You can go on social media and find any opinion you want. In this instance, probably a lot of what both sides say is true. It's true that our immigration system is a disgusting dogs breakfast. It's true that the blame lies squarely at the feet of Congress. It's true that they are mostly sycophantic lap-dogs who care about nothing as much as getting reelected. They will say and do anything to make that happen. And they don't give a shit about you! It's true that a lot of the same things that are happening today have been going on for years. It's true that separating families is a tough call and should be avoided. It's true that anyone who is arrested for anything and kids are present would have the kids taken away and not sent to jail with the arestee. It's true that we don't want kids in a detention center with adults. It's true that most of the places we have to put kids are just fine as far as they go...but it's still not cool. It's true that the responsibility for getting their kids into this mess lies with the people ILLEGALLY crossing our border. It's true that the Dems will not work with the Republicans to fix this because they think they have President Trump in a bad place. And it's true that the tide is turning with many people to say that this must be fixed and if it's not the blame will be on President Trump and the Republicans. And if they don't, the mid-term elections in November will once again be in doubt. They were doing pretty well but they can and will blow it if they don't fix it.
All this got me thinking about the last 500 days or since President Trump has been in office. At least for me and I suspect for many people I've gone through stages. And I think these stages are akin to the stages we always hear about in accepting change or loss. I did a little searching and found the Kubler-Ross change curve. Most people have seen this model and it's pretty good at describing the stages we go through in accepting loss or experiencing change.
If you apply this cycle to the average American experiencing an election, if your candidate doesn't win I think you go through a similar cycle. You don't like that your candidate lost and you experience denial...."how could this be?". Then you get a bit pissed off about it. And maybe do some sort of march or protest if you're a zealot. When you finally realize your candidate didn't win and won't win, you get depressed. You then look forward to 4 years from now when you can work to get your candidate in office and accept things as they are and work for a win next time.
Except, the libs, anti-Trumpers, and never-Trumpers never got past anger and aggression. They are unbelievably pissed. It's really embarrassing, anti-American and absurd. But it is what it is. So Ive decided that those of us on the other side have gone through stages too. To be clear, I didn't vote for Trump and I most certainly didn't vote for HRC. But I was for him over her. He wasn't my guy, but he won so he's my President.
But watching the crazy antics of the other side have made me realize that I've gone through stages in the last 500 or so days. First is Shock. I was shocked that he won. I was happy that HRC lost (and in fact ecstatic) but just as much shocked that he won. Second phase was Sadness. I just couldn't believe the reaction of the other side and was sad that my fellow Americans would act the way they did. I couldn't believe that they would see electing Trump as such a disastrous event. And I quickly moved to the third phase which was Anger. The antics by the elites, the media, the Hollywood weirdos, and others was just beyond the pale. I could detail some of the worst but you've seen them as well as me. And since President Trump has done a pretty good job in a lot of things (and I know where you sit depends on where you stand) and yet he is still a victim of the irrational, hate filled idiots on the other side, I think I've moved to the fourth and what I hope is a permanent and final stage. I now just try very hard to find the whole thing humorous. I mean, he has taken a lickin and kept on tickin. He seems like a duck in that it is just water off his back. So I think he's going to keep going and doing the job he was elected to do. And I think he's got a decent chance of getting reelected. One thing is for sure, there's no predicting what is going to happen in this environment. So just to keep my sanity and optimism, I've decided that the only thing to do is laugh. Laugh at the crazies on the other side who have descended into a permanent 4th stage and are perpetually angry. And laughing at them makes them angrier. Which makes me happy.
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