I have really been struggling during this pandemic to get motivated to write about running. There is so much bad news out there that I feel like writing about my running and training seems trivial. I am so frustrated with the government in my state and country that my running is my only refuge to pound out my frustrations. I am not a liberal by any stretch of the imagination. I am fiscally conservative and socially liberal. You can read more about my political beliefs in my post dated March 30, 2010. I didn’t vote for Trump because I didn’t believe he could lead this country. I didn’t vote for Hillary because she was going to bring much of the same old Democratic legislation and beliefs to the table. Neither would bring the country together and find a middle ground that is needed to truly effect positive change in our country.
This time even though I don’t fully support everything Joe Biden stands for; I will be voting for him in November. I have always found it hard to explain cogently why I dislike Trump so much. Then a post hit my Facebook page and it is the best explanation of why Trump is a cancer in the White House making our country a laughing stock to the rest of the world that I decided to share it here.
A person asked the question, "Why are people so hostile towards President Donald Trump?"
Chris O'Leary responded:
Before you pass my answer off as “Another Liberal Snowflake” consider that
- I'm an independent centrist who has voted Republican way more often in my life than Democrat, and
- If you want to call someone who spent the entire decade of his 20’s serving in the Marine Corps a snowflake, I’d be ready to answer the question what did you do with your 20’s?
Why Liberals (And not-so liberals) are against President Trump.
A. He lies. A LOT. Politifact rates 69% of the words he speaks as “Mostly False or worse” Only 17% of the things he says get a “Mostly True” or better rating. That is an absolutely unbelievable number. How he doesn’t speak more truth by mistake is beyond me. To put it in context, Obama’s rating was 26% mostly false or worse, and I had a problem with that. Many of Trump’s former business associates report that he has always been a compulsive liar, but now he’s the President of the United States, and that’s a problem. And this is a man who expects you to believe him when he points at other people and says “They’re lying”
B. He’s an authoritarian populist, not a conservative. He advances regressive social policy while proposing to expand federal spending and federalist authority over states, both of which conservatives are supposed to hate.
C. He pretends at Christianity to court the Religious Right but fails to live anything resembling a Christ-Like Life.
D. His nationalist “America First” message effectively alienates us and removes us from our place as leaders in the international community.
E. His ideas on “Keeping us safe” are all thinly veiled ideas to remove our freedoms, he is, after all, an authoritarian first. They also are simply bad ideas.
F. He couldn’t pass a 3rd-grade civics exam. He doesn't’ know what he’s doing. He doesn't understand how international relations work, he doesn’t understand how the federal state or local governments work, and every time someone tries to “Run it like a business” it’s a spectacular failure. See Colorado Springs’ recent history as an example. The Short, Unhappy Life of a Libertarian Paradise And that was a businessman with a MUCH better business track record than Trump. We are talking about a man who lost money owning a freaking gambling casino.
G. He behaves unethically and always has. As a businessman, he constantly left in his wake unpaid contractors and invoices, litigation, broken promises, whatever he could get away with.
H. He is damaging our relationships with our best international friends while kissing up to nations that do not have our best interests in mind. To his question “Wouldn't’ it be great to have better relations with Russia?” The answer is Yes. But it is RUSSIA who needs to earn that, who must stop doing the things that are damaging to that relationship, or we are simply weaker for it.
I. He has never seen a shortcut he didn't like, and you can’t take shortcuts in government. “Nuclear Option, Remove the Filibuster, I’ll change the Constitution by Executive Order…Don…what happens when you remove the filibuster and the other side retakes the majority in the Senate? Suddenly want that filibuster back? What happens if you manage to change the Constitution by Executive Order and an Anti-2A President wins the next election?
J. He behaves and has always behaved as an unabashed racist. Yes, I’ve seen your favorite meme that claims he was never accused of racism before the Democrats…Absolutely false. Donald Trump’s long history of racism, from the 1970s to 2019 See the Central Park 5, the lawsuits and fines resulting from his refusal to lease to black tenants, the 1992 lost appeal trying to overturn penalties for removing black dealers from tables, his remarks to the house native American affairs subcommittee in 1993. The man sees and treats racial groups of people as monoliths.
K. He is systematically steamrolling regulations specifically designed to keep a disaster like the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis from happening again.
L. He speaks and acts like a demagogue. He sees the Legislative and Judicial branches of government as inconveniences, blows up at criticism no matter how deserved and actively tries to countermand constitutional processes, not to mention attempts to blackmail and coerce people who are saying negative things about him
M. His choices for top positions, with the exception of Gen. Mattis, who is a gem, have been horrendous. A secretary of Education without a resume that would get her hired as a small-town grammar school principal, A secretary of Energy who didn't know the Department of Energy was responsible for nuclear reserves, an EPA head whose biggest accomplishments to date had been suing the EPA on multiple occasions, an FCC head who while working for Verizon actively lobbied to kill net neutrality, and an Attorney General who thinks pot is “nearly as bad as heroin” and asked Congress for permission to go after legal pot businesses in states where it is legal. (There goes that great Republican States rights rally cry again, right?) *Crickets* An Interim AG after Firing his First AG whose appointment is probably unconstitutional.
N. He denies scientific fact. Ever notice that the only people you hear denying climate change are politicians and lobbyists? 99% of actual scientists studying the issue agree that it’s real, man-made, and caused by greenhouse gasses. Ever notice that every big disaster movie starts with a bunch of politicians in a room ignoring a scientist's warning?
O. He does not have the temperament to lead this nation. He is thin-skinned, childish, and a bully, never mind misogynistic, boorish, rude, and incapable of civil discourse.
P. He still does not understand that the words he speaks, or tweets, are the official position of 1/3 of the US government, and so does not govern his words. He still thinks when he speaks it’s good ol’ Donald Trump. It’s not. It’s the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. You have probably spread a meme or two around talking about how no president’s every word has ever been dissected before…YES, THEY ALWAYS HAVE. It’s just that every other president in our lifetime has understood the importance of his words and took great care to govern his speech. Trump blurts out whatever comes to his mind then complains when people talk about what a dumb thing that was to say.
Q. He’s unqualified. If you owned a small business and were looking for someone to manage it, and an unnamed resume came across your desk and you saw 6 bankruptcies, showing a man who had failed to make money running CASINOS, would you hire him? He is a very poor businessman. This is a man it has been estimated would have been worth $10 BILLION more if he’d just taken what his father had given him, invested it in Index Funds, and left it alone.
R. He is President. But he refuses to take a leadership position and to understand that he is everyone’s President. Conservatives complain about liberals chanting “Not my President” while Trump himself behaves as if no one but his supporters’ matter.
S. He’s a blatant hypocrite. He spent 8 years bitching Obama out for his family trips or golfing, or any time he took for himself, and what does he do? He was already on his 20th golf outing in APRIL of his 1st year in office. He constantly rants about respect for the military yet can’t be bothered to attend the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day because of a little rain. (And that excuse about Marine One not being able to fly in the rain is HILARIOUS.)
T. He’s a misogynist. It's not really ok in this day and age to be a misogynist, but it’s not a huge deal if you’re a private citizen. It’s a pretty big deal if you hate half the people you’re elected to lead. The disdain for women seeps out of his …whatever…. and he just can’t hide it.
U. Face it. In any other election “Grab Em’ By the Pussy” would have been the end of that candidate’s chances. Back in the 90’s I used to marvel about how Teflon Bill Clinton was. I no longer do. The fact that he managed to slip by on that is as much a statement about how much people hate Hillary Clinton as it is about what is wrong with politics in this country right now.
V. He has one response to a differing opinion. Attack. A good leader listens to criticism, to different points of view, is capable of self-reflection, tries to guide people to his point of view, and when necessary stands his ground and defends his convictions. Any of that sound like Trump? His default is not to Lead, its’ to attack. Scorched Earth. The Jim Acosta reaction is a good example. There was no defense of his convictions when Acosta was asking him repeated questions about his rhetoric on the caravan. His response was to attack Acosta.
W. He takes credit for everything positive while deflecting blame for everything negative. Look at him with the Stock Market. He’s been bragging about it since day one, and to give credit where credit is due, speculation on coming deregulation early in his presidency did fuel some rapid growth, but to pretend that it’s all him, that we’re not in the 9th year of the longest bull market in history and THEN, when the standard market volatility that deregulation inevitably brings about starts to show up? Yeah. Look at yesterday. Hey! Stock Markets losing because the Democrats won! Do I need to bring out the Stock market chart for the last 10 Years again?
X. He emboldens the worst among us. Counter-protesters are slammed into by a car while countering actual Nazi rally, and the response is there’s fault on “Both Sides” The media is at fault for a nut job sending them and Donald’s favorite targets pipe bombs. The truth is not all Republicans, not all Trump supporters are racist, fascist lunatics. Many are just taken in by the bombastic personality and are living in an information bubble made worse by the fact that they unfollow anyone and ignore any source of information that makes them feel uncomfortable. People on the left do that too. The Biggest problem the right has right now is that the worst of the Right is the loudest and the most in your face, and the actual right, especially the Freaking PRESIDENT needs to be standing up and saying No. Those are not our values.
Y. He seems to think the Constitution of The United States, the document that IS who we are, the document he took an oath to support and defend is some sort of inconvenience. He demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the Constitution, from believing he can alter the 14th through executive order, to thinking the free exercise clause in the first amendment somehow supersedes the establishment clause (not that he really understands either) or that the free exercise clause only applies to Christians. Or his attacks on freedom of expression and the press. He repeatedly makes it clear that if he’s read them, he does not understand Articles 1–3, and that’s something he really should have before he took the job, because they’re not going away.
Z. I’ll use Z for something I do blame him for, but the rest of us have to carry the blame too. Polarization. This country is more politically polarized than I can remember in my lifetime. Some of you who are a few years older than I may remember how it was in the late ’60s when construction workers in New York were being applauded for beating up hippies, I think it’s pretty close to that right now, but that was before my time. And he is the cause of much of the current level polarization, but also the result. It didn't’ start with Trump. We’ve been going down this road I think since the eruption of the Tea Party in the early years of the Obama Administration. I do hope the tide turns before it gets much worse because the thing that scares me more than anything is what if that keeps going the way it has been? "
So if you do not like what is happening in this country it is time to exercise your right to make a change at the ballot box. And don’t just vote for the President. It is really the Senate and Congress who are as much or more to blame for the divisiveness we are seeing across the country. Vote them out as well. Let’s get back to civil discourse and try to find a middle ground from which to build this country back to the nation it once was and gain back the respect of the rest of the world.
June 29 – 5.50 miles (55:16, 10:03 pace) – Hill Repeats
June 30 – 3.10 miles (1:02:38, 7:32 pace) – Speed Work
July 2 – 5.10 miles (41:26, 8:08 pace) – Tempo Run
July 3 – 5.10 miles (47:36, 9:20 pace)
July 4 – 9.10 miles (1:25:04, 9:21 pace)
July 5 – 5.10 miles (48:45, 9:33 pace)
July 6 – 5.70 miles (59:04, 10:22 pace) – Hill Repeats
July 7 – 3.10 miles (23:38, 7:37 pace) – Speed Work
July 9 – 5.10 miles (45:16, 8:53 pace)
July 10 – 5.10 miles (47:11, 9:15 pace)
July 11 – 8.10 miles (1:15:00, 9:16 pace)
July 12 – 5.10 miles (47:18, 9:16 pace)
July 13 – 5.50 miles (58:25, 10:37 pace) – Hill Repeats
July 14 – 3.10 miles (23:31, 7:35 pace) – Speed Work
July 16 – 5.10 miles (41:45, 8:11 pace) – Tempo Run
July 17 – 4.20 miles (39:07, 9:19 pace)
July 18 – 8.10 miles (1:17:59, 9:38 pace)
July 19 – 5.10 miles (46:49, 9:11 pace)
July 20 – 5.80 miles (1:02:02, 10:42 pace) – Hill Repeats
July 21 – 3.10 miles (24:19, 7:51 pace) – Speed Work
July 23 – 5.10 miles (45:27, 8:53 pace) – Tempo Run
July 24 – 5.10 miles (49:16, 9:38 pace)
July 25 – 8.10 miles (1:18:59, 9:45 pace)
July 26 – 3.10 miles (28:40, 9:15 pace)
July 27 – 5.90 miles (1:02:29, 10:36 pace) – Hill Repeats
July 28 – 3.10 miles (24:23, 7:52 pace) – Speed Work
July 30 – 5.10 miles (41:37, 8:10 pace) – Tempo Run
July 31 – 5.10 miles (46:49, 9:11 pace)
Aug 1 – 8.10 miles (1:19:36, 9:50 pace)
Aug 2 – 4.10 miles (38:07, 9:18 pace)
Total Miles: 158.00 miles
2020 Total Miles: 1,023.10 miles
