Apolitical Little Me, Part II

My first marriage failed because my then-husband had mental health issues that no one bothered to tell me about before we were married.  He was a good guy but had stuff going on that left me out in the cold.  We lasted five years.  I gave up.  We were childless, so no problem, right?

My second marriage failed because my then-husband decided he loved someone else more than he loved me.  It happens, right?  I knew about it.  Had all the evidence in the world that I confronted him with, but he never, ever admitted it, nor did he ever tell me he wanted a divorce.  I hung on and hung on thinking he would come to his senses so we could talk about our relationship's future, until the day that our 11-year-old daughter said, "I think we'd all be healthier if you and Dad got a divorce."  That was the day that I realized I had been waiting for him to decide our fate as a family.  That day, I took my life back.  I decided that he would take care of himself and his other lady, which meant that I needed to take care of myself and our daughter.  She and I moved out and he and his Significant Other married three months later, but it quickly showed me that I would never again let someone take advantage of my affinity to having patience and giving second chances.

By this time, I was only two years into my teaching position in my school district.  I still had requirements to fulfill by way of college credits, which I did in order to maintain my job.  It wasn't easy, but I did it.  My ex and I weren't seeing eye-to-eye on much.  He had spit on me and called me a bitch in my own residence while asking for his first visitation with our daughter (early August, after we'd moved out in late May).  I had legal things to deal with as a result of that...and then...and then...the stuff hit the fan at school.

This was in the early 90s.  Our school district had hired an elementary school counselor--unheard of in Indiana.  She made the rounds of the schools, dealing with kid issues.  During one such round of school visits, she was teaching relaxation techniques to 6th graders, and the fundamental Christian floor fell out from under us all!!!!  Suddenly, there was a posse of folks from a couple of the local Christian churches all over the counselor, the curriculum, and just about everything else.  It was an organized effort, headed up by a local pastor who was also a School Board member.   The Supt. was forced to form a "curriculum committee" in order to deal with the issues.  It was to be facilitated by a $200/hr. dude from the University of Indianapolis.  The committee would consist of ten community members and three teachers.  I was one of those latter three.  (Don't ask why!)  We met once a week for many months, sometimes until midnight.  Things got weird.  Accusations of slashed tires and dirty tricks were made with no police reports, etc.  I asked for an escort to my car more than once, mostly because the community members were wearing their figurative tin foil hats and making false accusations and conspiracy theories that they wholeheartedly believed.  That scared the dickens out of me.  How can supposedly rational people believe this stuff?  I had just come through a nasty divorce that was full of gaslighting and dirty tricks, which had already made me feel vulnerable.  Now this??  The whole experience made me uncomfortably aware that my idea of being a Christian and a responsible citizen of the United States was out-dated.  And things weren't over yet.  At the end of that school year, ALL of the district administrators resigned and moved on, as did 13 of our dedicated teachers.  Yeah....that worked.

About this same time, I received a mailing, meant for the previous occupant of my house.  It was from the Rev. Jerry Falwell, originator of the "moral majority" phrase.  The mailing was asking for donations to help run Christians for school board elections all over the country.  I freaked.  If taking over school boards in order to carry on what I'd already been through in my district was the idea, I had no intention to support it, Christian or not!  It scared the wadding out of me.  I felt that common sense and science were under attack.  It was my first real glimpse into the politics of religion, and the religion of politics.  I wanted no part of any of it.

Then came Donald Trump.
Way back, long before he became a political animal, he was in the news because he was rich.  (So??)  He was often in the news because of his dalliances.  Ivanka, Marla...etc.  He cheated on his wives.  He was a sleaze, but he was still rich.  (So??)
At one point back in the early 2000s he started making noise as a politician?  What politician?  He has bankrupted his own properties, accused of stiffing his workers, employing illegal citizens...you name it.  Bottom line, I flat-out didn't like him LONG before he declared himself fit to lead the country.

In 2011, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced that D. Trump would drive the pace car for the 500 that year.  Instantly, a Facebook page originated to say we don't want him to do that.
We Don't Want Donald Trump to Drive the Indy 500 Pace Car.
Seventeen thousand people signed the petition.
Suddenly, the Donald's schedule got too "busy" for him to attend. Instead, A.J. Foyt--a man clearly qualified to do so--was chosen as the Pace Car driver. I couldn't have been happier!

When Mr. Trump decided to run for POTUS, I chuckled to myself. What a joke! The man is so narcissistic and hedonistic that he could never actually win. America is better than that. Imagine my personal shock when he won--through the electoral college, not the popular vote. And then the craziness began. Lots and lots of craziness.

The crap that he's into today--the accusations of breaking the law, of breaking the Constitution's emoluments clause, of lying to aggrandize himself, of not releasing tax returns, of threatening schools if they release his grades, of paying off strippers so they won't talk about their affairs with him, of refusing to cooperate with legal subpoenas--are nothing new. In fact, if any of the accusations were alone, none would be a big deal. But they aren't alone. It's one right after another, yet he blames the media and the Democrats for the stuff that comes up.
Every. Single. Time.

To be honest, everything he does is under total scrutiny as President, but this isn't new with him. He dealt out as much as he could during Obama's campaign and administration--most of it ridiculous, and most of which he is now guilty of, himself. Every day is something new. Something egregious. Something unforgivable for a POTUS, and yet he gets away with it. If holding the G7 summit at one of his properties next year isn't a conflict of interest, most people wouldn't care, but then there is the issue of the military planes that refuel in Scotland and put up the crews at his properties for more $$ than the govt. allows...and the VP's visit to a Trump property because it is close to his ancestors, and all of the govt. money going to the golf courses the Prez goes to--his own properties--that the govt pays for with our money. It's not just one thing. It's one thing piled up on many other things, and it all started right from the beginning...with Melania Trump's speech at the Republican National Convention with whole big blurbs being plagiarized, word for word, from Michelle Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention four years before. (Even though Mrs. Trump at first swore that she wrote the speech herself, but then had to admit that she had a speech writer, so the speech writer would step up and accept responsibility for the "oopsie".) Then Mr. Trump insisted--in spite of eye-witness accounts and photographic evidence to the contrary--that his inauguration was attended by the largest crowd in history. So there ya go!

I am certain that the Trump Crap Show isn't over. Stay tuned for more, but not from me. Meanwhile, the younger and more innocent me watches while the more mature me sees Christians acting like anarchists and politicians acting like victims of the media and the Democrats when they are "hoist on their own petards".

Because of my divorce, and because of the election of Donald Trump, I don't trust anyone anymore. I even question my own faith, sometimes. Perhaps that is the message of politics?