If taking a knee before an NFL game is disrespectful to America, it's a protest that pales by comparison to disrespect that President Donald Trump and his so called conservative "values" supporters give the Constitution and human decency every day.
Trump wakes up each morning and figuratively defecates on Twitter. This week he's challenged the First Amendment's protection of freedom of the press. He's lied to America about healthcare saying he's decreasing costs when every in reality he's sabotaging insurance exchanges. He also took a shot a the idea of sanctuary cities as many continue to oppose his race/religion based immigration policies.
In addition to the Twitter lowlights, former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon stood before the Value Voters Summit of social conservatives and literally outlined Trump's executive order as sabotage designed to "blow up" the health-care law and insurance marketplaces. These so called "values voters" purport to have christian beliefs as their foundation. Yet, can anyone really imagine putting Bannon's words against a what would Jesus do test? It's complete hypocrisy. These "value voters" don't stand for any value other than themselves - something they have in common with Trump.
Speaking of hypocrisy, the Harvey Weinstein scandal dominated headlines this week. Of course the headlines it made with conservatives didn't have much to do with a meaningful conversation around ending sexual harassment. Fox News, itself a former safe house for monsters like Weinstein, focused on the fact Weinstein financially supported democrats rather than the damage he's done to his victims. Trump didn't call for Fox News to be de-licensed like NBC (fact check: networks do not have broadcast licenses, their affiliates do) but he did say he wasn't surprised about Weinstein when asked about the story by CNN. During that exchange the reporter asked how Weinstein's behavior differed from how Trump characterized his own on the Access Hollywood tape. Trump brushed off the tape and stuck to the story that his remarks were just "locker room" talk.
So to recap, conservatives are ok ignoring the victims of sexual harassment in favor of trying to make their opponents look bad. Trump apparently knew Weinstein well enough to not be surprised by his actions, yet said nothing, and apparently that's ok. Trump is again let off scot free by "value voters" when it comes to his own behavior of sexual harassing women.
Every day Trump unloads nothing but ugliness. His lies, baseless accusations, flat out wrong facts, and malicious intent drop on Twitter and from the White House like never ending diarrhea. Trump supporters embrace him even tighter clinging to a indefensible line of defense. The opposition tries to fight back with fact checks and reason but Trump has turned the forum into such a cesspool that civility is near lost on both sides.
The current President of the United States is a malevolent moron but he also may be the product of our own decades of political behavior. We've done little to put value on education, improve the lives of the poor and middle class, and have been a country at war abroad for most of the last twenty years. Those things wear on people. They wear on decency. They breed distrust and foster ignorance. Right and left have looked by each other so long that there is nothing that remains recognizable. The incivility, hypocrisy, and lack of decency personified by Trump may mean we are generations lost when it comes to being able to bridge the divide.
Perhaps subsequent generations will do better but with the current example being set, today's children don't stand a chance at actually making america great again.
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