By Tom Burns
I’m going to light a fire in her belly.
I’m starting to get nervous about the election.
Actually, I’ve been anxious about it all year, but, in these final days before the 2016 Presidential election, I’m finding myself facing some harsh realities that I didn’t really anticipate.
Namely, what will I say to my daughter if she wakes up on November 9th and Donald Trump is our president?
Because there’s a decent chance he’ll win. His poll numbers are up, statisticians like Nate Silver are pointing out that his paths to victory are improving every day. We need to start preparing ourselves for a President Trump-led America.
But that involves the possibility of me waking my daughter up on Wednesday morning and telling her that Trump won.
How do I do that? How do I ever say those words to her?
She’s been watching Trump all year. She’s heard what he’s said about women and immigrants. She’s seen how he constantly lies. Even she knows that Trump doesn’t really want the job. He has no interest in civics or public service. He just wants to win.
And that scares the hell out of my daughter — he scares the hell out of her.
But, if the unthinkable happens and Trump wins, when my daughter wakes up that morning, this is what I will tell her…
Sometimes the bad guy wins.
It’s a fact of life.
Good does not always triumph over evil. There are moments where no matter what you believe or how strong you believe it, the world will take a sharp turn and you’ll be devastated by the direction you’re headed in.
Bad guys win.
And bad guys often have lots of support. That doesn’t mean that all of their supporters are bad. They’re not. They all have their own anxieties and worries too. But, occasionally, good people support bad guys, because they’re AFRAID.
They feel lost, abused, attacked. And bad guys tell them what someone else is to blame for their problems and that there are easy solutions to complex problems and that just feels good to hear when you’re at your lowest point.
So they go into a voting booth and they vote for Trump.
We can’t control what they do. We can only do what we do. And we can do now.
And the most important thing we can do is NEVER stop being the good guys.
A wise woman once said “When they go low, we go high.” That’s our motto. If the bad guys win the day and they get power and influence and they get to spread their toxic agendas, we go in the other direction.
We love people, we have empathy, we make sure that we’re annoying as shit to the bad people in power, so they know, every day, that they do NOT have a mandate from the masses.
We organize. We cultivate hope. We never stop smiling and doing whatever we think is right because, deep down, we know that it will piss them off. (It’s also the right thing to do, but the “pissing them off” part is a lot of fun.)
Our nation has had some truly HORRIFIC rulers in the past and we’ll have more in the future.
I will remind my daughter that the President has limited powers, that he can be impeached, that he’s going to spend four years finding out that he can’t do half of all the dumb crap he’s promised his followers he can do.
We will be the fly in the ointment. The sand in the Vaseline. We will never, ever, EVER stop rubbing our new awful President the wrong way because he needs to know that he doesn’t speak for us.
And we accomplish that by being the good guys.
By helping where we can. By refusing to be silent about injustice. By making sure the world can judge us by our personal examples and not by the bloated trust-fund kid we elected to office.
If Trump wins, I’m not going to console my daughter. I’m going to light a fire in her belly.
I’m going to say, “OK, Voldemort won. The Death Eaters have taken control of the Ministry. Do we give up? Or do we keep fighting?”
And, knowing my daughter, she’s going to give me a long, low smirk and tell me, “Bring it on.”
Maybe I won’t get the smirk that morning. She might be too shell-shocked. Too upset. But, once we have a chance to look out upon Trump’s America, I know, in my heart, as a family, we’ll want to knock Trump’s tacky branding off our country and start moving towards the next act of the American story, where the good guys rally and we make our country a place of empathy and acceptance once again.
So, if you do win, Donald, I have just one piece of advice for you.
“Good luck.”
Originally Published on Your Tango. For more like this try:
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Photo: Tom Burns
Why don’t you tell your daughter that we live in a country where a young man can be accused by a classmate of date rape, and be kicked out of school without due process. Nope, the school doesnt have to let him face his accuser, get a defense lawyer, or have any of the other constitutionally guarenteed things you think. That we have a country where almost all the difficult , dangerous, and unpleasant jobs are done by men, yet women want to make the same , for doing less. Why don’t you say her brother could make a joke… Read more »
Davedale if he told her all that then Tom Burns really would be a ‘good man’ ! But we live in a world where good is called evil and evil is called good (and with shrieking Soris funded protestors too boot).
*Soros funded
As a Bernie Sanders supporter I can only tell you we got the president we deserve. Bernie was the natural and fair successor of pres. Obama, not Hillary. I dont know why people glamorize that woman, she is not the lesser of two evil, she is the evil personified. Did you guys miss how they rigged the DNC? how the Klinton mafia made ahead? wikileaks? how the entire global elite supports Hillary? or natural enemies the corporations wall street etc cascading money in her campaign? I dont get it. When Bernie was down the street with MLK Hillary was supporting… Read more »
I dont know why people glamorize that woman, she is not the lesser of two evil, she is the evil personified. You just answered your own question. Clinton was glamorized because she is a woman. She became the Chosen One because of her gender. Her supporters saw her a paragon of virtue that did no wrong and if anyone called her on her bullshit it MUST be because of misogyny, totally ignoring the fact that people still call Bush on his bullshit several years after his term in the White House. Did you guys miss how they rigged the DNC?… Read more »
You millennial Dad’s are a trip. Back during elections when my daughter was as young as yours she did not care. Why? Social technology and TV were not the key feeders of info to our kids. You all just let social and TV try and control your kids. Try turning it all off and be a real parent. You teach your kids what applies to them. To a young girl – the president is not what impacts her life. Get focused on helping your kids learn to live without electronics – the new drug that parents of today let kids… Read more »
It does not make any sense to accuse Trump, he is the winner of this election, the new president of the US and you cannot blame him for that. […..If a woman had run saying degrading and derogatory things about men… …..if a woman ran calling men all matters of names from pig to ugly to stupid etc.] So you think, women never say anything degrading and derogatory about men? Really? I can assure you, women are doing it all the time but get easily away with that. It is easy to accuse all men to be misogynists and even… Read more »
You know what Yohen, the fact that you didn’t address one thing I said about how trump’s treats women tells me a lot. You jumped right into deflecting his behavior because you don’t want to seriously address the misogyny that exists in our country. This is one way of many that actually proves that yes, men are against women. You do realize that this election systematically degraded women at every turn and we even saw how social structures treat women who try to gain power right? I have never seen another candidate treated how Hillary was. I am not accusing… Read more »
[You know what Yohan, the fact that you didn’t address one thing I said about how Trump’s treats women tells me a lot.]
Why should I? Did you ever address how many men are treated as second class citizens in USA, UK and other Western countries?
Anyway, like it or not – this is the result of this election and this result has to be respected. Trump is the new president of USA.
I read in the news there are some protests going on in the streets in some cities against Trump, but this will not change anything.
The results have to be respected….you mean like how Trump talked about how he would “respect” the election results? This is the hypocriticslness that runs parallel to trump this entire time. Trump talked about not respecting the results and people cheered him on. Yet now, those who supported Trump want nothing but respect now when they refused to give it. But I am not even arguing about denying Trump as president. Trump is President. He obviously will be a great president for white males and men in general. And us women? Well, You said it all. Who cares? It’s never… Read more »
I can’t wait for the election to be over and Hillary gets into office .. then maybe we can stop the Trump bashing and get on to bowing our heads in homage to Hillary.
You know what Tom. If a woman had run saying degrading and derogatory things about men like trump historically says about women, if a woman ran making sexually objectifying comments about her son, if a woman ran and went on the Howard Stern show and talked about those size of her son’s penis like trump did to his own daughter while having a good time with Stern, if a woman ran bragging about grabbing men by the you-know-what and doing whatever she pleased because she was famous, if a woman ran calling men all matters of names from pig to… Read more »
And Hillary headlines Jay Z .. Let’s take a look at who Hillary had as a headliner at her recent campaign event? Jay Z’s song lyrics … The power of the P****, Thatz why every mutherf**** in the world dress fly.Every baller that can afford it they cop the best ride, for the power of the P****. (Let’s have some fun)The power of the P****, thatz why n***** get they hair cut, try to dress fly. Here is another … Another is titled “B****** and Sisters.” Sisters get respect, b****** get what they deserve Other tunes … http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/jayz/ignorantshit.html http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/jayz/holahovito.html I… Read more »
I am sorry but did you just claim that having an entertainer at a political event who uses degrading language is worse and should be held to a higher standard then the actual President of the United States who not only used degrading women about language, but violated women’s autonomy and consent? You are more offended by Hillary because of Jay Z but you are not offended by the things Trump has said and done? How does that make logical sense? Why don’t you care about the times a Teump humiliated and degraded women? A man who gleefully walked in… Read more »
I didn’t say that at all but I don’t understand why Hillary continued to get free passes. It’s that simple. Did I say anything about being more or less offended? Don’t put words in my mouth. BTW, you just tried to turn the table. I asked YOU what you thought about Hillary and what she and her husband has done and you didn’t answer that question. Trump humiliated women, yup but so did Hillary, but you give her a pass or like many, turn a blind eye to reality? I am offended by the hypocrisy of Hillary who would put… Read more »
Tom, you do realize that Trump has gotten nothing but free passes right? You are infact giving Trump free passes as we speak. Never actually saying anything that denounces his behavior and treatment of women and underaged girls. Which is part of the exact reason he won. Because people gave him free passes for his treatment of women, girls and minorities. Men especially because men didn’t care what trump did or said to women. Your whole outrage at Hillary over jay z is one giant free pass to trump. Actually Tom, I answered this part in another comment. Hillary didn’t… Read more »
All I hear are excuses for Hillary and that has been the entire campaign. And people saw through it. You’re okay with her lies, deception calling Benghazi families liars. You justify her headlining people who promote disrespect of women. Your choice.
Here you sit on a supposed site for men calling them stupid because they aren’t educated, and spewing venom about men. We clearly see where you stand.
Actually, Trump historically lied more often then Hillary. So let’s be honest with the fact you are complelety okay with trump’s lies, and you are okay with trump perving on underaged girls, and you are okay with trump calling women bimbos, fat and ugly, and you are okay with a man sexualizing his own daughter and you are okay with trump assaulting women and making women into jokes to be humiliated. Should I go on with what you are obviously okay with? Don’t you have a daughter? Or is your son of more worth than she is? And you hold… Read more »
Then how else is the statement “uneducated” men voted for Trump is to be taken when you consider people (men) who voted for him were wrong? How else is it to be looked at when you side with Hillary about half his voters are “deplorable?” Uneducated means the the “educated” make the right choices. I manipulated nothing. Your words. Uneducated synonyms: untaught, unschooled, untutored, untrained, unread, unscholarly, illiterate, unlettered, ignorant, ill-informed, uninformed. I have a daughter but also have a wife who was abused where some family members did not believe her. It’s bad enough to be abused but add… Read more »
No Tom. Those in fact were not my words. They were yours. Don’t cast your words off on me and then charge me the guilty party. “Uneducated” doesn’t mean “stupid” and I never said it did. You did. You acted like it was a pure fact that I said “uneducated” is the same as “stupid” . And for the record, I don’t have a college education. So clearly you are basically saying I am calling my self stupid. Although I am a bit of an outliner and I probably don’t represent the average uneducated female simply because of experiences I… Read more »
And that’s why Hillary healined Jay Z at one of her events? A man that has vulgar degrading songs like … her P****, Thatz why every mutherf**** in the world dress fly.Every baller that can afford it they cop the best ride, for the power of the P****. (Let’s have some fun)The power of the P****, thatz why n***** get they hair cut, try to dress fly. Here is another … Another is titled “B****** and Sisters.” Sisters get respect, b****** get what they deserve Other tunes … http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/jayz/ignorantshit.html http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/jayz/holahovito.html Yup, that’s who she associates herself with. Yet he media… Read more »
How would you feel if a women ran for president and her husband had multiple extramarital affairs, one case where he had to pay restitution for sexual abuse, and she berated and called the victims liars. A women who had such a headliner for one of her events where is songs have lyrics such as The power of the P****, Thatz why every mutherf**** in the world dress fly.Every baller that can afford it they cop the best ride, for the power of the P****. (Let’s have some fun)The power of the P****, thatz why n***** get they hair cut,… Read more »
well first off, I don’t hold women or men guiltily for the sins of their partners. And I certainly understand the initial response to stand up for the man you married and thought you could trust when women start coming out of the wood work accusing him of things. Funny though, had Hillary immediately sided with bills accusers, she still would have been labeled negatively. Hillary did what any woman would have done when oringally confronted with such issues. And she did it with grace and courage. She didn’t let the media humiliate her even though they tried. She didn’t… Read more »
US-voters are remarkably smart. A big surprise and Hillary will not get into office, but Trump.
I think, many did not really vote for Trump, but they merely wanted to get rid of all which is Obama/Clinton related.
Not all Trump voters are ‘old, white men’ – there are various reasons not to vote for Clinton.
Yeah. Apparently these women were thinking something….
http://www.nbcnews.com/card/nbc-news-exit-poll-trump-winning-among-some-groups-women-n681011
there is a really stellar article over on the website ” vox” about conservative women and why they vote and support trump. I will try to look for it since it ran a couple weeks ago. But I think you will find it interesting in what contributes to women supporting trump who tend to be conservative. Please just put yourself in women’s shoes. If a woman who so obviously disrespected and degraded men won the presidency, how would you feel? If there were nothing but female leaders and female rule and female power in this country since the dawn of… Read more »
Please just put yourself in women’s shoes. If a woman who so obviously disrespected and degraded men won the presidency, how would you feel? If there were nothing but female leaders and female rule and female power in this country since the dawn of time, and a strong, smart man came along who respected and represented and understood your experience as a male and wanted to contribute something unique and different that would help you feel better represented as a man in this country, but all that was taken away by a women who showed so little regard for your… Read more »
Seriously Danny, you gave me all of four words about not liking it and then went into how it’s actually men are are the truly marginalized group here and how men are the bigger more important victims and how men need even more representation then ever because god forbid a woman in office care about women. That right there tells me alot. You spent no time at all talking about or supporting women. Men are always 100% more important. You care about men. Men are the real victims here. Men are the ones in pain….despite the fact that men are… Read more »
Actually, yes, the majority of trump voters are less educated white men of all ages. That is a literal fact. And that’s who showed up at the polls. White male privilege is safe once again.
And so what? Of course, a huge group of voters are ‘white men’, simply said because the majority of all US-citizens are ‘white’ and not Asians or African Americans. I doubt however if ‘white men’ in USA are lower educated than other US-citizens.
About the vote, it does not matter anyway. Educated or not, one person = one vote. The educational level of the voter is irrelevant.
Back the train up. I never said that being a white male made you less educated then other us citizens. That is an extremely illogical thing to say. Statistically, trump was popular with uneducated, white males vs educated white males. There is a reason for that. It is important to understand demographics and why people vote the way they do. Whether it’s the position uneducated males find themselves in, feeling like they don’t have future, ignorance of issues, lack of progressiveness, racism or sexism…or a combination of all those factors…it says something specific that trump was popular with uneducated white… Read more »
Uneducated white = stupid in your eyes? Why do you keep bringing up “education” as though it’s the hallmark of intelligent? I guess there are a lot of “uneducated” minorities you see as stupid as well? The backbone of this nation was built on the shoulders of the uneducated. I find your attitude as insulting to the MANY men who come to GMP. The fact that in all this time, with countless examples of where men are not privileged, you would have learned something by now. Give me an uneducated white man over a “I’m voting for Hillary BECAUSE she’s… Read more »
I had typed out a long response and stupid auto refresh destroyed it. I will try to get back to this later but just can’t do it right now. I will simply say for the moment that I too find your attitude toward women insulting, depressing and part of the exact problem that allows male privilege to exist.
“Educational levels of voters is important in gaining information about how voters think and feel.” I have a question for you. You obviously know how I think and feel based upon my responses to various articles. Please tell me what education level you believe I have?
I have no doubt you are educated Tom. This does not change the fact that trump was largely supported by uneducated, white males and was hugely popular with the KKK. Don’t worry, male privilege is safe and sound with trump in the lead. He is the embodiment of white, heterosexual male privilege. A continuing theme that embodies are cultural appropriation. one of the most sexist, misogynistic and racist men will be the leader of the free world. And it sure seems like slot of men especially are taking a lot of comfort in that. And those of us who aren’t… Read more »
“but I am sure I will see you commenting on some discussion about how awful these days are for men, how victimized men are.” You sure will as this site SHOULD have more articles reflecting it.
The majority of trump voters are the least educated of all, but yet they are privileged? Exactly the rhetoric that buried the democratic party last night. and it was middle class working America, both men and women of all races that won it for trump, not “white males” If we have learned anything it is that it is time to move past that bullshit argument. We have great opportunity here, to change everything for all people, to take back our country from the political elite, on both sides, but that will only happen when we begin to ignore such extremist,… Read more »
Tom, hows that homage going. The right person won – based on our election process. So let’s just all try and be nice
T
I would love to just move on and try to be nice. Sadly, all I’m able to do these days is try to justify the voters decisions in that there is an endless attack on them.