Charles Blow is a very smart man who understands that justice is what love looks like in public. His commentary in the NYT strikes me as the most clearly written version of what half of me thinks that I have read to date.
Then...he will be president and we want to get things done...exactly what makes him unfit (his lack of principle and knowledge and experience) may also mean policy outcomes that are quite dramatically unlike his hate-filled campaign promises could be in play.
“The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure
that it is right; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand
the minds of other men and women; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which
weighs their interest alongside its own without bias.”
One of America’s most famous judges, Learned Hand, 1944
I, along with many others, remain deeply offended by Trumpism and afraid what it might mean for our future. At the same time, I want to remain open to being wrong about the person as president, to seek to understand the minds and hearts of those who supported him despite his hate-filled rhetoric, and hopefully to weight with them our interests alongside each other without bias.
Here is the full text from Charles Blow, in blue. Thank you Charles.
Donald Trump schlepped across town on Tuesday to meet with
the publisher of The New York Times and some editors, columnists and reporters
at the paper.
As The Times reported, Trump actually seemed to soften
some of his positions:
- He seemed to indicate that he wouldn’t seek to prosecute Hillary Clinton. But he should never have said that he was going to do that in the first place.
- He seemed to indicate that he wouldn’t encourage the military to use torture. But he should never have said that he would do that in the first place.
- He said that he would have an “open mind” on climate change. But that should always have been his position.
You don’t get a pat on the back for ratcheting down from
rabid after exploiting that very radicalism to your advantage. Unrepentant
opportunism belies a staggering lack of character and caring that can’t simply
be vanquished from memory. You did real harm to this country and many of its
citizens, and I will never — never — forget that.
As I read the transcript and then listened to the
audio, the slime factor was overwhelming.
After a campaign of bashing The Times relentlessly, in the
face of the actual journalists, he tempered his whining with flattery.
At one point he said:
He ended the meeting by saying:
“I will say, The Times is, it’s a great, great American
jewel. A world jewel. And I hope we can all get along well.”
I will say proudly and happily that I was not present at
this meeting. The very idea of sitting across the table from a demagogue who
preyed on racial, ethnic and religious hostilities and treating him with
decorum and social grace fills me with disgust, to the point of overflowing.
Let me tell you here where I stand on your “I hope we can all get along” plea:
Never.
You are an aberration and abomination who is willing to do
and say anything — no matter whom it aligns you with and whom it hurts — to
satisfy your ambitions.
I don’t believe you care much at all about this country or
your party or the American people. I believe that the only thing you care about
is self-aggrandizement and self-enrichment. Your strongest allegiance is to
your own cupidity.
I also believe that much of your campaign was an act of
psychological projection, as we are now learning that many of the things you
slammed Clinton for are things of which you may actually be guilty.
You slammed Clinton for destroying emails, then Newsweek reported
last month that your companies “destroyed emails in defiance of court orders.”
You slammed Clinton and the Clinton Foundation for paid speeches and conflicts
of interest, then it turned out that, as BuzzFeed reported,
the Trump Foundation received a $150,000 donation in exchange for your giving a
2015 speech made by video to a conference in Ukraine. You slammed Clinton about
conflicts of interest while she was secretary of state, and now your possible
conflicts of interest are popping up like mushrooms in a marsh.
You are a fraud and a charlatan. Yes, you will be president,
but you will not get any breaks just because one branch of your forked tongue
is silver.
I am not easily duped by dopes.
I have not only an ethical and professional duty to call out
how obscene your very existence is at the top of American government; I have a
moral obligation to do so.
I’m not trying to convince anyone of anything, but rather to
speak up for truth and honor and inclusion. This isn’t just about you, but also
about the moral compass of those who see you for who and what you are, and know
the darkness you herald is only held at bay by the lights of truth.
It’s not that I don’t believe that people can change and
grow. They can. But real growth comes from the accepting of responsibility and
repenting of culpability. Expedient reversal isn’t growth; it’s gross.
So let me say this on Thanksgiving: I’m thankful to have
this platform because as long as there are ink and pixels, you will be the
focus of my withering gaze.
I’m thankful that I have the endurance and can assume a
posture that will never allow what you represent to ever be seen as everyday
and ordinary.
No, Mr. Trump, we will not all just get along. For as long
as a threat to the state is the head of state, all citizens of good faith and
national fidelity — and certainly this columnist — have an absolute obligation
to meet you and your agenda with resistance at every turn.
I know this in my bones, and for that I am thankful.
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