The insidious effect of Trump and his ilk
We all know too well the debacle the last presidency was and the behavior of those at the top. But just like long Covid, the effects of the New Conservative movement lingers and festers. How do I know?
Our best friends used to be our next door neighbors. On the other side of us, an unofficial Italian cousin to my wife, a burly New Yorker with a soft spot for his mother. We spent years laughing together, planning together, being each other’s fallbacks. We shared meals, events and occasions.
And then Trump. He divided a nation and all our neighbors, who happened to be ardent Trump supporters, suddenly no longer spoke to us as often or as nicely. Eventually, we became something detestable in their eyes; diverse neighbors became “the dirty lesbians” next door. Sharing house keys with one side has turned into a camera-ready compound an absolutely zero regard for things they want in their lives that might annoy others, like playing loud Toby Keith every night in our adjoining lot or installing a 6-foot white monster wall along our shared property line. With our 5-foot wooden fence, you can imagine the future view. Their answer? Raise our fence.
On the other side, our neighbor is incensed that we feed birds once a day. Not pelicans and chickens, mind you. The few wild birds that live in Florida whether or not humans are around. After throwing a tizzy fit that would shame and entitled princess, he tore into us because one of the painters had used the empty driveway to park in. He threatened to to sue us for…I don’t know what, because we’re doing nothing wrong. This same man demanded to be present and complained that he had to change travel plans so he’d be home when our roof was replaced in a day. This same man takes his hemi truck out each and ever night to go to the gym to pick up girls between 2-3 am (it’s a sham gym) despite noise ordinances.
One neighbor telling us we have to live with their decisions (after we extended the kindness to alert them of our work and even let them know which exterior paint colors would be used). Another neighbor wants the freedom to act as the community deacon, imposing his will over anyone. Wants what he wants but will allow nothing for others. He’s a cranky, bigoted homeowner president in a younger man’s body.
And that’s where my wife and I find ourselves these days. With the HOA breathing down our neck because beige and dark brown are apparently not approved house colors anymore. Lavender is; canary yellow is, peeling whatever-the-f**k is, car sun visors as blinds are f-ing sublime in this area. The tail of an entire car cemented to the front of a house is approved. Not our house colors found in a basic paint book. My wife is convinced their serendipitous arrival just as each phase of work begins is far from chance.
And we deal with it. No laws are being broken in squeezing us out. Neither are we doing anything wrong. But after enough grinding, it’s not about right and wrong. It’s about who’ll blow up the place just to say they own it. And we’ll move on, glad to be gone of cowardly, angry, myopic people living in a dying ghetto neighborhood. But the process is unwelcomed, it’s unwanted and it speaks to the emboldened arrogance and mean-spiritedness of this movement. They are oaks in a world that rewards willows. They will burn stuck in the same ground they set on fire. We see it everywhere – people who think spewing filth is a protected right, people who’ll gladly sacrifice other’s rights, comforts, freedoms for their own petty desires. People who feel emboldened to act any way they like in the name of truth when in fact it’s simply base behavior unbecoming a thinking, sentient being. Trump behavior.
Ugly is ugly, no matter how you package it and when you can’t calmly defend your own position, that should be a clue you have no position at all.
Our best friends used to be our next door neighbors. On the other side of us, an unofficial Italian cousin to my wife, a burly New Yorker with a soft spot for his mother. We spent years laughing together, planning together, being each other’s fallbacks. We shared meals, events and occasions.
And then Trump. He divided a nation and all our neighbors, who happened to be ardent Trump supporters, suddenly no longer spoke to us as often or as nicely. Eventually, we became something detestable in their eyes; diverse neighbors became “the dirty lesbians” next door. Sharing house keys with one side has turned into a camera-ready compound an absolutely zero regard for things they want in their lives that might annoy others, like playing loud Toby Keith every night in our adjoining lot or installing a 6-foot white monster wall along our shared property line. With our 5-foot wooden fence, you can imagine the future view. Their answer? Raise our fence.
On the other side, our neighbor is incensed that we feed birds once a day. Not pelicans and chickens, mind you. The few wild birds that live in Florida whether or not humans are around. After throwing a tizzy fit that would shame and entitled princess, he tore into us because one of the painters had used the empty driveway to park in. He threatened to to sue us for…I don’t know what, because we’re doing nothing wrong. This same man demanded to be present and complained that he had to change travel plans so he’d be home when our roof was replaced in a day. This same man takes his hemi truck out each and ever night to go to the gym to pick up girls between 2-3 am (it’s a sham gym) despite noise ordinances.
One neighbor telling us we have to live with their decisions (after we extended the kindness to alert them of our work and even let them know which exterior paint colors would be used). Another neighbor wants the freedom to act as the community deacon, imposing his will over anyone. Wants what he wants but will allow nothing for others. He’s a cranky, bigoted homeowner president in a younger man’s body.
And that’s where my wife and I find ourselves these days. With the HOA breathing down our neck because beige and dark brown are apparently not approved house colors anymore. Lavender is; canary yellow is, peeling whatever-the-f**k is, car sun visors as blinds are f-ing sublime in this area. The tail of an entire car cemented to the front of a house is approved. Not our house colors found in a basic paint book. My wife is convinced their serendipitous arrival just as each phase of work begins is far from chance.
And we deal with it. No laws are being broken in squeezing us out. Neither are we doing anything wrong. But after enough grinding, it’s not about right and wrong. It’s about who’ll blow up the place just to say they own it. And we’ll move on, glad to be gone of cowardly, angry, myopic people living in a dying ghetto neighborhood. But the process is unwelcomed, it’s unwanted and it speaks to the emboldened arrogance and mean-spiritedness of this movement. They are oaks in a world that rewards willows. They will burn stuck in the same ground they set on fire. We see it everywhere – people who think spewing filth is a protected right, people who’ll gladly sacrifice other’s rights, comforts, freedoms for their own petty desires. People who feel emboldened to act any way they like in the name of truth when in fact it’s simply base behavior unbecoming a thinking, sentient being. Trump behavior.
Ugly is ugly, no matter how you package it and when you can’t calmly defend your own position, that should be a clue you have no position at all.
