Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #463 - Why do Republicans support a bigot for president?

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #463 - Why do Republicans support a bigot for president?

Hi Mom,

In a way, I am glad you are not here to see this charade, this circus, the carnival of spectacle that is our nation's political world right now.

It's shameful.

As I wrote the other day, there will be a lot of political content over the next four weeks until the election. It is necessary.

ORIGINAL LINK to the following article.

Ed Dorn: Why do Republicans support a bigot for president?

OPINION

By Edwin Dorn - Special to the American-Statesman



Posted: 8:34 a.m. Monday, Sept. 19, 2016

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It is time to call out some of my fellow Texans. Sen. John Cornyn, Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, please explain why you want a bigot to become president of the United States.

You cannot deny that Donald Trump is a bigot. He started stomping through the nation’s putrid puddles of prejudice in 2011 when he became chief promoter of the “birther” nonsense, a racist fabrication intended to delegitimize our first black president. Most of his supporters continue to believe that deplorable lie. From day one, his campaign has been one rant after another against Mexican immigrants, against Muslims, and recently against African-Americans, who Trump regards as so deficient that they have “nothing to lose” by voting for him. He even injects bigotry into issues that normally have nothing to do with race, religion, or nationality. Take foreign trade, for example. He complains loudly about the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico but seems unconcerned about our large trade deficit with Germany, his grandfather’s homeland.

Maybe you want to say that in spite of Trump’s bigotry, his views are in line with Republican thinking on most other issues. But they aren’t, and you know that they aren’t. His boast at the GOP convention – that he alone can solve all the nation’s problems – contradicts a core principle of modern Republicanism. And some of his ideas, such as building 2,000-mile wall and making Mexicans pay for it, combine prejudice with goofiness.

How about trying to convince me that there are worse things than bigotry? Please name them. I grew up in Texas during the Jim Crow era, so I am painfully aware of the poisonous fruits that grow from the bitter seeds of prejudice. Trump has been sowing those seeds, and the ugly behavior of Trump fans at campaign rallies is a frightening reminder of how quickly intolerance can turn into violence. Still, it is fair to say that bigotry is not his only noxious trait: He is a vulgar, arrogant, self-centered liar with the emotional maturity (and vocabulary) of a 12-year-old schoolyard bully. The man claims to be a billionaire, but he can’t buy himself two cents’ worth of class.

Are you bound by party loyalty? If that is your highest principle, then by all means support your party’s nominee. Do not expect anyone to respect you for that, however, especially not Trump, who will simply see you as weaklings and chumps. Do you think he’ll keep his promise to support the Republican Party platform and allow GOP leaders to set the nation’s policy agenda? This is a guy who breaks promises whenever it suits him, whether they’re business contracts or marriage vows. You know all of that and you still support him.

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DAMON WINTER

Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, speaks during a campaign event at the James L. Knight Center in Miami on Sept. ... Read More

How about the “Well, Hillary’s worse” excuse? Seriously? Hillary Clinton stands head and shoulders above Trump in all of the traits we should look for in a president: knowledge, experience, judgment, decades of service to the people of this country, and yes, basic human decency. If you think that Donald Trump personifies the God-fearing, family-loving Christian values that many in your party claim to believe in, well, I have a bankrupt casino to sell you.

Cornyn, Abbott and Patrick, millions of Texans will remember you for this: When you faced a simple moral choice, you chose to support a bigot for president.

Dorn is a professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas.

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Reflect and connect.

Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you.

I miss you so very much, Mom.

Talk to you tomorrow, Mom.

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- Days ago = 465 days ago

- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1610.12 - 10:10

NOTE on time: When I post late, I had been posting at 7:10 a.m. because Google is on Pacific Time, and so this is really 10:10 EDT. However, it still shows up on the blog in Pacific time. So, I am going to start posting at 10:10 a.m. Pacific time, intending this to be 10:10 Eastern time. I know this only matters to me, and to you, Mom. But I am not going back and changing all the 7:10 a.m. times. But I will run this note for a while. Mom, you know that I am posting at 10:10 a.m. often because this is the time of your death.