A number of people who are supposed to be friends have crossed a line and I don’t know if there’s a way back.
In recent months I have been called an idiot.
I’ve been called silly.
I’ve been called a child.
I’ve been called privileged.
I have also been called a sexist and a misogynist.
Not by Republicans, or trolls or anonymous blog commenters, though. No, I have been called these things by people whom I considered to be friends. Plural. As in, several people, some of whom might be reading this.
This isn’t all of it, either. In more Facebook shares and comments and stray tweets than I can readily recall I have had my intelligence, my character, my good faith, my commitment to my country and my family and my community questioned, often in pointed and patently insulting terms.
I’ve held my tongue for the most part, but the time has come to make something clear to those among you who have chosen the path of condescension: you have damaged our friendship badly, perhaps irreparably.
The issue, of course, is the question of Hillary Clinton’s fitness for the presidency. I have, repeatedly and loudly, attempted to call everyone’s attention to some inconvenient facts pertaining to her record. I’ve pointed to the weakness of her agenda. I’ve noted her foreign policy history and her frighteningly hawkish positions, to say nothing of her crush on war criminal Henry Kissinger. I’ve wondered what we ought to make of her waffling on the TPP and the Keystone Pipeline. I’ve reminded everyone that she sees no reason to reconsider Glass-Steagall and of her support for the Patriot Act. And I acknowledged freely that who the hell knows what she might wind up doing on any issue up until the polls make clear what’s popular at the moment. Like how she was really, really opposed to marriage equality right up until the polls convinced her she needed to be for it.
The response from my friends? I get told that I’m being played by the media. Because I swallow GOP talking points hook line and sinker like a willfully ignorant, uncritical, uninformed doofus who refuses to think for himself, right?
Here’s an alternate theory to why I think the things I do: I pay attention.
It’s one thing when the person sneering at me is smart and plugged in him/herself, but it’s another entirely when the person doing the name-calling isn’t someone who pays close attention. I won’t lie to you. The inability to let people condescend from below is a fault I have always labored with and I don’t know that I’ll ever beat it.
No, I’m not talking about all my friends. Not even close. Almost all of you are voting for Clinton. Some of you see more hope in her than I do. I disagree, but I respect you and know that you’re doing what you legitimately believe is right. Others aren’t happy about her, but see a Clinton win as the only thing standing between America society and a political apocalypse. I understand and respect that position, too.
And most of those close to me have listened, and even where they take issue with me, they acknowledge that I think long and hard about things and that I am the soul of good faith.
In case it isn’t clear yet, let me say it straight out: yes, people, I know that Donald Trump would easily be the worst president since probably Andrew Jackson. I’m not stupid. Next to Trump, Dubya is positively Rushmorian. I understand that, in the short term, anyway, Clinton would be far less of a danger to the status quo.
No, I do not think you or anyone else should vote for Trump. That is not, and never has been the point. And you’d realize this if you had treated me with the respect I thought our friendship had earned me. You’d get what I’m saying if, instead of mocking my lack-wittedness, you had shut up and listened for a minute.
So let me articulate my point one more time.
I am not optimistic about Clinton and you shouldn’t be, either. History teaches us there’s nothing about getting elected that changes politicians. Instead, it validates them. They see it as a vote of confidence in what they have always been. They think it’s a mandate. In short, if you want to know what a pol will do tomorrow, look at what they did yesterday.
Clinton is what she is, and I will not argue black-letter fact as though we’re merely having a difference of opinion.
That said, I also think she can be counted on to get some things right. I imagine a respect for reproductive rights will be a litmus test for any Supreme Court appointee. I think she’ll also ask prospective nominees some pointed questions about Citizens United. She might return to an issue that was once her calling card, looking to improve on Obamacare. And since she’s very responsive to the whims of public opinion, if we can get the polls up on a variety of other important issues, we might find her a willing ally there, as well.
But there’s a lot of if in those equations.
The reason I supported Bernie Sanders and the reason I threatened to vote for Jill Stein is that we must hold candidate Clinton’s feet to the fire, and if she’s elected we need to turn the heat up as high as it will go. If she is going to be a useful advocate for critical reforms, it will be because we the people have her (like any other elected public servant) cornered like a rat with no hope of escape. She needs to spend her first four years terrified that she’ll be a one-term failure, or worse, that she’ll piss us off so badly she’ll get primaried from the left.
Here’s a secret that isn’t a secret at all for people who have been really listening: my distaste for Clinton has never been about Clinton, just as my fervor for Sanders was never about Sanders (and my threat to protest vote for Stein isn’t about Stein). Clinton is an establishment politician, and I do not regard her as being meaningfully better or worse than any other establishment politician. She’s an apparatchik, a cog in a big, sociopathic machine. She one of thousands, male and female, black, white, Latino and Asian, straight and gay, “liberal” and “conservative.”
The reason I have continued to rail at her is because if I don’t, if we don’t, then we’re in danger of waking up on November 9th thinking we won. We will not have won. We will have dodged a very large, very destructive bullet, yes, but losing by 10 instead of 30 isn’t the same as winning. Make no mistake: winning isn’t on the ballot.
The battle doesn’t end on November 9th, it’s just beginning, and the more passionately we gulp the Hil-Ade the worse we lose. And in 2020, once the right has had a few years to figure out how to harness the energy of Trump’s unwashed, racist, sexist hatefest and hitch it to a better-groomed brand of fascist, then we’re in deep, deep trouble. Understand, Trump is probably the only one of the top seven or eight GOP contenders this year Clinton can beat.
I care about my life, such as it is. I care deeply about my friends. I have a brother and two sisters and some nieces and nephews, and I can’t begin to tell you how much I care about them. This is why I have refused to hop the Hillary Train.
Yes, I’m going to vote for Clinton and, sadly, the oligarchic machine she serves. But if you think I’ve been hard on her so far, just wait.
I need everyone to be lucid and clear-eyed. I need you to understand and acknowledge the reality of a Clinton presidency. And I seriously don’t want to hear what an idiot I am from anybody who’s so out of touch that they’re celebrating on election night. Breathing a sigh of relief, sure. I think we all get that part. But keep the champagne in the bottle.
Back to my friends. Yes, I’m mad at you. Really mad. I don’t like being subjected to this level of disrespect at the hands of those who know me best and who should, in theory, respect me the most. I don’t know that our friendship will ever recover. Frankly, I’m not sure I care. We’re in this uncomfortable spot because of you, and if there is a way forward it’s on you to convince me it’s worth it.
Categories: Personal Narrative, Politics/Law/Government
Progressive Culture | Scholars & Rogues 
As always, very well-written Sam. Please hang in there and keep sharing your thoughts and beliefs despite the pain of feeling like you are being personally attacked for so doing. These are frightening times and we need intelligent compassionate people like you to be involved. I am hopeful that the dreadfulness of this election campaign will fuel a new energy that will ultimately lead to real change and better options in the next election. It has sure gotten me off my butt like nothing before!
I have done my best to stay away from politics in the past couple of years, and in particular political writing. Reality makes that hard, even knowing how completely useless my voice is in this sea of raging noise.
But my Facebook feed fills up with insults. Okay, fine, maybe that isn’t all personal. But name-calling from friends in my face? That’s hard to ignore, no matter how hard you try.
The thing is, part of the reason I have tried to walk away is the behavior of the “progressive community.” I have never seen so many petulant little wanks willing to slit each other’s throats over the .000001% of things that they disagree on.
If I can’t count on the “best” among us, then what kind of hope can I really have?
I would think your wide range of reading would have shown that many Clinton supporters have also had to endure a stream of insults from some of their Bernie supporting friends. It has been far too widespread on both sides. There has been a lot of escalating mutual disrespect.
I think that you may have gotten caught in the middle; in that your friends may have been caught in that escalation, and unfairly dumped a portion of their accumulated disrespect on you, despite your personally not have demeaned or belittled them.
The majority of my friends & acquaintances voted for Bernie in the primary and then Hillary in the general. A few refused to vote for Hillary. They have been in a pretty unpleasant space, and hard to have any rational discussion with.
While I was unenthusiastic about Clinton, I think she represents a mixture of long term reliable progressive politics (see her overall voting record) with co-option on some issues by the moneyed interests that distort all politics. We could not count on her for banking reform, for example. However, I think her election would have left a lot more more space for a more progressive movement – one that as you say held her feet to the fire, and also fielded more candidates in 4 years.
I hear among Clinton detractors a pervasive fear that progressives who vote for her would be smugly satisfied that they can relax now, because Clinton will do the rest. Oddly, I have not actually heard that sentiment from anybody I know; most just prefer Clinton to Trump and want to do exactly as you say – keep pushing her. But they don’t fool themselves that she’s entirely on our side! Most are pragmatists – Clinton is the best thing we can still get this election, AND her election would provide the path towards something better.
For example, overturning Citizens United and reestablishing the Voting Rights Act would help open more space for progressives.
Anyway, this is all sort of moot – except that we still need to heal our wounds in the wake of the Trump election, if there is to be any hope of a future for progressive politics.
And I think we need to do some (gentle) self criticism.
Anyway, I hope that by now you have healed some of the divisions with your friends.
Yeah, well, we’re having a very different conversation than we would be had my condescending Clintonista friends listened, aren’t we?
No, I can’t say I healed any wounds. I can’t say I feel a need to.
Very well written, and to the point. These are the reasons I “will not vote” for clinton. Burn it all down before I’ll sacrifice my integrity.
See, this is something I don’t understand, and it’s views like “burn it all down” that tempt me to become condescending. Hillary is bad, no question about it, but Trump is worse. There are real and serious differences between them, and a “burn it all down” mentality glosses over those very real differences.
For example, if Trump wins, gay marriage may go back to being a state issue. If Clinton wins, gay marriage stays the law of the land. “Burn it all down” implies that those marriages, those Constitutionally guaranteed rights earned by blood, sweat, and tears, don’t matter.
If Trump wins, Obamacare gets reversed, and millions of people who couldn’t afford health insurance before lose their health care now. A Clinton win means that those people keep their insurance, and maybe the ACA’s fucked up prescription rules (which cost my family several thousand dollars every year for monopoly-pried Epi-Pens) get revised. “Burn it all down” suggests that millions of people losing their health care isn’t a big deal.
If Trump wins, we walk away from the Paris climate treaty and start digging coal out of the ground and fracking everywhere for oil and gas, poisoning our air and water and children. A Clinton win means that most of the US’ coal stays in the ground, fracking gets regulated, leaking natural gas well heads get repaired, and the US finally starts to deal with the implications of industrial climate disruption on our economy, health, and national security. “Burn it all down” means that we may well be burning up from wildfires and heat waves, flooded by rising seas and powerful storms, and swamped with refugees fleeing the tropics, with all the disruptions that will bring.
If Trump wins, our President starts the mass deportation of 11 million people, an act that will, at best, make the rest of the world despise us and that, at worst, qualifies as and honest-to-God crime against humanity. A Clinton win means that those 11 million people get to stay, raise their families, contribute to the US economy, and generally have a better life than they would have had in Mexico. “Burn it all down” implies that you’re OK with debasing American history and ideals.
If Trump wins, all Muslims, citizens or not, may have to register and wear special IDs, much like the Jews had to in Nazi Germany. A Clinton win means that Muslims get treated just as well (or poorly) as anyone else. “Burn it all down” sure makes it sound like you’re OK with taking a page out of the Nazi playbook and applying it to the Iranian couple who have been like a second set of parents to me since I was three. years. old.
“Burn it all down” suggests you think those differences in policy don’t matter. “Burn it all down” suggests that you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. And if you’re offended by my tone, if you think my logic and reasons are condescending to you, too fucking bad. You earned it.
I absolutely agree with both your excellent reasoning and and conclusions, Brian. A “burn it all down” attitude is simply cutting off your nose to spite your face– refusing to acknowledge that that attitude will jeopardize this country in every social, economic, and political way. Sometimes we are required to just suck it up and vote for the lesser of the two evils for the good of our country’s future.
I have to disagree, Brian. The “burn it all down” viewpoint is simply acknowledging that our last chance at peaceful revolution was Bernie, and lacking that, the sooner “the system” craters completely the sooner we can start building something new and better. Our way of life as we now conduct it is, in a word, unsustainable. Minor differences in policy (and they WILL seem VERY minor) will avail us nothing in the face of catastrophic climate change and the seeds of massive depopulation that come with it. We will need more than just a revolution of political leadership in the next 4-8 years and we won’t get it from either mainstream candidate. That means, at it’s essence, that we are well and truly screwed, and whether you or anyone else likes it, no amount of gerrymandering the status quo ( a Clinton win) will save us. So, “burn it all down” is simply the willingness to take the big bitter pill right now and start on the path to getting well… if we can live through this disease of consumption of the people, by the people, for the oligarchy.
Did you actually read the article? If it isn’t “You’ve been duped by GOP lies” it’s “But if Trump wins…”
The entire point of the article is “Make no mistake: winning isn’t on the ballot.”
Of COURSE Hillary would be better than Trump. Who wouldn’t be?
I hope you like Trump then. Because a vote for third party is a vote her him. No candidate is perfect.
Sam, don’t take it so hard. I have friends that make my blood boil,but I here them out and weigh their thoughts with a grain of salt. I watch CNN, FOX, and the rest of them and try to make an educated decision. This election is the worst one there has ever been in my lifetime. Both candidates are insane. That is why a lot of people will not vote this time around . People seem to be content letting the chips fall where they may. November is just around the corner. It will be over soon. Breath and relax your friends can’t help it. The media makes them do it. Hang tight!
The media doesn’t make anyone do anything. It manipulates, sure, but at the end of the day, people’s actions are their own decision. I’m mightily rizzed at Sarah Silverman, for example, for calling us Bernie supporters “children” and suggesting we had to “grow up” at the DNC. I, too, will vote for Hillary, but I understand the resentment perfectly well. We didn’t favor Bernie because of sexism or a lack of maturity, we simply wanted a fire breathing liberal hero over a centrist. And unfortunately, we didn’t get that. No one wants to empower someone who smugly insulted them, but the alternative is Trump.
Something to consider, though, is that Hillary isn’t blind, and she saw over 30% of the Democratic Party swing hard left. She would be unwise to ignore that, and indeed, to all appearances, she isn’t the sort of person not to take that into account. Another thing is that if anyone should be upset over Hillary working with the DNC to block Bernie, it’s Bernie. Yet, after this information became known, Bernie himself still endorsed Hillary. Plus, Bernie has sat down with Hillary and guided her to become a more acceptable candidate. Her policies have become more progressive, and we wouldn’t want to undo all his hard work. One more thing, is that with Bernie’s endorsement of Hillary, can we call ourselves Bernie supporters yet not follow his advice?
If you were a “Bernie or Bust” type, you lost relevance a long time ago. It’s hard not to condescend to a crowd that still thought he had a chance long after anyone with political savvy knew he had lost. And the allegations of “vote rigging”? Well, you can’t get more Trump-like than that. The Bernie crowd is not respected in political circles, and with good reason.
And there it is, neatly proving Sam’s point.
One has not “lost relevance” if one votes one’s conscience. If enough people summoned the requisite courage and stood together and refused to submit to the 2-party chokehold, it would be broken forever. It remains because we allow it to remain. A Trump presidency would bring with it a lot of horrible things we can’t anticipate at this point–though I know for sure it would mean four years of nothing getting done, because even members of his own party have said publicly that they don’t support him.
Likewise, a Hillary presidency would bring with it a lot of horrible things–expected, anticipated horrible things, because she has already done them as a senator and as Secretary of State. These include, but are not limited to: war (declared and undeclared); a continuation of drone attacks in Yemen and the AfPak region and the proxy devastation of Yemen by Saudis with US-supplied fighter jets; meddling in foreign affairs and foreign elections to the detriment of those nations (Honduras); continuing the shredding of our Fourth Amendment rights as unwarranted surveillance of our private communication goes on and gets worse and TSA groping and naked-photographing of us moves from the airport to other modes of transportation; pushing of some new permutation of the TPP (which, we will be told, is “much better now!”); the back-burnering of single payer; watering-down of minimum wage increases so the eventual hikes are meaningless in the context of current-day CPI; privatization everywhere (though one can be sure those will be called “public-private partnerships) and the pushing of every neoliberal wet-dream agenda one could imagine.
I became a U.S. citizen in January in order to be able to vote for Bernie Sanders. I have been insulted, condescended to, lectured at, and name-called all year long. I don’t care. I spent formative years in Honduras and I cannot in good conscience vote for Mrs. Clinton after what she and her state department brought about in my former home. I’m voting for Jill Stein. Not because I think she will win, but because if the Greens have enough support this time around, they will qualify to participate in the debates, and most importantly, because two parties that differs only in their marketing strategies are not enough to reflect the voices of my new compadres, American citizens. Not nearly enough. I believe this election could help move us in a better direction, and I’m going to be participating in helping get Our Revolution candidates elected–indeed, I may run for local or state office myself in 2018. But for now, just…no. I will not fall in line. I am a patriot–a new patriot who takes this all very seriously–not a lemming.
@TricksterMilo
Ah here it is, the very mentality this article is about rearing its ugly, misinformed head. Condescending from below as usual, not willing to acknowledge blatant facts smacking them in the face. If you’re for Hillary fine, but realize she is a student of Realpolitik when we realize that’s what got us into this mess in the first place. Sanders didn’t create a movement he harnessed a leaderless one on the left while Trump slapped a saddle on one the one to the right. Those of us paying attention see the tide pulling back and the wave coming. Maybe we missed this swell because we were a bit too eager but Trump caught his and is riding it a lot further than most would have thought. We may still be floating in the deep water waiting for our wave, but people like you are standing on the beach wondering why all the villagers are running away. There’s a tsunami coming and you’re gonna drown if you just stand there.
>>The Bernie crowd is not respected in political circles, and with good reason.<<
"political circles" = Establishment sociopathic machine
The "Never Hillary" crowd appreciates the validation of their position, Milo.
Superb on many levels. Coherent thought showing intellectual penetration is not common these days, and to see so much of it in one short essay is – well, stunning. I am so sick of facile opining, logical fallacies, and plain lying being offered as reasoned thought that I have given up on politics. This shows those like me (and there are many) that there is a way through.
This is the second level of propaganda: the “I know she’s terrible and I have considered everything, but I will support her.” Nice try.
@Djsmps exactly. If the author wants to hold feet to the fire, get a third party candidate into the debates and make both parties scared that they are losing their monopoly on the political stage. Change will not happen if you validate them with your vote. Voting against the greater of evils is still a vote for evil.
As a Canadian watching your election process and discussing it on a forum, I’ve found your essay to be right on the money. The Americans that I’ve been chatting with divide exactly as you have suggested here, totally for Trump or TOTALLY for Clinton. And even putting up all the known bad decisions and corrupt practises of hers, Bills and their foundation, merit not even a shrug from those who are ‘for’ her. Yours is the first reasoned argument for voting for her that I’ve read, i.e. that you will hold your nose and vote for her because there is no one else to prevent Donald Trump from having a kick at the can.
Sorry your mad, but this election is different. It’s not about voting for the lesser of two evils. It’s about keeping a madman out of the White House. Now is not the time to express our dissatisfaction with the two-party system.
I’m FURIOUS with my friends and family that flipped from Bernie to Clinton IMMEDIATELY when the corporate media falsely announced, just ahead of the CA primary, that Clinton was the winner of the nomination…it was a pathetic display of obedience to the Lies of the Powerful, and of fear of the hard work of making real change – I sensed a form of relief on their parts when they made the announcements that Bernie was Finished, and it was time to Toe the Line; like it was so much easier for them to just let their Establishment Den-Mother carry it the rest of the way, Bernie’s demands just being to tough for them. I’m afraid that it is THAT positon that represents the “Privileged” in the Democratic Party.
I know, right!!! The DNC itself said, the time that super delegate votes count, is when they vote, at the convention. And the media is not even to report them until then. But it changed nothing.
Not to mention that, the very reason super delegates were created in the democratic party was for situations like this, when the majority votes for a candidate that is less viable in the general. It’s a total perversion, a test of who you know and what you have on them.
My wife, who was anti-Clinton long before I was, keeps wondering when the legal system is going to start catching up. It may be now. And the medical stuff scares me–what, exactly, is the reason the HRC campaign will not allow the press to watch her get on and off airplanes? What we mainly wonder about is why do most HRC supporters refuse to countenance the notion that either of these issues is genuine?
A quick note to our commenters. This post is not about whether Clinton is good or bad or whether Bernie is better. It’s about condescension, especially of the fact-free sort. Let’s please keep the comments focused on THAT issue. No threadjacking. If you haven’t read our comment policy, here you go:
There is a plainly obvious truth Clinton Supporters ignore. In America, unless you live in a swing state, Your Vote Does Not Count. America has never allowed the Popular Vote to take precedent over the Electoral Vote. The Electoral College does the voting, and in the case of George W. Bush, the Supreme Court can actually tell Electors to vote against the Popular Vote. A protest vote sends a message.
Excellent
Great post, i am sharing the hell out of it on social media. You did a great job of reflecting a lot of my thinking… about the candidates, the race and the attitudes of my friends who aren’t nearly as close the election as I am.
My experience has been that the people supporting Clinton utterly refuse to discuss specific issues. Their entire approach is to make me wrong, with great self righteousness, but no willingness to discuss substantive issues about Clinton. I have come to regard people supporting Clinton as basically brainwashed. When belief takes precedence over demonstrably accurate information, there is no point in attempting meaningful discourse.
I agree totally with you.
My candle still Bernstein bright.
Bernie Sanders is still my choice and I will write him in if no better choice comes along…and that has not happened as of yet.
Assuming this comment was for me, I’m unclear on how writing in Sanders = agree totally with me. Did you read the whole post? Because that’s not at ALL what I said.
@DOC this last post is informative regarding the nature of political discourse, which is that very few people really listen to what anyone else says, but instead most people are on intellectual and emotional auto-pilot. So there’s not much reason to take it personally or to get upset when people insult you for expressing your views. For the most part they aren’t really responding to you. Your words are just serving as a catalyst for someone else’s knee-jerk reaction.
In some cases this is probably true, although I don’t think that makes it okay for a second.
In other cases, though, I’m talking about people who aren’t on auto-pilot at all. This is when I get really annoyed.
Or as William James put it, “A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.”
You have your vote and you will use it as you wish. Works for me. Your last paragraphs express a “need” for some things to happen “I need everyone to be lucid and clear-eyed. I need you to understand and acknowledge the reality of a Clinton presidency” and I doubt you will get those things.
Sorry your friends disappointed you. I’ve experienced the same but from the opposite camp as you. And I’m in the same place of wondering if I’ll ever consider those friends close again.
Please, if you are committed to end this polorization, read Stphen Dinan’s Sacred America Sacred World. The only way we can come to agreement is when we can hear and value the others opinions, we don’t have to agree but we do need to respect.
Wow that’s hitting the nail on its head! Well done! Bravo! All the things I’ve found, questioned, worried about…and you’ve hit them all! Thank you for empowering me!
Dude, I totally feel you. “Trump would dump America wholesale into the fryer” is not an argument _for_ anything or anyone, and “just get over it; you’ve lost” is no way to bring anyone over to your side, let alone the thoughtful and informed.
The other thing that irks me to no end is Hillary people/the media/everyone harping on “Bernie needs to bring his people on board.” No. That is absolutely the wrong way to think about it. First of all, they/we aren’t “”his”” people. Half (2/3?) aren’t even democrats, they’re greens, independents, perhaps even a few libertarians. And the person responsible for getting us “on board” is–entirely–Hillary. She may need us, but if she wanted us, Bernie would have been offered veep. Later, a serious offer of Elizabeth Warren, rather than trotting her out and holding her hand for just long enough to think she has distracted us. How about Cory Booker? (Man, I love Michelle, but his was the best speech.) If she wanted us, she would not have flipped on the TTP, only to have her minions sneak around and keep it out of the platform (check Robert Reich’s facebook). She must think we’re idiots.
When you think about it, this entire play we put on for ourselves is simply ridiculous. We pretend that the DNC and the RNC are sort of pseudo-official, government-adjacent, means to winnow down who (blue) to put up against who (red). But they are not government; they’re private orgs, with their own weird/obscure rules, and who-schmoozes-the-best pipelines. I mean, on some level, I understand that the final choices for who to vote for have to have some sanity check, so maybe the final ballot can’t have green/libertarian/etcetc on it, but independents are something like 41% now — we ought to at least be able to band together and put up one candidate.
Sorry, I became distracted. My whole impetus for the post was the first sentence, and the following. I ran across this neat article and handy visual the other day. Sure, run a sanity-check at polling time to make sure it makes sense for your corner of the world. I am trying to think of this map as a win-win…if you’re on one end of it, yay! — you can vote your conscience, and actually make inroads into the broken two-party system by bolstering third-party percentages. If you’re on the other end, yay! — your vote would actually help keep the blathering anti-Christ out of the White House, and give us time to work with Hillary later.
View at Medium.com
I hope you can make good use of it. But again, hang in there. Sometimes your friends mean the very best for you (or, at least think they do), and sometimes you’re better off winnowing down the dead weight a bit. Good luck. Great post.
I don’t think Trump will make it to the General Election. He will either implode on his own or be gotten rid of the RNC.
I think the best way to put pressure on Hillary, as well as punish her campaign for their condescension, is to start building up an alternative candidate now, to put forward in four years. Someone who is a real fire-breathing liberal, not some corporate Democrat. We need someone like Bernie, or Kucinich, or Warren. And we start the pressure early, letting the Democratic Party know that we do not forget this mistreatment.