We all have them.
He’s the relative you never want to go to a restaurant with because he sends food back just to make a point. Or he either insults the wait staff or has too much to drink and flirts with the waitress while his wife is at the table.
He’s the one who gets a custom entree from grandma at family dinners because he has bizarrely restrictive eating habits.
Most of all he is the one who will take over the conversation at the dinner table with unhinged declarations about this or that racial group that make everyone cringe — but stay silent because challenging him is even worse. You just hope it will blow over and people will move on to anodyne conversation topics.
Donald Trump is everyone’s Jerk Uncle.
Oh no, Uncle Don is coming over. Hide the liquor and teenage girls. We are going out to dinner, please let him not make a scene. His wife just said something off color, please let him not lecture her endlessly in front of the rest of the family.
Last night’s debate finally cemented the connection. Uncle Don is the family buffoon who buries his insecurity in braggadocio and insults. He delights at making other people uncomfortable and is never apologizes or owns any of his hurtful outbursts. He is borderline abusive but is careful never to leave a mark.
For everyone who has had to grow up with an Uncle Don, this election is our worst nightmare. Let’s leave aside the future of the planet, just having to listen to him drone on for the next four years about his greatness is enough to send us finding more pleasant shores should this thing not go our way.
Let’s all agree that we are not inviting Uncle Don to Thanksgiving this year.