My profile is….
- Angry….Old….Bald….White
- Working class….Blue Collar
- Worked 2 to 3 jobs concurrently for the last 30 years trying to make ends meet
- Have not gone on a vacation (or even had a weekend off) during the last 30 years
- I’m a few paychecks away from bankruptcy. I’ve experienced foreclosure and bankruptcy in the past and that specter is rearing its ugly head again.
- I’m in good health (thankfully) but if this changes, bankruptcy is waiting in the wings.
- Company health insurance requires astronomically high deductible (which resets annually). Every interaction with doctor, health insurer and pharmacy is an adversarial negotiation.
- Kids college loan debt (Parent Plus Loans) is thru the roof. I might be age 100 before they get paid off. My college grad kids will be paying off their own loans (Stafford Subsidized/Unsubsidized) till they are middle age and I’m long gone.
- House is on verge of condemnation. It will be paid off in a couple more years but it may collapse upon itself before that happens. Things break but no funds to fix them. I live in an astronomically high cost housing market. I have been paying well in excess of 60% of my gross family income keeping a roof over my head all of these years.
So I could blame Reaganomics, Clinton or Obama for my dire circumstances, but I don’t.
I could blindly follow Trump thinking that his Make America Great (and Great Again) will bring me to the promised land. Hell no, think again.
First of all, forget about politics and policy.
On a deeply personal level….
Would I want to spend an evening with him trash talking and name call anybody who dares to question him or hold a different opinion? Hell no.
Would I turn my back on him trusting that he would not double cross me and refrain from throwing me under the bus as he has done with so many of his former advisors and employees? Hell no.
Would I allow any female member of my family or friend circle be left alone with him (especially after his documented locker room comment getting off the bus during his campaign). Hell no.
Would I stand by and allow him to berate and belittle just about every ethnic, religious and racial minority group as continuously documented in his speeches and incessant tweets. Hell no.
Would I remain friends with a person who continuously lies and contradicts himself, defying facts and remaining impervious to constructive criticism? Would I remain friends with someone who refuses to listen and never acknowledge that he is wrong or ever say “I’m sorry”. Hell no.
So you see, if you strip away the politics and policy and just focus on the person, I can not bring myself to consider myself a Trump fan even though I fit the profile. Deep down we all make those visceral choices concerning who we trust and who qualifies as a friend whose company we enjoy. Trump does not pass that test and it makes me wonder how callous, untrustworthy, dismissive and downright ornery he would have to be before my counterparts would withdraw their support and exclaim “Enough is Enough”.It intrigues me that persons who are like me (culturally, economically, etc.) can overlook Trumps antics, ill-temperament, shallowness, impetuousness and character flaws while still saying “I’m with him”.
