I only got 3 hours of sleep the night Donald John Trump, president and chairman of venturing conglomerate The Trump Organization, was elected the 45th president-elect of the United States of America. I would have slept well that night, but there's one problem: I live in the United States of America.
We've all had to constantly hear his voice for over a year now. I honestly thought the beginning of his presidential run was a joke. Just at random, a popular businessman with 0 political experience decides he's running for the highest political order possible. And then a lot of people voted for him. I mean, of all the random businessmen to run for president in U.S. history, this could have happened with Henry Ford. This coulda happened with J.P. Morgan. This coulda happened with Zig Ziglar. Not saying these are all the greatest people in the world, but they look pretty good next to Donald Trump.
I've had a weird feeling for the last day or two. It's the same feeling I've had when something I've followed closely just unexpectedly dissipates into obscurity; as though my past experience was not even reality. On different levels, I've had this feeling before. Breaking up with a girlfriend, the 2016 NBA Finals, the whole thing where my church raised the baptismal age to 18 for children of homosexual parents... Anyway, the shock usually lasts 6 hours to 2 days. I have more to say this time than usual. So here we go!
The fact that you're reading this means you're a friend of mine, probably even on a personal level. So in this case, I feel safe telling you: I hate Donald Trump.
--Has never held an actual political position
--Plans to remove 2 million people from the country within the first 100 days of his presidency
--Does not think global warming is an actual occurrence
--Wants a 3rd world country to pay for a wall that extends across our entire southern border
--Makes his own products in China, yet labels China a "currency manipulator"
--Thinks rich men are permitted to grab women "by the pussy"
These aren't even "complaining Democrat" things. These are universally disappointing things.
As for "complaining Democrat" things, here's 2 paragraphs. Feel free to skip...
As for his crucial opponent Hillary Clinton, I still wish she had lost the Democratic bid to Bernie Sanders. I voted for Hillary in November because she is, at base level, a member of my political party who generally believes the same stuff I do (dang, that sounded vague). Her track record is icky. That cannot be avoided. And yet, the majority of the dirt found on her can also be found on Obama, the Bushes, and her husband. America was dealing with terrorism-supporters even in the Grampa Reagan era (sorry, dissing Reagan is "Scott" thing). Trump's victory may be looked at as a successful show of how little our government is trusted among its own people; Trump beat the system. But here's a teaser: Trump will give in to political corruption. He will. Just like most anyone else.
Trump's LGBT views are actually pretty vague, although his VP Mike Pence claims one can switch into heterosexuality via conversion therapy. That idea was denounced about 50 years ago. In a country where we allow religious freedom in everything from Judaism to Mormonism to Islam to the Ku Klux Klan, I've always thought permitting homosexual marriages to be a more than fair right to the American people.
Trump's presidential campaign sprouted from some incidental vie for power. I suppose anyone running for president is making a bold statement of self-confidence in the first place. But at +$3 billion net worth and 0 political experience, I have no idea what he's been trying to prove.
Nobody reading this has ever benefited from The Trump Organization. Unless you've been to that one casino and had a good time or something. I watched a couple episodes of The Apprentice when I was 13. That's about it.
I've read a lot of facebok statuses about how we need to be kind to each other. This is true. My state of anxiety won't last long. And I have a handful of good friends who have openly supported Trump. So I hereby refuse to be that annoying guy on the internet who posts a slew of code-red memes or consistently refers to the president as a tyrant. This blog is simply my precursor statement. By writing this, I never have to say it again. Someone I hate is now the president-elect of my country.
As for everyone saying this is the dawn of an apocalypse, I disagree. I think some of his ideas I find outrageous will come to pass, but not all of them.
I mean, I think a bad thing happened. I think we've just elected the worst presidential candidate in recent memory. If anything, a good sum of American people will be rejected common civil rights. This is a bad thing. And considering I'm a heterosexual white male, I think it would be ignorant of me to just tip-toe around that fact. If anything kept me shocked these last couple days, it's that that I had no idea he was going to win. Something I (and many others) have been joking about all year... actually happened.
I would definitely not go so far as to say I've been in a state of "grieving;" I've been living my life pretty normally these last couple days. But I, rather ironically, have caught myself going through minor cases of the 7 stages of grief. I already mentioned "shock." "Denial" is what got me to sleep the night he was elected. Anybody who saw my ultimately extreme, temporary facebook post last night around 11:00 knows I've gone through the "anger" phase. I've spent too much time on-edge, and the time has come for me to enter stage 7: "ACCEPTANCE."
MY ACCEPTANCE SPEECH
I need to focus on my own life situation as much as Trump needs to focus on his. I have plenty left to figure out for my immediate future and even have some past mistakes to clean up.
I do not like Donald Trump and think he abuses the English language every time he speaks. And yet, I cannot say I am "afraid" of his presidency. That would either lead to a persistent 4-year spurt of inner-anxiety or being super obnoxious on the internet. I don't like either of those things. I'd rather just accept the fact that people will bring up President Trump in conversation and I can just nod while pleasantly saying something like, "Oh yeah. I don't like that guy."
Consider this my official acceptance.
