I seem to have offended a great many people, some of them close relatives, by not getting on the anti-Trump band wagon.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I thought that "blood is thicker than water". But yet another of my illusions has been shattered. And "am I blue".
In my view, most votes in this past election were against one or the other candidate. They were both terrible.
I think the protests in the street are exactly what the media predicted the volatile and subhuman Trump supporters would do when they inevitably lost. I fully expected Clinton to win by a substantial margin. I'm as surprised as anyone else.
Deep inside, I am relieved that I won't get to see a continuation of the Clinton and Obama years. But I look with trepidation toward the Trump years. I am relieved because, as a resident of Israel, I expect that a Trump administration will be able to tell right from wrong in the Middle East.
In America, I have been shocked by Universities where people who hold opinions that aren't left-wing have been badgered and threatened into silence; where Jewish students are not safe; where Palestinians are heroes and dead Jews deserved it; where Professors are subject to administrative censure for using the wrong personal pronouns. By a National government that sees fit to bring suit against a State that only wants to have two bathrooms - Men and Women; a President who forces a divisive agenda through Presidential caveat rather than legislative compromise; a White House which gives incentives to our enemies, and the cold shoulder to our allies. A country where police are always guilty and offenders always innocent.
Unfortunately, in opposing all of that, a pandora's box of ugliness has been opened on the other extreme. A pandora's box that has nothing to do with the second amendment, or family values, or religion. Crawling out from under that rock are not Christians (although some claim to be), and not white males (although they are undeniably counted among them). Hate does not know left or right.
These creepy-crawlies are emerging from under the same putrid rock that produced the "safe spaces", and the hate Israel rallies, in addition to what I mentioned above.
The Republican sweep will hopefully pull our country back toward the center. I felt certain that this election would spell the end of the Republican Party. And maybe it will. But, it is the Democratic Party that is doing some deep reassessment. If you spend your tenure in power going out of your way to offend the sensibilities of the heartland, then you have to expect this kind of reaction. Abraham Lincoln had the ability to evaluate just how far popular support would let him go. Nowadays, they rely on polls, which we now know are terribly flawed.
The new Republican government better keep this in mind. And they had better rein in the crazies. They had better display the appropriate humility. Because only half the country voted for them. And they won't have much time to do it.
But, the election is over. So, I'm in favor of getting on with it. It's going to be an interesting ride.
Or is it just me?
