The Hypocrisy of the Trump Voter

“Reluctant” Trump voters upset by Progressive vote-shaming are beyond paradoxical.

The zeitgeist of the Trump campaign is best summed up as “I don’t care how my actions make you feel – deal with it.” If one voted for Trump – no matter how reluctantly – that vote endorses the massive middle finger to America that was Trump’s campaign and is now the Trump presidency.

A New York Times article posits liberal outrage is fueling Trump approval. Before examining this idea, let’s review these inarguable (but not alternative) facts:

• ·         Donald Trump ran a racist, sexist, xenophobic campaign
• ·         Donald Trump’s most fervent supporters are white nationalists a.k.a. the alt-right a.k.a. Nazis
• ·         Donald Trump’s theme song was “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” despite protestations from the Rolling Stones

Let’s review – if you voted for Trump, you voted for a racist, sexist, xenophobe whose most fervent support comes from modern Nazis; the campaign’s theme is distilled into five words: “Don’t like it? Too bad.”

But now you want to complain that Progressives are being mean because they’re pointing out the guy you voted for is a racist?

Here’s a hint – if you don’t want to be labeled as a racist/sexist/xenophobe/bigot – don’t do things that make people think you are!

Like voting for a racist, sexist, xenophobic bigot!

Obviously, not every Trump voter is a bigot and every Hillary voter is not a person of open-minded goodwill. But own what you did! Acknowledge the guy’s history of racism that started with housing discrimination in the 70’s.

The Times’ article laments how Americans feel as if they can’t talk to each other, how some men are upset because women won’t date them because they’re Trump supporters, and how if you live in certain communities being a Trump supporter is like being gay in the 50’s.

Hyperbole much?

Frankly – the idea of the meek Trump supporter is astonishing, I was sure it was easier finding the Yeti, but the Times found these folks. The crux of their complaint – Progressives aren’t being nice and driving them to embrace Trump more – is farcical.

One guy owned a MAGA hat. He said he was too scared to wear the hat in public. Really?! Then why’d you buy the hat!

I lived in New York most of my life. I’ve been a Red Sox fan most of my life. I wore a Red Sox hat in Yankee Stadium. Proudly. I knew what I was doing and didn’t care. That’s why you buy the hat!

Let’s assume, however, mean Progressives are driving sensitive Trump supporters into the arms of His Orangeness. Does this mean if Progressive are nice these sensitive Trump supporters will get off the Trump train and board the Progressive Express?

If all it takes is a Progressive saying, “I know you voted for a racist, sexist, xenophobic Russophile. But that’s ok – you didn’t mean it. Let’s hug it out”, for you to start calling Congress and opposing the Muslim Ban, Deportation Force, Dismantling of Climate Change Initiatives, Trumpcare and the dumping of coal mine pollution into rivers, then let me say to you as Robin Williams did to Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting:

It’s not your fault.

It’s not your fault.

Son, it’s not your fault.

*holds you while you cry and purge the guilt from your soul*

Better now?

Perhaps my tone puts these Trump supporters over the edge. Maybe that tepid Trumpite resents my sarcasm and condescension.

Here’s the problem: I don’t care.

Donald Trump is morally repugnant. His ideology is one of exclusion and is antithetical to what America is.

Banning Muslims from entering the country is wrong.

Kicking out immigrants who broke a single law because they are too poor to comply with the law is wrong.

Bragging about sexual assault is wrong.

Claiming that all men engage in “locker room talk” is offensive to men who have actually been in a locker room.

Writing a giant “N” on apartment applications to denote black applicants from white applicants is wrong.

Colluding with a foreign power most charitably described as an enemy of the American people is wrong.

Attacking the media because they happen to report what you actually say is wrong.

The bottom line is Trump voters endorsed all the above actions when voting for the man. Your moral conflict is not my problem.

When Booker T. Washington was invited to dinner at the White House by Theodore Roosevelt, it sparked outrage. Senator James Vardaman said the White House was “so saturated with the odor of nigger that the rats had taken refuge in the stable”, and Senator Benjamin Tillman added, “we shall have to kill a thousand niggers to get them back in their places.”

Today, they would be rightly consigned to the dustbin of antiquity and rightfully shamed. At that time people who disagreed with them shouldn’t call them bad names but instead try to win them over.

Referring to Mexicans as rapists and criminals, stating that Islam equates to terrorism, bragging about sexual assault, denying housing to people based on their skin color are all equivalent acts to the statements of Sens. Vardaman and Tillman.

Vardaman and Tillman spent their lives advocating white supremacy over African-Americans. In their day, their words and actions were considered brash and populist but not beyond the pale.

Today, their legacy is that of unabashed bigots.

Examine Trump’s words and actions. Today, his language is brash and populist, but apparently not beyond the pale.

So, wishy-washy Trump supporters, if you can’t understand why Progressives are virulently opposed to the man you voted for and the explanation above didn’t clarify it, there’s either no helping you or you’re just not interested in being helped. 

Time For Democrats to Be Patriotic

Branding in American politics is everything – get branded as a liar, or crooked, or low energy, and these charges dog your campaign because the narrative takes on a life of its own. Donald Trump exploited his branding expertise to win the Presidency and in the process exposed a pervasive stereotype that delegitimizes the Democratic party: Only Republicans love America.

Let’s be honest Democrats, since soon after 9/11, every time we saw an American flag on a truck or a home the flag bearer wasn’t to be trusted – they stood against gay marriage, choice, were pro-war, and anti-Muslim.

During the Obama years, these flag bearers were primary conduits of the flagrantly racist birther lie. The American flag’s pairing with the modified Gadsden flag denoted angry, older white people unable to cope with the Head of State being a bi-racial man with the middle name of “Hussein.”

Democrats missed the opportunity to re-brand patriotism.

Republicans used the last 15 years to brand Democrats as people who apologize for America thanks to their abhorrence of the Constitution.

The Trump campaign and Presidency brings the Democrats’ inability to properly brand their patriotism into stark focus.

Here’s the difference: at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago estate, he flies an enormous American flag. The flag is so large the Town of Palm Beach warned him and eventually instituted daily code violations due to the flag being oversized. Trump’s response was telling the town to send him a bill. 

Democrats chortled at the billionaire’s brashness, but it established his patriotic bonafides.

Quick – name a Democrat wrapping themselves in the American flag?

You can’t.

However, losers see difficulty in opportunity – champions see opportunity in difficulty.

Here’s how that applies to Democrats – it’s time to wrap yourself in the flag and the Constitution. It’s time to articulate what REAL patriotism is.

Real patriotism is not claiming to love the Constitution while using it as a cudgel to deny people the right to vote, equal pay, and civil rights including marriage.

Real patriotism is not flying the American flag and telling people who want to come here to get out.

Real patriotism is not claiming to “support the troops” and excitedly sending them into conflict zones failing to serve the national interest.

Real patriotism isn’t whining about taxes being confiscatory while simultaneously complaining no one helps each other anymore.

Real patriotism has nothing to do with firearms.

What is real patriotism?

Real patriotism is flying the American flag along with the flag of your ethnic origin. E pluribus unum, bitches.

Real patriotism is fighting for equal rights as the Constitution clearly dictates not only in the Preamble but in the 14^th Amendment.

Real patriotism is when you have a little more fortune than others, paying your fair share to help those who didn’t win life’s lottery.

Real patriotism is pushing for equality of opportunity for those in poverty and those marginalized by an unjust system.

Real patriotism is fighting for every citizen to have the right to vote – including ex-convicts who have paid their debt to society.

Real patriotism is exhausting every single peaceful way to avoid sending our military into danger and if they must be sent into danger, it’s something serving humanity.

Real patriotism is knowing your roots as an immigrant and throwing open the doors for those who are looking for the same path your ancestors took.

Have you heard Democrats speaking in these plain terms? Me neither. I don’t have all the answers, but I do know a robust debate on patriotism is needed. The Republican idea of American exceptionalism and exclusivity is antithetical to the American ideal. The framers were men of great intellect but great flaws.

The idea of Constitutional literalism espoused by Ted Cruz and Rand Paul means African-Americans are 3/5 of a person and only white men who own property are allowed to vote.

Doesn’t sound like America to me.

It’s time for Democrats to embrace patriotism. Fly American flags and talk about how this nation is great and will be greater as we move forward and embrace equality for all. Our houses and cars must be adorned with the flag. We must constantly talk about how this country, despite its current political climate, is the best hope for people seeking a better life. Furthermore, we must talk about the Constitution as a living document holding citizens and institutions accountable.

Democrats have done a lousy job being patriotic. Patriotism is not the virtue of the vicious as Oscar Wilde once wrote – instead it’s a love of something bigger than yourself – your country. Loving America and wanting to change America so future generations of Americans don’t struggle thanks to antiquated ideas are not mutually exclusive.

If it was the case that loving America meant keeping it as is, Lincoln never would have freed the slaves.

The Bill of Rights would not exist.

Women would not be allowed to vote.

The Civil Rights movement never would have commenced.

Love wouldn’t be love.

The difference between Republicans and Democrats regarding patriotism is simply this: Republicans long for an America of yesterday because, “those were the days.”

Democrats long for a more perfect union because being patriotic means loving something enough to point out its shortcomings and working diligently to correct them.

Now it’s time for Democrats to wrap themselves in the flag while doing it – for they are the real patriots.

GGG-Jacobs: It's About Time

Finally – Gennady Golovkin and Daniel Jacobs are going to fight! March 18 at Madison Square Garden on HBO Pay-Per-View – what isn’t to like! 

Well, lots.

GGG and Jacobs knocked out their opponents one day apart and it took until mid-December to make a fight ordered in early September. Par for the course with Al Haymon-advised fighters.

Jacobs held all the leverage because GGG’s goal is to hold all the middleweight belts. Any pulling out or making of different fights means GGG is stripped of the WBA belt and Jacobs wins it without throwing a punch. No way he makes the fight at that point.

Jacobs asked for a 40% cut which GGG’s team rightly balked at. Jacobs never fought a top middleweight except for Dmitry Pirog. Fans of Jacobs will point to Peter Quillin, and Sergio Mora as legit challenges but that’s a foolish argument. Mora is years past his sell-by date, and in the first fight his balky ankle – not Jacobs’s power – ended the fight. Quillin is also a pretender. If not for a decidedly partisan crowd, no judge in their right mind would have given him the fight over Andy Lee. As it stands the fight was a draw even though Lee outclassed him.

Jacobs arrives with a 7^th round knockout of Mora which followed his 1^st round knockout of the Quillin. These are not big fights – Jacobs has no name recognition outside of Brooklyn, the only people giving him any chance are PBC die-hards who find every Haymon move a stroke of brilliance.

GGG’s ambition allowed Jacobs to drag negotiations on longer than necessary.

But, onto Jacobs and why this will not be a compelling fight.

GGG is a pressure fighter with no holes. Kell Brook used speed and impeccable technique to cause the Kazakh some problems, but there’s nothing Brook does that Jacobs replicates. Brook moves well and throws impressive combinations. GGG’s pressure style plays to Brook’s strengths, while Jacobs only fight against a substantial pressure fighter was the Pirog fight.

Why did Pirog win? Jacobs holds his hands at upper to mid chest level. This means he must raise them to throw at his opponent’s head. The style would be fine if Jacobs was a body puncher, but he’s not. Jacobs also stands straight up. The combination of carrying his hands low with standing straight is how a wobbly Mora knocked down Jacobs in their first fight. Pirog could pressure Jacobs and avoid getting hit in return. By the time Jacobs brought his hands up, Pirog shifted his weight back and Jacobs fired at air. Jacobs did land many more punches than Pirog, but Pirog’s punches were incredibly damaging.

When the knockout punch was delivered in the 5^th round, Jacobs spent much of the fight on the back foot. Unlike the Mora fight, Jacobs couldn’t fight off Pirog’s pressure.

GGG is the pressure fighter’s pressure fighter. In fact – he was supposed to fight Pirog before Pirog suffered a career-ending back injury. GGG is a master of cutting off the ring through incredible footwork. GGG uses his jab to get the opponent on the back foot, then systemically drive them back into a corner. There he unloads a barrage of hooks and upper cuts, including the devastating liver-bound left hook. Opponents will find the escape route, and GGG will sometimes even shift his feet to follow his opponent along the ropes into the next corner. For a visual on how this works, check out Lee Wylie’s “Way of the Hunter.” For GGG’s opponents, there’s no reprieve from the pressure. 

Other fighters will let the opponent out of the corner and must re-establish the pressure. GGG’s footwork allows him to keep pressure on his opponent, allowing them no time to regroup.

The Brook fight is most instructive on how to possibly blunt GGG’s pressure. It involves counter punching in combinations and using lateral movement. Except, Brook has a broken eye socket so the best we can say about that strategy is its inconclusive.

Whenever real power threatens GGG, he establishes his jab. The David Lemieux fight is instructive here. GGG hasn’t fought anyone else with Lemieux’s power. Some will incorrectly claim Jacobs cracks harder, but Lemieux’s left hook is more compact and violent. GGG knew he had to control distance, and turned the fight into a jab-fest. Lemieux never had a chance to unleash the hook with great effect. There was one moment when GGG’s hook and Lemieux’s hook connected simultaneously. Lemieux staggered backwards and GGG seemed unfazed. This moment is why Jacobs stands no chance and why GGG takes punches better than any fighter today.

Look at GGG’s stance. Shoulders are constantly raised, chin is always tucked. Now watch Jacobs – stands straight up and chin is out. Lemieux had raised shoulders but the chin wasn’t as tucked. Furthermore, GGG’s jabfest caused Lemieux to spend the last four rounds of that fight manically raising and lowering his hands. GGG’s precise placement beat the manic movement. Jacobs keeps his hands too low and doesn’t move his head very well. If Jacobs gets off a clean punch, GGG will pound his chest and nod at Jacobs. That’s his move. GGG’s massive neck and shoulder muscles allow him to absorb clean shots without much damage. They allow him to throw precise jabs that feel more like straight right hands.

To answer the question of how Jacobs can win, it involves completely reinventing his style. It can’t be done. He’s too comfortable standing straight up and keeping his hands low. His hands aren’t fast enough to keep GGG from pressuring him. Pressure fighters like Pirog showed that Jacobs can be crowded and knocked out with a clean shot to the chin.

 
If Jacobs lasts more than 5 rounds, he should be very proud. Jacobs and his team know all this, and that’s why a fight that was ordered in the second week of September took until Dec. 17 to be made.

Why I Became a Democrat After a Lifetime of Being Conservative

**Note: This was written on Election Night at 3 a.m. and has been lightly edited for grammar only**

America, I’m sorry.

Back in the Florida Primary, I cast a vote for Donald Trump. By no means was my vote decisive, it was supposed to be a protest vote.

I’ve been registered as a Republican since I was old enough to vote. I believed government was a massive enemy – after all, the IRS harassed a loved one for nearly two decades. I detested affirmative action because it was keeping me – the white man – down. I thought abortion was murder and the United States was a Christian country containing allowances for those with similar traditions such as Jewish people. 

I didn’t overtly hate. I thought problems in the African-American community were due to government providing a hand out instead of a hand up. Even though I was born less than 100 years after my family immigrated to America, I lamented how Mexicans were crossing the border with unabated glee while snatching jobs from Americans. 

When I was 18, the ideology formed by my sheltered, non-diverse experiences and small circle of influences were amplified by continuously listening to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. 

In 2004, I was swept up in America-first nationalism and cheered as George W. Bush was re-elected. I strained against my beliefs because I was in college and learning about the world around me. I spent some time eschewing that experience because that’s what “elites” think; I’m just simple folk and my common sense was better founded. That’s what Sean and Rush said, so of course it was true. 

Then something happened. 

I moved from New York to Florida, mostly because I love the weather. I started a job where for the next 9 years I would be in contact with people not found in my tony Hamptons upbringing – the poor and minorities.

Becoming a teacher was life changing. My first class was something jarring – I was the only white person in the room. Suddenly, issues of poverty and disenfranchisement were not abstract concepts, they confronted me daily. 

Except I was just a viewer, I didn’t live the struggle of my students. I saw it. Every day they arrived in class after walking through gang-infested neighborhoods because they were determined not to be a statistic. I taught students who broke my heart because for all their ability it was too hard to keep saying no to temptation. 

Some of my students trudged from school to a job because they were the ones who could work in the family. Many of my students spoke English along with Spanish, Haitian Creole, Jamaican Patois, and even Mayan dialects. They had to speak multiple languages because their parents didn’t speak English.

Then I met their parents and saw their hands. My mother always said callused hands are the sign of someone who knows hard work. As these men and women met me on the night of Open House my supple, soft, white fingers clasped their rough, knotted, brown knuckles. My pressed shirt and meticulously knotted tie knew little about the term “hard work.”

You could call my students and their families many things – Mexican, Black, Haitian, Poor, Immigrant, Gay, Working Class, Undocumented – but I couldn’t deny the depth of their struggles.

 

I met lots of colleagues who exposed me to amazing ideas, problem solving techniques, and real empathy; these people truly opened my world and challenged my ideas. It could be high minded literary discussions or simply figuring out what makes a student tick. 

Unfortunately, I also worked with people charitably described as “racist” and “homophobe” – you can’t imagine the crudeness of a school’s athletic department – along with others who talked about God incessantly while acting against His teachings. 

When 2008 came along, I felt government helps the wrong people. A white kid growing up in the Hamptons needs little compared to the kid growing up in poverty. I was leaning for Barack Obama because John McCain seemed eager to send soldiers throughout the world to fight other people’s battles. Then Sarah Palin happened. I couldn’t conceive of a world where she’d be a heartbeat away from the Presidency.  

Since 2008, I’ve evolved in many ways:

• I'm Pro-Choice because a woman's body is her business, not mine
• I don't attend church often because people in the pulpit preach "Love thy neighbor" and concurrently advocate restricting the right of civil marriage for all
• It's abundantly clear if you are not white, America marginalizes you institutionally and intentionally
• Affirmative action provides opportunities where none would otherwise exist
• If you are poor, good luck because the tax code is designed for the rich
• Climate change is real, so is evolution, and it's on you to get with it
• America is NOT a Christian country, it's for all faiths and no faiths
• Poverty is NOT a moral failing

So now, here we are in 2016. And now my Trump vote.

I stayed registered as a Republican hoping the party would move on from this super-religious, super angry, super bratty phase and return to good governing. I hoped that they would work to help everyone attain equality of opportunity instead of equality of result. Instead, the party embraces unfettered campaign financing, eschews universal health insurance, and engages in blatant race baiting and dog whistling. 

Trump’s arrival exposed these covert elements. White Nationalists gained a voice and evil men like Roger Stone bristled at the prospect of a Trump presidency. The other 16 candidates danced around what Trump said and disavowed the bluntness of his statements. Yet all the other candidates’ actions over their lifetimes are evidence Trump spoke for them as well. 

I voted for Trump because he would destroy the Republican party. This incarnation of the party deserved death. It supported those waving Confederate flags, Kim Davis and her special brand of hate, and men who are unusually obsessed with female reproduction. It has a Congressional delegation that is over 85% white, male, and Christian. 

Oh – and it detests immigrants.

I wanted the Republican Party to turn to rubble because the person I was when I was 18 is someone who I detest at 35. I hoped that Trump would finally force the GOP to give up on appeasing white people who refuse adapting to modern times. 

My reasoning was too smart for my own good. If I must look back and change anything, I would have left that part of my ballot blank. Instead, there is blood on my hands and though I might wish to explain it away using the scope of his victory in the Florida Primary, the reality is I voted for him in March with the intention of, and ultimately voting for Hillary in November.

So now I sit here in my living room, typing as a Trump presidency is fait accompli. My hope for a Republican meltdown and productive self-inventory is gone. This election proved it is easier to motivate with hate than reason. 

So now what?

The first thing I did was change my party registration because I will not associate myself with people who are, for lack of a better term, deplorable. I submitted my change of registration form and I’m officially a Democrat. 

The idea the Republican party would have its reckoning and bounce back to a place of sanity handicapped me for 8 years. The reality is being a teacher changed me.

I’ve learned about empathy. I’ve learned about kindness. I’ve learned about perseverance. I’ve learned about what hard work REALLY looks like. I’ve learned how important it is to break out of my comfort zone and challenge my thoughts.

I said before, the person I was at 18 was deplorable and abhorrent. The problem with America is there are far too many of me at 18 than me at 35. 

That’s why a sexual predator will occupy the Oval Office. 

If you’ve stuck with me this long, please read just a little bit longer. I’d like to, in explicit terms, describe who I was at 18:

• Compassionless
• Lazy
• Eager to blame others for my problems
• Bigoted
• Entitled
• Suspicious of intelligence

I’m not without faults today at 35. I am easy to anger (my twitter timeline from the election is a good barometer of that), condescending towards those I believe aren’t as smart as I am, inconsiderate at times and I have a knack for speaking too much while listening too little. And wow – I’m prone to fits of hyperbole. 

But, I saw on twitter something that gave me heart. The tweeter said white men need to lower their shoulder and be the blockers for minorities and women. I plan to do that. And I plan to do whatever it takes to wash the stench of my years in the Republican party off me by doing what I can to elect Democrats.

Despite my disagreements with how Democrats implement policy, they do stand for equality and Republicans do not. I believe we are fundamentally unable to be a more perfect union if everyone who is not white, male, and Christian lives a life where opportunity is muted and punishment is exacerbated. 

It's time to point out bigotry every time we see it and not cower because white people are incensed by being called racist. It’s time to get good, strong Democrats ready for 2018 to take back the House and Senate. It’s even more important to take State legislatures because that’s where districts are drawn.

On election day, I was depressed, tearful, apoplectic knowing I bear responsibility for this election. I should have never voted for Trump.

I plan to do what I can over the next two years to promote Democratic candidates here in Florida. In 2018 Bill Nelson’s Senate seat is up, and House seats need to be flipped. The state Senate and state Legislature need to be moved off their GOP supermajority status.

Before I start with those plans, I need to end this screed how I started it. 

To African-Americans, 

To Hispanics,

To Women,

To Muslims,

To the Disabled,

To Immigrants,

To everyone rebuked by White America:

I’m sorry.