More than anything over the last four years, I’m just exhausted.
I’m tired of the bluster, the bragging, the exaggerating, the lying.
I’m tired of the chaos, the confusion, the ignorance, and the incompetence.
I’m tired of straining to plan for the next few months or even weeks.
I’m tired of kids being ripped away from their parents, the parents lost and the kids left to die in cages.
I’m tired of the self-dealing, the quid pro quos, the unashamed corruption, the foreign bank accounts, the hidden tax returns, the side deals between family and foreign governments,
the abuses of power, the trampling of norms, of our government used as a weapon.
I’m tired of everything being a “hoax,” but another “hoax”surfacing by the end of the day.
I’m tired of “Lock Her Up.”
I’m tired of his sexual assault and his defense by our Justice Department.
I’m tired of experts called idiots, veterans called losers, women called the worst of all.
I’m tired of the sycophants, the enablers, the ‘I-didn’t-see-the-tweets,’ the henchmen.
I’m tired of doubting the peaceful transfer of power.
I’m tired of Putin, MBS, Erdogan, Bolsinaro, and the pillow-talk with Kim.
I’m tired of it being OK that Russia put bounties on U.S. troops.
I’m tired of white supremacists, Proud Boys, the KKK, and FOX.
I’m tired of seeing people who are suffering be made fun of, like the elderly, the handicapped, the ill, the poor, victims of fires and floods and hurricane devastation.
I’m tired of healthcare under assault, of pre-existing condition protections killed.
I’m tired of tax breaks going to for-profit schools.
I’m tired of tax breaks going to Mar-a-Lago members.
I’m tired of bailouts for coal barons who don’t even mine coal anymore.
I’m tired of his whining about wind.
I’m tired of his anything-goes debt.
I’m tired of my SALT deductions being stolen to pay for it all.
I’m tired of cheap gangster-swagger pinched into paisley golf pants.
I’m tired of Don Jr. and the other one, of Ivanka and her airbrushed complicity.
I’m tired of Jared with his unearned condescension, of Melania with her bored contempt.
I’m tired of Rudy Giuliani and the slime trail he leaves behind.
I’m tired of hearing “the greatest of all time,” “like we’ve never seen before,” “very strongly,” and “I can tell you, believe me.”
I’m tired of his “I’m under audit,” his “RussiaRussiaRussia,” his blaming of “Blue States.”
And so, so tired of his excuses.
Good God the excuses!
I’m tired of getting no answers to questions, but getting them very strongly.
I’m tired of the attacks on reporters.
I’m tired of the attacks on Congress.
I’m tired of the attacks on judges and courts.
I’m tired of the attacks on governors.
I’m tired of the attacks on cities.
I’m tired of the attacks on states.
I’m tired of the attacks on protestors.
I’m tired of the never-attacks on white supremacists, Proud Boys, the KKK, and FOX, no matter how many people they terrorize and kill.
I’m tired of the attacks on women.
I’m tired of my kids seeing it all and wondering if this is who we are.
And I’m tired of COVID.
I’m so damn tired of COVID.
Most of all, as a parent, I’m tired of the childishness of a spoiled brat who – it’s abundantly clear – will never ever grow up.
But I’m not too tired to vote.
And I’ll never be too tired to look on these past four years as the low point we can all join together to leave behind.
Douglas Parker
Port Washington
