Illogical

Here's what I read in November by Ben WerdmüllerBen Werdmüller (werd.io)

New data makes it clear: Nonvoters handed Trump the presidency. Even if you hate the eventual candidate, if you have the ability, please vote in 2020.

By this illogic, those of us who voted for other parties are also to blame. What utter shite!

In 2016 the two major parties gave us Trump.  The truth is, "None of the above" was the principled vote.  I voted Green Party.

In 2020, we get to do this all over again. I will vote Green Party because "None of the above" is still where I sit.

My Republican tribe friends will dismiss me as a tree hugger.

My Democratic tribe friends will try to shame me because if I don't vote for their candidate and Trump wins a second term, it's all my fault. Because you know, in Democratic leaning New Jersey with a winner takes all electoral college, my Green Party vote is a deciding factor.

And according to this Pew Research article, if I decide to sit the whole thing out, it's still my fault. Damned if I do vote, damned if I don't.

Both tribes will behave as though my votes belong to them. It makes this black person wonder if his right to vote only matters so long as he votes for the blue tribe.

Donald Trump, Tim Cook and Apple

…Declined To Comment. by Patrick LaRoque (laroquephoto.com)

I get it: Trump is a loaded gun ready to blow at every moment. He’s always one tweet away from another unhinged catastrophe. So you either tell him he’s the very bestest leader in all the world and get something out of it, or you fight and suffer reprisals. Cue Jeff Bezos. And I understand a company deciding NOT to fight. Because tariffs, because shareholders, because, because, because.

But if you stand next to Trump while he attacks the free press and say nothing, you are now complicit. If you stand next to Trump while he boasts of being solely responsible for a brand new Apple plant, when it is NOT EVEN an Apple-owned plant, and when it has in fact been making Mac Pros since 2013, you are now complicit. You are complicit in the destruction of truth, facts and reality. In the end, of decency and sanity.

And when Trump tweets about that very same “opening” and releases a video of it implying he made it all happen; when you provide him with the very words he immediately uses to lie again; when journalists reach out to you about this nonsense and you still decline to comment or to set the record straight...fuck me, but you’re now beyond complicit. Let’s not even start discussing China, Taiwan or Hong Kong.

I don’t want to play the What Steve Jobs Would’ve Done game. But every cell in my body tells me his belief system would’ve held, despite the folly of a mad king or any oppressive regime. That he would’ve recognized the moment and acted with the courage needed. He may have been many things but a coward wasn't one of them.

So yeah I get it: all those words truly are now utterly empty.

Donald Trump, Tim Cook and Apple

…Declined To Comment. by Patrick LaRoque (laroquephoto.com)

I get it: Trump is a loaded gun ready to blow at every moment. He’s always one tweet away from another unhinged catastrophe. So you either tell him he’s the very bestest leader in all the world and get something out of it, or you fight and suffer reprisals. Cue Jeff Bezos. And I understand a company deciding NOT to fight. Because tariffs, because shareholders, because, because, because.

But if you stand next to Trump while he attacks the free press and say nothing, you are now complicit. If you stand next to Trump while he boasts of being solely responsible for a brand new Apple plant, when it is NOT EVEN an Apple-owned plant, and when it has in fact been making Mac Pros since 2013, you are now complicit. You are complicit in the destruction of truth, facts and reality. In the end, of decency and sanity.

And when Trump tweets about that very same “opening” and releases a video of it implying he made it all happen; when you provide him with the very words he immediately uses to lie again; when journalists reach out to you about this nonsense and you still decline to comment or to set the record straight...fuck me, but you’re now beyond complicit. Let’s not even start discussing China, Taiwan or Hong Kong.

I don’t want to play the What Steve Jobs Would’ve Done game. But every cell in my body tells me his belief system would’ve held, despite the folly of a mad king or any oppressive regime. That he would’ve recognized the moment and acted with the courage needed. He may have been many things but a coward wasn't one of them.

So yeah I get it: all those words truly are now utterly empty.