Yesterday, November 5, 2024, Americans reelected former president Donald Trump, a Republican, to the presidency over Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris.
Thank you dear Heather, for tonight's letter. I hope you feel the love, gratitude, and admiration that's being sent to you always, but especially today. Take good care--
I think I will listen to your politics chat on November 4th. It's like a washing machine overflow where there is a lot to clean up and a lot of inconvenience but 'there is still work to do.'
When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.” — Frédéric Bastiat, Economic sophisms, 2nd series (1848)
I cannot disagree with you about this country hating women. Biden put together arguably the best cabinet and surrounded him with the most capable advisors anywhere. And most of them are women.
Now we will go back to a group of all white Fascist men surrounding CFDT. I say surrounded because Trump doesn't listen to anyone except the talking heads on FOX. They are his advisors.
A culture writer I respect said that the way men AND women reacted to the Johnny Depp trial a couple of years ago told her that the entire country had shifted hard to the right. I didn't want to believe it but suspected that she might be right. Turns out she was. The same proportion of white women -- a majority -- went for Trump yesterday as did in 2016 and 2020.
We may not have four years. Rachel Maddow tonight warns us that they are going to act quickly ... they already have the playbook in place. Maybe we need to start a movement ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCna8cLHgMI
Today, Facebook has a meme that advocates Pres. Biden will step down and make Kamala our president for 100 days. She can write executive orders right and left, including but not limited to an immediate expansion of the Supreme Court and enshrining Dobbs again. I don't know about the possibility, but it certainly would be audacious.
The die is cast and the Rubicon has been crossed. I just hope we survive it. People keep talking as if we’ll have another election but I’m not so sure. He’s already said we won’t have to vote anymore. That should please everyone who thought voting wasn’t important in the first place.
I agree. I am trying not to see the future that is so easily predictable. I thought Trump was supremely arrogant to tell us what he was going to do. I did not want to think my fellow Americans would choose to submit to a dictatorship. Well, I was only partly right, they didn't submit - they ran to put the chains around their own necks and their children's.
Dear SPW - I agree with your observation about people talking about another election. I believe the Republicans are going to hold on to government way beyond a four year presidency. We may be stuck with Trump and his side-kick, Vance for many years to come.
Biden can basically do anything he wants to do--the Supremes have given the POTUS freedom to do anything with no consequences. Why let Trump have all the fun of consequences free politics? Biden could be a bad boy for the last few months of his presidency.
The first thing he should do is pardon Hunter. And then pardon any other left wing prisoners. He should make judicial appointments when Congress is in recess. Any and all vacancies on all Federal courts. He can actually do this legally I believe.
He should fire Louis DeJoy as an official act since he has totally ruined the USPS.
He knows which Executive Orders Trump will issue on day I and he should sabotage as many of those as he can. Trump will open up Federal lands to drilling and mining. He should do what he can to stall these actions.
The coalition I can imagine would include Democrats, Independents, and even the Republicans that fear the consequences of another Trump administration.
I'd simply ask them to help make up a list of the potential damage and share evidence of the real damage they see, whether they had imagined it before the election or become aware of it having never imagined any such things could ever happen here.
I have to believe the real consequences they see will have them looking for coalitions to limit or reverse the damage (and to record the consequences for history I hope no future generation will ever forget).
I am assuming Kamala has started a movement. I highly doubt she's signing off. No doubt she needs a rest. She's just run a full on operational presidential campaign in 16 weeks. But she has begun a movement.
Yes as now peaveful protest like last times Women's march may be threatened by local "militias" or martial law and DonOLD wants to use live ammunition and the military.
Given TFG and alll the rest of those people's bent, I fear that they will vigorously prosecute and completely shut down any resistance. There will be a new name for the "Justice" Department, since there will be NO justice in the future.
That’s optimistic. Hitler started executing his political opponents within days, and it took him only a few months before the first concentration camps were up and running. If I were Nancy Pelosi or Liz Cheney, I’d leave the country asap.
No. Putin won the long game. Why? It's easier to break things down than to build things up. American democracy will be destroyed by the Convicted Orange Felon by February 2025. Remember, it took Hitler only a few months to dismantle the government and start up the first concentration camps.
Maybe it's time admit to ourselves that only a minority of the people are interested in how the world works, and the majority is just plain stupid.
4 years - we should be so lucky. That is not Trump’s plan, as he has clearly stated. Along with all the other horrible things he has promised. How could so many people be so cruel to so many others.
I am not ok. I am a woman, I am queer, I am polyamorous, and I am non-Christian. I have many, many trans and gender-nonconforming loved ones. Most of my blood family voted for this, and I don't feel safe in my own family. You're dead right about the disinformation. It's so frustrating to see this coming, like watching a slow-motion car wreck, and not being able to do enough to stop it. I feel like I have been screaming into the void. So many people I love are hurting. This is so much worse than 2016--I have nothing to compare it to. The pain is so immense. I blame every Republican who after saying that Jan 6 was a dealbreaker for them fell in line and declined to impeach him. His own Veep called him America's Hitler but then sold his soul for power. These spineless excuses for human beings make me sick, and I just can't.
I *will* carry on. I will fight. I will resist. I will love and nurture and create. But first I have to despair.
I learned from persons like you, when I was a primary care doc (now retired) how much suffering is associated with being queer or non binary and how people find the strength and determination to be who they are. Hang on, know that someone out there understands a bit of what you are. Be loving to others, it will come back to you and we will get through this.
I am also not ok. I'm a straight woman married to a straight man, he has three ultra normal kids, I have one bi and one trans kids. I am terrified for them. Some of my family voted for this, but I'm no contact, so heard it through a cousin. We are in dark, dark territory, and I for one, who have vulnerable adult children, cannot go back. Despairing seems like a good idea, but I spent last night crying until I had to get up to go to work. I despaired at work, and came home early to take a nap. I don't know how I'm going to get through the next 4 yrs.
❤️🩹Reach out, build community—even if just to share feelings, both highs & lows. Here is a poem by one of my faves, Marge Piercy, “The Low Road”….I’m thinking we should all print it out and frame it so we can see it every day as a call to action. Be well, Jill, be strong and loving as you can to yourself and others. https://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/piercylowroad.html
Thanks so much for this. I hadn't read that poem in many years, but tomorrow, I'm going to pull out all of my feminist poetry. The woman who inspired my feminism died a couple of years ago, tended by one of two sons she adopted. (He sang "I am Woman Hear Me Roar" at a school talent show.) I truly thought that a smart, savvy, joyful biracial woman was going to prevail on Tuesday, and what happened is deeply saddening.
We need to call out the Southern Baptist Convention for their patriarchal stance as well as the entire Catholic Church all the way to Rome. Pedophilia and Homosexuality between priests is still rampant. Traditional Christianity is in free fall thanks to Trump and all of his supporters. We need to prosecute 501(c)3 non-profits that are strictly political.
We don't need the damn churches to perform charitable works. We have been doing it without them and doing just great. What a turnoff it must be to have to pray to their gods before accepting a meal or other charity.
We should support only churches that practice and believe the principles of Jesus Christ without being political.
My heart ached when I read your post. I am hearing of similar anxieties from others. I appreciate your courage, your steadfastness, and your will to love, nurture and create while leaving a bit of room to scream into the void. I certainly cannot claim to speak for my fellow, white, hetero men, but I know that there are far more of us that detest the cowardly and barbaric targeting of the LGBTQ community that the Trumpian hordes seem to love with so much juvenile "Clockwork Orange"-esque abandon, than may be known.
Your indictment of the cowardice of the Republicans who claimed that 01/06/21 was a bridge too far prior to crossing it so as to pay obeisance to the Mango Mussolini was spot on.
Please know that there are those of us out here who support you in this dark time.
I see a lot of pain from friends today. When answering an excellent post by a friend who knows death star voters very well, i noted that part of the reason was racism, misogyny, and misconception about the economy. I note that ordinary people would bear the brunt of this including a lot of death star voters. I had one person tell me in response that the items I mentioned were esoteric and that his concern was all the nonvoters (which concerns me too) and he wasn't interested in the reasons i mentioned. I was off to a massage, but answered him more fully when I got home. I did tell him that as an older woman I had experienced misogyny not as something esoteric, but something very real as are the other two things I listed. Then he informed all of us that Not Voting (his caps) was a conscious action (I read that to mean it was a way to punish Ds for not being pure) I reminded him of several instances where people would suffer mightily for that decision. I told him his reasoning sounded philosophical and gosh, esoteric. So basically, people like him are telling us that they are not responsible for helping death star win by not voting. I know his ilk because they are often the high and mighty arrogant presence in the room and the rest of us have no principles and are just blindly voting.
Michele, I’d posted a protest sign I’d carried a few years back (TFFFG’s first term) during a protest on my fence this election season that reads: Choosing Not To Vote Is Not Rebellion, It’s Surrender. A friend of mine said her adult daughter’s friends were not interested voting and would sit it out—perhaps always? Too bad, might turn out to be the last chance they had. I don’t get it, at all. We’ve got a ton of work to get this “top” back to spinning without toppling.
Diane, I may be old, but I will lace up my boots and stand shoulder to shoulder with you to defend the ramparts of our hard-won (work in progress) egalitarian democracy. My sorrow/sadness/anger is morphing into resolve to resist and push back. I fear for many of my chosen family who are in same-sex marriages/partnerships or who are gender fluid…I DON’T want them shoved back into the shadows again. And don’t get me started on reproductive health….fought that shit decades ago! No way, no how. I have posted my anthem here quite a number of times before, but will do so again…will be listening to it more often myself to give me some “juice” to carry on. Jackson Browne’s Til I Go Down (mid-80’s): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmzimxfqgfw
We all need to boycott Tesla, Fox News, Goya, Walmart and other Trump supporting outlets as much as we can. The oligarchs stand to benefit the most from electing Trump so let's hit the the greedy bastards in their pocketbooks.
Yes. Putin has many of his cyber troops in this war, and human ones. Calling in bomb threats at our polls is a new level of invasion. ANd only the beginning.
Amanda, I have been thinking of this as well. My fervent hope is that European countries will rally and up the ante and direct support to Ukraine should the USA (likely) renege on our promises/support.
We have a lot of A-10s that are going to be scrapped that are still VERY deadly tank killers that fly low under radar. We should gift them to NATO countries now and let them loan them to Ukraine.
Me, too. The COF will pull the US out of NATO on day one of his presidency, er, dictatorship, handing Ukraine to Putin on a silver platter. On day two, Putin will attack Poland. We can only hope he doesn’t use nukes. We’re goung to have a hard time here in Europe, too, come January…
Today I've read & seen many comments about how the Dems need to soul search, come up with a more appealing message, confront the kitchen table issues & on & on.
Can improvements be made, of course. But Kamala Harris had plans. She spoke about them. She spoke about the goodness of America, goodness of the American citizens. And yet we see this message of joy & hope was cast aside.
I see this election result as a morality problem. All the contemptuous things that trump has done & said. The grotesque way he refers to his opponents. The hate & vitriole he spouts constantly. The insults, the crimes, the name calling, hypocrisy of being considered a savior, protected by god. All of this & over 1/2 the country voted for this. Complaints about the cost of living, immigration are camouflage for a lack of morality. While trump did not invent these things he gave them oxygen, a platform & all that nurturing of hate & fear led us to where we are today. This is not a Democratic problem. This is a decency & morality problem.
I totally agree with you. It seems to me that as a society we have lost all sense of civility and decency, unable to express compassion for those different from us. Is it capitalism? Is it the constant pressure to get ahead or just stay even? Is it reality tv and the internet? I don’t really know but it breaks my heart when I see how hard so many decent people worked to bring about a positive, joyful administration and were beaten by misogyny, hatred and fear. This country could be unrecognizable in 4 years time.
The country will be unrecognizable by March. It think the problem is that cooperation, love, understanding is all too difficult. Fighting, hate and distrust is easy. People want easy. That’s why they chose the COF.
His lies were ignored and a liar cannot be trusted. Liars are unfit for command. Vance and the rest of his team are all good liars. Immigration was a top issue for his voters and he used the debate to spread lies about Haitian immigrants in Springfield Ohio every chance he could, never answering questions. The msm ignored it. Had Biden or Harris behaved that way, his magacult would be screaming and crying about it. That was the most important fat finger on the scale of justice. 🤡💩🎃
The likes of Trump is what America wants. The electorate made it clear that it prefers a kleptocratic autocracy to a democracy that tries to treat people with non-European ancestry with decency.
An interesting, scary and shattering turn of events, no? It’s as if 1/2 the electorate has been drugged into some “this is real democracy” illusion. Just keep giving them another “hit” and they’re all good. Wut????!!!!
One of the problems is that it's actually only 1/4 of the electorate since only 1/2 of the potential voters vote. 70+ million people is not a mandate. If turnout had increased by only 5% or less, in the swing states, Kamala would have won.
Tru dat……I do a slow (or hot, depending on the occasion) burn about folks who opt out from voting….I’ve been voting since I was eligible (back in the day) at the age of 21 in the early 70’s. Only missed on mid-term because I was working late and the polling location closed before I could get there (this was way before early voting/mail-in was a thing)…never made that mistake again!
A President who simulated oral sex on a microphone at a rally attended by many families, women, children, not in a high school locker room. Even then…childish and gross. Very symbolic for me regarding character and morality.
Definitely. Apparently, the American voters decided in a majority they are eager to live in a fascist, dictatorial regime ruled by two unhinged narcissists. Don't forget, the more crazy the Convicted Orange Felon went, the bigger his support. Too big a part of the American people love crazy, apparently.
They also voted against Gaia that keeps humans (now call us Hubris sapiens) and all the beings and ecosystems we share this “pale blue dot” with alive and in stasis. Weird to know we should and can do something BIG to deal with this, but don’t and won’t. Also weird to fathom the spector of our own demise….that we KNOW better, but don’t DO better. Sad & weird.
So agree. The consequences of global warming are real and ignored in their drill baby drill policy. There are multiple viruses with the potential to cause another pandemic brewing in our overpopulated world. Science is real, even if you fire all the scientists.
So many voted against their own interests. Lack of knowledge perhaps or greed and the desire to feel powerful with the ability to say and do almost anything. If even a fraction of what Trump says he will do happens these people will be mudsills and drag us down as well. I’m too old for this shite.
They are voting their short-term self-interest , so they think. Our culture encourages short-term thinking and expectation of immediate gratification. Our culture doesn’t comprehend the climate emergency, that’s for sure.
In my opinion, giving “the economy and inflation” as your reason for a Trump vote is more socially acceptable than saying “I can’t accept a Black or a Woman as my president.”
An economist this morning said that the Trump economy would do well for a while, before his plans have had full effect, because he inherits a strong economy from Biden. The irony.
Made me think, Linda, of the Alanis Morissette song “Ironic”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jne9t8sHpUc. Hopefully there will come a moment of realization and evolution for these folks as to what it all really means (not just the meme’s!!!).
I have been waiting for your post. I haven't even listened to NPR news. Maybe I will go off news entirely. It's frightening right down to the core of us and our hopes. It feels surreal. Democracy and America is something that can be destroyed and like the prophecy warned us: from within.
I hated to give up my subscriptions to WAPO and NYTimes but they constantly normalized everything Trump and the MAGAs said or did. Substack has all the news I need except the weather.
And cable subscriptions are dropping like a rock across the country.
Sadly, Gary, I wonder if they are rubbing their hands together in glee at 4 more years of “shit-show” and click-bait shenanigans by TFFFG to help them line their pockets. I am bereft at the thought of having to hear his whiney voice EVER AGAIN. Sigh.
My 82 y/o husband voted for Hillary and for Kamala. This morning he said: men just won't vote for a woman. He's not sexist, he simply said how he perceives men.
Marcie, i learned that many years ago when our principal was sued by some of the women on the staff. Some of the remarks were downright nasty. I have one person in mind and from that moment on, she has been on my black list.
Yes, you are correct and I am not making a blanket condemnation of all men....just those who voted for death star because they could not vote for a woman and a woman of color too.
Part of the problem is that most Republicans don't accept that Trump stole their party and yet they think he is one of them. I was a Republican for years because of people like Tom Osborne, John McCain and many other politicians that truly cared about their constituents and would cross the aisle to help them.
And patriarchy which is an integral part of sexism. 44% of latino men voted for Trump which is the largest percentage ever. They tend to be Catholic and think they should make all of the decisions for the family. The Church raised them that way. This is the demographic that the Democrats took for granted and it cost them big time.
I’m not sure. Hillary won the popular vote over a man. It may be more that voter suppression and disinformation media are to blame. It could also be that humans just default to base instincts as if we still lived primitivly.
My 81 year-old husband said tonight that he doesn’t believe it’s racism or misogyny. He just doesn’t get it. In the interest of not starting a war here, I kept silent.
Sometimes, Cathy, if you haven’t had to “walk the walk” you just don’t get it. Most guys are gobsmacked by the lengths women/girls go to to stay safe & aware of their surroundings….something most guys have NO clue about. Like living in parallel universes!
My wife has reminded me of that often Barbara. I have worked in crime ridden downtown areas and walked back from trivia or dinner late at night not even thinking about my safety. My wife hates me for being able to do that when almost all women can't.
I can’t find the link, but there was a piece describing a college class where simple experiences were described by women and the men were gobsmacked by the “attention to detail/surroundings” were vital to a woman’s even being out ‘n about. They truly had no idea. I searched for it online, but couldn’t come up with it. Women know tho’…..
Marcie, I saw someone interviewed on MSNBC this afternoon—he was Hispanic and basically confirmed a misogynist bias that many Hispanic men (oh, Lordy, they’re not alone!) have against women in power (Hillary ran into the same brick wall)…he quoted some statements he’d heard…familiar old tropes. He did share that he admired Harris and voted for her. Good grief this is distressing! As I have posted here numerous times, there is an interesting thought-experiment novel by Naomi Alderman “The Power” that addresses gender power issues.
I'm sending out Rachel's video tomorrow to some of my friends to see who's interested ... what are you thinking? And where are you? I'm in Santa Barbara, CA.
Much harder territory here. IN. I am going to be talking to a Democratic group founded in Bloomington and next week consulting with a lawyer friend. See where it goes from there. Planting seeds.
I hear you, Carla. I am from Indiana and now live in Oregon where the urban areas are blue. Locally, we had some good wins and are now waiting for Oregon's 5th and Washington's 3rd. I am optimistic as i think they will go Ds who are ahead.
I liked Rachel's lets become Pirates comment. I'm in. In 1814 the Britts came up the Chesapeake Bay to burn Fells Point and destroy our very successful Privateers...legally commissioned pirates who were giving the Britts a fit. We have a replica "The Pride of Baltimore II" that has sailed the world representing the spirit of Baltimore and Maryland to fight against tyranny. We stopped the British invasion here...after they had burned the White House and Capitol. We know about successful resistance and we beat Trump and won almost every Statewide and many local elections. Baltimore has held a lot of very progressive meetings and conventions over the past 250 years. We may be a good place to convene this movement.
Rachel Maddow's advice is great--that we rest, be with other people doing something, anything together, then get to work. For the work, we don't need to reinvent the wheel. As Heather has noted at various times, since DJT was elected in 2016, people have become engaged in political activism, and then Kamala Harris's candidacy has energized the level of people's activism by a quantum leap. As Michelle Obama rallied us, dozens of grassroots organizations attracted more and more people to DO SOMETHING! Robert Hubbell notes that we now have the infrastructure of a movement for going forward.
Jessica Craven continues to be amazing as she posts information that makes it easy for us to follow through:
Vice President Harris's gracious remarks; an elegant patriot. 🙏 https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5140650 ⚖️ I am shocked like most others. 😳 Feeling grief today, mainly for the children and young people. 😢 What a train-wreck my generation is leaving them. 💔 I take a limited consolation in remembering less than 5% of the protestors of 06jan21 stormed the Capitol. 🤞
Civil war is not inevitable. If it comes, I will fight. Guns are not my forte; can barely hit the side of barn. Fortunately, from what I have seen with these militia-mongers, many of them as as wide as a barn is long.
I fear for our planet. What will become of it when the leader of the so-called free world thinks climate change is a hoax and that covid was nothing more than a little flu? We are all children of the same Mother. Let's act like it!
I would suggest that all of us download the list of items in the Consumer Price Index at this time to prove to people that we know how well Trump’s inflation fighting is working after a year (and 2 years, 3 years, etc.) since it seems that a lot of people bought into Trump’s promise to get rid of inflation. It’s far too easy to forget how good things were four years ago—look at how many people forget the horrors of a badly mismanaged pandemic.
Mary, the rub is , as HSC, points out, this type of message is hard to deliver when the Trump voters are in their separate world of Oz. And what is the messaging playing field going to look like when Musk is appointed under Czar?
I had the same thought. Of course, inflation has leveled out and Trump will say its his doing. Unfortunately many voters had no idea that inflation was world-wide and looked for someone to blame.
Thank you dear Heather, for tonight's letter. I hope you feel the love, gratitude, and admiration that's being sent to you always, but especially today. Take good care--
I think I will listen to your politics chat on November 4th. It's like a washing machine overflow where there is a lot to clean up and a lot of inconvenience but 'there is still work to do.'
Still very 😢🤬😢🤬😢🤬😢. So extremely tired of people voting against themselves (and the rest of us).
Racism's a helluva drug. And Trump has known that since long before he tossed his hat into the ring in 2015.
Sexism is an even more potent drug. This country HATES women. As a woman, I sure can feel it.
When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.” — Frédéric Bastiat, Economic sophisms, 2nd series (1848)
I cannot disagree with you about this country hating women. Biden put together arguably the best cabinet and surrounded him with the most capable advisors anywhere. And most of them are women.
Now we will go back to a group of all white Fascist men surrounding CFDT. I say surrounded because Trump doesn't listen to anyone except the talking heads on FOX. They are his advisors.
A culture writer I respect said that the way men AND women reacted to the Johnny Depp trial a couple of years ago told her that the entire country had shifted hard to the right. I didn't want to believe it but suspected that she might be right. Turns out she was. The same proportion of white women -- a majority -- went for Trump yesterday as did in 2016 and 2020.
And against their best interests. Sad.
It's the racial/gender intersection that has scarred black women so much. We mostly don't sleep with the enemy.
Stems from fear, yes?
So sad and infuriating and so very true.
And, Lex, long before that as well….learned and nurtured at his father’s knee.
Yeah, that's what I was alluding to.
as is misogyny
I sent a message to you that I repeat here. For the next 4 years we need your lighthouse postings to guide us through the treacherous MAGA shoals.
We may not have four years. Rachel Maddow tonight warns us that they are going to act quickly ... they already have the playbook in place. Maybe we need to start a movement ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCna8cLHgMI
Today, Facebook has a meme that advocates Pres. Biden will step down and make Kamala our president for 100 days. She can write executive orders right and left, including but not limited to an immediate expansion of the Supreme Court and enshrining Dobbs again. I don't know about the possibility, but it certainly would be audacious.
He could write the same executive orders
Yes, but he won't.
The die is cast and the Rubicon has been crossed. I just hope we survive it. People keep talking as if we’ll have another election but I’m not so sure. He’s already said we won’t have to vote anymore. That should please everyone who thought voting wasn’t important in the first place.
I agree. I am trying not to see the future that is so easily predictable. I thought Trump was supremely arrogant to tell us what he was going to do. I did not want to think my fellow Americans would choose to submit to a dictatorship. Well, I was only partly right, they didn't submit - they ran to put the chains around their own necks and their children's.
Dear SPW - I agree with your observation about people talking about another election. I believe the Republicans are going to hold on to government way beyond a four year presidency. We may be stuck with Trump and his side-kick, Vance for many years to come.
Biden can basically do anything he wants to do--the Supremes have given the POTUS freedom to do anything with no consequences. Why let Trump have all the fun of consequences free politics? Biden could be a bad boy for the last few months of his presidency.
The first thing he should do is pardon Hunter. And then pardon any other left wing prisoners. He should make judicial appointments when Congress is in recess. Any and all vacancies on all Federal courts. He can actually do this legally I believe.
He should fire Louis DeJoy as an official act since he has totally ruined the USPS.
He knows which Executive Orders Trump will issue on day I and he should sabotage as many of those as he can. Trump will open up Federal lands to drilling and mining. He should do what he can to stall these actions.
And also fund Ukraine as much as possible.
We KNOW that TFG will throw Ukraine and the rest of NATO under the bus and allow Putin to execute war on a global scale...
I do think a braver Biden could do that, but, alas, he hasn't got the guts to color outside the lines of his ( which is mine too) generational norms.,
Democrats have NO SPINE. This is a fucking WAR and they roll over on their backs like a good dog and just let the fascist do what they like.
It is time for REVOLUTIONARY ACTIONS.
Now.
Be bold.
Be courageous.
Do what needs to be done.
But what, exactly? Use their playbook and storm the Capital?!
They have no spine, but much money!
Bingo! How many seats did the immigrant and woman hater Elon Musk buy for the Republicans? He tried to buy ours, but couldn't pull it off.
He has promised to decimate the civil service including the IRS.
Nothing to lose now.
Yeah, nope, won’t work.
I wish that were possible.
Interesting but unlikely possibility...
I'm up for a new Opposition Coalition of parties like the one formed for the 34th Congress, elected soon after the Kansas-Nebraska Act passed.
See Elizabeth Warren's response at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2MSwUJDI0Y
The coalition I can imagine would include Democrats, Independents, and even the Republicans that fear the consequences of another Trump administration.
I'd simply ask them to help make up a list of the potential damage and share evidence of the real damage they see, whether they had imagined it before the election or become aware of it having never imagined any such things could ever happen here.
I have to believe the real consequences they see will have them looking for coalitions to limit or reverse the damage (and to record the consequences for history I hope no future generation will ever forget).
We do need more robust political parties, real organized, viable parties, players.
I am assuming Kamala has started a movement. I highly doubt she's signing off. No doubt she needs a rest. She's just run a full on operational presidential campaign in 16 weeks. But she has begun a movement.
I'm passing this around. Everyone should listen to Rachel
I have to pay $$$$$$$ to listen to Rachel, is there any other way around the pay wall?
Rachel Maddow will be the first to go. The new regime will put MSNBC out of business and all its journalists in prison.
Why a new movement? Use that organization-forming time to help build up or reform an existing organization. Or refurbish an already existing one?
This is excellent. Thank you.
Yes as now peaveful protest like last times Women's march may be threatened by local "militias" or martial law and DonOLD wants to use live ammunition and the military.
Given TFG and alll the rest of those people's bent, I fear that they will vigorously prosecute and completely shut down any resistance. There will be a new name for the "Justice" Department, since there will be NO justice in the future.
Do you think we the people and democracy will survive?
Not in its present form. Project 2025 will annihilate the present form of voting.
Yup, and then the descent into authoritarianism. Won't take long. We'll be powerless as citizens by 2026.
That’s optimistic. Hitler started executing his political opponents within days, and it took him only a few months before the first concentration camps were up and running. If I were Nancy Pelosi or Liz Cheney, I’d leave the country asap.
To Julie Tallard Johnson: Rachel Maddow today posted the way forward:
https://youtu.be/NCna8cLHgMI?si=sQmAxcC9Gf5jVaj2
thanks for the link. Let's wake up every day, resisting.
Chris Hayes also had important words to hear
No. Putin won the long game. Why? It's easier to break things down than to build things up. American democracy will be destroyed by the Convicted Orange Felon by February 2025. Remember, it took Hitler only a few months to dismantle the government and start up the first concentration camps.
Maybe it's time admit to ourselves that only a minority of the people are interested in how the world works, and the majority is just plain stupid.
No. It’s over. I hate that bastard they voted for, and I hate them for voting for him. They’ve destroyed Western democracy
4 years - we should be so lucky. That is not Trump’s plan, as he has clearly stated. Along with all the other horrible things he has promised. How could so many people be so cruel to so many others.
I am not ok. I am a woman, I am queer, I am polyamorous, and I am non-Christian. I have many, many trans and gender-nonconforming loved ones. Most of my blood family voted for this, and I don't feel safe in my own family. You're dead right about the disinformation. It's so frustrating to see this coming, like watching a slow-motion car wreck, and not being able to do enough to stop it. I feel like I have been screaming into the void. So many people I love are hurting. This is so much worse than 2016--I have nothing to compare it to. The pain is so immense. I blame every Republican who after saying that Jan 6 was a dealbreaker for them fell in line and declined to impeach him. His own Veep called him America's Hitler but then sold his soul for power. These spineless excuses for human beings make me sick, and I just can't.
I *will* carry on. I will fight. I will resist. I will love and nurture and create. But first I have to despair.
I learned from persons like you, when I was a primary care doc (now retired) how much suffering is associated with being queer or non binary and how people find the strength and determination to be who they are. Hang on, know that someone out there understands a bit of what you are. Be loving to others, it will come back to you and we will get through this.
41% of Trump's ad spending attacked Trans.
1% of the world, and 1% of US is Trans.
I for one, am done being loving. I hate them too much
I am also not ok. I'm a straight woman married to a straight man, he has three ultra normal kids, I have one bi and one trans kids. I am terrified for them. Some of my family voted for this, but I'm no contact, so heard it through a cousin. We are in dark, dark territory, and I for one, who have vulnerable adult children, cannot go back. Despairing seems like a good idea, but I spent last night crying until I had to get up to go to work. I despaired at work, and came home early to take a nap. I don't know how I'm going to get through the next 4 yrs.
❤️🩹Reach out, build community—even if just to share feelings, both highs & lows. Here is a poem by one of my faves, Marge Piercy, “The Low Road”….I’m thinking we should all print it out and frame it so we can see it every day as a call to action. Be well, Jill, be strong and loving as you can to yourself and others. https://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/piercylowroad.html
Thanks so much for this. I hadn't read that poem in many years, but tomorrow, I'm going to pull out all of my feminist poetry. The woman who inspired my feminism died a couple of years ago, tended by one of two sons she adopted. (He sang "I am Woman Hear Me Roar" at a school talent show.) I truly thought that a smart, savvy, joyful biracial woman was going to prevail on Tuesday, and what happened is deeply saddening.
Wonderful, progwoman, that we carry our s/heroes with us! Thus they live on.
Always appreciate your words, Barbara
Thanks for that, Barbara-a good reminder. Thank you.
Time to move to a friendler state/city?
I live in MA. Pretty much no friendlier state/city. Still terrified.
THAT is as good as it gets!
Or country.
My family is thanking their hateful and evil god as we speak for delivering this new kingdom of heaven to them. I want to throw up.🤢
We need to call out the Southern Baptist Convention for their patriarchal stance as well as the entire Catholic Church all the way to Rome. Pedophilia and Homosexuality between priests is still rampant. Traditional Christianity is in free fall thanks to Trump and all of his supporters. We need to prosecute 501(c)3 non-profits that are strictly political.
We don't need the damn churches to perform charitable works. We have been doing it without them and doing just great. What a turnoff it must be to have to pray to their gods before accepting a meal or other charity.
We should support only churches that practice and believe the principles of Jesus Christ without being political.
I do too. The gloating of some of my "acquaintances" has really been hard to take.
Know that many of us are behind and supporting in whatever manner we can.
Good Evening Diane:
My heart ached when I read your post. I am hearing of similar anxieties from others. I appreciate your courage, your steadfastness, and your will to love, nurture and create while leaving a bit of room to scream into the void. I certainly cannot claim to speak for my fellow, white, hetero men, but I know that there are far more of us that detest the cowardly and barbaric targeting of the LGBTQ community that the Trumpian hordes seem to love with so much juvenile "Clockwork Orange"-esque abandon, than may be known.
Your indictment of the cowardice of the Republicans who claimed that 01/06/21 was a bridge too far prior to crossing it so as to pay obeisance to the Mango Mussolini was spot on.
Please know that there are those of us out here who support you in this dark time.
I see a lot of pain from friends today. When answering an excellent post by a friend who knows death star voters very well, i noted that part of the reason was racism, misogyny, and misconception about the economy. I note that ordinary people would bear the brunt of this including a lot of death star voters. I had one person tell me in response that the items I mentioned were esoteric and that his concern was all the nonvoters (which concerns me too) and he wasn't interested in the reasons i mentioned. I was off to a massage, but answered him more fully when I got home. I did tell him that as an older woman I had experienced misogyny not as something esoteric, but something very real as are the other two things I listed. Then he informed all of us that Not Voting (his caps) was a conscious action (I read that to mean it was a way to punish Ds for not being pure) I reminded him of several instances where people would suffer mightily for that decision. I told him his reasoning sounded philosophical and gosh, esoteric. So basically, people like him are telling us that they are not responsible for helping death star win by not voting. I know his ilk because they are often the high and mighty arrogant presence in the room and the rest of us have no principles and are just blindly voting.
Michele, I’d posted a protest sign I’d carried a few years back (TFFFG’s first term) during a protest on my fence this election season that reads: Choosing Not To Vote Is Not Rebellion, It’s Surrender. A friend of mine said her adult daughter’s friends were not interested voting and would sit it out—perhaps always? Too bad, might turn out to be the last chance they had. I don’t get it, at all. We’ve got a ton of work to get this “top” back to spinning without toppling.
What is Death Star?
My name for the monster who just won. I won't say his name.
Thank you.
Diane, I may be old, but I will lace up my boots and stand shoulder to shoulder with you to defend the ramparts of our hard-won (work in progress) egalitarian democracy. My sorrow/sadness/anger is morphing into resolve to resist and push back. I fear for many of my chosen family who are in same-sex marriages/partnerships or who are gender fluid…I DON’T want them shoved back into the shadows again. And don’t get me started on reproductive health….fought that shit decades ago! No way, no how. I have posted my anthem here quite a number of times before, but will do so again…will be listening to it more often myself to give me some “juice” to carry on. Jackson Browne’s Til I Go Down (mid-80’s): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmzimxfqgfw
We all need to boycott Tesla, Fox News, Goya, Walmart and other Trump supporting outlets as much as we can. The oligarchs stand to benefit the most from electing Trump so let's hit the the greedy bastards in their pocketbooks.
My immediate concern is for my friends in Ukraine 😢
My first call today was from a friend in EasternPoland. It’s perhaps even more difficult for her than for me.
It’s horrifying
Mine too. First thought was Putin wins
🤬
Yes. Putin has many of his cyber troops in this war, and human ones. Calling in bomb threats at our polls is a new level of invasion. ANd only the beginning.
Amanda, I have been thinking of this as well. My fervent hope is that European countries will rally and up the ante and direct support to Ukraine should the USA (likely) renege on our promises/support.
It's time to cross the red line and allow Ukraine to use long range missiles and to sabotage targets inside of Russia and even North Korea.
We have a lot of A-10s that are going to be scrapped that are still VERY deadly tank killers that fly low under radar. We should gift them to NATO countries now and let them loan them to Ukraine.
Me, too. The COF will pull the US out of NATO on day one of his presidency, er, dictatorship, handing Ukraine to Putin on a silver platter. On day two, Putin will attack Poland. We can only hope he doesn’t use nukes. We’re goung to have a hard time here in Europe, too, come January…
Yes. That was one of my very first thoughts after hearing the election results.
Today I've read & seen many comments about how the Dems need to soul search, come up with a more appealing message, confront the kitchen table issues & on & on.
Can improvements be made, of course. But Kamala Harris had plans. She spoke about them. She spoke about the goodness of America, goodness of the American citizens. And yet we see this message of joy & hope was cast aside.
I see this election result as a morality problem. All the contemptuous things that trump has done & said. The grotesque way he refers to his opponents. The hate & vitriole he spouts constantly. The insults, the crimes, the name calling, hypocrisy of being considered a savior, protected by god. All of this & over 1/2 the country voted for this. Complaints about the cost of living, immigration are camouflage for a lack of morality. While trump did not invent these things he gave them oxygen, a platform & all that nurturing of hate & fear led us to where we are today. This is not a Democratic problem. This is a decency & morality problem.
I totally agree with you. It seems to me that as a society we have lost all sense of civility and decency, unable to express compassion for those different from us. Is it capitalism? Is it the constant pressure to get ahead or just stay even? Is it reality tv and the internet? I don’t really know but it breaks my heart when I see how hard so many decent people worked to bring about a positive, joyful administration and were beaten by misogyny, hatred and fear. This country could be unrecognizable in 4 years time.
The country will be unrecognizable by March. It think the problem is that cooperation, love, understanding is all too difficult. Fighting, hate and distrust is easy. People want easy. That’s why they chose the COF.
His lies were ignored and a liar cannot be trusted. Liars are unfit for command. Vance and the rest of his team are all good liars. Immigration was a top issue for his voters and he used the debate to spread lies about Haitian immigrants in Springfield Ohio every chance he could, never answering questions. The msm ignored it. Had Biden or Harris behaved that way, his magacult would be screaming and crying about it. That was the most important fat finger on the scale of justice. 🤡💩🎃
The likes of Trump is what America wants. The electorate made it clear that it prefers a kleptocratic autocracy to a democracy that tries to treat people with non-European ancestry with decency.
An interesting, scary and shattering turn of events, no? It’s as if 1/2 the electorate has been drugged into some “this is real democracy” illusion. Just keep giving them another “hit” and they’re all good. Wut????!!!!
One of the problems is that it's actually only 1/4 of the electorate since only 1/2 of the potential voters vote. 70+ million people is not a mandate. If turnout had increased by only 5% or less, in the swing states, Kamala would have won.
Tru dat……I do a slow (or hot, depending on the occasion) burn about folks who opt out from voting….I’ve been voting since I was eligible (back in the day) at the age of 21 in the early 70’s. Only missed on mid-term because I was working late and the polling location closed before I could get there (this was way before early voting/mail-in was a thing)…never made that mistake again!
A President who simulated oral sex on a microphone at a rally attended by many families, women, children, not in a high school locker room. Even then…childish and gross. Very symbolic for me regarding character and morality.
Definitely. Apparently, the American voters decided in a majority they are eager to live in a fascist, dictatorial regime ruled by two unhinged narcissists. Don't forget, the more crazy the Convicted Orange Felon went, the bigger his support. Too big a part of the American people love crazy, apparently.
Agree-oh, so agree!
This is just depressing and frightening simultaneously.
I read a comment on a post that says it all. "Who says crime doesn't pay?"
Yes, crime pays very well when the rule of law is only for some people. Like in this country.
They loved Big Brother.
This is more than frightening. This is the way civilizations collapse: they are destroyed from within.
They voted for dictatorship.
They voted for Putin.
They voted for oppression.
They voted against women.
They voted against us as humans.
They voted against minorities.
They voted for fear and against courage.
They voted for hatred and against all that is good.
They also voted against Gaia that keeps humans (now call us Hubris sapiens) and all the beings and ecosystems we share this “pale blue dot” with alive and in stasis. Weird to know we should and can do something BIG to deal with this, but don’t and won’t. Also weird to fathom the spector of our own demise….that we KNOW better, but don’t DO better. Sad & weird.
So agree. The consequences of global warming are real and ignored in their drill baby drill policy. There are multiple viruses with the potential to cause another pandemic brewing in our overpopulated world. Science is real, even if you fire all the scientists.
Russia 2.0.
Billionaire oligarchs with a crime boss dictator at the center.
Make that Russia 1.2, because Putin will be calling the shots.
So many voted against their own interests. Lack of knowledge perhaps or greed and the desire to feel powerful with the ability to say and do almost anything. If even a fraction of what Trump says he will do happens these people will be mudsills and drag us down as well. I’m too old for this shite.
Trump voters do not see it as voting against their own interests. They see it as voting in their self image.
They are voting their short-term self-interest , so they think. Our culture encourages short-term thinking and expectation of immediate gratification. Our culture doesn’t comprehend the climate emergency, that’s for sure.
In my opinion, giving “the economy and inflation” as your reason for a Trump vote is more socially acceptable than saying “I can’t accept a Black or a Woman as my president.”
An economist this morning said that the Trump economy would do well for a while, before his plans have had full effect, because he inherits a strong economy from Biden. The irony.
Made me think, Linda, of the Alanis Morissette song “Ironic”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jne9t8sHpUc. Hopefully there will come a moment of realization and evolution for these folks as to what it all really means (not just the meme’s!!!).
I have been waiting for your post. I haven't even listened to NPR news. Maybe I will go off news entirely. It's frightening right down to the core of us and our hopes. It feels surreal. Democracy and America is something that can be destroyed and like the prophecy warned us: from within.
Julie, we have sworn off news.
I hated to give up my subscriptions to WAPO and NYTimes but they constantly normalized everything Trump and the MAGAs said or did. Substack has all the news I need except the weather.
And cable subscriptions are dropping like a rock across the country.
https://cordcuttersnews.com/cable-tv-companies-have-lost-over-2-7-million-subscribers-so-far-in-2023-as-comcast-spectrum-directv-get-hit-hard-by-cord-cutting/
Sadly, Gary, I wonder if they are rubbing their hands together in glee at 4 more years of “shit-show” and click-bait shenanigans by TFFFG to help them line their pockets. I am bereft at the thought of having to hear his whiney voice EVER AGAIN. Sigh.
It may be more than 4 years if they have their way…
My 82 y/o husband voted for Hillary and for Kamala. This morning he said: men just won't vote for a woman. He's not sexist, he simply said how he perceives men.
He’s not wrong. Many women as well. It’s pathetic.
I was going to add "I didn't realize so many women hated women" but didn't have the intestinal fortitude.
Marcie, i learned that many years ago when our principal was sued by some of the women on the staff. Some of the remarks were downright nasty. I have one person in mind and from that moment on, she has been on my black list.
I had the same concern when I heard Harris was replacing Biden. A sad reality, but true.
Marcie, I agree. I told my husband that this is a victory for men and he agreed.
Not this man, Michele. And, probably not any of the men who comment here.
Yes, you are correct and I am not making a blanket condemnation of all men....just those who voted for death star because they could not vote for a woman and a woman of color too.
Part of the problem is that most Republicans don't accept that Trump stole their party and yet they think he is one of them. I was a Republican for years because of people like Tom Osborne, John McCain and many other politicians that truly cared about their constituents and would cross the aisle to help them.
I agree here. It is absolutely the sexism.
And patriarchy which is an integral part of sexism. 44% of latino men voted for Trump which is the largest percentage ever. They tend to be Catholic and think they should make all of the decisions for the family. The Church raised them that way. This is the demographic that the Democrats took for granted and it cost them big time.
bingo!
I’m not sure. Hillary won the popular vote over a man. It may be more that voter suppression and disinformation media are to blame. It could also be that humans just default to base instincts as if we still lived primitivly.
My 81 year-old husband said tonight that he doesn’t believe it’s racism or misogyny. He just doesn’t get it. In the interest of not starting a war here, I kept silent.
Sometimes, Cathy, if you haven’t had to “walk the walk” you just don’t get it. Most guys are gobsmacked by the lengths women/girls go to to stay safe & aware of their surroundings….something most guys have NO clue about. Like living in parallel universes!
My wife has reminded me of that often Barbara. I have worked in crime ridden downtown areas and walked back from trivia or dinner late at night not even thinking about my safety. My wife hates me for being able to do that when almost all women can't.
I can’t find the link, but there was a piece describing a college class where simple experiences were described by women and the men were gobsmacked by the “attention to detail/surroundings” were vital to a woman’s even being out ‘n about. They truly had no idea. I searched for it online, but couldn’t come up with it. Women know tho’…..
Marcie, I saw someone interviewed on MSNBC this afternoon—he was Hispanic and basically confirmed a misogynist bias that many Hispanic men (oh, Lordy, they’re not alone!) have against women in power (Hillary ran into the same brick wall)…he quoted some statements he’d heard…familiar old tropes. He did share that he admired Harris and voted for her. Good grief this is distressing! As I have posted here numerous times, there is an interesting thought-experiment novel by Naomi Alderman “The Power” that addresses gender power issues.
Rest, recuperate and resist. We are the resistance. https://youtu.be/NCna8cLHgMI?si=iIXXmO2w2lC1elSt
Carla ... we're on the same Rachel page ... I just posted the same link. Let's create a movement.
I’m all about it! Let’s GO!
I'm sending out Rachel's video tomorrow to some of my friends to see who's interested ... what are you thinking? And where are you? I'm in Santa Barbara, CA.
Much harder territory here. IN. I am going to be talking to a Democratic group founded in Bloomington and next week consulting with a lawyer friend. See where it goes from there. Planting seeds.
I hear you, Carla. I am from Indiana and now live in Oregon where the urban areas are blue. Locally, we had some good wins and are now waiting for Oregon's 5th and Washington's 3rd. I am optimistic as i think they will go Ds who are ahead.
I liked Rachel's lets become Pirates comment. I'm in. In 1814 the Britts came up the Chesapeake Bay to burn Fells Point and destroy our very successful Privateers...legally commissioned pirates who were giving the Britts a fit. We have a replica "The Pride of Baltimore II" that has sailed the world representing the spirit of Baltimore and Maryland to fight against tyranny. We stopped the British invasion here...after they had burned the White House and Capitol. We know about successful resistance and we beat Trump and won almost every Statewide and many local elections. Baltimore has held a lot of very progressive meetings and conventions over the past 250 years. We may be a good place to convene this movement.
Joyce, see my link to Marge Piercy’s poem The Low Road up or down thread…speaks to movements.
And Resist we will.
I appreciate your sharing Rachel Maddow's "freakin' Pirates" call to arms.
I've got my cutlass polished, my hoop earing in and am ready to rock!!
ARRRGGGHHH, me matey!
Belay the jibber jabber! Swab down the poop deck!
Consign 'em to the briney deep!!
Rachel Maddow's advice is great--that we rest, be with other people doing something, anything together, then get to work. For the work, we don't need to reinvent the wheel. As Heather has noted at various times, since DJT was elected in 2016, people have become engaged in political activism, and then Kamala Harris's candidacy has energized the level of people's activism by a quantum leap. As Michelle Obama rallied us, dozens of grassroots organizations attracted more and more people to DO SOMETHING! Robert Hubbell notes that we now have the infrastructure of a movement for going forward.
Jessica Craven continues to be amazing as she posts information that makes it easy for us to follow through:
https://chopwoodcarrywaterdailyactions.substack.com/
Vice President Harris's gracious remarks; an elegant patriot. 🙏 https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5140650 ⚖️ I am shocked like most others. 😳 Feeling grief today, mainly for the children and young people. 😢 What a train-wreck my generation is leaving them. 💔 I take a limited consolation in remembering less than 5% of the protestors of 06jan21 stormed the Capitol. 🤞
Ned McDoodle: The Civil War never ended. We are currently in its contemporary incarnation.
Civil war is not inevitable. If it comes, I will fight. Guns are not my forte; can barely hit the side of barn. Fortunately, from what I have seen with these militia-mongers, many of them as as wide as a barn is long.
This Civil War is technology based.
Great insight there, Joanne.
Thanks, Ned, for letting me know my comment had value. So painful to have insight on a catastrophe . . .
The Civil War? This was WWIII - and the fascists won.
Excellent point, Jed MacKay, thanks. Now I see how the continuing Confederacy has contributed to this WWIII.
Not by a long shot, Jed.
I fear for our planet. What will become of it when the leader of the so-called free world thinks climate change is a hoax and that covid was nothing more than a little flu? We are all children of the same Mother. Let's act like it!
Thanks Professor HCR for your tireless work. You can truly say that you couldn’t have done more to prevent this scenario.
We need system change!
Sure do but it is painful to know that before we have the power to take two steps in that direction we will all be dragged 3….33 ..steps back.
I would suggest that all of us download the list of items in the Consumer Price Index at this time to prove to people that we know how well Trump’s inflation fighting is working after a year (and 2 years, 3 years, etc.) since it seems that a lot of people bought into Trump’s promise to get rid of inflation. It’s far too easy to forget how good things were four years ago—look at how many people forget the horrors of a badly mismanaged pandemic.
Mary, the rub is , as HSC, points out, this type of message is hard to deliver when the Trump voters are in their separate world of Oz. And what is the messaging playing field going to look like when Musk is appointed under Czar?
I had the same thought. Of course, inflation has leveled out and Trump will say its his doing. Unfortunately many voters had no idea that inflation was world-wide and looked for someone to blame.
Yes. Establish a baseline time 0 list and use it in later updates.
please provide a reference (URL) so we can all download the same list. Good Idea.
Great idea, Mary!