Doug's Darkworld

Got a phone call from one of my two oldest best friends today. I have known him since seventh grade, that would be since 1970. Fifty years of friendship. Good times through thick and thin.  I haven’t talked to him in months. I didn’t answer his call. I didn’t answer it because he’s a Trump supporter. And now is not a good time for me to talk to Trump supporters. Still, he deserves a response:

Dear XXXX,

I saw you called today. I was unable to answer it. I range between crippling depression and frightening rage these days. These are not good times. I still love you man, I still got your back no matter what. It’s not a good time to talk though. I now have friends and family who are DEAD of Covid-19. And they are dead because Trump is a science denying, magical thinking, narcissistic idiot whose unbelievably incompetenncompetant response to Covid-19 has made America the world’s epicenter of the pandemic. A president so freaking stupid he brags about passing a senility test. 

You’re a smart guy, you’re the person who actually awakened my love of science and reason. Decades ago having lunch in High School sitting on the south side of campus you had drawn lines on the sidewalk showing where the Sun’s shadow fell and moved as the year progressed. Remember that? It awakened in me a desire to look at the Universe we lived in, and understand it. I’ll always be thankful for that, it changed my life.

Fast forward. When Trump was running for POTUS, you were a big supporter. I had my doubts, but when he was elected, I had hopes he would think outside the box, he wasn’t a slimy Washington politician like all the rest. I even remember saying maybe he will meet with Putin and put a freaking end to the insane Cold War between the US and Russia. A man can dream. Trump certainly made some great promises to get elected. Universal health care. Infrastructure spending. Tax the rich. Drain the swamp. Reduce our foreign adventures. Remember those promises?

Trump didn’t. He proved to be the best friend corporate America and the Pentagon ever had, a president who did everything in his power to make the rich richer. A president who not only didn’t drain the swamp, he freaking did everything he could to turn the country over to industry lobbyists. A president who made Reagan look like a piker when it came to putting the fox in charge of the hen house.

I understand Trump’s appeal still. He absolutely believes in himself, a man so exuding self confidence it’s almost infectious. Trump is not only convinced he’s a genius of epic proportions, he’s so self confident he thinks he can bend reality to his will. A president who actually believes he can wish Covid-19 away. A man who actually believes he is a national and world leader confronting the worst health crisis the US has seen since the 1918 flu pandemic. It will all be gone by April, it will just disappear! Etc etc etc.

And now there’s hundreds of thousands of dead and maimed Americans with no end in sight. I didn’t buy Clinton losing the election because of Putin, I don’t buy Trump’s pathetic excuses as to why he isn’t responsible for the Covid-19 catastrophe raging unchecked across America. No one in their right mind does. The Buck stops here as Truman said.

Call me again, I’ll answer. If you are still a Trump supporter, don’t bring up Trump or Covid-19. I don’t want to burn any bridges with an old friend, but that’s what will happen if you’re still a Trump supporter. No regrets, no apologies. Trump is the first president in my lifetime I wouldn’t take a bullet for. I love my country, I served my country,  I’d die for my country, … but I won’t die for a POTUS whose  hubris and idiocy is destroying my country. Fuck Trump and anyone still deluded enough to support him.

Your call old friend.

God save us all, Trump sure isn’t going to. Comments, shares appreciated. #StaytheFhome #WearaDamnMask

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(Random image publicly posted on Facebook of unknown genesis, used without permission.)