In my lifetime, and I’m assuming in the life of the United States of America, there has never been a major-party candidate other than Donald Trump who anyone would think to ask if they’d actually serve as president if elected as president. But that’s what New York Times reporters asked Trump during a recent interview with him in his New York office. His answer wasn’t what you’d expect.
Presented in a recent interview with a scenario, floating around the political ether, in which the presumptive Republican nominee proves all the naysayers wrong, beats Hillary Clinton and wins the presidency, only to forgo the office as the ultimate walk-off winner, Mr. Trump flashed a mischievous smile.
“I’ll let you know how I feel about it after it happens,” he said, minutes before leaving his Trump Tower office to fly to a campaign rally in New Hampshire.
And he definitely left more than a spoken impression.
But the only person who could truly put any doubts to rest seemed instead to relish the idea of keeping everyone guessing, concluding the recent conversation with a you’re-on-to-something grin and handshake across his cluttered desk.
“We’ll do plenty of stories,” Mr. Trump promised enigmatically. “O.K.?”
Now, maybe he’s just messing with people’s minds, but it hardly helps him to leave the impression that he considers this just a game and that he won’t serve as president even if elected. It’s actually a kind of dangerous impression to leave at a time when he has not yet actually been confirmed as the nominee of the party.
I think this show was a lot more fun for Trump when he was leading in the polls and he wasn’t responsible for anyone else’s fate. Maybe, consciously or unconsciously, he actually wants to have the nomination wrested away from him in Cleveland. That’ll make him much more of a martyr than a loser, or at least he might feel that he can spin it that way.
There have been theories that the real purpose of Trump’s run is to launch a TV network. Getting robbed of the nomination at the convention would be absolute gold for that, especially since Fox, his potential media competition for his followers, would undoubtedly get fullheartedly behind his replacement. Losing badly against Hillary would not help him at all.
Possibly even better for us politically, although it would require some fast pivoting. The fact that our convention is second would help.
I have said for weeks to anyone who listens that Trump does not want to win this thing. He’s the dog that caught the car and he knows it. I even think that some of the things he has said have actually been meant to tamp down his popularity and they did the opposite. Right now he is methodically alienating the entire power structure of the GOP. He could not possibly want this job.
It’s all about how he loses. He needs to blame someone. And that someone who is being set up for the blame is the GOP itself. Sad Losers they will be.
He is going to leave a pile of rubble in his wake and wash his hands of the whole deal, because that’s how he rolls.
I am still predicting that there will be some astonishing things happening in Cleveland. Someone might even grow a pair and say something simply amazing on live TV – the possibilities are endless, Mr. Cruz.
I don’t see the party turning against Trump. Whatever he thinks, his supporters sincerely love him and they are the backbone of the party. Screwing him over will tear the party in two. Trump will be only too happy to dance on the party’s grave.
I think they’re stuck with him. They’ll probably lose the Senate but make a big comeback in 2018.
Has trump reached the self-sabotage stage?
I personally doubt it. I also doubt that he’d do a walk-off, although that would be the ultimate flipped finger to the establishment. Doinmg so would be very WWF, I’ll give you that. Maybe Jim McMahon is his real campaign advisor!!!
In a sense, that’s exactly what Farage did after Brexit.
General Sherman, Pt. II.
May we all be born(e) into interesting times.
AG
I think if people were convinced he’d resign after the election but before the inauguration they’d be more likely to vote for for him.
Brexit without the chaos. Also ot’d be pretty damn funny.
Yes, it would.
As would be the RatPubs closing down the government because HRC managed…so far, at least…to pull a fast one w/the cooperation of Comey and Lynch.
All’s I got to say is:
AG
No it wouldn’t. Not when his VP gets sworn in. President Gingrich? President Christy?
Also Vince McMahon
Exactly. The parameters of who will run the government are already in place, and this race was always Hillary’s. There is a sizable group out there who suspect that in some way Trump is running at the Clintons’ behest.
Didn’t I read that last year Bill clinton suggested this to him? In jest, but maybe not.
IF Trump is a Clintons’ troll, AS Bush suggested in the early Republican debates, the self-sabotage would be planned and expected.I think the apparent self-sabotage will escalate . I just hope it is apparent enough by the time of the convention.
Plagiarizing from a neonazi twitter feed, defending Saddam, saying he may not serve as elected, floating his daughter as VP, saying he’s going to win Hispanics, Cali, and Illinois – how ramped up can it get? Even by Trump standards he’s been amazingly loony-tune this past month.
Crazy self-sabotaging statements have no limits, unless you think this way.
Which convention are you referring to?
But there’s no self-sabotage, folks. Trump is a sociopath. Or perhaps you’d rather say that he’s got a “narcissistic personality disorder.” What other people think is irrelevant to him. And he has no filter: he just says whatever comes to mind.
Nailed it.
Did you hear about Ferret Head’s meeting with the GOP critters in Congress?
Fun times.
Please explain.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/trump-changes-few-minds-with-meeting-on-the-hill
I realize that there’s a lot of language in news stories that’s throwaway and not well thought out but to describe his smile as “mischievous”….this isn’t a cute little game we’re playing here, New York Times reporters, and this isn’t funny.
If he continues going the Hitler route then a dark, terrifying inner hubris will start to come out in earnest.
No matter how reasonable he might still be, or frightened, or confused, or bored, or surprised it’s gotten this far…whenever he imagines tanking it or giving up, there’s got to be some animus within his mind, saying, Are you crazy? You can be President! Go ahead and take it — you’ve always known you have this destiny! etc.
The transition for Hitler was subtle, but it’s been successfully pieced together by Ian Kershaw and other historians: how he shifted from believing himself to be “the drummer” — merely a popularizing rhetorician and propagandist whose role was to pave the way for the coming Great Leader — to when he started understanding that he, personally, was that great leader, himself. It wasn’t simply a coy speechmaking trick; it was a genuine transition, as the full force of hubris ignited inside him. The same thing could still happen in earnest for Trump.
This is all well and good but I’m hoping he stays in long enough to announce at the convention that his daughter is his VP pick. And then, gawd willing, the media will pivot the cameras to show the jaws dropping of the Right’s punditry class.
so if he wins then resigns before inauguration, does his VP pick get inaugurated instead?
I don’t think we’ve had that happen before, definitely a constitutional crisis for sure.
If he waits until after he’s inaugurated then normal process would obviously follow
Yes, the first section of the 25th amendment doesn’t exactly apply to this situation, but I imagine the VP would be sworn in and it would not be very controversial. Something close to this happened when McKinley was shot an died in 1901, only a few months into his term. His VP Roosevelt was sworn in, of course.
yeah but that happened after the inauguration for Roosevelt
you can bet this goes to SCOTUS if it ever happened
Before inauguration (i.e. taking the oath) or before the Electoral College votes? If the latter, then the electors can vote for whoever they want. They can theoretically do that even if he didn’t quit, but it would surely be a Constitutional Crisis that might finally move us to direct election.
yeah I guess there are actually 3 dates to consider:
1 & 3 have precedent but #2 does not
Well, once the Electoral College has voted both the President and the Vice-President are on their way to their new jobs. If Trump drops out or whatever, he won’t become President but the VP will still become Vice-President and at that point could succeed to the Presidency. It’s a clearcut process and any alternative would have no Constitutional support, so that’s what would happen.
P.S. There’s precedent for #1?
maybe I overstated precedent but there is a legitimate mechanism for that reality
The Vice-President-elect takes the oath of office and becomes Vice-President immediately before the President-elect takes the oath of office.
As far as I know, there wouldn’t be any standing to go to the Supreme Court. Trump or any President-elect can choose to not show up for their inauguration, whether they decide to do so the day after the election, or 15 minutes beforehand.
I’d assume that if and when the Vice-President-elect takes the oath of office, and then the President-elect doesn’t show up, the Vice-President becomes acting President, until the President-elect signs something saying he forswears the elected office. To be the Notary Public for that would be awesome…your signature book would be worth a lot of money.
Perhaps Trump is setting up an Ivanka Trump v. Kanye West election in 2020.
yeah that would be something special for the notary public
I forgot that the VP get inaugurated first
The funny thing is that in a rational world, with a well-educated, responsible electorate, he would have self-sabotaged himself about a hundred times by now. But the idiocy, delusion, and lack of critical thought among many in this country is apparently limitless, raising the question of whether self-sabotage is even possible.
Exactly. On another blog someone said something about Trump doing something “really stupid.” How much more stupid can it get? I’m suffering from stupidity fatigue, and I don’t even have a tv.
I try not to think about Trump too much because it’s both frightening and offensive to witness his stupidity daily on parade with the media fawning all over him, and his rabid fans cheering and jumping for joy.
Not sure that it’s possible for Trump to self-sabotage with the way his base and the media fawn over every weird and stupid thing he says or does. It’s just gross.
And the GOP, and their mouthpieces, have the nerve to endlessly diss Obama. I’m not a huge fan of Obama, but seriously, it’s reach lunacy levels at this point to speak negatively about Obama when “their” candidate is Trump.
How much more stupid? Maybe mixing classified and unclassified e-mail on a private server.
Oh please.
Knock knock: I wasn’t talking about Clinton in this particular thread.
Try to stick to the topic at hand.
There’s plenty of diss Hillary threads out there (and no, she’s not my favorite candidate either, but I dislike gratuitously rude and unneccsary attempts at derailment like this).
Yeah. Especially when the “classified” material isn’t classified AT THE TIME.
I didn’t care for Voice’s comment — in inappropriate interjection in this thread. But at least it wasn’t ignorant like your response to his comment.
Those with security clearance are expected to possess the requisite skill to identify classified material without that doesn’t have “classified” stamped on it. And senior officials are privy to the top-top of classified materials and therefore, better have a method to demonstrate the highest skill level.
Would it be reasonable to expect the top team of a new SOS and the new SOS to have the experience, skill, and general wherewithal to handle any and all classified materials appropriately? No. That’s one good reason why the secure systems at State, etc. exist. Built to keep dummies out of trouble.
Do you routinely make a habit of defending those that are unskilled, demonstrate poor judgement, and are arrogant. There was no g-d acceptable reason why she used her own server for the work she did while in the government payroll. Why did she do it? When has she ever not been controlling, secretive, and reckless? Our very own political Tom and Daisy.
Does Maureen Dowd read Booman Trib?
I have no recollection of hearing anyone ever refer to the Clintons as Tom and Daisy. Within certain elite circles it may have been common, but I don’t travel in such circles. It felt like a fresh observation when I made yesterday, but it could have been something old lodged down in my subconscious. Whatever. It’s very common for two people with zero connections to have a similar thought at a similar time; so, the reasonable conclusion if that Dowd doesn’t read Boo-Trib comments.
lol It is very apt.
The Producers.
He needs to derail his success because that wasn’t the plot and going forward disaster is what awaits him.
Who knew a Disney six-sided star would be as tasteless and “Springtime for Hitler?”
A manufactured crisis for sure. Even less content than Johnson’s A-bomb commercial.
Hold on a minute. The “Daisy Ad” is the all time great political ad. It’s message easily broke through to the electorate even though very few people saw it the one time it was aired.
If Trump nabbed the star from a neo-nazi site, that is very, very bad. OTOH, if he borrowed it from Disney books, it’s telling as to his reading material. Goes along with his Mickey Mouse campaign.
There’s not the faintest question he got it from a hate Twitter feed. He tweeted the exact same image, 2 weeks after they did, except that he removed the credit for it.
I guess I am privileged. I remember the ad. I do agree that it was effective. This walk down memory lane reminds me that politics has always been vicious. Who was that President accused of having an outside family? Lincoln?
Ma! Ma! Where’s my Pa?”
“Gone to the White House! Ha ha ha!”
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/president-clevelands-problem-child-100800/?no-ist
daisy ad
How was the Monday Night Movie: “David and Bathesheba?”
Wouldn’t have aired on the west coast. Only those places that received the east coast broadcasts live. The number around today that saw it live, must be incredibly small. Likely puts you in the less than 1% category.
Wasn’t it Harding? Except the claim was made by his mistress several years after his death. Generally dismissed. The alleged daughter Elizabeth Ann Blaesing died in 2005. A decade later in 2015 DNA testing confirmed that she was Harding’s daughter.
The claim that T Jefferson fathered children with Sally Hemings became public knowledge during his first Presidential term. Probably well known then that Hemings was Jefferson’s deceased wife’s half-sister.
Janicket got it with Harding. Lincoln was accused of being illegitimate IIRC. Jefferson wouldn’t have counted. I think he was accused of treating Sally Hemmings too nicely, as if she were “human”.
You’ve been listening too much to Billy Herndon. His ghost walks the streets of downtown Springfield, IL, past his law office and the Old State Capitol. Billy stops any tourist who will listen to his gossip. Then the gossip become articles and books and history is revised. Also, there’s no evidence Lincoln still longed for his “first love”, Ann Rutledge. Lincoln was a very ambitious politician who recognized that Mary Todd was an asset to his career. Mary Todd was politically and socially ambitious herself. The Lincolns were devoted to each other for that reason, but their bond was genuine and they were very protective of each other. Just my $.02.
Lincoln was accused of being black, illegitimate somewhere in the story. his grandmother was a “servant”, origins VA. it’s complicated to sort out – kind of amazing no modern historian to my knowledge has done a treatment of it today – I assume ppl don’t want to kno. I read a 19th century book that had been digitized (it was intended to discredit Lincoln evidently). it’s somewhere on the intertubes
This article by Douglas L. Wilson, a well-known Lincoln scholar, is a good summary of the rumors, semi-truths, and truths surrounding Lincoln. William Herndon is primarily featured, but Caroline Healey Dall, a traveling journalist and women’s-rights crusader from Boston bears some responsibility. While visiting Herndon, Dall peeked at Herndon’s secret book containing some truths, rumors, and untruths regarding Lincoln’s private life. From what I can gather, Lincoln’s parents were Nancy Hanks and Thomas Lincoln, but they probably were not legally married. (Not totally uncommon in the backwoods of Kentucky at that time. Traveling justices of the peace were all there was. When a couple did marry this way, there was no real ceremony and the J.P. would do 3 recordings at a time.) In all likelihood, Lincoln had premarital relationships with some women and may have contracted syphilis; no evidence of affairs after his marriage to Mary Todd. The author Wilson does a good job of portraying Herndon. An interesting read.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2000/05/keeping-lincolns-secrets/378181/
Thanks, will take a look. I was referring to a book about Nancy Hanks’ mother [book argued she was a slave].
the article is kind of what I was talking about – it does not track down Nancy Hanks’ history, though mentions doing research in VA – where Nancy’s mother’s “employer” came from. the book I found on the internet referenced wills from Nancy’s mother’s “employer” and a remarriage iirc. but the Atlantic article is precisely an example of what I alluded to – all wound up with was he “illegitimate” but not tracing his mother’s ancestry back. when I get a chance I’ll do a search for the book I found on the tubz (a colleague found it in 2008, “maybe Obama isn’t the first black president” was his point)
WTF are you talking about, “Disney six-sided star”?
Trump’s campaign lifted the HRC/$100 bills/Star of David graphic, intact except for removing the attribution (classy!), from a neo-Nazi board on 8chan.
Here you go:
http://archive.is/E0Dto
Sheesh.
Its funny – if I read pundits he is getting crushed. Well Pew has him down 9, but my state average only has him down 7.
So tell me, why isn’t Clinton up by 20?
That is not snark – it is a serious question. We should be in ’84 or ’72 territory and we are not.
Polls in mid-July are generally pretty bad. At this time in 2012 HuffPo Poll-of-Polls had Obama with a 1.3% lead over Romney.
They were only off by a little more than 2.
Maybe it is because Clinton doesn’t really have all that much to say
Tell her what you want to hear. She’ll repeat it back.
Eye, there’s the rub.
good question.
all the local hillbots would have us believe that this election is hers to lose and are doing their damnedest to convince everyone that it’s in the bag.
perhaps they’re over rationalizing a bit, eh. because from where l sit, it looks like she’s doing a fine job of that. success at last.
as ag says…may you be born[e] in interesting times.
wake me when it’s over.
Because polarized electorate is polarized. Sanders wouldn’t be winning by 20 either, although he certainly would be leading by more than Clinton.
You know polls just as well as anyone; why do you think it is, and do you think Sanders would be winning by 20?
I asked the question pretty honestly – I really don’t know.
I can make guesses as well as anyone. If you look at the Party ID numbers you see some trend to de-alignment. I think this may be part of a feedback loop where partisans on each side have little to say beyond how bad the other guy is. This looks to be particularly in play among the young. When you look at the cross-tabs you see about 30% of those under 30 either undecided or with a third party candidate.
In the Pew poll Clinton is at 51, but only 23% supported her strongly. That number is about 10 points lower than for Obama in 2012 and 2008 at the same time.
Pew asked if this voters believed neither candidate would be a good president. BY 41-56 people disagreed, but the 41% is more than 10 points higher than was the case in any election since 2000.
73% say this election is interesting: a good 20 points higher than is usual at this time.
So people are paying attention, but they don’t like their choices, and for many their support is very look warm.
I think the answer then is personal: people don’t like Clinton, and that is why this lead isn’t as big as I would expect.
It’s interesting: I can’t think of a case where the winning candidate shifted positions before the convention in as big a way as Clinton did on Education yesterday.
Everyone is way too invested in evil Trump ™ to notice. In fact, I think the last issue change of this size was in 1968 when Humphrey came out against the war.
If I had to make a guess it was because they needed something for Democrats to unite around. Because there isn’t much of significance where we agree on things that matter.
What is a Clinton Presidency about? The answer competence and continuation. But that isn’t an answer that sells.
What that says, I think, is that the Clinton people are more than aware of their weakness.
Usually I think I understand politics pretty well. I think if you look back at what I wrote in 2008 at openleft you would find it held up. The same thing for 2012.
This time: everything tells me this should be Clinton +15. And if I had to guess I still think that is the likely result.
But I don’t think I have a good understanding of this electorate.
The electorate or the election?
The only electorate surprise in this cycle, so far and IMO, is how well Sanders has done. Otherwise the electorate has fallen into standard grooves.
The GOP bigot and gun toting base couldn’t have been clearer in sending signals to the party not to dump another boring, mealy-mouthed, old white guy on them. Their perennial refrains that they would only accept a “family values,” anti-abortion, anti-immigrant, anti-tax candidate was secondary. Give them Rambo that pays lip service to those issues and they’d be satiated.
Did they overlook the tendency of the general electorate to vote out a political party after eight years?
Why did the GOP power/money elites choose to go with Jeb? in this cycle? Who in his status and persona represents everything a major GOP base loathes in this election cycle. Was that just to make it appear that they weren’t taking a dive this time as they’d either assessed that HRC was too formidable to lose and/or they’re okay with her? Were they hoping that it would come down to Cruz for the crazies and Jeb? for the others and they could work with either outcome? Cruz would become the 21st century Goldwater (teach the crazies a lesson they won’t forget) and Jeb? would end the Reagan-Bush era.
They didn’t bargain for Trump crashing their party. But, with Cruz and Trump splitting the crazy vote, that should have pushed Jeb? into the lead. By the time they could see Jeb? folding like a cheap suit, Walker was already gone and Marco thought he was running for student body president.
They needed to do a few things in this election cycle. Not alienate their base, seduce their base into relaxing their social issues, general election loser positions, and win or come closer to winning than Romney did. They’ve ended up doing the opposite of all that and at the presidential level could end up with numbers like Taft (1912).
I didn’t see evangelicals supporting trump in the primaries. Not sure what that means and didn’t see it coming
You kind of make my point. The goo has fucked up every way possible
They should be getting killed
They are behind but this by a blow out
Evangelicals and bigots aren’t separate and distinct GOP voter populations. Fundamentalist religious types are primarily male-centric authoritarians. They aren’t often challenged to weigh both their religion and authoritarianism. This time they were. And once Carson was out of the race, Trump got an even share of it with either Cruz or Rubio with one of those two getting a smaller share.
That answer doesn’t make much sense to me.
Perhaps that’s why you couldn’t anticipate a portion of the evangelical vote going to Trump.
If Greens are polling especially well in CA, NY, IL and MA (and I’m pulling this out of my ass) then while their numbers will be way up (relative to other elections) the actual effect will be … not so much.
Same goes for Libertarians (outside NH where the MA refugees actually have a measurable effect).
A good chunk of our populace votes Republican, no matter how stupid that may be.
Trump is the perfect Conservative candidate. He’s straightforwardly spewing the GOP nutjob Conservative bullshit and blather on national TV, just like their racist, cretinous, base has always wanted.
I honestly don’t understand where all this “he doesn’t really want to be President” talk is coming from. Granted, he’s a singular figure in many respects. But he has said that he wants to be President, he has spent a lot of time and at least some money towards that end, it would be the ultimate high for a pathological narcissist like himself, so I see no reason not to take him at his word. Any coyness in response to this particular question is nothing more than a showman’s instinct for sustaining audience interest.
i’d argue that getting elected president would be the ego payoff he’s looking for but actually being president would be too much hard work. Whichever you prefer it isn’t likely.
Maybe this is all to make a Romney coup more palatable.
maybe, but Romney still wouldn’t be very palatable. that would IMO screw the repubs just as badly as riding what they’ve got. It’s not like they have a good candidate anywhere.
and Trumpers like the fact that he says whatever he wants regardless of tact, truth or believability.
but he could go through the motions of the campaign without destroying the party.
You mistake him for a party pol doing what and how he’s told, in debt to the party, and caring about the party’s future. He’s doing it his way and not the GOP way. That will result in him doing either better or worse than the last two GOP nominees, and for him a loss by four points isn’t different from a loss by forty points; a loss is a loss.
I meant Romney
Ah, see that now. But doesn’t it depend on the definition of “destroy?” Mittens sure didn’t keep that big GOP base happy. First they resented having him shoved onto them as the nominee. Second, he lost. Republican voters take losses less well than Democrats.
A little birdie told me months ago to keep an eye on John Kasich. I tried to place a $50 bet on Kasich, but his name wasn’t an option: just Trump and Clinton.
Here’s a little teaser about Kasich dated July 7.
http://www.barrons.com/articles/could-john-kasich-dump-trump-in-cleveland-1467929133
Hasn’t this been the end game forever now?
Trump pretty clearly doesn’t want to be president. He’s never bothered to learn policy, and he’s a lazy asshole. He’s a pretty classic real-estate-development-scammer-type with some white-trash Queens scumbaggery tossed in. He wants to make an easy buck. It won’t shock me at all if you see Trump doing an HBO documentary in a year or launching a Trump News Network to take on the EstablishmentTM.
The only real question for me is whether he wants to get thrown out in Cleveland or lose the general. Either way, he’s looking to cash in by launching something.
UPDATED DEAR WHITE AMERICA – AN OPEN LETTER
July 7, 2016
Dear United States, YOUR Police System and those who are not Black in America,
I came home today once again to tell my 13 year old black son about yet another death by the hands of the cops – another death of another black person. I could barely get the words out without crying but this couldn’t be sugar coated from him like I normally sweeten other information I feed him. So, let me tell you what a black single mother had to tell her son today or pretty much every time the need strikes, which is often. I had to tell my 13 year old young black son how to not get killed in these streets by those sent out to protect us.
The first thing is the reminder that although he has white friends, he needs to remember that: “You are not your white friends!!! If you are with them and you all get stopped by the cops for any reason know that you are not them, you cannot say what they say or act how they act. There is a high chance the police may single you out as the trouble maker whether you had anything to do with it so be prepared. Remember to keep your hands out of your pockets; if you are holding your phone drop it and put your hands up or out in front of you where they can be visibly seen free of anything by the cops. If they ask you any questions, answer them with a calm voice, NEVER yell. Tell them your name, age, address, mother’s name and phone number. Know that you are under the age of 16 which means you are not to be questioned without a legal guardian so with that knowledge, give them your mother’s name and phone number again. If they feel the need to pat you down, assume the position I’ve taught you and let them pat you down but be quiet while doing so. Once they have met their goal of whatever the hell it was, if you are not arrested you wait until they have left the area completely then call me. If they arrest you, put your hands up in the air to signal your surrender then let them guide your hands into the cuffs and put you into the police car. You are to remain silent the entire ride to the station – don’t even be angry because there is no need for it especially if you are innocent. Once in the station you give them your mother’s name and number again and inform them that at your age you cannot be questioned without a guardian and/or legal representation. No matter what lies they fill your head with to scare you, know that none of their lies are above the law and the law is what I’ve taught you so do not fear their lies instead give them your mother’s name and phone number again and tell them that once a guardian is present you will answer any and all questions.
After I drill that process into his head we go over him not trying to be a hero when it comes to his other black friends.
……………………………………………………………………………………….
………..
Today I showed him the murder of Alton Sterling. Why? Because I normally hide these images and things from him, I only tell him what happens because we do not watch the news or have regular TV access, we only stream but today I needed him to see what I’ve been telling him about for once so that he truly understands that the rules I lay upon him are not to scare him but to protect him from being an Alton Sterling, or a Tamir Rice; a young boy whose death haunts me every time I think about him. He knows that these things may never come his way but if they do, he is prepared.
I’m so sorry. That you have to do that. That your son has to hear it. My white daughter has a lot of black friends, and we’re teaching her how to respond as well. She’s outspoken and very justice oriented, and I needed her to understand that she must NOT make the cops angry and endanger her friends. If you have any suggestions on how we can learn more about how to deal with the police, I would be grateful to know.
We will take her to protests. We will work for and give money to candidates who care about this issue. We will always stand up for your rights. It’s not enough. But I hope you know you are cared for.
one word:
MOSQUITOES.