Another quote

[nwhiker]

Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first. -Charles de Gaulle, French president (22 Nov 1890-1970)

Obviously, there is more to it than that, I think, but it does truly explain some of what is happening in the US today: Trump voters hate The Others (blacks, any POC, really, liberals, LGTBQ+ people, foreigners) more than they love and care about their own group and themselves.

They would rather suffer if it hurts others than see others get ahead. Their hatred overwhelms even their selfishness.

I'm not feeling very optimistic this morning (lack of sleep, in part, I suspect). I just saw yet another heart breaking story about the death of a young African American mother. It's the "even when controlling for socio-economic factors" thing that gets me. It's not lack of pre-natal care. It's systematic racism. And then in the comments on a tweet, a hateful guy saying it was because AA women had kids young and back to back, and it pissed me off, because the data doens't back him up, but I was too cowardly to get into a discussion with a Trump voter (according to his profile). UGH.