Is this your immediate future Todd?


I feel betrayed by my Trump-voting extended family. It goes beyond just the fact that Trump is the worst candidate I can imagine. It’s that I have a son with severe autism. Everything in life is a challenge for him. He is near puberty now, and this flood of confusing emotions just makes everything that much more overwhelming to him. He is regressing in school. He has developed such deep obsessive-compulsive behaviors that they affect every aspect of his day. He can barely communicate verbally, and it’s hard to understand what he’s trying to say even when he does talk as rarely do the string of words make much sense. He can’t communicate how he hurts physically or emotionally.

Anything new scares him to death. He has no sense of his own safety or the dangers around him. He is getting bigger and taller. When he panics, it’s almost impossible to keep hold of him so he doesn’t hurt himself or others. He may run into traffic. He doesn’t mean to harm anyone. Deep down he is kind and even silly. The world is just often a terrifying place for him, and I fear this is only going to get harder for him.

We get basically no assistance from local or state disability services. We’ve been on the Medicaid Waiver wait list for years with no end in sight. Frankly, we are getting rather desperate. We are just exhausted. We feel like we are losing. We feel like we are failing him.

Compounding this is that we have a younger son. He alternates between fiercely loving and protecting his older brother to being completely overwhelmed by a life that to him feels really unfair. He often has to play second fiddle to his brother because he has so many needs. It isn’t fair. We do whatever we can to make him feel special in his own right and spend focused time with him. But sometimes things blow up, and we have to deal with it. He’s had to grow up so fast. He’s had to see things that are pretty scary. I don’t know how someone his age processes his older brother screaming and stomping and banging his head, but it has to be terrifying. We talk about things regularly, but still. It’s so hard.

We get no respite or help. We grab what advice and help we can from professionals, but we can only afford so much of that. We have begged and pleaded. We were told we can only get government assistance for our son right now if we threaten to hurt him.

Trump has threatened to take away all of his education rights.

Trump has threatened to take away what pre-existing condition coverage we currently rely on.

Trump’s plans would destroy any chance of him ever getting a Medicaid Waiver for help now and funding that might let him have independence later.

Trump would leave us and him on our own.

Trump’s plans would destroy his future.

And worst of all, Trump has made it OK to bully and mock my son. Those who support him are saying it’s OK, too. They have created a culture in which kids see it’s OK to bully. And if you’d ever meet my son, he has so many of the outward, stereotypical behaviors of an autistic child. You might as well paint a big bullseye on his back that says “bully me”. He would have no way to defend himself. He wouldn’t even understand what is going on. I am terrified every day for him.

The biggest stab in the back are all the Trump supporters in my family who say they love our son. They know how desperate things are for him and for us. They know what Trump has done. They know what his policies will mean to my son and to our family. They know it endangers his present and his future. And yet, they voted for him anyway.

I feel utterly betrayed.

I never expected them to vote for Hillary. That would have been a bridge too far. But they could have left it blank or written in one of the uncles or something. Anything but this.

For his whole life, they have been about the only lifeline we have. In emergencies, they have helped us many, many times. Honestly, they are the only semblance of a support system we have if things go to pieces.

Our younger son adores them. He knows we like Clinton, so like many kids he likes who his parents like. I’ve talked with him a lot about how government works and how sacred voting is and how so many have sacrificed so that we might have that freedom to vote. We’ve talked about the Constitution and Amendments, suffrage and slavery, and so much of what I want my child to grow up knowing about. I want him to believe in our democracy. I want him to believe it works.

I haven’t told him a thing about why Trump is a cruel, heartless **** because he’s a brilliant kid for his age. He will know the people he loves voted for Trump, the man who mocked his brother and all who have certain challenges, and it will break his heart. But someday he will learn. I can’t keep him from knowing forever. Someday his heart will break. It’s a terrible thing to suddenly learn the people you love aren’t who you thought they were.

No matter what happens tomorrow, my family will be left with broken pieces that we might never be able to put together again. We have always put family before differences - and believe me we’ve had lots of differences - but this is different. This is saying that my son doesn’t deserve respect, that he is a second-class citizen, that he doesn’t deserve a chance at a better future, that my family doesn’t deserve help. I feel like we no longer matter.

Yes, this election has divided America in ways that might take us a long time to recover from. But it has also crushed families in ways we may never recover from. I want to believe there is a way forward. I want to believe there is a way to heal all the wounds that have been inflicted. But right now I can’t.

Right now, I am simply heartbroken.

Make sure Trump stays in his 757.


He also complained, as he often does, of Obama’s use of the Boeing 747 that is primarily used as Air Force One and how wasteful it is. Trump over the years and over this campaign has made it clear how fond he is of his own Boeing 757. In an interview with Rolling Stone last year, he even ― incorrectly ― claimed it was larger than Air Force One.

757-300 Length 178 ft 8 in (54.47 m) Wingspan 124 ft 10 in (38.05 m)
747-200B Length 231 ft 10 in (70.6 m) Wingspan 195 ft 8 in (59.6 m)

The New York Times reported this week that seeing the much larger aircraft parked near his own in Miami angered Trump to the point of his insisting on an insulting tweet, which his press aide softened before hitting send.

Get Trump a beer to cry in.

“Let me tell you,” he said, dismissing supporters who have credited him with leading a movement win or lose,”If I don’t win, I will consider it a tremendous waste of time, energy, and money.” he said before falsely claiming that he will have spent more than $100 million of his own money on his campaign.

Trump then repeated his false claim that he will have spent more than $100 million of his own money on his campaign. But a late October Federal Election Commission filing showed Trump was still $40 million short of that figure.

Did you have "the talk" yet Todd? It may be too late.

I've red your open and personal story and to be honest you broke my heart too.

I know there are people who have sometimes so much circumstances and life-events working against them.
But reading your story here on the forum, shocks me deeply and makes me desperately searching for comforting words.

But I can't find them, they are not there.

I can only say (but that's easy for me as an outstander) try not to blame your family too much. I completely share your feelings of treason.
But try to be honest to them and show your feeling to them on a non-accusing way. Maybe you all can still find each other...

I wish you and your family all the strenght and courage which you need these coming days.

Know that via this forum, there are people on the other side of the ocean which have taken you and your family in their heart.

I'm sorry Ronald. The story was posted on another forum I follow. It seemed appropriate for this one. I'll add your response to the other forum's replies.

I've got my own story about my step-son who was born with a laundry list of problems. He's an adult now but my wife and I worry about his support system and whether it will still be there if Trump wins.

Thank you for your heart felt reply.

o.k. I missed the metaphorical quality of your story.

This is internet......

I just got back from the only polling place in West Maui. In the years I've live here it's been a ghost town. West Maui is known for having the worst turnout in the state. Not this year.

The left turn lane was backed up at least four light cycles. I did an illegal left turn through the police station. It took ten minutes to get to the first table where they verify you're legal. Another ten minutes to get to where they hand out the ballots. And still another ten minutes to get a booth.

While waiting for a booth I commented to a poll worker that it appeared to be a good turnout. He replied, "I've been doing this for forty years. I've never seen it like this." And that's with a record 24,000 absentee and early voting island wide.

It looks like cranks bring out the vote.

The Trump women probably had "the talk" but it doesn't hurt to confirm they were listening.

TRUMP WINS!!!!!! TRUMP WINS!!!!!!

I was a deplorable until it became cool!!

You're still deplorable Bob, just because something becomes mainstream doesn't change what it is. Being a bigot will never be cool.

+1

...and the losing continues. How's your 401k looking this morning? Why does the "businessman" win, and the markets panic? We're screwed...

Just so you're not confused, I'm thrilled that Hillary lost, just wish we had a better option than Trump.

I just hope we're not looking at a rematch in four years, or worse (possibly more likely), Elizabeth Warren poking her nose into the ring.

Oh, and just when I thought I couldn't possibly have less respect for Hillary, she hides away and doesn't publicly concede. After mocking Trump when he said he'd contest a close loss. What a piece of work.

Mike

Congratulations to President-Elect Gregory Ammas Stillson. Where was Johnny Smith when we needed him?

whut? She conceded with a phone call to Trump at 2:30am and gave a gracious unifying speech this afternoon. Not sure where the problem is.

Hopefully, you're kidding Jake.

She didn't publicly concede and congratulate her opponent until the next day. That's pretty weak, at the very least for the untold thousands of people who worked on her campaign.

Normally, the loser publicly concedes before the winner accepts.

Maybe she was just getting a head start on prepping for the rematch.

Mike

You sound a bit like the NYT blathering fool, Ex-Enron advisor Paul Krugman (I know, only incidentally - you're not a fool Mike) --
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...Body&action=click&pgtype=article

"Still, I guess people want an answer: If the question is when markets will recover, a first-pass answer is never."

Dow Jones Industrial Average
INDEXDJX: .DJI - Nov 9, 1:57 PM EST
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S&P 500 Index
INDEXCBOE: .INX - Nov 9, 1:57 PM EST
2,160.34Price increase20.78 (0.97%)

Index Value Change Net / %
NASDAQ 5231.43
37.94 ▲ 0.73%


Also, the Clinton Foundation issued a brief statement regarding the election results: "No Refunds"

Talk about splitting hairs. Trump had ALREADY filed lawsuits to contest elements of the election before it practically began and you're upset because Clinton delayed making her public speech until the next morning? She didn't deny anything, didn't discount the result, she didn't do anything but make a positive, rebuilding, concession speech. I'm pretty sure you would find a way to be upset about anything she did because if that riles you up, wow.