What good is a country without its people?

If we took all the things that Trump has done, good and bad, and put Obama’s name on them instead- would they still be asked to be forgiven and overlooked or would he have been shredded inch by inch for being a black man with five kids by three different women? Or would we have laughed when he made fun of someone who was mentally handicapped? Or agreed if Obama said John McCain, a Purple Heart recipient and PoW, was “not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured,” and he liked “people who weren’t captured.” Would we have been fine if Obama sat around and talked shit openly about world leaders to another world leader who has a history of manipulation (lest we forget Putin was a high ranking member of the KGB and literally sold out his wife to advance his political career), which will inevitably take years, if not decades, to repair our diplomatic relations? Or countless times he’d have insulted minorities or women? What if Obama had paid off a porn star? Or been routinely photographed with a man who owned a place called “Pedophile Island”?

Of course we’d overlook it, right? We’d give the same slack to Obama, right? The same leeway, right?

But then I reminded myself as I have dozens of times before:

Any group that has faced oppression, whether it be blacks, Latinos, women, gays, transgender people -whoever they may be- will always loathe a person who perpetuates the idea that they are less than, especially if that person is a conservative, Christian white man who has likely never faced a lick of oppression. Which is not to say they haven’t had short comings, but to say the color of their skin and what’s between their legs has never made life /harder/ for them. And of course you’ll have certain members of these minorities who for some reason think they’re special. They aren’t. To the people who use us as leverage we are good for one thing and one thing only: a pawn in a game of political chess. Trump is really great at only supporting people who openly support him. You’re a woman and vote for Biden? Pfft. Might as well just be a turd on Shit Mountain. Fuck you AND your reproductive rights.

But for those aforementioned groups and so many more, we have done our time. We were told to go back where we came from. We were told not to leave the kitchen. We were asked if we worked at Home Depot or which farm we picked tomatoes at. We’ve been spit on for the color of our skin. Murdered for being more than what our genitals were. Stabbed by homophobes, racists, and misogynists. We have stormed capitols and lit our bras on fire and broken the literal chains that enslaved us. We have fled from war zones and raised babies by ourselves because our husbands died in a war we didn’t want to be in. We were given lobotomies for being “mentally ill” when we were really just autistic or had some sort of mental retardation. We were called “stupid” for our learning disabilities. We were called “insane” and “hysterical” for our pre-menstrual symptoms and heavily sedated to “treat” them. We were sent to poorly state run facilities because we had depression. We were beaten for burning dinner. We were raped for wearing a skirt that was “too short” and cops brushed it off because “Why were you out by yourself?” We were disowned for being gay. We were…

So for this election, it’s more than a vote for so many of us. It’s more than the economy. It’s about equality in humans. It’s about respect. It’s about bringing out the best in our country. Sure, the country is important, but what is a country without its people? The economy means nothing if you’re just working to die. It means nothing if you’re citizens aren’t thriving, just surviving, in every aspect. Financially, morally, emotionally, mentally.

Personally, I hate him. It goes far beyond politics. His moral code is nonexistent. He’s just a gross misrepresentation of a president. He’s a thoughtless toad. A man who lacks more empathy than a rock. Someone who wouldn’t let 99% of his supporters piss in a Trump Tower lobby bathroom. He is, on all moral accounts, as developed as a 3 year old. I will rule the day when he leaves office. I will bang my pots together outside. I will light off fireworks. I will sing songs of victory. I will wake up every god damn neighbor with celebratory gun shots. Because this is fucking America, and that man is a shit stain on American history and I don’t care who knows it. Knowing he will hang in the halls of the likes of Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln and John F Kennedy makes my skin crawl. But I also know good men have came before him, and good men will come after him, too.

The country means nothing without its people. The president rotates, the people- not so much. And right now, the people are revolting against their country because the country only cares for a secular amount of them at this point in time. If you’re conservative, Christian, white, and a man life is seemingly more geared towards the economy. What does this mean for your pocket book? Because really, what else do you have to worry about? Is there someone in congress or the senate threatening YOUR reproductive rights? YOUR bodily autonomy? YOUR protection from discrimination? YOUR legal status? But there’s people who vote their party lines, no matter what sewer rat dipped in 24-karat is in the seat. That just is what it is. I don’t care about those people’s opinions. Most of them will die in the next 20 years anyways. Moderates are who I appreciate. Moderates get shit done.

I don’t make these points to make anyone feel bad or insinuate that anyone is owed anything, but people also have to understand why the face of Donald Trump sends a white hot rage through so many of us. It’s more than the fact that he’s a cunt (which he is, just an absolute trash can of a human being), it’s that if any minority were in his position and doing the things he’s done or saying the things he’s said that many conservatives would have lit the country on fire just to watch it burn. We’ve lived these oppressions. Generations before us have fought these oppressions. America has the potential to be its best, and it’s a beautiful country with so much to offer in the ways of diversity. I’m disappointed in the behaviors of the current president, and I’m disappointed how many people will do mental gymnastics and chop word salad to defend his indiscretions because I KNOW we’re better than that. We’ve been better than that, and will someday be better than that again. I don’t foresee that in the near future, and if Trump gets re-elected I don’t see it happening in the next four years, but we will heal. I just hope that we don’t kill each other in the process. Because money isn’t everything, country is.

And what good is a country without its people?