Last year I spent three months waiting to see if I had cancer or not.
The doctors were all pretty sure I had it. And it was going to be the kind that I probably wouldn't survive. Then, they were finally able to complete a test and I woke up from the procedure and ... didn't have cancer. Just totally didn't have it. You can go, the doctor said. We don't need to see you again for ten years.
It took me a week to even process the relief. I'm not sure I still have.
As I noted on Threads, much of yesterday felt a lot like that three months.
I was hoping for a similar outcome.
Hoping I'd wake up and all would be well.
But...
Well, now we know who's who.
Now we know who our real friends and allies are. And who isn't.
I was going to ask: So, what was it this time?
What's the excuse this time?
Was it the price of eggs?
Cost of gas at the pump?
Wait, wait, she didn't have any ground game in swing states wah wah wah? Hated her laugh?
No, it's Gaza? Yeah, it's Gaza isn't it?
What's the excuse this time?
But, you know what? It turns out I honestly don't care. I mean, when it's terminal cancer, do you really care how you caught it?
I don't care what the excuse is this time around and ultimately, it doesn't matter anyway. Every single thing lefties claim they care about? In the end, none of it mattered enough.
And now, we've lost it all.
Donald Trump will decide our fate.
What? What's that?
Oh, we'll fight will we? It's not over! We...
Yeah, save it.
Just fucking save it, I'm not interested. The cancer is too far along.
You personally? Sure, you might have cared enough, but it turns out a lot of those we thought were on our side, those we thought would stand up for their own rights, just ... didn't. Not only didn't, but they appear to have thrown their lot in with Trump and are willing to let Elon Musk, Laura Loomer, RFK Jr, and the local Preacher Man run their lives. A lot of those women I saw in line yesterday? Apparently they did vote away their own rights.
No, no, I'm not blaming women. I blame Americans, all of us. That's who I blame.
I'm saying everyone knew what the stakes were, there was a record turnout and somehow 20 million less Americans voted this time and so we decided to reelect a twice impeached serial rapist currently out on bail for more than twenty felony convictions.
Why? I don't know. The reason doesn't much matter now anyway, does it?
You again? What now? Trump is going to what now?
LOL. No. Trump isn't going to jail. You can forget that pipe dream. Those who prosecuted Trump? Odds are, they'll be the ones going to prison.
Merrick Garland? You tell me he had to go slow, etc. Well, he went slow and I'm not a lawyer but I goddamn well know politics and I fucking told you so for whatever that's worth. Merrick Garland might have been right, but he still failed us worse and just as deliberately than any Benedict Arnold. Slow. Fuck me.
Oh, and all those MAGA insurrectionists Garland did lock up?
They're free on Jan 20, 2025. With a full pardon. Because if we didn't lock up the guy who led the insurrection, well, then nothing else matters and everything Garland actually accomplished is totally moot, erased, never happened, the guy might as well have never existed. He's a nebbish, history won't even remember his name.
And again, I did tell you so.
I told you so, but I was just pissing into the wind.
You already knew.
You knew.
We're going to see measles, polio, mumps, and the flu ravage our population again. Preventable diseases that were conquered decades ago are going to kill, blind, sterilize, and main our kids again. Me? I'm getting old, I probably won't survive whatever mismanaged pandemic comes next, unless horse dewormer up your ass actually does work this time.
They're going to drill and mine our national parks and frack our water.
They're going to tear down the wind turbines and solar panels and cook the planet.
They're going to ban same sex marriage and lock up LGBTQ people as insane, just like the Germans did back in the 1930s, or worse.
They'll round and deport 20 million people and it's going to leave such a massive hole in our economy that we might never recover, but Elon says you'll be fine after a couple of years of hardship. My dear old mom used to say: you can get used to hanging if you hang long enough. We're about to find out just how true that is.
Healthcare? Social Security? Gone. Hope you got plenty of savings to support you in your old age. What's that? Oh. Well, maybe you can sell a kidney then.
They're going to impose tariffs, give tax breaks to billionaires, give Trump direct control of the Fed, and Elon control of everything else, and utterly destroy the economy. The billionaires won't suffer, but you damn sure are going to.
They're going to put guns in every school right next to mandatory Jesus.
However bad you think it's going to be, it'll be worse.
But, you knew that.
Oh sure, eventually, a decade or so down the road, after the recession and the wars and the riots and the violence, just like those who voted for the Third Reich, those who voted for Trump are gonna get screwed by the very rapist they helped elect.
And, you know, I just don't care about that either.
Sure, they'll have it coming, but if I'm still around to witness their comeuppance (an unlikely event to be sure, but maybe I'll get lucky. If you can call living in that world luck) I'll feel neither joy at their misery nor sympathy for their suffering. Fuck 'em.
See, we're all going to get screwed right alongside them, the undeserving and the guilty alike, The Good and the bad Germans both.
Not just us, but all our friends too.
The war in Ukraine is over, Putin won last night. NATO and Europe are next.
The war in Gaza isn't over and won't be for a while, but the outcome is inevitable now. But hey, at least you have your principles, right?
Taiwan? South Korea? Oh well. So sorry. Sucks to be you.
If it's any consolation, it's gonna suck to be us too.
But again, you knew this.
I'm not telling you anything you didn't already know.
We all knew, but for a lot of lefties yesterday, well... here we are.
Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. You're mad at me now for saying so.
Be mad. It'll keep you warm when the power goes out.
I wish you were mad enough yesterday to show up.
And so here we are.
Trump isn't just going to be president again. He's going to be quite literally a dictator because there is absolutely nothing to hold him back this time. We handed him the White House, the Court, the Legislature, and total immunity. It's not just this latest election, it's all the ones that came before too.
You need to face what that means.
He's going to take revenge on us. He's going to do what he said he would do. He's going to destroy everything you love. You knew that, and it wasn't enough. You're going to have to face it.
Trump is going to burn down the world and maybe that's what it'll finally take.
That's what the far left progressives shouted at me back in 2016: burn it all down. Burn it all down.
Burn it all down. Burning it all down isn't the moral high ground, it's just arson and people die in a fire, but again here we are and careful what you wish for. Because now it is all going to burn and I hope those who started this fire get everything they've got coming to them. And who knows, maybe they're right. Maybe when we're squatting in the ruins, covered ash, maybe then it'll be enough to get you to show the fuck up. Or not.
What should you do? What should any of us do?
I don't know.
I don't know. I'm out of ideas.
I'm old. I'm tired. I'm worn out from this fight. More, I'm worn out from sounding the alarm and watching it fall on deaf ears.
What to do?
Flee maybe. Get out while you can, if there's some place that'll take people who didn't give enough of a fuck about their own fate to change it when they had the chance. Hopefully Europe won't turn away desperate Americans fleeing fascism like we did to the Jews fleeing Germany back in the 1930's. But, hey, if they do, well, you can't really blame them can you?
But, again, again, and again, you knew all this.
Yes, you did. And now? Grim? Depressing? Panic attack? You knew it would come to this if you didn't show up. And it wasn't enough. Why? Why wasn't it enough? What's the excuse this time? Like I said above, I don't know and I don't care, but I'm sure we're going to hear all about it anyway and why those of us who actually did care, who sounded the alarm claxon over and over, and who actually did show up are somehow to blame.
See you in the camps.
I'll be the guy drinking prison wine with Hillary.
I wonder if it's mother nature's way of hastening things along...
ReplyDeleteMDH has long said that humans are a virus on the face of Gaia and one day, She will have had enough and that will be the end of that.
Deletethank you Chief. I am with Her and Her forever.(SunshineSally)
DeleteLargest turnout ever with 20M less votes. Seems a little fishy doesn’t it? :)
DeleteThank you for putting everything I was feeling into words. Most of people who have voted for him have no idea of its future implications and ramifications.
DeleteWelcome to Germany 1934.
DeleteWelcome to Germany 1934,
DeleteThis is different in a more heinous way. Hitler won 34% of the vote in 1932. He came to power via the Night of the Long Knives. Trump doesn’t need a coup, he IS the coup. Like the line in Gladiator, “Rome IS the mob” “He will bring them death and they will love him for it”. More than half the country will cheer his every move. There will be no stopping him. Yes, I voted, but I have had this hollow feeling for months. I just KNEW this was going to happen and felt powerless to stop it. America loves a winner. They worship winning. Until they lose…BIGLY.
DeleteWhere is James Earl Ray when you needed him!
DeleteWhere the hell are all those illegals who were going to be bused in by the radical left wing lunatics? Huh? I haven’t heard a thing about them. Strange. Oh wait. Nope. It’s crickets.
DeleteGee, thanks America for deciding what Mother Nature should do for the rest of the world.
DeletePlease keep medical needs in place for all American workers.
DeleteI want to cry, but I fear that if I start I won't be able to stop.
ReplyDeleteI am crying, and I can’t stop.
DeleteYes, I'm afraid to start crying also. I keep thinking it hasn't hit me - yet - but it will.
DeleteYou won't, trust me
DeleteI've been crying off and on.
DeleteI haven't got it in me to cry. I'm just so numb. It's a bad dream. The last time I felt like this was when it was clear that COVID was really the pandemic we feared and that people were going to die. I don't think this is coincidence.
DeleteI cried the first time. I have no more tears left to shed. I’m just numb with no fucks left to give either.
Deleteat 74 I feel I been losing this fight since i was 14...
DeleteI will give myself a couple days to grieve. Then I am entering Resistance Warrior mode for the next four goddamn years.
DeleteGood comment to remember from Andy Borowitz, Satirist for the NYT.
Delete“Remaining silent and surrendering to despair is exactly what fascists want us to do. So let’s not.”
Personally,I’m not going to make it easy for them. I’m donating monthly to the ACLU. They will need LOTS of additional lawyers. May be moot once things reach the sheisty Supreme Court, ut I refuse to make it easy for them!
I still want to keep fighting, not making it easy for them. I want this numbness to go away. I feel worse than before the election.
DeleteI'm with you. No going easy on them. They wanted this and they will have to suffer the consequences. If I profit in any way from Trump's policies, I will donate it to those he hates.
DeleteFirst class Jonny, I’m old too & feel the same. We already fought these fights years ago & I don’t know if I have any fight left in me.
DeleteI’m devastated. Flew to PA to vote in person to make sure it counted. Thank you for your work, Jim, including this column. I wish America had more citizens like you.
ReplyDeleteI wish we has more citizens like YOU. Thanks for voting.
DeleteI flew back to TX to vote as well, knowing that it wouldn't count for much. Now, I'm back in Mexico where I believe I will stay for a long while.
DeleteSave some wine for me.
ReplyDeleteYou were right every step of the way. You were also clear in what we should do. We failed at absolutely everything. I'm just trying to remember to breathe at this point. I thank you for trying to help us save ourselves, and I am so very sorry we were not strong enough to do it.
ReplyDeleteWelp, here we are. Turns out common sense isn't as contagious as we hoped. I wish I could say I’m surprised, but watching people roll out the red carpet for a circus act again? Not exactly shocking. I guess it’s all about making America 'great' enough to frack our way into oblivion and bring back medieval diseases. Who needs rights or a planet anyway, right?
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I’m just waiting for the day we all get issued matching tin hats and 'Thought Approved by Elon' badges. Maybe they'll throw in a 'Make Dysentery Great Again' starter kit to really complete the vibe. And hey, at least we’ll have 'freedom'—the kind where we’re free to watch everything go up in flames while the billionaires cheer from their private islands.
Guess I'll see you on the other side, wine in hand, while they pat themselves on the back for electing the guy who’ll ensure we’re all living in a Mad Max reboot. Cheers to the apocalypse, I guess!
I've long said that common sense... isn't common.
DeleteYou said exactly what I was thinking. But I don’t know if I’m glad I’m not alone. I always wondered how POWs survived prison camps. I’m afraid I’m too old to find out.
ReplyDeleteMy dad was a POW in Nazi Germany. They worked together and helped each other. Others in other countries weren't as fortunate. They were split apart by their captors.
DeleteThe answer I think is to work together as much as we can, and help each other.
Sad but true. Belize is nice.
ReplyDeleteI used to say the U.S. should remain united as a counter to Russia and China. Looks like it didn't make a difference. We've just joined the axis of evil. Splitting off the left coast looks like a good idea now. Sorry about the country East of the mountains though. (And yes, we'll keep the Tridents, Gov. Ferguson can be the president with the third largest nuclear arsenal on the planet).
ReplyDeleteAnd here I am in Ohio. They also put every MAGA they could in Congress. There will be no more elections. I have no passport, no where to go and we’ll lose our income.
DeleteHey, let’s keep our Great Lakes for fresh water, we may need them. Well, if they stay unpolluted.
DeleteMaybe Canada would be willing to annex Minnesota. It's a thought, anyway, as we do share a border.
DeleteYou said it. You said it clearly and accurately for years. YEARS. Thank you for standing up and I'm devastated that the convicted felon was chosen. The Dems ran an excellent campaign and lost because not enough people cared. There is no schadenfreude here, just a weary disbelief. I'm a bit younger, I'll keep fighting. But not today. Nor tomorrow. I'm too tired. (I'll smuggle a bottle of wine in when I visit.)
ReplyDeleteRight again, Chief. And many of us agree with you all the way. I'm too old to plan for a lovely future (age 90), but I sure hope my kids and grands manage to live thru the upcoming apocalypse. I used to think that Americans were smart people; I have changed my opinion completely, and now an ashamed of the really dumb people we have living here.
DeleteYou're right, Jim. I didn't like to read what you wrote, but the truth hurts. I urged others to "vote Blue like our lives depend on it!". Some scoffed but many agreed, and we voted. Today, I am grief-stricken. It feels like a death.
ReplyDeleteYup. Transwoman here, voted early by mail. Grew up in America. Been here my whole life. Never, not ever, did I think I would have to worry about seeking political asylum. Today, I started making plans in case I have to do just that. Odds are that this is less of an if and more of a when sort of situation, and I've been weighing just how long I can risk waiting before rabbiting. Will April be too late? What about February? Just how fast is my existence going to be made illegal?
ReplyDeleteThese are not questions an American should ever have to ask.
God bless you!
DeleteMany of us are now considered to be "the enemy within". I wonder how long it will take trump's Army to reach my home to put me in a concentration camp for re-education as Mao did in 1949.
DeletePlease don't wait until it's too late. Don't say 'well, Canada is far enough'.
DeleteIt isn't. Our own Trump is going to win our next national election, and we'll be going down the same dark road.
💙
ReplyDeleteYou are correct on all counts. I showed up and did my part and did what I could including voting but it doesn't matter now. This country and this planet are doomed. I wish it weren't so but here we are. Thanks for nothing, Hillary and Kamala haters. We could have had a woman leader but now women will never again be allowed to run, let alone work outside their prisons.
ReplyDeleteI’m still trying to come to terms with the fact that he got more votes this time with the seething, oily, tentacled evil he surrounded himself with. People are crowing about how they’ll be able to afford gas and house payments and my god are they even listening? Trump’s camp is saying the exact opposite.
ReplyDeleteThe damned thing is that he didn't get more votes than 2020. He got like three million fewer. But Harris was left fifteen million short of Biden's 2020 results. This is 100% a result of people just not showing up.
DeleteRegarding the ten to fifteen million people who voted for Biden last time but didn't show up this time, I have no answers. They are people who most likely knew how bad Trump is, but still couldn't be bothered to show up and stop him. I cannot and will not ever understand that.
DeleteRegarding Trump supporters however, they aren't listening because they don't live in reality. They never hear the bad things trump says. They never see his frequent senior moments. They never see anything but the carefully created image of him put out by Fox and other right-wind media. Trump will take away their rights and livelihood but Fox will tell them they're really getting really freedom, America is the greatest country on Earth, and unfortunately they'll eat it right up and ask for more. We can't reach them and I don't think we ever will.
I showed up, I did my civic duty and voted for her. I am leftist and I did the damn thing because I knew it was duty to do so. I am tired too, tired of trying to show people, to explain to people, but they refuse to listen.
ReplyDeleteSad that you're right, sad that this did happen, there will be no bright side to look at. Anyway, I tried and you tried in a superhuman way, thanks once more for trying to give shit and slap around some folks who needed (still do!) it badly.
ReplyDeleteHoney, I'm pretty sure I'm older than you are and I'm immunocompromised. The only good thing about all this is that now maybe I'll just die of covid or something else contagious but for vaccines. That way I won't outlive my Social Security.
ReplyDeleteYup.
DeleteYou were right...I showed up EARLY and I feel like I've been flushed down the bleeping toilet.
ReplyDeleteI can't argue with any of this. I've been sending out the clarion call for 8 years. No, decades. But no one listened. But I will fight, and I'm old, but I figure, like Shindler, if I can save a few, I'll go out with at least that on my heart.
ReplyDeleteTrying to figure out how I can "save a few". Suggestions appreciated. Marsha outside Philly
Deletehttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/democracy-is-not-over/ar-AA1tBPNJ?ocid=windirect&cvid=8a6e8322c1904423bf971f36cc1227dc&ei=8
DeleteDamn right, Chief.
ReplyDeleteFirst they came for the communists, but I did not speak up because I wasn't a Communist....
Yep, and we are the "enemy within" now. How soon will trump's Army come to get us?
DeleteThey made one huge mistake. They didn’t let the Dems take our guns. Bad luck for them.
DeleteI’m terrified of what’s coming, and I live in that trembling country north of you.
ReplyDeleteNone of this makes sense. Roe/wade was enough, on its own, to secure a win. It didn’t. We just voted in the most dystopian SF horror story… and now we live it. Good luck to all.
It's exactly as you (and I and a few others have) said. If he does even half of what he said before they Article 25 him in favor of Vance and his handlers, we will no longer be a Democracy.
ReplyDeleteBut even if he does have the 25th pulled on him, Vance is worse. IMO the plan all along was to use TFG as the useful idiot and then have Vance and the techbros take the reins. Project 2025 is the playbook of where the goverment will be going. The guardrails are all gone now.
DeleteYes. Just yes. You have kept me sane over last four years. Am not even American.
ReplyDeleteMay I drink wine with you and Hilary, PLEASE!
ReplyDeleteI've been right there beside you all along.
I'm a 65 year old white woman, and I don't think i have much fight left in me.
We will be homeless, as SS will be gone.
I'm inconsolable!
Me, too. 😢
DeleteI agree with all of you. I've been sharing your posts for years and shouting at everyone I know for years. I talked to all my friends and family especially in the swing states (whose votes actually count) and gave them tons of information and some did go out and vote accordingly. But I know from the ones who weren't forthright and the family members who have been part of the cult since 2016 that they voted to destroy our country. I'm severely disappointed and have already cried many times and will cry some more, even though I know it won't change things. Thanks for helping us keep sane. I hope there is lots of prison wine in the camps.
DeleteI so agree. I am 67 and just started enjoying retirement and knowing with SS and Medicare I would be ok. Now do I have to go back to work? Who would hire me? Retail? They don’t offer benefits. We are so screwed.
DeleteI absolutely hate when you are right.
ReplyDelete100% truth. I spent all morning comforting my 22 year old son and 21 year old daughter who DID understand the risk, and the stakes .. but in the end it just didn't matter.
ReplyDeleteAt this point, I think American liberals crawl up their own butts and die. Or reinvent themselves like Jerry Rubin did - sell out - hey, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em right? We're going to find out that Americans are every bit as nimble as the Germans were at adapting themselves under Hitler. It'll be quite a site to see the former rabble rousers getting jobs as clerks in the concentration camps.
ReplyDeleteThank you Jim for saying exactly what I was feeling better than I could have.
ReplyDeleteYou and a few others have helped keep me sane over the last few years. I follow you but just figured out how to comment. Today I appreciate your anger and your words. I've always appreciated your photography. Thank you .
ReplyDeleteI never knew the cancer had spread this far and wide. Kept telling people that I believe Americans are better than that. What bubble was I living in?
ReplyDeleteKnow a well educated university prof who’s same sec partners Palestinian and wasn’t going to vote for Harris because Biden/Palestine/they’re no better than Trump. Adamantly wasn’t going to vote. Protest baby.
ReplyDeleteWell, let’s see how that’s going to work out.
There is a saying in German speaking countries which goes something like:
ReplyDelete"Only the dumbest calves choose their own butchers"
Looks like there are a lot of dumb calves in the USA.
Any bets on how long the Orange Führer is actually on office? They’re going to 25A him after the inauguration and you’ll have President Couch F****r and Vice President Musk Melon
ReplyDeleteI don’t THINK Musk can be VP. He can not be President. If VP-to-Pres Vance appoints him, it will be, even for them, obvious that the VP COULD become Pres, so has to be eligible.
DeleteAh yup. I needed to clear my head this morning and walked a mile or so to our local town market. It's a very warm November day here. I got to the market around 8:30. Just the staff inside. Quietly going about their tasks. The deli clerk is my neighbor. She's about my age (early 60's). She looked at me, then glanced at the clerk at the other counter, leaned close and whispered "I'm terrified!". I got it. All I could say to her was "The sun rose this morning... we'll move forward." The woman, also about my age, at the checkout counter always talked "liberal" to me; I supposed that she had some wherewithal about her on current events. We chatted for a moment, then she quietly announced that she went for Trump. I paused. She went on that she really did not like either candidate, but "...thought it was time for a bully in the White House". I asked her if she saw Trump's first 4 years, but she just brushed it off with "I'm afraid of what China is going to do to us!". I just smiled, grabbed me bag and left. My head was no clearer than when I went in.
ReplyDeleteAll I can see from this election is: Fear won by people too... stupid? to pay attention. Ignore the man behind the curtain; just tremble before me! Buy the con.
And they did. Across the spectrum. Young, old, male, female, brown, white. They all bought the con.
I have yet to evaluate how badly >I'm< going to be fucked. White, male. Early 62, retired, collecting social security. Legally married to a black man who has 3 more years to go (for the moment) before he can retire.
There is no place to go. No country we can flee to that isn't one toxic vote away from their own destruction of democracy. Canada is teetering. France? Italy? Spain?
Anyhow. I have nothing else. No suggested next steps.
Still processing.
Rad
Yeah. I had at least the consolation of the popular vote in 2016 to know the majority did not vote for him. And divided government. And I know many Republicans 'held their nose' and voted for him with the belief he'd be a lame duck and have a D house to thwart him and then let's do better in 3028. I hope they feel the effects of that choice 1st and hardest.
ReplyDeleteYep. I at first thought your 3028 was a typo. I don’t think that now. It may take that long.
DeleteThank you for putting into words that I at this time cannot.....priviledged to be able to raise a glass with you in the aftermath. Good luck~
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry.. I voted for Harris/Walz.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could just curl-up and quit. Maybe fight till the end. Or barring all of that, walk into the fire with my head held high. But I have a trans-son I need to take care of. I listened, I fought, but not enough cared, and my kid will pay the price, is paying the price. I served for 8 years in the Navy, fighting for a better world, a better country. I served for 20 years in law enforcement, trying to make a difference. Now I just need to hold my son and hope I can protect him.
ReplyDeleteI was in law enforcement for 26 years.. We always joked about going out in a blaze of glory. May still get to
DeleteI can't reconcile the numbers in my head, and my faith in humans is nearly gone. Your words matter. Am sorry.
ReplyDeleteIs this where we declare the Election was stolen, assemble at the Capital in mobs wearing paramilitary gear, carrying bludgeons, knock a few heads together, set up a gallows and try to overthrow the Election in another "love fest"? Some casualties may occur, but we can assuage our guilt with f*cking blue porch lights to signal our support for the police.
ReplyDeleteDon't risk commenting--my government file goes back to 1965. Maybe even further since Dad was CIA.
Great points all around. One thing is that we didn’t have a record turnout. Fewer votes were cast than in 2020. Which makes sense with all of the mail in votes we had then. Trump is getting around the same number as last time. Harris is millions behind Biden.
ReplyDeleteWhy the F are you blaming those of us that did show up, that voted, that donated, that talked to everyone we could about this??? That's as bad as those asshats who did vote for him. You get some kind of enjoyment out of horrifying people further, and getting to say "told ya so!"??? Shame on you Jim for making it even worse! I'm very angry too, and I'll need several days to simmer down, but I'm not lashing out at anyone, except you.
ReplyDeleteTry reading the essay again. Particularly the last few paragraphs.
Delete// Jim
Don’t shoot the messenger, Jim isn’t sinking a boot into those that voted Democrat and the liberals he mentions, like the University Professor in one of the comments that abstained, is neither an act of intelligence or courage. I am so grateful here in Australia we make voting compulsory and election day is on a weekend and voting stations are absolutely everywhere. We have had our fair share of knuckle walking mouth breathers, but what Trump voter have done is completely immoral, and as Jim also said, will effect the world over. Americas pain is everyone’s pain, Jim has just given words to that pain.
DeleteGranddaughters are Gen Z. They all voted for their first time in a Presidential election. One texted me this morning to tell me she's wiped out but is already planning on being active in '26. I'm old, it's unlikely that I will see a female president in what's left of my lifespan. But maybe my daughters and granddaughters will. Thanks for your analysis. I honestly believe the results are due to a combination of misogony and racism. And, yes, even women can buy into misogony.
ReplyDeleteIs there going to be a '26?
DeleteBull.
DeleteWe have four adult daughters, a son and nine young grandchildren, five are girls. We all voted. We donated. We encouraged, but none of it mattered. I'm 66 and am doubtful I'll live to see American democracy, even as flawed as it was, again. The Germans took over forty years to unify, the Soviet Union as long to dissolve. I too blame those who needed the perfect candidate but I despise the Americans who voted for trump. My neighbors, some family members, my supposed friends. I too an astounded that while they voted for reproductive rights they still supported trump and his sycophants. Are they so ignorant that they believe their silly little laws, amendments to their state constitutions will matter in the end. The willful disconnect is beyond the pale. Those I'm heartsick for are my Gen X and Millennial children and our grandchildren, too young to vote. They will suffer far longer than I and my husband will. And that makes me weep the most. The promise of America and all her ideals, as imperfect as they are.
DeleteI've been echoing you, literally, for years. I read every word of Project 2025 and many more writings by the MAGAt crowds, and tried to warn my friends and family. I guess my name is Cassandra.
ReplyDeleteI’m sorry, Jim. We showed up (husband and me), voted and hoped and prayed. Didn’t work this time either. Have lost faith in the process altogether. We have jokingly talked about moving out of the country, probably won’t but not because we don’t want to. I’m scared
ReplyDeleteI'm sad and angry and fearful, not for me, I know what I look like, but for my kids and grandkids, my nieces and nephews, my female friends, my queer friends...and I will never forget nor forgive my, so-called friends who voted for this fucking travesty. My rage is boundless and also meaningless...fuck.
ReplyDeleteIt won't make one difference but I'm wearing black in mourning for this experiment that's been sold. I did my best to give my kids a better world. Showed up, volunteered, but in the end greed, grift & power won. They'll come for all of us, it's just a matter of time.
ReplyDeleteI'm just going to say thank you for all you have written and done. That's it; that's all. Thank you, Jim.
ReplyDeleteThis Canadian has watched in horror. Sadly people didn't own their situation allowing others to command their ship and now that ship has run the other ships aground. Hope they can swim.
ReplyDeleteWould you please scooch over a bit and let me join you and Hilary on the bench. I'll bring more booze.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to say this, but, I agree with Mr Woodbury. Split off the West Coast, build a wall, and do what we can. It will not save the planet but it might give our children a few more years to live.
ReplyDeleteCan the northeast come too?
DeleteNew Mexico wants to go, too.
DeleteI just read this to my husband. We voted, wrote out postcards, posted stick ups in restrooms, posted online, got friends and family to vote. Still not enough. Today I will console friends who are in disbelief. Like you I also live in a red county in Florida and hoped those long lines of early voters was a positive sign. I dread the days ahead and the future for my grandchildren if there is one.
ReplyDeletePainfully true. I was asked how I feel. I said I think I feel like the smarter German Jews felt in 1933.
ReplyDeleteI was recently diagnosed with cancer, so Trump winning is just devastating! I'm getting old, but I have children and grandchildren who may suffer the consequences of this election more than me. I never thought Americans would election this fascist, wannebe dictator again.
ReplyDeleteI have the exact same situation.I gave the max to all my candidates, put up a billboard in my red area, and mentored a state rep candidate. I am dreading this future, and yet I love my country. If I were younger and healthier….but I’m not. If I can, I will set up a new residence in another country with enough room for at least some of my relatives who will need refuge. Thank you, Jim…Jane, age 74
DeleteThe first time he was elected I had just been diagnosed with cancer. His election was definitely more shocking and stressful. I'm cancer free now (knock on wood), but a few years ago I thought it had come back. I was terrified, not because of the cancer but because I knew the pain of the treatment. I didn't want to go through all that suffering again not knowing if I would survive another round. The first time I just plowed ahead with some fear, but not the overwhelming stress. I didn't know what the next day would bring. Now I do.
ReplyDelete30 years active duty and 14 deployments for this? I guess I am the sucker/loser.
ReplyDeleteI only served for four years. Sill limping 50 years later from a service injury. Like you, I did that for this? I guess I'll join you in the sucker/loser brigade.
DeleteI had turned the tv off last nie and was sitting in the dark with a glass of scotch. Trying to sort out my grief and my anger at short sighted people. My newly adult grandchildren all called from their colleges. They love doing a 3-way call to home. They had all had voted for the first time, and had partied with all their friends at voting parties. 1500 miles from home, they were all sitting alone, in their dorm rooms, in the dark. "Gram, we're not gonna make it in this election are we??" I've never once lied to those kids. And I didn't last nite. It broke my heart to have to give them the truth. I would move heaven and earth to keep them from being hurt. I pretty much told them just about everything you wrote Jim. it was a bit shorter. But I ripped off the bandage. We talked until cell phones were losing power on their end. My final words were "sleep, then get up in the morning and do what you have to do, the best you can, one step at a time". It was worse feeling than when I saw on tv those planes go into the towers in New York .... when the Supreme Court turned back Roe v Wade ... and when that POS came down the escalator years ago. Damn it, I hate us all being right ....
ReplyDeleteUpstairs here in Canada it’s like living over a meth lab. We know we’re okay in the short-term, but our asses are gonna get burned when the lab goes up in flames.
ReplyDeleteY’all fucked this one up, royally. Maybe the Brits do need to take over.
Yeah we did, but sadly our poison has already infiltrated Canada. So, you might burn with us.
DeleteI am flabbergasted that ANYONE would vote for Trump! Can't they see what he is? And JD Vance is even worse, since he's young...
ReplyDeleteFreckles
All of this. Every little bit, because people don't realize how bad this will be. I've voted Dem in every election since Mondale and in tons of smaller elections. I thought about warning people but I don't have the platform and am not a man. No one believed me.
ReplyDelete26+ years , when we moved to the USA I saw what I have always remained to see:: the patriarchy ( boy's sport as important as education) , the bigotry ( sex ed will never teach other than hetrosexuality), the amount of uneducated people so unaware of the world outside this country. I had hopes this would change in the years to come, but when 9/11 happened I realized how out of the world Americans are. They will invade countries, start wars , but somehow they were unable to comprehend the hatred they brought that creates terrorists. I knew this country would never evolve after that. Unbridled wealth has given right wing Christians power to dumb down the masses even more. Can't say they have not learned from history as history has always been taught as a glorification of America . When the amount of flags determine your patriotism you need to wonder what " America" really is. It's not that piece of cloth but the people. People that have failed to adapt to the changes of time
ReplyDeleteYou hit the nail on the head. The country as a whole is narcissistic, so it is (sadly) no surprise we elected one.
Delete-Jane
The ancestors of those Indigenous Nations, Countless Black people stolen from their Lands, Mexicans & Asians, their blood & bones were the foundation of this "Nation" - chickens have come home to roost. Ancestors will have their revenge. America is over, the Slave owning Founders are Over, the Constitution stolen from the Iroquois Over, the States stolen from Mexico Over. This Nation is over. Indigenous prophecies coming true. White Men & White Women voted in MASS for the Orange Pig. Republicans for Harris LIED to your face they'll vote for Harris. Even Democratic Women voted for Trump. That's how much Whites hate Black people.
ReplyDeleteOne million percent, all of thisrr and when you can.. Duck and cover, be prepared, help when you can. This is going to suck for everyone; until these jerks faces are eaten by Leopards, they won't learn. Until it happens to someone they care about personally, they won't care. It doesn't feel like humanity, anymore.
ReplyDeleteTrump is old and clearly in bad shape. Is there any betting pool yet on how long we have until Vance takes over the show to push his agenda, either through the 25th amendment or otherwise?
ReplyDeleteThank you for all you've done Chief
ReplyDeleteWhat you did, what so many did, it should have been enough.
And by rights it should not have been needed at all.
I no longer have family as they almost all support conservatives. In some weird twist, I blame them for this, for not seeing what I see. I will not have relationships with people who do not see me as a human being.
ReplyDeleteBeing from beyond the pond, we only have to shrug our shoulders, do business with eachother and stand firm for Ukraine and against Putin (and Xi). Trump have already said what he is gonna do, aka, destroy American economy, change the constution and invoke an everlasting legacy. "If you vote for me you will never have to do it again". Now he can with all the branches of power by his side. We just wonder how can this dumb motherf... get elected? How can anyone vote for a man that lied 33 000 times last time around. How can people vote for a hater of all human. How can people vote for a man that promises a better economy but will create a worse one.
ReplyDeleteHow come people don't understand that the bad economy isn't bad, greater GDP then ever, lowest unemployment in 50 years, salaries growing, inflation down..it is mind boggling that facts do not matter, note even when it is the economy (for the stupid?):
Well, we beyond your border might just don't give a damn in the end. Good luck living in the US if Trump's ideas get done.
I spoke with an econ professor last February. Told him I was feeling really worried about what the election outcome would be. He, a Dem, said that the economy was in such good shape he was sure the Dems would make good strides in the election. Haven't had a chance to talk to him again post election. Just goes to show how a stream of lies from the right person can convince people they are worse off than they are. Which is exactly what happened in some ways.
DeleteNoting the time posted...11:11. I am waiting for thu numb to wear off. Not sure my jaw will ever be lifted off the floor. We left the US several months ago, in anticipation of this potential, now real, travesty. The tears are welled behind my eyes. I feel like I'm in mourning. I served in the Air Force for 26 years...never once thinking we would be taken to this hell by one, single man-child.
ReplyDeleteI'm inclined to say, "I've never been more ashamed to be an American than I am now," until I remember the sacrifices preceding generations have made in the name of all that's good about this country. Too many people got lazy, crazy, complacent or ignorant of the real world, and so the nation listened to its lesser angels and now here we are. You know who I feel most sorry for, though? Those stalwarts fighting for their own freedoms in Ukraine and other parts of the world, who were counting upon Americans to understand and support their cause. So much suffering and hopes, and now what? Survival mode...
ReplyDeleteI wish I could leave this country, though I'm not sure where I could go. But I have an autistic son to look after. So I guess I'm not going anywhere, at least not until they round me up with the "vermin" and political opposition. The one good thing is that my son is not really able to follow what is going on. So he will stay oblivious and hopefully be spared from watching what happens next.
ReplyDeleteThanks for hanging in there, Jim. That's all I can manage for now.
ReplyDeleteI'll save you a seat in the camps.
You did all you could. Rest easy for tonight, warrior. Tomorrow's fight is for tomorrow. We'll continue to try to support the marginalized and the fearful. I, at least, will continue to proclaim the Gospel as it was before it was bastardized into the travesty presented in the pulpits now.
ReplyDeleteI am very disappointed in my country right now.
I would leave the country if I could afford it.
ReplyDeleteAt this point I'm ready to start reading up on Germany and Hitler to see if there's anything we can do to push back or help ourselves.
It's a lot to realize more than half the country is ok handing nuclear weapons to a demented madman. Welcome to the newest shithole country.
We are witnessing the birth of the Fourth Reich. Like the last one, this one will end badly also. After the dust settles, will the survivors be scrounging around garbage dumps like in some apocryphal movie?
ReplyDeleteIn solidarity. Older person looking at a life probably cut short for me and others like me. People continue to lean into their animal instincts when we could rise up to amazing heights.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing is, the people who voted for a future would prefer to leave but those who brought this catastrophe upon us are perfectly happy to live in a country controlled by these fascists. I'd almost prefer they deport all the Democrats & we could leave them to their fate. I don't know how I'll endure thru 4 more years of bullshit, much less how everyone on the right side of history will cope.
ReplyDeleteI am actually a republican and even I voted for kamala this year as that was how important this was. We failed as a country.
ReplyDeletei have only two things to add, a clarification on LGBTQIA+ and "power goes out".
ReplyDeleteThere was a book I had that talked about being gay in Germany, and about the survivors who made it out of the concentration camps. It was years down the line that a few here and there spoke of their experiences. And the hardest hitting part was that they could never trust their fellow citizens in any real meaning. They'd been betrayed too deeply and lost far too much to fully recover. None of them ever talked about what went on in the camps in any great detail.
The other thing about the power going out. Well, people when Jim says that, he means it. Just look at Texas.
We are all Texas now, when it comes to how government treats its citizens come 2025 onward.
Everything you've said is accurate. I'm tired, too, and old. At 70, it's highly doubtful I'll live long enough to see this ship righted. I hope my son emigrates.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to TRUMPTOPIA. 🤮🤮🤮🤮
ReplyDeleteBack in 2016, I had the sick feeling I was witnessing the death blow to the concept of America I'd always believed in, even if it would take a few years to fall down. Well, last night was the thud...
ReplyDeleteThere may still be a faint pulse, but it could just be rigor mortis setting in.
I have nowhere to go. No money, no job skills. I supported what I could, gave money where I could, voted whenever a ballot showed up. The evil was just too strong, too coordinated, too well funded. My voice is never loud enough to be heard, my words never useful.
I really want to believe there is still something I can do, but right now all I see is a future with no place for me and my family to survive, one I don't think I could stand to experience even if we could... apparently, by not being overtly hateful misogynistic cultists, we are the "enemy within" that will be eliminated.
Be kind to your family and friends today. Take a breath and just get away from all this mentally for one day. Then, start noticing "the helpers" (remember that from Mr Rogers Neighborhood?). Just knowing they exist can help one feel a little less awful. And keep reading stuff from Jim and anyone else you've been following through all this. It takes time. I'm in the same boat -I am literally afraid to leave the house to run errands today because of threats during Trump's last term and the likelihood of more today and for the next week as the local Trump cult goes about like the bully on the playground at recess but armed.
DeleteSo I will be gentle with myself today, and run my errands tomorrow as early as possible, and think about what's next after that.
Good wishes to us both.
Chief, I am genuinely disappointed in my fellow Americans. I am at a loss for the appropriate response, so I will resort to silence. Thanks for your understanding sir, I don't like posting profanity laced posts. Even now, where it could be construed appropriate. Come around to my cell block, will share some pruno with you.
ReplyDelete82 years old with coronary artery disease,type two
ReplyDelete82 years old with coronary artery disease, type two diabetes, copd and chronic kidney disease. Fuck all the meds now. I hope all the dumb ass retired assholes enjoy their s/s and Medicare while they can.
ReplyDeleteAnd the rest of them who voted against their own interests get everything they deserve 😡😡😡😡😡🤬🤬🤬🤬
Thank you for all that you have offered here, over the years. I'm not shocked, exactly. I mean, I knew. Oh I knew … and I sure hoped that there were enough of us who knew, and gave a damn. But she got, what, 14,000,000 fewer votes than Biden??!! … I am sickened. I am devastated and infuriated and so, so very scared. But yeah. Not shocked. My son and I, we'll hang on as long as we can. I'm disabled, he's my carer. We can't go anywhere else. We'll see how long the soc/sec lasts I guess …
ReplyDeleteI have a trans daughter. 25 YO but disabled. In FL. SHE IS NOT SAFE. I'll be getting passports. And find somewhere safe for me and her. I don't know what else to do
ReplyDeleteHugs to you both.
DeleteIreland, Costa Rica?
DeleteI'd say I was surprised, but I'm not. Paraphrasing what Maya Angelou said about believing the 1st time when people show you who they are: zealots, traitors, sadists, racists, nihilists, narcissists, misogynists, foreign agents, fascists, & every 'phobe ever - which they have been loud & clear. People did and here we are. Outnumbered again by those who liked what they heard & voted accordingly, at all levels, repeatedly. Outnumbered by the damned fools hellbent on either apathy or the damn foolery of wasting their votes via chasing 3rd party pipedreams. It's time to hunker down for the long game of saving what/who can be while remembering what/who will be lost.
ReplyDeleteCo-sign.
DeleteI had a private message from a hardworking dear friend (non-trump voter, btw) who is in that non-college educated/economically strapped and struggling/rural living group in a barely blue state surrounded by a sea of blood-red states, asking me if it was really possible for "him" to do all the stuff he has talked about, and telling me that the people around her who voted for him were saying now "food and stuff will cost less", but that she was worried sick about her family because she was sure their medical insurance would go up at the least.
DeleteShe's a smart lady who runs her own small business, with a husband who is one of "the helpers" re work (first responder) but who recently was let go and had a hiatus between that and finding another job in the same field farther away, with four "neurodivergent" kids who have all done well or are doing well in school partly because of their parents constant support and help and who range from from mid teen up -the two eldest now working both with her in her small business and running one of their own out of the family home.
She's helped me get up to speed on other things, and she knows I am college educated and understand more about the government and how it works than she does, so it was my turn.
I can't do it.
Not today.
I did explain how Project 25 works in more detail, so she could see just how the exec branch can be transformed into the support for dictatorship in detail. I did confirm that her medical is likely to go sky high when the GOP get rid of the ACA and all restraints on insurance companies. I confirmed that SocSec and Medicaid/care will be cut. And I explained how food etc prices may or may not come down, given the uncertainty over whetehr the GOP/Trump or Vance will high five their corporate buddies more or do a small regulatory change temporarily to fix the idea in their cult's minds that they are the bountiful givers of low costs.
I didn't go into anything but what she asked about specifically. She and her family are exactly the kind of good people living in rural low income status that are going to be hurt the most other than those in "minority groups".
I won't tell her things like that her husband, who is diabetic, may die in the next year or two from what the GOP plan re healthcare and medical insurance.
I don't think I will ever forgive anyone who is part of the vote-eligible public that brought them and too many other good people to this possibility, either.
"They're going to tear down the wind turbines and solar panels and cook the planet."
ReplyDeleteYeah. That's what I fear the most. What happens in America, I have no control over; I'm not an American citizen, I'm not allowed to vote in American elections. But this election, in particular, is so consequential for the world, I'm in utter despair.
America KNEW. America KNEW who Trump is, KNEW what he's like - and yet elected him again anyway. Sure, not all Americans. But enough. And now, honestly, I'm fully expecting to see the rule of law in the USA ripped up and tossed out. There'll be a fig leaf, but that's what it amounts to - especially when the Supreme Court has already essentially given Trump carte blanche.
Where are we going, and why are we in this handbasket?
Sigh.
Meanwhile, the best thing we as individuals can do: build communities. Build connections. Work to make our local area that little bit more resilient and supportive. We're not going to see it at a larger scale, not with Trump in charge of the White House (or Vance - it's going to be Vance, sooner or later, because there's no way Trump is going to be fit to govern for the entirety of the term, if he even is right now, which is debatable.) So we have to build it at the local level and try to make it as resilient as we can against attacks by those who want to see us all under the boot.
How? Damned if I know.
I think I need to get my meds boosted to cope for the next four years. And probably beyond.
I’ve been with you a long time Jim, way back to those “who the fuck is Sarah Palin” days and you were an avid woodworker with the most kickass shop I ever studied by expanding whatever pictures you let slip out into the internets. I’m sorry we let you and this republic down. It feels so dire at the moment but you will forever be a hero to my wife and I and that feels good. 👍
ReplyDeleteTrump voters are cheering now. But won't be when they begin to realize what Joni Mitchell wrote in her song "Big Yellow Taxi" applies to them now, too —
ReplyDelete“Don’t it always seem to go,
That you don’t know what you got 'til it’s gone?”
My personal favorite of Heritage 2025 is the eradication of all federal monies for public education. Several very poor, red states are about to see what that means to either their property taxes or their children's futures.
DeleteI'm also tired of sounding the alarm and being dismissed. I'll keep doing what I can to protect those I love, those who are vulnerable. Meanwhile, it's all harder than ever. I hope the ending is swift, but my hope is frail.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading you for a couple years now after stumbling upon your writings by mere happenstance. I fervently hope that you and your loved ones will remain safe. So many fear for their freedom now for nothing more than speaking the truth. I can't for the life of me understand how we got to this nightmare place
ReplyDeleteAs a Canadian with family living in the US, I am aghast at the election results. I read your posts on FB faithfully, without asking to be friended. I grieve with you, and with those who commented above. Come January, you'll be living in a criminal state. Anyone taking bets on how long before he breaks his oath upon taking office?
ReplyDeleteMy niece is driving to Canada today. LGBTQ and terrified. Looking for a temporary place to be safer until they can get further away. It’s all horrific for so many people.
ReplyDeleteAnd here in Ohio I thought, nah. They wouldn't toss our Sherrod Brown, who's worked tirelessly to help the working people in the state, for a shifty car salesman. But they did. And after TWO changes to the Ohio Constitution that supposedly got rid of gerrymandering and the Republicans in charge said, "Fuck you, Ohio Supreme Court! This seven times you said what we did was unconstitutional? Fuck you!" and then voted down Issue 1 which would have taken those same politicians out of the redistricting loop. But of course Trump won Ohio. It's a red state. But our motto is now, "We gave you Jim Jordan and JD Vance, two of the worst? Hold my beer. Here comes Bernie Moreno." Yeah, this is (was) a pretty good place to live, but we're retired, and I think within a year we'll take our incomes and spending and go someplace sane. That may be another country. Who knows? From every election since we moved here I've gotten the little "I Voted" sticker, but they should have added, "Not that it matters."
ReplyDeleteMe too
DeleteI have been in this fight all my adult life which has been a long, long time. I am exhausted but damned if I'm going down for the count. I'm not American but that doesn't matter to me because this fight is bigger than just one country. I want a better world for my granddaughter, friends, neighbours - the whole damn planet actually - so I'll keep getting up, speaking out, refusing to surrender to smaller minds with cruel agendas. Until I effin' die if I have to because, dammit, we need to do much, much better. I understand disillusionment, anger, frustration and the disgusting betrayal of human decency. I went to bed last night in a fug of despair and I got up this morning exhausted at the never ending struggle but I cannot stop pushing back against the corrupt machines that think they're entitled to win. After all, I've beaten cancer three times so far and I may be nearing the end of the line but I'm not going down whimpering as long as I'm sucking air.
ReplyDeleteDidn’t read all the comments so someone may have already said this; correct me if I’m wrong, I think the only way the fascists go away (and never permanently) is they lose a war. Or at any rate a lot of people have to die.
ReplyDeleteScary how well auto complete helped me with that.
What really is horribly ironic about the "what about Gaza" howl, is that anyone thought they would stop with Gaza. North Africa is the target. Israel will now have free reign to invade and occupy "threats to our existence". There's money there and the oligarchs want it. And now they have nukes.
ReplyDeleteLast I say, Russia was entering the game in the Middle East.
DeleteDo you think she lost because she’s black, a woman, or both? Because I can’t rationalize anything else
ReplyDeleteI am just numb today but tomorrow I will be ready to fight! Back in the 1930s my Dad, born in 1902, cared enough about people suffering all the ills related to poverty that he corresponded with Louis Howe and Eleanor Roosevelt in hope of getting his ideas to FDR. He thought he might have been heard when Social Security became reality and he received an invitation to FDR's third inauguration, though he was too poor to try to attend. Today, at age 86 I fear that great humanitarian achievement will not survive much past the 2025 inauguration. Our next generations are doomed to fight the battle for the freedom and dignity of the human race all over again The megalomaniacs of the past several decades have succeeded with their perfect Manchurian Candidates, the egotistical blowhard and the egotistical neophyte. Hopes and prayers won't suffice. We have to fight every single day!
ReplyDeleteFor anyone seeing this who is thinking of presenting yourself at the Canadian border on foot and seeking asylum, for the love of mercy, PLEASE come before the hard weather lands, or wait for spring if you can. There were too many frostbite victims during the Trump administration.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying don't come. I'm saying don't underestimate the winter.
In 2016, my granddaughter was 8 years old. She heard enough from the adults in the family to be worried about Trump. I promised her Hillary would win. She remembers that. She's 16 now. Last night she watched the returns with me. She's very upset. 🙄
ReplyDeleteVery angry at the reelection of the fascist who will end democracy in my time. I am 76. Silver lining pointed out by my Great Grandson Luke age nine who was trying to console me this morning...he won't be able to run again.
ReplyDeleteThank you, chief, for taking us along with you in our hope for better government. You have been a light in the darkness.
ReplyDeleteI can't even. They'll all just laugh as people die.
ReplyDeleteEver since COVID, I've been saying that of all the things I'd learned about my "fellow Americans", the most dismaying was how eager they were to f*ck the rest of us over. That they couldn't wait to be openly racist, bigoted, misogynistic. And then, this election cycle rose up, and Project 2025 was spelled out for them. The big Dipsh*t said all the quiet parts out loud. And it wasn't enough to make people understand our democracy was on the ropes. I listened to people talking to Buttigieg about how they couldn't vote for Harris because of Gaza, and how they were supporting Stein. And now, like you said, we know. We know these people, some of whom claim to be our allies, and some not, will never have our backs. At the moment, I'm just standing in the fire of my own rage, letting it burn me, like I've done most of my life. I'm old enough now to know that I'll eventually have to move, but I think I'm going to carry this fire around for a bit. I need to see where I'm going next.
ReplyDeleteWhen I had cancer they told me to visualize my cancer. It was 1995 and I picked Newt Gingrich. It all started when that SOB put out the gimmick "Contract with [on] America." (Think of as early Project 2025.) I survived but likely won't stick around for that cancer that is Trump.
ReplyDelete“after the recession and the wars and the riots and the violence”
ReplyDeleteIt might not be that bad. You can’t have a world war against the fascists if there’s no one that opposes them.
I just sent a message to a friend saying much the same, though not as elegantly as you have. I'm done. I’m going to do whatever I can to be there for my granddaughter and great granddaughters in the coming hellscape. When the idiots who let this evil back in finally, finally realize what they’ve done I hope to be there with a great big told you so. It’s the only thing to look forward to at this point. We had a chance and blew it big time. So be it.
ReplyDeleteFor years I have said, "A majority of American citizens are not fascists." I apologize. I was wrong. I could almost think the election was the result of a conspiracy. After all the MAGAists have been screaming "conspiracy" for years and, everybody knows, they are only accusing others of being as bad as they are. Alas, I am not a Republican, any more. I don't believe in conspiracies. I was just wrong about the number of fascists.
ReplyDeleteI left the country 2 years ago because I knew. When he wasn't being prosecuted, I knew. The world had seen this show before, and it was going to repeat. I had hope, I was encouraged by the great effort put out by Kamala Harris, and I even dared to hope I was wrong. Sadly, I was not wrong. I voted. But one vote in a blue state wasn't enough. :(
ReplyDeleteWanted to share this for the near-total agreement - but all the lefties I know worked hard, volunteered, spread the word, got out the vote, and voted themselves. Why do you think the 12.5 million shortfall came from lefties not voting? They didn't vote stein, they didn't vote rfk - their totals are only 1.25 million, only 10% of the missing votes. They didn't vote for Trump, he got about 2m less votes than he did in 2020. You really think there were 11 million lefty protest non-votes?
ReplyDeleteSince 2016, I think that at some subconscious level I knew this was going to happen sooner or later. In 2016, despite what we had already seen from DJT, tens of millions voted for him. Even after his disastrous administration, tens of millions still stuck with him. When such a large percentage of the population is lacking basic moral principles, it indicates its inevitable demise. Harris winning would have delayed it a bit, but sooner or later one of these MAGA maniacs would have taken power. The country’s decay has begun in earnest and will eventually lead to some kind of reset at some indeterminate point in the future. I don’t hope any more, I’ll just survive the best I can and try to make the life of the people around me as happy as possible. I wish you all luck in the dark times ahead and be kind to those around you, it’s one of the few things we have control of.
ReplyDeleteI did vote.
ReplyDeleteI'm also old and heartbroken.
Well, we have already broken the planet. Now we have broken the largest democracy on it. What do we do now? Give up? Oh, how I would love to just toss my hands up and say enough. But it is not in my Ukrainian genes. (corny but) I will never give up. I will never surrender. If I give my last breath fighting for the democracy I love, so be it.
ReplyDeleteThe owner of my company came in today and asked if an employee was going to make NH great again (owner had a pac for the new governor) Damn straight was the answer. The Christian woman who couldn't possibly be less christian voted for him and was proud as punch. She's an anti vaxxer. Came into the office with covid, didn't bother to wear a mask. Or tell anyone she had covid. God would be so proud of her.
ReplyDeleteI cried last night. I cried after work today. Now I'm pissed at the people who didn't vote and the people who are so willfully ignorant and stupid that they've doomed everyone on the planet.
I've been thinking of the Pretorian Guard.
ReplyDeleteI’ve cried off and on all night and I stayed in bed until noon and then cried some more. Over the years your pics of the birds and flowers always grounded me between all the other stuff. So thank you for everything. You and all our other friends’ comments here articulate my feelings well. I honestly don’t know what to do, where to go, or what I can plan. I am a 76 year old widow medically bankrupted before ACA, 2x cancer survivor with autoimmune issues, living solely on social security and my actual lifeline is medicare + supplement. I would say I am not an anomaly in my age group concerning finances or health. I’m exhausted from the marches and protests and sit-ins I’ve done since the 60s and for what? I never expected it or me to end this way.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was 4 my parents divorced and my only stability fell apart. Today I am that 4-year-old again, helpless as my world falls apart. I suppose that I should be grateful that I have the opportunity to face my traumas and heal them.
ReplyDeleteI'm not.
I have 2 autistic children, one of whom is transgender. My spouse and I have wills and a detailed financial plan to see to their care for their lifetimes that is slightly over 3 inches thick. Alas, all of it is predicated on the assumption that the laws of our country will remain in place.
Today I spent some time reading through Wikipedia's entry about the Heritage 2025 plan. My children, like all the handicapped children of 1930 Germany will be killed because they are a "burden" on the richest nation in the world. Because their care, for which we will pay our entire life savings, comes to the price of an Itty bitty yacht, the kind bought by "posers," is, somehow unacceptable.
I, my spouse, and both my children mailed in our ballots 5 weeks ago. Straight blue.
Today, we are seriously contemplating selling our house and moving to Ireland.
This is a Great Filter moment. Humans have enough destructive power, and have effected the natural environment enough, that turning against forward thinking science and the rule of law will bring about conditions where humanity becomes extinct. It may not come tomorrow, but all the things planned and the relinquishing of the US military being the world police force will both provide the incentive for worldwide military clashes and accelerate climate change. The planet won't be destroyed, it will just become inhospitable for human life. And the billionaires who think they can go to another planet and live there are fooling themselves because they rely so heavily on the support of the workforce below them the same workforce missing on that other planet will spell their doom.
ReplyDeleteMy sadness is doubles in that I am older and will more than likely die before I see the fools suffer, and that I will have to suffer in what should have been a relaxed retirement.
If nothing else, it will be funny to see Ben Shapiro still yelling about Barbie when he's put in the same train as me.
ReplyDelete14 million Americans didn't show up to vote for Kamala Harris the way they did for President Biden in 2020. That tells me misogyny is still very much alive among Democrats.... idiots.
ReplyDeleteWe deserve this. How long have we left well enough alone? How long have we left unchecked, the very powerful with their media stations spewing poisonous right-wing rhetoric and disinformation. Because, there are millions who can't tell the difference between the truth and being manipulated. Oh, freedom of speech? I'm all for it, say what you will. But if just one person is harmed because of what you say, then you should be held accountable. The very powerful in this country don't have to be accountable. They don't pay taxes and they are allowed to manipulate not only the general public, but also those who hold office. We have allowed this to happen, and we deserve Donald Trump, JFK Jr., Elon Musk and any other slime they can scoop up to squash the American dream. God help us!
ReplyDeleteWhat I feel is a real kick in the pants are the people who didn't want to vote for Harris could have still showed up to vote for Dems to keep control of at least one chamber of Congress. Elections have consequences and doubly so for not voting at all.
ReplyDeleteI saw a really apt quote today: America just got back together with her abusive ex even though we all tried to warn her that he would kill her.
ReplyDeleteIf the U.S. leaves NATO, then Russia, China, Israel, and others will have free rein to do what they want, maybe even with U.S. arms. This really could be the beginning of WW III. What side will the U.S. be on then?
ReplyDeleteWe have certainly seen what half of the country feels about the rest of us. My spouse and I moved to Mexico this year as an experiment, but I believe that it will be for the foreseeable future. This is a beautiful, safe place and even these machismo men voted to elect a woman as President.
I am very much of the opinion that while in WWII, the US Armed Forces were part of the liberators, Trump will have them fighting on the side of Putin's thugs in WWIII.
DeleteDon't you smell a Rat here?? Something is NOT RIGHT... there were too many People voting for Camala... Blacks, Puerto Ricans, Gays, Women, Military, etc, etc., WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED??
ReplyDeleteI think something is VERY FISHY!!
As predicted, though I've kept it to myself, the outcome shouldn't surprise anyone. We are in fact a nation ruled by the whims of a body politic so egregiously selfish and overrun with political and economic imbeciles that we might as well allow the whole experiment to burn to the ground, and it will soon enough.
ReplyDeleteOnce the Rubicon of shared reality was crossed, our desperate need to maintain the norms of free speech and fair play became a weapon we had no defense against.
Democracy died in the full, brilliant, glaring sunlight of free speech, and we could not bring ourselves to cast a shadow upon it for the cowardly fear of being called "unfair."
In 2016, it was her emails.
ReplyDeleteIn 2024, it was her laugh.
The river of misogyny runs wide and deep through the electorate in the US. Because this is the electorate that chose fucking FACISM as the 'acceptable' alternative to voting for a woman as POTUS. And they don't even care how paper-thin their excuses are. The GOP learned how to capitalize on that river. They've been too afraid to wear that misogyny label in the past 9 years. The next generation of them will glory in that label.
Thanks for your writings. Don't know it we will survive the next 4 years and beyond. Younger people have the most to loose. Just the beginning, was called a Dumpbocract!😱😱
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