by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls
My entire life, I have known of Donald Trump. He’s always been a celebrity whose name I’ve been aware. The weird thing is, 30 years ago, he was sort of a self-aware comic character. It seemed as if he was in on the joke. He had a sense of humor.
He went on Late Night with David Letterman frequently and a good time was had by all. Trump was always a celebrity, not a politician. I guess this distinction is pet peeve of mine because there are people who want to bitch a moan about how center-Left celebrities should just shut up about politics when they, themselves, not only listened to a center-Right celebrity, they voted for the fucker!
So, it was only over the last five years or so that things changed. I don’t know what exactly it was. Something happened and Trump stopped being a fun, aspirational character and he simply became mean. The thing we have to keep in mind is — he was a celebrity who made his political name pushing a bizarre, racist conspiracy theory.
The issue for me now is we still have to come to grips with what, exactly, Trump has managed to do to America. I mean, I honestly am pretty angry at some people I know for supporting Trump. It just boggles my mind that anyone would willingly vote for a racist, misogynist, bigot like Trump and even be proud of it.
I want to understand these people. I really do. I want to understand why they would do such a thing. But it is really difficult to bridge that divide. But, going forward, that is something we’re going to have to do. It is not going to be easy, but it something that must be done.
If we don’t I fear for the fate of the Republic because the more Trump manages to divide America, the more powerful he and his forces become.
