President Donald Trump has died and been replaced by a lookalike: a conspiracy theory thread.
And now everyone who voted against Hillary Clinton because she sent classified information over a private server will bend over backwards to defend God Emperor Trump for leaking information to the Russians. Everyone who's called for more ethical government is ignoring the president's firing of the FBI director. The intense partisanship in our culture blinds people to reality. (Or maybe for a couple of you, the problem with Clinton really was her gender).
Contrary to what some people might think, I've never defended Clinton or any Democratic politician in my life. But her wrongdoings are no worse than our Republican president's, even if I do share his party affiliation.
If I sound like a broken record with that talking point, that's because President Trump's unethical behavior and general unfitness for office have been obvious since he announced his candidacy in 2015. And, all joking aside, his supporters continue to pretend everything is and will be fine.
And to people who are still Trumping, I have to ask--seriously, why?
What will it take for you to see the problems with this man, who's more Nixon than Reagan?
How many negative stories will be confirmed before you stop assuming every negative story is "fake news" purported by the oh-so-liberal media?
How many times do you have to listen to the words coming straight from the President's own mouth (or his very own Twitter account, as the case may be) before you stop pointing fingers at Clinton, Obama or the GOP establishment?
As the word "impeachment" floats around political blogs, will you continue to disparage Obama for being a golf aficionado, like he's still relevant, like President Trump doesn't have the same problem? Will you keep screaming "But Hillary!" for the next eight years, even as the president poses a similar threat to our national security?
The blatant racism; the obvious misunderstanding of economics; the lack of political experience and weak grasp on foreign policy issues; the "grab 'em by the p*ssy" tapes; the apparent dealings with Russia; the long history of shady business practices; the inconsistency on policy positions; the attempts to censor journalists; the firing of the FBI director; and now the leak of classified information to Russia--none of it has been enough to shake up the president's loyal sycophants. None of it has been enough to snap Republicans out of their "But Hillary! But Obamer!" trance.
If you cannot see, as of this last week, that President Trump is truly as bad as President Hillary Clinton would have been, you need to turn off Fox and Friends immediately. I have nothing against conservative media, but if it's the only thing you consume, you're getting a skewed version of reality--a version in which leaking classified information is okay if "our guy" does it.
As Republicans, we should hold "our guy" to a higher standard, not point fingers at Clinton till we're the age she is now. We're the party of values and true patriots. Or at least that's what I was told for the first nineteen years of my life, before this guy launched his campaign.