A call to end the hate-mongering, start talking
To the Times:
I am as partisan a proud liberal Democrat as you are likely to know. I welcome my Democratic and Republican neighbors to the polls every election. We do not hate each other. Nothing remotely like that describes our behavior or discussions. I do not, nor have I ever, expressed anything like hate toward Mr. Trump, as nearly everyone has chosen to refer to him.
However I am most definitely, justifiably angry, and sick beyond belief about a president who began his campaign for president of the United States of America in a hateful manner. He did not begin by saying, he intended to pursue and achieve meaningful reform of our immigration system because he fears for the safety of American citizens and the integrity of our immigration policies. No! Instead he demonized an entire nation and race, irrationally generalizing from a tiny portion of those populations to declare that, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you ... They’re sending people that (sic) have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. (sic) They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” That is a hateful, racist, stupid thing to say, and I am embarrassed that my president has defiantly refused to apologize in any way.
I do not hate this man. I am not falsely accusing him of anything. I am offering his own exact words as he spoke them before the entire world. I honestly do not believe I can say he is a racist. What I am saying is that I am tired, sickened, embarrassed, saddened and angered by the racist things he undeniably says and does. I am tired of everyone and anyone who apologizes for him, tries to interpret what they claim somehow to know he (obviously?) meant to say when what he actually said is shamefully and unapologetically said, and was recorded on video, is clear as a bell because he often repeats his rants and proudly makes a point of refusing to apologize.
I won’t take the time or space to list the literally hundreds of things he has misrepresented, People listen as President Donald Trump speaks at a rally at Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee, Wis., Wednesday.
falsely stated, or done, or the many things that are clearly racist, sexist, misogynistic, or just plain mean, rude or simply lacking empathy or common decency. In his twisted perception “proudly not being politically correct” is superior to polite discourse. I don’t know or care what is in his heart.
When the Civil Rights Act was being debated, those who opposed it justified their opposition saying, “you can’t change peoples’ hearts by passing a law.” They were right. The law cannot possibly do so, nor was it intended to. What the law does is identify certain behaviors as illegal, therefore punishable by law. It has helped. If what you are doing, saying, endorsing or encouraging is hateful and/or racist, though not illegal, whatever is in your heart, whatever is your intention, what you are saying and/or doing is racist. There is a solution. It is simple. Stop! And if you support President Trump’s policies, it is easy for me to respect that. It is important for me to hear your reasoning. That is how democracy works. But if you excuse the inexcusable in any way, I cannot respect that. I cannot understand
that.
His recent remarks calling for unity, and condemning hateful, comments or actions by politicians, by anyone, do not impress. Why not? Woodenly delivered reading carefully from a script on a piece of paper, what he said was preceded, by less than 24 hours, then followed almost immediately by more hateful rhetoric against American citizens he views and describes as enemies, Now he blames the “hateful, horrible fake news” media for all the hate. This is a notion so detached from reality and so recklessly dangerous that it is a threat, not only to the First Amendment right of free speech, but also to the health of this democracy. I am not spewing hate. I am simply observing and reporting to reality.
I do not pretend to be capable of reading his mind or knowing what is in his heart. I am calling on the president of the United States to stop doing and saying hateful, often racist things. I expect the tiny minority of hatefilled white nationalists and otherwise deranged Americans to defend this president. They support him because they believe he believes
what they believe. I know this because this is what they say. I am truly, completely puzzled at why my Republican friends and fellow American citizens defend, pretend, deny, explain away, and otherwise bury their heads in the sand about what he said or did because they seem to believe, falsely in my opinion, that support for his policies requires defending his completely unacceptable and inexcusable behavior and words.
If we are going to come together, and unite as Americans, learning to listen to one another in search of common ground demands that we try harder – a lot harder. Reasoned debate on policy based on facts that can be verified from reliable sources is infinitely more difficult than repeating what is hateful, responding hatefully, or chanting ridiculous slogans, and mindlessly crying out “fake news” when we hear something with which we disagree. The former offers at least the possibility of progress toward our real, legitimate, and significant policy disagreements. The latter is a recipe for disaster that has become all too obvious.
Tim Tuinstra, Upper Darby