# Now is not the time to come together as Americans **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 11, 2016, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-is-not-the-time-to-come-together-as-americans/771476 "2016-11-11T07:31:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-is-not-the-time-to-come-together-as-americans/771476/41 "2016-11-11T14:02:37Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > I hope we start seeing CEO Trump coming forward… \ …actually enacting racist policies is bad for business. Fantastic. Literally. I mean, it’s like you think there’s some fantasy version of Trump the sober business professional who existed congruently with or prior to the TV personality. If you know nothing about the Donald’s business history, well you’re really unusual in that regard for an American with any normal exposure to media and internet outlets, but it would explain why you’d express that sort of hope. Otherwise, I think maybe you just didn’t think that through. In any case, I’d like to ask you to consider the man’s history and reevaluate what you wish for. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-is-not-the-time-to-come-together-as-americans/771476/42 "2016-11-11T14:14:53Z")
One must have hope. ---
**Author:** ![fervour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@fervour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fervour)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-is-not-the-time-to-come-together-as-americans/771476/43 "2016-11-11T14:15:00Z")
it’s like what the fuck do you expect?----it’s really the worst thing you thought possible. ---
**Author:** ![manila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@manila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manila)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-is-not-the-time-to-come-together-as-americans/771476/44 "2016-11-11T14:37:48Z")
> [@fervour](#): > > it’s like what the fuck do you expect?----it’s really the worst thing you thought possible. It probably not that bad, really am convinced every night he is cuddled up in bed with Ivanka shaking like her cuddly toy scared out of his mind . South park called it! Trump trolled the USA n u bought it. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-is-not-the-time-to-come-together-as-americans/771476/45 "2016-11-11T15:47:23Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Can you all stop with this moronic “now’s the time to pull together as Americans nonsense? That’s not happening. When you voted for Trump you specifically voted against an America where we all pull together. You voted for racism and divisiveness. This isn’t Mitt Romney, we’re not arguing about the tax rate for the top 1%. You voted for racism. You rang a bell that can’t be un-rung. Reading between the lines of this “we’re all Americans” sentiment, I see that the guilt of what you have done is already sinking in. You want us to make you feel better and give you a pass. The fact is that because of what you’ve done, we’re not all Americans; your version of America is in direct contrast with my version of America. Because of what you’ve done, we’ll never all be in the same America again. > > Donald Trump ran a campaign that asked voters to choose: us or them. I choose them. I choose my brown, black, straight, gay, trans, Muslim, Jewish, Atheist, Baha’i brothers and sisters. I choose them; I choose them even if you and I have known each in real life for years and I’ve never met them. I choose them even if you and I are related. I choose them because by voting for Trump you forced me to choose… I agree with these sentiments, but have little to add — I’m still caught up in Denial and Anger. Ignore the dolts arguing against you,\*\* madmonk28\*\*. Here is the typical Trumpist: > [@The glory of the Donald](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-glory-of-the-donald/771495/1): > > It makes my day to get to come on here and see all of you stupid liberals triggered. Cry. Your tears feed the working class. We were hoping that intelligent Republicans, led by Romney and the Bushes, would save the day. On this very Board we have our very own Republican who we thought had a 100+ IQ and who’d promised to vote rationally. Let’s listen in on his “thoughts”: > [@I live in the US, but I don't vote. Never have, never will. Ask Me Anything if you want.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-live-in-the-us-but-i-dont-vote-never-have-never-will-ask-me-anything-if-you-want/771059/196): > > I started to mark the ballot. I couldn’t. > … > Finally I marked it for Trump. I couldn’t vote for Clinton. > > I stood up and walked towards the scanner… and then I couldn’t put it in the scanner; I couldn’t vote for Trump. > > I marked my ballot VOID and requested a new one. I guess it was hard to pick between the man who raped a 13-year old girl and the witch who murdered the Ambassador in Benghazi in cold blood, hunh **Brickhead**? What a moron! History will view this election as one of the greatest tragedies of the 21st century. ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-is-not-the-time-to-come-together-as-americans/771476/46 "2016-11-11T16:03:48Z")
As I interpret the OP’s thesis, it’s a rejection of the idea that those who voted for HRC or against President Elect Trump[sup]1[/sup] must, as good citizens, embrace and understand those who enthusiastically elected Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence and put them into office with a cooperative Republican Congress. If my interpretation is correct, I endorse that thesis. However, I will offer some thoughts on how to work with those Trump voters (for lack of a better term, and to avoid permanent sounding labels) and maybe get saner electoral results next time. There are a lot of centrist and left of center pundits and their echoers on social media calling for empathy and understanding from ‘progressives’ for the angry and disaffected “middle” or rural American voters who overwhelmingly voted for Mr. Trump.[sup]2[/sup] There’s a little bit of finger pointing on our side, bemoaning the “condescension”, “elitism” and “disdain” which the finger pointers blame for our failure to convince those voters to our way of thinking. That’s all well meaning advice, and earnestly given, but quite misguided. Most progressives have had those empathetic conversations, and we know what happens. Most of us have also seen the approach of conservative pundits and keyboard warriors who cannot speak about liberalism without a rhetorical sneer and who are now quivering with schadenfreude over the chagrin of “smug libtards” and even now claiming a mandate because of the EV majority their champion just accrued. Hilariously, some of these charming people are also joining in on the blame assignment, claiming to have been compelled by that liberal smugness to vote for Mr. Trump. Rhetorical show of hands here, who thinks even the most charismatic progressive stands a hope in hell of convincing Bill Kristol, or Sean Hannity or **OMG A Black Conservative** or \*\*Clothahump \*\*that any leftist ideal or policy has value? I won’t wait for the count, because I know there’ll be some on our side who’ll raise their rhetoricals and sing their kumbaya’s. We’re full of idealists by design, us. It’s a feature, not a bug. But we’re even fuller of realists and pragmatists. So I know most of us have our hands in our laps. Or our typing fingers relaxed. Those social media warriors and professional media influencers are out of our reach. Write them off. And think back to the months after 9/11, when most of us were still in shock, frightened and confused, and giving sober respectful consideration[sup]3[/sup] to the most hateful, revenge-porn laden proposals coming from our fellows across the ideological aisle who were also in shock and frightened and confused. We gave them empathy, hell we felt the same way ourselves. We didn’t endorse the fearful and hateful proposals, but through our sober and respectful treatment of these extreme responses, we helped to normalize torture. We helped to construct the “Bush Doctrine” and establish “preventive war” as a viable precedent. Some of us worked damned hard on that, because we’re the empathetic and understanding ones. Good for us, eh? I’m going on at length here, I know, but I want to be absolutely emphatic. _Empathy and understanding_ are improper responses to most of the “concerns” driving people to vote with the Kristols and O’Reillys and the **OMGABC** ’s and **Clothahump** s. And I mean “improper” in the strict sense. Not “not proper” or “ineffective”. I mean it’s intellectually unseemly and piss-poor moral leadership. And I’m not saying, as the OP is, to call these people racist because they voted for a racist candidate with a racist platform. It’s not relevant to why they voted that way, and many of those voters will cry out against attempts to enact the racist or misogynistic or xenophobic elements of that platform. And if the racist charge is technically true for those voters, it’s also technically true of everyone who chooses to stay in this country despite the electoral results, and who will choose to stay when that platform begins to be enacted by a compliant Congress. But those voters did fuck up. We know it, and soon many of them might. And what those people need, the ones influenced and misinformed by the Hannities & Fox Friends, what they respond to (and let’s take them at their word here) is Straight Talk. Ask any of them what they think of Mr. Trump, and most will have some negative things to say, but the most common thing they’ll say they like is “he tells it like it is.” Which is of course untrue, as Mr. Trump is a serial and congenital liar, but that is the Trump Voters’ general perception and it is what they connect with. So let’s (us progressives who care enough to put ourselves in an unpopular position with our families and coworkers and acquaintances) give them that. When they express an unrealistic concern based on an incorrect understanding of cause & effect, or a lie about a particular law or regulation, or a conspiracy theory or scientific quackery, we need to answer bluntly and truthfully. I may understand why it scratches a particular itch for a guy who used to have a good factory job and now works at Walmart to blame NAFTA and “welfare”, but it doesn’t do him or me any fucking good to validate that thought. I’m not saying tell him he’s stupid, in fact I caution against any kind of recrimination, and abuse, name calling and ridicule sadly[sup]4[/sup] don’t seem to work. But you owe it to yourself and those who believe ridiculous or dangerous things to tell them, calmly and respectfully that those things are ridiculous or dangerous, and why that’s so. Don’t tell them _they’re_ ridiculous or dangerous, but be clear about what they’re pushing. Most will reject your refutation, but they have to keep hearing the refutations from us, because they’ll damned sure keep hearing the ridiculousness from their usual sources. **-WE have to become informational sources ourselves.** (This means fighting back against left side ridiculousness too, by the way. Stop it with the enabling and understanding of the anti-GMO crowd. Stop saying “no one knows what’s in the TPP because it was all done in _seeeeecrecy_!” Be fucking credible and learn your shit. Ask on this MB, people will help you.) So that’s my thought here. Stop coddling and “understanding” people who believe nonsense. Give them some sense to take its place. And let’s check our own preconceptions on a regular basis too. Do it publicly, do it through dialogue with people who don’t share our ideology. Let’s allow ourselves to be convinced by new facts or arguments wherever it’s warranted. That might be rarely, or depending on respective assumptions maybe not so rarely. Let’s be better examples. -That’s the real way to influence people. And we influence enough people (including our nominal allies who sit out elections), we’ll start winning at the polls again. **[sup]1[/sup]** I am forcing myself to refer to these elected officials respectfully and by their proper titles. I think if we’re going to deal with conditions realistically and pragmatically, we have to recognize the legitimacy of the processes which put these people there and of the offices they now will hold. And we should give those offices the respect their positional authority warrants. I choose not to be like those who began disrespecting President Obama before he even took the oath of office. I hope never to hear a Democratic congressperson interrupt President Trump during a SOTU address. (Even with a good pussy-grabbing joke.) I’ve done that sort of thing in the past, certainly used slurs against G. W. Bush, and hours after the 2016 election results were clear I said “Not my President!” while commiserating with my wife. But I now think I was wrong to say or post those things, in the sense that it was unrealistic, counterproductive and rhetorically ineffective. And it was poor citizenship. **[sup]2[/sup]** “Overwhelmingly” as a percentage of rural voters, not as some sort of wave. This was a low turnout election from the demographic groups which tend Republican, and even lower turnout from the Democratic tending demographics. The “Trump wave” did not occur and does not exist. Keep that in mind, depressed progressives. It’s only apathy and lack of focus from progressives that allows extremists to be elected. If enough of ‘us’ vote, we win elections. Because there are more of ‘us’. **[sup]3[/sup]** Full disclosure: I was not one of the sober and respectful considers of torture and invasion. But a lot of you were, and a lot more of you just didn’t speak out, so I still get to yell at you over it. **[sup]4[/sup]** I use to push the idea of derision and ridicule. I thought at the time they were effective rhetorical devices which could be used to persuade people away from risible ideas. Well, they’re effective devices in many cases, but they suck as persuasion techniques. You end up entertaining fence sitters, and sometimes your ideological opponents, but you don’t move or shame anyone into changing their mind or their heart. Only if you become very popular can you exert that kind of influence, and I’ll face it, that’s not in my future. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-is-not-the-time-to-come-together-as-americans/771476/47 "2016-11-11T16:42:02Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > We were hoping that intelligent Republicans, led by Romney and the Bushes, would save the day. On this very Board we have our very own Republican who we thought had a 100+ IQ and who’d promised to vote rationally. Let’s listen in on his “thoughts”: > I guess it was hard to pick between the man who raped a 13-year old girl and the witch who murdered the Ambassador in Benghazi in cold blood, hunh **Brickhead**? What a moron! Oh, for fuck’s sake. > [@I live in the US, but I don't vote. Never have, never will. Ask Me Anything if you want.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-live-in-the-us-but-i-dont-vote-never-have-never-will-ask-me-anything-if-you-want/771059/196): > > Because it seems relevant, I will share my own experience of voting today. I havealways voted, in every election since I was eligible. > > As the election season unrolled this year, some of you may know that although I am not a fan of Mrs. Clinton, and believe her presidency will be a horrible one, I had nonetheless resolved to support over her main opponent, whose presidency I believe would be a more horrible one. > > So I got my ballot and sat down. In my jurisdiction, we are handed paper ballots, mark them, and then they are ingested by a scanner. > > I started to mark the ballot. I couldn’t. > > I passed over the presidential electors, marked my choice for US Representative, chose my options for various bond issues… and then stared at the president’s choice again. > > Finally I marked it for Trump. I couldn’t vote for Clinton. > > I stood up and walked towards the scanner… and then I couldn’t put it in the scanner; I couldn’t vote for Trump. > > I marked my ballot VOID and requested a new one. Sat back down. Filled out all the other spots again. > > Finally I marked Clinton, stood up again. Sent the ballot into the scanner before I could change my mind again. > > Outside some guy named Buridan had a donkey for sale. > > The point of this little oversharing is to suggest that it’s not always irrational to refuse to vote. By all means, bash away at the people who _voted for Trump_, or even the people who voted for a third party candidate, or who didn’t vote at all. But attacking people _who voted for Clinton_ is beyond stupid. Stay in your [fucking jungle](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=809984); don’t ever come back here to the United States; don’t vote in our elections; and set fire to your U.S. passport if you still have one. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-is-not-the-time-to-come-together-as-americans/771476/48 "2016-11-11T18:22:15Z")
Okay, saying, “everything will be okay” might be premature (I don’t believe that, but I can understand those who do). However, maybe DON’T FUCKING PANIC??? But people, WTF do you expect to happen? The Republics aren’t going to start herding minorities into camps, overturning gay marriage and Roe v Wade all of a sudden. It’s been _three days_ since the whole fucking election. Jesus fucking Christ. (Didn’t this same kind of thing happen around here during the 2000 election? I seem to remember everyone here freaking out like the world was going to end) > [@Smapti](#): > > Hell, I’m a straight white cisgender male with a middle-class blue collar job and employer-subsidized health insurance. I’m one of the people _least_ likely to get fucked over in a Trump administration. And yes, I’ve never been to Alabama and on my things-to-do-before-I-die list it’s probably somewhere in between “move to North Korea” and “spontaneous colonic rupture”. > > But I don’t think the sky is falling. The last 20 years of forward progress on LBGT rights aren’t going to be undone by a stupid old narcissist who’s only in it for the publicity, and the right-wing parasites that are clinging to him in hope of grabbing his scraps aren’t going to turn the tide of public opinion any more than Nixon and his “southern strategy” undid the Civil Rights Act. > > Stand up for what you believe in and be proud of who you are. That’s the only way we’re gonna make things better. > > Well, hell, if you’re only planning to leave _Alabama_, then I’m on your side. Come to Seattle! We’re mellow people and [we mind each others’ business](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Freeze). Better yet, come to Pittsburgh (Most Livable City)! We’re really friendly, and fairly gay-friendly as well. Just make sure you don’t root for the wrong sports team. (Ravens fans? We don’t serve your kind around here!) ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-is-not-the-time-to-come-together-as-americans/771476/49 "2016-11-11T18:23:54Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > Oh, for fuck’s sake. > > By all means, bash away at the people who _voted for Trump_, or even the people who voted for a third party candidate, or who didn’t vote at all. > > But attacking people _who voted for Clinton_ is beyond stupid. > > Stay in your [fucking jungle](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=809984); don’t ever come back here to the United States; don’t vote in our elections; and set fire to your U.S. passport if you still have one. Same to you, buddy. 😛 The point is that if **Bricker** , who is probably not a racist or misogynist and, with an IQ in the high 90’s, is smarter than most Trump voters, _ **had trouble deciding whether or not to to vote for this peculiar sociopathic fraudster** _ that the GOP selected, then OP is right that the partisan divide will not be healed easily. Consider the willful ignorance and partisanship that led **Bricker** _almost_ to vote for the sociopath and realize that the actual Trump voters are _even stupider and more ignorant than that._ ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-is-not-the-time-to-come-together-as-americans/771476/50 "2016-11-11T18:42:41Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > The point is that if **Bricker** , who is probably not a racist or misogynist and, with an IQ in the high 90’s, is smarter than most Trump voters, \* I’m pretty sure, from the evidence of his posts, that **Bricker** has an IQ in excess of the high 90s, which isn’t high at all as intelligence goes. Just sayin’. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-is-not-the-time-to-come-together-as-americans/771476/51 "2016-11-11T19:00:25Z")
I think **septimus** based his estimate on the recognition that **Bricker** is at least twenty points above him. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-is-not-the-time-to-come-together-as-americans/771476/52 "2016-11-11T19:09:44Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > So what’s your alternative? Armed revolution? Rioting in the streets? You would have zero chance of winning and would lose the sympathy of the great mass of American people. Every time a Republican President takes office the Left act as if it’s the end of the world and take to the streets saying they won’t accept the result. Who are behaving more like Fascists here, Trump or the people rioting and refusing to accept the political process? > > You lost. Behave like Americans. Make all the peaceful protests you want and organize to win the next one in 4 years. To do otherwise is a slap in the face to Obama and to the country itself. There is an alternative. A legal and usefual alternative. Let’s take a page from the Republican play book and create a party of opposition, a party of obstruction, a party that yells “You lie” at the new president, a Party Of No, our own version of the Tea Party. Let’s make this a one term administration and a failure. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-is-not-the-time-to-come-together-as-americans/771476/53 "2016-11-11T19:10:54Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > Tell that to Mitch McConnell 8 years ago. > > As usual, the republicans are demanding concessions they categorically refused to offer us. Fuck that noise. and THIS, in all its glory. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-is-not-the-time-to-come-together-as-americans/771476/54 "2016-11-11T19:12:30Z")
> [@Lydia\_Phalfav](#): > > Take your generalizations of racism & bigotry & shove them up your ass - all the way up. Support for Trump cut across many racial lines. The left has NO claim on moral superiority when it comes to fighting racism. Anyone who blatantly dismisses any rational arguments with “racism! bigotry! phobias!” is just trying to mask their insecurities. > > Clinton had most of the media & so much support behind her yet she lost because the rest of America is sick & tired of leftist claptrap & name-calling. We’ve seen enough of Hillary when Billdo was in office & she’s done nothing but trip all over herself during her campaign. While Trump had many supporters there were lots who were adamantly against Clinton. > But be honest, it was one clueless, self-important, smug baby boomer against another in this election. The whole thing was a shit sandwich. This gave us a chance to shuffle the deck & shake things up a bit. The sky isn’t falling. Quit crying like a baby & put on your big boy pants already. Now, at the risk of being banned (not that I really give a shit), you are a God damned liar. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-is-not-the-time-to-come-together-as-americans/771476/55 "2016-11-11T19:16:48Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > There is an alternative. A legal and usefual alternative. Let’s take a page from the Republican play book and create a party of opposition, a party of obstruction, a party that yells “You lie” at the new president, a Party Of No, our own version of the Tea Party. Let’s make this a one term administration and a failure. That would be a valid response to the current situation. If that group was a hockey player, we would call him their Enforcer. Can the Dems pull something like that off, tho? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-is-not-the-time-to-come-together-as-americans/771476/56 "2016-11-11T19:16:56Z")
Really sticking your neck out there, aren’t you, **Steve**? Gosh, what bravery. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-is-not-the-time-to-come-together-as-americans/771476/57 "2016-11-11T19:22:26Z")
> [@fervour](#): > > This queer is leaving the country. The purge is coming. I wish I weren’t serious. On the bright side, undesirables don’t have to leave right now. If you are a fellow undersirable, you probably have at least a year to get your shit out of Dodge. Don’t wait to late. I’m staying put. I spent a short time in the Army (only 4 years), I worked in the Defense biz both as private and government, and I won’t let a bunch of sheet wearing scumbags or their bloated orange stooge run me off. Plus, I earned my pension, it’s mine when I decide to pull the plug, and “Mister Bizniz Man” won’t fuck me out of MY pay like he did all his employees and contractors. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-is-not-the-time-to-come-together-as-americans/771476/58 "2016-11-11T19:22:39Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > There is an alternative. A legal and usefual alternative. Let’s take a page from the Republican play book and create a party of opposition, a party of obstruction, a party that yells “You lie” at the new president, a Party Of No, our own version of the Tea Party. Let’s make this a one term administration and a failure. The problem is you’re a little hampered. The Republicans controlled the House and Senate when they used obstructionist policies against Obama. You don’t. Still by all means go for it if it makes you feel good. It’s better than rioting in the streets. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-is-not-the-time-to-come-together-as-americans/771476/59 "2016-11-11T19:23:30Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Really sticking your neck out there, aren’t you, **Steve**? Gosh, what bravery. > > Regards, > Shodan Not bravery, just a low tolerance for “Koom By Ya” horse shit. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-is-not-the-time-to-come-together-as-americans/771476/60 "2016-11-11T19:26:28Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > The problem is you’re a little hampered. The Republicans controlled the House and Senate when they used obstructionist policies against Obama. You don’t. > > Still by all means go for it if it makes you feel good. It’s better than rioting in the streets. We can still raise hell in the lot of “lower level” politics. That’s a lot of mayors, governors, aldermen, state senates, even dog catchers. We can also stop patronizing businesses that support the Great Orange Cheeto. Money talks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-is-not-the-time-to-come-together-as-americans/771476.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-is-not-the-time-to-come-together-as-americans/771476.md?page=4)