Donald Trump and my family

Yes, another post about Trump. I am sick of him and wish he would just disappear from the national landscape. But, like any good narcissist, he just won't go.

Of course I'm disgusted by the way he behaved between November 3 and January 6. While many of us -- including ME! -- were battling covid, he was busy trying to overthrow the very government he took an oath to lead. Appalling.

But that's not what this post is about. It's about my family, and the deleterious impact he has had on us.

My nephew. He is smart. He is passionate. He is just the kind of young person you want getting involved in the system. He just graduated with a degree in political science from Western Illinois University, and he's not going to use it. Even though he graduated in an election year.

Guess why.

He's watched life-long Republicans, Trump supporters and Trump employees, testify about the January 6 riot. Yet half the country isn't watching or doesn't care. Half the country has somehow convinced themselves that all these people, testifying under oath, are lying. Or that having your President encourage a riot isn't such a bad thing.

My nephew is so disheartened that he has given up. He once dreamed of working for a congressman and helping shape policy. But because of the misplaced and blind loyalty of the MAGAverse, he sees no point.

He did say he's interested in becoming a volunteer at the polls on election day. The way Trump publicly bullied Shaye Moss and her mother has motivated him. So I suppose that there's always a silver lining to every Trumpy cloud.

My cousin. Last week he found a black-and-white Polaroid of himself at age 3 on our grandfather's lap. A new grandfather himself, it meant a great deal to him. Our grandfather was a great man -- patriotic in that special way immigrants often are, compassionate, curious and loving -- and his grandchildren miss him. In the photo, my cousin looks eerily like Grandpa. Same receding hairline, even same eyeglass frames! 

My aunt -- my cousin's mom and Grandpa's only surviving child -- hasn't seen this picture. Not because she wouldn't love it. Because they aren't talking. Because, in her full-throated support of Trump, she revealed herself, in her son's words, as "a homophobic racist." She is very vocal, and it is very disheartening for my cousin to hear the woman who insisted he go to Sunday School every week behave in such an un-Christian way. 

My aunt has never held her first great-grandchild. Her once favorite granddaughter -- who is also appalled by the hate her grandmother spewed toward gays and BLM -- graduated cum laude this past spring and her grandmother doesn't even know.

This is tragic. 

I am a decade older than my cousin. I remember my aunt when she was still in her teens, and kept JFK's picture on her nightstand. I believe that inclusive, sensitive girl who once believed you should ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country is still in there somewhere. Of course, I don't have to square the circle of hypocrisy that my cousin does. 

I hope her red MAGA cap is worth it.

Even more, I hope she can STFU long enough -- stubbornness is a family trait we all share -- to reach out and heal this breach. I hope that if she does, my cousin has the wisdom to accept this olive branch. My aunt is over 75. I don't know how much time she and my cousin believe they have to fix this.

And I wish Donald Trump would just stop trying to defend his indefensible behavior, quit throwing gas on the fire, quit insisting his election lie is the truth ... just quit. 

Leave us alone, please!