I Don't Understand

WARNING: This is my quarterly political rant and as such is likely to contain NSFW language. Polite dissension is encouraged. Assholery (and I get to choose what is assholery; this is my blog) will not be tolerated. Name calling is right out and will get you blocked.

Here's the thing: I don't understand people nearly as well as I thought.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard about the horrifying things Donald Trump (heh - I typoed that as "Tramp" and almost left it that way) said about "kissing women and grabbing their pussies." This is a clear description of sexual assault, both morally and legally.

These things themselves are not what made me so angry; I have grown to expect nothing better from him. What upset me was the reactions of the people who still - for reasons only they know - support him. Let's look at some of the "reasoning" I've seen online today:

• "Boys will be boys." Bullshit. The men I know (because they are not simply overgrown entitled twits who would never make it through Wonka's factory alive) may think things like that. I don't know; I've never been male. But if they do, they have the common sense and the common decency both to not act on it, and to keep their big traps shut on the topic.
• "But Bill Clinton..." Bill Clinton is not running for President. Hillary Clinton is. Bill Clinton's personal decisions while in public office are irrelevant.
• "But she supported him!" Yeah, she stood by her husband in a time when he coerced/seduced younger women into sexual relationships. Stupid of him. Possibly stupid of her. Her reasons are still none of our business, as it has nothing to do with today, or with, you know, the actual workings of government..
• "But Benghazi/emails/Bernie!" Let's take those one at a time, shall we?
• Benghazi: The "we'll do anything to block Obama" Congress found no wrongdoing after spending a bazillion taxpayer dollars. Not her fault.
• Emails: Stupid? Yes. Illegal? Again, no wrongdoing was found except in the mind of the RNC, which as we established is not an unbiased witness.
• Bernie: This is the one that hurts me. I wanted Bernie. My labor union wanted Bernie. My late husband wanted Bernie. Whether Clinton herself had anything to do with the DNC in the person of Debbie Wassermann-Schultz fucking with the primaries or not? I don't know the answer to that. More to the point, neither does anyone else.
• My dad asked me early in the process if I would support Hillary Clinton because she's a woman. My answer was no (remember; I wanted Bernie Sanders). To me, qualifications are the most important thing here. If the qualifications were exactly equal, then yes; I would vote for the female or other minority. Baby steps.
• And Hillary Clinton is the most qualified person running. You may not like her and you may not trust her (I'm not sure I do), but she is the most qualified, simply by job experience.
• "But OMG, what about the children! Democrats want everyone to get abortions! Gays are adopting children to convert them! They think only Black Lives Matter! People pretending to be girls so they can see me in the bathroom! White Christians are being persecuted by being forced to acknowledge that other holidays exist! Jews control the media! Dems want to take all the guns of law-abiding citizens! There are a bazillion illegal Black Muslim Mexican Welfare Queens voting!" Again, bullshit. 
• Democrats as a group want people to have equal rights. That's it. That's all.
• Everyone's lives matter. Right now the black ones are at (much) higher risk.
• Living breathing women are people too. And the abortion rate (and transmission of STDs) is measurably lower in places where more liberal attitudes prevail, because places like Planned Parenthood can provide birth control and education.
• Transgender people are people too. I have yet to meet one who is pretending. And none who are interested in looking into bathroom stalls to see you.
• White Christians are doing just fine. It won't hurt to nod and smile at someone who says Happy Holidays (for the record, most Christians I know are good people who don't make a fuss about this or red cups or what have you).
• If Jews controlled the media, Bernie Sanders would be where Hillary Clinton is now. Same goes for the so-called "liberal media" as a whole. If there was such a thing, we wouldn't have to have this conversation.
• Muslims are people too. 99.94% are not trying to kill you.
• I know a lot of Mexican-Americans. I know a lot of people from India and Japan and Korea and other points south and east. Of f all the people I know who hail from other countries (and I know a lot; the degree is in Intercultural Communication for a reason) the only ones who vote (or receive assistance) are the ones who are legal citizens.
• Nobody's taking away your guns. Relax. As for the more-people-are-killed-by-cars argument, well... spotting the two or three logical fallacies in that argument is an exercise for the class.
• Gay people are people too. I remember Abby - then six - asking me why she couldn't have two dads and a birth mom, like her friend M. 
• All of these groups are just people. They all pay more taxes than Donald Trump.

I guess what I want to know is why anyone with an ounce of conscience could vote for Donald Trump. I even have acquaintances who still plan to, and I just do not grok. 

As for third-party voters, well... I've been one. Their candidates get the short end all the time. I'm just afraid it's unrealistically idealistic to vote third party in this election.

Yes, I know you get told that all the time; "it's not a good time for a protest vote," or, "it's a wasted vote." In general I don't believe that is true; this system is hella-broken. But I think at this point it's more important to vote Democrat for president, and third party in the lower echelons, especially if you are a liberal progressive of any sort. You get enough Bernies in the legislative branch and they can make Hillary Clinton more progressive while she's in office.

Ain't nobody who can make Veruca Salt Donald Trump do anything he doesn't want to.