By Douglas V. Gibbs
Author, Speaker, Instructor, Radio Host
We expected the number of kids in the neighborhood going trick-or-treating to be lower than usual, but we never expected what happened on Halloween, 2020.
Our son, and his three kids, waited until it was dark before heading out to visit houses in our community. Our grandson was dressed up as the Tall Man from the Phantasm movies. The girls were Beetlejuice, and Coraline.
Each Halloween we usually have already had a couple dozen visitors during the twilight, but none had shown up. Our first ghouls and goblins showed up about a half hour after it got dark.
I had my front door open, lights on, candy at easy access, and I was tapping on my laptop while I watched the Arkansas Razorbacks battle Texas A&M.
Over the next hour, or so, a bunch of trick-or-treaters walked along the sidewalk, paused at the bottom of my driveway, then continued on up the street. Shortly after the expiration of that hour my son and his kids came in the house for a break (a lot more walking was needed since few houses had their porch lights on), and I asked Christopher about the phenomena I was experiencing.
“It’s because you have Trump stickers on your truck,” he said. “We’ve been watching most of the parents steering their kids away from houses with Trump flags, signs, and stickers. I’ve overheard a few talking about how they won’t let their kids visit a Trump supporter’s house.”
Shortly after, my son took his kids out again to hit another part of the neighborhood.
Armed with this new knowledge, I paid closer attention. The ratio was about 60-40, meaning that a little more than half of the families in my Southern California community avoided my house. At one point teenage trick-or-treaters stopped at the bottom of my driveway, and I listened as carefully as I could.
One of them said, “Here’s another racist house. Let’s go to the next one.”
After the evening was over, and we turned off our porch light and the grandkids inspected their loot, my son said, “Yeah, it sucks, this is supposed to be for the kids.”
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary