TEEN ANGST IN AMERICA

Elissa Slotkin, the freshman senator from Michigan, dismisses issues such as the economy, the border, and DEI as the reasons Trump was reelected. Slotkin attributed it to the electorate's immaturity.

“We’re still pretty young for a country,” Slotkin explained to the ladies of The View. “These are, like, like, our angry teenage years, right? We are going through this push and pull where we’re happy, we’re sad, we want this, we want that. And what do you do when you have a teenager who’s threatening themselves and others? You just try to get ‘em through this period alive so that their brains can fully form.”

I can understand Slotkin’s point about teenagers and their unformed brains. I had just begun my teenage years when John Kennedy, in his inaugural address, instructed us to “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” Heeding Kennedy’s challenge, I joined the Marines right out of high school. I have no regrets about that decision. What I did come to regret deeply was being so naïve as to believe Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon Johnson, when he told the nation that fighting in Vietnam was in our national interest, that it was better to fight the Communists over there than in our backyard.

A month after returning home from my second Vietnam tour, I voted for the first time—in California’s primary election. I voted for Bobby Kennedy, who promised to end the war. Later that night, he was assassinated, and things got back to normal. Nixon won the election, and over 20,000 American soldiers were killed during his first term in office.

For Senator Slotkin, normal is a good thing. She told Whoopie and the gang that there is nothing normal about the Trump Presidency, and she’s right about that. The disparity between normal and not normal, vis-à-vis Trump and the Democrats, was on full display the night Trump addressed Congress.

There was complete silence from the Democrats when Trump promised to “work tirelessly to end the savage conflict in Ukraine…this horrific and brutal conflict with no end in sight.” However, when he acknowledged that “The United States has sent hundreds of billions of dollars to support Ukraine’s defense,” he received loud applause from the Democrats. Trump asked them, “Do you want to keep it going for another five years?” They answered with more applause. Noticing Senator Elizabeth Warren enthusiastically clapping, Trump said, “Pocahontas says yes.” Warren smiled, saying, “You bet!”

This is the same Senator Warren who, in 2017, visited the border and was outraged by parents being separated from their children. “This isn't about politics,” she said. “This isn't about Democrats or Republicans. This is about human beings. Children held in cages. Babies scattered all over this country. And mamas who, in the dark of night, hear them cry.”

I’m not a MAGA-type guy. In my opinion, America was already great before Trump came along. That said, I was, like, like, one of those angry teenagers who voted for him, right? I decided largely because he promised to negotiate a settlement between Ukraine and Russia. To borrow Senator Warren’s words, this isn’t about Democrats and Republicans. This is about human beings, especially children.

UNICEF reported that by November 2024, “In addition to child casualties, which include 659 children killed and 1,747 children injured - amounting to at least 16 children killed or injured every week - millions of children continue to have their lives upended due to ongoing attacks. Ukraine’s children must be protected from the lasting horrors of this war. The world cannot be silent while they suffer.”

Senator Warren, is that enough for me to vote against your party? You bet!