This actually happened yesterday:
A crowd of Donald Trump supporters heckled the mother of an active duty military sergeant after she dared to ask his running mate about his continued attacks on Khzir and Ghazala Khan, Gold Star parents who have criticized Trump for his anti-Muslim rhetoric and proposals.
What the hell is going on in our country? The GOP, which usually fetishizes their "love" for all things military- and veteran-related - well, at least until it involves spending money, keeping our troops out of wars, and taking care of our military personnel after they've been injured or have completed their service - actually booed this woman, this mother of a currently serving USAF staff sergeant, for having the gall to question Republican VP candidate Mike Pence about Trump's vile comments and Twitter fight with the Khans? Trump is unquestionable, now? His statements cannot be challenged? Does that sound like America to you?
A growing body of Trump pronouncements, rants, and quotes seem to indicate, as Goldie Taylor surmised, that Trump doesn't believe in America, that he "is abundantly comfortable, it seems, with placing his fragile, outsized ego ahead of our nation’s values...Breathlessly posting insults to social media—using the sort of brutish rhetoric most common among gun-toting, Third World warlords— Trump revealed that he not only does not hold Gold Star families sacrosanct, but that he eschews the very nature of our highest ideals." But it's one thing for Trump to feel and act this way, and another when his supporters echo his narcissistic, uninformed, self-aggrandizing, and (I can hardly believe I'm saying this) un-American views and attitudes.
I'm a patriot, but I've never been a flag-waver. I believe in American exceptionalism, but I don't think it's right for us to try and lord it over other nations, or to try to pretend that we're "the greatest best country that God has ever given Man on the face of the Earth" (thank you, Stephen Colbert!) without mentioning that things could still be a helluva lot better. That said, I do love my country, but I have always feared mindless devotion and submission to any philosophy, religion, creed, or person. Especially this person, this empty-headed, publicity-craving, orange buffoon masquerading as a Presidential candidate.
When I watch Trump's supporters now, the first thing that comes to my mind is, "when do the massed candlelight marches and Nazi-style salutes begin?" Khirz Khan is already being accused of being a secret member of the Muslim Brotherhood by right-wing commentators, or, to use their terminology, by "useful fools." The father of an slain American hero is accused of being an agent of one of our enemies. The mother of an American serviceman is booed right out of the room, simply because she dared question the words of their "Leader." What next? When will we hear the sound of glass breaking in the middle of the night?
This is wrong. Just wrong. And no matter if Trump wins or loses, these self-deceiving, hypocritical fools who support Trump will still be with us, for at least another election cycle or two. And I thought the Tea Party was bad! We must, MUST defeat Trump and everything he stands for, in a tsunami of condemnation, a landslide Democratic victory that exceeds anything seen since World War II. The stakes are too high for anything less to occur.
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