NOTE TO MYSELF: Re: My ‘Friend’ Dilemma
Such a quandary I find myself in these days, and I know that I am not alone.
Like many other people, I have some truly amazing, charitable, kind, smart, and educated, loving friends, most of whom, are considered ‘White’, successful and generally well off. Most of whom are in Construction, some Lawyers and others Business Professionals and Business Owners.
And they are, supporters of Donald Trump!
Now, I find myself asking, “how did these people, whom I thought to be intelligent ‘friends’ come to support such a Fascist, Misogynistic, Bigoted, narrow minded, ill-informed, hate mongering, violent, cheating, Russian controlled, dangerous demagogue?” And, if you don’t believe these claims, then you have been living in a cave.
After the shock and now, acceptance, I then ask myself, “why?” Why are so many of my friends backing a person, that, for most business leaders, top Economists, Technology Business Owners, Scientists, the World’s leaders, and all the Past Presidents along with the Smartest people in the world warn us against? Every day, there are open letters written by top Politicians, Technology Leaders, Security Experts, Past Agency Directors, and generally everyone on this planet earth, except for those die-hard republicans.
I, like many others in my profession, live by and through information ‘Validation’. Validation; that a statement or action is supported by facts (real facts), in accordance with documented evidence, challenged through use of objective evidence, using measured acceptance criteria. However, I see, that most Republicans and my Trump supporting friends, do not care about the facts, the truth or the concepts of morality, or the many of Trumps’ silly and sometimes criminal antics.
And I tell them, if you do not believe that Trump is a chronic liar, then fact check! All you have to do is to go on any of the ‘Fact Checking’ websites out there, oh yea, I forgot, ‘facts are the work of the evil media’.
In a time, where unemployment is low, stock market is flourishing, decreased in poverty rates, available universal healthcare, and where the US is literally, job saturated, then the question is, why are these ‘White’ middle aged people so angry enough to vote for Trump? Where the plain truth is so obvious, why?
As I sit and talk with my ‘Friends’ over a glass of wine at dinner, or while working out with them at the local gym, or, as of lately, conversing through ‘Facebook’, I hear how my friends justify their ‘Trump’ decisions by turning it around on Hillary, citing uninformed comments about ‘Benghazi’, and how Hillary Clinton ‘killed our men’, however, when pressed to provide evidence or facts, or asked whether any of my friends have even read the Benghazi transcripts, watched the hearings, or if they understood the circumstances pertaining to the incident, or understand that, even after all of their hearings, she has been exonerated? My friends have no response or answers.
And then, they throw out the ‘Email’ scandal, which is old news. And as an auditor of IT systems, yes, the use was improper, however, considering the global use of personal servers back then, this was a minor issue. We as a government have upgraded our Standard Operating Procedures and Software and Systems since, and no harm has come of this issue. End of that story.
I have some of my friends who cite how the Clintons made billions of Dollars with their foundation! How dare they? Those evil Clintons! Then, I tell my friends that the Clinton Foundation books have been open to the public for scrutiny since Hillary first ran in 2008.
Ok, Hillary has these three unfounded issues, all of which are considered minor in nature, and are not even worth a mention, however, compared to the lies, cheats, theft and insightful and deceptive comments spewed by Trump on a daily basis, I do not know how my friends are not embarrassed by stating they support Trump?
Some of my friends who are ‘Educated’ and ‘Smart’ people, even go as far as to post ‘Photoshop’ images of Hillary hugging Osama Bin Laden, or Obama dressed up as a Terrorist and share a childish laugh between themselves. Amazing, Lawyers and Business professions giggling over dumb Photoshop images on their phones.
In an effort to ‘Educate’ some of my Educated Friends, I started the website ‘Readthefacts.org’, where I started to post some of Hillary Clinton’s achievements, and basic personal facts, i.e. Law School, Senator, Secretary of State, FLOTUS, and her plans on moving the country forward, however, I find it hard to find any accomplishments, achievements or other facts supporting Trump, outside of his business failures.
So, when they ask me, “Why are you voting for Hillary?”, well that is simple, when I hire employees, I will always look for the person, who has the Education, Experience, Background, and Training to perform the Job they are hired to do, in accordance with their formal role and responsibilities, and as stated by everyone, Hillary is that person. She has more experience than anyone who has ever applied for that position. In fact, under many of the CFRs (Code of Federal Regulations), it is a requirement for many sectors of the industry!
What I notice, is that all my ‘white’ friend are reaching to believe, and to justify why, Hillary should not be president, where providing no explanation as to why Trump should be president. Does not matter that she is far more qualified, than Trump, as this election is not about qualifications.
So, this is the quandary, I am faced with. How did my friends now come to follow and support such an evil man, who’s most of his own party does not support? The Party does not support Trump, however, as cowards do, they will follow what their party tells them to, afraid of being singled out. So, much of this party’s rationale? To say that a Republican is always better than a Democrat, no matter how evil that Republican is? Poor rationale.
We have this man, who everyone knows, lies, cheats and steals, and where all of the most brilliant men in the world knows’ is not qualified to lead this great nation. Where all of the Country’s most renowned Economists, World’ Leaders (Except for Putin and Jong-il), and even every past President understands and knows that Trump is not qualified to lead the most advanced economy in the world.
Trump has lied, stolen, and cheated all his life, and anyone who supports such a man, I am having a problem understanding. I truly need, one of my white friends to explain to me why, they are supporting such a person, while not explaining why they are against Hillary. I am tired of this rationale, because it is better to have status que, than to have chaos.
Stephen Hawken’s once said that in describing why there is such a support for Trump, his only reply was that Trump appeals to the lowest common denominator. Why would any of educated, successful and intelligent friends want to be associated with the lowest common denominator? Or as Trump loves to say, the “Poorly Educated”.
Why do my friends want to be grouped in with the ‘Poorly Educated’ when I truly know that they are not.
How do you support or respect someone who votes for stupidity?
The only explanation that I can see, is that Trump is the last stand for my White Friends. My White friends feel that Trump alone, in his fascist empowerment will save this White Cristian Nation, from the evil minority. In the end, facts, truth and morality does not matter, the Trump clan will literally vote for Trump, even if he ‘Shoots someone on 5th Avenue in New York.
And in the end, I want to feel, believe, and hope that my friends are too smart, to support such a Fascist, Misogynistic, Bigoted, hate mongering, violent, cheating, dangerous demagogue of a person. But if not, please explain your rationale.
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