y’know, I’ve found it impossible to disconnect from politics. i’m sick of it, i’m tired of it infiltrating my every social media platform, i’m both saddened and infuriated by it…but I can’t look away from it.
but when all this bullshit is over and is firmly ensconced in our collective rearview mirrors, it’s still gonna permeate my everyday life, because I literally judge every individual I encounter with the Trump Yardstick – before I even allow myself to form an opinion about people, I silently ask myself: “are they one of THEM?”
I don’t trust people as easily. I’m not as forgiving. I’m much more prone to assign labels to people I don’t know well, and lump them in with “the idiots responsible for our standing in the world and how we treat people”. every cop that beats someone senseless or shoots someone sitting at the wheel of their car, every person deported for the crime of wanting to better their lot in life, every sick person who spends every night staring at the ceiling wondering if they’ll lose their insurance…I find myself blaming people who supported this Citrus Douche for their collective downfall.
this is a hard thing for me to admit to myself, much less to you folks.
This isn’t who I am.
I’m the guy who talks to strangers at the supermarket. i’m the guy who over-tips. i’m the guy who takes in strays. i’m the guy who has always tried to see the better angels of our nature in strangers,
and yet, I fear that the 63 million folks who thought a carnival barker with no political experience was the best choice to lead our nation on the world stage have robbed me of that part of my personality.
yeah, he was elected by a minority of the electorate. yeah, there were more people who didn’t vote than there were folks who did.
but I don’t think i’ll ever look at my fellow man in the same light as I did this time last year. I’ve become the shitty old man who assumes that everyone I meet is an asshole until they prove otherwise.
that will be the enduring legacy of the Trump Experiment for me, unless something miraculous happens.
...from the rear view mirror 