The Lesser Evil

At this point, I think two things have become clear. Donald Trump's agenda is exactly what he said on the campaign trail, contrary to what many of his fringe supporters claimed. Also, Hillary Clinton's appeal was limited at best.

I'd like to extend an olive branch to those who voted for Donald Trump, but only as the lesser of two evils. I understand your objections to Hillary Clinton. She wasn't an inspiring candidate, the Clinton brand was tarnished by decades of questionable dealings, and Bill's history of sexual violence cannot be excused. Now that the election is over, we're only left with Donald Trump, the lesser evil.

Many times during the campaign, I offered criticism of Donald Trump. Many responses that I heard were a variation of shifting attention to Clinton's failures, and how Trump at least presented a departure from politics as usual.

If you ever used that excuse, to yourself or to others, you're now presented with the fact that the lesser of two evils is now the President of the United States. He does not deserve your support. Being the lesser of two evils is not an accomplishment. Being less terrible is not praiseworthy.

You are not required to support the president. If you choose to support him now, you tarnish your own credibility, and you choose to support evil, as you have defined it.

The president is a sexual predator, by his own admission.
He short-changes his contractors, by his own admission.
He pays no taxes, by his own admission.

If you agree, then join the resistance.

Just yesterday (as of this writing), he has taken the step to ban refugees from several Muslim-majority countries. Most of these refugees are fleeing conflicts that we had a hand in creating. Trump ordered border agents to create a religious test to allow Christians free entry, while preventing Muslims from ever getting entry through the use of the dubious term "extreme vetting." (Refugee status is already VERY difficult to obtain, so "extreme vetting" might as well be a "no.")

Unless you are 100% Native American, some of your ancestors arrived here by boat. Some of them were fleeing conflict, some from famine, some from disease, and some just looking for economic opportunities. THIS IS WHAT AMERICA IS. We have been multi-cultural from the very beginning. Don't believe the nativist bullshit artists that say "we have enough immigrants." That sentiment has also existed for the entire history of this country. It has never been true, not once. First it was the Germans, then the Irish, then the Italians, then the Chinese, then the Mexicans, and now the Syrians. Somehow, immigrants of the past seem to forget their origins, and the resistance to their arrival, and turn around to pay the same mistrust and bigotry to the next wave.

From the inscription on the Statue of Liberty:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"