, we're all gonna die.)
• We pulled out of the Paris climate accord, because eff the earth. Caring about the planet and whether your children will die of natural causes or the earth just saying, "I cannot sustain life for you people anymore. Adios."---that's just being liberal. Because rising water levels and monthly "once-in-a-generation" storms are political. 
• Deliberate undercutting of the press to erode people's trust of journalism and increase their acceptance of propaganda.
• Children--children!--being separated from their parents and emotionally abused as political pawns.

I mean, who even cares about Stormy Daniels at this point? Beyond being a ray of hope as fodder for impeachment?

Listen. It takes more fingers and toes than I have to count all the Trump supporters I know and love. And to my who-would-vote-for-Trump? brethren, I beseech you to listen. Listen. These are not bad people. They are loving, hardworking people. Honestly? They probably work harder than you. They care deeply for families, their country, their ways of life. Some held their noses and voted; others are all in. Some feel frightened. Some feel threatened. Some willingly embrace ignorance because they can't be bothered to fact-check a meme. But they are just people, believing--I think--what they believe to be right.

So, threatened by what? It's complicated. And probably wrong. But there is pain there. A white male slowly disenfranchised by a shifting economy? A media that makes him out to be backward and gun-slinging? I imagine it would be mighty tempting to align with the most powerful, the loudest, the brashest, the one who promises WINNING. Screw all the brown people. Even their children.

Even rewritten, my above paragraph has an patronizing edge, and I'm sorry. Let me try again:

Fear. Fear that is urging a turn inward and defending. Rhetorical nonsense under the banner of "patriotism." MAGA. America first.

Yeah, I can't quite kill the tone. Maybe it's because I don't buy it. Looking out for number-one is pretty much just a douche-canoe way to operate. And readily accepting the lies coming from White House because they're convenient to one's biases is just intellectually dishonest.

It's easy for me to coast into my white-collar job in an overly air-conditioned office, cock my head, and be all: "Why are all the Trump supporters so angry?" I get that. I don't live in a border state, I don't see my manufacturing job fading away, I don't own a gun and don't intend to, I'm not doing squat as a single mom because I'm not a single mom. There are squeezes on people that are scary, squeezes I don't know or understand. And Trump is just the idiotic toddler in an ill-fitting suit who came along at the "right" time. But this beautiful country that I love is operating out of fear and greed, opting for cruelty instead of humanity, accepting lies instead of truth. And we're acting like bullies.

Well. Here we are. We are now sanctioning child abuse at the borders. A new low, even for this administration. Trump has always scoffed at humanity, morality, decency. To him, these are weak traits that are not in America's best interest. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who reportedly prays (you really can't blame her) before every so-called press briefing, has the audacity to feign indignation when this administration is pressed by journalists as to what is true, decent, or moral. And I just wonder, what does she pray for before each trip out to that platform? To get away with it?

If there was ever a test of our collective humanity, surely the border crisis is it (for now, because, well, Trump). If you had good parents, and I hope you did, do you remember what it was like to be a child? Did you ever tinker with the idea of something happening to your parents? Some sort of separation? When I was little, I watched the movie, American Tale (ha, no irony there!), where Fievel was separated from his parents. The movie overwhelmed me with grief as a little girl. It was my worst fear actually happening for that animated mouse. I could barely handle the movie, and I sobbed when he was reunited with his parents at the end. I remember this so clearly--Fievel absolutely nailed my deepest childhood fear: being separated from Mommy and Daddy.

Now I'm a mom, like oodles of you reading this. Remember how you got briefly separated from your child in a store or library, and you found your crying child one minute later? "I thought I lost you!" your child sob-says.

It. Is. Primal. For. Children. To. Need. Their. Parents.

And it is crucial that people who support(ed) Trump draw a fucking line in the sand. If not now, when?

You want to create criminals? Emotionally scar them as children.

The social workers at these detention centers are not permitted to touch the children. Think about that. Any mother knows that children NEED physical touch, especially some children (I'm thinking of my Lorelei) who express or receive love or comfort through touch. Geez, just backstage momming with a slew of 5- and 6-year-olds who were either coming down sick or caught with stage fright, I'm telling you, you touch as part of your soothing. You rub a back sympathetically, hold a hand, let a child onto your lap. Children who are scared or hurting need it. They seek it out. Physical touch fills a deep, primal need in the child.

Imagine a child who is not only a real-life Fievel without parents, but no one--NO ONE--can touch him or her? No one can wipe her tears, pick her up, rock her, rub her back, hold her hand. It's a horrifying thought.

And I'm really curious who is handling diapering and potty training with these kids. And Lord have mercy, if (when) children get sick? Think about your children when they are sick.

I see how much my own girls need Chris and me---and that's in a familiar environment, with routine and predictability. Any mother or father should be able to look at their own children and comprehend--with horror--the emotional abuse taking place on these most vulnerable children.

Do not be fooled. Trump is pretending that the law must be "fixed" before anything can be done to help these families, which he insincerely describes as "sad." The separation of families is entirely--entirely--within his control to fix. It is a discretionary issue that he has the power to control. This is a fact. There is NO law requiring the separation of families. Trump is exploiting these children to get his wall, using them as leverage. Super classy. Super typical.

Leaders, especially Republicans, need to sack up and provide a moral compass to what has become a joke of a political party, in this girl's mind. Some have had real consciences since the start of this administration, such as John McCain, who called what is happening at the border an "affront to the decency of the American people." Others are heading out of office and speak freely; others fear Trump supporters and their own re-election. Maryland's (Republican) governor made a strong statement against the zero-tolerance policy, pulling Maryland's National Guard back from supporting border patrol efforts as a form of protest. People, it can be done. Contact your representatives, especially in those red states, and let your reps know that the President does not speak for you. That your state, that your country, is better than this.

Death by a thousand cuts? Dare I say that the people who need to speak loudest are the ones who voted for Trump? Quit reposting misinformation, fact check a few things, and leverage your vote for good, not evil.

Any leader too weak to stand up to what is passing for our current president deserves to be voted out of office. Any parent too weak to stand up to cruelty of what is currently passing for leadership deserves to be asked the question, how would your child do? Picture her face, separated from you. How would she cope? To what dark places would her mind go? Would she regress and have potty accidents? Suck her thumb? Would she hit or bite herself or others? Would she moan for you, or scream and fight? Or would she just curl into herself and shut down? Your child. Imagine your child. Understand that these children are worth just as much. Are just as human.

Do something. You live in America, land of the free, home of the brave. You haven't just traveled across multiple countries on foot and arrived in an inhospitable country with zero rights. You are American. You have the power to do something good and right and worthwhile.

By all means. Make America great again.