President Donald J. Trump

“… Great Again” Really?

/ doreenstratton / 4 Comments

Since the infamous “shithole” statement uttered by the President of our United States, the print and cable commentators have reminded us that Trump’s 26% hard core voters are probably applauding yet another racist utterance from his mouth.

I live in Doylestown Borough where during the 2016 campaign season there were LOTS of Trump signs planted on the front lawns of homes. Pennsylvania went for him but the Borough went for Clinton. I wonder how many of those Trump voters in my community still support him, even as he continues to lack dignity or sanity. And I wonder how many Doylestown hard core Trump groupies hate Americans who are Black, Brown, Red or Yellow? Like me.

Six years ago a letter to the editor by a local woman was published in the “Intelligencer”. Christmas, the day of Good Will was a couple weeks away when she wrote:  “Santa Claus used to be a big fat man with a long white beard. Now, he is a skinny black man in a big white house.”

The paper published my rebuttal. As a ‘skinny black woman’, I invited her to engage in a dialogue about race. When a friend offered to facilitate the meeting, the woman declined. Instead she suggested I “go back to Africa.” Chalk up at least One Racist in my community.

Having traveled to the African countries of Egypt, Ghana, and Kenya, it is complicated when the president brands those nations and others as “shithole”.

Five hundred years ago European nations landed their ships on West African shores. They plundered Africa’s natural resources—humans included—shipping them back to countries in Europe, South America, America, or the Caribbean.

The mid-20th Century brought independence to African nations across the continent. After years of observing how their conquerors’ ruled, some African leaders chose to emulate their predecessors when ruling their freed people.

A few African rulers attempted to bring True Democracy. Last year I learned my African DNA traces to Ghana. When I traveled there in 1999, it captured my soul as soon as I planted my feet on its soil. That country–similar to all African countries–holds rich cultural histories that reach back thousands of years.

In 1957 Ghana was the first country liberated on the continent from the colonialists. Its first Ghanaian Prime Minister was Kwame Nkumah, educated in America. In its capital of Accra, there is a monument erected in honor of Kwame Nkumah.

While China crawls throughout the African continent grabbing its treasured minerals, America is led by a fool who continues to lie and who dismisses the second largest Continent on Planet Earth. Chinese funds constructed that monument to the first African Prime Minister who adopted American Democracy. During my 2015 sojourn to Kenya I traveled across roads built by China. China also funded the construction of the rail line from Nairobi to Mombasa.

For this American president demanding Africans stay “… in their huts” proves again his ignorance to America’s reputation around the World and his complete absence of empathy.

The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and all the Freedom Marchers are weeping down on us from Heaven.

Washington DC Monument to Rev Martin Luther King, Jr.

Gunshots on a Street called Democracy

/ doreenstratton / 2 Comments

cnn.com photo

This campaign statement uttered by candidate Donald Trump bragged that no matter what he did, his supporters would always stay with him. Yet some have begun to fall away.

I keep hoping Congress will get the clue and impeach this foolish-erratic-childish person. It’s obscene how Trump supporters continue to cheer his decisions–from signing Executive Orders guaranteed to reverse environmental protections for Americans, to dismantling civil rights, to appointing Cabinet Members  bent on ignoring their federal mandates, to hoarding his taxes, to including his family into powerful government positions, to disregarding the Emoluments Clause, to disrespecting the press and his inconsistent statements of support or rejection for any policy, or nation or leader.

I’m a long-time political activist and one of millions of citizens who volunteered to elect Hillary Clinton. When, on October 28 2016, FBI Director James Comey notified the Senate Judiciary Committee about emails discovered on a laptop owned by Anthony Weiner–husband to Clinton Advisor Huma Abedin–it was a punch to my gut.

Even if you liked or disliked Comey, Trump’s Tuesday, May 9, 2017 firing of him was a cold, calculated and humiliating action slapped on a dedicated public servant.

While Trump chips away at our Constitution, legislators in Washington DC prefer to protect their butts. They’ve forgotten the purpose of the elected responsibility to their constituents.

Bullets continue to spray from White House windows onto the Street Called Democracy. His greedy actions disrespect the other branches of our government–some at American tax-payer expense:

Trump’s week-end tax-payer travels to Florida or other sites disrupt citizens who live and work around his numerous cash cow properties. The funds expended could keep a small developing country out of the red.

The Secret Service  is also emptying our tax coffers for the 24-7 safety of Trump’s wife and child at his New York golden decorated Tower. Let’s keep hoping his wife and child will move into the White House this summer. They Are The First Family, They Should Be in Washington.

Then there are the tax-payer funds for the Secret Service to protect Trump’s grown children, spouses and others each time they travel to places near and far around the globe promoting Daddy or their own Trump-connected products. My eyes hurt scrolling through numbers published by media outlets.

The firing of Acting Attorney General Sally Yates along with the removal of U.S. Attorneys across America from their posts was an abhorrent action.

The recall of senior State Department staff from their international stations has created a void of Good Will.

The Wall. So obsessed is he about building this thing that would separate Americans from one of our friendliest neighbors.

Russia. Putin. Hacking. And the shills who weaseled their way into his campaign.

Be wise be woke be knowing.  If Trump’s unbalanced behavior escalates, holes could turn our Constitution into a piece of lace. Our Fourth Estate–the Media–must continue their energy to surgically remove the infection crawling inside our Democracy.