Is my life worth anything anymore? (Venting of emotions from Election Day)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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(I wasn’t sure where to put this. Mods, feel free to move if needed, I didn’t think this was Pit-y enough.)

As of the writing of this post, the end isn’t guaranteed, but seems pretty final.

I know I’m just emotional right now, upset and worried about the future, and I’m hardly alone. But those of you who’ve read previous posts of mine are probably not surprised to find me feeling fragile existentially right now. I’m of at least one minority whom the right hates, and they’ll have pretty much full power again while helmed by someone with open desires to punish said hated groups.

My life has been as good as it’s ever been the past few years. Because of that, I’ve had a background worry of “the other shoe dropping,” and it sure feels, right now, that it’s happened. I’m sure I’m not the only one wondering if there’s a point to living anymore, if the good I’ve built after so long is going to be lost in a fascist economic crash or whether I’ll be disappeared. I know many of you here have casually expressed that you’ve given up hope, and this does make me think.

Is there a point to my job, my life? What should I tell the kids in my life about their future? Again, I know I’m not the only one wondering, but all the giving up expressed here and elsewhere are truly making my thoughts pretty dark…

As a final quasi-related note, I’ve been avoiding the Pit and P&E for the past few weeks, and I think it’s benefited my mental health. So regardless of what happens, I think I may have to continue that. Another four years of anger probably won’t help me…

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Especially when I see so much encouragement on this very board to give up…

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My reason for going on: the hope that one day, I will be in a position to renounce my US citizenship.

Edit to add: I’ve pretty much felt this way since the day that Justice Ginsburg died.

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Seek mental healthcare. Please.

America has had dark times before.
We can overcome.

Been proved over and over.

We’re bigger than one man.

I know one thing for sure, the media, in one form or another has lead us down a garden path. I will never trust any of it again.
I don’t know where I’ll read or watch. But it won’t be what I’ve been doing.

If you’re in some kind of immediate danger, keep your head down. Good luck.

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Maybe, but not in my lifetime.

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I should’ve made clearer that I’m not suicidal. I’m in no danger of harming myself, so don’t worry. I was, as I said in the subject line, merely venting immediate emotion, especially given that so many others here have as much as said they’ve given up. I’m genuinely asking, is there a point to saving for retirement? I’m absolutely going to tell the kids in my life that there can be a decent future for them, but I genuinely wonder if that’s a lie.

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More so now than ever, surely? Do whatever you can to build up a financial cushion for yourself and your family so as to minimise any adverse impact from the big things happening in the world.

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But, apparently, we are not bigger than what that one man represents to his rabid followers.

It’s time to face the fact that we are what we have always been, a nation founded on racism, sexsim, slavery, exploitation, and white supremacy. Trump’s rhetoric plays to those points continually; other races “don’t belong”, other countries are “garbage countries”, women need to do what men think they should do, and on and on and on. That’s why he was elected. They don’t care that he is a conflicted felon. They wouldn’t care, as Trump publicly boasted, if he murdered someone in public. They don’t care because he represents who and what they are.

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Move to the bluest part of the bluest state you can find, and do what is best for your mental and financial health.

I am not suggesting this election is less than horrible. And I acknowledge moving across state lines can involve considerable effort and sacrifice. But folk before us have made far greater sacrifice and effort.

(Not trying to be mean) Some feeling sorry and scared for yourself is understandable. But at some point, I suggest you would get better results from doing something constructive. You live in a shitty country (in many respects). Why not try to get yourself to one of the least shitty parts of that country?

You and I frequently disagree, but on this we agree.

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I feel this, too, and also deep, deep sadness (and embarrassment) that my kid will only be the a kid for these four more years (he’s 14 now). When he turns 18, half of his entire life since infancy will have been under Trump presidencies.

But worse still is that all of his life so far (and who knows how deeply into the future - maybe his whole life) will have been in a world where about half of Americans are the sorts of people who share the worldview of someone so awful as Trump.

(Thanks for starting this thread.)

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As William Faulkner said, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past."

This election has shown us that.

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Yep. The echoes of 2016 were loud. Watching the election returns with a sense of growing dread, finally going to bed and managing to get some sleep, then waking up to the awful news.

But this time it’s worse. The American people didn’t really know exactly what they were electing in 2016, but now they’ve elected that monster fully aware of who and what he is. I don’t understand my country anymore, or half my fellow citizens.

I’m not sure how I’m going to cope with the next 4 years. I keep thinking back, of all things, to a Jimmy Kimmel bit he used to play a lot during the first couple Biden years. It was newsreel-style, in B&W, with an old-timey announcer voice saying “one year ago today” and they’d show a ridiculous video clip from the trump years, such as the infamous ‘maybe inject bleach’ trump press conference. And I’d get a jolt of PTSD whenever I’d see one of those bits, remembering with a shudder what those times were like, but immediately followed by a deep sense of relief that those dark days of the trump admin were over, and surely would never, ever return.

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Agree completely. Given the choice between a successful career prosecutor and politician, someone who actually represents law and order and hope and promise, and a twice impeached convicted felon, serial rapist, wannabe dictator who actually tried to overthrow the government when he was ousted after his first term, a horrifying number of Americans decided that the latter was a better choice.

I’m feeling so exhausted and defeated at the moment. It’s going to take a long time for this country to recover from this. Maybe it doesn’t. It definitely won’t happen in my lifetime.

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Exactly.

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Am I right in thinking this counts as his second four-year term and therefore he can’t stand again?

That’s assuming he makes it to 82 (and everything they threw at Biden would presumably apply to him by then, if not before), of course.

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“Can’t”? :thinking: DJT doesn’t know the meaning of that word. And if he decided to run again, who’s going to stop him?

But I think J.D. Vance will be president long before that. And once Project 2025 is underway, such restrictions will no longer apply.

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So your answer to my topic question is no? So noted.

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Yeah same with me. Not in my lifetime.

And I don’t have any energy to fight.

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I don’t see how you read that into my comments. <scratches head>

My point is that my life is worth a whole LOT more than this election or its outcome. And I’m going to start living that way (which I haven’t been doing while I allowed donald trump and his perpetual campaign for the presidency to live in my head).

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The way I read it was, no limits = no way to stop or prevent literally anything. I apologize if I read too far into your statement.