An Immodest Proposal Regarding Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who was the result of Bernie bros not being careful what they wished for when they said they wanted Sanders in the White House, got turned away from the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia when she went out to eat because the owner had a problem with Donald Trump.  On the heels of her expulsion from Red Hen, Democratic Representative Maxine Waters of California encouraged people to intimidate White House officials in public and deny them service in gasoline stations and department stores.

I assume that, since they can't get gas for their cars, they'll do their shopping online anyway.

This is wrong.  Just because you don't agree with or like the Trump people doesn't mean you have to harass them and make their lives hell. This is the equivalent of tripping up a street mime in front of the art museum.  It's cruel, it's mean, and the fact that Maxine Waters, who says and does a lot of things to get attention, endorses this idea means that it's dumb.  Besides, whenever you attack Trump and his supporters, you're only getting them angrier and feel more picked on, and so they'll double down on their support for him.  Look at me.  I supported Martin O'Malley for President, of course, and when everyone started telling me I was an idiot and my candidate was twerp, I doubled down on my support for O'Malley and got furious at his enemies.

And I swear, if they weren't Democrats . . .

Want another example, this one from popular culture?  How about all the rock fans like me, who felt put down and ridiculed by those rap fans who got angry when we were ticked off about Beyoncé's husband getting an Album of the Year Grammy nomination just because we don't think rap is music?  Or needled us for the fact that Beyoncé herself lost that award in 2015 to Beck?  (Again: They'll get my classic-rock CDs when they pry them from my cold, dead fingers.)

So here's what I propose.  If Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her husband want to go out to eat and they feel picked on and scorned just for going out in public . . .well, then, why don't they join me?

I'm serious.  I'd be happy to go out to dinner with them. Because, you see, I am against Trump and everything he stands for. But I, as a Trump opponent, would be pleased to take a Republican couple out to eat.  We don't even have to go to a fancy restaurant like the Red Hen, maybe one of those family places that are popular in Arkansas, the kind that serve milk with your entrée.  Besides, I understand they make a mean pot roast!  Yum, I haven't had that in ages.

So how about it, Mrs. Sanders?  A civil dinner with a Trump opponent in the restaurant of your choice.  I'll even pay the tab!  And we can talk about music; I understand your dad is a decent bass player.  Perfect: My presidential candidate is a decent guitarist!  Do you and your husband like Led Zeppelin?  Hey, I'll bet you're into Skynyrd!  Just as long as we don't talk about politics, but then, as an O'Malley supporter, I am, politically speaking, neutered and irrelevant! (For now, anyway.)

Sorry we can't double date, because I can't get a woman to accompany me.  It's not because no woman I know would be seen with you, it's because I have no love life.  You don't want to know the details.

And may I say this to the liberals who are still reading this blog post - both of them?  You can't complain how women in America are judged on the basis of their looks and then make fun of Sarah Huckabee Sanders because of . . . her looks!  

After Charlottesville

Charlottesville may very turn to be the tipping point for the man Martin O'Malley called "that racist, immigrant-bashing carnival barker, Donald J. Trump."  The melee in that Virginia town over the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue that led to the death of anti-Trump protester Heather Heyer won't convince many of the people who voted for Trump in November 2016 to change their minds about him - in fact, it may make them more fervently for him - but it could finally put some teeth and muscle into the so-called "resistance."  It may very well energize those of us who can't bear to have Trump in the White House or the Republicans in charge of Congress and two-thirds of the states and make us even more determined to reverse a tide that is currently drowning us.  The energy is already showing up places like Lexington, Kentucky, where Mayor Jim Gray - who unsuccessfully challenged Rand Paul for his Senate seat in 2016 - made a move to get all of the city's Confederate monuments taken down immediately.  

Never mind the Democrats and their better deal.  This goes beyond party.  If the party of Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy isn't up to the task of stopping Trump, we're going to have to go it alone.  If we can use what's left of the Democratic Party as a vehicle for taking our country back from the Breitbart crowd, that's fine.  But we're going to have to be prepared to find another outlet if that doesn't work out.  

So call a convention.  Get a new movement started.  Get behind someone who wants to run for office that you believe in.  Run for office yourself, if you're so inclined.  But just remember, taking down statues of Lee and Jackson (Andrew or Stonewall?  you make the call) and renaming parks and streets is the easy part.  Health care, equality, criminal justice reform, and so many other concerns are at stake here.  Speak out on a blog.  Organize.  Do something!       

And quickly, before World War III breaks out in Korea. :-(