Unconditional—No, Make That Conditional— Love

I’m still thinking about Mister Rogers. I confess that when I went to Wikipedia to find out more about the man, I was nervous that he would have some terrible skeleton in his closet— accused of pedophilia or abusive to his wife or neglectful of his children. Imagine my dismay when I indeed discovered something and it turned out to be worse than all of the above. Yes, according to Wiki (deserves fact-checking), he was “a lifelong Republican.!!!!!!”

Now if you happen to be Republican—not likely if you’re reading this Blog, but certainly possible and I kind of hope you are—I imagine a knee-jerk reaction and you’re ready to fire back your Libtard Rhetoric. And I don’t blame you. I have just insulted your Party and that does not make for respectful dialogue.

But here’s the deal. Your leader has recently torn innocent children from families. On the pretext of “taking a shower,” kids of “illegal immigrants” were taken away from their parents with no guarantee they will ever see them again. The shower imagery is a little too close to the Nazi shower story for my comfort. Or yours.

Now imagine how Mister Rogers would have felt about this. I can’t quite put together how a man of his values could vote for Nixon, Reagan or either Bush, but stranger things have happened. But don’t you think this might have crossed a line? And shouldn’t it for any decent human being of any political party allegiance? Not to mention your leader consorting with known dictators who have murdered some of their own family and consistently shut down human rights. Not to mention unabashedly sleeping with prostitutes (allegedly-ha ha) soon after his wife had just given birth to their son. Not to mention using a talk to the Boy Scouts to make fun of Hilary Clinton. Well, I’m just warming up here. The list is so long and yet this guy is still in the White House and it’s to the shame of all Republicans who continue to support him. Are they any Republican supporters like Mister Rogers left?

In fact, Mister Rogers was taken to task by right-wingers for telling children they were worthy of love “exactly as they were,” thus, making them "entitled, lazy, privileged."And he was accused of supporting Satan because he didn’t speak out against gay people. You know, the usual lovely Christian sentiment of the far— and now not so far—Right. Which is always wrong.

Consider Trump trying to understand what was actually being said here. His interpretation—and that of so many of his supporters—goes something like this:

“I love you exactly the way you are, as long as you’re:

    • A woman with a hot body.

    • A Christian who hates all the other fake gods.”

    •  Someone who adores me and should learn to stand up with a salute like my buddies Kim and

    Adolf.

    • Rich.

    • Super-rich. (But not as rich as me.)

    • Not an immigrant from a shithole country. 
    • Not a loser like those fake war heroes who got captured.

    • Not one of those intellectual types who cares about facts and thinks science is real.

    • White.

    • Heterosexual. Extra-points if the Me Too Movement is angry with you.

    • Willing to kneel before me. But not at the beginning of a football game.

So in your face, Mister Rogers! You see how I love people exactly as they are as long as they’re exactly like me. And if not, they’re losers and who could love a loser? Only another loser like you!”

PS. Don’t forget to tell the kids on your show to vote for me next election. Oh, your show isn’t running anymore? Did Frederick Douglas take it over? Oh, you’re dead? Or is this more fake news? Anyway, it’s a beautiful day in all the neighborhoods where I have real estate. Too bad you can’t enjoy it anymore.”