- November 19th, 2024, 3:58 pm
#664740
I've been debating posting about this on here. I've wanted to go into detail as to why I feel the way I do about Trump but often thought, what's the point? But my brother (who is in a interracial marriage; family of immigrants, which only matters for context) posted something yesterday (some of this post is directly inspired by it) that struck a nerve and so here it is.
Not long ago a man stood on a stage and said one of the reasons we need to reduce immigration is that they are coming here and “poisoning the blood of our country” and then over half the country voted for him, including 81% of professed Christians. He has said and done so many indefensible things and his Christian supporters have stood by him but I think I have found the line where I no longer want to feign normalcy.
I can already hear the rationalizations and gaslighting and I cannot tell you how deeply I do not have patience for any of that.
I have watched his remarks in context many times. He said what he said and what he said was that immigrants are poisoning the American blood and I’ll let you do the math as to why I’m so enra
And I know many will say “he wasn’t talking about your brother's family, he was only talking about the bad immigrants” and I plead with you, STOP. You can not say something so brazenly, abhorrently racist and then create some loophole that it was only intended as racist about the black and brown people it’s ok to demonize. This point has been made ad nauseum as he has infected the cultural conversation with his rhetoric but people still insist it’s perfectly fine to make broadly racist statements if it’s in service of some specific issue.
There are ways to talk about border safety or illegal immigration without spewing something so vile but he has never cared to try and the fact that this disgusting klan talking point is one of the more minor controversies of his most recent campaign says a lot about his impact on our culture. Most of you barely noticed it and some of you are still defending it in your head and I cannot emphasize enough how completely one has to lose the plot to defend on any level something like this.
I don’t think I’m some civil rights hero . All of this has just reminded me that while marriages like my brother's have been legal for a long time now, there are still many who look at him and his wife negatively or align with those who do without a second thought. It might be socially acceptable but that hasn’t stopped multiple Daily Wire hosts from complaining multiple times about there being too many interracial couples in commercials. I guess that’s the sort of thing that bothers personalities from one of the most prominent conservative media organizations in the country. There are so many families where you hear things like “my parents would kill me if I ever dated someone who wasn’t white.” I know this because so many people told my brother just that when he first started dating his wife. Maybe you came from a family like that or just know enough families like that that when someone talks about the importance of keeping our blood pure, it doesn’t bother you. I don’t know. I have no explanation.
Statements like that—and he’s made MANY and emboldened countless others—are an attack on families like my brother's whether one wants to view it that way or not.
We have a president-elect who normalizes hate speech about their existence and so many on here didn’t hesitate and voted for him anyways and I can’t pretend that’s normal or okay. I’m so tired of being mad and exhausted and I really just want to post happy posts about Liberty athletics but even that has become complicated with the school's embracement of Trumpism.
In any other instance, anyone aligning with someone who talks like that would be cut out of my life immediately. I’ve felt the need to be more tolerant because he’s made such things part of a mainstream political party. The nobility of being friends with those we disagree with politically is always stressed to the point that you can vote for someone who talks that way and I’m the unreasonable one for expressing disgust. The truth is, I feel a personal fury over this but he has attacked countless families through both words and actions. I will never delude myself into believing “family values” means hating and crusading against families that aren’t like mine and I’m not really interested in casually associating with those who do.
I’m not saying if you see me in real life and wish to speak to me that I won’t talk to you. Obviously there are people in my life who voted for him and I’m sure there will be many others along the way. And if there’s a present personal relationship, I’ll do my best to wade through my complicated feelings. But I’m not doing it casually for the sake of social media posts.
I’ve seen the shifting demographics for this election. Toxicity and ignorance are clearly contagious and this is not the first time the oppressed have enabled their oppressor. Every adult is culpable for their part but I’ll let those communities sort things out for themselves, their votes do not provide anyone else cover though. Speaking to the community of white Christians I’ve spent my whole life a part of, there is no good reason to support blatant racism no matter how anyone else is voting.
And yes, I know his VP has a mixed race family. The truth is, while JD Vance is a little more strategic in his wording, he has spent the last few years emboldening racists and saying heinous things himself. When their racist supporters predictably directed their attacks at him and his family, he was sheepish and quick to change the subject. His spinelessness and utter failure as a husband and father to defend his family motivates me to do everything I can to live a life that looks nothing like his.
A month or so back after that man held that obnoxious rally at MSG where speakers said racist things all night, Biden made some comment referring to them as garbage—it seems like he was talking about the rhetoric as opposed to the people but let’s just take it at its harshest possible meaning for the sake of this argument.
In a former reality, some may have criticized that remark while also being quick to distance themselves from the open and unmistakable racism spouted through the night at that rally (and to be clear, the comedian was disgusting but I am not just talking about him by a long shot). But as has been the case throughout this man’s entire run, conservative Christians didn’t try to distance themselves from his sins. They reveled in them, celebrated them, rolled around in them and proudly took upon themselves the moniker of “garbage,” acting as though it meant they were being attacked for their faith and not because they were once again co-signing racist…garbage.
I understand the system has failed us. The two party system is broken and life’s problems are not fixed overnight so you want to blame someone. Unfortunately, the cartoon villain stealing all the air in the room has distracted the country from having any grown up conversations for a decade now. I also understand having moral convictions to not vote for this person or that policy or whatever, I just don’t believe there’s any scenario where your only choice is to elect an authoritarian bigot. “That’s not the reason I voted for him” is an excuse with limits that have been far exceeded. I don’t believe I have to pretend the man talking about keeping the blood pure is a legitimate choice.
He is such a terribly blasphemous, immoral, hateful, un-American man by every metric we would have all agreed on not all that long ago. I will never understand how this is worth it to anybody.
The political climate of the past several years and seeing the way Christians have spoken/behaved/voted has changed me. I will not put my head in the sand these next 4 years but I will not obsess or continually mourn over those who have let us down or whatever the latest outrage or insult might be. I will focus on being better for my family and protecting them, teaching, loving and hopefully inspiring them. Loving and celebrating their whole selves just as they are and living to keep all that hope and joy in their hearts, those smiles on their faces and laughter filling this house no matter what’s going on outside.
And so if I have to make the circle of trust much smaller, so
I don’t really want to stick around and guess who voted for who, think about who heard those comments and was unbothered by them or actively supported them or those who heard them and knew they were terrible but voted for him anyway. No judgement for anyone who feels like I do and chooses to approach things differently but it’s all gotten too dystopian for me.
Just some thoughts I've wanted to post for a while. I know i said I'd leave the Trump discussion until post election and I almost made it. I think I've got to step away from spaces like these for a time. I've been part of this community for a long time. But I think it is time.
TL;DR Its been a wild ride. I'm out.
--Fumble (1961-2009), RIP
- By jcmanson
- By ECC29
- By LUOrange