Day 5 of the Resistance

I've voted for candidates who've lost elections before--John Kerry, for example. I've voted for candidates who won the popular vote but lost the election. In the very first election I was eligible to cast a ballot, I voted for George McGovern. McGovern ran on an anti-war platform but was handicapped by his "outsider" status and also by the scandal surrounding his VP pick, Thomas Eagleton. Nixon carried all but one state (and the District of Columbia, my birhplace). It was a spectcaular landslide.

This year, "outsider" turned out to be the keyword for voters. The idea of someone coning from outside the political system to  champion those who have felt dismissed by the Washington insiders, was appealing. But the problem is that Trump may not be part of the Washington power structure but he very much IS a part of the power structure that has contributed to income inequality. He is a membe rof the class that can exploit loopholes in order to avoid taxes. (I guarantee you that as a self-employed writer, I pay more taxes than Donald Trump after I've paid my self-employment tax, that double-tax penalty people get for being entrepreneurial without actually having an enterprise.)


Donald Trump does not pay people who work for him. That's documented. Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against him for failing to  pay what he owes. I have a client who has owed me three thousand dollars for almost two years now. I live very frugally, so that's two months of rent and bills, and food. This guy has promised me multiple times that he is going to pay me, but in fact, he has no intention of paying me. Despite our contract.

My brother, an attorney (a sole practioner who is also owed money for his work because hey, after you help someone with their legal problems, why do they still need you) has advised me not to sue the scofflaw. "You'll absolutely win," he said, "but you'll go bankrupt doing it."

This guy is not the first to stiff me. A celebrity chef who prides himself on his relationship to music royalty and always used to sign his emails with affirmations of love and light, owes me a thousand dollars for the ghost-writing I did on his latest cookbook. Turns out, he's got a string of creditors behind him. And he's adept at dodging all of them. 

This is when I find myself writing revenge fantasy fiction. And I always ask for half-payment up front now because I honestly figure if I'm dealing with someone wealthy, that's all the money I'm ever going to see.

Donald Trump has never served his country a day in his life. Not in the military. Not in public service. Even his much-touted charitable donations are suspect. I have a friend who, even when he was making almost no money at all, was sending small dollar donations to political campaigns and a host of environmental causes he believes in. Because he is a citizen. And this is his country and that's what you do.

Donald Trump is #NotMyPresidentm not simply because I didn't vote for him. (And it doesn't cheer me one bit that he actually LOST the election's popular vote.) He is a man who has spewed hate and ignorance--he invented birtherism and he's a proponent of the anti-Vaxer movement--and that tells me he's a bigot AND doesn't understand science.

So, now, NO. No, I'm not going to just go along to get along. I know I'm just one small voice, but I am raising it. I'll be posting dispatches from the Resistance from time to time. Because silence = consent. And I do not consent to this. I do not approve the Trump message. If you're a T-shirt kind of person, go to Etsy. Find a message that resonates with you. Support an individual artist/artisan. It's a place to start.