Michael Veris

#DemVoice1 #ProudBlueEditorials #DemsUnited ”This editorial is solely my own opinion.I alone am responsible for the content” A personal story about Donald Trump, Marla Maples. The “Carpet King” Bob Shaw, Adolph Hitler and my wife Martha. My wife is a computer engineer. She sets up and runs large computer servers for companies and the government. She has worked all over the country from Connecticut where she set up servers used to support our nuclear submarine fleet. To Dallas where she worked for Ross Perot at EDS and many other large corporations. In 1996. Martha was working at Shaw Industries Group in Dalton, Georgia. Shaw is the largest carpet manufacturer in the world. Dalton, Georgia is dominated by the carpet and flooring industry. The CEO was Bob Shaw. His family built the carpet business and he was very influential in Georgia Republican politics. In 1996, Donald Trump has been married to Dalton native Marla Maples since 1993. Since Marla had family in Dalton, she and Trump visited often. They were seen around town many times. But on this particular visit, Trump was meeting with Bob Shaw for dinner. Shaw invited some of his employees to the dinner at the popular Dalton restaurant “The Depot”. My wife Martha was one of those employees invited to have dinner with Shaw, Marla Maples and Donald Trump. It was a dinner she will never forget. Although my wife and I have only been married for a few years. We have known each other since we were in High School in Tennessee. We were always great friends. And always kept in touch. Martha shared the details of this story to me many time before Trump was President or even being mentioned as a candidate. I have heard the story for almost 30 years and the story never changes. What happened that night at the Depot is a real eye opener and tells us a lot about who and what Donald Trump is and always has been. As the Trump’s ate dinner that night in Dalton , Georgia with ‘The Carpet King’ Bob Shaw and his semi interested employees who were bored by the bragging and buffoonish action towards the staff by Donald Trump. It was obvious that even Bob Shaw was not interested in Trump’s incessant bragging about one building or another. So Trump decided to change the conversation to his political ideas and where his political theory came from. The dinner was about to take a dark turn that no one in attendance would ever forget. The first words that got the groups attention was when Trump said” Hitler did some great things and had some great ideas. He just didn’t get to finish what he started.” The table grew quiet as Shaw and his startled employees threw furtive glance at each other, all were hoping that maybe Trump was drunk or kidding. But his glass only held Diet Coke and the look on Donald Trump’s face was deadly serious. He was not kidding. This is what Trump believed then and believes now. As Trump continued to regale the now silent table with his admiration of Adolph Hitler and how he thinks America needs to be more like Nazi Germany, his wife Marla tried to mitigate the words that were coming out of her husbands mouth. “ Oh Donald, you don’t believe all that. Stop it.” Marla turned to Bob Shaw and said “Donald keeps that book by Hitler beside our bed, it’s the only thing he ever reads. And he watches tapes of Hitler’s speeches. But I don’t think he believes all of that stuff.”. “Yes I do Marla” Trump said as he waved his hands to dismiss his wife. “And America would be a lot better if we had someone like HItler in charge” As the evening went on Trump continued with his lavish praise for Adolph Hitler and the Nazi’s. When anyone tried to disagree or question him they were shut down by the loud and obnoxious Donald Trump. When the Shaw employees finally left the Depot that night. They were shocked and disgusted by Trump’s words. My wife’s co worker Marianne was especially upset as she was Jewish and my wife also has Jewish heritage. But the conversation ended in the parking lot at the Depot that night with Martha and Marianne ensuring each other that “at least Donald Trump will never be President.” Boy were they wrong. I have heard this story for years. My wife Martha and other Shaw employees have all verified the facts and conversation at the Depot in Dalton that night. Just yesterday Donald Trump said that immigrants are”not human” this followed Trump claiming that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” and calling immigrants “vermin”. These statements are taken from Hitlers Mein Kampf and his own words. There can be no doubt that Donald is emulating the words and deeds from that dark time in world history. We must never allow this in America. Donald Trump decided a long time ago that America should be more like Nazi Germany. His goal is in sight. The only thing standing in Donald Trumps way is you and I. We will never let the dark vision of Donald Trump and Adolph Hitler become reality in the United States. We will stand against Donald Trump and all who support him. We will not bend nor break. America‘s future depends on it.