Signs of the Times

I visited family this weekend for Father’s Day and on the drive between here and there, I noted a fair number of pro-Trump signs and flags. No Confederate flags this time, so that’s something.

One yard had a number of wooden signs up on posts – a whole garden of messages. There was a MAGA sign, a Trump-Pence 2020 sign, a few I didn’t catch, COIVD-19 Hoax, a Women For Trump (in bright pink, naturally). And then the most eye catching and strange one:

L G B T

Except, the letters had picograms above them to try and create a new meaning. It is pride month, after all.

Above the L was the Statue of Liberty. So, L for Liberty – though I’m pretty sure that the statue itself is supportive of immigration. You know, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…”. Perhaps it only applies to immigrants from the non-shithole countries – I dunno.

Above the G, a handgun. Sigh, of course.

Above the B was a rectangle with rounded corners. On my first trip past I couldn’t tell what it was – maybe a Bible?

Above the T was a not-very-flattering-but-recognizable cartoon side view of Trump himself.

So, Liberty, Guns, Bible(?), Trump.

On the return trip, I got a closer look at the B and realized it wasn’t a Bible, it was a Beer stein.

Liberty, Guns, Beer, Trump

Somehow, this now made even less sense. I didn’t realize that Beer was something one would either be for or against. Is there some Anti-beer movement that I don’t know about that this was protesting? If you aren’t Pro-beer, are you un-American? Hmmm…might have just answered that one.

When I got home, I risked polluting my search history and tried to look this up. Sure enough, you can buy t-shirts, posters, and flags with the same message. Liberty, Guns, Beer, Trump. Or, to my surprise, Bible is a “valid” substitution for B in the message as well.

I could have been angry. Especially this month when pride and LGBT is a thing to be celebrated. How dare they take those letters and try to co-opt their meaning?

But, I didn’t feel anger. Just this wave of sadness. How much of this amazing country are they missing out on by willfully excluding everyone who don’t think, look, or act like them? And for all of the effort put into building that wall of signs, what do they get in return? Just a poisonous swamp of hate.

So, I felt sad for them as I drove past their strange collection of signs. I hope they find a reason to take down some of them one day and maybe make some new friends.

Who knows? Maybe one of their kids will come out of the closet as Beer.