I sure haven't had any energy or get up and go today. I don't know if I can blame it on not sleeping all that great or if I'm just getting older and I'm more aware of how I feel ALL THE TIME! It's boring.
I got out my ironing board, iron, a bin of material, cutting board, and quilt book determined to make some headway into getting some squares cut out. I love that I have two bins of scrap material to play with. I enjoy seeing them sitting there waiting for me to dig in. It's slow going when you start a project. Each piece has to be examined, pressed, marked with a templet and cut out. All I got done today was this stack: Doesn't look like much but it will grow as the day pass.
WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE SUPPORT DONALD TRUMP?
My dad.
My dad is a medical doctor. He aced his college board
exams and earned his medical degree from Stanford (after, I should add,
rejecting an offer of admission from Harvard since his preference was to attend
a 5-year program, which Harvard doesn’t offer - my dad was never in a hurry to
do anything).
As a practicing physician he went on to work in a
research lab and published a book about his medical discoveries, which is now
used as an academic text in some universities.
As a kid, I clearly remember several times we were on the
road and saw a car accident ahead. While most cars whizzed by, my dad would
stop the car, get out, and ask if anybody was injured or needed help (usually
to me and my sister’s embarrassment).
He’s not a dummy, or a mouth breather, and doesn’t really
fit the blanket characterizations sometimes applied to Trump voters.
His reason for voting for Trump was simple: national
security. His view is that he lived through World War 2, served during Vietnam,
witnessed several other major conflicts, and feels that nothing is more important
than preventing these things from happening again. In short, my dad thinks
Trump keeps the US safer than a Democratic candidate would.
The specific reasons he supports Trump include:
Trump’s position to weaken the Iranian government by
undoing the Obama-era nuclear deal
Trying to strengthen NATO by pushing for European allies
to pay their 2% commitments
Delivered a signed negotiated alliance between Israel and
the UAE
Attempting to equalize the trade relationship with China
He chooses to turn a blind eye to the obvious issues,
like Trump’s unhinged tweets (my dad doesn’t really get what Twitter is),
disrespectful comments about military heroes like McCain (he’s a veteran
himself), the whole Charlottesville thing (we’re Jewish), his obsession with getting
revenge on his perceived enemies, non-stop un-presidential behavior, racist
and/or sexist comments, and all the other things. If I bring them up, he simply
dismisses them and says he chooses to focus on Trump’s actions.
I was raised listening to seemingly endless eye-rolling
lectures on the importance of medical science and following the rigors of the
scientific process, so probably the most surprising thing to me was his lack of
concern about Trump’s apparent disregard for medical and other types of science.
Regarding Trump's propensity for promoting miracle
Covid-19 cures, my dad said, “I disagree with Trump discussing
Hydroxychloroquine favorably, which may be true, but involves technical medical
issues not settled yet.” Not a deal-breaker.
I don’t necessarily disagree with the reasons my dad
cites for voting for Trump, I just feel that Trump’s negatives, not the least
of which being divisive speech and rhetoric that, in my view, has torn the
country apart, far outweigh the (potential) benefit we may see from the
positives.
I understand why he voted for Trump, I simply don’t
agree. But he’s still my dad, I still love him, and still send him pictures of
my kids (aged 4, 2, and 3 months) every day, which he loves receiving.
The way this question is written seems to imply that
anybody who would support Trump is some kind of monster. My dad certainly has
views I disagree with, but he’s not a monster.
As an aside, it had to hit this close to home for me to even start trying to understand the reasoning of a Trump supporter - I’m as guilty as anybody else of this type of behavior.
Hopefully, at some point, we can start to see people on the other side as human beings again.
EDIT
I'm heartened to see that so many people seem to have
connected with my answer on some level! I've been trying to follow the
comments, but it's been tough to keep up. A good majority of commenters seem to
appreciate the sentiment that we should all try to understand and communicate
with each other with compassion and understanding, regardless of our political
views. Many of them shared their own stories, which were great to read.
A smaller percentage (maybe 20%?) offered helpful
suggestions on how to convince my dad to change his viewpoint, to which I would
say, great, how about YOU talk to him? I've tried :)
A non-insignificant number of people have suggested (in a
serious, non-joking way) that my dad may be in the early stages of dementia.
Unfortunately, Alzheimer's and other dementias are tough to formally diagnose
until an autopsy is performed, but as my dad still appears to be lucid enough
when we're debating and so far hasn't forgotten my name, I'll have to continue
under the assumption he's working with a full set of marbles. But your concern
is appreciated and the point is duly noted.
A few (presumably anti-Trump) commenters accused me of
being a Russian bot or troll of some kind. Aside from it being a bit late for
that sort of thing, I think it's pretty clear from my answer that I'm not a
Trump supporter, but I guess to some people, I'm not enough of a non-Trump
supporter? Perhaps this is something we should examine?
As far as kids being trapped in cages, yes, he disagrees
with the policy, but at the same time he agrees with the overall direction
towards a tougher stance on illegal immigration (while continuing to allow
legal immigration). I can totally understand how people see that as callous. I
also see it as callous. His view is to look at the bigger picture, and that's
all I can really say
As a doctor, he doesn't think Covid-19 is a hoax, but he
does think several media outlets have used it as a weapon against Trump, when
in reality he's done basically what any politician would do, which is allocate
massive funding towards vaccine research. As I mentioned in my answer, Trump's
speech doesn't concern him as much, and this also goes for the fact that Trump
downplayed the virus. I think if Trump had acted more like a leader, we
wouldn't have such division in this country.
A lot of people wanted to know how my dad voted in 2020.
Well, the point of my answer wasn't for it to have some storybook ending where
an old man realizes the error of his ways, repents, joins the enlightened
class, adopts a puppy (he's allergic). In four (somewhat arduous) years, I've
been unable to convince him to come around to my way of thinking, but just as
interesting and perhaps equally compelling is that, in the same amount of time,
he's also been unable to convince me to come around to his. Our points of view
are valid, regardless of anyone's opinion on whether they are right or wrong.
At the same time, when was the last you knew of a 74-year-old man to change his
mind? Exactly.
Finally, I feel like I should address this. A handful of
people asked why my dad stopping to help people at car accidents would
embarrass me. Well, aside from the fact that, as a teenager, *everything* your
parents do embarrasses you, in my defense I'll say this: He would often stop
even if it was clear the accident was a fender-bender, the drivers already
standing outside their cars, clearly uninjured, exchanging info, and interrupt
what seemed like a friendly chat to fulfill his Hippocratic Oath, while my
sister and I hid our faces under a blanket in the back seat (often alongside my
mom). I'm also freely admitting that I would probably have been one of those
cars whizzing past, perhaps even today. But I get it; I'm a bad person.
This was basically my first ever answer on Quora, aside from a spur of the moment, tongue-in-cheek (and somewhat mean) response to a question a girl asked a while ago about whether her boyfriend is cheating on her, which I felt bad about and later deleted (and have regretted ever since as Quora has been asking me for relationship advice about twice a week for the past 7 months). I'm really impressed with the community and I love the (often healthy, but sometimes not) debate this answer has sparked. With my job, 3 small kids, and other stuff going on, it's hard to find time to read stuff on social networks and post answers, but if inspiration strikes, I'll certainly try to post again! Thanks all.
Written by Greg Parker
The second article:
A Washington Post Story details the following:
Trump sends rioters to the US Capitol
1.He watches it all unfold on tv never stops watching
2.Kevin McCarthy GOP minority leader begins to call early
afternoon to the White House no response.
3.KM calls Ivanka and Jared Kushner to beg them to call
President Trump to send in National Guard solely controlled by Trump as the
Capitol is a federal building.
4.Jared/Ivanka call the President, he doesn’t answer as
aides say’it wasnt TIVO so he didn’t know how to pause or stop and he wanted to
watch it live’. (Several have noted, ‘he liked what he saw as he felt they were
defending him and Congress would vote to stop the electoral count’. )
5.After several hours they get through to Trump and he calls
in federal reinforcements. By then the US Capitol was overrun, capitol police
beaten and several dead. Congress had by then been hiding for hours ‘cowering’
as many put it as they had no protection.
6.Trump issues a statement that night on ‘we love you and go
home’ to the rioters.
This is the President of the USA after encouraging rioters,
refusing not only to not take a call from Kevin McCarthy under siege from Trump
supporters who are smashing through doors, windows, beating policemen, shouting
‘hang Mike Pence’ but also not taking calls from Ivanka and Jared.
He is not just guilty of incitement, he is guilty of
accessory to murder of the policeman as well as culpable for the deaths of
others in the riot.
TRUMP COULD HAVE STOPPED THE RIOT, HE CHOSE TO BLOCK CALLS
AND WATCH IT INSTEAD.
Is there ever a more damning indictment of a president as
terrorist a better I don’t think you will get one.
James Stewart (1908 – 1997) made his mark playing nice guys
in movies such as “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”
By all accounts, he was as likable in real life as the characters he played, a
refreshingly regular guy in his daily life (unlike some celebrities). As
President Harry Truman once said, “If Bess and I had a son we’d want him to be
just like Jimmy Stewart.” We’re remembering the iconic actor by sharing a few
of our favorite anecdotes from his personal life and, of course, watching a few
of our favorite James Stewart films.
James Maitland Stewart grew up in small-town Pennsylvania,
the son of a hardware store owner. Throughout his career, his father often
urged him to leave Hollywood and come back to Pennsylvania to settle down and
lead a quiet, respectable life. When Stewart won his only Academy Award — in
1941, for “The Philadelphia Story” — he sent it home to his dad. To his credit,
Stewart’s father displayed the Oscar prominently at his store.
Stewart was good friends with Henry Fonda, despite their
very different politics (Stewart was a staunch Republican, Fonda a devoted
Democrat). For a time, they shared an apartment. In later years, their children
remembered that one of their favorite pastimes was to build and paint model
airplanes together.
Stewart and his wife Gloria owned a dog, Beau, whom the
family loved very much. When Stewart was on location in Arizona, Beau became
very ill, and the vet called to say he needed to be put to sleep. Stewart
replied, “Keep him alive and I’ll be there.” He took an immediate leave of
absence from the film, rushed home, and got to spend a few days with Beau
before he said goodbye. Later, remembering petting his beloved dog’s head at
night, Stewart wrote a poem about Beau — one of many poems he wrote in his
life. When he read “Beau” on “The Tonight Show,” both Stewart and Johnny Carson
were moved to tears.
Stewart put his successful film career on hold to serve in
World War II. He was drafted but was then rejected because he fell five pounds
short of the minimum weight requirement. But Stewart was eager to serve, and he
bulked up in the gym until he was fit enough. A skilled pilot before he joined
up, he served with distinction, earning medal after medal and rising from
private to colonel in just four years. He remained in the U.S. Air Force
Reserve for many years after the war, eventually gaining the rank of Major
General.
When Stewart returned to the U.S. after World War II was
over, he had some understandable trepidation about going back to his old job.
He considered an aviation career as a backup. But after taking some time to
reassess his career, he accepted his first role in five years — playing George
Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Though the film received mixed reviews on its
release, movie history shows that Stewart’s decision to return to Hollywood —
while continuing to serve his country in the Reserves — was a good one.
What you see here is something rare that's being described
as what happens when a rainbow falls apart. It’s actually a rainbow being
diffused by scattered raindrops which reflect off the clouds behind it. If the
clouds were gone it would just be a regular rainbow.
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