There is this chant gaining momentum by surrogates of the republican President-elect Donald Trump, to grant him a chance to show the American peoples how he plans to govern. All Americans want nothing more than for our president-elect to have a successful four year start but that does not mean that those of us who did not vote for him cannot continue to protest and to hold him accountable to keeping true to his promises to his supporters.
It does not mean that we will deny what we have witnessed with our own eyes, like his campaign has been a platform for racists. It took days of questioning by reporters before the president elect would state for the record that he fully rejected the KKK, and all White Supremacist groups. We will be vigilant in standing up against hate.
It does not mean that we will forget what we heard him state in his own words, when he announced for the record that “climate change” is a Chinese hoax. We will be vigilant in pointing out that climate change is real and has to be addressed.
It does not mean that when the president elect encourages tax reform, that we won’t make sure that the vast bulk of the tax breaks will be granted to the middle class and those living in poverty. We will be vigilant in making him honor his promises. For example, if he follows the lead by fellow republicans to privatize social security, Medicare and the Veterans Administration’s medical delivery system, we will fight back on behalf of all Americans.
In short, “we the people” will not stand down. As of today, the democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton is winning the popular vote by a margin of more than 2.5 million. There is NO MANDATE.
The following excerpts are from a 12/1/16 NY Times Op-Ed piece, “Donald Trump’s ‘Monster’s Ball’ by Charles M. Blow where his words and thoughts mirror my thinking.
Excerpts:
“If you’ve been in a funk over the results of this election: Buck up. It’s over. Dry the tears, push back against the malaise, burn away the fog and stiffen the spine.”
“There is work to do. Your country needs you, now more than ever. The loyal opposition needs your energy and your moral imagination.”
“You may be out of power, but you aren’t powerless. Righteousness is a self-propagating energy source. Indeed, there is most likely something to be gained in the midst of your loss. Sometimes, it is while wandering in the wilderness that purpose is perfected and voice is clarified. New champions will rise from these ashes, ones who may not now be apparent, and a new path forward will appear. Such is the way of the world; such is the precedent of history.”
“Donald Trump was elected on a wave of fake news, fake minority outreach and an 11th-hour email head fake by James Comey.”
“During the campaign, Trump lied with the ease of breathing and made promises he knew well that he could never keep. He positioned himself as a champion of the disaffected, all the while imagining himself a dictator.”
“Furthermore, Russia may in a way have won a new phase of the Cold War, by dabbling in our hot mess of an election. And through it all, Trump nurtured an unhealthy bromance with Vladimir Putin.”
“Since winning the election, Trump has taken aim at some fundamentals of our constitutional democracy by not only attacking the media, but individual reporters, while also threatening to revoke American citizenship for the constitutionally protected act of flag burning.”
“Perhaps even more important and more ominous, he is assiduously assembling a team of advisers made up of billionaires and bigots, homophobes and Islamaphobes, climate change deniers and white supremacy believers.”Last month, David Axelrod called the budding cabinet assemblage a “Monster’s Ball,” and that may be too mild a phrasing.”During one of the debates, Trump boasted , while referring to Hillary Clinton: “I will do more for African-Americans and Latinos than she can ever do in 10 lifetimes. All she’s done is talk to the African-Americans and to the Latinos.”
“And yet Trump has named as his chief strategist Steve Bannon, who helped to rebrand Nazis with a new name, alt-right, which sounds more like a computer command than a batch of fanatical racists clinging desperately to poisoned ideas. Trump also named as his nominee for attorney general Jeff Sessions, a man once denied a federal judgeship over charges of racism, who fought for public school funding inequity in his home state of Alabama and who has been a stalwart foe of immigrants.”
‘On the campaign trail, Trump claimed that he was going to be a “real friend” of the L.G.B.T. community, and once even unfurled a rainbow flag-albeit upside down — with the words “L.G.B.T.s for Trump” scrawled on it. But the British gay news service Pink News claimed Tuesday that “every single Trump cabinet member so far opposes L.G.B.T. rights.” That was before further appointments were announced, but the point is well taken, as they methodically documented the individual appointees’ personal positions on equal rights.”
“On the campaign trail, the self-professed genital-grabber Trump said that he would be the best for women.” This week, Trump named anti-contraception, pro-fetal personhood Tom Price to be secretary of Health and Human Services.”On the campaign trail, Trump claimed that he wanted to drain the swamp in Washington. But his cabinet choices suggest that his plan is simply to replace the murky water it contains and the smarmy ecosystem that it conceals with one more to his liking.”
“The same Trump who blasted Clinton for being “owned by Wall Street” assembled a cabinet that is a roster of the superwealthy, including at least two billionaires, and is considering other top-crusters including the miserable Mitt Romney, who is debasing himself by groveling for the secretary of state job before a man whom he once called a fraud. The Washington Post’s Wonkblog published a piece on Wednesday under this headline: “Trump said hedge funders were ‘getting away with murder.’ Now he wants one to help run the economy.”
“Donald Trump is a fraud, and a dangerous one. This country is depending on morally principled patriots to never let that fact be shifted from center stage.”
“Trump rode to victory on a cloud of vapors and vapid promises, and now he is assembling a counsel of acolytes and opportunists. Now each of us must demonstrate our fortitude in vocal, steadfast resistance.”
“Trump must be made to know, in no uncertain terms, that he was elected president and not anointed emperor.”
“Not every battle can be won, but every battle must be waged. This is the proving ground. Are you prepared to stand your ground?”
Gronda Morin 
First of all, he played the media just like the media played him. It’s very obvious. And climate change? Seriously? When was that a political point? Oh and just because he didn’t come out immediately and disavow the haters, he supports the KKK? You will be VIGILANT? Just as vigilant as we were with all the campaign promises Obama made in the last 8 years? Especially, in his second term, in which he was a completely unengaged president?
VIGILANT: “keeping careful watch for possible danger or difficulties.”
We should be as vigilant when he promised to help small business and then roll out an increase in employment taxes and Obama care, crushing small business. We should be as vigilant when Obama embraced the Muslim brotherhood and then the administration switched sides in that war in Libya by financing, training and arming Islamic jihadist militias. We should be as vigilant when this same faction carried out the attacks on the compound in Benghazi. We should be as VIGILANT when with advanced warning by the CIA, Hillary Clinton as secretary of state failed to protect those poor soles at the Benghazi compound after weeks of email requests for help. Yes, we should all be that VIGILANT.
Unfortunately, most people forgot about all that and are focusing on the mundane, bullshit protesting and negative media blitz of a president-elect before he even has a chance to govern. Remember, the people have spoken, Trump has won the presidency. Let’s just give him a chance to govern. I don’t expect him to fullfill every promise, which president ever has in their campaign? It’s not realistic. I’ll be the last person to get on a high horse and hold him responsible for very media induced controversy coming out of the Washington establishment.
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Dear Once Written, It is okay to share one’s point of view but it is unrealistic to expect others to always agree.
I disagree strongly with a lot of your premises like the people have spoken. The majority of voters have voted in favor of HRC by a margin of over 2.5 million. DT won the electoral vote and the way the system works, he wins the prize. But that means 51% of voters did not have their voices heard, This is the reality that DT has to face.
I disagree with DT on many of his stated policies. The list does not just include his denial of climate change, or his lead in the “birther movement.” We can all agree that we want to see an increase in good paying jobs; incentives to support the increase and success of small businesses.
During the campaign, he promised the continuation of social security, Medicare, etc., as both systems currently exist, but some of his high level appointments are strong proponents of privatizing both.
Fortunately, I am not in favor of treating DT with the same level of disrespect that he showed President Obama; nor am I in favor of obstructing all his plans as the republicans promised before President Obama stepped into the WH. It will not be okay with me to see banners at protests showing our president and/ or family members being lynched.
But, I will be respectfully vigilant while taking appropriate and the legal steps of protesting, contacting legislators, editors etc. This is not only okay, it is what makes our democracy so great and the envy of the world.
Again, we will have to respectfully disagree.
With Warmest Wishes, Gronda
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Gronda, good post. I hope he is successful, but I have low expectations. I like that he talking about investing in our infrastructure as did Clinton and Obama, butt who was thwarted by Congress. Yet, we cannot fall back on our progress in fighting climate change nor can we retrench on civil rights progress. So, those are areas where we need to be vigilant.
Also, when I see the people lamenting how terrible things are, I first have to ask what country are you talking about? Yes, we have problems and the middle class has been squeezed downward over the last forty five years. But, history will remember Obama as a pretty good president. Yes, he could have been better, but just a couple of observations – the stock market has more than doubled since when he took office, more than 11 million net jobs have been created, unemployment is less than 5% and we are on the fourth longest economic growth periods ever in our country. And, he is doing something about climate change and the CFPB has been a huge success.
As a former Republican and now Independent, I have noted before that Democrats are lousy marketers. The GOP has convinced everyone they are the party of jobs, yet with respect to the President, under the same number of White Houses since 1921 (12 each), the party occupying the White House when the most jobs were created are Democrats creating more jobs by over a 2 to 1 margin, per the BLS. And, the stock market and economy have done better as well. So, when I hear my former party says that they can grow the economy better, on average that has not been a true statement.
I worry that several economic modeling firms like Oxford Economics and Moodys Analytics, e.g. think the President-elect’s plans will cause a recession. That worries me. So, yes I hope he is successful, but I have concerns.
Keith
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Dear Keith,
I am open to being pleasantly surprised if DT’s presidency turns out to be a success. But, in the meantime, my stance will be one of vigilance. The difference here is that the democrats will definitely work with DT’s administration to create a viable, effective program to update the U.S. infrastructure. There is no give when it comes to protecting peoples’ civil rights or to resisting any changes to current climate change progress.
Ciao, Gronda
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Agreed.
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