Don’t Assume That Because I’m White, I’m Also An Idiot

I’m going to share with you all a story about an incident that honestly, at the time, I didn’t think twice about. Now, however, I’ve found myself living a mantra that I unsuspectingly created for me in that moment that seemingly meant nothing. I never anticipated this evolving into what it has become, but nonetheless, this is me… now.

Let me take you all back to the morning of Tuesday, September 10, 2024, the day of the presidential debate between then Vice President Kamala Harris and then former President Donald Trump. Following breakfast, I set off for my gym where I would do my usual routine: sit in the jacuzzi, swim some laps, sit in the jacuzzi some more, and then sweat it all out in the sauna. I love going to the gym, so I was most excited to begin my day this way.

Well, it started off typically enough, I got in the cuzzi and as I almost always am, was the only one in there. That solitude was short lived though as an older gentleman got in and moved to sit himself opposite of me. As is quite typical for anyone who enters my space, he started up a conversation, only he chose to dive head first into a discussion about that evening’s presidential debate.

“You gonna watch ol’ Trump whoop up on ol’ what’s her name tonight?” He asked with a confident smirk across his face as he settled himself in the jacuzzi.

I was stunned. In roughly a dozen words he delivered a statement that left me with so much to unpack, I wasn’t even quite sure where to begin.

I can remember thinking “whoop up” being a poor choice of terminology, but then instantly thought probably not actually. In my opinion, Trump does totally seem like the type who’d be abusive. I mean, he definitely is mentally and emotionally, so I certainly wouldn’t put it past him to also be so physically. So while I hated it, I also figured it totally checks.

Then there was the fact that anyone could possibly think that Trump, a six time bankrupt businessman, a thirty-four time felon, and a twice impeached president could possibly be better suited to debate than Harris. Who I’ll remind you was an esteemed vice president, a senator from the great state of California, as well as that state’s attorney general. She was arguably the single most qualified individual to ever run for the presidency.

These first two thoughts though held nearly no merit next to the third and final reaction I had to his whack-a-doodle statement: why did he assume that I, like him, supported Trump!?! I was absolutely appalled and responded with the first thing that popped into my mind:

“Don’t assume that because I’m white, I’m also an idiot.”

His face instantly lost that stupid smirk and contorted itself into a look of complete shock, awe, and ultimately, disgust. Now it was his turn to be appalled and process all the individual thoughts racing across his mind. His delay was almost nonexistent though before delivering his rebuttal, “b-b-but I’m white.”

I just stared at him with a stern and disapproving look and shook my head. “I know,” I said, as I watched his face perform the acrobatics of his mind as he tried to make out exactly what I was saying. I could tell this was going to be a long process, so I decided to wipe away any confusion and provide him with some complete and total transparency.

“Her name is, as I’m sure you know, Kamala. And yes, I’ll absolutely be watching the debate tonight. You couldn’t pay me to miss it.” Now some of you may not know me well enough to know the tone in which I delivered these statements, so let me assure you, they were delivered with complete and total eye contact and a slow flow of my words. I needed to ensure there was zero misunderstanding of the message I was delivering. This old man had pissed me off real good and I wasn’t about to let him out of the trap he had so confidently walked himself into. I continued, “I cannot wait to see Kamala absolutely crush Trump’s dumbass tonight. In fact, we’re having some friends over and making a little party out of it. We all love her and are so excited to see Kamala mop the floor of that debate stage with that talentless idiot.”

“I- I- I- d-don’t think th-that’s what’s g-going to ha-happen,” the old man stuttered in response. Clearly quite shocked by the fact that this wasn’t at all going like he had anticipated. Good.

“Well, I have a pretty good feeling you’re in for quite a surprise tonight then,” I replied with the same level of confidence he had begun our conversation with. Then to bring a swift end to this pointless debate of our own, I delivered the line that brought me back to peace and quiet: “Donald Trump is a domestic terrorist who belongs in prison, not the campaign trail.” It was about fifteen seconds later that this old man got up and exited the jacuzzi. Good riddance.

I’ll be honest, it was extremely insulting that anyone could look at me and think I automatically supported Donald Trump. I remember sitting there after that clown left the cuzzi and thinking to myself, is this what everyone thinks when they see me and think politics!?! There’s that extraordinarily well-dressed white man, bet he supports Donald Trump. It was sickening that anyone could make that connection, but following the results of the election, I get it. Sadly, I definitely get it.

Only 38% of white men who voted did so for Kamala Harris. Oof. No wonder the man from the jacuzzi was so confident in his approach. Now seems like as good of a time as any to remind everyone reading this that we’re all much closer to being homeless than we are a billionaire. A vote for Trump was quite literally against one’s best interest, unless of course your best interest happen to be racism, xenophobia, bigotry, false-Christianity, and any other deplorable trait that one can easily align with Trump. If these are the character traits you care about most, then honestly, you couldn’t get yourself a better candidate than the one you had in Donald J. Trump. He is the complete and total embodiment of evil. I thought this back in 2016 when he was first running for President and I’m more convinced than ever of this now.

In just three weeks we have seen a complete and total assault of our democratic norms by the evil Trump regime. They are working on erasing the Department of Education; they want to relocate and redevelop the Palestinians in Palestine; they have allowed equally evil Elon Musk to infiltrate the Department of the Treasury for God-only-knows what heinous purposes; they are conducting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids on innocent people who rightfully belong in this country; they have entered us into a pointless and dangerous trade war with some of our closest allies; the list is as expansive as it is evil and it hasn’t even been a month. I can’t imagine what other fresh hells lie on the dark horizon. We are living in truly dangerous times as our newly “elected” government leaders march us towards fascism.

This sickening descent into fascism is why I decided to share this now, honestly, while I still can. If you follow me on any social media, you’ll know that I’m basically an anti-fascist page and I felt my blog should be no different. I cannot sit by and remain silent while those in marginalized communities repeatedly fall under attack each day by a newly unleashed barrage of evil. As a proud American, I see it as my duty to fight back against the treachery and terror being promoted by the evil Trump regime.

Let me make no mistake about it, I’m angry. I’m nearly sick with anger about what is happening in our country, but also let me make no mistake about it, I realize that my anger is a privilege. It is because of my white privilege I am able to be angry without an attachment of personal fear.

So many others are absolutely terrified about what may happen to them in Trump’s America. Someone recently shared with me that they refuse to travel across the river over to Missouri on their own for fear of what may befall them in that red state. I also had a friend attend a weekday wedding recently for a homosexual couple that was scared that if they didn’t get married now, they might soon not be able to. These are just two examples that I’ve heard myself in the past couple weeks, but we all know there are millions more out there.

So yes, I realize that I have the privilege to be angry without personal fear in this horrifying environment we have all been thrust into without our collective consent. Because make no mistake about it, Trump’s election is certainly no mandate. He is supported by about 33% of the population. So because a third of the country cares for no one but themselves, we must all weather this same hurricane together, but not all of us are in the same boat, just the same storm. Those of us in theoretical yachts need to use our vessels to help keep the marginalized in our communities afloat. I firmly believe anyone in a position to do the right thing needs to make certain they always are, especially now. These next couple of years (pray this nightmare has an expiration date) will be worse than I think any of us can even imagine.

Fascism has no place in America and it couldn’t be more evident that Donald Trump and his evil henchmen are all fascist. They are as unAmerican as it gets and the only people they’re working on making America great again for are the robber barons of the twenty-first century. That’s it, only the billionaire bros, not the average joes. Again, let me reiterate one more time, anyone reading this post is much closer to being homeless than they are a billionaire.

Socioeconomics aside, anyone being a good and decent human being who cares for those outside of their immediate circle because it is the good and decent thing to do possesses a fortune far greater than that of terrorists like Donald Trump and Elon Musk. There’s no such thing as debt forgiveness when you’re as morally bankrupt as Trump, Musk, and anyone else continuing to uplift their fascist regime.

In these dark and deplorable times, silence is the loudest form of complicity. Here’s two easy ways for you to help fight fascism:

Goods That Unite Us: Search any brand, store, company, etc. to see where they give their money to politically. This has been very beneficial for us when shopping. From the knowledge gained by this app, we have dropped several brands we once used and swapped them for similar products. We refuse to spend on our money with brands and businesses that align themselves politically with Trump and his evil regime.

5 Calls: Contact Your Congress: 5 Calls does the research for each issue, determining out which representatives are most influential for which topic, collecting phone numbers for those offices and writing scripts that clearly articulate a progressive position. You just have to call! Congressional calls have been up 3,600% in the past three weeks! Calling your elected officials makes a difference and this app helps you make that difference!

As always, THANK YOU for reading, I greatly appreciate your support! Feel free to leave a comment below as I love reading and responding to them! Also, please feel free to share this post far and wide! I’ll return soon with another all-new blog post, so until then, I wish you all, all the best!