I Don't Have Any Questions

It's old news that, on Saturday, Donald Trump tweeted a congratulatory, self-promoting message in response to the tragic death of Nykea Aldridge. I posted that the tweet was, well, unforgivable.

A supporter of Trump's responded, we had an extensive dialogue. He pointed out that "the left" frequently uses tragedy to immediately advance a gun control agenda. He said that Trump is doing nothing that hasn't been done a thousand times before. 

I respected and conceded some of his points but was not persuaded. Trump's tweet, I argued, was not about policy. It was about himself. I thought it represented the worst in our politics.

Sunday morning, the supporter told me that Kellyanne Conway had "answered [my] question...no excuses or apologies for the tweet." 

Sometimes, for all of its limitations, Twitter helps me get very clear on where I stand. So, I responded: 

In this single reply, I figured out how I feel about the Trump campaign at this point. I don't have any questions. No explanations will change how I view Donald Trump. There are no policies, no promised SCOTUS nominees, no administration members, no endorsements, no facts that would make a difference in my vote. Donald Trump has shown us who he is. I don't need or want a pivot, a Trump 2.0 (or 3.0, or 7.0), a campaign restructuring. I want a different nominee, and since I can't have it, I'll look elsewhere.

Trump's tweet on Saturday reminded me of the adage that small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, and great minds talk about ideas. I wish this campaign could have been about ideas. But it hasn't been, it won't be, and at this point, I don't have any questions.