I’m no longer surprised by the great number of openly angry people I encounter every day. Within minutes of a cordial greeting, their anger at Trump’s latest assault on our sanity, our sense of decency, our safety and welfare, our finances, or our nation’s rule of law come pouring out. Most of the people I meet just want the disgusting behaviors and the pain and misery he’s causing to stop. There is a mix of disbelief and frustration that this kind of cruelty and corruption is allowed to continue. They want Trump gone and like me, they wake up every morning hoping he is.
I used to see a lot of red hats and Trump flags when I visited Simi Valley. These days, it’s rare to see one. I think some MAGA folks finally realize they were sold a fantasy of lower food prices, an abundance of energy, no more wars, exposure of the Epstein perpetrators, lower housing prices, more jobs, criminal deportations, and tariff checks. They got none of this. What they did get was a president who spends most of his time enriching himself, redecorating, seeking revenge, and plastering his name and image everywhere while bullying other countries.
Like most people on social media, I’ve seen the delusional diehard Trump supporters who when interviewed can’t name anything specific he has done to make the nation or their lives great. They answer that he’s done a lot. However, when pressed, they fall silent. These folks are so steeped in their irrational hatred of Democrats and feminists and their irrational fear of Muslims, trans people, and people of color, that they rubberstamp everything Trump and his administration do until their lives and livelihoods are directly affected. They claim to be pro-life, yet they know nothing about the biology of conception and ignore the possible life-altering emotional and physical complications that can occur during pregnancy and birth. These are simple-minded uneducated people who are easily manipulated by the lies of Republicans, Fox News, and podcasters eager to exploit their ignorance, fears, frustrations, and prejudices for financial and political gain.
But to what end? We have blatant lawlessness without accountability at the highest levels of government under Republican House and Senate rule. The entire world now hates and distrusts us. Trump started a war with Iran unprovoked. He imposed illegal tariffs on the entire world absent sound economic reasoning. Masked ICE agents are brutally kidnapping and disappearing people off the streets without warrants nor due process. The U.S. is no longer a trusted partner nor a good investment. Rural hospitals are closing. Restaurants are going out of business. Farmers are losing their farms. Food, housing and gas are becoming unaffordable. Our servicemen are being mistreated. Diseases that were once relics of the past are resurfacing amid vaccine skepticism. Data centers are raising the noise levels, electricity bills, and diminishing the available drinking water in neighborhoods. Disaster victims are left to fin for themselves. Books are being banned. Tourism is down and white Americans traveling abroad are no longer welcomed. Expert knowledge and scientific research are leaving the country. Mass shootings have become the norm. Reliable news and information are harder to come by. Our ability to vote is under attack on multiple fronts and the fairness of elections is being questioned. And basic Constitutional freedoms like speech, religion, assembly, and due process are being violated.
No one wants to live this way. And yet, the Republicans claim that the alternative to their failed leadership, oversight, and obvious corruption is socialism followed by communism that they claim the Democrats will bring. Of course, that is a bullshit fear tactic that uneducated easily manipulated MAGA types will believe. They are trying to motivate their racist xenophobic misogynistic base to vote by using this ridiculous fear mongering.
We must be perfectly clear that democrats are not communists. According to Britannica, “communism, political and economic doctrine that aims to replace private property and a profit-based economy with public ownership and communal control of at least the major means of production (e.g., mines, mills, and factories) and the natural resources of a society. Communism is thus a form of socialism—a higher and more advanced form, according to its advocates. Exactly how communism differs from socialism has long been a matter of debate, but the distinction rests largely on the communists’ adherence to the revolutionary socialism of Karl Marx.”
We already live with some elements of socialism such as public education, policing, fire departments, public parks, and public transportation. Democrats would like to add healthcare to that mix because it is essential to the wellbeing of the entire nation. We would like to eliminate for-profit prisons because there should not be a profit motive to keeping people locked up. Democrats are capitalists who believe in free market competition as well as government regulations to prevent tax evasion and business exploitation of people and the environment in favor of profits alone. Republicans don’t like regulations that protect people and the environment. They thrive on the corporate greed of their friends. Republicans want to privatize everything through their system of cronyism and favoritism to keep the money and power flowing into the hands of a few white men. We are seeing this in the Trump administration where he is promoting his unqualified loyalist and handing out government contracts to his family, friends, and anyone willing to bribe him. Trump is destroying the free market by deciding on mergers and selling market-moving presidential announcements before making them public for a fee. His insider trading and money-laundering is corruption on a scale we have never seen.
This election in November is our opportunity to begin taking our country out of the hands of the greedy, the corrupt, the indecent, and the lawless. It’s laughable that the Republicans are openly warning that if they lose the House and Senate, there will be investigations and prosecutions and that some folks will go to prison. No kidding! We absolutely demand accountability and a stronger structure to support the rule of law moving forward. It tells me everything I need to know that they don’t want this too.
So, moving towards November, make sure you are still registered to vote, have proper ID and then vote early in-person or use a drop box if possible because Trump has hijacked the U.S. mail system, making it unreliable. We can win the House and Senate if we channel our justified anger towards electing candidates who will work on behalf of the American people and who will actually uphold the Constitution. We also need policies that will protect and improve our daily lives, not policies that further enrich a few wealthy white men.
From now on, please join me by responding to the angry people we encounter by asking each of them to take their anger to the polls. And let’s move heaven and earth to do the same.