I’ve gone through the shock, and the horror, and the hurt, and the tears, and now I’m mad as hell!

Below is what Donald J. Trump swore four long years ago. Emphasis mine.

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

I believe he made it with his hand on the Holy Bible. Please note, the oath is not to his wallet, his bank account, or even to him or his office; it’s to a piece of parchment. A very special piece of parchment—The Constitution of the United States. I don’t remember if he added, “So help me God.” but I imagine he did, to show his evangelical buddies what a good God-fearing Christian he is. (Presidents have the option of adding ‘So help me God’ if they want to their oath.)

Trump has pushed the boundaries on many norms, he has gotten away with egregious transgressions because of his enablers. But he crossed the Rubicon when he deliberately incited an attempted coup d’etat of our country Wednesday last. 

He needs to be gone and gone for good, before he can do more damage. He has lied, he has given away classified information, he has aided and abetted felons, he has asked/begged foreign powers to help him in his re-election, he has shamed us on the national stage, and he has done his best to hang on to his power and deny the people of this country the president they voted for. There was no fraud. Well, yes, there was, I believe 3 dead people voted in PA — all voted for Trump.

He has broken his oath. Repeatedly. This last time was too much. He crossed the Rubicon. He provoked an armed attack on the United States of America. There will be investigations and more investigations. There are a great many unanswered questions—who declined to send in the National Guard? Who sent the police out in street uniforms instead of riot gear? Everyone in the area knew this was coming down. Why did it take so long to break it up? Why were there so few cops? Where were the feds? Why did the cops allow the seditionists to walk away instead of herding them into a guarded enclosure? Questions. Too many. This must not happen again. Yes, a major part is the seditionists were white, and therefore they were no real threat. OMG, can you imagine the blood bath if they had been people of color???

He thought, when he appointed all those judges, they would be beholden to him. He had no idea; they all knew what the oath they took meant. He kept referring to them as ‘his’ judges. I can’t even imagine what he must have felt when they continued to follow the Rule of Law, and the Constitution of the United States, and not just didn’t give him the election, but all but laughed his lawyers and him out of court. Talk about trying to commit fraud!

Below is the oath I took. Four times. Note, I, too, swore to defend a piece of parchment, not the President, not my officers, but a piece of parchment. Something else worth noting, for those of you who never served, although we took an oath to obey all orders, if they are not lawful orders, we have recourse and do not have to follow them, according to the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice).

“I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.^“

Members of Congress, Members of the Cabinet, any federal employee who takes an oath, takes a similar one. ALL swear to protect that piece of parchment. Loyalty is to the Constitution of the United States, not to another human being. Period. Full stop. The end. Fade out. Roll credits.

There should be no place of welcome in our country for White Supremacists, for Anarchists, for Fascists, for people who hate anyone who is different than they are, who worship a different Face of God (or no god) than they do, just because they are different.  It is time to stop being a Victim. It isn’t easy, but it can be done with hard work. You’ll feel better when you succeed. Honest. Trust me.

It is time for the media to stop calling lies something soft like “misstatements.” If a politician lies, they need to be called on it, but the caller needs to be sure their facts are correct. The people who drank Trump’s Kool Aid will have a hard time changing their minds, no matter the facts and how they’re presented. They will probably go into cognitive dissonance. It behooves us to find a gentle way to convince them their ideas need to change. It will take time for the antidote to work.

How do we move on? How do we help those who believe the delusion, who believe the lies? To be honest, I don’t have a clue, but I suspect love and patience will play a large part in it. And move on we must. And we must not let another fascist autocrat try to destroy our country. 

As President Elect Biden said, they are our opponents, they are not our enemy, they are fellow Americans. So, yes, I’m mad as hell. I’ll get over the mad, the hurt, the pain, and then I’ll do what I can to help my fellow Americans and this country we love heal. 

A Buddhist chant from the opening of an illegal temple in the midst of a Khmer Rouge prison camp in Cambodia:

Hatred never ceases by hatred

but by love alone is healed.

This is an ancient and eternal law.

Think on it.

Auntie Lenora and Sammy Brave Dog

And because in all this madness, even Auntie Lenora can find a laugh-out-loud moment now and again. I share one and my Thank You to Randy Rainbow! and his latest parody.