Hillary and Donald

Relief from Trump          October 9, 2016

Donald Trump’s vile words are no surprise. They unmask him as a sexual predator, but his predatory business dealings, also made public, should get equal attention. The predator turned presidential candidate disturbs me less than continued support given him.

I can get trapped into arguing against an irrational partisan who backs Trump, but it doesn’t help me or her or anyone else.

We all need to get away from the garbage. To cleanse our minds, I offer the words of Parker Palmer in my next post.

Hillary and Donald            September 30, 2016

I’m watching the campaign with fear that the United States might actually sink into the morass of Donald Trump as president. I confess my obsession with this. It’s hard to think about much else.

Marilyn wants me to tie my subjects of discussion to religion and spirituality. Very well. I observe my obsession as a personal challenge in spiritual maturation. I have to deal with it, and writing about it helps to dispel it.

I’m distressed by voters’ virulent dislike of Hillary. Why? Among the reasons apparent, I keep coming back to the one I gave before: Hillary’s false front.

Her falseness follows the model of many politicians. As a defense against criticism, they do away with transparency.
Early in the political game, Hillary was attacked by Arkansans who disliked the girl from Chicago because that proud, brainy professional didn’t look or act properly submissive as any wife should. Hillary Rodham didn’t even take the name of her husband. She was a partner in a prestigious law firm.

I started watching her when she got flak in Arkansas for not conforming to their idea of feminine. At the time I was waking up from my previous dismissal of feminists and becoming one myself.

The pattern for Hillary was set. The public didn’t like her real self; she developed a false self—took her husband’s name and acted housewifely, along with a hard shell of defensive secretiveness. This is the image that turns off voters. I don’t like it either. It doesn’t tell us who she really is.

People who know Hillary well say that, out of the public eye, while interacting with a small, comfortable group, she’s warm and funny, a joy to be with.

A segment I heard on NPR with an interviewer from Time magazine points to the problem between voters and Hillary. In a one-on-one conversation with the interviewer, Hillary told this story: 

When Chelsea left for college Mom missed her achingly. She went into Chelsea’s room, closed the door, sat on the bed, and quietly drank in her daughter’s presence. While Hillary was sitting there, the door opened, and Bill walked in. Each learned that the other had been doing this.

Eagerly the interviewer asked, “May I use this story?”

“Absolutely not,” was the answer. It revealed that Hillary is her own worst enemy. Here was a chance to show her human side. It’s exactly what voters want and don’t see in her.

Both Donald and Hillary are tough as nails, but one of them also has depth. Hillary Clinton is motivated by a sincere desire to improve the lives of others. Blacks support her because she has aligned with them for 40 years. It started when she was still Hillary Rodham. She gets it when marginalized people speak out about their oppression, and her policy-wonk mind goes to work searching for ways to help them.

Donald Trump is motivated by a sincere desire to improve life for himself. When Hillary in the debate charged, “. . . he didn’t pay any federal income tax,” Donald threw in, “That makes me smart.” 

Some on-the-fence voters were appalled. “That’s offensive. I pay taxes,” said one. “Another person would be in jail for that,” said another.

Hillary's flaws pale in comparison with Donald Trump’s adolescent bullying and bragging. I don’t see how anyone who watched and listened to the debate can possibly consider him presidential material. His face during the debate reminds me of a lost teenage boy, one who lashes out for reasons unknown to himself.

The only way I can understand support for Trump rests on this description I heard:

Trump comes with a baseball bat and whacks at people. His skill in trashing others acts as a magnet for people with resentments and fears unknown to themselves. He operates on the dictum, “Repeat a lie often enough and people will believe it.” Uninformed people believe his lies. In this campaign, the most malicious lie they believe is that Hillary Clinton is a crook.

The real crook is Donald Trump. There’s so much evidence of this, I decided not to try setting it out, at least in this post.

Hillary and Donald      August 3, 2016

Erase all the vitriol from Republicans, all the mindless bashing without substance, and we're left with a candidate who has no more flaws than almost all candidates for the office in history, including the greatest, such as Lincoln and FDR.  And we're left with credentials that may surpass those of any other candidate for the office in history.  

Hillary Clinton's tragic flaw is defensiveness; she is not naturally comfortable in the public eye but learned to be there for the sake of her work for people. She is not transparent.  It led to her few lies in public and her famous secretiveness, her refusal to disclose details, which makes her look slippery. That is a misunderstanding.  She only is too defensive, and she's not a good public speaker.  Her delivery sounds phony, insincere. I wish she had some of Bill's showmanship. 

But Hillary Clinton has the capacity to be an outstanding president.  I won't even begin to list her impressive accomplishments for the well-being of others, beginning with children and women, going on to other groups, and to the entire society.  One phrase sums her up well—a work horse, not a show horse.

Her opponent is a show horse, not a work horse. This is how I explain his popularity, otherwise inexplicable to me. He has name recognition, all that's necessary for uninformed voters. How else to explain support for such a man?
Oh, and he's fun to watch.  I often laugh at his adolescent remarks. I hope enough voters can grow up enough to make sure the man does not actually become president.  I dread the possibility.     In November, unfortunately after the election, Donald Trump is due to sit in a courtroom as a defendant in a civil trial accusing him of fraud.