If you asked me several months ago if I considered myself a good guy, I’d have said yes. Recently, though? Not so much. If I had to use one word to describe myself at this moment, I would say “prick.” Do I feel bad about that? Again, not so much.
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If you’re in front of me at a traffic light, and you hesitate for just a moment when the light turns green, you’re going to get the full force of my horn. If I’m running, and you’re coming toward me and don’t move to the side (which seems to be happening at a greater frequency), I will deafen you with a full-throated “Move!” I used to say “excuse me.” But I just assume anyone coming toward me is the enemy. I’ll mutter, “Selfish Trump supporter.”
If you drive a dreadful Tesla truck, I will immediately assume that you’re a jerk. If I see your Trump bumper sticker, you will get a series of expletives, and I might even give you the finger when I pass you.
Because here’s the deal and the cold hard truth. If I do not know you, I will assume that you voted for nastiness. Honestly, if one more person says to me, “Everything will be OK,” or worse, “Oh, it’s not so bad,” well, I’m going to rip them a new one.
What makes me so angry at you if you did vote for him is that every day, I have to see another video or posting of rampant and vicious LGBTQ+ hate.
Trump and his Nazi soldiers are shutting down all of our rights, as fast as they can. And what that does is give license to all the hate toward us.
But is that just me? I don’t think so.
I’m not the only one feeling especially angry these days. Lately, on my social feeds, I’m seeing a barrage of angry posts from friends and acquaintances who were otherwise docile. I can’t tell you how many posts I’ve seen that start like this: “I normally don’t post about politics, but…” And then the tirade begins.
Watching Donald Trump’s horrific treatment of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office on Friday enraged me, and based on what I saw, again on my social media, it enraged many others. I’ve watched that lesson in abject cruelty by Trump countless times, trying to make sense of it, and I can’t. It was definitely premeditated. Trump and JD Vance, sitting before the meeting, figuring out a way to be as belligerent and bullying as possible toward the visiting head of state of an ally.
I also watched, listened to, and read all the coverage about how 99 percent of the world took rightful umbrage at Trump’s vindictiveness and that America can’t be trusted and can’t be relied upon. Many said that the Oval Office incident, along with Trump and Elon Musk’s cuts to U.S. health care aid to lifesaving overseas programs revealed a mean streak in a country that was always the good guy.
Then it hit me. That’s a metaphor for me. I was that “good guy” who is now suddenly a prick. And those of us with good morals, instincts, and judgment who refused to vote for Trump are now as angry as all the deplorable and raging Trump supporters. Trump’s Oval Office behavior was a reflection of a country that has dissolved into a cauldron of anger.
Yes, we know that Trump voters were always angry, selfish, obnoxious — particularly with those offensive oversized TRUMP flags. At his rallies Trump’s rhetoric fueled the fire of hate in their hearts. Trump voters think that everything that’s wronged them in life was not their fault — it’s always someone else's.
The person in my life who exemplifies this is my brother. I haven’t spoken to him in years, and I have no intention of speaking to him again. He is the quintessential Trump supporter. He’s never held a job very long, never lets go of a grudge, and when you talk to him he never, never asks you how you are doing. It’s always about him. And he’s always wailing about how the world has just screwed him over, and he’s never once accepted any blame.
I’ve always pointed out to people that there is a difference between how Trump addresses the masses that are my brother’s ilk versus how Democrats do. Trump patronizes this anger, telling his supporters that they’re right, it’s not their fault, and he will fix it. Democrats, on the other hand, say, well it is your fault, but I have a couple options for you.They don’t want to hear that for sure.
That’s why if you’ve ever seen people leave a Trump rally, they are angrier than they were when they walked in, because they’ve been reminded that the world outside that rally has crapped all over them, and Trump is their revenge.
Boy, is he screwing them over, but he’s brainwashed them so much that these people, who never accept blame, will likely never blame Trump for the economic and health ills that are about to befall them because of him.
Me and my ilk, on the other hand, see the consequences of Trump’s actions ahead, and we feel helpless to try to stop it; thus, that helplessness gets our goat, sticks in our craw, and we’re becoming angry that this is happening to us because stupid people voted for Trump, believing his lies.
Now we are as angry as a typical Trump voter. I wrote previously why it’s OK to be angry at a Trump voter, and of all the columns I’ve been writing over the last month, that one generated some of the most significant interest — and people are still clicking on it. And that’s because those of us who didn’t vote for the meanest man in America are looking for ways to place our anger. And anger at the Trump voter seems a good place to start.
I go to my grocery store every week at the same time — usually early in the morning because the place is empty, and I don’t want to deal with anyone. The same cashier checks me out, and lately we’ve been lamenting all that’s going wrong in this country.
On Saturday, we were chatting, and I said to her, “Can I ask you a question?”
She said, “Sure, honey, you can ask me anything.”
“You deal with people, strangers every single day, all day long; do you think that people are becoming meaner?”
She looked at me in stunned disbelief, “We were just talking about that yesterday. Yes, definitely. Much meaner. Not just to me but with each other.”
“How would you describe them?" I asked. She thought about it for a moment, then said, “Just a bunch of pricks.”
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