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This post is the opinion of the the author and does not necessarily represent The Good Men Project.
*Editor/Author’s note: The following article was written before all relevant facts were confirmed. Gabe Ortiz from the DailyKos originally reported that Border Patrol was prepared to continue enforcing immigration checks while people were attempting to flee Hurricane Harvey.(http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/border-patrol-trying-arrest-undocumented-immigrants-fleeing-hurricane-harvey). Later that day, the Governor of Texas made a public announcement that Border Patrol check points would be suspended. Please note the correction.
For two days all we’ve heard about was this monster hurricane heading towards Texas, predicting “major devastation”. The Gov. of Texas appealed to the president for “emergency funding” in advance. A state of emergency has already been issued. People have been told to evacuate their homes, seek higher ground, and oh, by the way, be sure to write your identifying information on your forearm in case your body washes up. Naturally, all of Texas descended on the supermarkets to load up on essentials for living in case we have to rough it for a few weeks: beer, ice cream, chips, and water.
When it hit, it was far more catastrophic than anything we could have imagined: 45 pardoned a convict named Joe Arpaio, who used to be a really bad law enforcement officer. He lost that privilege when he gave the justice department the middle finger after they asked him to stop racial profiling. Not only that, but 45 went for the trifecta: he signed the transgender military ban into effect, then topped it off by instructing INS to set up checkpoints in order to catch illegal Mexicans fleeing the hurricane. Basically, if you’re Mexican and not legal in the USA, you get to choose: your life or your freedom. Don’t be choosy.
Let’s just get this out of the way: this is the meanest administration in the history of the USA. This administration has made a conscious decision to appeal to one authority: his base, who happen to be the meanest, least compassionate human beings in the nation. Without question, 45’s decision-making has nothing to do with what’s good for human beings. He’s opted not to bother consulting experts or seeking advice from people who understand these things. He has no sense of human compassion, no moral compass. He’s the Tin Man you’d find in Nightmare on Elm Street. If Dorothy happened upon him while following the Yellow Brick Road, the moment she unfroze him he’d strike her down with his axe. He’d make tacos out of Todo. This is a man who’s dedicated to appealing to the one group that have established themselves as angry, bigoted, racist, and immune to self-reflection. This is a group of people with no apparent interest in cultivating their hearts. These are the people he cares about because these are the only people cheering for him right now, and he is a slave to applause. They are corroded by their own hatred and ignorance of our inter-connectedness. They live in a world of duality: better than vs. less than; good vs. evil; us vs. them.
They are not Republicans. Though they all happen to be Republicans, not all Republicans are a part of his base. His base reflects a minority of Americans living in the most fear, expressing the most hate. As such, his policies are all designed to inspire a standing ovation from them.
Imagine that: the leader of the free world driven by fear and hate. We’re officially living in Bizarro World.
We are 2 weeks removed from the tragedy in Charlottesville, and one week from stumbling all over his tongue that keeps going “wink wink” to white supremacist groups. He decided this would be a good time to pardon a man who made himself famous for giving a middle finger to the United States Constitution. A lawman who got popular by flipping the bird to the rule of law. He’s a tiny, shrunken version of a man who took his white hooded mask off and made his name flaunting his policy to police via racial profiling.
Remember 45’s brilliant appeal to the black community a year ago, when pointing out how horrible their lives were under the Obama administration? “Vote for me”, he said. “What do you have to lose?” Yesterday he answered his own question.
We now realize this may have been the greatest scam in our history. To people of color he said, “Your lives suck up until now. Vote for me and I’ll make it better.” Then he proceeded to publically sanction white supremacists, and with this pardon, to pull the hood off entirely. This is the definition of institutional racism: “it’s okay to violate the law and engage in racial profiling. Don’t worry about what the courts say. I got ya’ backs, wink wink.”
The stench of Charlottesville still hangs in the air. There’s a woman who’s body isn’t even cold yet, having been laid to rest just a week ago. We’re still going toe-to-toe over all these monuments we’ve erected to honor slavery-loving traitors. Even if he had waited for the smoke to clear, it would have been a horrible decision. This latest slap in the face is the exclamation mark at the end of a horrible sentence spelled “Jim Crow Lives On!”
Funny how an exclamation mark can resemble a middle finger.
This is the Middle Finger Presidency. After all is said and done, after all the hot air given by political analysists, there’s one thing we’ll all agree on: this is the Middle Finger Presidency. He’s not a Democrat. He’s not a Republican. He’s a grown toddler walking around giving the middle finger to the world, including allies, including his own party. His base are people who have become homogenous by virtue of one thing: they’re all pissed off about having to share their spoils with black people, brown people, gay people, foreign people, and basically anybody that doesn’t fit into their teensy tiny little box. They’re giving a middle finger to the rest of the country, and they’ve been waiting for a guy like this who will lead the charge. Giving the middle finger is his one great accomplishment. It’s the one thing he’s mastered. He’s the middle finger hero.
This time he’s given a middle finger to America.
- A middle finger to the United States Constitution.
- A middle finger to the Declaration of Independence.
- A middle finger to Mexicans.
- A middle finger to LGBTQ people.
- A middle finger to people of color.
- A middle finger to the world.
- A middle finger to decency.
He’s finally given an unequivocal resignation from the pretense of goodness. He’s taken his hood off and made a clear statement to the rest of the country: we’re not going to even try. We’re not even going to make a show of it, to pretend we want to be fair and decent, and take a step toward eradicating systemic racism in this country.
A final note to the middle finger president: Once a middle finger is in one’s face, it’s just so easy to break. I recommend you write your identifying information on it. Just in case.
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Photo Credit: Getty Images
Fantastic. Thanks for this.
There will be folks who will still say, better than HRC and her email issues. Better to never put WJC back in the White House, … and those folk will never permit themselves to smell burning coffee. The honest fact is, this man has made his livelihood out of ripping people off. That includes contractors, partners, laborers, and the list goes on and on. He does this, one could surmise, because of an extraordinary deep gap of lacking self esteem. But that is a personal problem – and today his character flaw is resulting in better than 6,000,000,000 people wondering… Read more »