Donald, you are done.
You conned half of America.
Your meanness and crassness captured the imagination of many.
You abused the insecurities of vulnerable Americans. You played to their social fears. You expanded their confusion, exasperating their lack of information with misinformation, abusing their poor education.
At the beginning you were the shiny new object. As the evil con man you are, you oftentimes used a kernel of truth to frame your hate and vile ideas. However, at the end you had disintegrated to a pathetic pile of manure, demonstrating your complete incompetence, lack of empathy, and extreme self-centeredness.
You never cared about others. You never even owned a dog!
Yet, many vulnerable souls still believe in you and will dearly miss you. And quite a few others – those that used you as a useful idiot – will also miss you.
Your insolence is such that you are willing to instill doubt in the conscience of America and sow the seed of destruction of democracy just so you can say “I did not lose.” You are one mean-spirited human being.
You have belittled those that are committed to public service in government. You have abused your position of power to – without proof – shame the good folks that work our election system. You have tried to discredit science. You have shown no empathy to those dying of covid or those staffing the health care facilities.
(And in the four years of your Presidency you never ever once uttered a negative comment about Russia’s Putin. We still wonder why.)
You’ve left us more divided. You have unleashed a wave of hate. You have damaged our reputation. You have insulted and degraded many a good people. You have used the office of the Presidency to spout lies after lies after lies, daily, day after day after day.
You left us more broken.
But, we’ve been there before. And we’ve pulled through. Not perfectly – far from it. But, pulled through nonetheless.
We know we will always have with us a fringe of America that cares only about themselves, misuses the principles of individualism, and clings on to cultish ideologies. They have always been with us. We can’t lock them all up. There are no acceptable laws that will make them or their wild ideas go away. You certainly gave them license to be more visible and even grow in numbers. But, they remain a fringe.
They remain the confused, abused, and misguided America. And, they also remain our fellow Americans. Not to be discarded, nor insulted, nor dismissed. They are mostly good people that have been conned.
Donald, America is better than you. We are mostly an aspirational, good-will people, with warts and all. Rockus, argumentative, disinterested at time, easily swayed by rampant consumerism and over-the-top entertainment. A long way from perfect. But collectively hopeful, believing in the goodness of each other, willing to collaborate, committed to community.
We will rebuild the mess you left us. Better.
Donald, you are done.
Tilt. Game over.