Christine Flowers: My new best friends
Like most Pennsylvanians with a cell phone, I was surprised at how popular I’d become over the past few months. It’s not that I’m a hermit. I have a healthy circle of friends.
But in August, my phone started getting messages from people I must have met in the past, and with whom I’d clearly reached some level of intimacy since they called me by my first name and asked about my health. It was both gratifying and somewhat creepy to have “Cheryl” or “Simon” checking in on me almost every day, and then having their friends “Susan” and “Allan” reach out on the days they were conducting surveillance on, presumably, other Pennsylvanians with cell phones.
Sometimes, my new friends sent emails because I imagine their cell phone batteries had died from texting me so frequently. The emails were very similar to the texts, only they asked me who I might be voting for in the upcoming presidential election. I generally don’t discuss politics with strangers, but since these were my new buddies I thought it would be okay to have a back-and-forth discussion. Unfortunately, when I tried to reply and tell them I was not voting for Kamala and that my health was great, it would bounce back as “undeliverable.” Strange, I thought, that my good friends had somehow blocked me after initiating such a warm and engaging relationship.
Then I started getting texts and emails from famous people, Hollywood actors and rock stars and former governors of states with three electoral votes. I had absolutely no clue as to how I made it onto their radar screen, but I figured Cheryl and Simon had spoken to them about me. These famous people weren’t as intimate as my other friends and didn’t ask about my health, cutting straight to the chase: they demanded that I vote for Kamala to save democracy. They also insisted, among other things, that the protection of reproductive rights for women who were currently in Kindergarten rested on my shoulders alone.
At this point it dawned on me that my popularity was limited to the fact that I was a warm body that was registered to vote in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
I’ll admit that I was a bit annoyed at first. Here I thought I was building relationships with people who might eventually join me on an Alaskan cruise, or help me pick out furniture for my new apartment, or maybe even go to the rescue shelter with me and help me choose a puppy. Instead, I was just another number, a ballot, a .000000000000001% of a particularly valuable demographic in the state that, as it turns out, did decide the presidential election.
And while it wasn’t at the level of betrayal that I felt when my fiancé broke up with me fifteen years ago, it wasn’t pretty.
By this point you’ve probably figured out that I’m joking, but there is something serious in all of this, something that points to exactly why Donald Trump might have scored such a decisive victory this week. Many politicians pretend to care about your welfare, saying all the right things and persuading you that if they get into office, they’ll raise the minimum wage, ensure health care benefits, improve the economy by implementing policies to lower the price of milk and eggs, reduce the probability that you’ll get mugged while walking the dog, and do all sorts of other things that sound wonderful when you hear them tossed out as campaign fodder.
And then, after you vote them into office, they forget all about you until the next election. They stop listening. They don’t worry about your concerns. They stop texting, emailing, calling you by your first name and asking about your health.
I’m not saying that Trump is a particularly empathetic character. He’s not. But unlike the Democrats, and particularly Kamala Harris who had a sterile and inauthentic attitude when it came to actual human beings with actual problems, he was able to communicate concern. He was able to persuade you that he wasn’t going to stop paying attention the minute after you pulled the lever next to his name.
You might say that this is a very shallow reason to vote for a candidate. It probably is. But voters are human beings before anything else, and Trump was somehow able to connect at a profound level with the innate humanity of diverse voter bases, including Latinos, black men, the dreaded “white women” and blue collar workers who felt abandoned by the Democrats.
I’m not saying it’s fair. I’m just saying that it’s human nature to want to be seen.
As for me, I’ve blocked Cheryl and Simon from my contacts. Who needs them anyway?
Christine Flowers is an attorney and lifelong Philadelphian. @flowerlady61
Miss Flowers is nothing more than a one trick pony. Her sole reason she voted for Trump was abortion.
What did Trump mean when he said the following?
That he will use the military to suppress any protests against him.
That American Jews who don’t vote Republican are disloyal
That he will cancel the licenses of any media outlets that produce content that makes him look bad.
Who is the enemy within?
These are the type of things that a dictator would say.
Go away.
Clearly the majority of the country across all lines have rejected your incessant, baseless claims and those of your political party and the liberal main stream media outlets. You really should seek professional help, or move out of the country for your own mental health.
Just remember. The first two years of Trump’s first term in office he couldn’t get a lot of his legislation passed even with a Republican majority in Congress. He never presented a healthcare plan better than the ACA in two weeks which he stated he would do 15 times, and Mexico never paid for the wall.
This time around with another Trump presidency, Congressional Republican majority, and a conservative Supreme Court. There will be only so many times that Trump can blame illegal immigrants and Project 2025 can allege a liberal agenda before he will have to own his failures. You will have no one but yourselves to blame.
The next 8 years are going to be tough on you with that mental syndrome and with all the winning going on by the right.
the rinos and the far lefties have been cleaned out or marginalized and the people have given him a mandate. Your warnings are wishful thinking on your part to help yourself feel better. Trump signed into law 113 laws in his first year in office.
Lets discuss all of the winning that Trump did in his first term
1. Mexico did not pay for the wall.
2. Hillary did not get locked up.
3. He did not create a healthcare plan better than the ACA. After stating he would release the plan in two weeks, 15 times over four years.
4. He negotiated directly with terrorists, released 5000 terrorists from prison, and invited the terrorist leadership to join him at Camp David.
5. He added $8.4 trillion to the national debt.
6. He failed to get North Korea to give up their nuclear weapons and handed them a propaganda victory when he crossed the 38th parallel.
7. He had 4 chiefs of staff and 92% turn over at the executive and Cabinet Secretaries, higher than any President by 20%
And my personal favorite, under his leadership the Covid vaccine was developed and then he told Americans not to take it.
Let the mass deportations begin. Thanks for doing all you could to support Trump’s mass deportation plan, Christine.
Just remember. The first two years of Trump’s first term in office he couldn’t get a lot of his legislation passed even with a Republican majority in Congress. He never presented a healthcare plan better than the ACA in two weeks which he stated he would do 15 times, and Mexico never paid for the wall.
This time around with another Trump presidency, Congressional Republican majority, and a conservative Supreme Court. There will be only so many times that Trump can blame illegal immigrants and Project 2025 can allege a liberal agenda before he will have to own his failures. You will have no one but yourselves to blame.
Keep looking backward and you’ll never move forward.
No one is going to put up with the interference that your fellow liberals threw against him in his first term. He hasn’t even taken office yet and we have Trump affect:
China playing nice / promising fair play and friendship
Caravans in Mexico breaking up before getting to the border
Europe looking to USA for energy / natural gas
Stock market surging
Gas coming down
Hamas wants a deal to stop the war
Zelenski an Putin want a deal
I’ve donated to both Republicans and Democrats. Registered from being Democrat to Republican after 2020. Democrats used to care about economic inequality and economic disempowerment. Democrats switched and became hyper focused on race, gender and sexual identities. A small example: it was obvious in 2020 that Levine had questionable judgement about some basics of reality, and it was unsurprising that history has proven Levine’s decisions during Covid were both terrible and not based in reality but rooted in emotion. Moving forward, a healthier Democratic Party would push the Republicans to be the best version of themselves.
Because of donating to both parties in the past, my texts were bombarded by both Dems and Republicans asking for money or reminding me I didn’t vote by mail yet (creepy), and now Kerri Lake is still sending texts so “every vote gets counted” (good grief.) Some were bots and wouldn’t respond, others were actual humans and would reply to my responses. For example, suggesting they look into why RFK, Jr, and Tulsi Gabbard (two former Dems) supported Trump would get a response. And texting a profanity laced response about the endless texts from various phone numbers on behalf of Republicans, no matter how many times I responded “stop”, also got an unique response.