Trump is repeating his lie about the election over and over again.
Lying is something for which he’s got a special talent. Not because he’s a good liar. He’s not. But what he is good at is repeating his lie over and over and over again.
Until it becomes the only thing you hear. Whether it’s in the context of people believing it’s true, or debunking it, or just saying “can you believe what he just said?” It’s never a good look, especially when he’s making BS up in the interest of supporting only him, even if it destroy Democracy in the process. But for some infuriating reason it sometimes works for him.
So then, even the majority of Americans, who don’t believe even an ounce of what the President is dishing out—as well they shouldn’t—the ever heightening barrage might still be having an impact: leading us to wonder at times what’s real in our own daily lives, and what’s not.
Especially against the backdrop of a deadly virus that’s still raging and has killed hundreds of thousands of people. Potential treatments and vaccines are being dangled in front of us now, which is good news. But unless you’re the President, those paths back to normalcy are something most of us still won’t have access to for some months.
I don’t even believe most people who voted Trump him believe him right now. It’s more they just don’t care. They want him to be President anyway.
But you know what? He just got beat. By 79,685,131 American voters. That’s the biggest number of U.S. voters in a presidential election by far. That is nearly 80,000,000 Americans who spoke together with a far louder voice than Trump’s. And each person has a distinct reason they voted. So I want to hear your truth. Tell me the story of your vote this year. Each one is going to be different. And fascinating in its own way. You overcame Trump’s lies with your vote, and I want your story drifting into my ears now.
Can be anything about your experience voting this year: Why do you love America? What do you want to see improved about America? I have no idea what was in your head when you voted. But if you’re willing to share, I want to know. I really do.
Really need some balance and inspiration right now. And I think I may not be the only one.
I’ll start:
“I voted this year because I love America. Because this country gives me the freedom to do what I’m doing right now. Whether I like what’s going on or not. Whether I like the President or not. I can even make fun of the President if I want to. In fact, that’s kind of a great American pastime, no matter where on the political spectrum you’re coming from. I don’t much, not in the manner of outright lampooning whoever they are, because I don’t like making fun of people. But my point is, if I want to, I can. And it would not be a demonstration of extreme disloyalty on my part, or not loving America, or even “treason”—a term Trump really likes to throw around a lot, if I did. In most cases, it’s just blowing off steam, which I’ve always believed actually contributes to the health of our remarkable and long-standing system of government. I’ve lived all over the world in my career as a journalist, and a lot of countries that say they have free speech and freedom of the press really don’t. A lot of them, for instance, still have kings, and even though they may or may not have any actual governing power, it’s often illegal to say or write anything negative about them. And that’s just one of many of that kind of thing. And you learn that right quick; there’s not even really much of an effort to pretend freedom of speech actually exists; the limits are made very clear. And in countries that don’t even try to have freedom of the press, it’s really bad. More than you could possibly imagine. Like people going to jail as a matter of course, or even being assassinated for something they said or wrote. Not so here. What I do, also makes me feel a link to the authors of the Constitution, and especially the Federalist Papers. I do not claim to be their heir in terms of level of thought or talent. But I do feel a link in terms of having the ability and freedom to put whatever comes out down in writing, and get it out to you.”
Probably should be a hashtag for this. But I’m not good at doing hashtags. If you all out there think this is a good idea, maybe you can come up with one.
Share this too, if you care to.
And thank you for voting.