Empathy Mining
I must admit, as I sit down to write this, I’m not exactly sure where it’s going to go and how I’m going to tie it all together–but that’s not all that unusual for me and my writing process. All I know is there have been a few things on my mind the last few days regarding Donald Trump and the coming election that I want to put into words.
I don’t think Donald Trump is physically well.
Most presidents age a great deal in the 4 to 8 years they are in office. Obviously, it’s a high stress job. Trump has added many more layers of stress to his job because of the sea of scandals in which he is constantly swimming. Lying is stressful–at least it is to people who have a conscience–can you imagine how much stress you’d feel if you lied multiple times every day?
Have you taken a good look at The Donald lately? He looks bad, real bad. That photo above is quite recent. He has obviously packed considerably more weight onto his already portly frame. His face looks haggard. Great bags have formed under his tired eyes. If I were a betting man, I wouldn’t put much money on him making it to 75.
I’m absolutely certain that Trump isn’t mentally well.
This has been obvious to objective observers since the beginning of Trump’s entrance into politics. This fact hit me squarely between the eyes when I recently saw this video mash up of all the times Trump has claimed that “nobody knows/does ____________ better than me”. Take a minute to watch this clip. It is astounding.
https://youtu.be/XT067CmMGXE
I ask you, what kind of person makes those kinds of claims? Obviously not a person well-connected to reality. In particular, I want those Christians who are still all-in with their support of Trump to watch this video–watch it twice. How can you watch this and still think this man is an instrument of God sent to make America great again? Do you really believe “nobody loves the Bible” than Donald Trump? If you do, I’ll have to submit that it isn’t just Trump who has lost touch with reality.
I’m not feeling so great myself.
The last three years have taken their toll on me, as well. I am among the millions of Americans who are suffering from Trump-related collateral stress. It is really hard to watch Trump duping so much of the nation as the rest of the civilized world laughs at us.
It’s become difficult to converse with dear old friends we know are on the other side of the political aisle–we tiptoe gingerly, making sure to sidestep any potentially divisive landmine topics. It’s difficult to sit in church and worship alongside people you saw sharing divisive political memes–often based on lies–on social media earlier in the week. You try to offer them empathy and understanding, but that well gets pretty dry sometimes. It causes stress. It drags you down.
I also feel stressed by the resistance movement I’ve tried to join. I see us already squabbling about candidates and approaches. At a time when unity is of utmost importance, I see more division within the ranks of the Democratic Party. I see the very same thing happening again, just as it did in 2016. I see Bernie Sanders throwing his hat into the ring. I have no problem with Sanders, per se, except for the fact that he is polarizing–even among those on the Left. We don’t need polarization, that’s for sure. I’m not confident that Sanders is electable. Then there’s good ol’ Joe Biden. That might be exciting if he was 10 years younger, but I’m not excited about electing a president who would be turning 80 mid way into his first term. Because of their celebrity, these two men–good candidates though they may be–are already overshadowing some of the new blood candidates.
I’d feel much better about the coming election if we could have a vibrant young candidate to energize the country.
I think back to the exciting and hopeful vibe provided by the Kennedy Camelot era.
I feel like we’re ready for another Camelot. But I’m not hopeful its coming anytime soon.
Whatever happens, I pray we can get past some of this stress and start feeling some normalcy again.
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