Eugene Robinson (Pulitzer Prize winning journalist) wrote on November 14, 2016: “No one should be over it (the election). No one should pretend that Trump will be a normal president. No one should forget the bigotry and racism of his campaign, the naked appeals to white grievance, the stigmatizing of Mexicans and Muslims. No one should forget the jaw-dropping ignorance he showed about government policy both foreign and domestic. No one should forget the vile misogyny. No one should forget the mendacity, the vulgarity, the ugliness, the insanity. None of this should ever be normalized in our politics.”
“No one should be over it”! None of it should be normalized in our politics or in our society. John Pavlovitz in September 2019 wrote about what American children are learning from this President and this Administration. In the process, Pavlovitz is also stating what is being accepted as the new normal. Here is his list:
“People don’t matter. Never apologize. Diversity is dangerous. It’s all about you. Compassion is a flaw. America is the world. Women are less valuable than men. Cheat to win. Whiteness is better. Your convictions are for sale. Laws don’t apply to you. Religion is a prop. When in doubt, lie.”
"Donald Trump is everything we teach our children not to be," according to my sister-in-law, and I agree. Are you going to get over it? Let it be? Let it stand? Make it the norm? Are you going to let the Trump character become your child’s character? Your character? The American character?
“Character counts.” That was the rallying cry of evangelicals against Bill Clinton in 1993 and throughout his presidency. They saw Clinton as a “draft-dodging, pot-smoking, honesty-challenged womanizer,” unfit to be president on the basis of his character. Now, two decades later they have “endorsed the draft-dodging, foul-mouthed, honesty-challenged womanizer”—Donald Trump. I guess character doesn’t count any more. But it does to me—and it should to you—for the sake of the children.
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