Make America Great

Since, I’ve been asked, I’ll make my political stance clear. Then, I’ll wrap up my personal takeaways from Mary L. Trump’s book.

My political stance

I want to see America become great, but that requires a different kind of leader.

• A leader who’s an adult who thinks and behaves like an adult.
• A leader who will address the civil unrest in this country with intelligence and empathy, and the goal of fixing the root cause. Feeding bigotry and using federal force against citizens only fuel the unrest. It’s beyond crazy when folk feel comfortable enough to attempt a lynching in broad daylight, but that’s what follows when a leader calls white supremacist “good people”.
• A leader who will bring this nation together instead of sowing discord and using divisiveness as a political weapon and winning strategy.
• A leader who will work toward restoring the US back to a place of strength and power at the negotiating table with foreign nations, instead of rendering us weak and impotent.
• A leader who can bring the US back to a place of respect and influence from one of ridicule and comical jeering on the world stage.
• A leader who will not minimize and politicize the rising death toll in this nation but will seek to pull us together as one united force to halt the pandemic that’s ravaging our families and economy.
• A leader who values truth instead of “living” in a place of corruption, lies and half-baked conspiracy theories.

Republican, democrat or independent—I really don’t care about party affiliation. I vote according to my principles, not a party line. The bottom line is we need a different kind of leader to pull the US out of the cesspit into which we’ve been led and make America great domestically and globally.

Final words on the book

An adult with the mental capacity of a child can’t handle grown folk business. Instead of dealing with hard issues that are beyond them, they’ll exhibit childish and destructive behavior that result in dire consequences for which they refuse to take responsibility.

When someone fights tooth and nail to keep something hidden, it’s obvious they’ve done something wrong and want to keep it from being revealed. Examples: withholding tax returns, stopping book publications, blocking subpoenaed documents and testimony, etc.

Flashing “shiny new objects” as a distraction doesn’t work on grown people. Committing a horrible act to distract attention away from a previous horrible act does not cause people to forget about the previous horrible acts. Instead, folk see it for what it is, and the result is a pile on. All the horrible acts are remembered, tallied, and considered to be one big mess of awfulness.

For me, the book was a very informative read that added definition to the darkness…

Go Back Where You Came From!

“If you don’t like what’s going on here, go back where you came from!” Many are saying it. Others are thinking it.

If a lot of the folk—actually, almost all—spouting that nonsense would give their family tree a shake and look at what falls out, they’ll find their ancestors were not indigenous (native) to this country. The United States of America is a huge melting pot of immigrants.

Here’s my question for the folk who want me to go back where I came from. Where? My ancestry is African, Native American, European, Middle Eastern, Spanish, and Jewish. Where exactly is it you’re telling me to go?

If everyone--including the US President who has a German ancestry--who descended from immigrants left this country, the population would DRASTICALLY decrease.

The retort, “If you don’t like what’s going on here, go back where you came from!” is just ig…um…uninformed.

This is my personal takeaway from Mary L. Trump’s book.

Where do I Begin?

I’ll just dive right in with my latest personal takeaways from Mary L. Trump’s book. Hmm, where do I even begin? Let’s see…

* Hypocrisy

Dr. Trump wrote about the time her uncle destroyed historical and priceless art deco to shave two weeks of construction time off Trump Tower. I guess preserving historical objects wasn’t that important to him back then. Indigenous cultural and sacred burial sites don’t seem to fall in the “important” category either. Sorry, that last bit was me, not the author. I'm just saying.

* Narcissism

When the author’s grandfather died, her Uncle Donald spoke at his funeral. She wrote that the eulogy was about the speaker and all the great things he’d supposedly accomplished and not about her grandfather. We witness this kind of behavior all the time. Remember those long coronavirus task force briefings?

* Business Acumen

The author talked about her uncle’s business acumen. I’ll admit that I used to think he was as brilliant as he says when it comes to business, but then I did research. Personally, I don’t equate the following to being a brilliant and shrewd businessman?

1. MANY bankruptcies
2. A financial track record so bad that banks won’t give you a bail out loan unless you agree to relinquish control of your businesses.
3. The banks set a loan condition that restricts your access to your businesses’ finances so you can’t do…stuff and instead, give you an allowance on which to live.

* Cheating

That cheating thing reared its head again. The author wrote about a scheme her Uncle Donald set in motion to steal his siblings’ inheritance. When her grandfather’s mental capacity diminished, a codicil to his will was secretly presented that would have given her uncle control of everything. Fortunately, her grandfather had a lucid moment and refused to sign. The siblings found out and took measures to ensure that never happened again.

* Vindictiveness

As we’ve seen repeatedly, the writer’s uncle exacts a very high penalty from those who refuse to toe the line. Dr. Trump wrote about the punishment she and other family members endured for doing just that. The scope of the punishment even included a sick and defenseless child…

I’m still listening…

A Taste of Honey

Do you remember when you’d play games with the neighborhood kids and there was that kid who’d get mad when things didn’t go his way, grab his ball, stalk off home, and end the game for everybody?

How about that kid who was always picking on somebody…a straight up bully…who just never let up with the attacks?  That kid who’d have a meltdown when the person he was picking on finally and deservedly gave him a taste of his own medicine?

Ever encountered that kid who is totally out of control and has no parental discipline?  The kid whose mom can’t do anything with him and his dad doesn’t care enough to even try?  Yeah, that kid.  The one who makes your fingers twitch to pinch.  That one. 

Here are my personal takeaways from my latest listening session of Mary L. Trump’s book:

• The TRUE heart of the author’s uncle for my people was revealed in 1973 when he was sued for racial discrimination in housing.  Before that lawsuit—which he fought for two years…two, no black people could rent homes in his developments.

• Cheating seems to be second nature.  Isn’t it illegal to pay someone to take the SAT for you? I always thought so.  The author left room for verification of the validity of this charge:  She named names.  Yes, she did.

• The following words cycled through my mind repeatedly:  cold, callous, unempathetic and amoral.

• It’s sad when the kid I talked about earlier becomes a man and still has the same horrible traits.  If that kid would’ve had just a taste of Honey (my mom’s nickname was Honey) and experienced one…just one…of her back hands, I believe he would’ve become a better person.  At the very least, he’d be very clear on the differences between right and wrong.

I’m still listening…

Girl, if you only knew...we need to talk!

Ever met someone who said all the things you'd been longing to hear and you felt they were "it"? You thought they were the genuine article and you could unquestioningly put your trust in them? Then, you met one of their family members who gave you eye-rolls that screamed, "Girl, if you only knew...we need to talk!"

I'm listening to an audio book that just hit my digital library. As I listened, the above scenario came to mind. Because of the lengths taken to suppress its release, I had to get a copy of this book written by Mary L. Trump.

I want to share a few of the phrases that have popped so far.

* He's a clown.

* Free publicity

* Blatant racism

* No principles...none.

* Casual dehumanization of people

- Women not found attractive: ugly, fat slobs

- Accomplished men: Losers

* Crass, irresponsible, despicable behavior

And that's just the prologue...