September 22, 2017
The definition of a \”grudge\” is: a persistent feeling of ill will or resentment resulting from a past insult or injury.
Now I am not normally a person who holds a grudge — Lord knows I would probably be holding quite-a-few if I did — but with regards to all-of-the-folks who voted for ol\’ Pumpkinhead as-the-lesser-of-2-evils — I will be taking my ill will and resentment towards them to-the-grave. Their vote for ol\’ Pumpkin head is unforgiveable, and, will color my relationship with them forever. It\’s like teachers during a strike remembering everyone who crosses the picket line…
As a retired psychotherapist, I know full well that holding a grudge can be very toxic to the system: I am going to have to figure out \”a place\” to keep this ill will so that it doesn\’t rankle to the point of making me sick. This is going to be exceedingly difficult — as Trump\’s legions only seem to be getting stronger — growing my grudge daily.
It doesn\’t matter to his legions that ol\’ Pumpkinhead has violated and desecrated everything that was sacred to the most important office of the planet. It doesn\’t matter that the Russian octopus is firmly ensconced in the White House. It doesn\’t matter ol\’ Pumpkinhead cannot stop lying. It doesn\’t matter that the people he has surrounded himself with (the people who, for awhile, are like flies on shit) eventually take flight after realizing they had settled into some deep shit. All the legion needs to hear is the refrain \”Lock her up\” — to work themselves into a pro-Trump frenzy. They don\’t see that the pot has been calling the kettle black — and all Pumpkinhead has to do is invoke the hated name of Hillary and he basks in game show adulation.
My stepson was wearing a t-shirt the other day with a picture of Bill Clinton — and the caption under the picture read \”Rape.\” I said I\’m going to get a t-shirt made with Pumpkinhead\’s picture on it and a caption reading \”Incest.\” This caught him off guard.
My Sociology 345 class is exploring the discipline of Social Psychology this Semester, ala Elliot Aronson. These inheritors of the Los Angeles \”scene\” are learning about conformity, persuasion, propaganda, self justification and a number of other psychological constructs that allow one to unpack and analyze the Trump phenomenon and try to get inside the heads of his supporters (we try not to stay there too long).
My class feels that \”hate of Hillary\” would probably explain most of the variance if we were to put all of the necessary and sufficient variables into a linear regression model designed to measure enduring Trump support! (I gather she said as much in her book.)
Neighbor Andre takes the current situation as delightful comedy — and hopes that the Trump Play will keep on playing for-another-couple-of-years — before it ends in impeachment. And he is not the only one who delights in this new reality TV show — there are many, many more.
But my DACA students aren\’t having fun at all! It\’s uncertain times for them. Hell! It\’s uncertain times for all-of-US when an American president threatens to annihilate another country (because we can). I know this threat was taken out-of-context by the liberal news (and I\’m noticing this dynamic more-and-more with the liberal press) — but it was still a schoolyard call-out that has left foreign emissaries and governments wriggling like worms on the Trump hook.
I certainly hope that Neighbor Andre is wrong, and that we can get ol\’ Pumpkinhead out by Christmas — what a present that would be (Halloween would have been more appropriate)?!
Then we could look back on this year of insanity as: The Year of Trump — once he has been locked up — then the rest of us can move on…unless we\’re holding a grudge.
P.S.
My readers will remind me that I promised never to devote energy to him again, but the Trump virus has infected the fabric of our existence at every level, and, as noted, seems to become more virulent by-the-day: it\’s given me a grudge! We\’ve got to find a cure and get vaccinated before it\’s too late!