So, Samantha Bee calls Ivanka Trump a “feckless c***” for remaining silent while her father directs a policy that tears immigrant families apart and imprisons small children in converted big box stores. The walls of these big box prisons actually have Soviet style murals of Trump complete with quotes from his book, The Art of the Deal. Fake outrage over Bee’s verbal attack resulted in her forced apology for being unkind to Princess Ivanka.
Last weekend, Robert DiNiro shouted, “F*ck Trump!” several times during his few moments on stage at the Tony Awards on national television. Again, que the right wing noise machine that whipped up fake outrage over DiNiro’s denouncement, but luckily, he doesn’t work for anyone and doesn’t care what they think.
Then came Frank Bruni of the NY Times, who did what most progressives, including Michelle and Barack Obama, do, and that’s chant the “when they go low, we go high” mantra. His article this week tut-tutted, finger wagged, and warned ominously that getting mad and saying so will re-elect Trump and his cronies. That advice is STUPID and exactly the tactic that got us Al Gore and John Kerry. I’m sorry, but that is just plain wrong and stupidly puts artificial limits on good people’s ability to get pissed off. Several of my progressive friends reposted the op-ed on Facebook, imploring all of us to take to the high road, because some mouth breathing, drooling knuckle dragger in Columbia Mississippi won’t like our anger and will decide not to vote for the Democrat. That’s an idiotic notion. Said mouth breathing, drooling knuckle dragger will NEVER vote for the Democrat. Wake up.
Let’s think about what’s actually occurring every day in the United States. Jeff Sessions, who is a lifelong hater of all people with dark-pigmented skin, has started a “zero tolerance” policy for illegal immigration and is jailing thousands of people. Because all these people, including mothers of young children fleeing gang violence south of the border, are being jailed, their children are being torn from their parents, and imprisoned. That should piss you off. Ivanka Trump? She’s using her father’s corruption to expand her own brand around the world, often using child labor, to stuff her Gucci purse full of millions. Foreign dignitaries are pouring millions of dollars into Trump’s pockets through his hotel just down the street from the White House. As I pointed out this week, Trump is also selling his own likeness on cheesy memorabilia peddled to the public using 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as the address of the business. Trump’s corrupt cabinet members are working 24/7 to erase all progress made under Barack Obama while enriching themselves on the backs of the taxpayers. He’s turned US diplomatic policy on its ear, attacking Canada as a “security risk” while French kissing the most evil and murderous dictator on the planet.
For Christ’s sake, Frank, what the hell does it take to piss you off? Over the last 30 years, Republicans have proven that vicious anger works. They’ve also proven that outrage over fake issues works like a charm. That’s why you get gay bashing and racist attacks on right wing media just as election seasons get started. That’s why the phony “war on Christmas” gins up anger among Fox Noise loyalists every year. It works. Keeping people outraged drives them to the polls. Democrats don’t get that, and never have. The result? Republicans control all three branches of the federal government. They control 33 governors’ mansions, and 66 of 99 legislative chambers. Radical gerrymandering has cemented in these gains to protect them from changing demographics.
On Thursday, one writer got it right. Drew Magary of GQ Magazine hit Bruni right between the eyes, calling his nonsense nonsense. He said of Bruni, “…once a wonderful restaurant critic and is now one of the most singularly inane political columnists working today…”. And his rant was a long drive straight down the middle. He put it this way:
“Bruni is far from alone in smarmily crying out THIS IS WHY TRUMP WON! every time a liberal gets angry about something they ought to be angry about. It is the laziest, stupidest theory, one that posits that the only possible way to take down Trump from his evildoing is to keep your voice so quiet that everyone else can opt out of hearing it. It’s also a clear case of naked pandering from newspapers that skew liberal but still yearn—whether for financial reasons or out of sheer vanity—to appear fair to both sides. This is how you end up with two sets of rules for each party. Republicans can be openly racist, nationalist, corrupt, and horny. Democrats have to be GOOD, because Americans apparently crave goodness even though 60 million of them voted for Donald Trump.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself. It’s time for progressives, both activists and non-activists, to stand up on their hind legs and call “Enough!” Anger and fear drives voters to the polls. Republicans have been doing that for decades with bullshit about Christmas and dark skinned people. We now have an opportunity to get outraged at actual injustice and omnipresent corruption. We are perfectly justified to fear the long lasting damage that Trump is doing to our people, our economy, our standing on the world stage, and our justice system.
So, I’ll conclude with a word to my pacifist friends – Stop being afraid of offending those who don’t care if you live or die. Stand up and shout about what’s happening to our country. Take a stand, and do it loudly.
Anger works. Use it.
