Logic is an enemy and truth is a menace. — Rod Serling
CAN YOU! FEEL A! BRAND NEW DAAAAAY!
When my daughter and I heard about the Biden-Harris win? We strutted arm-in-arm like Diana Ross and Micheal Jackson at the end of “The Wiz” after her softball game.
Though the Trump Administration stonewalls president-elect Joe Biden’s access to funds released by the General Services Administration (GSA) his transition continues on track.
Biden said that his lack of #intelligencebriefings usually given to president-elect was mitigated by one thing: Vice President-elect #KamalaHarris, is still a member of the #SenateIntelligenceCommittee which gives her access to classified material. Hah! #Mamala got you Joe! pic.twitter.com/gXwzy368pN
— Alexander Yarde (@thatalexyarde) November 17, 2020
Mamala got you Joe!
Everyone would love for Trump be an adult. But “hiding under the deck, hissing like a defiant housecat getting poked with a broom handle” was center square on my “Trumps Reaction to Losing the 2020 Election” bingo card.
President-elect Biden announced his first Cabinet pick. According to CNN, Wednesday night Biden former Chief of Staff Ron Klain will be his first chief of staff.
Most importantly, he was tasked by the Obama Administration to the successful oversight of the Ebola outbreak.
WANNA DANCE? YOU PAY THE PIPER.
Trump has sown chaos for so long, we collectively forgot what a “normal” government looks like. Sometimes, it seems everyone is panicking.
Many have the demeanor of a stressed-out, gaslit, abused spouse. Fearing he’ll come back for us somehow for retribution. That’s no way to live. Here’s why I sleep like a baby.
On January 21 st. Biden’s Defense Department and the Inspectors General will audit everything Trump and his lackeys have done both pre and post-election. They will effectively “clear and sweep” the Pentagon.
And in that audit, if they find anything that smells fishy? Trust and believe, people will get indicted.
The same process will happen at The State Department. Every Cabinet member of the federal government under the new Biden administration will be having their senior staff checking under the beds. So don’t you fret.
Stick a fork in it, it’s done.
Dude. You lost. — Dan Rather (@DanRather) November 13, 2020
Karl Rove — a veteran Republican strategist who has advised Trump in the past — also concluded that the election result will not be overturned in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on Nov. 11.
“The president’s efforts are unlikely to move a single state from Mr. Biden’s column, and certainly they’re not enough to change the final outcome,” he wrote.
I knew it was over the minute I heard South Korea called Joe Biden to congratulate him. South Korea’s very existence depends upon the United States military.
Koreans are very practical people, a heck of a lot smarter than Americans. They know Trump is buddies with The North. If they don’t fear offending Trump? He’s finished.
We shocked the world by snubbing Secretary Clinton for the sins of being smart, prepared to be president and owning a vagina.
Our allies couldn’t believe the U.S. turned over the world’s biggest economy and strongest military to the high-fiving frat boy who runs for Student Body President as a joke on a platform of Beer, Pizza, and 50’s era “Paper Bag Parties”.
Our international reputation could only rise post Biden-Harris victory.
The Silence of the Ham.
Silence is the concession speech -Lawrence O’Donnell
Nothing Trump can do is more embarrassing than all he’s done before Election Day 2020. America, we just need to back off and move the furniture out of the way as little Donnie has his tantrum.
This, while the Daily Show flashback to 2018 and what Republicans said about the Mid Term Elections, is “Pot meet Kettle”. These statements have aged magnificently.
Meanwhile in 2018… pic.twitter.com/13QoRgPReM
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) November 10, 2020
Trump sulking about losing the election while the American people suffer through a humanitarian disaster is no laughing matter.
According to the United Nations, a humanitarian disaster is defined as “a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope with using its own resources.”
That’s where we are. Portable overflow tents, Doctors Without Borders supplementing our overstretched healthcare system. And refrigerated semis as morgues.
In the United States of America.
When we need a leader. Where is Trump? What is the logic of fighting for a job you are so woefully inept at you no longer show up to work? Raising money to stay out if prison is his full-time job.
Donald Trump has five huge and dozens of small lawsuits pending. Letitia James NY Attorney General is just waiting to peel him like an orange. I’m sure Natasha and he are busy filling pillowcases full of Presidential silverware.
Can you recall a week since the beginning of his political career that he didn’t dominate the airwaves or the Twitter-sphere with his bald-faced lies, crackpot conspiracy theories he saw on Fox News, or blowing his own horn for shit that Obama did?
Our biggest danger however isn’t some coup or holding the country for ransom. Donald Trump is no Machiavelli. He’s not even a MacDonald’s.
Covid is no joke. And it doesn’t care about the election results.
BATTLE WITHOUT HONOR OR HUMANITY.
Hosting a faux election night victory party/fundraiser at the White House only to see it become a COVID super spreader event is sort of a fitting cap to all this.
Americans don’t deserve to be exposed, sickened, maimed or die for the unchecked greed & hubris of the Republican Party under Trump.
Here are the facts as I understand as of my writing this piece –
The coronavirus (COVID-19) disease continues to spread around the world, with almost 52 million cases and around 1.2 million deaths as of November 11, 2020.
In the United States, the number of infections has risen dramatically since the first week of March, and the U.S. now has more confirmed cases and deaths than any other country worldwide.
All 50 states have been affected, with New York reporting the highest number of deaths and California and Texas with the highest number of cases in the United States.
Over 104 thousand new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the United States on November 10, 2020. Between January 20 and November 10 there have been over 9.8 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 with over 236 thousand deaths in the U.S as reported by the World Health Organization.
Is this the “Greatness”? Because things don’t feel great today.
True story-
My wife saw #trumppressconference February 26. “Because of all we’ve done, the risk to the American people remains very low. We have the greatest experts in the world”. That day. She ordered all the #N95masks they had on Amazon. “#donttrustwhitey”she said. She’s German Irish!
Don’t like ads? Become a supporter and enjoy The Good Men Project ad free— Alexander Yarde (@thatalexyarde) November 17, 2020
Let’s imagine that Trump behaved like not even a president but an adult. Took his “L” like a man, and, used the remaining 68 days, 14 hours, 45 minutes, 21 seconds, to use all the power he still has as POTUS to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
One of the major findings of the 911 commission was the national security priority for a seamless transition. America needs a President NOW and we’re stuck with this whiny little bitch until next year.
Say what you will about Secretary Clinton. She had bigger balls than this loser. Hillary NEVER quit a thing in her life. The entire GOP, Trump, in particular, is pathetic.
His not being unable to keep Stormy Daniels’ hush money out of the papers is one thing. But sour grapes about losing and kneecapping a smooth transition doesn’t hurt Biden. It only hurts America.
Trevor Noah has a hot take on the damage and the hilarious possibility of Trump being tossed out on his ear on January 20th at 12:01 pm.
President Trump shows no signs of conceding the election to Joe Biden, but why is that such a big deal?
If you don’t know, now you know: pic.twitter.com/v38Bs1lJ1T
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) November 15, 2020
When the most unhinged of MAGA faithful launch a terror attack over Trump’s delusion. The GOP will cite the Second Amendment and write Op-Ed’s about “Understanding Middle America”. (CIS, Straight, Christian White People) flush with Gun lobby blood money.
Republican leaders. Let me just say before this impending tragedy, I piss on your “thoughts and prayers” for the victims.
You are the most un-American, cynical shitheels I’ve ever witnessed. You wrap yourselves in patriotic drag while you hold your constituents in utter distain.
There’s so much blood on GOP hands over these four years. Why do folks, God love em, still trust a word they say is beyond me. But they do. How can they let their own constituents needlessly suffer & die over Trump’s last scam?
Simple, they’re getting their cut.
If you donate anything under $5000, then 60% of your initial contribution goes to Save America, Trump’s new Political Action Committee (or PAC, as they are often known) which was set up after the election and has broad discretion over how the money can be used.
40% goes to the Republican National Committee, which is a political operation, not a legal entity.
Only after reaching the initial contribution threshold for Save America does money start flowing to Trump’s official “recount” account.
The only decent Republican leaders are retired, fired, or left the Party when it went off the rails four years ago and refused to surrender their morals.
Perfect example? Lindsey Graham.
Sen. Graham THE CHAIRMAN of the Judiciary Comm. was too clever by half pressuring Georgia’s Sec. of State. He committed a felony. He must be investigated & he needs to step down.
And it tells me he pulled the same BS in his race, which must be investigated.
In an upcoming 60 minutes interview, President Obama speaks frankly about the danger of Republicans who know better backing Trump’s delusional behavior. –
Barack Obama tells Scott Pelley Republicans who “go along with” the President’s claims of election fraud put democracy on “a dangerous path.”
The former president appears in his first interview about his new book “A Promised Land,” Sunday on 60 Minutes. https://t.co/S7MEAx3F8j pic.twitter.com/CRx6XkT0Na
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) November 12, 2020
If you are a current Republican lawmaker who lacks the stones to ask Trump to concede?
You’re –
A). Too chickenshit to cross Trump and his goons to acknowledge the American people have spoken, and congratulate Biden / Harris in the light of day. If so, you’re useless in Congress, please tender your resignation.
B). You’re in it for the cash, so you can act like an “insurgent’. (Nevermind you were behind the wheel when America swerved into the ditch). You won’t stop feeding at the trough. Though you know voter fraud is nonsense, you back Trump’s grift.
C). You’re running in 2024 and you’ll need the MAGA Loyalists fundraising machinery, because the Republican brand is far too damaged to pose any kind of opposition without your “basket of deplorables” hooting and Fat Cats bundling for you.
D). All of the above.
All will be judged with a harsh lens in the distant future when our descendants study the history of these times and the truth of our deeds and misdeeds come to light.
I doubt anyone will be naming any high schools after Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio.
I AIN’T MAD AT YA.
MAGA.
Trump already killed 1/4 of a million Americans we don’t need any more Americans to die for this man.
I might not have you over for dinner. But I recognize our shared humanity, the worst of you, even if you refuse to recognize mine.
Dr King taught “I choose love, for hate is too much of a burden to bear.” I don’t wish you or yours any harm.
Even though I believe Trump supporters are delusional, racist, or share views I diametrically oppose.
You are going through as tough a time as anyone, COVID-19 is oblivious to political party or ideology.
Wearing a mask is uncomfortable. So is death.
Turns out I care about you more than any GOP congressperson does. I care enough to speak the truth as I see it to you. I’m not selling anything.
My biggest contempt is reserved for the profiteers in Congress and Corporations rich enough to not be affected but callously exploit people’s fears for profit.
Anyone who gives you false hope that this election isn’t over or some miracle will give Trump another term is trying to make money. And money is hard to come by for the vast majority of folks these days.
What offends me most is TIME with loved ones stolen from all of us, letting COVID-19 knowingly burn through America and not lifting a finger to stop it.
Time is far more precious than money. That’s a finite, irreplaceable resource.
That’s the biggest crime, theft of time with the people we love.
My kids want to see their Nanny. Just like your kids. We don’t dare risk it. But how long do we have with her? How many more Holidays? It sucks that any of us must make these choices.
You’re disappointed with the outcome. I get that. As a Black man in America “disappointed but not surprised” is an old familiar feeling. Like stubbing your toe. It’s a sharp pain, but you walk it off.
This feeling you feel in your gut? It will go away. Reckless actions you take in anger changes lives forever.
PLEASE WALK IT OFF MAGA. DON’T DO ANYTHING YOU’LL REGRET LATER.
You have children who need parents. Just like mine. They need schools like mine, I’ll bet you are just as over remote learning as I am.
You miss birthday parties, ball games, eating out. Going to a movie with your spouse. I get it, so do I.
You might hate me. I don’t hate you.
Frankly, today my heart is too full of joy and pride of the efforts of Black Women this election and their singular accomplishments in bringing hope to my children, and believe it or not, your children, to have any room in my heart for hatred.
And trust and believe, the rent in my head you can’t afford. Do you MAGA. Long as you don’t threaten me or mine. MAGA your life away if you so choose.
My Gran tried mightily to make me a good Christian but it didn’t stick. I was raised in a neighborhood where we don’t turn the other cheek.
I love Dr. King. But I studied Malcolm X.
Dig?
The Next Trump…
You walk into this room at your own risk. This is not a new world it’s simply an extension of what began in the old one.
It is patterned after the imprint of every dictator who planted a boot on the face of history since the beginning of time. It has refinements, technological advances, and a more sophisticated approach to the destruction of human freedom.
But like all of the super states that proceeded it. It has one iron rule-
Logic is an enemy and truth is a menace. — Rod Serling
Every loss is a lesson. America lost 4 years ago. It was an unforced error. I think the silver lining of Trump’s Presidency is the taste of Despotism he gave our nation.
Now Trump was as successful a despot as he was as a president. Not very. But, as your immune system is triggered when it recognizes a harmful pathogen it encounters a second time.
The Next Trump will hopefully find America inoculated by a close brush with what despotism looks like. Tyranny has never been our cup of tea. (pun intended) Rebellion is in our DNA.
American history is a bloody, cruel affair. The specters of Native genocide & chattel slavery vex us to this very day. But, American history is a history not only of cruelty, but also a rich one of scientific achievement, the arts, compassion, sacrifice, courage & kindness.
The lessons learned from the Greatest Generation seem most relevant today. Self sacrifice, pulling together, patriotism over profit. This isn’t the time for war profiteers. Make no mistake. We are at war. One we can’t afford to lose. COVID-19 has claimed more American lives than all our wars. COVID takes no prisoners.
Social barriers of race and gender roles leaped forward in the armed forces for Black soldiers, sailors, Airmen, Marines & medical personnel, and factories at home women served as test pilots, mechanics, and working swing shifts at factories churning out B-52s.
All were asked to give something up, and our government set a tone of calm and competence, not drama and division. And with the GI Bill, the greatest economic engine in history was unleashed after the war’s end.
We need to channel the best of us now more than ever. Economic opportunities for all, living wages, healthcare, childcare through this continued crisis and beyond.
It’s time to heal the sick, strengthen industry, and reorganize our priorities. American fails this test without new thinking and working together. Basic hygiene isn’t a plot to control you for christ’s sakes! It’s science! “We’re in this for the species boys & girls.”
Can you imagine our Great-Grandparents who served overseas fighting Hitler’s Axis or organized at home, without Meat, Nylon, Chocolate, and ration books balking about being asked to wear a mask? They’d do it gladly if it helped a neighbor.
l can’t imagine that either. They’d be ashamed of us. It was called “Patriotic duty”.
Get over it Snowflake. Wearing a mask is patriotic.
Masks, hand washing social distancing saves lives. Make it a habit. Show me an “Essential Worker” and I’ll show you someone exposing themselves and their families to COVID-19 daily because some are selfish. Do it for them If not yourself.
Those workers, working too hard for little thanks and less pay. Female, Male or Gender nonspecific, Black, Latinx, Native, white, brown, Asian, gay, straight, Bi, a person in need of more access or not, Citizen or not. Guarantee a living wage for EVERYONE.
If need be? Shut it all down for a month. If it saves lives. Freeze rents, pay out more stimulus. #ERASESTUDENTDEBT It is OUR tax money after all. We can afford millionaires tax cuts? We can afford to keep everyone solvent for a shutdown if that’s what it takes to stop this thing.
For people confused about #erasingstudentdebt What do you think #bankruptcy is? #trump businesses went bankrupt six times between 1991 and 2009. People get so high and mighty about responsibility when poor people catch a break rich people take for granted. Why is that?
— Alexander Yarde (@thatalexyarde) November 17, 2020
Hopefully, we smarten up. Become more humble. Less privileged, & better neighbors to each other. Get in better shape. Read more. Use the lessons of 2020 to forge a more prosperous future everyone can share, not only the 1%.
My hope is the trials we will face defeating COVID-19, will carry over to spotting the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing that the Next Trump will be.
We will be more vigilant, more skeptical, less willing to give the benefit of the doubt. Have a higher threshold for who we trust to govern. Embrace science, reject superstition. Hope over fear.
Our mass media will be less compliant to regurgitate propaganda. Less complacent in normalizing racism, bigotry and misogyny.
Perhaps the hot topic will be “Acknowledging Black Patriotism” instead of “Justifying White Supremacy”.
Democrats are less gullible. Republicans are a bit more chastened. May the Next Trump never find traction in the UNITED States of America.
YES, WE KAM!
Most importantly, I think our kids, four years older, witnessing a POTUS who is benevolent, emotionally mature & compassionate who understands loss.
A Vice President who’s a kind, powerful, smart Blasian Sister in the second-highest position in America is as good for MAGA children as mine, in someways even more impactful.
Because if Vice President Kamala Harris isn’t this “monster” the adults around them told them she was?
What else are they wrong about?
Or lying to them about?
Maybe the kids that they aren’t allowed to befriend (who they befriend anyway) aren’t monsters either?
See, THAT’S how things change. By our young people asking questions. Challenging the status quo. Seeking beyond the “what” and trying to understand the “why”.
That’s why young minds are so precious. And young hearts should be protected from hatred.
They are our future, working together if we wish America to be strong. We’ve got a chance to make things brighter for future generations today. Let’s not waste this shot!
The next Trump will be seen as toxic & aberrant and not a reflection of what America thinks but leaves unsaid.
Maybe you think I’m dreaming.
MAGA kids questioning what they’ve been taught.
Americans pulling together, burying the hatchet, and forging a more perfect union.
It’s hopeful for sure.
Aspirational.
A long shot.
Perhaps even unlikely.
But, so was a Black-Indian Woman Vice President. (sips my tea)
I wish you all the best for the coming year. Be excellent to each other. Wear a mask.
God Bless America!
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Art credit -author/Twitter