Because It Matters

It matters. It has to matter. 

If you are one of the thousands of South Milwaukeeans – and millions of Americans – heading to the polls Tuesday, please remember those words. It has to matter!

I voted blue last week – and encourage you to do the same – first because I believe in the candidates and what they stand for. Do we agree 100% on issues? Of course not. But I know State Rep. Christine Sinicki, Peter Barca, and U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin will be strong champions for the communities they represent, just as they have been for decades. Experience matters. So do honesty, integrity, respect and compassion – and just being a good person. 

Which brings me to the race for president. 

In every job I’ve ever had, and in the message I share with my players and my own kids all the time, I have been equally rated based on the “what” and the “how.” “What” you accomplish is certainly important, but just as important is “how” you do it. In other words, how you treat others, how you act, what you say and how you say it, matters a lot. On the job, on the court, in the classroom, in life. 

I like enough of the “what” for Vice President Harris to get on board. Indeed, I wish President Biden had stepped aside sooner and we had gone through a traditional nomination process, to give us a better look at the deep Democratic bench. And I have serious concerns about the choices made by the current administration when it comes to issues like inflation and immigration. But facts matter … and inflation is under control, the stock market is at an all-time high, and unemployment is historically low. Illegal border crossings are way down. Our relationships with allies have been restored. Crime is down (even if it doesn’t always feel like it). I, too, stand behind women and them making choices about their own bodiese. Support for the Affordable Care Act, tax breaks truly targeted at those who need them most, common sense gun control, support for public education … I am with Harris on these issuees.

Yet while I cast my vote for Harris, I also cast it against her opponent. Because the “how” matters.

Your actions matter. Fidelity in your marriage matters. How you treat women matters. Being convicted of 34 felonies and found liable of sexual abuse matters. Lying matters. 

The words of those closest to you matter. When your former top mililary official and former chief of staff say you’re a “fascist,” when your former National Security Adviser says you’re “unfit,” and when your vice president says he can not endorse you “in good conscience.” I listen. You should too. 

Your own words matter most of all. What you say matters, and I take what Trump says at face value. Don’t we have to? This is potentially our next president! And, if words don’t matter, and it’s only about “the weave,” then why even have a campaign at all? 

Calling Jan. 6, 2021, a “day of love” – please, just watch the damn video – matters. So does labeling immigrants “vermin” who are “poisoning our blood,” while knowingly amplifying lies about the impact of immigration on small cities from Ohio to Wisconsin to Colorado. He calls the United States “a garbage can for the world,” Milwaukee “terrible,” and Detroit an example of a “developing nation.” He wants “Hitler’s generals,” says he is willing to turn the military on the “enemy from within,” and is OK with being a “dictator on day one” and “suspending the Constitution.” He attacks, ridicules and insults everyone from transgender kids to our foreign allies to his political opponents.

We have lived this reaality for eight years. But when it comes to Trump’s racist, sexist, and hate-filled words, let’s not dwell in the past. Let’s look at what he has said in the last 72+ hours. I cannot be OK voting for someone questioning Giannis’ heritage, stating he’s cool with shots being fired at Liz Cheney or the media, and that he “shouldn’t have left” the White House. Can you? And are you OK with him pantomiming oral sex on his Fiserv Forum microphone? Yeah, that was just the last few days. 

And it all matters to me.

Please do not excuse or dismiss words and actions like this as “Trump being Trump.” That is an incredibly dangerous “landing place,” for America. 

Yes, this all matters. We can’t let it not matter.

Make it matter Tuesday.