Opinion: Who's your political team?

Politics would be so much easier to handle if people simply admitted that their actions and motivations are driven by the “team” they follow.

I don’t feel like I have a team.

In this era, I don’t look at that as a bad thing. It allows me to step back and watch lunatics to the left and right of me make utter fools of themselves. In the past year, we’ve gone from having two choices that were universally disliked with general apathy about the election to having people march, protest and whine incessantly when one actually takes office.

From where I sit, this past year has been filled with false narratives, which probably is appropriate seeing the emergence of “fake news.” The narrative that we need to make America great again. The narrative that we need to close our borders. The narrative that one candidate was above the fray while the other is a racist, sexist, discriminating heathen. I’m particularly dismayed at the narrative that women’s rights are under attack.

I personally know two Fort Mill residents who participated in the recent marches, one in Washington, D.C. and one in Charlotte, and I’m still trying to figure out the purpose of those events. Both people told me that it was a united stand against the bigotry of Trump, the violation of women’s rights by Trump, and the racism and discrimination Trump fosters. Again, as a person not strongly tied to a side, I find this laughable.

Say what you want about OUR President, but this idea that women’s rights are in jeopardy seems to be one of the worst narratives of the many bad ones floating out there. Trump’s businesses have many women in places of power. He’s handed over responsibility of his ventures to his daughter while in office, not his sons. Furthermore, one of the most public figures in dealing with the press and critics has been Kellyanne Conway, who you would think would be a model for strong women by the way she’s handled herself. Instead, she’s ridiculed by many of the other “team” for such things as the way she dressed for the inauguration, which in the past would’ve drawn strong rebuke from the very people making the complaints.

I’d rather the marches were discussed as being a social therapy of sorts. Where people upset at an outcome could commiserate together. Instead, it is lauded as some triumphant stand against evil, a unified voice that racism, sexism and discrimination aren’t tolerated. If we believed another false narrative that those things already are tolerated or that a President two days into his term has already violated these tenets, that might have some merit, but absent that it falls flat on its face.

It is difficult to sit on the side and not smirk when Madonna, with traces of a British accent, talks about bombing the White House, and it is met with applause and approval. To hear a supposed gathering denouncing hatred and discrimination talk about a guy being covered in Cheeto dust and mocked for his appearance, reeks of hypocrisy. It’s easy to see this when taking a step back, but those stepping forward aren’t so fortunate. In fact, they are stepping in something else.

This story was originally published February 3, 2017 at 7:16 PM with the headline "Opinion: Who's your political team?."