A Part of History

Well, I voted.

I only had to stand in line for a couple of seconds, behind two people, but that was longer than I normally have to wait in the middle of the day in Davis and all but two voting stations were filled, so I take this as a good sign that people are coming out to vote.

There are four other people in this family besides me.  One voted for Bernie, one threw the vote away by voting for neither Bernie nor Hillary, and I don't know if or how the other two voted.

I went back and forth between Bernie and Hillary until this morning. Each had positive attributes and each had negative attributes.

In the end I guess that I voted in the same manner as the throw-away vote, i.e., I decided Bernie couldn't get the nomination and I wanted to be part of history, part of putting the very first female in the country's history on the ballot to run for president.  Something to tell my grandchildren. In other words, this was not a vote based on firm convictions, but more on "I have to vote for someone, so why not be a part of history?"

When/if this nomination is locked down and she is officially the nominee, my choice will be significantly more clear.

I wonder if Trump is going to actually make it to the nomination, or if he's going to go all Captain Queeg on the country and end up hauled off to the loony bin.  It certainly wouldn't surprise me, given his bizarre actions of late, what with his demanding his staff keep up pressure on the "Mexican" judge and then getting angry when they would not and saying he'd run his own campaign because he was smarter than his staff, who were all stupid people.  (He may be the first candidate ever to run for president while under indictment, though there are those who feel Hillary may be under indictment too, which would certainly make an interesting race!)

He has called all reporters racist and is trying to bar most of them from his rallies and some have been ejected simply for being there because Trump doesn't like them.  There are so many points for which he needs to answer that it is getting more difficult to evade questions...and reporters are getting more tenacious in asking them.  One reporter asked him the same question something like 24 times and he evaded every time.  I don't see THAT going on until November.

I can't believe that this morning I woke up liking Lindsey Graham, who has removed his endorsement of Trump and has called for other Republicans to do so as well.  Graham says that Trump's statements are "the most un-American thing from a politician since Joe McCarthy."

I even thought kindly toward Newt Gingrich who said that this was one of the biggest mistakes Trump had ever made and that it's inexcusable. Mitch McConnell has said he does not agree with what Trump is saying. Paul Ryan says he completely disagrees with him (though he still endorses him). Ana Navarro, Republican strategist says "what he is doing is disgusting. I'm livid about it." Senator Mark Kirk has removed his endorsement. Iowa State Senator David Johnson has left the GOP in protest over Trump. "Johnson, who said he would change his registration to No Party, compared Trump’s rise to the top of the GOP ticket to the rise of Adolf Hitler in the 1930s."

This is their candidate!

There are a host of Republicans on Twitter who are leaving the party.

"Pigs may fly, hell may freeze over, and I, a lifelong GOPer, will never unite behind the Orange Menace."

"So I guess I'll cast a vote for a democrat for POTUS for the first time in my life, way to fail the world, RNC."

"I've been lifelong loyal GOP, since the day I could vote. Tonight, I have unregistered and now am an Independent."

I am not eager to live as long as my mother, for example, but I sure would love to come back in 50 years and see how the books treat this period in our country's history. What will my great, great grandchldren learn of history in school?

And just a hint of what we may have in store under President Trump Iran denied visas to 3 GOP Lawmakers. “Despite what you seem to presume, members of the U.S. Congress do not get to dictate the policies of other countries,” the Foreign Ministry added. “This clearly applies to Iranian visa policies.”