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Sunday, 11 September 2016

Will Celebrities Really Leave the US If Trump Is Elected?


Here we are in a heated election cycle where neither candidate is well liked, even within his or her own party. Now we have the “star trek” threats that we had when George W. Bush was running.  In other words, the threat by celebrities like Miley Cyrus, Lena Dunham, and Whoopi Goldberg who have all threatened to leave the country if Donald Trump is elected.  Of course, Cher, Eddie Vedder, Robert Altman, and Pierre Salinger threatened the same thing when George W. Bush was running, but when he got elected they suddenly changed their position.
Image: Jim Larrison via Flickr
What is it about celebrities that they think people actually care about them? Do they think that if they threaten to leave that some fan might change his or her vote?  Are they all so self-important they feel that the world truly does revolve around them?  Honestly, I can’t understand the notion of leaving the greatest country in the world because you don’t agree with who is elected president let alone telling the world about it.  I guess these people are used to airing their dirty laundry and believing that the rest of us really want to see it.  We don’t.  I don’t think anyone cares if any of these people leave.  We can’t get Justin Bieber to leave, and he isn’t even American; yet, these Americans are willing to throw it all away because they don’t like Trump.  I’m not a Trump supporter either and unlike most if not all of these people, I hold dual citizenship and have some place to go if I want to, but why would I want to?
It’s obvious to me that none of these people have ever lived anyplace else for an extended period of time, because if they did they would never consider leaving this great nation.  If they did not have the ability to come back to the United States when it was convenient for them, like to make money, they would reconsider the threat of leaving.  These celebrities want their cake and eat it too.  They want to act the lemming by making extreme threats to leave so they fit in with the rest of the Hollywood elite, while at the same time keeping the most precious thing they own: their American citizenship.  I haven’t heard even one of these celebrities threaten to renounce that precious gem.  Threatening to move is a meaningless gesture that isn’t going to happen anyway, so why make a fool out of yourself?.
I remember so vividly 9/11.  All of the vitriol, hate mongering, name calling, and threats to leave vanished that fateful day.  I will never forget the scene of President Bush standing in the rubble of the World Trade Center with a bullhorn in his hand standing next to an FDNY fire fighter when he gave his speech:
President Bush: "Thank you all. I want you all to know—it [bullhorn] can't go any louder—I want you all to know that America today, America today is on bended knee, in prayer for the people whose lives were lost here, for the workers who work here, for the families who mourn. The nation stands with the good people of New York City and New Jersey and Connecticut as we mourn the loss of thousands of our citizens."
Rescue Worker: "I can't hear you!"
President Bush: "I can hear you! I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people—and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!"
That day, all of the people of the United States were Americans.  We were one, and we were proud.  The day of the Boston bombings, we were all Boston Strong even though we lived in Chicago, St. Louis, and Los Angeles. It didn’t matter who the president was. The only thing that mattered was who we as Americans were and that’s what matters now. The leadership is who gets elected, but it is the people who run the country.  That is a truth that we cannot and must not ever forget.  That is a truth that this country was founded on.
Yes, I am a Republican.  No, I am not a Donald Trump supporter.  I suppose I keep hoping that Marco Rubio will rise like a phoenix from the ashes of a fiery convention as the nominee, after convincing everyone that he really is the right man for the job.  I guess hope springs eternal.  Regardless of what happens at the conventions, both Democrat and Republican, I am first and foremost and American, and I will support the president because he or she is the president. That does not mean I will support all of his or her policies; that is not likely to happen, as I am often in disagreement with issues on both sides of the aisle. But the president deserves our respect and our support, just as I have given to Barak Obama these last eight years.
These star trekking celebrities need to look at where their loyalties really lie.  Are they Americans first—or lemmings? Will they jump or in the end will they support Trump if he becomes the President of the United States?

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