BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY JAN. 16, 2017) — One of the most disturbing results of the 2016 presidential election, one that saw Donald Trump catapult over a legion of critics and haters, has to be the comments of Democrat leaders.

Come on down, Harry Reid, senate minority leader. C’mom down, John Lewis, a congressman past his expiration date. Rather than adopting a statesmanlike stance after his horse didn’t win, Reid chose instead to encourage the professional agitators and the clueless mob they lead. Lewis used his bully pulpit to bully, illogically claiming Trump’s presidency “illegitimate.”

“The election of Donald Trump has emboldened the forces of hate and bigotry in America,” Reid wrote. “White nationalists, Vladimir Putin and ISIS are celebrating Donald Trump’s victory, while innocent, law-abiding Americans are wracked with fear — especially African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Muslim Americans, LGBT Americans and Asian Americans. Watching white nationalists celebrate while innocent Americans cry tears of fear does not feel like America.” Reid said. It doesn’t rank with Churchill’s “blood, sweat, and tears” or JFK’s “Ask not what your country …” THE PLANET ranks Reid’s rhetoric just below a KKK rant and slightly above the grinding of gears when the clutch pedal is not depressed.

Lewis, in his immature, disgraceful declaration on Trump’s lack of legitimacy, rejected the near-sacred tenet of an orderly transition of power. That doctrine has separated America from the pack and alone has ensured that the Republic’s continuance, with aplomb. The real problem with Lewis’ blather is its bequeathal to a mob of clueless, close-minded ranks who would dreamily pretend Utopia is an option rather than contend with the realities of the human heart. Many actually believe in Lewis’ hatred.

Democrats, Where Have You Gone?

THE PLANET wonders: What’s happened to the Democrats? Have they lost their moorings? Reid’s and Lewis’ irrational comments do not befit national “leaders” by continuing  the playing the race card, the gender card, the Latino card — enough cards to build a shaky fort. To claim Trump’s win was a win for “white nationalists” cannot be further from the truth. Actually, it was the opposite.

Trump won because he appealed to a vast swath of forgotten Americans, the battered remnants of the endangered middle class. They don’t have the money of the elite or the power of the oligarchs, but they have enough assets to preclude them from the vast array of “gimme”s offered freely by Dems to the very groups Reid names. The Democrats’ strategy has for some time been one of keeping blacks, Latinos,single women, and other minorities poor and on the dole so they can be exploited by fear at election time.

This time, the strategy didn’t work. The most unlikeliest of presidential candidates made sure of that.

Ban In on Bannon

Trump haters also blasted the president-elect’s choice of Steve Bannon as his chief strategist.

In a recent statement, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) slammed the appointment of “Islamophobe, White nationalist Bannon.” The group said Bannon helped promote a “dark and paranoid picture” of Muslim Americans.

“The appointment of Stephen Bannon as a top Trump administration strategist sends the disturbing message that anti-Muslim conspiracy theories and white nationalist ideology will be welcome in the White House,” said Nihad Awad, CAIR’s national executive director. “We urge President-elect Trump to reconsider this ill-advised appointment if he truly seeks to unite Americans.”

THE PLANET would remind Awad that the “dark” picture some may have of Muslim Americans cannot be manufactured from anti-matter or chiffon. It exists because of the religion’s violent and militant strain pushed to the forefront of the faith by numerous acts of atrocity and barbarism.

Trump Being Trump

Meanwhile, Trump is being Trump, unafraid to act, politics be damned. This, naturally, has worried the Mediocrities and the Washington deadwood who have risen on the weakness of The Peter Principle. Think not? Look how fast he ditched New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie after the truth of Bridgegagte found daylight.

Could it be that Trump meant it when he said he wanted to “drain the swamp?”

Trump has continued what got him in the winner’s circle. In his first prime-time interview since victory, Trump said he would prioritize the deportation of two- to three million illegal immigrants deemed to be the most dangerous because of criminal records. He also pledged to appoint a Supreme Court justice who would oppose abortion as a Constitutional right and would work to overturn Roe v. Wade. He rightly says the decision should be left to the individual states. Trump also says he’s “fine” with the Supremes’ decision last year to validate same-sex marriage. THE PLANET agrees. What can possibly be wrong about two people loving each other?

As the song goes, “what the world needs now is love sweet love.” Trump’s a beginning.

——————————————————————————————-

“The Sea of Faith was once, too, at the full …” — Matthew Arnold, from “Dover Beach”

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

The views expressed in the comment section or opinions published within the text other than those of PLANET VALENTI are not those of PLANET VALENTI or endorsed in any way by PLANET VALENTI. This website reserves the right to remove any comment that violates its Rules of Conduct, and it is not liable for the consequences of any posted comment, written word, or information from any source other than PLANET VALENTI as provided in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and PLANET VALENTI’s terms of service. All users of the services of PLANET VALENTI agree to these conditions by virtue of this notice.