I hope everybody out there has their seatbelts fastened and their tray tables locked in the upright position. Because I am about to cause some turbulence by emphatically coming to the defense of the squatter currently occupying the White House.
I know that’s quite jolting, which is why I warned you. And believe me, it pains me immensely to defend the squatter about anything. But I feel I must.
Throwing #trumpcantrideabike in the squatter’s face tells him he’s no better than the cripples he degrades. But anyone who jumps into that mud with him and thrashes around inevitably drags others down there, too.
A few weeks back, some people made fun of the squatter because he had trouble walking down a ramp. This was held up as another laughable example of what an incompetant boob he is.
A little while later, there was a video of Joe Biden riding a bike, projecting the image of a septuagenarian in peak physical condition. This inspired the hot trending Twitter hashtag #trumpcantrideabike. In other words, a bungling shlump who can’t even walk effortlessly down a ramp can’t hold a candle to jaunty biker Joe.
I guess I’m not defending the squatter so much as those disabled folks who get caught in the crossfire of this silly barrage of sixth-grade insults. The whole premise of this battle is to equate physical prowess with leadership ability, strength of character, and all the good stuff we associate with being presidential. You can’t have the latter if you don’t have the former. A strong leader is a shirtless Putin on horseback.
That’s the kind of nonsense disabled folks have had to contend with since forever. It isn’t our disabilities that we struggle to overcome; it’s the deeply ingrained assumptions of incompetence and the low expectations that automatically are part of the package. This stigma has been used as a rationalization for segregating, dismissing, and denying us.
Really, what the hell does riding a bike or walking down a ramp have to do with leadership ability?
I know it’s tempting to punch back at the squatter by giving him a taste of his own juvenile insult medicine. Remember how he mocked that disabled reporter with an over-the-top spaz impression? Or how about the squatter’s obsession with putting people down, including Biden, by saying they have low IQs?
Throwing #trumpcantrideabike in the squatter’s face tells him he’s no better than the cripples he degrades. But anyone who jumps into that mud with him and thrashes around inevitably drags others down there, too.
It’s not that hard to resist taking this joke bait. It’s not like if we take a pass on this chance to make fun of him, we’ll never get another. Searching for instances where the squatter puts his jaw-dropping incompetence on full display is like searching for dung in a cow pasture. You can hardly make a move without stepping in something.
If physical prowess is what makes one candidate more qualified than the next, then why are we wasting our time having an election? Why don’t we just have them arm wrestle?