Okay, I'm taking a deep breath and trying to suppress my gag reflex here, but I'm going to defend Trump... In a way.
The media is playing up the notion that we just voted for Hitler. He hates black people, Hispanic people, women, gays, Muslims... And it's bullshit. There is plenty, PLENTY, to not like about the man. We don't need to go making things up. He says that he wants to enforce immigration laws (as pretty much every country does) and this is turned into "He hates Mexicans!"
He wants to stop bringing in refugees from countries with ties to terrorism until we can be sure of who is getting in (many countries have had issues with these refugees causing disruptions) and that is turned into "He hates Muslims!"
The fact is, we live in a real world with grown-up issues to deal with. I've talked with Border Patrol agents who have first hand stories about the people who come across the border illegally, and the frustration of not being able to do the job that they were hired to do. It isn't racism. It is common sense... Distorted through the lens of a man with no verbal filters, who tends to exaggerate everything he says. And it has nothing to do with him hating immigrants either. People conflate legal and illegal immigration, but they're not the same thing. Not many people oppose normal, legal immigration.
He is not a white supremicist. Saying that he is one doesn't move the conversation to a rational and sensible place. Obama has more ties to racial extremism than Trump does.
The people protesting and burning things are scared of the Boogeyman, because that is what he is to them. They probably don't know his actual position on issues (and really, who does when he's been known to change them), or his actual words. They just know the venom that's been spewed by journalists, professors and the President himself. The truth about Trump is still not exactly good news for us, but he isn't going to be throwing chains back on black people or take away voting rights from women. Yes, these are actual claims that I've seen. Based on nothing but campfire stories, which have grown-ass adults hiding under their beds.
I remember when Obama was elected, saying to someone that I hoped I was wrong about him. That it didn't benefit anyone if I was right and he was as bad as I thought he would be. I was disappointed, and probably angry to some degree, but I was never ashamed of being American, I never called for his assassination, I never would have cheered as people burned him in effigy (which I remember happening with Bush, but I don't recall seeing it with Obama). And since he took office, I judge him based on what he has done.
Unfortunately, I still think he was horrible for this country and I wouldn't really want to spend an evening at dinner with the man. But even if I wanted him out of office (and I will cheer when he is), I never wanted to see him dead. I just didn't want to see him anymore at all.
We all know that Trump wasn't my first choice. I'm not exactly celebrating the idea of him in office. But I genuinely hope that he does the job well. We don't win if he proves me right by being a bad choice.
Here endeth the rambling.
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