Big Fat Lies

 When Trump was in the White House, I reached the point of feeling that a rock would cry out at the insanity going on. Some of my columns here were those rocky cries, expressing what I felt about watching the Republican party follow Donald Trump over a cliff and try to pull the country over the cliff as well. Granted, the Right Believers had been primed to go over that cliff for the last thirty years, but they found a leader they could die for in Trump.

After President Biden was sworn in, I thought that perhaps we would settle into the more conventional kvetching that is aimed at all presidents.

Hah. I am so naïve.

In the tradition of the late (unlamented, at least at my house) Rush Limbaugh, the right wing media continue to lie, edit videos, and make up windmills for the cultists to charge, and a large audience continues to swallow this poison and smile and ask for more, and as we have seen, the MAGA crowd and their elected representatives are committed to overthrowing the American republic. Patriots, pah. I spit in the corner.

A couple of weeks ago the Republicans were running around like chickens with their heads cut off because Joe Biden was going to take away their meat, limiting everyone to four pounds of meat per year. This was a lie that the citizens of Trumpworld bought right into, and not only grassroots people but politicians like Governor Greg Abbott of Texas.

“Ain’t gonna happen here!” he tweeted.

No, Greg, it is not. Because that story was a Big Fat Lie.

OneAmerica News (which is somewhat to the right of Fox News) declared on January 6 that the people invading the Capitol had to be antifa disguised as Trump supporters because, of course, Republican/Trump supporters are never violent, unlike the antifa-commie-socialist-Democrat-black protesters.

If you are ever taking a psychology class and need an example of what “projection” is – look to the Republican/right wing Americans who constantly accuse everyone else of doing what they are doing.

Meanwhile, back at the insurrection - at least OneAmerica’s insistence that the rioters could not be Republicans shows that there was some awareness that day that invading the Capitol was wrong. There are still people who are trying to blame antifa for the insurrection, which is a Big Fat Lie.

Then there is THE Big Fat Lie – that Biden did not win the election. Millions of people believe that, the poor gullible dangerous saps.

I hear that many younger people coming along are fed up with the lies, calumnies, and outright claptrap of the far Right. That gives me hope. Please, young people. Save us from the sins of my generation and the generations that came before. I like to believe that we, as people, are becoming better in small increments, but it is not enough.

Joe Biden has turned out to be a President who acts. For starters, he has taken steps to fight the pandemic, is trying to reunite the families that were ripped apart at our southern border, and has reclaimed money that was taken to finance building the border wall that would not keep anyone out and would destroy a lot of natural habitats for some species of flora and fauna.

Is Biden perfect? Oh, heck no. That reclaimed money is going back to the defense budget. Wahoo. He was in the Senate too long not to know how to play politics.

But who knew that there were politicians around who would work for the good of the people? Such a quaint old notion, eh?

Now - next I would like to see all the people who claim to be Christians start practicing love instead of hate.

I am so naïve.

(pause)

In other news, my grandchild is graduating from high school, and his parents have bought airplane tickets so that I can be present for this milestone in his life.

Perhaps you know that the thought of flying makes me sick to my stomach.

There were times over the years when flying seemed necessary – when there were deaths in the family, mostly.

And then, in September of 2001, the day we remember as 9/11 happened. All my fear of the many things that can happen on an airplane came rushing back into my psyche, plus more things I had not imagined.

I have not set foot on an airplane since, and I have been okay with that.

It is almost certain that these upcoming flights will be fine, but because every time I fly, I’m afraid I’m going to die, I will say: It has been a pleasure writing for you all these years, and I really appreciate your reading my columns. Thank you.

Blessings, beloveds, and I encourage you to fight the Big Fat Lies.