I'm Not a Liberal. But I Choose Reality Over President Trump

[babylonsister]

Opinion
I'm Not a Liberal. But I Choose Reality Over President Trump | Opinion
Jennifer Shulkin
On 7/17/20 at 9:41 AM EDT



President Donald Trump gained notoriety through reality TV. Yet since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, his actions and statements have become increasingly divorced from reality. Now about 140,000 Americans are dead, and new cases hit a record 75,600 nationwide on Thursday. Even Republican leaders in states like Texas and West Virginia are being forced to accept certain basic facts about the virus—issuing mask-wearing mandates and closing bars.

Yet it is clear there remain two parallel universes within our country: Trump's America, which feeds on misinformation about not only the pandemic but also Black Lives Matter, and the rest of the country grounded in reality and just trying to survive this period of crisis.

As a recent graduate of a liberal law school and resident of a major East Coast city, my social circle and environment is increasingly and unapologetically diverse. It is also increasingly and unapologetically masked. But when I see videos and images of Trump's rallies, showing crowds containing few masks and even fewer faces of color, the truth is obvious: This president and his campaign of misinformation are a danger to the health and well-being of our nation.

I am not a liberal. I have always considered myself a moderate—identifying with conservatives on some issues and liberals on others. While I empathized with the feeling of mourning at Harvard Law School following the 2016 election, I still thought the Trump administration had the potential to do good, especially if talented, patriotic individuals agreed to serve within it and temper the president's impulses. Chief among those individuals in which I placed my hope was my father: an Obama holdover and Trump's first VA secretary.

Yet over the past several months, I have come to believe that supporting Trump because you "like his economic policies," or frankly for any other reason, is no longer justifiable. If you still support Trump in July 2020, you are complicit in his encouragement of reckless behavior in the face of a global pandemic, denial of institutional racism, and deliberate efforts to drive our country away from science, facts and, yes, reality.

more...

https://www.newsweek.com/im-not-liberal-i-choose-reality-over-president-trump-opinion-1518633

[Nevilledog]

1. Good read.

[guillaumeb]

2. Reality is not liberal or conservative.

Reality is what is.

[Backseat Driver]

3. The only truth Dimwit Donnie's ever said and the only reality he's ever known:

"No, I don't take responsibility for anything at all." There will be those that say this quote is taken out of context because they are blind to the reality of the chaos the GOP churn is so fond of creating. Americans don't need that while they contemplate the fate of a nation under this party's control to thwart the business of our country in every branch by eliminating the checks and balances it relies on to function as a democratic republic, free of tyranny, with rules of law and traditions that show our individual moral, ethical, and empathetic/compassionate character but sometimes the lack thereof where great wealth has corrupted its institutionalized administration.

Yeah, a good read but as a defense attorney for those accused of "white collar crime," she also seems unaware how she shapes "reality" when she pursues either the "not guilty" verdict and/or the soft ball fines and sentences and settlements of those clients she intuits are in "reality" guilty of their harmful behaviors that include unending appeals to lateral/higher courts that cost the People so much more in terms of receiving the justice Americans deserve. Certainly, there's a lack of flexibility and swiftness in the application. Where is her "responsibility?" for shaping that reality. Where is ours when unreal television "reality shows" offer the public ample opportunity for controversy in the guise of entertainment. Wouldn't "documentaries" be more revealing genre of trusted reality? How often must we learn that those "reality shows" make fools of their viewers through manipulation and misinformation.

The highest Office in the land deserves a leader that isn't in denial of their past and/or present behaviors and moves to take responsibility whether by investigation or action when reality's penchant for change requires it! Hence the PDBs... This factual quote is true, and he takes no responsibility at all is quite evident, apologizes for nothing, and creates chaos and division; that reality needs to change by electing Joe Biden in 2020!

[Aristus]

4. Okay, she lost me at "I still thought the Trump administration could do some good."

If you have no judgment, no discernment, and no ability to see things as they are instead of how you wish they were, you have no business prognosticating on any planet where I live.

Anyway, this whole 'moderate' stuff is horseshit. She's too chickenshit to own up to being a conservative, and too spineless to embrace the label of 'liberal.'