Look in the Mirror...Maybe You've Become Garbage?

A lot's been made about the word "garbage" in recent days. Let's investigate.

Photo by John Cameron on Unsplash

It started with a racist joke from a comedian. He called Puerto Rico and, the Americans who live or are from there, garbage.

President Biden responded. His comments were blown out of proportion. Hillary Clinton called Trump supporters a “basket of deplorables” and now Biden had called them garbage.

Outrage ensued on both occasions. It’s been ridiculous. Suddenly, after nearly a decade of Trump saying some of the most unhinged and awful things ever uttered by an American politician, Biden is the bad guy. Trump and his supporters are nothing more than innocent victims.

But, take a long look in the mirror…maybe you have become deplorable. Maybe you are garbage. Donald Trump has long trafficked in racism, hate speech, white supremacy, violence, menace, and language associated with some of history’s worst tyrants. He’s a fascist and a deeply disturbed and disturbing man. He’s never had a place in modern American politics and it’s heinous, and yes, garbage that he’s been a fixture in our lives. His views are disqualifying from the American presidency.

But I realize it might take a quick review of who Donald Trump is and what he’s said and done.

This is just a sample of what we’ve witnessed in the last 9.5 years of this man dominating our lives:

• While announcing his candidacy for president, denigrated Mexicans, calling them rapists and murderers.

• Stood on stage and mocked a physically disabled journalist.

• Boasted about his ability to sexually assault women.

• Sowed the seeds for election denialism early in the 2016 primary. It has continued ever since.

• On his first day in office, attempted to ban Muslims from entering the United States.

• He separated families at the border and put babies in cages. Read the second half of that sentence again. He put babies in cages.

• Refers to immigrants as “vermin” (a term commonly used by Adolf Hitler) and continues to make outlandish and unsubstantiated claims about immigrants.

• Praised neo-Nazis and white supremacists after they marched in Charlottesville chanting, “Jews will not replace us.” One of those white supremacists murdered a counter-protestor.

• Refused to take the Covid pandemic seriously, disregarding the advice of experts. More than 1 million Americans died from Covid. More than 4000 Americans were dying every day from Covid in the waning days of his presidency.

• Attempted to deploy the military against Americans protesting police violence in the days and weeks after George Floyd’s murder.

• Refused to concede an election he lost. He pushed his supporters to stage an insurrection, refused to intercede, and nearly got his vice president killed.

• Praised dictators and tyrants—including Adolf Hitler, Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un.

• Was found liable of sexual abuse by a jury of his peers.

• He’s been accused of sexual assault and harassment by so many different women, there’s an extensive Wikipedia page dedicated to the topic.

• Guilty of 34 felonies stemming from an effort to pay hush money to a porn star.

• Stripped bodily autonomy from women. Women are now dying. The stories are horrifying, enraging, and a direct result of Trump’s presidency.

• Called for the imprisonment of journalists, political opponents, and now he’s threatening to deploy the military against Americans who oppose him.

• Called for the assassination of Liz Cheney.

We could fill a book with the number of heinous, awful, despicable things Donald Trump has said and done in the 9.5 years he’s been a politician. (And that doesn’t include his history as a racist landlord, who routinely denied leases to Black people or the time he wanted innocent children executed because they were Black.) He’s demonstrated an inability to show decency or restraint. He’s been racist, sexist, misogynist, xenophobic, transphobic, antisemitic, Islamophobic—I could go on.

Every campaign ad I see from him is either openly racist, xenophobic, or transphobic. It’s out in the open every single day.

He’s rotten to the core. Part of you might still understand it. Deep down inside, you know Trump’s words, beliefs, and soul are in fact garbage. If you still support him, what does that make you?

This is not America. It doesn’t have to be America. We have progressed so much from the nation’s founding. And you’re behind a man who wants to bring America back to a time when women had even fewer rights than they have today. Black Americans had no rights at all and were largely enslaved. Only white, wealthy men held the power. We’ve fought a war over what this country should be. Generations put their lives on the line to fight for civil rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and more. He wants to erode it all. It’s an ideology we’ve thrown in the garbage and it should stay there.

I implore you to look in the mirror. Some of history’s worst periods began simply because people went along for the ride. They didn’t stand up to wannabe tyrants and those who bully others, simply to make themselves feel better. Genocide, wars, and mass violence. It can happen. Look in the mirror. It’s not too late.

Don’t be garbage. Be patriotic. Be decent. Understand what this country was and what it can be.

Vote.