The Truck and Trump

 

 

Marching up 31^st , I hear a man’s voice yelling. As I cross Clinton, I see him, scrawny and talkative, wearing a wrinkled red t-shirt and hanging down jeans. Who’s he yelling at? There must be someone on the other side of the street he’s aiming his hollering at. Yet I don’t see anyone at this point.

            “And I need a new truck!” he hollers. “But I can’t afford one now. If Trump, he get elected, I buy a new truck. But if That Other Guy wins, then I won’t. I don’t think he so good for the economy.”

            Huh? I shake my head as I walk by, invisible to Truck Man and now another older gent who’s cleaning out his car, who barely seems to be listening.  If Truck Guy needs a new truck now and he can’t afford it and Trump has been in charge of the economy for the last 4 years, then why does he think that his circumstances will change if Trump remains in power? I mean, c’mon, dude. You need a truck. You can’t afford one. Trump won’t give you one!

            And ‘The Other Guy’? Like Truck Man doesn’t even know Biden’s name? Sometimes I think that Trump gains a lot of supporters because of his name. It’s easy to pronounce and has instant recognition as a Big Man in Business. Hence the assumption that the economy will improve.

            I don’t know about you, Truck Man, or actually, now I do, but my economic situation has gone down the tubes since Trump has been in office. I’ve been laid off my full-time job, been on and off unemployment for the last two years, scrambled to make ends meet with part time teaching and editing jobs.

            Good thing I don’t need a New Truck!

            I always think I’m in the Bay Area bubble of only democrats with their Biden lawn signs and Anti-Trump venom. But then, out I walk in my neighborhood and overhear first hand how a Trump supporter thinks. Trump equals a booming economy.

            Again, it baffles me. I know I’m just one person who’s had a rough time financially, but let’s widen the circle. My Significant Other has completely lost his job and is living off social security and a small nest egg from the sale of the family farm. Granted, COVID was the catalyst for his loss of a job, but hell, isn’t Trump responsible for the severity of the pandemic, too? I mean, over and over we’re hearing now how he knew about the lethalness of this virus, back in January. And he hid it! He didn’t want to ‘panic’ the populace!

            I don’t know about you, but I’m a lot more panicked now that over 100,000 people have died in the US. Think of the lives that might have been saved if we’d know about the deadliness of the virus back in January. The precautions that we could have taken.

            Do you think massive death causes economic growth?

            And, to widen the circle further than my significant other, I can look at my friends and their financial woes. One a lifer bookseller who has had his hours drastically cut unless he wants to risk his life and work the counter again. Others are teachers and editors who have lost their gigs, with no guarantee of ever getting this work back.

            Yet, still…..People believe that Trump is good for the economy.

            I don’t know about you, and frankly, I don’t know what Biden and Harris are going to do specifically about the economy, but I can only imagine that they’ll be better than what we have. Why their promise to keep the Affordable Care Act is an economic boost right there! Imagine if I lost this? I wouldn’t be able to afford any health care. If I got COVID or Cancer or was felled by a stroke, too bad.

            So, Truck Man, I really hope that you get your truck. I do. But voting for Trump ain’t how this is gonna happen.

            Just examine your circumstances now. Are you better off than you were 4 years ago?

            I bet not. But then, I don’t know you. You’d have to think. And sadly, thinking and the lack thereof might be what keeps Trump in the Whitehouse.

            So, think about it people! I realize that most of the readers of this blog will agree with me, but to those who don’t…..: VOTE for Biden. That Other Guy is a whole lot better than the lying crook we’ve got in power now. For the economy. For the Affordable Care Act. For Democracy. For civility. For justice. For trucks!