R-E-S-P-E-C-T (Here’s What It Means to Me)

According to Merriam-Webster, the simple definition of ‘respect’ is

• A feeling of admiring someone or something that is good, valuable, important, etc.
• A feeling or understanding that someone or something is important, serious, etc., and should be treating in an appropriate way
• A particular way of thinking about or looking at something

In an interview published on Friday, November 11, 2016, Warren Buffett (a Clinton supporter) was quoted as saying (about President-elect Trump), “He deserves everybody’s respect.” Source

I take issue with that.

When did respect become something that is automatically granted to a person?

Isn’t respect something you have to earn? Kind of like trust?

I’m no more able to automatically trust someone than I am to respect him or her.

Why would I?

So when Buffett says that Trump deserves everybody’s respect simply because he’s now our President? I take umbrage at that.

I respect the office of the President. I don’t respect the man projected to fill that office come January 20, 2017.

Because President-elect Trump has done nothing to earn my respect. He’s done the exact opposite. His words and actions during his campaign and during his career have caused me to be suspicious of what a Trump Presidency will be.

He has mocked women. He has mocked people with disabilities. He has threatened people of color.

He became the mouthpiece for every rotting, bug-infested dark corner of our collective psyche. And using a hate-filled platform, he conned us into believing that he would make our lives better.

It’s like he’s that odd Uncle we all have. You know the one? He’s been married 3 or more times (because, you know, women are all bitches – he’s not done a damned thing wrong). His presence at the table during holidays means there are sure to be racist and sexist jokes (he never gets tired of the ‘keeping the woman in the kitchen’ genre of humor). And he’s able to look at you with a bizarre, wide-eyed innocence when you call him out on it. “Huh? No! I don’t hate women – it’s just a joke!”

Sound familiar? I know there’s at least one of those people in your family.

He’s the one who is bitter about not being able to say certain words anymore. He’s growls about political correctness ruining everything. He honestly believes that the world was a better place when women, black people, Hispanics, Asians, etc. didn’t have a say – didn’t have a voice.

And while we can sit back and make excuses in our families (oh, ignore him – that’s just Uncle Charlie), we cannot sit back and make excuses for our President.

We cannot just blindly respect a man who has done nothing to earn that respect.

And until he makes a concerted effort to address the problems his campaign exposed in our country (I’m not saying he caused them – the problems were there – he just polarized them), he will not have my respect.