It's disturbing to me that this president's attorney actually argued, in the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, that he could shoot someone on fifth avenue and not be stopped, investigated or prosecuted while in office. This argument was part of the effort to avoid release of a portion of the president's tax forms.
It's disturbing to me that this president has worked so hard to create a cloud of distrust of many of our institutions; the CIA, FBI, Justice System, media and even the National Weather Service.
It's disturbing to me that this president shows an affinity for totalitarian leaders; Putin, Kim Jong Un, Erdogan, Xi Jinping, Duterte, Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud and others like them.
While I could list dozens of things that this president has done and said that are disturbing, these are the most concerning. Like totalitarian leaders, this president constantly demonstrates that every institution should be a tool he can use to solidify and wield his personal power and control. Most important is the control of information. Public release of his financial ties is just the tip of the iceberg of hidden and/or massively distorted information.
It's disturbing that only a little over half the citizens of this country are concerned and aware. How can this be? Control of information! Those who love this president all have one thing in common. They consistently watch one source for their information and are convinced that mainstream news sources report "fake news". This causes them to dismiss any factual information that is contrary to what is reported by this one information source.
It seems best to avoid discussion with them. They quickly jump to "but Obama", "but Hillary", "but the economy", "you hate him because..." or the favorite "those democrats." It's baffling. Recently, one of these people told me we can no longer uses the term "coronavirus" because it's racial. I was confused and asked what was racial. "You know Corona, the Mexican beer." Then he launched into how messed up the world is now. I was silenced and mystified. So I did some quick checking later with a dozen news sources or so including The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, BBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, AP, and others. They are all still calling it coronavirus. I can only assume it was something Rush or Hannity said and he believed it. I shudder to think of what other things he and others are hearing that they blindly believe are true.
It's difficult not get discouraged. My personal focus is to broaden my sources of information. There's a great chart on media bias that is good to keep close at hand. It takes work to build awareness of your own bias and try to balance it out. I try to separate fact from hype. I avoid name calling and the inclination to bite back. I look for the humanity in the person standing before me no matter what they are saying. Seek truth for yourself. Be kind, loving and humble. I choose to believe that time has a way of revealing truth. Kindness, love and humility will enable its emergence.
Realize that those who love this president are very entrench and have often have limited their informational context. I now totally avoid direct engagement. Once in a while, it bleeps out in front of me. (like the coronavirus) I'll let them talk then may ask a question but avoid an argument. Then I work to change the subject. The real work then follows to not allow it to affect how I treat this person in the future.
When the experience sticks with me, I write. I may be writing a lot in the coming months.
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