A must-read from The Monkeyworld:
Actor/comedian Patton Oswalt wrote a Facebook post that made the rounds this weekend because of it's honesty and unwavering commitment to call bullshit out for what it is…bullshit. Oswalt was not going to pretend the world will not change for the worse next month when Donald Trump, the most unfit human being to ever run for President, takes the oath of office to become, no matter how Twilight Zone it is, the 45th President of the United States of America. Here's Patton's post:
Patton Oswalt on Donald Fucking Trump
This perfect summation from Patton Oswalt , just an actor/comic yes, is on the money nonetheless. I try to be empathetic and put myself in everyone else's shoes…so: If I won the Presidency with a less than 0.7% margin in the three Rust Belt States that swung the Electoral college I'd feel "well it was certainly close, not a mandate, but hey rules are rules" even if they're from an obsolete, distant world we DO NOT live in anymore.
But then if my opponent had over 2.5 million more popular votes than I did I'd certainly feel less than good about my "victory." Especially if in the last 7 elections, including mine (well, Trump's, but play along), the GOP candidate had only won the popular vote once (2004, Bush Jr.). Did the people really speak and say I was their choice? I mean Al Gore only (only!) had 500,000 more popular votes in 2000 over Electoral College "winner," Bush Jr.
Well I know I certainly wouldn't say that those 2.5 million more votes were made by illegals and double voters, and then fight & refuse any recounts. I mean why try to live in fact when you could just send 140 character tweets saying what you "think" happened?
You get the point yet? Go ahead, try thinking how you would feel "winning" that way? Well how about Trump's own government intelligence community, the FBI & the CIA bringing forth evidence that in their judgement Russia DID hack Democratic National Committee computers, as well as the Republican Committee. It's a given Wikileaks and Russia were complicit, working with intel given to them that in no way shape or form should they possess. There's even evidence that Russia attempted to infiltrate state voting databases & polling machines…with no concrete answer if they were successful or not.
In addition, without question, they said that Russia had a full bore operation to influence the outcome of the election in Trumps favor since July 2016 at the LATEST. Trump's answer? To call his own country's intelligence operation (the CIA & FBI) incompetent and choose to believe Russia instead. This is the man after all who encouraged Russia to disturb the election in his favor on national television, insinuating a financial gain could be had by people turning Clinton's emails over to the media! It's on tape, we've all seen it, so when Trump tweets out he never said it are you going to pretend he didn't?
Because that's the crux of Oswalt's post & this whole situation. Are we just going to PRETEND none of this happened? That he doesn't have ethical conflicts so deep they could never be fully disclosed, that he isn't trying to get security clearances for every member of his family, that he hasn't filled his cabinet up with nominee's who are super wealthy, old and backwards and predominantly white males who have deep ties with Washington DC for decades?! Instead of draining the swamp he hired every DC Swamp Monster he could find or owed a favor to!