Can't write our way out

We can’t write our way out of this.

The best screenwriters working today would’ve been shown the door if they’d handed this treatment to a studio executive: “Bombastic, philandering real estate baron insults most of the public, then wins Presidency.”

(c) DKassnoff, 2016

Superb essayists at newspapers large and small ridiculed the gold-plated candidate from mid-Manhattan. John Oliver’s devastating commentaries on HBO dissected Trump’s failings. Journalist David Cay Johnston laid bare the candidate’s financial double-dealings in a best-selling book.

And he won anyway.

So writing isn’t the way to solve the dilemma of having a sexist, xenophobic, ill-tempered barbarian in the Oval Office.

But we can act. We can call out those whose reprehensible behavior and vile epithets toward women, minorities, and different religions are actual hate crimes. And we can demand our local law enforcement agencies prosecute their civic responsibilities. Or face recall at the next election.

Earlier today, in the snark-filled digital minefield of Facebook, a gloating Trump supporter posted this: “Better get you citizen papers in order or bye bye.” (SIC)

Citizenship papers? Isn’t that line straight out of Hitler’s Reichstag?

I have no citizenship papers. I don’t need them. But I’m appalled that, in 2016, with enmity flowing in the city streets, that anyone would raise the dark spectre of contemptible Nazi-speak.

Born in the United States of America, I carry one form of identification: a driver’s license. Occasionally, I include my passport, if I expect to travel internationally.

And, I pack a pocket copy of the U.S. Constitution. I want to be prepared.

My pledge today is unchanged: I will stand with my fellow Americans. I stand for our democracy and freedom. And, I stand against hate, whether blatant or couched in the self-righteous cloak of political innuendo.

I stand in opposition to those who belittle other races and religions for their own aggrandizement.

I will stand against hatred – and, when I see it, I will act.

So say we all.