52 Comments
User's avatar
Sharon Bjork's avatar

Whatever they do to the people you HATE, they will eventually do to YOU. The Kool-Aid drinkers are enjoying the show for now. The Kool-Aid will become bitter, when it is too late for them to correct course.

Expand full comment
D. Earl Stephens ✍️'s avatar

Yes. They are into the self-harm stage, Sharon.

Expand full comment
Susan Crabtree's avatar

Why would any ‘great’ leader wish to divide his country and people, unless it was for ill intent.

Be strong. Listen up & show up. Be safe. May God bless us!!

Expand full comment
Wendy Leigh's avatar

Bigot Nazi with a stupid and very crooked “pole.”

Expand full comment
Mr. D.'s avatar

The man is so fucked up only other, like minded bigots can follow his logic(whatever that may be). I was taught at a very young age not to hate others due to them being different. Older I get the more sense it makes.

Ever notice how Trump needs someone to hate? Must be he hates himself first. 🤮

Expand full comment
Daniel Appleton's avatar

He was an overprivileged brat with a piss - poor father who apparently kept telling him that he'd never be a success in anything. I'm not asking anyone to pity him, merely putting things in context.

Expand full comment
Mr. D.'s avatar

Daniel, makes sense.

Expand full comment
Daniel Appleton's avatar

Imagine if FRED TRUMP had run for president & won. The country would probably still be pulling out of a toxic crap - filled swamp even now. The blighted DNA of the Trump freak show runs wide & deep. Nixon & BOTH BUSHES, Reagan would seem like saints & sages by comparison.

Expand full comment
Marty's avatar

Fred Trumpy was not a natural American-born asshole so at least he could never have been POTUS../

Expand full comment
Mr. D.'s avatar

My wife, friend, life partner and a person who exceeded my match passed away Wednesday after 27 years of a partnership that allowed us to live in 7 different states in our first 7 years. She claimed I promised to take her throughout the U.S. BUT NOT ALL AT ONCE!

We improved our moving skills, for sure. We ended up near our children. Only 2 of 4 left but lots of grandchildren and great grandchildren.

If you are fortunate enough to find a life partner, please keep her. Your life will be so much improved, your attitude lifted and outlook expanded.

We had a camper for 25+ years and enjoyed every minute, more so during rain storms. I can only hope she loved me as much as I did her. Good night, sweet lady. 🥲

Expand full comment
D. Earl Stephens ✍️'s avatar

I am very, very sorry for your loss.

You and your family were blessed to have this great woman in your lives.

Expand full comment
Diane Lee's avatar

Mr. D., I'm so sorry for your profound loss. May her beautiful memory be a blessing 🙏🕯️🌹

Sending condolences, may some measure of comfort find you soon 🕊️

Expand full comment
Mr. D.'s avatar

Ms. Lee, thank you for your condolences. Albeit from a stranger, it is good to know there is kindness out there. And dog lovers, too. Smokey & Bandit are taking it hard.

Expand full comment
Elizabeth Ellis's avatar

Mr. D I am so sorry for your loss of your life Partner, and wish you the best in your journey to arrive at some sort of peace🙏

Expand full comment
kdsherpa's avatar

What a beautiful tribute to your beloved wife. I have no doubt that she loved you as much as you loved her. I'll keep you in my prayers. I hope that Smokey and Bandit are a comfort to you, as you all share your grief. I know that she's in Heaven, waiting for you to join her when the time comes. God bless you. Sending love. (I love her comment about the 7 states in 7 years!)

Expand full comment
Diane Lee's avatar

Wendy Leigh, an infantile PD-suffering pole 🍄. 🤣

Expand full comment
Linda Silfven's avatar

You are so right. Racism has rotted this country ever since 1619 and will it ever end? I doubt it. Only education will do it, and education in this country is dismal. In red states they are actually going backward as far as what is being taught.

With half the country voting for Trump I don’t have hope for the future of America.

Expand full comment
D. Earl Stephens ✍️'s avatar

Hate and bigotry is a powerful political tool, Linda.

Expand full comment
Daniel Appleton's avatar

Hate & bigotry worked for Trump's IDOL Hitler. Divisive rhetoric as well. & nationalism as well.

Expand full comment
Constance Breslin's avatar

so right on!! Thank you!!!

Expand full comment
Ann Anderson's avatar

Please permit a small edit. "Trump has neither the ability nor talent to govern" should read "Trump has no ability or talent." Full stop. Even Steve Bannon and Alex Jones are railing against attacking Iran. Juneteenth puts this country's racism on full display, which is not exactly the purpose of the holiday, but here we are.

Expand full comment
kdsherpa's avatar

A couple of years ago, I was out walking my dog and had a serious fall. It happened in a housing project. Immediately several Black women came running out to help me. One called an ambulance and the others stayed with me. I was so touched by their compassion that I went to their little church (next to the housing project) and asked the minister if it would be appropriate for me to donate some nice clothes to women in the church. He said that it absolutely would be, and then invited me to their Christmas Eve service. The service was amazing -- a three-hour long Christmas pageant (with a real live newborn baby!), Joseph yelling at Mary that "I ain't yo' baby Daddy!" until the angel appeared to him. It was mesmerizing. (My daughter said, "I'd want to go to church every week if it was like this!") He then invited me to their New Year's Eve service. I was curious, because white people just get drunk and party on New Year's Eve. No church services that I was aware of. So I went. It was a very serious evening. Some singing, but quiet. When the clock struck midnight, everyone in the church smiled and began hugging each other, saying, "We're free!" As the only white person there, I wasn't sure what to say, so I said, "I'm so glad you're free!" The minister explained that the evening is called "Watch Night" in Black churches, because they are waiting for January 1st, the anniversary of President Lincoln's signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. I realized how completely out of touch we white people are to these critical dates for our Black sisters and brothers. Watch Night, and Juneteenth when finally slavery was ended in 1865. Those dates are ENORMOUSLY significant for Black citizens -- even though the events occurred 162 and 160 years ago, respectively. The trauma of 300 years of slavery, and then another 100 years of near-slavery in the South, with finally the gradual improvement in the lives of these children of enslaved people, is still so profound that these two dates are taken extremely seriously and have deep meaning in their lives. I was clueless. "I once was blind... but now I see" (or at least am beginning to see).

Expand full comment
D. Earl Stephens ✍️'s avatar

Thanks for sharing this. Really appreciate it.

Expand full comment
Virtuous Subversive's avatar

I had a lesser but similar experience once: I rode a motorcycle home through some very ragged areas of Anacostia in Washington DC. It was a rainy day and it seemed like a short cut. Alas, the slick spot as I came to a red light toppled me right in front of a bus stop full of people. I wasn't badly hurt, just bruised and shaken. But the people at the bus stop were immediately at my side, asking about my wellbeing and helping me right my motorcycle. It wasn't the first or the last time I did that sort of thing, but it was the kindest location.

Expand full comment
kdsherpa's avatar

Beautiful!

Expand full comment
Michael Solis's avatar

Earl, another great article. Let me give some personal background. I was born in Galveston & still live in Galveston County. I went to school with descendants of slaves whose families are still here. They never left & will never leave where their blood had to endure slavery. Down here, we know idiots like Trump. He is exactly like the rich slave owner class before the Civil War. They only care about one thing, money. And make no mistake, they will say or do anything for a dollar bill. But, they are very good at convincing poor & working whites blaming “other” people for their problems. They could give a sh-t about “white trash”. They only talk like that at the country club or on the golf course. But good news! All of the people down here are starting to see through the BS! Preaching hate doesn’t help a working families bank account. Texas is still red. But times are changing. I love Texas. But, we have a lot of work to do down here. The good Texans are starting to step up. This time, we are doing it for the right thing. They think they will make us tired. They don’t know Texas!!!

Expand full comment
D. Earl Stephens ✍️'s avatar

Was a time Texas elected Democrats ...

Expand full comment
James R. Carey's avatar

Pope Donald the Infallible is a damn bigot, but why? The following is worth understanding because it makes everything else easier to understand.

We all have two things in common. We all have a circle of concern (CofC) and a circle of influence (CofI). The former includes people and things by exception and excludes by default. A CofC is a perception, and a CofI is what it is.

Children have a small CofC and a small CofI. When I was a child, the moment my CofI inevitably expanded beyond my limited CofC was the moment I was emotionally immature. That’s when my parents did the metaphorical equivalent of sitting me on a stool facing the corner with a dunce cap on my head to guide me toward emotionally maturity ... which is when my CofC once again encompassed my CofI. Then the cycle repeated.

We are born openminded and immature. By the time our bodies are physically mature, we’ve retained one of those two traits and left the other behind.

The following description applies to any emotionally immature person. Someone inside Donald’s CofC is always relevant, but anyone outside his CofC is relevant only when they are perceived as being useful or a threat.

It’s not hard to deduce a person’s CofC. Donald’s CofC includes Donald by exception and excludes everyone else by default.

Pope Donald the Infallible is a damn bigot because he is emotionally immature.

You don’t have to understand the disease to observe, describe, and treat the symptoms, but you do if you want a cure.

Expand full comment
Carl Selfe's avatar

I have called on Iran for regime change. They can help us. I will take support from any source. Trump needs to go. https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/iran-2-weeks?r=3m1bs

Expand full comment
Marc Kennedy's avatar

That’s really his superpower: bigotry

Expand full comment
Marty's avatar
10hEdited

Trumpy is and will always be a world class hater.

An old story about Trumpy in one of his now bankrupt casinos whenever he chose to eat in one of his restaurants, almost always alone, because people hated Trumpy back then almost as much as they hate him today, he'd tell the manager to remove ALL black servers and wait staff from the floor. ALL OF THEM, until he was done with his stack of hamburders and diet Cokes. The reason was simple enough, he couldn't stomach eating and seeing black people around him. When he was done eating and slithered out of the dining room, the black employees were allowed to go back to work.

This is exactly who he was, and it's exactly who he is now and will always be until his pathetic life comes to an end. It's just one small visual we can all put in our heads and understand what a vile and evil person Donny Trumpy truly is and forever will be.

There are plenty of other rascist stories about him, but this one just stands out because there's nothing decent about him and his evil cruelty is so simple and overt. It's a simple thing, get the

'n-----s' the phuck out of my dining room because they nauseate me and i hate their skin color, while my skin is delightfully burnt umber no. 5.

This is Donny Trump. This is the same Donny Trump who wouldn't rent daddy's apartments to black people. There are so many more stories about his life filled with such hatred. But he talks good and damn it, people like him. Wellll, he thinks they do, but they really don't. They tolerate him as a means to an end. But it's good enough to let him sleep at night.

Expand full comment
Anne Hammond-Meyer's avatar

Truth for sure.

Expand full comment
Bob Lewis's avatar

Nice piece Earl.

Expand full comment
D. Earl Stephens ✍️'s avatar

Thanks, Bob.

I appreciate that.

Expand full comment
Bill Corbett's avatar

It does the soul no good to hate, just makes you a bitter person wallowing in your own disgust. I've always had an affinity for black people and being friendly towards them and have plenty of stories of friendship and work camaraderie throughout my lifetime to smile about.

It doesn't get any better than that to take to the grave with a smile.

I too call out racism when I hear it or see it and it should be everyone's duty to do the same.

Expand full comment
D. Earl Stephens ✍️'s avatar

Amen, Bill.

Expand full comment
Mary Lou Clark's avatar

Yep, kindred spirit. We're looking through the same lens.

Expand full comment
D. Earl Stephens ✍️'s avatar

No surprise there, ML.

Expand full comment