FATHER FIGURE OF THE FUTURE: VOTE BIDEN

The last time I talked to my step-dad, he was a father figure. He said he didn’t ask us boys to call him Dad.

I called him Dad then. He was in an acute recovery facility after surgery during covid and smoke, I was outside his window talking through a screen.

“You were a good dad,” I said. “The best man for my mom and sister. You were the right dad for them.”

“I’m voting when I get out of here. We need a father figure in the White House, not the guy in there now,” he said.

Like he’s done for decades, he got me thinking. Father figure in the White House?

We had called each other for years with a familiar question: “What have you done to the Republicans?”

It started with Reagan and we never had a lack of topics. Glenn was nearing ninety and believed in the promise of America, the promise he lived with. He believed in the same freedoms and rights for everyone.

After a lifetime of running an owner/operator truck and trucking company, he knew more about freedom and rights on the road than anyone.

“All anyone wants is a fair shake,” he said. “Joe Biden wants you to have a fair chance as much as everyone else. I don’t see that in Trump.”

“You’ve got to look harder,” I said, and we both had a laugh.

“What would it take for you to vote for him?” I asked.

“Well, I’ve met people like him before,” he said.

“You’ve met billionaires?”

“I’ve met men who want to impose their values and get angry when others disagree. That’s Trump. He comes from a different world and sees himself as a role model, a father figure,” he said.

“Like presidents used to be called during the Indian Wars, the Great White Father,” I said.

“I don’t know about that, but anyone who thinks of Trump as a father must have a pretty bad family. But you see men and women who worship him, and stuff like that.”

“Do you think the country has needs he doesn’t understand?” I asked.

“I don’t know about the country, but I do. We need someone who understands science, who know how to put out a fire, who knows how to react to doctors and convey their messages to the greater public,” he said.

“Like a father figure?” I said.

“If that’s what it takes. We need someone who understands the role of government during the pandemic, not a selfish man interested in what’s in it for him.”

“He was elected as a businessman to clean up Washington,” I said.

“So was George Bush, and he had an MBA from Yale, not an undergrad degree from Penn,” he said. “And look how he did.”

Father Figure, Or Who’s Your Daddy

My Dad was my father figure. After him were other dads, coaches, teachers, bosses. Every man has a chance to be a father figure. If you have a good idea what that means, this is what it doesn’t mean:

Being a bully: If you like being bullied, your probably a bully yourself. What identifies a bully? They choose to dominate weaker people, they punch down, and call it normal. It’s not normal.

Being a liar: If a dad tells his kid he’ll be there at a specific time, he’s there. If not, he’s created a sad memory for a kid whose father didn’t care enough to show up. That’s not normal.

Being a cheater and a thief: A dad with questionable ethics, like seeing people and organizations as marks to harvest, shouldn’t pass them down. From universities that failed to educate, to skimming charities, to casinos that crashed, the Trump organization has a consistently bad outcome.

If a normal father encouraged their kids to attend Trump University, if he donated to a specious charity, or won a jackpot that didn’t pay out, he might change his ways.

But that does’t apply to Mr. Trump. And those around him see how he works and change their ways to be like Trump.

If you’re a dad, vote for Joe Biden. Then when your kids, or grandkids, ask who you voted for in 2020 you won’t have to lie, or tell some longwinded bullshitters reasoning.

Avoid the stain and smell of four more years of Trump. Be a good father figure and Vote Joe Biden.