Donald, I am not one of your supporters, but there is something I am thankful to you for. It's something that all of America and especially Millennials should be thankful and even grateful to you for.
For decades, the Democrats have been the inclusive Party and Republicans have been the divisive Party. For decades the Democrats have been painted as too lenient and too "enabling" to the downtrodden and fostering a welfare society of lazy freeloaders. For decades the Republicans have insisted on fewer regulations, giving more leeway for free markets to run the show (and insisting that "trickle down" economics would work despite huge golden parachutes, perks, write-offs and a 300+/1 ratio of CEO to worker pay).
For many years Democrats have been seen by Republicans as whiny, complaining losers and Republicans have been seen by Democrats as arrogant, uncaring, helping the rich get richer and focused on "winning at any cost."
Well as the saying goes, "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." The Republican Party is now experiencing vis a vis Trump, what the Democrats have experienced vis a vis it for years. So GOP if you don't like the way it feels to be dismissed, disregarded, condescended to and essentially told to "pound sand" by Trump, stop doing it to the Democrats.
But this issue of divisiveness or what I call "either/orism" that leads to zero game thinking and gridlock goes far beyond government.
As much as Americans like to be right, there is a growing and rising tide of younger generations that are tired of watching boomers argue and especially their Boomer Parents devolve into divorce or at the very least not liking each other because of "either/orism."
Over the years when I practiced as a psychotherapist and saw Millennial patients during their teens and early twenties, I would often ask them: "If you had to choose between you getting what you want or your parents liking, supporting and enjoying each other instead of picking at and putting each other down, which would you choose?"
The vast majority told me that they would prefer their parents liking, supporting and enjoying each other. When I asked them why, most would respond with something resembling the following: "When I watch my parents argue, shut each other down, disrespect, verbally abuse and humiliate each other, it is like a knife under my ribcage and I can't stop screaming in my head for them to 'Just shut up and stop it!.' But of course they don't. I hate watching them hate each other and it drives me nuts."
Well as we know, many of those parents did get divorced, but that didn't stop the "either/orism" that continues in their view of the world. That may explain why the Gen X'ers and Millennials can hardly wait for the older generation to "go quietly into that good night" instead of continuing to rage against each other with self-righteousness that humilates their entire generation.
One wish I would have for Hillary Clinton if Trump continues to immolate and if the GOP sees their chance for the White House disappear is something she may be too much of an "either/or" boomer to see.
If Clinton becomes the presumptive President well ahead of the election date and if the GOP abandons Trump as he has abandoned them and they scurry around to win or retain House and Senate seats, Clinton will have the chance to reach across the aisle before she becomes President.
And then, if she would do that and say, "Let's figure out a way to go from 'either/or' to 'both/and' with our singular focus being the world we want to leave to our grandchildren, who many of us will never live to see. Let's create a clear vision of that which we can all agree on and then reverse engineer from then to now and work together to make it happen."
If she could do that, she might actually be able to build "a government of the people, by the people, for the people and with the people that will not only not perish from the earth," but will serve as a role model for every country to follow.
And if you Donald could be the catalyst for that by causing America to say, "Enough already!" to divisiveness, the revisionists of history will say it never would have happened without you.
What an amazing legacy that would be for you!