By Bill Mefford, photo by Pixabay
Given that country songs usually deal with heartbreak and struggling to move on in spite of feeling down and defeated, it feels like where we are as a country fits the mood of a country song. Each day we are finding out more dirt and corruption and immorality about donald trump and his lawless administration. But what is even more depressing, each day we are seeing Republicans completely not give a damn what this guy does. Neither truth nor facts can separate the mindless obsession trump’s cult-like followers with their lord and savior, donald trump.
We literally have come to a point in this country that we cannot talk to one another. There is no common objective reality anymore. There is no common set of facts. When you bring up the horrible things trump has said and especially done to people - to immigrants, to women, to Muslims, to individuals who dare to openly disagree with him - all they can do is deflect and blame others. Watching Fox “News” is like entering into a completely alternative universe. I honestly cannot relate anymore. Nor do I want to.
I have given up on much of the attempts at healthy dialog. There is no sense in it when trump and his cult show absolutely no willingness or capability of transformation. Stagnation, faux victimization, and blaming others is their jam. The only thing that people interested in justice and common sense - or even just interested in any semblance of reality - is to defeat them. Vote his ASS out. That is the only thing that matters right now.
Thus, the only thing that matters is nominating anyone to beat donald trump and beat him soundly. Back in 2008 when the country had had 8 years of a lying, incompetent, self-righteous administration, Democrats fell in love with a young, dynamic, charismatic Black man and his beautiful family and we elected him. Democrats fell in love with Barack Obama and frankly, there was a lot to love. I had some pretty significant disagreements with the policies of his administration, but at least he was honest, had integrity, and was/is a good leader.
So, now I get the feeling that we are still trying to find someone to fall in love with again. But this ain’t 2008 and I for one don’t need to fall in love. I need someone to beat the pants off this guy and return our country to some level of normalcy, dignity, and respectability. Just win baby.
Thus, I have no purity tests. I used to be pretty picky about who I voted for because I understood voting as an endorsement of not only a specific set of policies, but even the endorsement of the person’s character. This is why I proudly never voted for Bill Clinton. No thanks. But I am not there anymore. Definitely not now. I will vote for any person, any object, any home appliance, any houseplant, any animal, any amoeba - I will vote for anyone and anything who will beat trump soundly. Anyone. I. Don’t. Care. The bar is low folks solely because we are facing someone on the other side who has never met a bar he did not want to crawl under.
And that brings me to the B side of my country record. It’s called Eatin’ Our Own. We have a dude who has not broken 50% in approval polls. Of course, I can’t understand how he has 2% approval, but no matter, he is not well-liked. The economy is booming and he is continually 15-20 points under water when it comes to questions about the direction of the country. Yes, his followers belong to a cult and need de-programming, but this guy is beatable. We just need a person to do it.
But this is the part of the song when it all falls apart. This is the bridge to the final chorus when we find out if the songs happily or ends with only continued misery. I have watched parts or all of each of the Democratic debates and I can honestly say I do not care who wins. I will vote for any of them. I was sad when Kamala and Cory and Julian pulled out because they were excellent candidates and I think having a person or color and/or a woman is significant. I am not excited about voting for a white guy over 60 (or 70!), but hey, I will vote for anyone. And that means anyone.
But what concerns me more than the age or race or gender of the candidates is seeing online comments from their followers trashing the other candidates. All of this never-Biden, never-Bernie, never-Warren, never-Buttigieg nonsense has got to stop. We gotta stop eating our own. People want to fall in love with someone and while I understand wanting an emotional connection with your candidate I want to strongly suggest we all drop that criteria this year. Just win baby. And win soundly (kind of like we did in 2016, despite the electoral college numbers).
So, let’s stop trashing one another. Let’s get through the Democratic primaries without creating negative narratives on anyone. Let’s make this song end happy. You know, guy gets girl and they drive off in their pickup on a warm summer’s night, sipping moonshine til the sun comes up (hey, I know my country songs). Let’s pick someone to win the presidency, not win our hearts. And let’s get back to normalcy.