Driving through California, there is a striking absence of presidential election imagery. Places where signs stood four years ago are naked today. After driving 70 miles on I-80, I finally saw my first sign while I took a detour through a neighborhood. Four years ago signage was scattered on chain-link fences along the frontage roads and signage decorated lawns alongside Halloween pumpkins and ghosts. Yes, I still had to go out seeking the signage, but I was able to find clusters of signs. This day, after seeing the one sign, the only other sign I could find was a little one next door, kind of hidden behind some bushes. Also Trump. Have yet to see any support of Hillary.
So when I saw the State of Jefferson Trump sign, I couldn't resist documenting it.
Now, you have to understand. I'm driving alone, this sign is displayed alongside a speedy highway with huge tanker trucks everywhere. I almost didn't see the sign because my tiny car was surrounded by trucks taller than me by 4x. This is not a place that I can pull over and photograph it. But this one's fantastic. So, I decided to explore the video from my phone. At the very least, I thought documenting it this way can capture it for longevity.
It just so happens that there was an interesting press conference this morning as well that underlines the signage I saw yesterday. The pundits are having a field day with it. It seems to me that the words I hear continue to divide the country even deeper. I'm not sure where the middle ground is anymore, the middle road. Politics, to me, is finding the middle road and working with it, alongside it.
As I continue east today, I'm intrigued by what's ahead. This moment in time, it seems to me that it's the death of politics as we have known it. Maybe that's ok. That's what Trump wants, right? That's what Sanders also was speaking about. That's what many politicians and social groups have been speaking about - for years. And so I think that what we are all up in arms over is - what's next?