My Day of Reckoning

One of the hardest parts of this newsletter is trying to get Boomers — and it is a particular phenomenon of the Boomers — to understand that I’m both telling you what I think in a candid fashion and also trying to get both readers on the left to understand how the right thinks and to get readers on the right to understand how the left thinks.

Often, my attempts to get you, dear readers, to understand how other people are thinking comes off — again, mostly from Boomers — as an endorsement when I do my best to make clear I’m explaining how others are thinking. We often get so involved in our own bubbles that it becomes difficult to see outside them. After getting 2016 wrong, I’ve worked very hard to make sure I grasp each side, whether I agree or not, and convey the realities to you.

But we have a lot of new people around here who came in clearly expecting something they are not getting, and it is probably past time for me to review my methods again.

Which brings me to Robert, who left this comment after this morning’s post:

What a hypocrite! Complaining about people not wanting unity when you do everything you can to disrupt unity. It’s plain the people want Trump, but you continue to do everything in your power to disparage him. Your day of reckoning is coming- unless you wise up. But you’re more stubborn than Trump. Just not in a good way.

First, Robert, my job here is not to bring about unity — but to (1) explain what is happening, (2) tell you what various groups think, and (3) tell you what I think.

As for disparaging him — the man is a serial adulterer and liar whose most ardent supporters compare him to Christ, and he is running against a moral degenerate who wraps himself in Christ to support killing kids when not suffering from dementia. Nothing I can do or say can be more disparaging than reality.

But it is not my job to rah-rah, and in the course of my career, I never have. As a formerly elected Republican, I have no idea what the party stands for anymore other than opposition to the left, which changes on a near daily basis. There is no coherent ideological philosophy in the GOP, which is one of several reasons the more ideologically coherent Democrats keep pushing the country left.

As for me disrupting “unity,” you can choose to be offended by what I write or not. It really is your choice, but it is not my goal to play a partisan role in helping bring unity but to provide my readers with the information they can use to think for themselves.

Now, as for my reckoning, Robert, it comes in the form of the $70.00 you’ve paid for the privilege of commenting. Thank you very much.

Folks, I’m not here to affirm any of you, and many of you seem to have read my morning piece as wanting a third party or something else. Actually, I don’t think a third party is viable. The winner of the election will be the Republican or Democrat.

But, again, you need to understand at least that many people want one or will sit it out. If you understand those facts, you can begin, as can the Trump campaign, making persuasive cases to get people off the sidelines or out of third parties.

Bitching at me for explaining what’s happening outside your bubbles may be cathartic, but it won’t win an election. So put on your big boy britches and try to understand the people who can be persuaded. This is going to be an extremely close election. You need to persuade, not get mad.