Today I find myself in the awkward position of agreeing with President Trump. It’s not on any divisive policy issue or any one of his various Twitter rampages. In an interview with Bill “F-ck It, We’ll Do It Live” O’Reilly on Saturday, President Trump had said that he highly respects Russian President Vladimir “Soviet Re-Union” Putin. Mr. O’Reilly, obviously flustered that the leader of what some still call the ‘free world’ could possibly respect the former KGB agent turned political opportunist, qualified his disbelief by saying, “But he’s a killer.” Pres. Trump, obviously confused with the fact that not everyone could fall in love with such an opportunist, replied to Mr. O’Reilly with, “There are a lot of killers. You think our country’s so innocent?”
And here’s where my awkward agreement with the President begins and ends, I don’t see how anyone can view our country as completely innocent. Unless you have blind, unwavering loyalty to the concept of faultless American exceptionalism, you have to recognize that our country has had its share of poor decisions. But Pres. Trump and I are looking at two sides of different coins. He’s looking at an America he sees as being gripped by terrorism, wracked by poor economic policies, threatened by diminishing stature abroad, and flooded by undocumented immigrants that are against American values. I look at an America that for the last 8 years had not only pulled itself out of a recession, but had also come together to respect the rights of the LGBT community, support working families, and provide healthcare for all.
So, let’s compare our country to the one our President decides is our moral equivalent.
1.) On January 27, the Russian Parliament voted 380-3 to decriminalize domestic violence that does not cause “substantial bodily harm” and does not happen more than once a year. (USA Today)
2.) In Mid-2013, the Russian Parliament unanimously passed a sweeping anti-gay “propaganda” law that prohibits the mention and discussion of LGBT relationships, and denies LGBT Russians equal social standing and decrying their sexuality and identity as perverse. (Human Rights Watch)
3.) On March 18, 2014, the Russian Federation formally annexed the Crimean Peninsula after launching a covert war against The Ukraine after a popular revolution ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych. (BBC News)
4.) Several opposition leaders and reporters have been conspicuously murdered after criticizing Putin’s government, including Boris Nemtsov and Anna Politkovskaya for their criticisms over Russian involvement in Ukraine and the Second Chechen War. (NPR and New York Times)
When President Trump dares to insinuate that the United States is no better than Russia, keep in mind that he’s comparing us to a country who actively jails members of the LGBT community for speaking in public, allows and accepts domestic violence, annexes portions of sovereign countries after waging covert warfare, and possibly murders anyone who criticizes the government.
This is not to say that the United States has not had its own wrongs. We allowed Jim Crow to exist in our country after emancipation. We imprisoned members of the Japanese-American community without due process during World War 2. We used to shoot striking workers and allow terrible working conditions. We used to criminalize people based on their ethnicity and sexual orientation. We tried to deport anyone of Hispanic ancestry. We slaughtered indigenous Americans to expand business. We used to deny women the ability to control their own bodies. And just last week, we tried to ban refugees from war-torn and terrorized nations from escaping to the United States.
But there’s a good side to this situation. We don’t have to accept this treatment as normal and allow it to continue. We can begin with the small revolution, where you accept and live the radical notion that everyone was created equal and deserves equal treatment. Then, by protesting the existence of a refugee ban, conversion therapy, unequal pay, diminished labor unions, bashing our allies, and speaking against the liberties of millions of Americans, we can begin to create a country that is factually great.
USA Today article on domestic violence decriminalization:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/01/27/russ...
HRW article on anti-gay propaganda law:
https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/06/29/russia-anti-lg...
BBC article on Crimea Annexation
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26686949
NPR article on Boris Nemtsov Assassination
http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/03/05/3...
NYTimes article on Anna Politkovskaya
