Bullies In The Pulpit

 

It's no surprise the White House likes to use AI images where they post them on the official  government website. They have no problem lying right to our faces, so this is nothing new. The ten images The Guardian shared are clearly interfering with reality and should be dismissed as most of what comes out of Trump's and Karoline Leavitt's mouth are, with the exception of a few that will tell you everything you need to know about this regime.

The people in the White House remind me of the bullies I went to school with. They are relentless in their cruelty. They have fine tuned their ability to dig deep inside and pull out their most vile thoughts and behavior. They feel immense satisfaction, like a serial killer, after they have hit their mark. For the most part, those who became the victims of their tormenters stood mute. For me, I just wanted to do my time, as if a prisoner running out my sentence, knowing there would be no help from the guards, in our case, teachers or parents. We learned not to trust adults figures. I learned to eventually fight back just as hard. When someone pushed, I shoved them off the cliff. My tolerance for being bullied had ended. It became so prevalent in my life, I questioned every word spoken to me. A slight tease from a friend would set me off. In my eight years of living hell in a Catholic grade school I learned how to hate and to never trust anyone ever again. But, somewhere within, the Maggie who feels profound empathy, who still believes most people don't go out into the world hoping to ruin another person's day, that we just want to live our lives, coexisting and sharing our journey peacefully, somehow survived.

It's obvious to me the White House has cornered the market on finding the childhood tyrant. The bully children who became bully adults. Trump, Leavitt, Noem and Bondi. Along with the few like Patel and Miller, who more than likely were incessantly teased and humiliated as children, who grew up to hate, like I did. Unlike myself, they have gone to the dark side. If you can't beat them up, then join them, take what they have given you and throw it back tenfold at people who remind you of your young bullied past. Prey on the weak, the optimist, the caring and vulnerable. 

This is who runs this country. This is who posts artificially generated garbage to an official website of what is meant to be the most trusted avenue for every citizen. Bullies. Our entire government is run by bullies. I managed to keep the good within me, even after being taunted, teased, pushed, hit, beaten and mollified. They also taught me to fight back with twice as hard. You taught me well.