War on Christmas, et al.

After my initial rants, I’ve held off, in the hopes that our so called president-elect would begin to act more like an adult and more like a president. That hope has clearly been in vain. Trump is surrounding himself with sycophants, ideologues, bigots, and wealthy people. Knowledge, expertise, and qualifications are not merely unnecessary, they are downright disqualifying for the incoming administration. In the meantime, Trump is continuing to take his position as “Liar in Chief” of America.  He was always by far the least honest of the candidates, even during the primaries. His sole focus has been on what gets him attention and on what gets his supporters excited. Truth is irrelevant.

The latest is Trump railing about a “War on Christmas”, based on some far right wing bullshit that started a decade ago. There is no war on Christmas. You can’t go into a store of any size without seeing decorations and signs about Christmas. You can’t turn on the television without seeing Christmas programs or Christmas oriented ads. The fact is you will continue to see these things because the Christmas season is the biggest retail shopping season of the year. It is also one of the peak travel seasons as people visit relatives for the holidays.

Where did the nonsense about a war on Christmas begin? As the country has become more diverse and as we have taken more seriously the separation of church and state, governments have moved away from religious displays on public property. Beyond that, some folks have taken to saying “Happy Holidays”, in recognition that this nation includes Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Parsis, and atheists among others.

I am Jewish and liberal, so my default greeting is happy holidays. If I am greeted with merry Christmas, I will respond with the same. If I know I am dealing with a Christian, I may also say merry Christmas. The fact that some people say happy holidays and some choose to celebrate holidays other than Christmas in no way diminishes the ability of Christians to celebrate their holiday as they choose.

Every year of his presidency, Obama has had a Christmas tree and Christmas decorations in the White House. He has wished people a merry Christmas. Obama and his family are Christians, regardless of the lies the right wing hate machine vomits out upon the body politic. The vast majority of our politicians, left, center, and right are Christian and will celebrate Christmas, albeit with their own family traditions.

We need to cut the nonsense. We need a president who will not set one group of people against another. Right now, Trump is setting his supporters against everyone who does not echo their beliefs. That is a recipe for disaster, fascism, tyranny, and chaos. G-d help us.