Trump AKA Biff

I was stuck. I couldn’t see beyond the gridlock, but since I had my three girls with me, I tried my best to remain cool. In tow: Skye, my 11-year-old, Sage, my 8-year-old, and Siena, my 1-year-old baby.

Other than Siena, who was knocked out from the lull of the drive, we were becoming impatient with the traffic and silently brewing. Then Sage asked the question she’s been probing me about for months – “Mom, what would happen if Donald Trump won?”

Before I could even open my mouth Skye shouted, “One word, Sage. Canada!”

“For real, Mom?” Sage responded. I could hear the anxiety in her voice. “Would we really move to Canada?”

Moving to Canada started off as a joke in our house whenever we discussed the possibility of a Trump victory. But considering how far he’s gotten, the joke has become less and less funny.

“Mom, would we move?” Sage repeated.

“Maybe.” I responded and then tried to subside both of our anxieties by adding, “but it’s nothing to worry about.”

“Well,” she continued, “what if, while we were flying over to Canada, his big wall comes up and traps us here.”

I giggled.

“Sage, the wall Trump proposed is between the U.S. and Mexico, not Canada,” I explained “And the president of Mexico said he would not pay for it. So there won’t be any wall. We will be fine, honey.”

Silence-for about two minutes.

“Mom?”

“Yes, Sage.”

“When did Donald Trump stop making movies?”

“Honey, Trump isn’t in movies. But he did have a reality TV show where he would fire people.”

“Yes he was in movies, Mom! We looked at them together.”

I had no idea what she was talking about.

“Do you know the name of the movies or what happened in the movies we saw?” I asked her.

“Remember, he was in those movies you showed me from when you were a girl. He kept hitting the guy on the head and saying, ‘Hello, McFly. Think, McFly?’”

“Wait! Are you talking about the character Biff from the Back to the Future movies?” I had totally forgotten we watched the trilogy on Netflix weeks ago.

“Yeah, Mom! Isn’t he Biff?”

“No, Sage. Donald Trump isn’t Biff, but he does look and act just like him, now that you mention it.”

OMG. My daughter was so on point! Trump really does act just like Biff!

In Back to the Future II, Biff becomes one of the richest and most powerful men in the country. His ascent happens when he creates an alternate reality by going back in time and making his millions off of gambling and corruption. He is cruel, has garish taste, is completely disrespectful to others (especially women), and destroys the economy.

I thought of Trump’s ludicrous desire to take us back in time “when America was great,” which smacks of racism, sexism, and xenophobia.  It really does feel like we’re in a some crazy time warp where a women as qualified, intelligent, and has shown a lifetime commitment to public service, like Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, is treated like she is merely a reflection of every man in her life. She is constantly ridiculed and held accountable for everything including the decisions made by President Barack Obama to the extra-marital affairs of her husband. And even though Trump has been caught lying and clearly fabricating facts, he is rarely described as untrustworthy by the media like she is.

All I can do now is wish Senator Hillary Rodman Clinton good luck tonight in the debates.  I pray she will become our first women president and have the strength to move us forward.

But I’ll look into real estate in Toronto, just in case.