Dems don’t have ‘sour grapes’ over Trump — it’s concern for the country

We are now into the fourth week of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition. For Hillary Clinton supporters and those who were adamantly #NeverTrump, the going has not gotten easier.

{mosads}This man is about to become the 45th president of the United States. I can barely type those words without convulsing a little. I know the twitter trolls will claim we suffer from sour grapes, that we are sore losers.  

But let me assure you, our gripes go way beyond grapes, and here’s three reasons why:

1. Trump has done nothing to assuage all voters that he indeed wants to heal the deep divide this country suffered and truly be the “president for everyone;”

2. Even though Trump tweeted today that he would “separate himself from his businesses,” until we know the details of what that means, his massive, historic and epically dangerous conflicts of interest that his presidency could represent is deeply disturbing, and;

3. Trump continues to act like Trump – his trademarked reality TV show persona is in full view and in high gear as he is in the midst of  two embarrassingly bizarre Twitter-tantrum episodes, one claiming there is massive voter fraud where millions illegally voted for Hillary, and another about making flag-burning a crime punishable by revocation of citizenship. 

   Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag – if they do, there must be consequences – perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!

   — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2016

Firstly, I have said repeatedly that Trump truly was magnanimous the night of the election when he said he wanted to bring the country together and be the president for everyone.

The problem is he has not followed up those words with deeds. It is easy to read a nice 8 minute statement the night of your victory. It is much harder to make up for 18 months of wretched, hateful, bigoted, misogynistic rhetoric that insulted Hispanics, women, Muslims, African Americans, veterans, POWs, our military, and our generals.

Just days after Trump’s election when people were for the most part peacefully protesting the results, precisely because of the divisions and fear he engendered, instead of trying to diffuse the fear, Trump insulted the protesters and did nothing to acknowledge his role in the deep divisions the country suffers.

Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2016

A true leader would call a meeting at Trump Tower with different members from all the communities who were slighted and insulted by Trump. He would apologize and ask how we can begin the healing – together.

A true leader would give a national speech or at least pen an op-ed about what comes next, how we all need each other to succeed, how all communities are important and have contributed to this great nation, and how he regrets the heated campaign rhetoric that caused hurt, fear, and division.

What does Trump do instead? He hires as his chief strategist in the White House Steve Bannon, one of the most reviled, divisive figures of the 2016 campaign season, whose website claims to be the voice of the alt-right – aka – those who often support white supremacist, bigoted and misogynistic views.

Imagine the outcry if President Obama in 2008, instead of giving the iconic speech on race after the scandal involving Reverend Jeremiah Wright, had hired Wright to be his chief message guru on race and religious issues.  

Secondly, Trump’s historic conflicts of interest are another area of tremendous concern and fear. By most accounts, Trump has upwards of 125 companies doing business in more than 20 countries in South America, Asia and the Middle East. Trump owes millions to banks in China and Germany, and his ties to business people and even the Russian government have been widely covered.

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Yet none of it has ever been disclosed by him or his organization. Nor will it. He will never let the American people see his tax returns. He will not recuse himself from anything and will not be setting up any kind of blind trust. Because how could he? It would still be run by his children.

And guess who has been in most if not every meeting with a head of state or with foreign business leaders that Trump has had since the election? Ivanka Trump, the one who will supposedly be running his businesses.

Can we just imagine if Hillary Clinton won, and Chelsea Clinton or Bill Clinton participated in meetings with Hillary and heads of state? Republicans would call for endless hearings, there would be Fox News specials, and hollers for independent prosecutors!

Can we remember the attacks on Hillary and the Clinton Foundation (an organization that saves lives and from which she nor Bill Clinton ever took a paycheck) as a massive conflict of interest? Are you kidding me?

Under Trump, the White House itself would be for sale to the countries or governments or foreign businesses to which Trump owes the most money or from whom Trump can make the most money.

Last but not least, our concern about President-elect Trump is that he is still Donald Trump.

He is still the shoot from his Twitter fingers, type first ask questions later, say one thing do another, and outright liar Donald Trump that cannot let a slight go unanswered and cannot stand losing. At anything. Even when he is clearly losing the popular vote by 2.3 million votes.

He has resorted to parroting far-right websites like Infowars.com who claim that millions of “illegals” voted for Hillary.

In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016

This is not only an outright lie, but it makes no sense.

It is hard enough to get American citizens with full rights to vote, to go the polls. If you are an undocumented person in the U.S., trying to avoid crossing paths with any government official, the last thing on your mind would be to try to infiltrate a voting site, impersonate a citizen, come into contact with poll workers, and risk being caught.

It just doesn’t happen.

But we all know well that reality is not a place where Trump nor many of his supporters reside. And thus far, Trump has given no indication that he is looking to move there anytime soon — even when he moves into the most powerful position on earth.

God help us all.