No. You’re not deplorable. You voted for Trump, but that doesn’t make you deplorable. At least not necessarily (I leave room for those folks in both parties that may be deplorable human beings. The exceptions, not the rule). So, what is this? A belated apology for Hillary’s use of the word? A suck-up column to get you to like me? A reason to believe that Senility Boulevard is right around the corner? Nah! Nah! And Nah!
Living all my life in South Philly, I know that many of you voted for Trump. That doesn’t mean you’re deplorable. Chances are, in fact, that you’re “good people.” You don’t need my stamp of approval to prove it. But I do have some questions for you. I ask them with the utmost respect.
You’re not someone who would have sex with a porn star while your wife is pregnant. And you certainly wouldn’t pay her off to keep quiet and lie about it, right?
You wouldn’t brag about grabbing women by the genitals or have a conversation about your daughter in vulgar terms with a talk show host…somebody like Howard Stern. Correct?
You wouldn’t agree with women’s right to have an abortion and then become pro-life just in time to run for president, right?
For that matter, you might not have agreed with Barack Obama, but you wouldn’t kept insisting he wasn’t born here even after you saw his birth certificate. Am I right?
You’ve always considered yourself a patriotic American so there’s no way you would’ve implied that John McCain wasn’t a hero just because he was captured. Especially if you yourself never served. Right?
You would never heap praise on dictators such as Putin and Kim, while criticizing our allies. Right?
You weren’t thrilled with Obamacare, but if you promised to provide cheaper care and expanded benefits, you’d follow through. Wouldn’t you?
You’re against sanctuary cities. You don’t agree with those who want to abolish ICE. But you’d never separate kids from their parents and keep them in detention centers. Right?
You were all for building a wall if that’s what it took to keep illegal immigrants and drugs out of our country, but you’d make sure Mexico would pay for it. Right?
You wanted and needed a tax cut, but why did most of it go to the richest 1 percent?
If Russia hacked our elections as our intelligence agencies claim, why not support the Mueller investigation? And if the President is innocent — and you still believe that he is — then what’s there to be afraid of?
This is a president (and you thought this way about Bill Clinton) that I wouldn’t allow alone in a room with my sister, daughter, or wife. You hate feeling that way about your President. But you do, right?
Why all the crazy tweets at 3 in the morning? Why can’t he stop tweeting when his tweeting always seems to get him in trouble? Why all the petty feuds? Why doesn’t he act like a president? And why can’t he get his facts straight? You have an uncle like that who is the family windbag. Would you want your uncle in the White House?
What about the idea that he was going to drain the swamp? Seems to you that the swamp has only gotten deeper. All those spoiled billionaires appointed as cabinet members. Living high off the government hog with their fancy expense accounts. Where is the ethics in that?
You disagree with a friend who suspects you’re becoming one of them “socialists.” You don’t like socialism or understand it for that matter if it means we’re going to become like Venezuela. But you do like the government running Medicare and providing you with a Social Security check, don’t you? (Maybe those fat cats like to call it socialism because they don’t need Medicare or Social Security to get by).
Why is the President always bragging? Why is he always blaming everybody else when things go wrong? Isn’t the buck supposed to stop at his desk?
So, here’s the thing — What you like about Trump or thought you were going to get with Trump, you could’ve gotten with any decent Republican in the White House. Wouldn’t any of the leading Republicans in political life pick conservative judges for the Supreme Court? Wouldn’t any of them cut regulations and given you a tax cut? Wouldn’t any of them have been strong for law and order? Been pro-life? Probably been stronger in dealing with Putin, who is still hacking into our business. Don’t you think that we still could’ve gotten the ashes of our war heroes back from North Korea without kissing Kim’s behind and pretending he’s shutting down his nuclear program?
Hell, if Trump gets tossed out of office, you’ve still got Mike Pence. With Pence, you get what you like without the craziness. Meanwhile with Trump, you’ve had to turn a blind eye. Check your morals and ethics at the door. And would have to hold your nose if you voted for him again. What are you getting back? He’s far from the only fish in the sea.
One thing I know, you’re better than he is. Much better.
(You can view or listen to Tom Cardella on Monday Night Kickoff at 6PM streaming on wbcb1490.com, Facebook, or broadcast on 610 AM or follow Tom on Facebook).
