It is only right that purple is my favorite color. It is the mix of red and blue, hot and cold, fire and rain. I am a blue woman from a red family who lives in a red town in a red county in a blue state, purple is me. Long before the orange one, as I will forever now call him, I wrote and said that it is very hard being a liberal when you grow up in a conservative family and community. My ideas and concerns were often mocked, and I was teased at times that I was a “pinko commie” and while it was sometimes funny, it was most of the time not funny at all, because my ideas and concerns did not feel, or seem radical in any way whatsoever. My ideas and concerns seemed to always come from a deep well of kindness to others and an empathy for those who did not have what I had.

We all, well 81,283,485 of us, are in agreement that wanting justice for all, and quality affordable healthcare for all, and equal opportunities for all, and not to want to be an embarrassment to the rest of the modern world is not radical, it is human, it is decent. We all, well 81,283,485 of us, are in agreement that empathy and compassion for those less fortunate, or for those who did not have the same opportunities we did, and a desire to help them in basic, civil, humanitarian ways is not radical, it is human. We all, well 81,283,485 of us, think that “people are people” and that lying to them day after day, and convincing them to believe provably false information does not a lick of good for any of us or any of them.

I had the television on at the house where I was working last week, so I listened in real time as the son of the orange one tried to get an angry crowd angrier. He told many lies in a revved up way and even through a television screen, 200 miles away, I could feel the tension growing…then later I watched and listened to the orange one tell lots of angry people more lies to make them more angry, and then he told them to fight…if you tell a person a lie, over and over and over, and they begin to believe the lie, it is my opinion that they will do anything to continue to believe it, even when there is plenty of evidence to prove it untrue.

It is sort of like a bad husband; if he cheats on his wife, over and over and over, but swears that he didn’t, and brings her flowers and keeps her in a nice house and tells her she is imagining things, and that he loves her and would never hurt her, she will allow herself to believe that even when her AT&T text log on her bill shows her otherwise…she wants to believe that he loves her and is true to her. It is exactly this, in my opinion, that has happened to 74,223,744 registered voters in the United States…They were told that brown people were taking their jobs and raping their daughters and were criminals costing them money, and they were told that black people were ruining their neighborhoods and bringing down their real estate appraisals, and they were told that he was great, and was going to make the country great and that he had tremendous ideas because he was a tremendous business man and was going to make them all winners…AND SO EVEN WHEN THEIR OWN EYES AND OWN EARS SHOWED THEM EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY, THEY BELIEVED HIM.

I have felt, over these last four years, that “it” could not get much worse, and then, sometimes daily it felt exactly that; worse than the day before. I have felt, over these last four years, that people I deeply cared about and liked very much, neighbors, friends, and family, would read what I read, heard what I heard, and saw what I saw and realize that they were being bamboozled…but that is not what happened. Every day to and from work I saw more bumper stickers and flags and signs in my red town in my red county in my blue state, telling me that these neighbors, friends, and family were not reading what I was reading nor hearing what I was hearing and definitely were not seeing what I was seeing…how could they?? If they were, they could not possibly still be thinking that the orange one was great, or that he was doing a tremendous job, or that he cared at all about them in any way whatsoever. To write that I have felt sad these last years is terribly understated. It is totally fine to live in a family where I like mint chocolate chip and everybody else likes vanilla, or I like bar-b-q pork and they all only like chicken…those are differences that don’t matter in the scheme of things, but when your ideas and beliefs are in such total opposition really, it means that you don’t talk about current events together, you don’t laugh about a news story together, you don’t discuss policy or laws or court cases together, and as a purple person for whom these things matter, this has been very sad to me.

Today starts the last weekend of the administration of the orange one and I believe in my heart and soul that all of the world will be better off without the full-of-himself liar in the white house. I believe in my heart and soul that all of the world will be better off with the husband of a bright and smart and educated woman, who seems to be genuinely happy and in love with her and their family. I believe in my heart and soul that the world will be better off with a man who truly seems to have empathy for people less fortunate or who have suffered loss or hardships, and who can articulate a clear plan for a path forward out of the mess that has been these last four years. These are character traits one would look for in a mate. Would YOU WANT a husband who is a known cheater, liar, and bankrupted multiple times?? Would you want a husband who thinks that white supremacy isn’t a problem?? Would you want a husband who makes fun of a disabled reporter and who has had multiple charges or sexual misconduct spoken against him?? Call me too picky, but I would not want that man as my husband and I absolutely would not want him as my president…yet many people did…so what does that say about people?? I will move forward the only way I know how…I will know in my heart that my assessment of this person was spot on from the beginning, and I will hope that the next four years are bright and healthy for us all, and I will forgive those who were so misguided and duped because people are people and we all have flaws and I will simply hope that they choose better next time…purple people are like that…we want a mix of blue and red that makes the world more beautiful.

People are people, so why should it be, You and I should get along so awfully? So we’re different colours and we’re different creeds, And different people have different needs. It’s obvious you hate me though I’ve done nothing wrong & I’ve never even met you, so what could I have done? I can’t understand
What makes a man Hate another man Help me understand…And now you’re punching and you’re kicking and you’re shouting at me, I’m relying on your common decency, So far, it hasn’t surfaced but I’m sure it exists, It just take a while to travel from your head to your fist…People are people, so why should it be You and I should get along so awfully?