With layoffs, furloughs, and involuntary leaves of absence preventing many Americans from both keeping a job and finding a new one, it’s oddly fitting we now find ourselves responsible for filling some of the most critical positions in our country including that of the next commander in chief.
Just as we carefully choose who will fill vacancies in our everyday places of work, so too do we determine who’s qualified to work for us, to represent us, on a local, national, and international scale. This is why, during hiring season, I like to think of our president more as our employee than I do our leader. And, with exactly 30 days left until we, the voters, hire the next guy, I think it’s worth discussing why Donald Trump should no longer be under our employ.
In his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump made it through our initial interviews and sub-par background check after listing only “different,” “better,” and “great” on his resume. Many of us voiced our concerns to the hiring committee, but he was given the Republican nomination nonetheless.
It was during this time, when he began gaining serious traction for his antics, quips, and general tomfoolery, that I told my husband Trump’s rhetoric wasn’t as funny as it was dangerous. Looking back now, although gratifying to know I was right, I’m also equally disheartened to learn I wasn’t wrong. Because after becoming the 45th president of the United States of America, he has not only marginalized, excluded, and divided our collective workplace, but empowered a large portion of our country to do the same.
In addition to telling lies, inciting violence, and encouraging hate, in the last year alone he has continued his assertion that all reporting is “fake news,” stated mail-in voting is “ripe with fraud,” said a pandemic that has killed more than 205,000 Americans “affects virtually nobody,” and declared that unless he wins in 2020, the entire electoral process is a scam.
Even more recently, at the first presidential debate, or what I like to refer to as the final stage of the interview process, instead of making his case as to why he should continue to be our president, he yelled, interrupted, lied (again), and failed to condemn white supremacists on national television, which, for me, should have been easy enough for any candidate to get right. But no, his response was to tell a far-right group that openly engages in political violence to “stand back and stand by.”
What’s more, for years, he’s made it clear that if you disagree with him you’re the one who is sick, angry, dumb, dishonest, crazed, radical, incompetent, weak, and disgraceful (check out the full list of adjectives he’s used to describe people who clash with his views here). And, if you’re a Democrat, you’re also a fool, a snowflake, a crybaby, and a libtard (a word Google docs no longer autocorrects).
Sadly, his rumors, inconsistencies, and insults are often repeated by many who then spread his hate throughout our country without ever questioning why he’s so right, why everyone else is so wrong, and why they’re all so angry in the first place.
This trickle down effect is what has me the most concerned because some of our colleagues who support him don’t actually agree with what he spews on an ongoing basis; they’re just hooked on the donuts he brings into the office every Friday. These “donuts” come in a variety of flavors, including the reversal of Roe v. Wade, more conservative judicial appointments, hatred of the Clinton’s, and a host of other causes that force some to continue to vouch for him in spite of all the harm he’s done. And in many ways, this is the kind of devotion I can understand. I realize some issues matter more to some people than they do to others and I’m in no way asking someone not to defend theirs. But what I am asking is, after four long years with this guy in our office, do Friday’s donuts really outweigh a toxic work environment?
Still, some will say Trump is their choice because he yells the loudest, he interrupts the most, he belittles the hardest, and he bullies the best. So to these people I must ask: is this the same kind of disposition you would tolerate in your actual place of work? Is this what you’re looking for in an employee? If it is, and you can somehow condone this kind of behavior, I also think it’s important to remind you that our role as voters, as employers, is not to defend the actions of our elected officials but to consistently question whether they are doing right by you, right by your country, and right by your colleagues who also happen to be your fellow American citizens.
Because the bottom line is, if Trump wants to run our country like a business, it’s high time we start treating him like an employee. After all, if he was indeed working for any of us, I think it’s safe to say we would have fired him a long time ago.
Title Track: “Takin’ Care of Business,” Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Listen here.
