The Charlestown 1906

A year of madness

By Will Collette

One year ago on November 8, 2016, almost two thousand (1,906) of our Charlestown neighbors cast their ballots for Donald J. Trump. They comprised 42% of those who voted for a Presidential candidate and roughly 30% of the total number of registered Charlestown voters.

I only know the name of one Charlestown Trump voter with some certainty, and that’s Jim Mageau. I am certain he voted for Trump based on his several full-throated tributes to Trump published in Letters to the Editor columns (click here and here and here).

Pretty much everyone I know voted for Hillary Clinton, even though many, including myself recognized her flaws.

We understood Hillary was far more qualified on every level.

Trump by sharp contrast had already displayed his mean-spirited ignorance, lack of self-control, racism, sexism, tolerance for, if not the practice of, sexual assault, incompetence in business and authoritarian tendencies.

Somehow, those 1,906 Charlestown neighbors saw something different, something special enough to convince them to cast their votes for Trump. Some number of them were, no doubt, anti-Hillary votes.

I think many people, regardless of their Presidential choice, have been surprised that Trump has turned out to be even worse than he seemed to be during the campaign.

At this point, all but the delusional understand these facts: Trump is really crazy. Scary crazy. Narcissistic, paranoid, compulsive. A sociopath incapable of empathy. A compulsive liar. A vicious bully. And that's not all.

Is this what you wanted?

We also now know with certainty that he is a Nazi sympathizer because he has said that some of them are “good people” and he refuses all calls to denounce them. 

We know that, at best, Trump is a Russian patsy if not a tool for Russia’s unfriendly intentions toward the United States. At times, he seems to be their agent, passing them US intelligence secrets and doing them no-strings favors.

The only person on the planet Trump will not criticize is Vladimir Putin. What does that tell you?

We also know he has openly obstructed justice.

We know he has used his position to enrich himself and his family.

We know he has hired either incompetents or industry lackeys with blatant conflicts of interests to run most agencies of government. Or he has simply not bothered to hire people at all.

We know he has deliberately set a course to virtually end environmental protection, workplace health and safety protection, conservation of public lands, public education, green energy, endangered species, food security - even defunding Meals on Wheels.

We know he is incredibly lazy, physically and mentally. He betrayed his promise not to go golfing by instead going golfing one out of every four days. At the current rate, if he serves out his term, he will have spent a full year golfing.

We know he is intellectually lazy, unwilling or unable to learn basic facts about the issues and the procedures necessary for him to do his job.

Did anyone REALLY believe Trump would stop golfing?

We know he is playing games with our lives and those of millions around the world by taking us to the brink of World War III. 

That’s not me saying that but the Republican chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Corker.

I’m not making any of this up. I am not exaggerating. The record of Trump to date is perfectly clear.

He is a nightmare for this country and the globe. He has much of the planet on edge wondering what crazy thing he might do.

So, let’s get back to the Charlestown 1906.

Where are you? Who are you? And how do you feel about your vote now?

It is expected that people like me, dyed in the wool lefties, will oppose him. But what about you?

I’d like to hear from you. I’d like you to speak up.

Babies aren't safe

If you have some justification for what Trump has been doing, I’d like to hear it.

If you don’t like what Trump has been doing, I think you owe it to the rest of this country to step up and do something about it.

You voted for him and if you now realize that was a bad idea, you need to act.

Unless Trump concocts some reason to resign - a distinct possibility - the law provides two paths to remove him from office: impeachment or removal for incapacity through the 25^th Amendment.

Neither is his daughter

Despite the facts and the clear threat to our country’s life and liberties posed by Trump, politics more than any other factor will drive any serious move to impeach Trump or remove him through the 25^th Amendment.

That’s where the Charlestown 1906 have their chance, one way or the other. If you think you did the right thing to place Trump’s finger on the nuclear trigger, if you like what you have seen over the past year, then shout your reasons why from the roof tops.

On the other hand, if this is not what you voted for, I think you owe it to yourself, your family and your Charlestown neighbors to take action.

I’ve read a lot of articles that discuss ways to try to reach out to Trump voters.

They usually say it’s a waste of time because Trump made it clear during the campaign that he was a megalomaniac, narcissistic, racist, sexist pig, that Trump voters are probably beyond the reach of logic and facts.

So lost are they in the swamp of Faux News that they probably have no grasp of how badly Trump is screwing them by breaking just about every campaign promise he made.

Without the hope of getting the things Trump promised, Trump voters are left with a man who is even more of a megalomaniac, narcissistic, racist, sexist pig than he showed himself to be during the campaign.

Trump: just the kind of guy who fulfills Jim Mageau's dreams

I don’t believe that all of the Charlestown 1906 are that delusional or stupid, except maybe Jim Mageau. 

For a very recent example of Mageau’s mindset, CLICK HERE.

I truly believe there are some people with the intelligence and conscience to be as upset about the state of affairs as the rest of us. National polling shows they exist.

If you are one of those, it’s time to step up. Speak up. Say that you voted for the man but now you understand that for the good of the country, he’s got to go.

Help the rising movement that aims to remove Trump from office before he blows us all to hell.