My finger hovered over the “unfriend” button. How many of us have done the same? I knew this guy, Mike, as a work-related acquaintance for about 25 years. Never knew his political affiliation. Never asked. Never cared.
But here he was, commenting on some post of mine on Facebook that urged faith in the face of heart-ripping setbacks after the start of Trump’s second term as president.
While I was shocked and horrified by Trump’s inauguration speech and the hate-filled and chaotic presidential decrees that followed, my “friend” Mike wrote, “I’m so happy, I could spit.”
Yeah, he could just spit. And Trump has been telling him precisely who to spit at.
I long for the days when that wouldn’t have mattered, when a Bush or a Romney were on the Republican ticket, and you could expect a somewhat normal presidency should they win. But Trump, particularly on this second term, is something new, something entirely different than America has faced, though other authoritarian countries have their Trumps.
How could a twice impeached convicted felon, a vile man who brags about sexually assaulting women (locker-room talk?), who has been found guilty of sexual abuse, who mocks the physically challenged, who cozies up to corrupt, often-fascistic oligarchs, who sells golden sneakers and other novelties and currencies so he can use the office to line his pocket, get voted into office?
He’s a huckster. A two-bit (coin) reality TV con man, who figured out how to stoke the fears and resentments of conservatives and offer easy solutions to their problems. It’s a scheme propped up by a series of lies that constitute the most elaborate gaslighting this country has seen.
It started with seemingly innocent lies:
One was the birther thing, a falsehood about Obama being born outside the U.S.
Trump followed that with a boast about having the largest inauguration crowd ever, though our eyes could see that wasn’t true.
Those were followed, more recently, by a string of misinformation:
● The Democrats rigged and stole the election.
● Biden opened the southern border. Rapists were flooding in.
● Immigrants, coming to America at greater and greater numbers, were responsible for an increase in crime and a flood of fentanyl.
● The failed, bloody Jan. 6 insurrection was a day of love and those who beat police and tried to stop the certification of Biden’s presidency were unjustly imprisoned patriots.
If you do a quick Google search, you’ll find verifiable data from multiple reputable sources to contradict all of this. Obama was born in the U.S.; Biden won in a fair election. Crime was trending down in 2024. Immigration was, too. Most of the fentanyl coming into this country is brought by U.S. citizens, and undocumented immigrants commit much less crime than American citizens.
When Trump won a second term, he tripled down on all the lies and added another: A plane crash was caused by diversity programs.
The strategy is clear to those who don’t buy into the massive gaslight. Trump has taken over the Supreme Court, has majorities in Congress, and he wants to eliminate all the checks and balances so that he can be our country’s first CEO and chief – or dictator.
Authoritarian countries are bad for everyone, but they’re particularly bad for those identified as the enemies.
For Trump, that would be liberals, women, minorities, veterans, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ (with trans people at the top of the list). As retired Gen. Mark A Milley said, “Trump is fascist to the core,” and his plan to transform this country from a democracy into a fascist state is spelled out in Project 2025, which we’re seeing play out in real time.
The first week of Trump’s second term has brought a barrage of hate and disruption. But it’s the reaction to Trump’s decrees that can be as dangerous as the decrees themselves.
I’m reminded of when I was reporting on the rise of the religious right in Colorado Springs for the Gazette. I interviewed a middle school teacher who decided to skip a chapter on evolution because she didn’t want all the pushback from parents.
We saw that kind of crazy over-reaction when Trump decreed that all federal DEI programs should be eliminated from the federal government, and the Air Force interpreted that to mean they should kill mentions of the Tuskegee Airmen or Women Airforce Service Pilots from basic training. After an uproar from Democrats and other American citizens, they reversed the decision.
When I think of what we can do at home, I think that, yes, we can push back on crazy new policies, but we can also emphasize what we want in our communities.
We in Manitou Springs already live in a profoundly welcoming place. Let’s lean into our generosity and kindness. Let’s let veterans, transgender people, and others getting pushed off the Trump train know that they are welcome here and that racism and intolerance have no quarter.
When I think about my “friend” Mike, I think about reaching across the aisle, extending some acceptance his way. Those who’ve been gaslighted by Trump might deserve some modicum of empathy. No?
But then I think of our transgender daughter – freaked out, feeling the stares of strangers that had already at times been harsh, turn threatening, their bigotry stoked by Trump.
I’ve decided that if the Mikes of this world see no place in America for our daughter, I find no place in my life for them.
<Hits “Unfriend”>
