According to a Harris poll:
- More than 7 in 10 adults (72%) were worried the election results could lead to violence.
- More than half of adults (56%) said they believe the 2024 presidential election could be the end of democracy in the U.S.
I totally get that the well-to-do won’t suffer. They might be mildly inconvenienced when their gardener, cook or maid vanishes and they’re unable to find replacements who are willing to work for circus peanuts. Losing their health insurance because Medicare’s been murdered might be an annoyance if they need to dig into a forgotten investment account to pay a hospital bill. It’ll suck (only temporarily for the financially insulated) when the markets crash.
The rest of us will feel it. We’ll feel it when the Trump/Musk presidency destroys the economy and unemployment surges (it’s inevitable—neither of these dudes are bright biz wizzes); when plagues become commonplace (thanks to Dr.Oz and Brainworm Boy); when we’re living in tents because already unaffordable housing has become impossible; when we’re too overwhelmed, overworked, sick, and experiencing our nineteenth nervous breakdown of the day—yeah, we’ll feel it.
How can I get back my resilience, fortitude, hope, and joie de vivre?
For starters, I can look at my own specific situation.
- I live in Massachusetts which is very, VERY Blue. This is good. After all, in 2012 my state was the first in the country to try to limit the growth of both private and public healthcare spending. The Affordable Care Act was based on the healthcare law passed here in 2006.
- I have Ten, Jen, and Oni looking out for me. We take care of one another.
- I severed contact with my rightwing asshole relatives and other abusive idiots long ago. I learned how to set personal boundaries before it was a popular, savvy, self-care trend. (feel free to applaud me now, eh?)
I don’t know how bad things will get—none of us really do. Sure, we can all figure that things are gonna be worse than the Tangerine Twat's first four years of error and terror. MAYBE this time, more people will fight back. I was chuffed to read about how the chicken-shit, masked, mom’s-basement-dwelling dipshits were greeted in Columbus, Ohio.
...neo-Nazis told police they had never experienced a response like the one they received in Columbus. They said people pulled guns on them and threw cans and vegetables as they marched, waved flags and yelled racial slurs. One of the officers noted the men were “covered in” pepper spray.
~~~
Police initially made contact with the neo-Nazis in a chaotic scene on a sidewalk near Goodale Park at about 1:15 p.m., according to a radio log printout from Columbus police. There the neo-Nazis, wearing black and red clothing and carrying black flags with red swastikas, told police they were leaving because they were under attack. In the background, bystanders shouted at them to take off their masks. (source)
And I was delighted to read about the father who’s cutting off his two MAGAt son’s college expenses.
"I've decided to pass on the [college] expenses to my two Trump-supporting sons so they can truly feel firsthand the cost and expense of his absolutely stupid policy decisions, which includes food, gas, and college expenses.” (source)
Schadenfreude—I’ll take it.
I now have Paul Simon’s song American Tune in my head this morning.
I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered
I don’t have a friend who feels at ease
I don’t know a dream that’s not been shattered
Or driven to its knees
Oh, but it’s all right, it’s all right
For we lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the road
We’re traveling on
I wonder what went wrong
I can’t help it, I wonder what’s gone wrong
And I dreamed I was dying
And I dreamed that my soul rose unexpectedly
And looking back down at me
Smiled reassuringly
And I dreamed I was flying
And high above my eyes could clearly see
The Statue of Liberty
Sailing away to sea
And I dreamed I was flying