on the opportunity to be rescued from the confusion and chaos
Beginning with shows I broadcast in the summer of 2015, I made no secret of my concerns about the Presidential candidacy of Donald Trump.
I also made no secret of my intention to not personally support that candidacy.
Six or seven weeks ago, on my live show, I predicted that, regardless of my personal perspective on the man, Donald Trump would, in fact, be elected President.
And Tuesday night that is exactly what happened.
I didn't see him deliver his acceptance speech as it was given late last night and I have, at this very early morning writing, only read the text.
One particular section of it captured my attention.
"...It is a movement comprised of Americans from all races, religions, backgrounds, and beliefs, who want and expect our government to serve the people -- and serve the people it will.
Working together, we will begin the urgent task of rebuilding our nation and renewing the American dream.
Every single American will have the opportunity to realize his or her fullest potential...."
Upon logging on to Facebook first thing the morning after, the very first posts I saw were from Trump supporters whose comments and/or memes continue to symbolize the very worst of what people can be when they are petty and cheap, ignorant, bigoted and/or simply mean out of nothing more than malice.
Having reached an age where things can still shock, even appall, me but can seldom surprise me, I'm writing those posts off to the inevitability, in this life, of sad, angry, pitiful people who can only deal with that sadness by lashing out cheaply and ignorantly.
That said, I'm offering the following by way of "wrapping up", as it were, for my listening/reading audience my perspective on the election of 2016.
In his acknowledgement of being elected President of the United States, Donald Trump chose to include the words I excerpted a moment ago
It is a movement comprised of Americans from all races, religions, backgrounds, and beliefs, who want and expect our government to serve the people -- and serve the people it will.
Working together, we will begin the urgent task of rebuilding our nation and renewing the American dream.
Every single American will have the opportunity to realize his or her fullest potential.
Given my continued concerns about the personality and psychology of the man, it would be hypocritical of me to simply plaster on a smile, shake some hands and walk away in a spirit of celebration.
And I won't insult the intelligence of either peers, nor opponents, by being that hypocrite.
Credit where due, though, I applaud Mr. Trump's inclusion of those words.
And, in with all the traditional American spirit of sportsmanship I can muster today, I look forward to him honoring those words.
Meanwhile, to all those who have supported, and now celebrate, this man, I offer this.
I have listened to two very distinct groups of you, via news reports, video postings, social media and, of course, my own show for over a year now.
A group of people who passionately expressed their hope and desire that they could be given the opportunity to be a part of something that would genuinely make this country a better place for every single American.
And another group of people who clearly supported this candidate out of no other motivation than hatred, ignorance, bigotry and a sense that somehow they were justified in using the flames of change as a means of burning down things, and people, they simply don't like.
To that group, I reject you, your lack of values and your pitiful unarguably un-American way of living your life. I will, when and as opportunity arises, speak out against that hatred, bigotry and ignorance. I strongly recommend that you take a few moments to read and then re-read the portion of Mr. Trump's speech I just featured. And I am ready and expecting civilized, well intended supporters of Mr. Trump, as well as the man himself, to repudiate you and everything you represent.
To the group who have expressed the desire to be a part of something that would genuinely make this country a better place, you, like Mr. Trump, were given something last night other than just a political victory.
You've been given a chance to prove it.
For those of us who were disappointed with the results of last night's election, if there is a hope to be found in all of this, here's what that hope is.
That prove it...is exactly what you, and Mr. Trump, will do.
Starting now.
on how to deal with, literally, half of the nation not showing up to vote in this Presidential election
I CALL IT USE IT OR LOSE IT…..
YOU GET TO “NOT VOTE” THREE TIMES WITHOUT NEEDING A REASON OR VALID EXCUSE. THE FOURTH TIME YOU NEED A VALID EXCUSE (sick, Grandma sick, Wil Wheaton’s meemaw died and he didn’t show up to the Star Trek convention)…AND AFTER THAT…..YOU NEVER EVER GET TO VOTE AGAIN…
the beauty of this is ...I WONT HAVE TO TAKE YOUR VOTE AWAY FROM YOU
….because NOTHING in this country seems to move apathetic brains and lard asses like somebody threatening to take something, ANYTHING, away from you, even if you NEVER USE IT..because this is AMERICA, BABY...and you’re entitled to EVERYTHING…ALWAYS…
PROBLEM SOLVED
on turning EVERYTHING into A BIG DAMN DEAL whether it IS or NOT...
Wow, some year, huh? Wow, some election, huh? Wow,some ugly baby, huh?
WHO’s TO BLAME for all this UGLY?.......Actually, it’s NOT the bossa nova that’s to blame. I’ll tell you who in a minute.
In an election year filled with ugly, here’s a brand new ugly that has been born out of the red, white and blue ooze, slime and goo…I mentioned it earlier…the POOR Winner…illustrated in a hundreds of ways, but here’s one fresh out of the easy bitch oven…..
Margot Gerster was out hiking with her daughter when she ran into Hillary and Bill Clinton in the upstate New York town of Chappaqua, where the Clintons have a home.
She took a photo with the former first lady who beamed from ear to ear, appearing to have had the weight of the world lifted from her shoulders as she stood next to Gerster. Clinton was said to
have been out walking her dogs with former president Bill Clinton, when Gerster spotted them.
The chance encounter Gerster had with Clinton gained national media attention as it was the first time Clinton had been photographed after losing the election.
However, some critics allege that their meeting while hiking was staged and not random at all.
so now we have PHOTOGATE…or FORESTGATE or DOGWALKINGRANDOMMEETINGYOURNEIGHBORGATE……
and, spare me the I know you are but what am I crap about the POOR LOSERS griping about Hillary getting beat…POOR LOSER is an American tradition, man!....It’s petty and cheap and childish, but it’s an American tradition, MAN…..the WINNER is supposed to be ABOVE all of that that pettiness….the WINNER’s side is supposed to show how petty and cheap and childish the POOR LOSER is being by COUNTERING that pettiness and cheapness and childishness with GRACE and STYLE and…wait for it….CLASS….NOT BY BEING bigger asshats….or MORE PETTY and MORE CHEAP and LESS CLASSY…
….and if the POOR WINNERS are finding this line of reasoning too complicated, let me dumb it down for you…here’s some more REAL AMERICAN TRADITION…..YOU DON’T KICK SOMEBODY WHEN THEY’RE DOWN….and YOU DON’T KEEP PUNCHING SOMEBODY WHEN YOU HAVE KNOCKED THEM OUT….you go to a neutral corner and you show that you’ve got GRACE and STYLE and wait for it…CLASS…even the President Elect of the United States, the salvation of mankind to some, the Anti-Christ come to life for others has SHOWN GRACE AND STYLE AND CLASS so far…..we’ll see…but SO FAR….
SO…I promised you somebody to blame for this new UGLY spawned in the Sea of Ugly…
..actually, it’s three people…..
BOB WOODWARD AND CARL BERNSTEIN…..look em up…but in a nutshell, they outed Nixon as a bad boy with his Watergate misadventure and, so, even inadvertently set the word GATE loose to attach itself to every little sniffle, sneeze, follicle or fart of even the slightest possibility of a scandal….
.and MARK ZUCKERBERG who gave us Facebook….and turned millions (and millions and millions ) of average, everyday, people next door folks into political scientists, Constitutional scholars, infallible, if not actually practicing, attorneys specializing in the fields of corruption, malfeasance, fraud, impeachment, homicide, civil rights and business, financial, governmental, criminal , international and/or Sharia law.
in many (if not most) cases, all without the pesky bother of much more than a high school diploma (give or take, of course)
MY FRIEND Paula coined an iconic phrase on this show a few weeks ago….just.be.nice. well, that seems to be beyond our collective reach lately, so, let me do a little tweak here……
Don’t be a poor loser…it’s cheap and childish….but being a poor WINNER…that’s worse….and somewhere in what’s left of your cerebellum, you damn well know it….
AND….as far as FORESTGATE or DOGWALKGATE or the sewer stream of “that bitch couldn’t tell the truth if her granddaughter was held for ransom” that is currently flowing into our hopefully soon clear running stream…..here’s a thing….unless you have NEVER EVER told a lie OF ANY KIND, unless you have never bent or broken ANY KIND OF LAW EVER…unless you could look GOD right in the eye and tell him that you are 100% PURE OF HEART, FREE OF SIN and AN EXAMPLE THE WHOLE WORLD SHOULD LOOK UP TO…..when it comes to your slamming or shaming or just NOT BEING NICE to people…especially those who have been knocked out…..please, we’re BEGGIN YA….
shut up.
on why making America Great Again has made some friendships not so great anymore
a friend and professional colleague from my checkered past days as a songwriter and producer in Nashville posted this week on Facebook that he is, reluctantly, going to start unfriending people, something he said he has never done simply because of opposing views, because of the continued vitriol and venom they are exhibiting days after the election has taken place.
I did the same thing late this week. For the first time. A couple of dozen names from my list. And for the same reason.
My writing and broadcast work necessitates a lot of exposure to social, as well as mainstream and traditional, media. And I understand that emotions are high right now.
Also, my own house is admittedly glass and I'm not throwing any stones. I've got some work to do to come to terms with these national changes, like many of those in my circle(s).
That said, what I cannot, and will not, endorse, by continued "friendship" are those who persist in posting memes, comments, cartoons, slogans, etc that are venomous in nature.
Satire, critique, even opinionated criticism is one thing. And the freedom to express ourselves in those ways is one of the hallmark freedoms we enjoy.
Vicious, tasteless, ignorant, bigoted, moronic personal attacks and/or insults hurled just for their own sake at, or on ,anybody are cheap, offensive and as "un"American as it's possible to be in expressing opinion.
It's regrettable to have to end friendships. Or end "friendships". But I'm sure those who feel the continued need to "go low" don't have any need to be a friend of mine.
And I certainly don't need to be a friend of theirs.
For what it's worth, this also, even, in some ways, more importantly applies to a new phenomenon in this era of our discontent:
....the "poor" winners.
Your candidate rocked the free, and political world, with his victory His case was made and the voices of those supporting him were heard loud and clear around the world.
And, it's STILL with the Hillary for Prison memes?
It's STILL with the Michelle Obama as an ape memes?
Really?
A good friend shared with me today something ironic and a little humorous that I think of as "true...but..." He said that what most people don't understand about social media is that, in most cases, "nobody really gives a shit what you (I) think..."
True...but..... as a courtesy to those whose friendship on social media I have enjoyed and for those who read and/or listen to my work and request updating from time to time, I'm offering the aforementioned thoughts and the heads up to FB friends that "if the posts don't show up on your page anymore....it's me."
on not fooling ALL of the people all, or even some, of the time (SPECIAL NOT AIRED PIECE)
It’s no consolation to those who are disappointed, even dismayed or even devastated by the outcome of the Presidential election of 2016, but here’s something that both victor and vanquished will want to keep in mind.
The majority rules.
Clinton supporters are likely either eye rolling or offering up profane words or middle fingers at that oldie but goodie.
And Trump supporters are likely snorting, snarking or, possibly just smirking a little.
Here’s the thing, though.
The majority rules.
And since even a hard head book worm like me freely admits that facts, those once upon a time pieces of information that actually played a part in people’s decision making process, have been declared out of fashion in recent months, I’m not going to waste your time or mine offering up any factual basis for my sharing with all of you, once again.
The majority rules.
Instead, I’ll rely on another oldie but goodie to back me up.
Numbers never lie.
Damn right, Trump supporters are chortling. I’m not really sure if the use of the word chortling is correct, but I just like saying the word chortling.
Damn right, Trump supporters are chortling.
Numbers never lie.
And our new president only needed 270 Electoral Votes and he got 290 of those suckers.
Put that in your abacus and add em up.
Fair enough.
And true enough.
Then again, though, in the agonizing, or awwwwright aftermath (depending on your yard sign) of this election here are the only two numbers that matter from here on out.
59,535,522.
59,755,284.
Hereafter known, for the next few minutes as 59 million 535 and 59 million 755.
And here’s how things add up for real.
On Tuesday, November 8, 2016, 59 million 535 chose Donald Trump to be President
59 million 755 chose Hillary Clinton.
And on that very same Tuesday, 59 million 535 decided to overlook that their guy
- was caught live on tape talking about kissing women without permission and grabbing them by the MEOW
- rebutted dozens of women’s claims of sexual assault by offering that they weren’t attractive enough to be worthy of assault, shamed women for gaining weight, said women should be punished for having abortions, said women who are sexually harassed at work should find another job…oh and, one still right up there at the top of the charts, kids, Megyn Kelly and the blood flowing out of her whatever
- mocked, on national television, a reporter with a congenital physical condition
- refused to release tax returns and never did
- repeatedly suggested that Barack Obama might be Muslim
- actually bragged about the size of his penis during a primary debate
- suggested that the father of Ted Cruz was involved in the assassination of John F Kennedy…
- managed to slam just about every single ethnic, religious and gender group from sea to shining sea, very often at 3 in the morning….Tweeting away in the darkness….oh and for our gay fellow Americans…..
- chose as a running mate one of the most vocal, hard line, lock them up… anti-gay politicians on the planet, let alone in America…
well, we ALL know that the list goes on and on and on and on and, need not be continued here to make the point….that on that very same Tuesday, 59 million 755 chose NOT to overlook those things.
Not, of course, that any of that matters.
Because 270 was the winning number, right?
Except here’s a thing.
Come January 20, the Republican President Elect will become the President.
And both the United States Senate and United States House Of Representatives will have a Republican majority.
What the President and the Senate and the House oF Reps will not have is
Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail to use as deflection for any missteps
Barack Obama sitting in the way in the White House to blame for any failure to “make America great again”
Democratic majorities in either chamber to blame for blocking any and all efforts to make America great again
put simply….they will have no excuse for not living up to their promise to make America great again AND, even more importantly, to live up the words that came out of Donald Trump’s very mouth on the night of his election…
This is a movement comprised of Americans from all races, religions, backgrounds, and beliefs, who want and expect our government to serve the people -- and serve the people it will.
Working together, we will begin the urgent task of rebuilding our nation and renewing the American dream.
Every single American will have the opportunity to realize his or her fullest potential.
119,290,806 people showed up on Tuesday, November 8, 2016 to choose a President and Congress. And, somehow, we all, all of us, want to believe that those people are wanting this to be a better nation for all Americans.
59,535,522 people made the decision to overlook all of the very visible shortcomings of the primary candidate Donald Trump and the Republican nominee Donald Trump.
And if those 59 million 535 make the decision to overlook any shortcomings, weaknesses, failures, inappropriate, even obscene or unacceptable behaviors on the part of the President Donald Trump, the outcome will be decidedly different.
Because 59.755,284 people didn’t overlook those shortcomings in the Republican primary candidate Donald Trump or the Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump….and, you can bet any good old fashioned American dollar you can lay your hands on that we won’t be overlooking those shortcomings in the President Donald Trump.
And just because we didn’t return verbal fire with some of the more popular Trump terms doesn’t mean we don’t know them or how to use them.
Terms like impeachment, lyin….lock him up.
Anger will pass. Tempers will cool. Dust will settle.
But the majority rules.
Sometimes from the stone dead center of where the action is.
Sometimes from the sidelines, waiting and watching.
The majority rules.
All 59,755,284 of it.
and, in conclusion....on the SNL cold open...
Last night, Saturday Night Live opened their show pretty much as expected and, at the same time, not as expected as all.
Cast member Kate McKinnon was right there on stage, front and center, dressed and made up as Hillary Clinton, seemingly ready to do her remarkable impression of the once upon a time no way she can not become the first female President of the United States, just as she has for weeks now. But there was no sight of Alec Baldwin doing his equally spot on impression of Donald Trump, the once upon a time aint no way in hell this guy could ever get elected President.
Rather, McKinnon was sitting alone at a grand piano and, with no other introduction , began playing the quiet and lovely chords that fans of the song’s composer probably recognized as the beginning of what will be that composer’s “main claim to fame”.
The song was Hallelujah. And the composer was Leonard Cohen, who passed away, this past week at the age of 83.
If you don’t know Cohen by name or, if by chance, you don’t recognize the song simply by hearing its title, you most surely are aware of the song itself. It’s been recorded, by a variety of singers, in a variety of styles over a kabillion times, give or take, since its composition over thirty years ago. And you would have had to have been living on Neptune for pretty much that entire last thirty years to have not, at least once or twice, heard Hallelujah cross your audio radar.
McKinnon played softly and beautifully and sang in a lovely voice with no other accompaniment and it was clear to anybody who had an inkling that she, and the show, were paying simple and eloquent tribute to a remarkable songwriter who had lived a remarkable life.
But it didn’t take being a Rhodes Scholar to instantly recognize the symbolism of McKinnon’s being dressed as Hillary Clinton to perform the song.
In a theatrical sense, the very simple performance was genius. By combining the sense of loss that fans of Cohen’s feel at his passing with the sense of loss that fans of Clinton feel at her failure to achieve the Presidency, the segment offered up the kind of emotional double whammy that audiences remember and talk about long after the curtain goes down and the lights go out.
Before I saw the video of the actual performance this morning, the first article headline I saw spotlighting it read “SNL Cold Open Last Night Will Make You Weep.”
Well, I don’t know about weep. Because I admired Leonard Cohen’s songwriting and I was disappointed that Hillary Clinton wasn’t able to convince the right number of people in the right counties in the right states so that her Electoral College numbers would have been the majority that her popular vote numbers turned out to be,….
But, weep?
As I watched video of McKinnon’s complete performance, I have to admit I actually felt a little uncomfortable. It just seemed a little TOO contrived, just a LITTLE too melodramatic.
Because Hillary Clinton didn’t die. She just lost an election. And while I get that millions of people who voted for her are now angry about who DID get elected and are, depending on their race, gender, religion and/or sexual identity are sincerely scared of what’s about to happen to them now, I thought the whole business of equating the loss of Cohen with the loss of Clinton cheapened both losses just a little bit.
That said, I felt sad.
Oh, not because of the passing of an 83 year old songwriter I never met or because of the election loss of a woman who I’ve only supported for months because I was of the school that she was the lesser of two evils.
No, I felt sad because as I watched McKinnon sing, my inner ear was hearing the voices of thousands, maybe millions, of people in this country also watching and I could only imagine what they were saying, either in their own heads or to those around them.
Mean, petty, vicious, nasty, insulting, denigrating, rude things.
Because they hate her.
And even though their candidate accomplished exactly what they hoped and dreamed and screamed for and prayed for…they still hate her.
So much so, that tonight, right now as we speak, five days after the election outcome was officially announced, the outcome that they spent months hoping for and dreaming of and screaming for and praying for and VOTING FOR, they are STILL posting mean, petty , nasty, vicious things about her and her family…and her followers….
And last night’s performance by Kate McKinnon unleashed yet another fresh batch of petty, mean, nasty, vicious posts and comment threads and….
Yes. You are correct. The nasty, petty memes and posts and comments continue to flow from the fingers of her supporters, too.
Because THEY hate HIM.
And tonight, right now as we speak, the election outcome that was supposed to bring the months, even years, of petty, mean, nasty, vicious, hateful anger to some kind of resolution hasn’t made much of a dent.
And that’s why McKinnon’s award worthy theatrical presentation last night made me sad.
At the end of the piece, in place of the usual raucous, yelling to the crowd opening slogan, McKinnon had this to offer up.
“I’m not giving up…and you shouldn’t give up, either…”
I can’t know for sure, but I’m pretty sure she was talking about not giving up on those values she and other Clinton supporters feel are in danger of extinction now.
Or maybe she was talking about the fear she very possibly has now, being a gay woman in what’s about to become a very different country.
I don’t know. I have no way of knowing.
What I do know is this.
Leonard Cohen is dead.
Hillary Clinton lost an election.
Donald Trump was elected.
And EVERYBODY..everybody…needs to do better.
Do better America
join the conversation
Sunday nights at 7PM Eastern
No comments:
Post a Comment