Time To Grow Up, Shut Up, and Play Nice

After months of Trump- and Hillary-bashing, we’re finally days away from the election, and guess what? We’re really going to have to stop with the jokes and the screaming and the hateful allegations, folks. Like it or not – and there will be a boatload of people who do NOT like the outcome, either way – we are very soon going to be faced with a four-year presidential term for either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.

I say it’s time to suck it up, pull up our big girl/boy panties, and act like civilized adults about the situation.

Starting with . . . how about we decide to give these folks the benefit of the doubt now and then?

Let’s start with Donald Trump, since I’m a Clinton supporter. Personally, I think he’s a delusional nut job, among other things. However, if Donald Trump is elected president, I’d like to believe that whether or not I think there is any logic behind the majority of his pronouncements, his heart is in the right place. That’s right. He may be clueless – in my opinion – but I’m going to believe that he sincerely does NOT want to screw up the country and will do his best to be a good president. He will not purposely do anything stupid. However, when he does do something stupid (because we ALL do stupid things now and then), I will believe that he tried his best and meant well. I will pray that the stupid thing does not result in nuclear war.

I will not scream that he should be put in jail for screwing up. I will no longer make fun of his hair, his apparent fondness for tanning booths, his limited vocabulary, his multiple marriages, misogynistic tendencies, exaggerated rhetoric, etc., etc. I reserve the right to complain about any actions he takes that I may disagree with, but I won’t make fun of him or his family on a personal level.

Now, how about Hillary Clinton? First, let’s stop with the “throw her in jail” bullshit. If Trump becomes president and his followers say, “Hey, Donald, let’s get that special prosecution up and running so we can throw that bee-atch in jail, okay?” President Trump’s response will likely be something like this:

“Are you crazy, or just stupid? I just said that to get you to vote for me. You didn’t think I meant it, did you? Or that I’d actually build a wall and send Mexico the bill? That’s just politics, you nitwits. Move on.”

So when we start acting like adults, we must stop calling President Clinton a bee-atch and – again, with the benefit of the doubt thing – we will start to think that maybe the Benghazi incident happened for tragic reasons, but not due to Mrs. Clinton sitting in bed reading People and eating Chex Mix while thinking, “I’m not helping those crybabies.” No. The lady sincerely tried to do her best but in this case, it resulted in disaster. Ever heard the bible verse about throwing the first stone? Right. Unless you were there and know the circumstances, stop judging and move on.

In fact, unless you were sitting next to Hillary at her desk and saying, “Hey, hon, don’t use that private mail server. What are ya, stupid?” then just shut up about that, too. You can’t read her mind. She sure as hell didn’t do it to sneak state secrets to Papua New Guinea or anything.

Oh, we can go on and on and on, can’t we? But Donald said this. Then Hillary did that. We hate her because she’s a woman and her husband cheated on her and she sometimes has that stupid little smirk while people try to crap all over her. Yeah. That’s a good reason to hate someone. Maybe she really is a Good Person. A loving mother. A doting  grandmother. Give her a break, for crying out loud.

We hate him because he looks ridiculous and how can we take a guy seriously who thinks it’s okay to walk around with that hairdo, never mind all the absurd statements he makes. If Trump becomes president – we’ve just got to let all that crap go and hope that the outrageous comments were mostly just his version of political blather.

And for God’s sake, let’s hope they both are wise enough to surround themselves with intelligent, knowledgeable advisers who are, perhaps most importantly, GOOD PEOPLE, and – please, God – that they LISTEN to these people and don’t make any irreparable mistakes between now and 2020.

So that’s it. Grow up, people. Get ready for a new president and let’s treat him or her with the respect and dignity that the office deserves. Don’t forget – benefit of the doubt. Let’s make that our mantra when things look grim. Don’t go into this assuming our new leader is either the devil or a crook.

Let’s give them a chance and believe their intentions are honorable. I don’t know about you, but I can forgive, and even be supportive if I believe someone is sincere and honestly trying to do what’s right.

What do you say we start there?