Last week I sent out a message to the GVP community basically saying that: a) Trump was a menace to Gun Violence Prevention (GVP); and b) that I felt that the entire GVP community needed to sit down and come up with an organized plan to defeat him that would involve everyone who wants to see an end to violence caused by guns. I also said I would donate $1,000 to the favorite charity of the person who came up with the best campaign slogan that GVP could use to dump the Trump on November 8th.
I just sent the donation to Everytown, and I did so because I believe that the hashtag campaign Everytown started when Trump was speaking at the NRA -- #makeamericasafeagain -- really does hit the veritable nail right on the veritable head, at least when it comes to making it perfectly clear what this election is all about from a GVP point of view.
Because here's the bottom line: either you believe that a gun in your pocket or on your night table makes you safer or you don't. And if you believe you are safer, you are buying an argument the gun industry has been making for the last 30 years without a shred of evidence to back it up. Yea, there's an anecdote here and there about how this person or that person defended themselves with a gun; I'm not saying it can't be done. But what about the anecdotes about the 300 people who get shot every day -- intentionally and unintentionally -- with guns? And these aren't just anecdotes, this is a fact.
This is the problem with how Gun Nation and its putative presidential candidate deal with the issue of gun violence -- long on stories, short on facts. And his stories have become nastier and increasingly rely on calls for violence from what is often a very receptive crowd. People don't come to Trump rallies because they agree with his stand on the issues -- he hasn't made even the slightest attempt to define his position on the issues except to lead his audience in a chant: Build The Wall. And now that the PGA has announced they are moving Trump's Doral tournament to Mexico, let's see if he will make good on his blustering, stupid demand that would force every PGA golf pro pay a 20% tax on what they win in that tournament when they go to re-enter the United States.
On the other hand, to Hillary's credit, she has not only made GVP a centerpiece of her campaign, she's willing to stake her success on an issue that has been, more than any, symbolic of Washington's inability to get things done. And let's not forget what the other side is saying, namely, that the country is in such bad shape because government doesn't work.
I don't really care whether Hillary has grabbed the GVP issue because it's smart politics or not; how it positions her against Bernie is of no concern of mine. Let's get selfish for a minute and ask what her stance on gun violence does for GVP, namely, it gives the GVP community a presence and a platform that it otherwise wouldn't have. Was Hillary wearing orange last week?
But in challenging Trump over the gun issue Hillary is also challenging the GVP community. Because guess what folks? There are exactly 148 days until November 8th. And either the entire GVP community is going to come together, get it together, work together, vote together, or it's not. And this isn't something, I hate to admit it, that the GVP community hasn't done so well in the past. We tend to move in our own little circles, we usually talk only to our own little group of friends.
So let's just put all that aside and agree that from now until November 8th there's one thing that needs to be done. And we all know what that is -- defeat Donald Trump.