They were right
The late 1990s were difficult times for Democrats and progressives. It was soul searching time for me in those days. The president of the United States became only the second president to ever be impeached. There were numerous defenses for the president and his behavior. Most of those defenses were permutations of the same defense. Essentially they said that what a man (or woman) does in their personal life does not impact them in their professional life. As long as Bill Clinton was a good president from nine to five then what does matter that he isn’t a good man after those hours?
French president Jacques Chirac famously had multiple affairs. The joke was that he kept replacing each significant other with the same woman ten years younger. If the French people accepted him as their leader then we should have accepted Clinton as our leader. As we know, that argument won out. Except, it really didn’t win out. It helped Bush win the election over Al Gore. I ended up voting for Gore because he was a different man and an infinitely better one than Clinton. However, there were millions that punished him for the mistakes of his former boss.
We often have difficulty separating a message from the messenger. It’s one of the important things I point out when teaching Martin Luther King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail. One of the steps he mentions before a direct action campaign is self-purification. It’s a challenging concept for students. Yet, it is absolutely crucial. Listening to someone like Newt Gingrich (at the time) prattle on about character is hilarious. However, it doesn’t mean the point is wrong.
If we have learned anything over the last seven or eight years it is that personal character is absolutely a big deal. We just endured a presidency of someone that has no character. We saw what happened. We saw how that spilled into everything. We saw the abject cruelty. We saw the inhumanity and indifference. We saw the lack of a fundamental understanding and empathy.
Whether this inhumanity is merely a reflection of the people that supported him or whether his inhumanity rubbed off on them is hard to parse. His grotesque existence brings forth any number of questions. However, the most important one is whether those that support him really reflect his inhumanity or if they support him simply because that inhumanity bothers us. Either is equally likely. One might ask what the difference is and I suppose it is a minor detail, but it tells me that in one case there are millions of sociopaths/psychopaths out there. In the other case, they have human empathy, sympathy, and concern in most situations, but just enjoy the political nihilism.
Humanity itself is a fragile thing. Everyone we encounter in our lives is flawed. Look at us in the perfect angle and we can be angels or demons. Both of things make us human. We are walking contradictions and so choosing any one to lead us can seem like an impossible task. The former guy may be human in the purest scientific sense, but lacks any redeeming human traits. Such a statement seems impossible and yet objectively true. There isn’t a positive human trait there. Some of us thought those things weren’t necessary to lead. They were absolutely wrong.
When tfg was running and the bus video came out, I asked several women if they would still vote for him and they said yes. I then asked why they wouldn’t vote for Hillary, and they said because she didn’t divorce Bill! I still don’t get the logic.
1What I had the most fun with during the Clinton mess was how the biggest loudmouth were outed as cheaters themselves and then watching them tap dance how theirs was different.
2What Bill C did with a subordinate was really bad judgement. Because at the time he was otherwise doing a pretty good job, they let it slide in the Senate. Can’t even begin to compare Bill to TFFG. He was an immoral fraud, malignant narcissist, sexual predator, lying piece of s..t well before becoming POTUS. What he did in power is unprecedented terrible and criminal. Bill had poor judgement after hours and HRC paid the price as did all of us.
3As for why people support TFFG is generally because they hate what the Democratic Party represents- humanity, empathy, caring and inclusive of all people as mentioned in the Constitution.
Oh, and his supporters are part of a cult which means they can’t think rationally or independently.
Grandma Ada @1.
I admit that it is mind-boggling, but let me share some possible insight.
In many ways, I thought poorly of Hillary for sticking with Bill because I interpreted it as lacking self-respect. I thought she “caved” instead of standing tall and divorcing him. I hope I’ve matured since that initial assessment now. Recognizing that forgiveness and choosing to invest back into marriage commitment requires a lot more strength than anger and drama.
Now, despite that I would never have voted for the con man and misogynistic jerk.
But until I saw Hillary really prove herself and her personal strength as Sec of State, I thought poorly of her capability to be strong and able to stand against pressure like you would encounter in politics.
I have no insights for women that would still vote for Trump…to me, “they’s just crazy.”
4For decades we’ve heard the GOP go on about how “character counts” and “we need a Godly man” in the White House. And then, they choose Trump, the antithesis of everything they’ve been spouting. So how do they rationalize it? “Sometimes God chooses a broken vessel to do his work. Like Moses.” So their thinking changes to accommodate the need at the time. How convenient.
5One party’s ceiling is another party’s floor…and boy was/is he ever!
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