When I finally went to bed late last night, there was a small part of me that hoped I would wake up this morning to find that Donald Trump’s improbable victory had been nothing more than a very bad dream.
Barring that, which I knew was a bit of a long shot, I hoped that I would at least wake up with the inklings of a plan for what to do about this catastrophe. I hoped I could write a rousing blog post sketching out my thoughts on the road ahead– for this blog and for the anti-Trump movement as a whole.
Alas, that didn’t happen either. I’m still processing the bad news, emotionally and intellectually. And I know a lot of you are doing the same.
And that’s ok. Trump will not take office until the end of January. There will be plenty of time to come up with ways to fight back against the orange one.
Right now the important thing is to take care of ourselves and those around us. Give yourself however much time you need. Avoid stress. Don’t beat yourself up for what happened, and don’t take out your anger on others on our side. Turn off the news if need be. Do whatever you need to do to clear your head and keep yourself safe.
In the comments here, feel free to continue the discussion that started in the “VOTE” post yesterday. And please share any self-help and self-care strategies you have — even if all you’ve got at the moment is pictures of cats and videos of hedgehogs.
If trolls show up, or if there is anything else that pops up in the thread that I should know about, please send me an email about it.
We can fight this thing. We can beat this thing. But first we need to get ourselves centered.
@Fishy Goat
I can’t say it was hard to predict. Not all people against Trump are complete pacifists, and there will always be at least one person that takes it too far–case in point. This is not excusable by any means, but it is understandable.
Naah, @Falconer. That’s what he’s got Pence for. Pence is gonna do the actual work – that’s what they told him when they offered him the position. Most powerful VP, so that Trump can focus on “Making America Great Again”.
Whatever the hell that means. I suspect it means more rallies to maintain support, and more personal missions, and more fucking twitter. He’s gonna be the big shiny distraction-slash-hatemonger while the Republicans busily tear down civilization behind the curtain.
edit: Welcome @rammerjammer! Glad you decided to comment 🙂
@Scildfreja Unnýðnes
It basically means that his role is that of Zaphod Beeblebrox, except more gross.
I am terrified. I cannot believe that this is what my country has come to.
I don’t even know what to say about this now, but I want to thank all of you for being here. It’s a lifeline to see everyone who is as disturbed as I am. Thank you.
@ Fishy Goat
I’m sorry to hear about that. I hope the victim recovers and the perpetrators are identified and subjected to the criminal justice system.
I hope the same thing for the countless victims of violence and intimidation perpetrated by self-identified Trump supporters, over the whole of the election period and since.
@Scildfreja Unnýðnes
Thanks. I don’t comment much online, but I like this blog, and being stuck in Alabama right now isn’t great, since the only thing that came out of Tuesday was my Democratic representative (only one for the state) getting re-elected.
Is it just me, or does Obama look like he’s thinking “Not enough hand sanitizer in the Northern Hemisphere…”?
@rammerjammer, hey, that’s something! Certainly not a bad thing. Maybe you should write them a letter to support them, and ask to help, if you want to try to push back? It’s really the only way to fix this problem. Real life and your needs come first, of course!
@Nequam
Someone in that picture reminds me of a pissed-off jigglypuff..
The left has a reputation for pacifism, and I believe it’s deserved. If for no other reason, if you don’t hate everyone, there’s fewer people to be pissed off at.
Not as much in times past. Just as an example, the Weather Underground, Diana Oughton, the society child turned revolutionary, and there are other examples. I wonder what the Age of Cheeto will bring…?
@Nequam: That caption cheered me up. Thank you very much.
@Snowberry
Can we please stop pretending that ‘economic anxiety’ has anything to do with Trump’s win?
@BritterSweet
Afraid not
@abars01
Right there with you, and I was born here.
It never is, that’s just more American Exceptionalism bullshit. Just offhand, the Cossack Hetmanate has us beat by over a century. Besides which, it’s laughable for a nation with an economy based on chattel slavery to claim that it’s based on the idea of individual liberty or indeed freedom of any sort.
@Sunnysombrera
Fine. Fuck them then. They haven’t got a majority, they have gerrymandering and voter suppression. If the non-voters can be got to vote, by whatever means, if state level efforts can get some redistricting, then they’d start losing anyway. People who support fascism are not my allies, and I won’t pretend they are. I will never, ever trust anyone who cast a Trump vote. In anything.
@IP
This. All of this.
@Kokoda
Congratulations. You’re what’s wrong with the U.S. Fuck off.
@Axe
Before I finished the first sentence.
@booburry
Best wishes. At least I know that nobody at work is a Trumpist. All the talk yesterday was of the ‘WTF?!?!’ variety.
@Binjabreel
Always nice to see your posts.
@Troubelle Oh, I know. :/ but…AGH!! Beating up random Drumpf supporters won’t help anything.
@Scildfreja Unnýðnes
Thanks for the support. I’m at UA (which did get chalked the last couple of weeks), which tends to be slightly more liberal than the surrounding state (Tuscaloosa city, Birmingham, and the Black belt counties typically go blue), so if any sort of protest or petition gets started, it will probably involve at least some of the student groups. I don’t know how successful any of that will be, but university happenings usually get local and state news coverage at least.
@ Weird Eddie
I’ve just caught up with the mistaken identity mishap on page 6. Thanks @Skiriki for flagging up that Eddie’s comment was for me. Here’s what I’d intended saying (although I feel a bit self-conscious now, having described it as humorous – not everyone appreciates, or even notices, my humour – but here goes.).
I tried putting in place the Patented Weatherwax Election Recovery Plan today (it ought to work; I’m having enough practice, what with the Tory election last year, then Brexit, and now this). First, put on cheesy music from my youth that I can bellow along to. Second, prepare a cottage pie with ALL the veggies (involving a lot of chopping – good for redirecting anger). Third, take the dog to the park while it’s cooking.
Well, that worked, up to a point. At least in Brighton (possibly the most opposite-Trump place in the UK) I don’t bump into Trump supporters in the park. Plus now I have tasty comfort food for the next few days. But it’s back to the cute animal pics, and limited exposure to the news (at least from non-Mammoth outlets) for another few days at least.
@ Weatherwax
I remember Brighton from some reggae albums in the 80s, is it pretty cosmopolitan?
Part of the reason Trump won is all the people who decided marking “undecided” on a polling sheet was better than admitting to liking Trump.
Recent newscast made a point of mentioning Trump’s “crass honesty”. Really? Have they checked any of that “honesty” for truth? No of course not. The reporting that, “Oh! The investigation of Hillary was re-opened” while in fact it was not. Nevermind, it’s too late now. We’re stuck. FBI director (not the FBI as a whole), Putin, and the closet bigots who excuse it by “he’s a businessman we need one of those” put him in.
@ rammerjammer, yellowhammer
I wondered when I saw your nym! I read in the papers where Nick Saban didn’t know there had been an election! (>-<) (O_o)
@Dalillama
Not to mention the near-elimination of the pre-existing population, their rights and freedoms, which appear to be overlooked to this day (judging by the Pipeline jiggery pokery).
Not saying Britain’s any better, but it’s been a while since we were singing the “we’re better than everyone else” song.
Does anyone want some Samantha Bee? Her wit is a paraffin balm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1SaD-gSZO4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulOhoEpUTw8
@JS
As if I needed any more evidence that corporate media is more yellow than piss and worth even less than that. “They rib on the presidents” Yeah well trump tv that can drown out other media is totally not going to happen. Factchecking, hammering down on racism and bigotry, exposing our plutocracy, none of that matters to these parodies of reporters and newscasters.
I guess that corporations really did believe they would get an even better deal with Trump.
@Weatherwax: What made you grow out of it? Perhaps that will help us to grow out of it too. I used to love America, but I only hope that it’s severely hamstrung for the good of the world. Maybe that will be one of the few good things to come out of President Groper’s tenure.
Yep, the mainstream media sucks, and the commonly known alternative (right) media is even less in touch with reality. Maybe we need some good leftist conspiracy theorist news sites.
@JS
I wouldn’t be so quick to say that…
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/fbi-donald-trump-base-230755
@Weird (when the fog had cleared my vision was bleared) Eddie
It’s possible. I know someone who met him at a social (non-football event), and she said that his wife was the one who kept him informed of everything non-football related (apparently he’s not good at social events). So, I wouldn’t completely rule it out, since the election isn’t football.
On the other hand, I also heard that Saban was a Democrat (he’s Catholic and got his start in the Midwest), and given that large chunks of the Alabama faithful are Dump supporters (although he was a write-in for a few), he may just be trying to keep quiet. I suspect most of the Bama football team themselves, if they voted, didn’t vote for Dump.
On a somewhat related note, there was a sports article posted earlier this year about Dump praising Saban. I don’t think Saban’s reaction ever got reported.
http://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/alabama-football/donald-trump-nick-saban-2016/