One of my Markisms is “Always vote. There may not be anyone you want to vote for, but there is always someone you want to vote against.”
I have been politically aware for a bit over 25 years. I knew there were Democrats and Republicans and elections and all that, but I never gave it too much mind.
I became acutely aware because I started noticing the hyperbolic rhetoric by the Democrat leadership. “Republicans want to poison the air and water!” “Republicans want to cut Social Security!!” “Republicans want to shove grandma and her wheelchair over a cliff!!!” You get the point.
Every election cycle, this bullshit got a little bit worse. “Racist” started making it into the anti-Republican rhetoric. “Homophobic,” “Misogynist,” “Islamophobe” and recently “Transphobe” over the years also became common terms used by Democrats to describe Republicans. In the last Presidential election cycle, Hillary started calling anyone who dared oppose her ascension to the Presidency “Deplorables.”
Now, as individuals, you, me and the other 320 million Americans, how many times have we seen a genuine change of heart from a person who was verbally bullied and degraded by another person? Cowed into silence, perhaps even submission, but an honest change of heart?
I’m pretty sure a tally of such anecdotal stories from all of us would precisely equate to zero. We all individually know that you can browbeat a person to do something, but not change their heart.
So why is it done on a national level? Why do mass numbers of Leftists believe verbally harassing and browbeating half the country will lead to victory? In every venue, in every conversation, in every encounter where anything remotely political, when a person expresses an opinion that’s even 0.000001% different from another, they are verbally and sometimes physically beaten?
This is why Donald Trump was elected. Because half of this country just got sick-and-tired of being called unpleasant names. Of being mislabeled, browbeaten and lied about. Republicans didn’t elect Trump, the hatred of Democrats drove them to vote Trump. Personally, I didn’t vote for Trump in 2016. I will in November because the thought of a Leftist in the Oval Office terrifies me.
And today, just how many Democrats have done the #WalkAway and left the Democrat party? They probably didn’t become Conservatives or Republicans, but thousands and thousands of now-former Democrats will no longer vote that side of the ticket because of the hate. These “WalkAwayers” are also discovering that for as much Leftists hate Conservatives, those who left the Democrats are getting much worse, by their now former friends.
And Trump has done something no other Republican has done since Reagan. Trump has been his normal self (“a Queens guy”1) and has sent every last bit of guff and snarky comments made to and about him right back in the faces of the Democrats and the media (but I repeat myself) with interest. Trump would abandon Twitter in a heartbeat if the Democrats and the media didn’t go into seizures every time he Tweeted something. Trump’s using Twitter as a Leftist cattle prod to great effect.
I believe this is Trump’s election to lose. Short of a major catastrophe on his part, Trump should win. But that still means that every person on the Right has to still get out and vote. And bring a few friends with you. You need to vote Republican, from Trump to the dog-catcher. If we do this, many of us will be surprised to find out that many Democrat friends and acquaintances voted the same way.
Why would Democrats cross the aisle you ask? To answer that question, I only have to point to the Draconian policies of Democrat governors, mayors, city councils and just about every elected Democrat.
From Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer “you can’t go out and buy seeds”, to District Attorney Kim Gardner prosecuting the McCloskey’s for defending their private property and even altering evidence. (Patricia’s gun was inoperable and the McCloskey’s knew it. The DA’s office assembled it so it would work). The Minneapolis City Council is violating their own charter by abolishing the police, and if you didn’t hear about it, there have been riots, fires and vandalism every night for the past two months in Seattle. The Mayor joined the rioters and has done nothing to quell the violence. Crime has been spiking by 200+% in these cities because the bad guys know there’s no police to stop them.
New York, Minneapolis, Detroit, Baltimore, Seattle, Portland, Atlanta, they all share one common trait (beyond the recent riots and burning): They have been run by Democrat Mayors and City Councils for decades.
All of the Democrat-voting residents of those cities have hopefully come to the realization that they have backed the wrong donkey. Their presumptive presidential candidate is undeniably deep into dementia (I am sorry to hear this. My mother and grandmother suffered from that at the end of their lives. I wish that fate on no one.). The short list of Democrat Vice-Presidential candidates are all ultra-hard-Leftists. And that’s depending on Biden even getting the nomination. One of these VP candidates will likely end up with the nomination if Biden can’t take it. This has got to give some intellectual pause to every reasonable person who counts themselves as a Democrat.
So while they may say “Biden all the way” in conversation with their friends, when they get to that voting booth, their finger will only pause over Biden before moving on and selecting Trump.
1 I don’t know many people from New York, but it was explained to me that “Queens guys” have a big chip on their shoulder. Brooklyn guys are tougher, and Manhattan guys are richer, which leaves the Queens guys like the dorky kid always picked last for sandlot baseball. Queens guys will get in your face at the drop of a hat, which explains a lot about Trump.