Monday, January 28, 2019

"Let them know Africans do love Trump"

    "Everyone here loves Trump," said the friend I was staying with while working on a story in North Carolina. "Even black people."
     How do you know? I thought, but did not say—guestly manners, and I suppose the restraint that puts Democrats at a permanent disadvantage in our current national tug-o-war. 

     I had barely seen a person, never mind a person of color, during my stay in this lovely suburb of Raleigh. Lots of tall, straight southern pine trees—growing telephone poles is big business here. Many old tobacco smoking sheds, little rough cabins preserved as a hint of the rustic charm being pushed out by suburban sprawl. But most people were obscured behind the tinted windows of wide-hipped Ford F-150 pick-ups.
     The government shut-down finally ended while I was away, and the victory for Nancy Pelosi and the Dems was being ululated on the pages of the liberal media.
     But the permanent opposition is having none of it. My friend roundly damned Pelosi while I pursed my lips, and is convinced this re-opening is but a three-week pause before Trump, master tactician, presses his struggle anew. Meanwhile, United Airlines sent an email pointedly suggesting I slip home early, ahead of Monday's polar vortex snowstorm. So I gratefully changed my flight, to find O'Hare oddly congested for Saturday night at 9 p.m.
     No matter. I confidently dialed American Taxi, with the relief felt when you spy your mother's face at the window. I was practically home.
     American Taxi let me down. Rather than briskly dispatch a taxi, an automated voice informed me they were short of cabs. It took my order, yes, and said they'd send a text. But no text came as I stood shivering outside. Only one or two American Taxis slipped by. Not promising. I called American Taxi back, busted through the electronic shells and found a real person, who told me there is a shortage of cabs. Several times, while I tried to pry out the information I needed: would there be, not only cabs available some time in the foreseeable future, but a specific cab available for me? And when might that be? He wouldn't say, and eventually I realized I was on my own. The government is being run by a egomaniacal fraud. Congress is seized up. And now, betrayed by American Taxi. It was as if they had snarled, “walk!”

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  1. It's hard for anyone to admit they made a mistake especially with one as big as voting for Trump. I deal with otherwise reasonable people in conservative forums who honestly think that Trump is still the cat's meow. It's just so easy to lie to ourselves since the truth can be so hard to face and that's something we all have in common save for a few brave souls of which I do not claim to be one.

  2. Yeah, all the problems in the Horn of Africa have been caused by the USA. The last few times returning to O'Hare have been challenging in terms of ground transportation. Especially the last two, one a 60+ minute terror descent through violent wind shifts followed by a holding pattern of the same. American Taxi then unable to seamlessly integrate smart phone technology with dispatching. My usual fallback to Rosemont bailed me out, I know some of the drivers and Pace runs a bus right near my place. The other flight brought me smack dab in the middle of a messy snowstorm. No cabs from American, new $5 surcharge to ride the Blue Line(Thanks Rahm), and backlog of Pace riders waiting for delayed buses. My Rosemont connections saved me. It could because of Lyft/Uber, but rather than rely on American, better to risk wrath of city drivers like you did.

  3. I wonder if that cabbie will ever realize that if he'd tried to come to America with Trump in office, he'd be shithole out of luck.

    1. Great observation. Doubtful that he will.

  4. You got one stupid crazy mofo giving you a ride, Mr. S. You should have yanked his chain and played some head games with him. What the hell, you'll never see each other again. And snarks about Obama would make my tip so teensy you'd need to be an atomic scientist to see it. I worked for hin in '08 and '12 and I'd have never let that stuff slide. At least you were a native and not some tourist, conventioneer, out-of-town businessman, or newbie who'd never been here before. Those folks would now have yet another "Chicago sucks" story to pass around. What a clown.

    Africans love Trump? Most Africans, at least the ones in Africa, are probably too busy trying to stay alive to care who's POTUS at any given moment. I seriously doubt that many Africans living here support our Dear Leader, and most of them probably miss Barack. Just your luck you found the rotten apple in the barrel. Africans for Trump...what a sick joke...that's like Jews for Hitler.

  5. Grizz, the guy would know where he lived. Best not to play games with him.

  6. Flying your Bonnie Blue Flag and speaking your mind is playing games? Why are all Democrats becoming such wimps? Why do so many on the left stay silent and let so many wingnut bozos walk all over them? To avoid a "confrontation" of any kind? Bozos NEED to know they aren't really the majority, or we will become Germany 2.0 in another couple of years. The Covington affair is just one more ugly signpost. Sadly, there's much more road ahead.

    I was at a surprise birthday party for my wife's brother, ten years ago, when two or three of his drunken a-hole buddies began loudly complaining about "that new (n-word) president" which time my wife dragged us out of there before I even said a word. Things would surely have escalated to the physical. They were seventy...and I was past sixty!

    That probably would have gotten me banned from all future family gatherings, forevermore, but it might have been well worth it.I still regret not having spoken out against those bigots. Haters need to be given a taste of their own medicine (Does anyone ever even say that anymore? Wow...even though I still feel 21 when I'm pissed, I'm so OLD).

    Mr. S. could have asked to be dropped off at some all-night eatery and called his wife, if he were that paranoid, which I doubt he was. Perhaps more like tired and disgusted. Journalists often find themselves dealing with much stickier situations than that one. Where has that up-against the-wall Weather Underground mindset gone? It's badly more than ever. Time to be rising up angry.

    1. It might have made you feel better to let fly at the geezers but you can't get through to most idiots. Driving professionally, logging hundreds of miles a day in the city, too often I caught myself screaming at bad drivers. They were mostly long gone and completely unaware and unmoved by my tirades. I was only making it worse for myself so I quit this practice. Mostly. I try to apply this lesson learned when dealing with bigots, Republicans and assholes.

