Since Tuesday night, I’ve been in a stupor. I’m unable to concentrate at work. I’m unable to concentrate when talking to my kids or my wife. I live in Georgia. There are Trump signs all over the place, and people who wear Trump shirts and hats, too. I can’t get away from all the visible signs of a fascist movement that I despise with every fiber of my being. They’re all over the place, and it enrages me to see them, even some that are my friends or in my family. I just feel like I"m going to explode.
My wife wants to leave the country. I’m in too much of a daze to even think about where or how we’d do that. I have about 5 more years until I retire. I’m relatively well-off, and will retire financially secure…but what good is that, if I’m living in a country where rights are being curtailed and different “out groups” are being singled out and attacked by our government? Am I safe staying here, or will my “day” come where they’ll come for me because I’m not sufficiently loyal.
We, as a nation, have voted into power a fully-organized fascist movement, and they have all levers of power in their hands. They will do unconscionable things to their fellow citizens, I guarantee it.
It’s going to take me a while to calm down from this rage. At some point, I’ll be able to think more clearly about my own situation. But right now, I’m not there yet…
Somewhere deep down, I guess I just didn’t believe America would vote Trump back into power again. I just can’t believe it happened. 2016 was a warm-up clown show. What we’re getting now in 2024, and for at least 4 years if not 4 decades, will be the full fascist fury of MAGA.
MAGA hates any and all people who aren’t with them. They fantasize about killing left-wingers, and not just illegal immigrants. None of us will be spared. I don’t think we’re safe in this country.
But right now, on this day…more than fear…I feel hatred. Just pure hatred.
I’m feeling much the similar as you, except it’s more akin to futility, resignation, “we’re just helpless” rather than rage. It feels like us, the anti-Trump half of America, is tied to a tree, and a category 5 hurricane is coming, but we can’t do anything about it except to just wait for it to come and hope we survive not-too-damaged when the hurricane leaves us.
I don’t know if I feel fear, hatred or rage. For me its more contempt. Contempt for the lack of a moral compass and lack of criticial thinking skills that 70-75 million Americans just expressed.
And the sad part is when you try to explain it, it goes over their head. They think I"m mad because a republican won and its not that. A republican won the governorship in my state. That doesn’t bother me. Romney and McCain didn’t bother me. I didn’t like their policies but Romney and McCain never made me fear for our democracy itself.
Trump is different. Trump is a malignant narcissist with a long history of rape and pedophilia. He is dangerously incompetent and mentally unstable. He is treasonous and has zero loyalty to the American people. He has been brought up on 90+ felony charges and he will get away with all of them.
Now boys are telling girls in schools and colleges ‘your body, my choice’ because they are free to be openly misogynistic since 70-75 million Americans said they are ok with misogyny and rape.
I’m past being angry. I’m disgusted by 1/5 of this country. 70 million people voted for him, now the other 270 million of us are going to be dragged through shit because of it.
But I’m also disgusted because the ceiling of adults who are willing to vote to promote freedom and equality tops out at 65-80 million adults. We can’t get more people on board to vote to promote competence, equality, freedom, democracy and human rights. In a nation of 260 million adults, only 65-80 million adults care about these things.
The scary part is that Gen Z seems to be more conservative, misogynistic, bigoted and right wing than their parents generations. The country is going to keep going backwards for decades when it comes to the rights, safety and freedoms of marginalized groups.
Some people are already looking for ways to hold Trump’s voters accountable.
If you’re secretly gay but voted Trump, partners are outing those people.
If you’re a man and support Trump, a lot of women refuse to date them. Honestly a lot of us men aren’t willing to date Trump supporting women either.
MAGA immigrants are being reported to ICE.
Trump women are being outed for having abortions in the past.
Fuck it. Lets use the system against these people. They want a society full of brutality and oppression? Lets use those tools to make sure they pay the price too.
A lot of us aren’t just tying ourselves to trees as the hurricane comes. We are looking for ways to cut the ropes protecting the people who voted the hurricane into office.
I don’t think they’ll last anything like four decades, and for all that I think you are correct that “They fantasize about killing left-wingers, and not just illegal immigrants,” I don’t think they’re actually going to organize a large scale paramilitary effort to persecute everybody who disagrees with them because it’s just too vast a scale, and although they may engage in incidents of political violence and ‘retribution’ I doubt they have the wherewithal to organize on an industrial scale. Undocumented immigrants are an easy scapegoat because they have a very limited rights and there is already federal law enforcement agencies dedicated to deporting them. Gay and trans people are easy to demonize and bully for being ‘different’ but I think (hope) that this doesn’t get so far that the federal government will engage in trying to round up and ‘correct’ them. (I’d get the fuck out of Missouri if I were, though.)
Although I empathize and fear for vulnerable people, I’m even more concern about the long term damage these people will do to institutions of governance, and foreign relations, and crucial science and education faculties that cannot be easily reconstituted. I’m especially worried about climate monitoring because the vast amount of satellite climate data comes from the United States, and they already managed to gut distribution of the last to National Climate Assessment Reports, which is our only real way to project climate impacts on a local scale and plan for resilience. I also worry about strategic assets being in the hands of an ignorant maniac with nothing to lose and no check on that executive power. But we can’t really do anything about any of that.
At this point, we can look after each other, try to maintain local institutions, educate people out of their propaganda-obscured views, and…hope for the best, I guess. I’m not really full of optimism about what comes after and who will be hurt in the meantime, but bear in mind that this too will pass.
Fear and hopelessness is what they want you to feel. Fascists feed on fear. That’s why being called “weird” triggers them so - if you’re laughing at them it means you aren’t afraid of them.
Quit watching the news. Quit with reddit, Tiktok, Facebook.
Toss the frontpage of your paper.
I live in a red state too. I can avoid the Trump shit.
Seriously the media, that I believe led us down this creepy garden path have still got you guys hooked.
They were playing us. We bought it. Even tho’ we avoided Fox like the plague.
I will never forgive the regular media for saying Trump and showing his stupid face a gazillion-bazillion times. Til it seemed normal to those subjected to cultishness. Those not intelligent enough to see past the cartoon spinning eyes of a trump-clown-hypnotist.
I’m having a hard time believing that the majority of American voters want Trump and what he represents and what he’s promised to do. Maybe so many people voted that way (or didn’t vote) because they wouldn’t vote for a woman for president. So we’re stuck with a fetid orange pile of garbage instead of a president who would actually get some things done and make lives better for people.
Maybe so, but there will be plenty of time to be outraged about those things when they happen. Pre-outrage over all the things that they will do isn’t helping you or anyone else. Unless it somehow spurs you to take actions that will help to prevent those bad things from happening; but if there are such actions you can take, why not take them without the rage?
This election cycle I got to watch some jackass get on a stage during prime time television to tell the entire world that my people come from an island of garbage while everyone there just laughed.
Then after that was over virtually all other hispanic groups except mine voted to elect Trump. The rage I feel is palpable, I come from along line of military veterans (including myself) some of whom fought in wars, became POWs, or otherwise never back home.
