Trending Tea, Episode 9 — Gone with the outrage: Donald Trump, Trump Jr., and Texas liberals’ complacency

On Wednesday, Donald Trump was in town for a GOP fundraiser, of all things, to help him get re-elected in 2020, and all I could think to myself was, “Hell to the no!”
These last 278 days have been absolutely unbearable on a personal and global scale, and we still have three more years with this clown at the helm of our country — if he doesn’t kill us all first.
Whenever I tell people I’m from Texas, I often receive a barely audible “oh” — as if they can’t believe someone so radically progressive would voluntarily chose to live in such a backward state. But I was born and raised in Texas. I grew up in Corpus Christi and lived there until moving to Austin at age 21.
I lasted in Austin only seven months before heading back to Corpus and then moving to Denton at 23 to attend Texas Women’s University. I’ve called Dallas my home since 2006 and wherever my wife and I will eventually end up, Dallas will always be our home base. And while I probably don’t share the same kind of Texas pride some of my fellow Texans do (you will find no “I heart Texas” paraphernalia or flags in my home), I’m still proud to be a Texan.
So when I hear conservative Texans say to us bleeding heart liberals, “If you don’t like the way ‘Texans’ do things we can just leave,” I take offense. Because as much as Texas pisses me off sometimes, it’s still my home — and it is home to other progressives as well.
Dallas being a blue city amongst a sea of red is something that I take pride in, which is why I don’t understand why we, as a city of progressives, weren’t more outraged that Trump was in our home raising millions of dollars for a presidency that our city voted against being a part of in 2016 and when the time comes (I hope) we vote against again in 2020.
Where is our anger? Our protests? Our fists raised, marching in solidarity against the bigot that’s in office?
Chicago won’t even let him in their city, and yet we are helping him raise funds for another four years?
I just don’t get it. We wouldn’t let him build a Trump tower in our city, but we’ll let him build his pocketbook for his next presidency run?
Seriously, WTF Dallas?
Because it’s not just Trump that North Texas is welcoming with open arms and a wide open wallet, but Trump’s idiotic oldest son, Trump Jr.

On Tuesday, the University of North Texas spent $100,000 for Donald Trump Jr. to come speak at a luncheon at AT&T Stadium — despite hundreds of UNT professors coming together and petitioning against it. [Editor’s note: The university did not pay for Donald Trump Jr. to speak. The speech was presented as the fall Kuehne Speaker Series event, and it was funded by a UNT alum and corporate sponsorships The event was held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, home of the Dallas Cowboys.]
His speaking topic? Freedom of speech. Isn’t THAT ironic?
One of my favorite graffiti artists, Plastic Jesus, has a trademark tag that reads, “Stop making stupid people famous.” But that’s never going to happen if we keep putting stupid people on pedestals and electing them to the presidency.
Since the dawn of social-political consciousness, colleges have always been a platform for free speech and the beginning of worldwide movements for justice and equality. But, here again, where were the Berkeley-like protests of student outrage that an exotic animal killer was paid to speak at a luncheon for a college that represented them?
Because when I read that there were NO protests by UNT students or staff outside AT&T Stadium, a little piece of my hope for our future dies.
How and when did we become this complacent? Is it complacency? Or is it that some of us are starting not to care? Or are we just simply tired of fighting? Or is it because my out-of-state friends are right when they say Texas will never change?
But Texas can’t change without us. And the real Texas tea is: By not taking to the streets in protest or using our words and mouths to voice our outrage that our city is holding fundraisers for Trump-itler or by well-known gay liberals attending Trump Jr.’s luncheon, we just told the rest of the world and our neighboring states, Frankly U.S., Texas doesn’t give a damn.
Brandi Amara Skyy is an award-winning writer and drag artist. You can find out more about her and all her projects as BrandiAmaraSkyy.com or @brandiamaraskyy on Twitter and Instagram.